Children’s moment – a short clip from Veggie Tales “Josh And The Big Wall” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDpM_j1MZG8&t=11s
PRAYER/SCRIPTURE
OPEN: I love reading Bible Stories to my grandson. Well I don’t actually “read” them to him, I kind of make them up as I go along. And I find that the ones that catch his attention are the ones where I play with the story. For example, he loves this story of the walls of Jericho. But I cheat a little bit. The story says that the Israelites marched around the 1st time – pretty much in silence. But when I tell HIM the story, every time they march around the city they shout… and they blow their horns. Yeah, I know, it’s wrong – but he loves it.
But now, here’s the real story: The LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall BLOW THE TRUMPETS. And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then ALL THE PEOPLE SHALL SHOUT with a great shout, and THE WALL OF THE CITY WILL FALL DOWN FLAT, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.” Joshua 6:2-5
And that’s exactly what Israel did - and the walls came a tumbling down, the army of Jericho was routed, and Israel burned the city and everything in it. Then – for centuries – the city lay in ruin.
Now, that’s quite a story. But… (PAUSE) did it really happen? Well yeah, apparently!
You see, Archeologists dig up places like Jericho, and when they so, they examine how people lived and died, and how the cities were built and destroyed. And what they found at Jericho was so intriguing that Time Magazine dedicated an article to it. Now, bear in mind, Time is not a religious magazine – they left God completely out of their article as and they focused on naturalistic explanations of what was found at the site.
But they quoted archeologist: “It looks to me as though the biblical stories are correct”
Now before I read to you what Time wrote, I want to explain how ancient cities were conquered. 1) They are either taken by siege where the enemy attacked the walls and forced those walls to fall INWARD. 2) Or the enemy would STARVE the inhabitants into submission. There’s be no food left inside the city.
Time explained that “the walls had fallen in a way suggestive of sudden collapse (in other words - the walls fell DOWN, not INWARD). Many scholars think the destruction was caused by an earthquake (no, it couldn't possibly God did this), which could also account for a temporary damming of the Jordan River described in the Bible. Moreover, (the archeologists) found bushels of grain on the site (the city wasn’t starved out). That is consistent with the bible’s assertions that Jericho was conquered quickly. If the city had capitulated after a long siege, the grain would have been used up.” (Time, March 5, 1990)
What archeologists have discovered at Jericho was consistent with Scripture… • The city was strongly fortified (Joshua 2:5, 2:7, 2:15, 6:5, 6:20). • The siege was short (Joshua 6:15) they found burned bushels of grain inside • The walls were leveled (Joshua 6:20). • The city was NOT plundered (Joshua 6:17–18). • BUT the city WAS BURNED (Joshua 6:24). • And the city was NOT rebuilt for centuries.
God decreed that the city was not to be rebuilt, because He meant for those ruins to be a testimony to what He did to Jericho that day.
SO YES, you can trust your Bible. If God says something happened, it happened - just the way He said it did. And you’ll find that’s true over and over again as archeology invariably confirms Scripture.
Now that said, I find it interesting that God destroyed Jericho the way that He did. The Israelites didn’t tear down the wall, and they didn’t rout the enemy. They just marched around the city/ blew some horns… and shouted. Essentially, they just showed up AND GOD DID EVERYTHING ELSE!
God seems to do that a lot in Scripture. God would often send the Israelites into battles they should never have won. In II Chronicles, there were 3 armies from the East came to attack Jerusalem. The king called for a day of prayer and fasting and the prophet of God says to the people “Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is NOT YOURS but God’s. 2 Chronicles 20:15
Then God sends them off to face their enemy, and by the time they get there God had already destroyed those 3 armies (the 3 nations attacked each other) and it took Israel 3 whole days to carry off all the plunder from a battle they didn’t even fight. Why? Because battle that was not theirs… but God’s. GOD WON THE BATTLE WITHOUT THEIR HELP!!! God did all the heavy lifting and all they did was show up.
But why would God it that way? Why make it so that HE won the battle, and all they had to do is SHOW UP? Well, when God sent Gideon against the Midianites (in the book of Judges) He sent him with only 300 men to face an army 100s of times their size. All Gideon and his men did was SHOW UP and blow some trumpets and shout “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” And they wiped the floor with the Midianites.
God explained that the reason He did it that way was “(So) that Israel might not boast against me that her own strength has saved her” Judges 7:2
You see, all God wanted these people to do was SHOW UP. He fought the battle and defeated the enemy so people would put their FAITH in HIM - not in their own wisdom and power & mighty deeds.
And it works the same way with us. Take the church, for example. God wants us to understand that the church has power only when we TRUST Him. In 1 Corinthians 1:27 we’re told “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
God doesn’t build His church with people of prominence, power and prestige. He builds His church with common people - and that’s a good thing. Abraham Lincoln once said “The Lord prefers common-looking people. That is why he made so many of us.”
ILLUS: Years ago, Don (one of our Elders) and I were standing beside a very Godly man in our congregation (we’ll call him Fred) when a Doctor and his family came to visit the congregation. They were looking us over as a possible church home. Now, we’re always pleased when a new family shows up for church but “Fred” was REALLY pleased, and he said “Wouldn’t it be great to have THEM join the church.” There was an awkward silence as neither Don nor I said anything. Then our friend sheepishly noted “Oh, we’re not supposed to impressed by that, are we?” No, we’re not. But it’s an easy trap to fall into.
ILLUS: My home church had lots of Doctors, Lawyers, and politicians in attendance. Our church was THE church to belong to in my home town. And they were proud of the kind of people they drew to worship. But their pride was – too often – in WHO showed up to worship rather than in WHO they showed up to worship. And it hurt them.
In a healthy Church, “God chose(s) the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose(s) the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” God doesn’t win the battle with people of power; God wins the battle with people of faith. And people of faith often look foolish and weak to the world. But we still win because… GOD WINS THE BATTLE… not us.
But that’s why God saved people like YOU and ME. Paul wrote that “not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth… God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” I Corinthians 1:26 & 28
Now, what’s interesting to me about our text this morning is that there’s something missing here. Hebrews 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.”
Did you see what’s missing? JOSHUA IS MISSING!
In Hebrews 11, it’s like a drumbeat of famous folks of faith: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses… and then they skip over Joshua’s name and go directly to Rahab in the next verse. Joshua isn’t EVEN mentioned anywhere in Hebrews 11? Why didn’t Hebrews focus on Joshua’s faith here?
Well here’s MY OPINION: I think God wanted to catch our attention by leaving Joshua out of the story!
Before the people marched around the city, we’re told “the LORD said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand...” (Joshua 6:2) Now, God didn’t talk to the Israelites… God just talked with Joshua. So Joshua is the main character in the story of the destruction of Jericho. Why? Because Joshua was a type or image of Christ in the Bible. Joshua’s name is the same as “Jesus” in the Hebrew. You’d pronounce both names (in the Hebrew) as “YESHUA” which means “Yehova (or Jehova) saves.” So when you read about Joshua in the Old Testament, you’re seeing an image of Christ from the New.
FOR EXAMPLE: Both Joshua and Jesus began their ministry at Jordan. When they crossed the Jordan, JOSHUA had 12 stones taken out of the Jordan to be a WITNESS of the God’s power. And after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, HE took 12 men to be WITNESSES of the power of His miracles, and of His death, burial and Resurrection.
2nd – Both Joshua and Jesus led their followers and conquered the ENEMY. Joshua led the Israelites to conquer their ENEMY in Palestine, and Jesus conquered our ultimate enemy (Satan) when He died on the cross.
3rd – Both Joshua and Jesus faced GATES that had to be overcome. Joshua faced the gates of Jericho and the gates of Jericho could not stand against him. And Jesus said “I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.”
And lastly, by faith, the Israelites followed JOSHUA into victory and they received an EARTHLY inheritance. And by faith, we follow Jesus into victory and receive an ETERNAL inheritance in Heaven. (Thoughts borrowed from: http://www.believersmagazine.com/bm.php?i=20130813)
I suspect Joshua’s name was left out of the list in Hebrews 11 because God wanted us to CATCH out attention… and have us see Joshua as representing Jesus. I Don’t think it wasn’t Joshua’s faith Hebrews wanted us to be looking at. I think the focus (in Hebrews 11) was on the faith of the people as they followed Joshua. Just as… they followed Joshua by faith so also we follow Jesus by faith.
And that’s the point. We follow Jesus by Faith, and He gives us the victory. Or as 1 Corinthians 15:57 tells us “thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” He’s talking about our victory in receiving salvation and our victory over death thru Jesus.
Jesus has done all the heavy lifting. He won the victory for us at the cross. He did it all, and all that remains for us to do is SHOW UP.
But does that mean we don’t DO anything to receive salvation? No, when God destroyed Jericho He expected the Israelites to march around the city for 7 days – blow their trumpets and shout. Did God NEED the Israelites to do all that to conquer Jericho? Nooooo. God didn’t need any help to destroy Jericho, but He still expected them to DO what He asked before the city was taken.
In the same way, God doesn’t need our help to save us. But He still expects us to DO what He’s asked to receive Salvation. He asks that we BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He asks that we acknowledge that we’ve sinned at that we need to REPENT (or turn away from) of our past. And He asks that we CONFESS that Jesus is Lord – which means we give all that we are and have to Him. And lastly He asks that we allow ourselves to be buried in the waters of baptism for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. None of those responses to God “buys” our salvation or earns the gift of forgiveness He offers, but does respond to God in the ways He has requested.
INVITATION
