From Vision to Action (Joshua 2 & 3)
Last week we talked about Joshua’s call, his courage and the presence of God with him. We saw how the presence and strength of God called him to lead his generation to their call.
Now we move from that call to the beginning of the action. Moving from vision and dream to walking in the promise is a faith that works. It is that time when energy, passion, excitement, and vision must roll up its sleeves to begin to carry out the mission.
For Joshua to make his life matter for eternity, he had to begin to mobilize the people of God to carry out their conquest. They must, as a people (not just the leader – as had been the case with Moses), follow in obedience to possess what had been promised since the days of Abraham.
Do you understand the importance there? Abraham had seen the vision. Jacob had heard the promise. Yet generations had come and gone and no one had grasped hold of what God had said was for them. But this is the generation that would praise the Lord and possess what others missed.
It is our time. Surely you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this.
Joshua 2:1-23
1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.
a. He learned from the previous generation
b. Secret mission – stealth attack
i. Unknown force is going to surprise enemy
ii. A battle plan that will shock & awe – a new church that will reach our generation with the gospel
c. Rahab Harvest
i. Unexpected place to find grace
ii. Where sin does abound, there grace does much more abound
iii. God saves the most unusual, unpredictable folks
iv. There is a Rahab in your life God wants to harvest
1. One overlooked, one despised, one rejected
2. Yet one chosen of God, one full of faith, one whose life criss-crossed with destiny
a. Her lineage produced King David and Jesus Christ of Nazareth
3. Who is the Rahab you’ve overlooked ministering to?
a. Is it that lonely neighbor?
b. Is it the friend going through divorce?
c. Is it a family-member suffering sickness?
d. Is it the wealthy man who is empty on the inside?
e. Is it the alcoholic who can’t stop?
f. Don’t overlook the Rahab harvest!
2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country.
a. The enemy feared the people of God
i. What you fear, fears you
ii. Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.
3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country.
4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were:
5 And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.
6 But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.
7 And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.
8 And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof;
9 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
a. Rahab had great faith!
b. She believed in a God she had not been taught about!
c. There is a Rahab harvest that has greater faith than the wilderness-wandering church!
d. There is a Rahab harvest that knows the wonders of God!
11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
a. There is a hunger in the harvest for the wonders of God!
b. They know it exists and they long for it.
c. They can feel it is near, but they grope for Him without knowledge
d. The harvest has sought after God in spiritualism, New Age philosophy, mysticism, eastern religions, and transcendental meditation.
e. But there is a power that God will reveal and show the harvest that He alone is God
12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token:
13 And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.
14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.
15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.
16 And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way.
17 And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.
18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee.
19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.
20 And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.
21 And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.
a. Rahab saved by the Scarlet Line
b. This scarlet thread is woven throughout scripture
c. It is the blood from the first animal skins God sacrificed to clothe Adam & Eve
d. It is the blood of Abel’s sacrifice, Abraham’s lamb, Moses’ Passover, Isaiah’s substitute
e. It is the mystery of the Old Testament revealed by John when he stood in the muddy waters of the chilly Jordan River and pointed declaring “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”
f. It is “the shedding of His blood that without which there is no remission of sin”
22 And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.
23 So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them:
24 And they said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.
a. The two spies came back with the same report Joshua & Caleb had returned with 40 years earlier
b. The spies came back with faith in God, not fear of the land
c. Jewish tradition tells us that of the two spies Joshua sent into the land, Caleb was one
d. You need to hang out with faith folks, not unbelieving dead religion that is going to drag you down
Joshua 3:1-13
1 Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and he and all the sons of Israel set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan, and they lodged there before they crossed.
2 At the end of three days the officers went through the midst of the camp;
3 and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God with the Levitical priests carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.
4 "However, there shall be between you and it a distance of about 2,000 cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before."
a. There is only one way to be successful – follow the ark
b. Pursue the presence
c. Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit
5 Then Joshua said to the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you."
a. Consecrate – setting something apart for the worship and service of God
i. Removal from common and unclean
ii. Making holy for God’s special use
b. Yourself – not consecrating an object, but your heart, soul, mind, spirit, body, thoughts, and imaginations
c. Tomorrow – Get ready, On your mark, get set – it is coming
i. Are you ready for what God wants to do in your life tomorrow?
ii. Are you ready for what God wants to do in your family tomorrow?
iii. Are you ready for what God wants to do in our generation?
iv. Are you ready for the miracles? Spiritual gifts? Anointing? Power?
6 And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, "Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over ahead of the people." So they took up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people.
7 Now the LORD said to Joshua, "This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you.
8 "You shall, moreover, command the priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant, saying, `When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’ "
9 Then Joshua said to the sons of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God."
10 Joshua said, "By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will assuredly dispossess from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite.
11 "Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you into the Jordan.
12 "Now then, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe.
13 "It shall come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, and the waters which are flowing down from above will stand in one heap."
a. Memories become reality
b. Legends are lived
c. Are you ready for God to do in you what you’ve heard He’s done for others?
d. I am ready for His glory to descend on our generation!
