7/12/08
Joshua Part 2a:
From
30 days of mourning for Moses
Not alone: pillar of
fire/cloud rested above tabernacle. God
would still be their Guide, if they walked in the way of His commandments.
(1:1-4) Territory: “Lebanon
as far as great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and
to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory.”
(1:5) God’s promises to
Joshua: 1. “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your
life” 2. “As I was with Moses, so I will
be with you” 3. “I will not leave you
nor forsake you” God always gives us promises when He gives us instructions
God tells Joshua twice: “Be
strong and of good courage” (1:6); “Only
be strong and very courageous…..” (1:7) FOR WHAT?
COURAGEOUS FOR WHAT? “that you
may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded
you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.” (1:7)
COURAGE FOR OBEDIENCE. STRENGTH FOR FOLLOWING/ADHERING.
GOD WILL GIVE YOU COURAGE,
COURAGE TO OBEY. HE WON’T GIVE YOU
COURAGE IF YOU ARE NOT PLANNING ON LISTENING TO HIM. THAT WOULD BE STUPID.
Verses 8-9 Action: Meditating
on the Law day and night
Results: “good success”
“the Lord your God is with
you wherever you go.”
(Book of the Law = Mosaic Law
+ Decalogue (10 Commandments).
“How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according
to Your word.
With my whole heart I have sought You;
Oh, let me not wander
from Your commandments!
Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin
against You.”
Psalm
119:9-11
“I will meditate on Your precepts,
And contemplate Your
ways.
I will delight myself in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your
word.” Psalm 119:15-16
“The entrance of Your words gives light;
It gives understanding to
the simple.
I opened my mouth and panted,
For I longed for Your
commandments.
Look upon me and be merciful to me,
As Your custom is
toward those who love Your name.
Direct my steps by Your word,
And let no iniquity have
dominion over me.” Psalm 119:130-133
1:10-11 The order to cross the
GOOD THINGS
HAPPEN AFTER THREE DAYS!
God also is seen
as a promise-keeping God here, as He remembers His promise to the Reubenites,
Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in verse 12 and following. God had promised these tribes, back in
Numbers 32, that if they crossed over the Jordan River with their brethren, and
helped to subdue the heathen nations in the
God keeps His
promises to us, my friends. He is
faithful.
Sending of the Spies/Rahab
In chapter 2, we have the
account of two spies being sent over
These spies were to find out
about the security of
What is amazing here is that
God directs these men to a HARLOT named Rahab.
Not only was this woman a citizen of an enemy nation of
Now, we know how God feels
about sexual sin and harlotry. In
Numbers chapter 25 we are told that the men of
And God looked upon this
sexual immorality among His people, and He was grieved. He was angered. A plague started to break out in
Then the Spirit of God tells
Phinehas, a priest, that specifically Zimri, a man of
“Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the
priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin
in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both
of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the
plague was stopped among the children of
Can you imagine? Caught right in the middle of the act, and
killed in the middle of the act! That’s
how seriously God hates sexual immorality!
AND YET.............AND YET
GOD, IN HIS MERCY, LOOKED UPON RAHAB, A WOMAN WHO HAD BEEN LED INTO A LIFE OF
SIN. HE LOOKED UPON RAHAB, A VICTIM OF
SATAN’S CONTROLLING EVIL. HE LOOKED UPON
RAHAB, WHO LONGED FOR DELIVERANCE. AND
GOD SAID TO HIMSELF, “NOW, HERE’S A WOMAN WHO IS WANTING HELP. HERE’S A WOMAN I CAN WORK WITH. HERE’S A WOMAN I CAN SAVE, BECAUSE SHE WANTS
TO BE SAVED.”
God’s amazing grace!! Don’t leave home without it!! Aren’t you glad that God sees right through
to our need? If we have a desire to be
set free, God will set us free, Amen?
“Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove[a] to spy secretly, saying, ‘Go, view the
land, especially
So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged
there.” Joshua 2:1
We are told that the king of
“I know that the LORD has given you the land, that the terror of
you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted
because of you. For we have heard how
the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt,
and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other
side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we
heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more
courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in
heaven above and on earth beneath.”
Joshua 2:8-11
They had already
heard about the drying up of the
Can you imagine
the citizens of
If the people of
When we continue
to live in sin, we have no peace. Just
like the people of
We can also learn
from this passage that our actions,
successes, mistakes, deeds, and moments of faith are all on display to a
watching world!! People notice how we live, the choices we
make, and the extent to which we allow God to rule in our lives. THINK OF THE IMPLICATIONS FOR CHILD-REARING,
WORK RELATIONSHIPS, AND NEIGHBORLY RELATIONS!
Rahab makes a
special request of the two spies:
“Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the LORD, since I have
shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and
give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters,
and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.” Joshua 2:12-13
Rahab wants herself
and her family to be spared! This is a
good request, isn’t it? It’s a good
thing to desire to be saved. The two
spies tell Rahab that she must bind a line of scarlet cord from the window—the
same window through which they were escaping.
They told her that when the day of attack came, and destruction was
imminent, she and her family would be spared because of the scarlet cord.
Now, scarlet is
used in the Bible to connote sin,
“though your sins be as scarlet.”
Rahab’s life had been full of sin.
But now the color scarlet takes on wonderful new meaning! It becomes a color of hope; a color of
salvation!
Just like the
blood had to be applied over the doors of the children of
My brother, my
sister, THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE IT SAFELY THROUGH THIS LIFE IS TO BE COVERED WITH
THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SPOTLESS LAMB OF GOD!!
THERE IS NO TRUE
LIFE INSURANCE BESIDES THE BLOOD OF JESUS!!
WHAT INSURANCE AGENTS SELL IS A DEATH BENEFIT!! THE ONLY TRUE LIFE ASSURANCE IS IN
CHRIST!! EITHER YOU ARE COVERED, OR YOU
ARE NOT.
Notice—the spies
inform Rahab that unless she and her family are covered by God’s grace,
symbolized by the scarlet cord, their
sins would be on their own heads:
“So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your
house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head.” Joshua 2:19
It was a simple
yet profound choice for Rahab and her family, and it’s a simple yet profound
choice for us as well: Whether to be in a saved condition in Christ Jesus, or
to remain in our sins in a lost condition.
While the
soldiers of
Rahab, the harlot
saved by grace, transformed by grace, was held in so high regard by God that
she was allowed to be included in the great Hall of Fame of Faith, in Hebrews
chapter 11. She remains an example of
faith to all of us. She is a remarkable
testimony to the gracious power of God to heal, to protect, and to save.
The two spies return to
Joshua, and they give their report about the people of
Preparation for Crossing of
God had already commanded
Joshua:
“Arise, go over this Jordan,
thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them.” Joshua 1:2
“No instruction was given as to the way in which they were to make the
passage. Joshua knew, however, that
whatever God should command, He would make a way for His people to
perform.” Amen?
When God instructs us to do
something, we don’t have to know just how we are going to do it. We should just act on God’s Word, plain and
simple. Then He will make it clear to us
just how to do what He says.
Sometimes it’s a
no-brainer. Sometimes He tells us
something basic, like, don’t work on the Sabbath, and He expects us to not work
on Sabbath, because it violates the sacredness of His holy day. It interferes with the developing of a love
relationship with Him. In that case,
it’s simply a matter of refusing to work on Sabbath, or refusing to attend
sporting events on Sabbath. Either we
choose to obey Him, or we don’t.
At other times, we get
ourselves into a situation that’s hard to get out of. It might be an illicit relationship that
we’ve been involved in for years. God
convicts us time and time again that it’s wrong, but we continue to cling to
our sin. There doesn’t seem to be a way
out of it. We’ve dug a deep hole for
ourselves. It’s become a habit, a
routine, it’s part of our psyche.
But there’s still hope. God will lead us out of our sinful lifestyle,
no matter what it might be. The first
thing we do is to cease and desist all
activity. That’s the first
step. And it’s the hardest, because it
calls for full surrender of ourselves into God’s care. But we can trust our Heavenly Father to guide
us safely out of our sinful routine, with as few repercussions as
possible. Amen? God is trustworthy. If we surrender our sin to Him, and we stop
what it is that is evil, GOD WILL IMMEDIATELY BRING HEALING INTO OUR LIVES, AND
HE WILL TAKE CARE OF DAMAGE CONTROL. WE
NEED NOT FEAR.
When God tells you to do
something, go ahead and do it. He will
give you further details when they are
needed . . .
And now those instructions
were needed by Joshua and his people.
Now, the
The reason why it was so wild
of a river is because of its steep descent.
In fact, the word “
Motif of Death
The
The children of
The children of
God chose to bring His people
through a death experience, if you will, by crossing the
In order to be successful at
Crossing the
The instructions that God
gave them were straightforward: The people were to “sanctify” themselves prior
to crossing the
You know what’s amazing? The fact that we can actually approach such
an amazing, holy God; we can actually come right
into the presence.....come right up to, right close to, GOD.....through Jesus,
His Son. The Son brings us right up to
where He is—next to the Father. Isn’t
that wonderful?
The Lord was going to magnify
Joshua in the sight of all the people.
For forty years the people had been under the reproof of God. They had not seen the awesome leadership of God. It was important to them to see that now God
was once again leading them by a firm hand.
And it was important for them to be able to trust and to respect Joshua
with the same trust and respect they had shown for Moses. Their parents had shrunk in fear, and failed
to enter the
And the
LORD said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all
So Joshua
said to the children of
What a wonderful reminder to
the people that God was still leading them; that He was still following through
on His promise to subdue the heathen nations of
Three things are important
here. First of all, the raging waters of
the
It takes faith to step in the
The second thing here is that
twelve men were to be chosen—one from each tribe. Now, these twelve men were to each pick up a
stone from the dry river bed of the
The third thing here is that
the Ark of God’s presence was to remain in the midst of
What we can learn from this
is that God stays with us in the midst of our trials and our challenges. God meets those trials and challenges head on, as we trust Him to lead in our
lives. Just as God was right there with
His people through this forbidding obstacle of a raging river, and with the
three Hebrew young people in the fiery furnace, GOD IS WITH YOU, MY
FRIEND! HE IS WITH YOU WHEN YOU CANNOT
GO ANY FURTHER. HE IS WITH YOU WHEN YOU
DON’T HAVE ANY MORE STRENGTH TO CARRY O N.
HE IS WITH YOU WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE ANY ANSWERS OR SOLUTIONS. HE IS WITH YOU WHEN YOU SUFFER, WHEN YOUR
BODY IS WRACKED WITH PAIN, WHEN YOU SUSTAIN A LOSS, WHEN YOU FAIL, WHEN YOU NO
LONGER BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. GOD IS WITH YOU—YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
“So it
was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the
priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as those who
bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark
dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during
the whole time of harvest), that the waters which came down from upstream stood
still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is
beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the
Can you imagine—the thrill,
the adrenaline, the exhilaration of walking over that dry river bed—and looking
far upstream, and seeing a formidable wall of water just waiting to come
roaring down that channel towards you? I
don’t know about you, but I think I would have liked to take a few pictures of
that while crossing! Maybe make a
T-shirt afterward that says, “I made it through
God was teaching the children
of