Conquest by the Obedience of Faith

Transcript

GRS 204
6/20/2021
Conquest by the Obedience of Faith
Joshua 5:12-6:21
Gil Rugh

We look into a portion of God’s word that is thousands of years old. And yet we’re reminded the word of God is living, powerful, sharper than any two edged sward. And it gets down into that inner man, that inner person that we were talking about in Ephesians. It does the work that only God can do with the word, that only God can give.

We’re in the book of Joshua. And we’re ready for chapter 6. The end of chapter 5 and then into chapter 6, we looked at the preceding chapters. We’ve seen God working. I want to take you back to chapter 2, just for a moment. Something was drawn to my attention and I meant to mention it to you last week. In Joshua chapter 2, you had the account of Rahab the harlot. Remember the two spies from Israel, came in and stayed at her residence. She protected them. Then, when it was safe, she let them down out the window of her residence, which was on the wall of the city. And we discussed about the rope, the scarlet thread. It was drawn to my attention, and it’s very obvious. In verse 15 of chapter 2, she let them down by a rope, through the window. And then down in verse 18, they tell her that she is to tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window. And mentioned that a couple of commentators really went to show how she had abandoned her prostitute lifestyle. And this cord and all it would have taken to die it, weave it, so they could slide down out of the window holding on to it. But they are probably two different things. One is called a rope and one is called a cord. Just as in English, in Hebrew, there are two different words. So, we’re probably not talking about the same item anyway. That will affect some good sermons that aren’t maybe the best where they’ve traced the red through scripture. And you have this scarlet rope hanging out the window. Probably just a scarlet thread that was woven there. It would be much shorter, would be tied in the window. Not necessarily anything to do with sliding down, that was by a rope. So, you can make a note of that. And keep that in mind as maybe you work on that passage sometime.

Come back to chapter 5. We want to look at the closing verses. In chapter 5, God brought Israel into the land, by drying up the Jordan River. That a reminder of what God did in delivering Israel from Egypt. He dried up the Red Sea. They walked across on dry land. Now, he dried up the Jordan River so that the Israelites could come across at flood stage. When the river would be exceptionally high and overflowing its banks, yet Israel walked across on dry ground. And then, the first thing they did was not to get ready for military battle and so on, like you might think. The first thing they do is, have to be sure we are settled in our relationship with the Lord. Circumcision had not been practiced on the males since they left Egypt. And every man over 20 years of age, with exception of two had died during those 40 years of wandering. And they had not been practicing circumcision. But they are not in fit condition. We talked about this, circumcision was never necessary for salvation. But for Israel it was a necessary result of salvation and obedience, showing the visible sign of the covenant. That they were part of, that God had established with Israel through Abraham and his descendants. And then, they observed Passover. Again, you’re parked right in the vicinity of the enemies stronghold. And you’re doing these kinds of religious observances. You think, seems like you ought to first conquer the city, then you have time to fit those things in. God’s priorities must become our priorities. God says first circumcision for the sign of the covenant, that is to be done. It incapacitates the army for a period of time for healing to take place. Doesn’t matter. What if the enemy decides to attack? Really, not Joshua or the Israelites problem. God told them what to do, you do what God says. And then any problems must be resolved by Him. The same with the Passover. You know, you see God settles their attention on Him. He did that when He brought them through the Jordan, remember? The priests carry the ark out, and as soon as they touch the waters on the overflowing bank, 15 or so miles upriver, the waters pile up. And the land is already dry. So, we noted, there’s several miracles, we might say, mini-miracles that go together for this greater miracle. It’s the ark out there, half mile or more ahead of the Israelites, so they can see the way to go. It’s a reminder, God is leading us here. So, everything is under control. Sort of like a parent with their child. And they are going to something new and the child might be afraid. The parents say, it’s alright, everything is taken care of. They put their trust in the parent. Simple things, these things are written for, remember, our admonition, our encouragement. To strengthen us, that we might have endurance, Romans 15 says.

So, with all that, we’re ready for the conquest of Jericho, but not quite. Verse 13 says of Joshua 5, now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, now note here, the context where we are, where Israel is. People of Jericho have all retreated into the city, bar the gates, it’s quite a fortress. Joshua is there, he lifts up his eyes, and behold a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. Now, you’re in enemy territory, now you see a man standing there and he’s got a sword in his hand. Gives you the idea he’s ready for serious combat. Joshua is a military man. You gotta think, you better retreat and get some help cause who knows who’s here. No. He asks the question, are you for us or for our adversaries? He doesn’t know who this is. The logical thing, you’re in enemy territory and you meet someone you don’t recognize and know and he has a sword in his hand. Good chance he might be for the adversary. Joshua asked the question. And the answer is no. Are you for us, for our adversaries? No. And then he identifies himself. I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord. And really, the issue is not who’s side am I on, who’s side are you on? Get yourself in line here, get ready.

As soon as that is said, Joshua has exactly the right response. He falls on his face to the earth, bowed to him and asked, what shall I do next? What has my Lord to say to His servant? The captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, remove your sandals from your feet, for the place you are standing is holy. Now, I move this to another level. Leave a marker there. Come back to the book of Revelation. All the way to the end of Revelation. Want to talk about the Angel of the Lord in a moment. Identify, this has to be more than just an ordinary Angel. At the of the book of Revelation an Angel who has been used to show much revelation to John. And in verse 8 of Revelation 22, “I, John and the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things.” It’s overwhelming! An angel has been used of God to reveal and show John these wonderful things. The Angel immediately rebukes him. Verse 9, “And he said to me, ‘Do not do that; I am a fellow servant.’” Syndoulos, doulos the word for servant, or more strongly, slave with the preposition with on the front. I’m a fellow slave, “a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book.” We are like you, we are submissive to the word of God. The words that have been just communicated to you, of this book, you worship God. As mighty as powerful, as glorious, as angels may be, they must not be the object of worship. Just as a reminder now, we come back here. What does Joshua do? He falls down, bows to the earth, fell on his face before this one speaking to him. It’s an act of worship. Verse 14, “What has my Lord to say to his servant?” He’s not rebuked, he’s said you’ve not gone far enough yet. Verse 15, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” I mean, we’re in Canaan, we’re outside Jericho, this land is son defiled that God is going to wipe every person out in the city of Jericho! And proceed through the land doing that. And yet, now he’s on holy ground. Because this is where the Lord is in his presence.

Come back to Exodus 3, God had a similar confrontation with Moses, in preparation for Moses leading Israel out of Egypt. In Exodus 3, look at verse 1, “Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing bush; and he looked, behold, the bush was burning with fire.” You remember the account, but the bush is not being burned up. I’m sure, Moses had seen bushes caught fire, but you could stand and watch them be consumed and the fire would die out in this kind of region. But the bush was not consumed. Verse 3, “So Moses said, I must turn aside now, and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush.” God’s not the bush, He’s not the fire, but His presence is there in that fire. Something of His glorious and consuming presence comes as the fire. He called to him, the Lord saw that he’s turned, God called him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses, here I am. Verse 5, “Then He said, do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” In the presence of the Lord. That’s what makes it holy. The one who is holy, holy, holy is here. And He says, verse 6, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”
You note verse 2, said the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire, from the midst of the bush. But it’s more than a normal angel. This is God Himself, manifesting His presence. The angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is a manifestation. We call it a theophany. You can see, two words, God and manifest. God manifesting His presence. I think all the theophanies in the Old Testament are really Christophanies basically. Manifestations of the pre-incarnate Christ. We’ll look at that in a moment. But you see the angel of the Lord and then verse 4 said, God called him from the midst of the bush. It’s the angel of the Lord in the bush. And then the next time He’s referred to, it’s God calling to him from the midst of the bush. Then verse 6 settles it, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and Jacob. So, this is a manifestation of the very presence of God.

I think these kinds of manifestations in the Old Testament are manifestations of the pre-incarnate Christ. Were it seems you have three persons comprising the one true living God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In John’s gospel chapter 1, we’re told no man has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father. He has revealed Him. Come back to John 1, let me quote the rest of it. John 1, it’s the only one we’ll come to in the New Testament. John 1:14 for bigger context. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” For when you’ve seen the Son, you’ve seen God. Now, be careful, that doesn’t mean the Son is God the Father. You have seen God the Son. Because all the fullness of deity dwells in Him in bodily form, Colossians 2 tells us. Verse 18, which I referred to, “No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father. He has explained Him.” He has exegeted Him, the word here. He has made Him known, revealed Him. That seems to be the consistent pattern, not only with His coming to be born into the human race, but He is the person of the Godhead in the Old Testament, who particularly manifests the presence of God among His people. That’s what’s going on back in Exodus. So that angel of the Lord, the messenger of the Lord, is a unique messenger, when it’s the angel of the Lord, or the angel of God. It is the very person of the second person of the Godhead, Jesus Christ.

A number of passages, come back, I think it starts in the Garden when it says God came and walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening in Genesis 3. I take it, that would have been Christ. He came, He walked, manifested God’s presence. Adam could walk with God in the garden. But come back to Genesis 16. We’re going to follow a little bit of this. I think it’s generally agreed the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, is the pre-incarnate Christ. And this is the account of Hagar the concubine with which Abram fathered a child, Ishmael. It was Sarah’s idea, but then Sarah didn’t like the outcome. Jealousy comes between the two women. So, Hagar is put out. She has to leave. And down in verse 7, after she leaves, fled from the presence. Pressure here, she’s not the final leaving of Hagar, but the tension is there, that will culminate in that. But here she flees from the presence of Sarah. And you’re told in verse 7, “Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness.” Again you see, he’s called the angel of the Lord. So, here was a manifestation of the presence of the Lord. And appearance was evidently, was of a man. But the scripture tells us it’s more than a human man, it is an angel, a spirit being manifesting a presence. But it’s a manifestation of Christ Himself. But there’s not doubt that it is God, because verse 7 says, now the angel of the Lord found her, and said to her, Hagar, Sarah’s maid, why have you come here? Well, I’m fleeing from my Mistress, she’s making life miserable. The angel of the Lord, again the title for him, verse 9, said return to your mistress and submit to her authority. Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her. Now note what he is going to do. Verse 11, “The angel of the Lord said to her further, behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son; and you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has given heed to your affliction.” And he tells her what it will be like. Then verse 13, “Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, Thou art a God who sees; for she said, have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” You can’t separate the angel of the Lord and God. “Sarah, I’ve been talking to God. It’s amazing I’m still alive! You thought he would have consumed me, but He didn’t.”

Come over to chapter 18, verse 1, “Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.” Now note, it’s the Lord who appeared to him. Verse 2, “And when he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him.” So, you see the manifestation of the angel is these men, man, there’s three of them here though, they are angels. One is a special angel, he’s the angel of the Lord. And Abraham recognizes them at first as three men. And you have the oriental hospitality. Well, please don’t keep on going, you’ve come near my home, it’s my responsibility to provide for you. I’ll prepare a meal for you. Let water be brought and wash your feet, refresh, rest yourselves. And he hurries and gets Sarah to prepare a meal. When you invite somebody today, usually you have it prepared. In those days, they haven’t even baked the bread yet. Not only that, they have to go out and kill the animal, cut it up, prepare it, then cook it. So, a little bit of wait time here.

They go through all the process, then the lead here, I take it would be “the” angel of the Lord, the prime person speaks. And says in verse 10, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah laughs in verse 14 questioning, “Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” The authority here and the power, similar to what He told Hagar in the previous section we read. Verse 17, “And the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation.” I’ve chosen him verse 19. Then He announces judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah. I will go down now and see what they have done. Verse 22, “Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham was still standing before the Lord.” So, you see what appeared to be three men, and really three angels, becoming clear now that two who are just normal angels, they proceed on. But God in the form He’s speaking to Abraham, is not said to be the angel of the Lord here, but obviously is a manifestation of God’s very presence in what He says and claims to be God. And what He is doing and He has brought about. So, He proceeds to tell Abraham what He’s going to do. Right now, Abraham is aware of the presence of the person here, and he beseeches Him to spare Lot and his family. We have to work down to that. Remember, will you destroy that city if there are fifty righteous? No. Well you spare, we work down till he thinks he’s got a safe number. Abraham didn’t go far enough. So, the city won’t be spared but God doesn’t destroy the righteous when He destroys the wicked. And then the angels in chapter 19, the two angels come. God doesn’t come with them, the angel of the Lord.

Come over to chapter 22. Again the angel of the Lord wasn’t mentioned there, but it’s clearly a manifestation of the presence of God, in talking to Abraham. And it’s called as such. In chapter 22, God tested Abraham and speaks to him and gives him instruction. Then you come down to verse 11, now, you know, God speaks to Abraham in the opening verses. God said to Abraham, speaks to him, and tells him to take his son to Moriah, and offer him as a living sacrifice. You get to the place, Abraham has done all this. Now remember, this is the only son of promise that Abraham has. All the promises of God are tied up in this one young boy. And now, Abraham has the knife up, I’m going to kill him. Why? That makes no sense for a number of reasons. Because God told me to do this. So, verse 11, God intervenes, who is it? “But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham! And he said, here I am.” Don’t kill the boy, I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then the Lord provides the lamb and it’s named even as Hagar did with seeing the Lord; gives that place the name. So verse 14, he calls the name of the place THE LORD WILL PROVIDE, because the Lord provided the lamb. And it’s in the mount of the Lord it will be provided, which becomes very significant as you’re aware in coming history.

So, again it’s the angel of the Lord. So, you go back and forth, when the angel of the Lord is speaking, God is speaking. Down in verse 15, “Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven.” So, that voice from heaven, said to be God, later the angel of the Lord speaking, this voice from heaven is the angel of the Lord speaking from heaven. And then by myself I have sworn, declares the Lord. The book of Hebrews will tell us when God could swear by none greater He swore by Himself. So, it is the action of God and what God will do.

Come back to Joshua. Those are a sample, you can do a study of the angel of the Lord. Get a bible dictionary, a bible encyclopedia. You can sometimes get it under, just look at angel of the Lord or sometimes it’s under Christology. Because, like I say, most consider the theophanies, Christophanies, and you can see that any manifestations of God in this way in the Old Testament, is really a manifestation of Christ. And when it culminates in the greatest manifestation, it will be when God becomes a man. Then who is it? It’s the second person of the Trinity, God’s Son.

So, I take it that’s the one who is here in Joshua chapter 15. And that’s why Josuha has to remove the sandals from his feet. I think about this, how privileged we are to have God dwelling within us. He’s not outside us, we think, wow, wouldn’t that be something if God appeared to us and stood. Well, you know what’s more amazing? He dwells in us, in the person of the Holy Spirit, who is fully God as much as the Son is God, as much as the Father is God. There are three distinct persons comprising the one true God. But each person contains fully all the attributes of God. He dwells in us. Any wonder He expects holiness of us. He expected it of Israel in the Old Testament. When He dwelt in their midst, how much more when He dwells within us. Amazing the position we have.

You see the order here, it gives Joshua encouragement, strength. We’ll see what the angel of the Lord says, but it puts things in order. Are you for us or against us? This issue is, no. You bow before Me, you follow Me, you obey Me. Simplifies my life. We complicate our life when we try to reverse it sometimes and get God to do our bidding. To work on our behalf. What I always want to be sure of, and you always want to be sure of, and all of God’s people want to be sure of is, we are following Him. That’s where His word, we were talking about this in Ephesians. He lays the foundation of who He is, and then He’s going to give us commands. These are not options. He’s going to instruct Joshua now. Chapter 6 is going to open up, we’re reminded in verse 1, that there is something of an insurmountable obstacle ahead of Joshua. You prepare greatly, but not militarily. You’ve done the circumcision, you’ve done the rituals, if you will. The fortress is still there. So, now the Lord says to Joshua in verse 2. Now that’s where you see what He’s done. Like we did with Ephesians, you start out recognizing the character of God. The sovereignty of God. He’s one to be obeyed. We worked through the first three chapters of Ephesians, where we’re going. Now here are the instructions, what you must do. I say that they connect us to this, because we read about Joshua and we say, of course Joshua has to do what God tells him. Who wouldn’t? We don’t sometimes do it. We’re going to see an example of that when we get to chapter 7, not tonight. We think it’s optional. Or well, we message it here, Lord I don’t know that this is the best thing that ought to be done. Or, we’re unhappy with what God is doing, as though He should have consulted us.

The angle of the Lord didn’t appear here to speak to Joshua, to get input from Joshua. We come back to who is God. It seems simple when I read the historical account of someone else and what they had to do. Now, here’s what God says to Joshua through the captain of the Lord’s host. Reminder, there are other forces here that taken care of it. But all Joshua will have, till the time the walls of Jericho come down, is the word of God, trusting.

So, the Lord said to Joshua, we come into verse 2. I take it verse is a parenthetical reminder. It’s why the angel of the Lord is here. Joshua did what he was to do. He did the circumcision, he did the observance of Passover. Reminded him of when God brought them out of Egypt. It already reminded them with crossing the Jordan, that dried up, the circumcision, the promises. Alright, now a reminder, nothing has changed at Jericho, it’s just as formidable. It was before we went through these other things. It’s not like they did the circumcision, they observed Passover, they looked out and Jericho’s on fire, or the walls have fallen down or something like that’s happened. The people are still shut up in Jericho.

Alright, here’s how you’re going to attack Jericho. You’re going to have a parade. And then you’ll have trumpets. And then the walls will fall down. I’ve summarized it. The Lord said to Joshua, and this is where you get it right up the front. “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with it’s king and the valiant warriors.” See? All I see is Jericho. I see it as a fortress. I see valiant warriors will be behind that, with a king to lead them. No, what you have to see is, “I have given Jericho into your hands.” With its king, with its valiant warriors. The battle is over, we just have to go through the outworking. Is there any doubt what’s going to happen? If you were Joshua here, any doubts? Lord, I’ve been in military battles, there are some things to be considered here. He didn’t ask for Johsua’s input. He didn’t ask for Johsua’s military opinion. He’s the captain of the Lord’s host. Remember when Jesus was on the cross? I could ask My Father and He would send thousand upon thousands, myriads upon myriads, ten thousands of tens of thousands of angels. I just love the simplicity of it. Here’s what you’ll do, you’ll march around the city. All the men of war circling the city once. You’ll do that for six days. Seven priests will carry the seven trumpets of rams horns before the ark. They’re going to be carrying the ark. I’ll tell you the order here. Let’s put it together, but He’s going to tell them all the pieces.

So, now we’re going to have the men of war. You’re going to have the priests, seven priest with seven trumpets. And seven becomes a key number here, it’s going to be mentioned, what do we have? We have seven priests, seven trumpets, seven days, seven times around. Seven being a number of completion, perfection in scripture. There’s a reminder here, God’s working and His plan will be accomplished. You’ll march around the city once, the entourage I appoint. Doesn’t mean everybody is going to be in the march. Because it’s not that big of a city. Some commentators estimate maybe take thirty minutes to walk around the city. So, everybody is not going. So, when He says the men of war, and all the men of war circling the city once, remember they numbered these as 601 thousand men of war. But it might be numbering those, all the men of war that I’m selecting out, with the priests, might be a representative group here. Either way, you see those who will be participants. They’re going to walk around the city once, every day for seven days. And what you’re going to have in the order; you’ll have a group of soldiers go first. Then you’ll have priests with rams horns, seven of them coming next. And then you’re going to have the ark of the covenant being carried. Then you’re going to have another contingent of soldiers. Then you’re going to have ordinary people. So, we say, sort of a parade. There’s an order been set out by the angle of the Lord. Now, you’re not going to do anything but walk around once and then come back to camp. Relax, wait until day two. Get up and walk around the city once. Back to camp, do nothing else. Doesn’t give anything, they’ll go back to camp and do some military preparation, sharpen your weapons. There are no instructions about the military side of this. This is the military side, to the Lord’s decree, because God’s going to do it. They’re not talking about how they’re going to breach the wall, these kinds of things. Go back and wait until day two and do what you did on day one. On day three, do what you did on day one and day two, until the seventh day. On the seventh day things will change.

The good thing, what does Joshua do? I love that he follows through, verse 14 of chapter 5, the end of the verse there, “What has the Lord have to say to His servant?” And when the Lord says it to His servant, His servant does it. You know, something you learn from this is, the simplicity of it. When God tells you to do something, well, I have to think about that. Wait a minute, the word of God is not that complicated. He can speak in a way that is understandable. So, Joshua, verse 6, the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, take up the ark of the covenant, seven priests, seven trumpets of rams horn, the ark, and the order, go forward, march around the city. The order, the armed men, go forward. That’s what we’re doing. Why are we doing it this way? Because God told us to do it this way.

So, you have the marking. What are they doing? Israel is putting their faith into action here. After day one, they have nothing to show, in the sense of any sense of victory. This is not like any military campaign we’ve carried on. What’s the point? You know what Israel has to do? What God tells them. You know what they’re putting into practice? Faith. They’re acting on the word of God. You know, if after day one, they began to see some cracks in the wall, they’d say, well that’s encouraging to do day two. On day two, some of the stones began to fall out of the wall, you say, that’s more encouragement to do day three. They don’t get anything! You know why? They’re walking by faith. What do I have? Everything I need, God’s word. He said walk around the city, then go back to camp. He said to do that the second time, the third time. You could see by day five, you might begin to think, you’re walking around the city watching. See any shaking? See any maybe pieces falling down? You see any indication that maybe? No. We haven’t gotten to day seven yet. And God doesn’t have to bring Jericho down in steps. On day seven you go, you walk around the city seven times. While they’re doing the walking around the city, not reading all of this, but what do they have to do? Maybe the hardest part of all, keep your mouth shut. Nobody talks. This is a silent march, just walking around the city. People of Jericho, looking over those walls, you don’t hear anything accept maybe the walking of feet. Look out, nobodies talking. They go back to camp. Next day, here they come, nobody says a word, silence, walk around until the seventh day.

Now, you can let it out. When the priests blow the trumpets, you give a big SHOUT, and the walls will fall down. How many times have you seen that happen? You know how many times Israel saw that? None. They’ve seen God work in battle, but this is a little different now, we’re in enemy territory, in enemy land. We’ve crossed the Jordan and now the river has come back down so that it’s not easy to talk about, let’s go back the other side and work on this. We’re here, and we’re totally passive. No, we’re not. Well, I don’t see what we’re doing would have anything to do with conquering a city. I don’t have to see it. I have to do just what God says. I keep repeating myself because He made Israel repeat themselves. Seven days, and then on the seventh day, they got to walk around and do the same thing, seven times. Isn’t God impressing them. And then on the seventh time, and complete that. When the priests blow those seven ram horns, then you all shout at the top of your lungs. And all of the walls will just come falling down. What if it didn’t? Well, you’d look like a fool. Is there any chance? God is the God who can not lie. He can’t fail. You know, I just find it so easy to think, if I was with Joshua here, I’d been right in line, but you know, when you’re going through whatever you go through, it’s the same thing, you have to come to the word. You know, I’m a person like some of you, maybe it’s age, but it’s always been me, wake up in the middle of the night. Wake up at 2:00am, what am I going to do? And then you’ve got things on your mind. Sometimes, the only thing you do to settle your mind is, go in, pick up my bible, sit down and read a little bit. I have to clear my head here. Remind myself of what You have said, and Your sovereignty. We’ve got things weighing on us that, cast all your burdens on Him, because HE cares for you. Good idea.

So, the seventh time, verse 16, the priests blew the trumpets, said to the people, shout, for the Lord has given you the city. That’s a declaration of faith. If Israel could have just lived their lives consistently, like this, we’d be in the kingdom. I realize God’s sovereign and that’s not what He did. But Israel just couldn’t keep on track. There was always reasons not to believe, not to do what God said and eventually overwhelmed them.

Now, there is a caveat here, the city shall be under the ban. All that is in it belongs to the Lord. That is simple, but it is most important. You better not miss this. We don’t want to miss anything God says. The city is under the ban. The word “the ban” may not be the best, but it’s something devoted to God. Maybe for destruction because He’s bringing judgement. It may be, to be set aside for His use only. For Jericho, everything but the precious metals, gold, silver, iron, bronze, that will be spared and placed for just the use of God and His temple. The temple’s future, the tabernacle. It’s in the tabernacle treasury. That’s what can be saved. Everything else, man, woman, child, animal, everything goes to death. And then everything is burned. You don’t want to miss that. You don’t want to think there’s some wiggle room here. Chapter 7 will show there is no wiggle room. God means what He says. The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it, belongs to the Lord. The exception God gives, only Rahab the harlot, all who are in her house shall live. Because she hid the messengers. And we noted in Hebrews 11, in that hall of faith of Old Testament people, Rahab is there. Because it was by faith, she acted. She believed in the God of Israel, what she had heard. She believed He was going to do what He had promised. So, she acted on that faith, so she’ll be spared.

But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban that are devoted to Me. That you do not covet them, take some of them things under the ban. Make the camp of Israel cursed. You note, sin in the midst can have broad consequences. Men will die in Israel because one man sinned. We get to chapter 7, God’s word is serious. You say, yes we take it, but it’s important. The evidence was when Israel began to not take God’s word seriously that the declension will set in and it won’t take long. We get to the book of Judges, one commentator titles his commentary on Judges, The Distressing Days of the Judges. And just see repeated. So here, keep yourselves from the things that I have devoted. And they might have said, well what a waist. You know, we just came into this foreign land. They’ve got some wealthy things you know. And those days you just didn’t go buy new garments, they had to be woven. And things did have to be died and then you have to make by hand. And we’re going to go in here and I could maybe kill all the people but lets keep the stuff. We could use it. Some of it be, it all has to go under the ban. Otherwise you’ll make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. And when we get to chapter 7 we see that. All the silver, gold, articles of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord. They go into the treasury of the Lord. There’s nothing here for Israel. You can keep nothing. It’s all the Lord’s. Some He’s devoted to destruction. Every living thing must die except for the articles that I mentioned, the gold, the silver and so on. They go into my treasury. Everything else gets burned. Be careful you don’t covet it and say what a waste to burn this. Could put it to good use, might even use it for the Lord. The instructions are clear.

So, the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets and what happened? The wall fell down flat. The people went up into the city. Everyone straight ahead, they took the city. Note this, they utterly destroyed everything in the city. Both man and woman, young and old. There’s no mercy shown here. No mercy shown. Not for the women, the women aren’t the soldiers, no women are to be spared. Well, what about young women who have never known a man? Which sometimes, there will be an exception in some cases. There are not exceptions here. What about the infants? There are no exceptions here. Israel goes in and this is scorched earth, literally. Every man, woman and child, there are no age separations. Now, He’s warned, you can’t let your emotions, your feelings get in the way here. There’s only one thing that matters, do what God tells you. I don’t think it’s necessary to burn valuable things that could be used in a proper way. I don’t see why we would want to kill little children. We wouldn’t be heartless like that, would we? There are people who have written that the God of the Old Testament, you can not take these things literally. A loving God, a merciful God, a kind God would not do that.

There’s a book out and one of the writers in it, that’s his view. He claims to believe in the full inspiration of scripture. Believes the bible is the word of God. But he just adjusts the interpretation of it. A lot of this is to be taken spiritually. Talking about how spiritual battles are waged. And he ends up being in a box where he has to say, much of the Old Testament is jut wrong. It really doesn’t reflect what God would do. When you set up your own standards of what God will do and not do, you know what you’ve done? You’ve made yourself God. Here’s what I say God would do, here’s what I say God would not do. And if He doesn’t do it the way I think, according to my standards, He’s not God. What have I done? I put myself in God’s position.

#1: I realize He’s sovereign. We don’t have time to go through, we’ll pick up this whole issue of the ban and the killing. Because that’s going to happen more than one place. It’s the future of the Canaanites, they have no future. They are coming into the land with prior instructions. Israel is coming into the land with prior instructions; you kill every man, woman and child. This is, some call it a holy war. That term has become such, this is what is right, because it’s what God has instructed for His purposes. What has happened is, Canaan has ripened to judgement. We ought to be aware of this. You see what’s going on in our country. The world that we’re living in in our country. I read that there was a movement in government hierarchy that wanted to have mandated that all the governor’s mansions in the cites would fly the gay flag. We’re like Sodom and Gomorrah. We are not ashamed at all to flaunt this and declare, we defy You God and what You have said. Look at why God said He’s wiping out the Canaanites. What did He do to Sodom and Gomorrah? Wipe them out. I want to be comfortable where God is. So, I settle in. If I didn’t have any more information, there’s other things to be said here. But, we don’t want to explain it away. This is the God that we all have to deal with.

There comes a time when there is not mercy. Remember what Revelations said? When the tribulation comes, God’s judgement will be poured out, stirred in the cup, full cup of His wrath. No mercy mixed in. When it comes to that, it’s terrible. It’s whoa, you don’t want to be on the wrong side of this. The man in the article I was reading, I don’t if I’ll read you parts of it or not next time, God couldn’t do that, God wouldn’t do that. He’s a God of peace, He’s a God of mercy, He’s a God of love. He would never come in and wipeout. That’s so contrary to the peace that Jesus said He brought and God doesn’t change, so He wouldn’t have done that. You get all this kind of emotional fluff. Because we want to make God in our own image. He is a God of love, a God of mercy, a God of kindness. But when you don’t avail yourself of that, you find out He is also everything He says He is. A God of eternal wrath, a God of eternal anger, fury. You realize in the tribulation billions of people are going to die? From newborn babies to elderly adults. And it’s judgement time for Canaan. There’s going to be an exception or two. Rahab is one of those. But for Canaan that will be where it goes.

So, we’ll pick that up, because we have to tie this together with chapter 7. Because, find out Israel can experience some of the similar and same judgements of God, when they get out of line, that the Canaanites do. And we’re going to find an Israelite who didn’t do what he was told. And he and his family and all of his possessions are going to be killed and burned up. Important we understand God’s character in its completeness and not just construct out of God’s character what we like and reject the rest of it. It makes us that much more thankful. Think Rahab isn’t thankful for God salvation, for His mercy, for His forgiveness? Certainly, because she will be spared.

Alright, let’s pray together. Thank You Lord, for the riches of Your word. Thank You for the preservation of Your word, so that we can, thousands of years later, be reading these accounts. And Your Spirit can use it for our admonition, for our encouragement, for our reminders. So, we learn we can be strengthened. And Lord, we can appreciate, You are a God who keeps Your word. A God who cannot lie. And we have our faith in Your word, it’s promises. And we know we are secure. We look forward to the week ahead. Again, I ask Your blessing on the ministry to the kids, the bible school. Lord I pray the Spirit will work as only He can in the lives of each of these young kids. Use the teachers, the workers as Your instruments to accomplish Your purposes. Bless us wherever You send us in the days of this week, that we might honor You. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.