[MUSIC PLAYING] The Bible from 30,000 feet,
soaring through the scripture from Genesis to Revelation. We have looked at Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. We have covered the first
five books of Moses. Now, quick recap. Genesis is the
book of beginnings. It's the beginning
of the heavens and the earth, the
beginning of mankind. It's also the beginning of
a nation through Abram-- Abraham. The nation of Israel is
isolated in that book as the descendants of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's Genesis. Exodus is a book of deliverance. The book opens up
with bondage in Egypt. And just like the
nation of Israel was mediated through
the lineage of Abraham, the deliverance of Israel is
mediated through the leadership of Moses. They are delivered out
of Egypt on their way to the Promised Land. When we get to the
book of Leviticus, it's a book of worship. It's how do I approach God? That issue is
answered in the book. I approach God only
through a blood sacrifice. God is holy, and
a sacrifice must be made so that an
approach can be made. When we get to the
book of Numbers, it's a book of wandering-- wandering because they
did not keep all the commandments that God had
previously given in the law. So it's their
failure to believe, thus they're wandering
in the wilderness. Get to the book of Deuteronomy,
which we covered last time. It's a book of repetition. God repeats what He
already said in some of the earlier books of Moses. He does it through Moses
to a brand new generation. The young ones need
to hear this stuff. And so Moses gives
three farewell speeches on the plains of Moab
overlooking the Jordan, overlooking Jericho in the
distance, which leads us now to the book of Joshua. Joshua is a bridge. It's a bridge between
the previous four books-- Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy-- and the next seven books. What do I mean by a bridge? Those previous four books
are Israel outside the land. The next seven books are
Israel inside the land. So this is the bridge
between the nation being out of the land
and inside the land. God promised them a
long time before this that He would bring them into
what he called the Promised Land. Not that it's a perfect lush
environment, but it's the land God promised them. It was what He had for them. And God is the author and
the finisher of our faith. What God promises, God will do. I love that about God. I love that God's
love is stubborn love. God says, I'm going to do this. And they weren't up to the task. They weren't up to the faith to
believe that God would do it, but God did it anyway. So we come to Joshua, and
Joshua can easily be divided. I love how these books just sort
of naturally fall into place. The first portion of the book of
Joshua-- chapters 1 through 5-- is Israel entering the land. Entering the land,
chapters 1 through 5. Chapters 6 through 12 is the
nation conquering the land. And then the last portion,
chapters 13 through 24, the nation is distributing
the land among the 12 tribes. Now, just to recap again,
the entire generation that left Egypt is
dead except their kids. This is now a new generation
that has come of age. And there's only
two people that are left from the previous
generation that has died. We know their names well by now. That is Joshua, the
author of this book, and his buddy Caleb, who
we'll see in this book. We're just going to
touch on a few things. This is a 24 chapter book. We're doing it in a single hour. Now, anytime you come
up to a book that happens to have as
its name the same name as our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, we take note. Joshua is the anglicized
version of the Hebrew word Yeshua, which happened
to be Jesus' name. He was known as
Yeshya ben Yosef-- Jesus the son of Joseph,
Jesus of Nazareth. It was a common name. Most kids named Yeshua or Joshua
were named after this Joshua. But before the
evening is over, I want to touch just a little
bit-- as we close, especially-- on how there are
similarities between the two. So we begin at beginning
in chapter 1 verse 1, the entering of
the land of Canaan. Now, Josephus--
remember that name? He was a historian. Flavius Josephus wrote the
Antiquities of the Jews. He was sort of a
contemporary of Jesus. He wrote that Joshua was
born in Egypt as a slave, and when he was 80
years of age, he was conscripted by Moses
at the command of God as the successor. And he followed Moses and he
became his aide or assistant. We'll see that in the text. You might want to
call it an intern. Jog your memory a little bit. Up to this point, Joshua
has been like the general of Israel's army. Back in Exodus,
the 17th chapter, it was General Joshua
who led the charge when they had a battle
against the Amalekites. Moses got Joshua to be the
leader of that, to get the army and to attack those who
were attacking them. Now, some believe
that Joshua was an officer in the Egyptian
Army before the exodus. Maybe, maybe not. What's interesting
about that, it's possible, because there are
Egyptian texts that have lists of soldiers with Semitic names. And Joshua being
Jewish-- a Semite-- would have a Semitic name. Obviously, he does. And archaeologists have
found Egyptian soldiers with a Semitic name. So perhaps that
fits the account. Joshua chapter 1 verse 1. After the death of Moses,
the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that
the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of-- what's his name? Nun. I always have to
say that, because I know Catholics weren't
in the Old Testament, that I just want to really
underscore, otherwise some is going to read that
and go, uh-oh, son of a nun? That's not good. So it's son of Nun. That's the Hebrew pronunciation. Moses' assistant--
or intern or aide-- saying, Moses My
servant is dead. Now therefore, arise,
go over this Jordan, you and all this people to the
land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel. Typically when somebody died. It was a 30 day mourning period. That's the funeral. That's a public mourning. And that time has passed,
and it's now time to move on. Moses, this great man
of God, this leader who is bigger than life. He was legendary. He saw miracles of God. He's dead. And I love how practical God is. Moses is dead, get going. Here's a good lesson for us. Nothing of God dies when
the man of God dies. God has someone
else up His sleeve. When the man or woman of
God dies, God does not. In fact, new vistas open up. And it happens with Joshua. Verse 3, every place the sole
of your foot will tread on I have given to you,
as I said to Moses. Go down to verse 6. Be strong and of good
courage, for to this people you shall divide
as an inheritance the land which I swore to
their fathers to give them. Verse 8, this book
of the law shall not depart from your
mouth, but you-- Joshua, you-- shall
meditate in a day and night that you may observe to do
to all that is written in it. For then you will make
your way prosperous, and then you will
have good success. Something internal, something
external was commanded. Internal, be of good courage. External, stay in the word. I'm giving you a land. Remember the commandments. Pass those on. Live them. Be a man of courage. Be a man of the word. Now, they're entering
the land of Canaan. Why is it called Canaan? Because a group called
Canaanites live there. That's all. A bunch of different groups. And the amalgam of that
groups is given the title the Canaanites. Now, the land of
Canaan I believe is a representation of something
else for the modern believer. How are we to apply the book of
Joshua, an Old Testament book, to our lives? What does Canaan represent? Well, that's a good question. I'm glad you asked it. Historically,
traditionally, people have interpreted
the land of Canaan and crossing over
the Jordan River into the promised land
as the Christian dying and going to heaven. So the River Jordan
is like death. Once you get to the
other side, you're now in heaven, the Promised Land. And some hymns reflect that. For instance, you're
familiar with "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." The lyrics are, when
I look over Jordan, coming for to carry
me home, I see a band of angels coming after me. (SINGING) Coming for
to carry me home. That's a hymn--
sorry about that-- it represents in that hymn Jordan
as dying and going to heaven. There's a problem with that. If the Promised Land, the land
of Canaan, represents heaven, you better be looking
forward to a fight. Because once they get
to the other side, there are battles after
battle after battle that they face in
taking that land. Rather than looking
at it that way, I think it's best to see it
as the victorious life now. Because the Christian
experience is not a playground. It is a battleground. And the spirit-filled
life would be more representative
of the land of Canaan than dying and going to heaven. It's the experience that
God wants you to have now. He doesn't want you to
be wandering around. He wants you to hold onto
His promise and experience, just like they experienced,
a second baptism. The first baptism, they
went through the Red Sea. Paul calls that a baptism. The second time they went
through a body of water-- another kind of a baptism-- was the Jordan River. And now they're in
the Promised Land. They're enjoying a
spirit-filled life. Even though there
will be battles, victory is assured them. Joshua chapter 2, it begins,
now Joshua, the son of Nun-- very good, class-- sent out
two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, go view
the land, especially Jericho. So they went out and came
to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there. Now, the rest of
the chapter shows her hiding these two
spies on a rooftop, covering them up so
nobody could find them. Interesting that
Joshua sends two spies. Why only two? Because Moses had sent 12. Well, Joshua would know that 10
proved to be worthless, right? Only he and Caleb-- those were the two spies
that saw the land and said, we can take it. Let's go for it. The other 10 didn't believe God. So Joshua was saying,
I don't need those 10. Let's just get two,
because Deuteronomy said by the mouth
of two witnesses every word will be established. So rather than going by
tradition, he goes by the word, and sends in two spies. Now, they go to Rahab's house. Interesting thing about
Rahab, she's a harlot. Most of us know that-- a woman of ill repute,
a woman of the evening. But she ends up showing up
in the genealogical record of the Lord Jesus Christ
in the New Testament. She's also found in
Hebrews 11 in what we call the Hall of Faith. Hebrews 11 says by
faith, the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who
did not believe when she had received the spies with peace. When I was in high school-- I still have my senior
high school annual. And if I go to the
back of the annual, there are several categories--
most scholastic, most spirited, most athletic, best dressed,
most likely to succeed. Remember those categories? They were in my annual. I was in none of
those categories. I didn't make any of them. That's what we do
in human circles. We have those kind
of categories. In God's annual, He
has another category-- most unlikely to succeed. I'm in that category. I made that one. God has chosen
the foolish things of this world, the Rahabs, the
yous and the mes, and decides, I can do something great
through those people if they submit
their lives to Me. Well, she's in Jericho,
and she tells the spies that everybody in Jericho
has heard about your God, heard about the Red Sea, heard
how you defeated those two kings Og and Sihon. We know all about you. And she said, I want you to
know that our hearts melted within us when we
heard the reports. She gives a very
different report than the 10 spies
gave years before when they went to spy out the land. And they said, we are
grasshoppers in our sight, grasshoppers in their sight. And their hearts--
the spies hearts-- melted within them for fear. Come to find out, God put the
fear of the Children of Israel in the Canaanites' hearts. Now they find out
the whole truth. Rahab was the only one who
makes a confession of faith in the city of Jericho. She says, your God-- she says to the two spies-- is the Lord God. And she makes a special
request in this chapter to spare her life and
the life of her family. She makes a deal
with these two spies. I'm going to spare your life. I'm not going to rat on you. I'm not going to tell people
that you came in tonight and that I hid you. And I'm going to let you escape. But the deal is,
you've got to spare my life when you take the city. So verse 17 of chapter 2,
so the men said to her, we will be blameless
of this oath of yours which you have made
us swear, unless when we come into the land, you
bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through
which you let us down, and unless you bring
your father, your mother, your brothers, and all
your father's household into your own home. So here's the picture. Jericho is a walled city. Rahab's house was no doubt
on the edge on the wall. She would let down a scarlet
rope out of her window-- a red rope. When they were marching
around the city, that one home could
be designated. They could see that
scarlet cord going down, and that was the
house to be spared. It was marked. And what this reminds me is
in the exodus at the Passover, there were homes
that were marked, and you had to mark them
with scarlet, right? Blood on the lintils
and the door post. And you had to remain
inside the house, and the death angel
would pass over them. Joshua chapter 3, we
come to the crossing of the Jordan, the border
from the East and the West. Now, the priests
were to go first, and they would carry
the Ark of the Covenant. Some of you who
were here earlier saw our little model of
the Ark of the Covenant march up here on
stage and go down. It was a box. And it was a box that was
approximately 45 inches long by 27 inches wide by 27
inches tall, roughly. Had a gold lid inside. There were three items-- the tablets of the
law, a pot of manna as a remembrance
of God's provision, and Aaron's rod that
budded miraculously. Those three items that
spoke of their past history were in the Ark. The priests in
crossing the Jordan were to carry the Ark on
their shoulders and go first. It was the symbol that
God was with them. Remember, God promised, My
presence will go with you. So they would go first and they
would march across the Jordan. Verse 14 of chapter 3, so it
was when the people set out from the camp to
cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing
the Ark of the Covenant before the people, and
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. And then notice the
parenthetical statement. For the Jordan
overflows all its banks during the whole
time of harvest. That water was not going to
budge until the priest did what with their feet? They got to get their feet wet. They had to dip their feet in
the water, then it opened up. You will not see many
of God's promises until you get your feet wet-- till you take the promise and
just say, I'm going for it. I believe it. I'm just going to
walk forward, and I'm hoping this baby will open. If not, [GLUGGING]. But it did. They had to get their feet wet. And if you and I
don't do that, we're not going to see very much. So verse 16, the waters
which came down from upstream stood still and rose in a
heap very far away at Adam. Adam is identified
in modern terms by a little area
called Tel ed-Damiyeh. Not that I expect
you to remember that, but that is a real place
that archeologists believe is this place of Adam. The city that is beside Zaretan. Now you understand. So the waters that went down
into the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea-- that is the Dead
Sea-- failed and were cut off, and the people crossed
over opposite Jericho. Now, over the years,
people have tried to come up with natural
explanations of this event. And they say, well,
back in the year 1267, there was an earthquake. And there was, it's on record. And the banks of the Jordan
River went into the river and stopped the flow of the
Jordan River for 10 hours. Then they'll point to
something that happened in 1929, and same thing. Earthquake happened
in the same area. And it stopped up the
river for 21 hours. So those are natural phenomenon. It has happened before. However, none of those examples
happened at what the Bible says happened here. What happened here
was at flood season. It's very, very different. So the timing was exact. The waters heaped up, which
is not a natural phenomenon. The bottom dried up. Then they crossed over. Then the waters filled in
where they were before. Now, most of the
year, the Jordan River is about 100 feet
wide in this area-- at least before all
the farming that siphoned the water in
more recent time-- about 100 feet wide. At flood stage, it's
about a mile wide. So it's not like
those earthquakes that put some of the banks and
kept the water from flowing. It's a little bit different. And when I find things
like this in the Bible, rather than thinking, I have
to find a natural explanation, I'm really OK with
God just pulling off a supernatural miracle, so
that the children of Israel don't go, oh coincidence,
there's an earthquake today. Isn't that cool? They're walking through
going, this is God. This is God. Because at the exact time
the toes of the priests hit the water, foom,
those waters opened up. Another quick note. Fast forward to
the New Testament. There's a guy down at
the New Testament times just before Jesus shows up. At that area, same area
of the Jordan River, named J the B. That's my
nickname for John the Baptist. J the B is baptizing. It says in John chapter 1
verse 28, these things-- John's baptism-- were
done in Bethabara. Do you remember that word
in your New Testament? These things-- John
the Baptist baptizing-- were done in Bethabara
beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing. Bethabara means the house
or the place of passage. So John was baptizing where
the Children of Israel once crossed 1,500
years earlier. And John said something very
interesting to the people who were coming to be
baptized, especially the religious people. He said, don't begin to think
within yourselves that we have Abraham as our Father. In other words, we think
we're OK because we have Jewish blood. He continues, for God is able
to raise up of these stones children to Abraham. Now, I've been in that area. There are a lot of
stones in Israel. But interestingly, down by
the Jordan River, it's dirt. There's not a lot of
stones in that area. But he refers to these stones. I don't know what exactly
he was referring to, but I'm going to suggest
that we find out perhaps in the next chapter,
chapter 4 and 5. They're instructed to take 12
stones out of the Jordan River and pile them up as a memorial
for generations to come. Chapter 4 verse 19, the
people came up from the Jordan on the 10th day of
the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on
the East border of Jericho. So they've made it
across the Jordan River. They're now in the
land of Canaan. They go to a place
called Gilgal. Gilgal is a Hebrew
word that means circle. A lot of scholars believe it
was once a pagan worship site. So they kind of move in and
reclaim it and redeem it, and they set up HQ there. That's their base camp. That's their beachhead. So by a miracle of God
and leadership of Joshua, over two million
people have crossed that Jordan River on dry
land, and they're now in the Promised Land. Chapter 5, the story continues. But they're not ready
for the battle yet. They're not ready
to take the land. There's something
that they failed to do and needs to happen. It's called consecration. Consecration must
precede conquest. If you're going
to win the battle, make sure your heart
is right before God. Consecration must
precede conquest. And what they neglected to do is
circumcise their male children the entire time they
were in the wilderness and celebrate the Passover. So they do that in this chapter. Chapter 5 verse 4,
and this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them-- all the people who came out
of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died
in the wilderness on the way, after they came out of Egypt. For all the people who came
out had been circumcised, but all the people born in
the wilderness on the way as they came out of Egypt
had not been circumcised. Now, circumcision without
elaborating on it-- because I think you
know what that is-- it was a covenant symbol that
God first gave to Abraham. It was an outward symbol
of an inward covenant that they made with God. In fact, always it was to mean
a spiritual operation more than just a physical operation. In Deuteronomy chapter
10, Moses says, circumcised the
foreskin of your heart and be stiff-necked no longer. Of course, the
children of Israel turned out to be
stiff-necked a lot longer. They disobeyed. They refused to
live by the spirit and they live by the flesh. And the idea of circumcision is,
just as you cut away the flesh, cut away living for the flesh
and live by and for the spirit. Now, it's interesting
that he said don't be stiff-necked
any longer. In Acts chapter 7, Stephen will
say to the Jews of his day, you stiff-necked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always
resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. So the circumcision
meant far more than just an outward
symbol of a covenant. It meant live in this
spirit, live for the Lord, and cut away fleshly desires. Interesting note in
verse 12 of chapter 5-- something stopped. Notice what it is. Then the manna ceased. On the day after they had
eaten the produce of the land, the children of Israel
no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the
land of Canaan this year. I bet they were stoked to
be done with the manna. Even though manna was cool
and it sustained them and it at all the vitamins
necessary for refueling and for keeping
them those 40 years, they'd had it for a long time. They had a miraculous
provision of manna. They had the cloud cover and
the fiery pillar by night. All of these were visible
evidences of God's presence. Now it stopped. And I think there's
a lesson there. As long as the manna
was on the ground-- and the cloud, the pillar,
all that stuff was there-- they could live by sight. They would go when
the cloud went and when that pillary fire went. And every day they got up,
there it is again, manna. Let's cook it up. Every day, there it is again. Cook it up. It was always there. Now it's not there. Because they're graduating
to a life of faith. Likewise, we live by
faith and not by sight. That's the Christian life. So sometimes, the
provision ends. And when it ends, we go, oh
no, God, what are you doing? Wait for it. Keep walking. Get those feet wet. Just keep moving ahead. Something will happen. God will show up. Chapter 5 verse
13, it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho-- this is still part of
this consecration-- that he lifted up his
eyes and he looked. And behold, a Man-- notice this capital
M in your Bible. At least it is in mine. Is it capital M? OK, that's a little
clue, then, for you. A Man-- capital M--
stood opposite him with his sword
drawn in his hand. Joshua went to Him
and said, are you for us or for our adversaries? That's a good question. It's a fair question. Has His sword out. Are you friend or foe? Because if you're a friend,
you shouldn't be here. If you're a foe, my sword's
about to teach you a lesson. That's how this is going. So he says, are you for
us or for our adversaries? The answer comes back
very interestingly. So He said, no. What kind of an answer is that? Are you for us or for them? No. In other words, wrong question. Your question is,
am I on your side? This man is saying,
the real question is, are you on My side? He said no. But as the Commander of the army
of the Lord, I have now come. And Joshua fell on
his face to the earth and worshiped Him
and said, what does my Lord say to His servant? Then the Commander
of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take your
sandal off your foot, for the place that
you stand is holy. And Joshua did so. Something happened or he saw
something or felt something or noticed something that
convinced Joshua that this was no mortal soldier. This was no human being. Because he addresses
Him as Lord. Very similar to Abram
in the plains of Mamre when three visitors came and
one identified Himself-- one of these men-- as the Lord. Very similar to Jacob wrestling
with the angel at Penuel. And he wrestled with this Man,
it says, through the night. And the Man identified
Himself as the Lord. Very similar to the
voice at the burning bush who speaks as the Lord. So Joshua figures that out. Like, the burning bush,
takes his sandals off, and he worships before the
Commander of the Lord's army. So Joshua was the
commander of Israel's army. But now he goes, OK,
so You outrank me. I'm not number one,
You're number one. I'm number two. I hope I'm on Your side,
and he worships Him. Public victories are the
results of private visits. What will get you through the
trials that you face that seem excruciating-- these battles
that seem insurmountable-- are private times with the Lord. Stay at it. Keep your quiet
times every morning or whenever you have them-- whether it's at
noon or evening-- have them, those private
visits with the Lord. And so he bows and he worships. And therein lay his strength. And there's the strength
of this battle coming up. When I was in
Scotland years ago, I remember going to
Edinburgh and visiting where John Knox lived and preached. And there's a little
recording there. It talks about Mary
Queen of Scots. Remember her? She was the queen of Scotland. And John Knox would
often preach against her. And she went on record
as saying that-- she said (SCOTTISH ACCENT) I
fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the
assembled armies of Europe. Isn't that a great statement? I fear his prayers more than
all the armies of Europe, because she knew
when this man prayed, his private visits
meant public victories. Now we come to
the second section of the book of Joshua
chapters 6 through 12. Chapter 6 verse 1, now
Jericho was securely shut up because of the
Children of Israel. None went out, none came in. And the Lord said
to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into
your hand, its King, and all the mighty men of valor. Now, if I'm Joshua
and I hear this, I'm going to think,
no, I don't see, right? Because what I see is a
city securely shut up. I'm in the Promised Land. You said we're going
to have this land. But I don't see it opened up
and ready to be given to me. I see a city tightly closed
off, because the armies are outside of it. And so God said see? I've given you the land. I'm going, no I don't see it. And I'm bringing this up because
this is how it seems sometimes. God gives us a promise,
and yet everything just seems closed up. Doesn't seem like it's working. And I know God
made this, promise but where's the
provision right now? I don't see it. OK, so that's how Joshua is. The land has been promised but,
he doesn't see it right away. What he sees is a
closed off city. Verse 3, you shall march around
the city, all you men of war. You shall go all
around the city once. This you shall do for six days. I imagine the first day
marching around the city. So I'm in Jericho. I'm watching this. I'm watching them
go around the city. I'm scared, because
there's a large army. And they're marching
around the city. They're casing out the joint. I'm probably terrified
the first day. Oh no, oh no. Remember, their hearts
were melting within them. Then the second day-- by the
third day, I'm thinking-- so day one and two, they
just kind of walked. So it's day three, they're
probably just going to walk. So I'm out there looking. I'm feeling very confident
now on day three. There they are, so what? I don't care. Yeah, hi. How are you? Until the seventh day. By the seventh day, I'm
probably laughing at them. I'm mocking at them. Because they're not making
any overtures to attack the city that I live in. Now, verse 4-- did
I cover verse 3? Verse 4. And seven priests shall bear
seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark. So picture the process. Guys blown horns, carrying that
gold box, army's behind them. But the seventh
day you shall march around the city seven times. And the priests shall
blow the trumpets. OK, I'll get back to the people
in Jericho in just a minute. But God has them march around
the city how many days total? Total, seven days. One time for six days, seven
times on the seventh day. Seven days they're
marching around the city. One of those days had
to be the Sabbath. God said, the Sabbath is holy. Keep the Sabbath holy. God now commands them to march
around seven straight days. Why would God do that? Because God has that
prerogative, first of all. He's God. And it illustrates something
Jesus said in the New Testament about the Sabbath. He said, the Sabbath
was made for man. Man was not made
for the Sabbath. So here, God puts on hiatus
or pause for this battle that seventh day rest and
tells them to march around it. Now again, insight
into God's ways. First Corinthians 1 I've
quoted many times-- hundreds, thousands of times
from this pulpit-- or table, whichever. God has chosen the foolish
things of this world to confound the wise. What could be more foolish
than an army marching around the city six times
then seven more times on that seventh day,
doing absolutely nothing? First day they feel terrified,
third day they feel confident, seventh day they're
laughing and mocking at the children of Israel. Let's draw a parallel. To the world, you look foolish. To the uninformed,
the worldly person, they look at the Christian,
they look at your values, they look at what
you believe in, that seems so stupid,
so foolish, so naive, so dumbed down. And you keep this in
mind next time you are standing up to
a worldly person mocking you for
what you believe. And when they mock
you and they tell you how foolish you
are, just remember, it's only the first day. Or maybe it's just
the third day. But the seventh day's coming. And when that comes-- when that judgment day hits-- you're going to be
standing strong and tall. And I'm glad five of you
think that's a good thing. The rest of you need
to get a move on here. Now we get into chapter 7
and we have a stark contrast. It's like we're reading a
completely different book. It's totally different, chapter
7, from the previous chapters. In chapter 6, they
march around the city. In chapter 7, they
run like scared kids. Because they're a little
bit overconfident, having taken the city of Jericho. They come up with a smaller
city, the city of Ai. A-I. Remember how the flight
attendants would say ai? That's this city. Ai. So Ai was a small town. Jericho had fallen. The Children of
Israel or feeling really good about themselves. They're flush from the victory. And they now come to
the little town of Ai feeling very overconfident. We don't need to
do anything here. We don't need to
talk to God about it. We just need do this in an
afternoon-- a quick mop up. They get defeated in Ai. You are not most vulnerable
when you are down and out. You are most vulnerable
when you are up and in-- when you have
success and you feel really good about who you are. That's when you're
most vulnerable. Children of Israel felt
really good about Jericho, saying, man, we did good. Well actually, you did nothing. You tooted your own horn
a whole bunch of times. But those walls didn't
come down because, well, I blew my horn really well. It was a miracle of God. So you did absolutely
nothing, and you should be depending on the Lord. Well, what happened here? Not only were they
overconfident, but there's a guy named Achan-- name means trouble-- who
saw Babylonian garments, some silver, some gold. Stole it, brought
it to his tent. Nobody knew about it. God knew about it. Microphone's always on with God. Camera's always
rolling with God. God saw it. Joshua gets wind of it. He gets eliminated
along with his family, and 36 total die
because of this. He is taken out and
he is eliminated. Achan's sin affected
other people. Our sin affects other people. You cannot sin without having
that hurt others around you. That's the thing about sin. It's my life. It's my body. It's going to affect others. And so it is in the church. When one Christian
heart grows cold, the temperature of others around
you gets diminished just a bit. So that's why we need to
be encouraging each other and holding each
other accountable. Remember Jonah when he sinned? He didn't just experience
the consequence alone. There were people in that boat
who experienced the storm along with him. And those unbelieving
soldiers and sailors are saying, how do we
get this storm to stop? Jonah said, throw me overboard. But they were
affected by his sin. So it was with Achan
in this chapter. Chapter 8, Joshua
builds an altar. And I'm taking you to
the end of the chapter. They finally defeat Ai,
because they pray about it, they talk to God about it. And they build an altar. They go to the central portion
of the land, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. If you remember in
previous studies, Moses told them to do that
once they get into the land. And Joshua takes and copies-- get this-- he copies the whole
Pentateuch-- the first five books of Moses. He copies them by hand and
then he reads them out loud. Look at verse 35 chapter 8. There was not a word
of all that Moses had commanded which
Joshua did not read before all the
assembly of Israel, with the women, the little
ones, and the strangers who were living among them. This is not the Bible
from 30,000 feet. He was going through the
Bible from three feet. He read-- this was a
long church service. As Moses read-- all
those books of Moses that we just covered at 30,000,
he read them all word for word to them. Now, Joshua chapter 9
gives us his strategy. What happens is
Israel enters the land right around the
midpoint geographical. They take Jericho
and Ai, which is right in the central
portion of the land across from the
plains of Moab, thus dividing the land
North and South. Now they're in the middle. There's a wedge between
North and South. Now they can begin a
Southern campaign and then a Northern campaign. So the strategy is
divide and conquer. South of them just
a few miles away were a group called
the Gibeonites, and this chapter
talks about them. If they would have done
a little due diligence and again prayed
to the Lord, they wouldn't have been hoodwinked. But the Gibeonites were
about seven to 10 miles away. That's where they lived. But they dressed
up in these rags, and they looked
really like they were travelers from a distant land. And they came up to Joshua
and they went, hey man, we've been traveling a long
time from a far away country. So Joshua and the children of
Israel make a pact with them. God said, don't make any pacts
with the people of the land. They make a pact
because they're fooled. In chapter 8 verse 14, it
says the men of Israel-- here's the problem-- did
not ask counsel of the Lord. Please make a note of that. Sometimes our failure is
merely praying about it. When we pray about
things, God gives us discernment about things. And I love people in
the body of Christ that have the gift
of discernment. It's hard to have that gift,
because you see certain things, you feel certain things,
you're aware of certain things that nobody else is. But had they prayed, they
would have saved themselves a boatload of trouble. So they make a deal
with the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites become
woodcutters and water carriers in the tabernacle. Chapters 10, especially the
end, all the way to chapter 12 is a summary of the conquest
of the land South and North and a list of the kings
that were defeated. In this chapter, the Northern
kings form a coalition together, and they attack Joshua
and the Children of Israel. The Children of Israel win. By the way, just got
to throw this in. There's a city
that's mentioned here in this coalition called Hazor. If you go to Israel
today, you're driving North from
the Sea of Galilee. You see this little hill
and it's the city of Hazor. Well, I had not been there for
years until this last tour. I said to my tour guide, look,
I know the day's really packed, but we've got to go see Hazor. So we went. And for people who had
been to Israel before, this was the first. It was a first for
me in 10 or 15 years. But if you go to Hazor today
and you open the book of Joshua where it says that Joshua
and the Children of Israel did not burn any of the cities
in the Northern coalition except for one, they
burned Hazor to the ground. You can see in
the soil remains-- archaeological soil-- to this
day the ashes from the fires that were lit by Joshua
and the Children of Israel in the conquest. Plain as day right before you. It's a marvel of
a miracle that you can see thousands of years
removed even to this day. Look at chapter 11 verse 23. There's a summary verse
of all of this conquest. So Joshua took the whole
land according to all that the Lord had said to
Moses, and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel
according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war. So can you see? This is the Promised Land. And yet the smoke
of war is everywhere in the Promised Land. Once again, the Christian
life is not a playground. It is a battleground. Suit up. Wear the armor of the spirit. Don't be surprised by that. Some people I meet are
spiritual pacifists. And I'm not getting
down on pacifists per se, though I could. But I won't right now. But there are
spiritual pacifists. They just don't like the
idea of spiritual warfare. Well, then if you don't
fight, you will fall. You have to realize that once
you come to Christ, great, you're on your way to heaven. Great, you're bearing
fruit for the Lord. Because of that,
you're a target. And the battles
will come your way. I want you to not
be alarmed by that. I want you to take a
little pride in that. I want you to think, really? Satan is mad at me? I'm glad. In fact, I'm honored. I love the fact that I can
do things that Satan hates. I can tick him off. I'm going to think of all
sorts of ways I can do that. Charles Hadden
Spurgeon said, there is something comforting
in the thought that the devil is an adversary. I would sooner have him as an
adversary than as a friend. I love the fact that Satan hates
my guts, because I hate his. Because he's doing everything
he can to stop the work of God. And if getting into the
battle and making him angry is part of it, oh, I'll
think of all sorts of ways. Now, let's come to the last part
of this battlefield of a book, and that is chapters
13 through 24, the distribution of the land. Chapter 13 verse 1, now Joshua
was old, advanced in years. And the Lord said to him, you
are old, advanced in years, and there remains very
much land to be possessed. This is the land
that yet remains of all the territory
of the Philistines and all that of the Geshurites. Verses 3 through 6,
God lists from South to North of these
lands not yet taken. Verse 7, now therefore,
divide this land as an inheritance
to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh. Don't you love God's honesty? Hey old man, you're old. But you can't quit yet. Not time to give up and go
to a retirement home yet. There still is stuff to do. There remains land to be taken. I love that. Getting old scares
a lot of people. Josh was just getting started,
and God reminds him, not done yet. In Joshua chapter 14, it's
the day everyone has waited. For 40 years, they have
waited for this day. This day's payday. Chapter 14 is the
beginning of the divvying up by tribe of the
land of Canaan, as it will be done in the
next several chapters. We won't look at them. It's tribe by tribe. They cast lots. Chapter 14 verse 1,
these are the areas which the Children
of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan,
which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of
Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes
of the Children of Israel distributed as an
inheritance to them. Their inheritance was
by lot, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses. Go down to verse 6. Then the children of Judah
came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb-- that's his buddy. It's that other
goods spy years ago. Caleb the son of Jephunneh
the Kenizzite came to him. Said to him, you
know the word which the Lord said to Moses the
man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea. I was 40 years old when
Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea
to spy out the land. And I brought back word
to him as was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren
who went up with me made the heart of
this people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord. That's his testimony. It's not a bragimony,
it's a testimony. I wholly follow-- I
believe what God said. So Moses swore on that
day, saying surely the land where your foot has trodden
shall be your inheritance and your children's forever,
because you have wholly followed the Lord my God. Now behold, the Lord
has kept me alive, as he said, these 45 years,
ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel
wandered in the wilderness. And now, here I am
this day, 85 years old. I love a guy who is
not ashamed of his age. I'm 85 years old. So what, he says. You know what's funny? Age is a funny thing. I seldom meet somebody who
goes, I love the age I'm at. I meet young people who
go, man, I can't wait till I'm just a little older. Then I meet people a little
older who say, man, I wish I was young again. And it's funny, isn't
it, we monitor age? At first, well, how
old is your baby? 8 and 1/2 months. 14.25 months. And then we go from months
to half years 4 and 1/2. And then we go by whole years. Then we go by decades. Oh, he's in his 30s, 40s. And then there comes a
point you just don't ask. It's just nebulous. He goes, I'm 85 years old. He goes over his
nation's history. He starts talking about
the good old days. And I'm sure some of
the younger people are rolling their eyes going,
oh, here he goes again. I've heard these stories before. But the point is, here's
a man who stayed faithful in the daily grind year
after year, generation after generation, for 40 years. I'm just going to tell
you, the hardest thing is staying faithful
over the long haul. Pray that God will
keep you to the end faithful over the long haul. Verse 11, he says, he's 85. He's 85. Listen to what he says-- 85-year-old guy saying--
yet I am as strong this day as on the day Moses sent me. Really? OK. Just as my strength was
then, so my strength for war both going out
and for coming in. How could he say that? Because his strength
was in the Lord. God hadn't changed. He figured God can still
do what He once did. Now therefore, give
me this mountain-- love this verse-- of which
the Lord spoke in that day. For you heard that
the Anakim were there and the cities were
great and fortified. It may be that the
Lord will be with me and I shall be able to drive
them out as the Lord said. Here's a guy-- you
just can't stop Caleb. He's sort of like Jaws 2. Remember when Jaws 1 came out,
just frightened everybody. Then it's like, just
when you thought it was safe to go back in
the water, and its Jaws 2. So it's like the Canaanites. Just when you thought
it was safe to live in the land of
Canaan, he's back. It's Caleb 2, 85
and still alive. Love this guy. Here's a man not
stuck in the past. He didn't say, oh man, remember
Josh, the good old days? That was then, this is now. I find people do this a
lot in Christian movements. They look back to
some past peak. Oh, do you remember
in 19-whatever when God did this and that? Do you remember
the Jesus movement? Bro, wasn't it so cool? The Jesus movement,
man, in the '70s. Dude, word up, Jesus is still
moving in 2018 and beyond. He hasn't gone anywhere. So he's ready to rock and roll. Next several chapters, the
land is apportioned by tribe. Chapter 18, they moved their
headquarters from Gilgal-- the little place on the side of
the Jordan River by Jericho-- and they move it for
geographic and military reasons to a more central,
elevated location, the place called Shiloh. Verse 1, chapter 18,
the whole congregation of the Children of Israel
assembled together at Shiloh, set up the tabernacle
of meeting there. I'm pausing, because
I'm going to tell you something in a moment. They set up the tabernacle
in Shiloh there. And the land was
subdued before them. This is the first
permanent placement of the tabernacle in
the land of Canaan, and it will stay there at
Shiloh for the next 369 years. That becomes HQ. That's central,
and that is Shiloh. Chapter 23 and 24, we'll finish
up Joshua's final message. Chapter 23 probably spoken
to leaders, chapter 24 to the whole group. Verse 2 of chapter 23, Joshua
called all of Israel elders, their heads, their
judges, their officers, said to them, I'm
old, advanced in age. Maybe never said that
before, but God told him. So he figured, OK, it's
got to be the truth. I'm old. You have seen all
that the Lord your God has done to all these
nations because of you, for the Lord your God is
He who has fought for you. See, I have divided to you
by lot these nations that remain to be an inheritance for
your tribes from the Jordan, with all the nations that I
have cut off as far as the Great Sea westward. Verse 14, behold, this day I'm
going the way of all the earth. And you know in your hearts
and in all your souls that not one thing has failed
of all the good things which the Lord your God
spoke concerning you. All have come to pass. Not one word of them has failed. To me, one of the most
significant statements in the Old Testament. To me, it shows
that Joshua believed in what we call the verbal
and plenary inspiration of the scripture-- that the
words themselves are inspired and all of them are inspired. It's not, well, there's
concepts and allegories. This is the word, all the words. All of them are inspired by God. Chapter 24 verse 14. Now therefore, fear
the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and
truth, and put away the gods which
your father served on the other side of the
river-- that is the Nile River-- and in Egypt. Serve the Lord. And if it seems evil to
you to serve the Lord, choose for yourself this
day whom you will serve, whether the gods which
your father served that were on the other
side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites
in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house--
say it together, all of us-- we will serve the Lord. Do you mean that? Let's do that. We will serve the Lord. Now, I had more to say on
this verse, but time's up. So I'm going to finish at
verse 26 down to verse 28. Joshua wrote these words in
the book of the law of God. He took a large
stone, set it up there under the oak that was by
the sanctuary of the Lord. Joshua said to all
the people, behold, this stone shall
be a witness to us. For it has heard all
the words of the Lord which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness
to you lest you deny your God. So Joshua let the people depart
each to his own inheritance. Then Joshua kicks the bucket. He dies. He and Eleazar die. And that ends the book. I said, though, this is a book
that has Jesus' name on it. Moses did not enter the land. The Children of Israel did not
enter the land under Moses. The children of Israel
entered the land under Jesus-- Joshua. The law couldn't help them
inherit the land that Moses gave, because the land
was a gift that God gave to them by grace. So Joshua, the
namesake of Jesus, brought them as a free gift of
grace into the land of Canaan. I just want you to
keep something in mind and I want you to
remember this when we get to the book of Revelation. See, big smile. Trusting in your brains
to be able to do that. The book of Revelation
turns out to be the book of Joshua on steroids. What do I mean? Here we have a
conquest of Canaan. Book of Revelation, we have
the conquest of the Earth. In the book of Joshua, he
sends out two witnesses. In Revelation, there
are two witnesses that God sends to the earth. In the book of Joshua, there are
seven days of trumpet blowing. In the book of Revelation, there
are seven trumpet judgments that are on the earth. In the book of Joshua, there's
an Old Testament alliance, a Northern alliance
of kings that fights against the children of Israel. We see a coalition amassing
themselves on Jerusalem in the end of days. Revelation 13, it's
headed by the Antichrist. Also a coalition. That ends the book. I'm going to stop here. We're three minutes over time. But I have something
I want to show you. It's going to be
brought out right now. You see these things right here? You know what these are? What are they? This is manna, baby. This here is manna. You say, what you mean, manna? Well, I've always
found it interesting how the Bible describes manna. It's described in
Exodus as tasting like wafers made with honey. Not only that, but in
the book of Numbers, it says it's like pastry
prepared with oil. Now, come on, does that not
sound like a Krispy Kreme donut? Have you never seen
a Krispy Kreme? They have the sign
that says hot now. I wonder when the manna
fell on the ground and the sun hit it, oh, just-- so the manna ceased when they
entered the promised land. This is the last time
we're going to be talking about manna for a long time. So on the way out, I just
don't have a few-- oh, I almost dropped the manna. On the way out, we've
got manna for you. We have massive amounts
of Krispy Kreme donuts. [APPLAUSE] Because I believe
in your health. Let's all stand up. [MUSIC PLAYING] We hope you enjoyed this message
from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Church. For more resources,
visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from the Bible from 30,000 Feet.
