Joshua Session 1 - A Comprehensive Commentary by Ron Matsen

[Music] do lord we ask that you would open your word to us tonight lord father we recognize that anything that's good comes from you and lord that it's through the agency of the holy spirit in our life lord that you'll open our eyes to see and ears to hear that which is from you lord that you can bring understanding to us lord and we pray father that as we begin a journey through this book lord that it will change us lord as as we study this man who is a type and shadow of the as a forerunner of jesus christ for it's in his name we pray amen well tonight we're going to start a study of the book of joshua we're going to look at two chapters as an introduction first of all when we look at the purpose of the book we're going to get a lot of information as we go through this book we're going to see it from a historical point of view that it is accurate history it records israel's challenges israel's unique commandments with regards to the land israel's conquests but also their failure it's an interesting piece of history in that sense in that it records not just the successes you know the pharaohs of egypt and the kings of assyria as their um uh would would uh chronicle their events and their history they they left out the defeats they left out the failures but one thing that i think really is quite telling about um the inspiration of scripture concerning the nation of israel is it gives the good the bad and the ugly it reveals all of that israel's failures and it also leaves a sense of an income a legacy of incomplete obedience and from this entire study we'll see a tremendous parallel to the current teachings on the kingdom power and glory now there is a book that has been written by chuck and nancy mistler which would serve as a good companion book to the book of joshua in the sense that it is all about understanding what we are to do after we've become christians god has brought us into this new life rescued us from the bondage of egypt in that sense and he has appointed us unto an inheritance but we'll see what happens with the nation of israel and we'll also notice that there are some interesting indicators uh and types and shadows that we need to pay attention to because they're very similar to the challenges that we'll be faced with as christians there's also a lot of very practical aspects of our study in the book of joshua the objective of the book is to complete that which their forefathers failed to do which is inheriting the promised land you see this group that is going out now and that we're going to be studying is on the heels of 38 years of silence in the wilderness because their parents failed to occupy the land which god had promised them and so the objective of the book is really to show that these people were going to now attempt to fulfill that which their forefathers failed to do it's a a book of war and warfare but even more importantly choices and consequences something that we need to be sensitive to as christians that every choice we make even in christ will have consequences and we'll see the result of some of those consequences we'll also take a look at the book uh in the sense of the mystical aspects in the book the types and shadows in the book we have used this phrase often the new testament is in the old testament concealed and the old testament is in the new testament revealed another way to say that is that the old testament is the screenplay for the doctrines of the new testament if you want to understand the doctrines of the new testament you look at examples in the old testament when you are struggling with stories in the old testament generally speaking you will find the answer to why they are there by looking at the new testament and so the new testament brings light upon the stories of the old testament and the old testament gives a representation a physical representation of the doctrines that we'll see in the new testament its main character of course is joshua and probably all of you are familiar with the fact that that name simply means jehovah is salvation in greek we would translate that jesus and we know the name of jesus means god is our salvation now joshua was an interesting character in terms of the type and shadow of christ and we will see him as a character sort of dip in and out of that type not everything joshua does is a type and shadow of christ but we will try to highlight that as we go through the book he came to fulfill that which moses could not complete of course moses being representative of the law jesus came to fill up the law jesus says i didn't come to put away the law but to fill it up to fulfill it and so we'll see that joshua comes to complete the work that moses could not he leads israel whose name means ruled by god into their promised inheritance so he is the one who enables them to enter the promised land and what we will highlight is jesus in this case joshua will do all that is necessary for the children of israel to enjoy the entirety of their inheritance their failure will be their lack of obedience not because joshua was incapable of delivering to them all that was necessarily theirs and he is the one who will be responsible for awarding israel's inheritance now there are many parallels that we're going to draw but there is a very strong parallel between the book of joshua and the book of ephesians ephesians is all about entering into and uh and enjoying the inheritance that we have but if you're familiar with the book of joshua or a book of ephesians you also know that it deals with spiritual warfare and so you'll see that there's quite a parallel between the book of joshua and the book of ephesians in fact i would encourage you that in the weeks to come that in parallel to the readings that we'll do here that you also go through quickly the six chapters of ephesians and and it will refresh you in terms of the teachings of paul and you'll also begin to see more than we'll be able to cover uh in these sessions the parallels that are in the book of ephesians for example joshua is all focused on our earthly inheritance where ephesians is focused on our heavenly inheritance what joshua illustrates practically ephesians explains doctrinally and so we'll we'll identify a few of those but it's much better to read the books in parallel to each other and you get the sense of what it is to fully occupy and enjoy the inheritance that we have as born-again believers there's also a mystical parallel between the book of joshua and the book of revelation and again we'll point out a few of those they will deal for example with the fact that um before the invasion of the land by joshua comes he sends in two witnesses and we'll talk a little bit about that uh in the study tonight uh there are trumpets that that are are blown before a judgment takes place there's hailstones from heaven there's kings hiding in caves all similar sort of events that take place uh during that final age of man uh also referred to as the great tribulation and there's even parallels between the destruction of jericho and the ultimate destruction of the city of babylon and so when we get to that juncture in our study we'll try to point some of those out now when we deal with this character of joshua let's just refresh ourselves a little bit in terms of his history up until this point in exodus chapter 17 we see the first time he appears is he is the general of israel's army fighting the enemies of israel so the first time he appears he's he's of the military sort he is fighting the amalekites in exodus chapter 24 he's with moses when he goes up to mount sinai now most people miss this in their rehearsal of the history of the nation of israel at the foot of mount sinai they're very familiar with what moses does they're very familiar with what aaron does aaron of course the elder brother of moses goes down to the the camp of the israelites and while moses is spending 40 days on the top of the mountains aaron is down listening to the cries of the people and they erect this golden calf and begin to worship around it one thing that's important is to recognize that joshua does not participate in that he does not go up to the mountaintop with moses but he stays on the mountain of the lord the entire time and that's indicative and when you study the book of exodus you become sensitive the fact that this joshua character the second time he is appearing he's appearing as a um a companion of moses as moses is receiving the revelation of god to deliver through the law to the nation of israel then in exodus chapter 32 he is the one who comes and enfores informs moses of the rebellion in the camp of israel so he's a messenger he is the one who sees what's going on comes and tells moses of course moses you know the story gets angry takes the tablets that god has delivered to him with the the commandments of god on me and he throws them down and breaks them and in his mind he'd like to go down and see the people destroyed uh but uh but no um you know god says let me break uh through to destroy these people and and moses uh intercedes on their behalf but so the third time we see uh joshua he is at that as a messenger in that he is overseeing the camp but not participating with them and then of course when moses returns to the camp after that whole horrible incident where he takes the golden calf and he grinds it into dust and he mixes it with water and makes the people drink it then he takes his tent and he moves it outside of the camp of israel and joshua is the one who's appointed not aaron or anyone else to be with moses to protect the house of moses but joshua himself he's in numbers chapter 11 he's with moses when the 70 elders are appointed he's one of the 12 spies as they come up to kadish barnia he's one of the 12 spies who uh brings back a good report he goes he and caleb come back with a good report we read in numbers chapter 13. and then when you get to numbers chapter 27 we'll begin reading there and the lord said to moses take joshua the son of nun with you a man in whom is the spirit and lay your hand on him setting before eliezer the priest and before all the congregation and inaugurate him in their sight and you shall give some of your authority to him that all the congregation of the children of israel may be obedient he shall stand before eliasa are the priests who shall inquire before the lord for him by the judgment of the earm at his word they shall go out and at his word they shall come in he and all the children of israel with him all the congregation so moses did as the lord commanded him and he took joshua and set him before eleazar the priest and before all the congregation and he laid his hands on him and inaugurated him just as the lord commanded by the hand of moses and so we have in numbers 27 really the public ordination or um uh recognition now of joshua being the successor to moses and and while moses is still alive some of the authority is given to him so that the people can see that he is the one that will lead them out and lead them in and then of course the in the in the torah then there is the record of the death of moses so let's begin chapter 1 of joshua after the death of moses the servant of the lord it came to pass that the lord spoke to joshua the son of nun moses assistant 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 every place that the soul of your foot will tread upon i have given you as i said to moses from the wilderness and this lebanon as far as the great river the river euphrates all the land of the hittites and to the great sea toward going down going down of the sun shall be your territory now once again there's a definition of what is loosely referred to as the promised land there was a land promised to abraham and god took him outside when he was wavering on the promise and said look i know you don't have an offspring but look up at the stars for if you can count the stars you'll be able to count your seed that will come unto you and i've given you this land as far as you can see well the same is here the the borders are formally given and recorded in numbers chapter 34 but god gives israel more than they will possess which is so often the case with you and i the southern border is that of the wilderness of sinai the northern border is that of lebanon except that he says he gives them all the land of the hittites the east is the euphrates river and the west is the great sea the mediterranean now when we look at that area we see the river euphrates and we recognize and there's various maps that try to estimate what is meant by from the sea the mediterranean to the euphrates you see if if you just went simply due east you would eclipse most of jordan kuwait and iraq going to the euphrates river but let's be limit ourselves to sort of a triangle there you see that's quite a a large area going all the way up in and through what we know as modern day syria today but of course what do they end up actually occupying is something far smaller than that and that that will be the extent of their inheritance david will expand during his kingdom the kingdom a little further up and he will establish a garrison in damascus but that's about as far north they never really get to the euphrates river and that is interesting because that's mentioned in a number of places that the inheritance of israel is from the mediterranean to the euphrates now when we consider this inheritance this promised land notice what they are told their possession is a matter of their position every place that the soul of your foot will tread upon i will give it to you in other words you can't call something yours until you enter into it there has to be possession is not simply saying i own something but i do not have control over it. he's saying your possession will be expressed by your position where are you there are many christians today who speak of their rich inheritance in christ but they live as though they're paupers spiritually because they can talk a good talk but they don't actually as it were put shoe leather to their faith they have to walk in not talk of obedience which is often the case we all talk a good game it's all about not just what we say but what we do again ephesians chapter 1 beginning in verse 11 tells us in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will that we who first trusted in christ should be to the praise of his glory now as we continue to verse 15 therefore i also after i heard of your faith in the lord jesus christ and your love for all the saints do not cease to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers that the god of our lord jesus christ the father of glory may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his mighty power you know as the nation of israel stood on the eastern bank of the jordan river and as we read in these in chapters one and two and joshua was preparing the people to enter the promised land he is going to continually reiterate the fact that this venture that they are about to embark on is not something that they are going to do alone the god of heaven and earth is on their side and paul is saying the same thing in terms of our inheritance he is saying that as he is praying for the church in ephesus that he his desire is that they would be granted with the spirit of wisdom and revelation and that the byproduct of that is that the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling oftentimes if we're living an impoverished spiritual life we're struggling in areas in our life needlessly it's because we haven't partnered with god to see victory take place in our life we need to recognize that god works on our behalf the scripture tells us that he neither sleeps nor slumbers but his eyes go to and fro the whole earth seeking those for whom he can show himself strong and so if you count yourself in the body of christ as a member of the body of christ for whom jesus christ came suffered died and rose again that you might have an opportunity to have everlasting fellowship with the father that everlasting fellowship is not something that starts at the grave it starts at the moment you're born again when you place yourself under not simply the salvation of jesus christ but the lordship of jesus christ that we should feel no fear of submitting ourselves holy and totally to the lordship of jesus christ in our life and allowing him as moses said would be his command to be the one who says where we go out and where we come in we involve him in every aspect of our life there's nothing that is separating the the sacred from the secular we make no distinction like that and so we need to understand what that relationship is and how god is committed to see us be successful and that's why i want you as we're going through this study to also read the book of ephesians and you'll begin to get the connection between the doctrines that paul is speaking of and the practical application that we will see within the book of joshua no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life as i was with moses so i will be with you i will not leave you nor forsake you 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 only be strong and very courageous 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 this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it for then you shall make your way prosperous and then you will have good success have i not commanded you be strong and of good courage do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the lord your god is with you wherever you go and so we have this beautiful promise that god is making to joshua as the now new leader of the nation of israel he says i will be with you and you will prosper how much clearer can it be than that when you're in the midst of trials and tribulation god is committed to complete that which he has begun he will begin a good work and you will complete it until the day of jesus christ it's his problem if you let him be your lord there are conditions though if you note through that portion of the text that it was necessary for them or for him as a leader to take the law of god which is what we know as the torah to meditate on it daily don't use the the the bible as a fire extinguisher you know you you leave it on the wall and uh you might use it someday if you if you get in trouble you know and maybe now and then you you have you get it off and look at it to make sure the arrow's still in the green you know and that's sometimes how people treat the bible you know they get that big uh family bible that they've got on their coffee table and it maybe has a few birth records in it and there it sits and and now and then you might even open it up uh but for fear of disturbing the dust that's on it but the idea is that it should be an integral part of our daily life one of the um concerns i have sometimes with people's perception of what church is you don't go to church i have people ask me all the time where do you go to church and they think i'm flippant when they say i am the church i'm a member of the church i'm in the church i'm connected to the church now if you're saying what local fellowship do i go to many as many as i can and as often as i can but i'm in the church and we need to recognize that there is no other form of communication more important for you and i to study to meditate upon than the word of god and yet it's amazing to me how people can spend so much time reading so many other things for years as i was a management consultant in the aerospace industry in europe i would be in lots of airports in fact a portion of that time i was flying to some destination at least once a week and so i spent a lot of time in airports and and the fellas the engineers and other managers that would go with me they they'd all carry on the airplanes these whacking great big books you know hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pages and they would just sit down for hours and and just completely uh you know devote their life to to the acquisition of whatever experience they could uh from these novels and i was always astonished by that and uh and then and then you look at christians who you you speak about reading the bible and and you know it's as though you've you've asked them to to uh to do something horribly difficult or hard i remember as a young kid in the church when i i went to church every sunday and monday and wednesday and i went to a family with a family that went to church often and and you carried your bible to church every day and and i was 18 years old before i actually read a whole book of the bible and yet i carried this bible with me all the time i used to carry it to school in my rucksack because i want to take the lord with me but i never opened it up not not really i mean except like the pastors would to find those those one were one verse bullets you know that uh like a chinese fortune cookie you know you open it up to find that one phrase that and so you'd underline those and and sort of tabbed the page so you could find those but the rest of it were just sort of a blurred black and white page but the idea of taking something and reading it and meditating upon it contemplating it so that you might observe it notice the next condition is that you observe it and then do it don't just simply meditate oh isn't that interesting but you incorporate it into your life notice as god is speaking to joshua he is telling him to be courageous by understanding that god is with you wherever you go see you can't just be courageous in yourself most of us are familiar with the story of david and goliath this young man the youngest of his brothers in the house of jesse who goes out when the army of israel is phasing the philistines and there in the valley of elah is this goliath one of five giant brothers who's taunting the nation of israel and no one is is courageous enough to go down to him but david we are told says is there not a cause has not this uncircumcised philistine blasphemed the god of israel and he takes up his his slingshot he gets some stones from the brook of ilah and goes out and slays this guy there was something that david understood that the entire army of israel didn't and that is the god of the entire universe will fight on their behalf they had lost that they thought it was all going to be something that they needed to accomplish in the power of their own flesh now don't get me wrong i'm not saying that there as we will see here god will be with the nation of israel as they begin to occupy the land they will physically have to take possession of it they will have to engage the enemy it's not something that we can simply do in theory only we have to physically do that but remember we're courageous because we know god is with us it's sort of like you're the little kid that gets picked on on the block and tell your great big center half brother is behind you and then you've got this great big guy who they see him they don't see you anymore you've brought along the big brute and that's what we need to recognize we have we can therefore be courageous continuing verse 10 then joshua commanded the officers of the people saying pass through the camp and command the people saying prepare provisions for yourself for within three days you will cross over this jordan to go in to possess the land which the lord your god is giving you to possess and to the reubenites the gaddites and half the tribe of manasseh joshua spoke saying remember the word which moses the servant of the lord commanded you saying the lord your god is giving you rest and is giving you this land your wives your little ones and your livestock shall remain in the land which moses gave you on this side of the jordan but you shall pass before your brethren armed all your mighty men of valor and help them until the lord has given your brethren rest as he gave you and they also have taken possession of the land which the lord your god is giving them then you shall return to the land of your possession and enjoy it which moses the lord's servant gave you on this side of the jordan toward the sunrise now again just to refresh your memory during the book of numbers you know that these as the nation of israel was coming to the eastern shore of the jordan river they encamped there for a while and the tribe of reuben the tribe of gad and half the tribe manasseh said hey our cattle really liked this place we can't really understand why anyone would want to go anyplace better than this so they took what we know today as the golan heights going down to the jordan rift in the jordan valley on the eastern side and they petitioned moses and moses went before the lord and the lord said fine if they don't want to enter into their rightful inheritance i'll give them an inheritance outside of the promised land but there are caveats every time their brethren take up arms they need to be part of the nation because they're going to be on the fringes their their flank as it were is going to be exposed to the surrounding nations and so to the nine and a half tribes he said pack all your things in three days we're moving and to the two and a half tribes those who had already taken their inheritance on the eastern side of the jordan river they are told all the soldiers are to make preparation now from the tribes of reuben gad and half the tribe of nasa there should have been 136 930 men available we know that from numbers chapter 26 verses 7 also 18 and 34. so we know there was a numbering that went on to get a sense of the strength of the army of israel and so there was 136 930 men of able-bodied men who should have been able to cross over with their brethren leaving behind their wives and children but as we will find in joshua chapter 4 verse 13 only 40 000 will go so they withhold from the lord almost a hundred thousand men stay back so you know that is what happens when you have people who are only half committed you know they talk about this person is only half committed to the project half committed is no commission it's no they're not committed at all that's the real issue here and and this will be indicative of these two and a half tribes on the eastern shore of the jordan river it'll be by half measures all the time and interestingly enough when you get into the later historic books you find they're the first tribes to fall and the first tribes to be carried away into captivity because they are half-hearted just like those who are within the body of christ today oh they they they perhaps responded with great zeal and and perhaps even emotion to the gospel of jesus christ but when it comes right down to it there there's no real commitment when it comes to now this is your part to play as a member of the body of christ oh i'm not too i like the idea of not being condemned uh and for my sin and being justified by the work of christ i think that's wonderful but the idea that now you want me to to be a fruit bearing a productive christian well i i've got a lot of life to live here i mean i'm glad that i've dealt with the with the eternity issue you know that it's like pre-paying a holiday somewhere i've got a i know where i know where i'm going when i go on holiday but right now this is my time this is all about me and that's the way lots of people live and we'll see as we go through is what happens when you carry into the the battle for inheritance and reward a mentality of keeping a foot still in the world it's always something that will hold you back and ensnare you and so these uh of reuben gat and half the tribe of nasa they choose to dwell outside the promised land and this is one of the conundrums that you see today there are many parallels to this today lots of people who will name the name of christ and perhaps have have involved themselves in various religious ceremonies and perhaps even call themselves born again but there's no fruit beware there's much especially in the new testament warning about those who are not fruit bearing if they are jesus says the the vine dresser will come along and cut them away from the true vine because they're not fruit bearing and throw them into the fire it's a it's um it really creates a difficult situation for those people who who on the one hand will make a profession with their mouth but in terms of what they actually do is not be part of the effort that god would give concerning inheritance verse 16 we continue so the answer joshua's saying all that you command us we will do and whenever you send us we will go just as we heeded moses in all things so we will heed you only the lord your god be with you as he was with moses whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words in all that you commanded him shall be put to death only be strong and of good courage wow what a wonderful oath these people make right they make a statement of obedience they they say we're willing to punish all disobedience you know i i love the statement that is made in mary poppins she says that's a pie crust promise it's easily made easily broken you know it must have stung in the ears of joshua to hear these people say we will obey you just like we obeyed moses you see joshua had watched the parents of all these this second generation die in the wilderness because of disobedience these were the people that cried out to god well for the leaks and onions of egypt these are the people that that that rose up in rebellion and god caused serpents to go out among the people these are the people that moaned and complained throughout their 38-year soldier in the wilderness but notice how when joshua sends out via the captains to the people now you get ready we're going to be going and they send back this message we're going to be true to the lord and true to you and whatever you say will do be careful about making oaths to the lord in fact jesus in the new testament says says don't make oaths it's foolish just let your yes be yes and you know be no don't swear by the gold in the temple or swear on your mother's grave or whatever you don't need to add something to your yes or your no just simply perform what you have said you will do so let's move on to joshua chapter 2. now joshua the son of nun sent out two men from acacia grove to spy secretly saying go view the land especially jericho. so they went and came to the house of a harlot named rahab now joshua like moses is sending out spies he sends two why is he sending spies didn't god just simply say i'm going to be with you it's interesting to read the commentaries concerning this some believe that joshua is doing this because there's still a sense of fear within him there's the fear the unknown perhaps because of his experience 38 years earlier he didn't want to send 12 he knew that was a disaster he knew that two came back with a good report and so he's sending only two spies in perhaps that's his purpose yet moses had said to him fear not god had said be strong and of good courage the people even echoed back to joshua be strong and of good courage perhaps there's something more going on here than as some bible commentators surmise that perhaps joshua's feeling a little lack here perhaps it's a foreshadowing of the two witnesses that go forth in the first three and a half year period of the the 70th week of daniel also known as known as the time of jacob's troubles these two witnesses go forth and what do they accomplish well they bring a witness of the word of god in israel to unbelievers who are unbelievers at that point you see these guys go forward they bring no military intelligence back none that we can tell of other than they they they bring back a story that the of their experience in the city but they go to rahab and i think we're going to find the reason why they go perhaps joshua didn't fully understand but god knew because there was someone who needed saving this wasn't about getting information this was about giving a last chance to someone who needed to be saved and thus we have the two witnesses that will be in the first three and a half year uh period they're here to proclaim the glorious gospel they'll demonstrate in the power of elisha signs and wonders before the people why because god is not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance i think personally god put it upon the heart of of joshua to do this not that he knew it but that god knew that there was a woman in her family that needed to be saved and that's why he's moving and sending out these two guys and what they do is they come and they come to the house of rahab they're sent to jericho as their first city now why jericho well it it sits closest of the cities it sits closest to the jordan river it's a fortified city though they could have easily passed it by and gone up uh to the north to the city of ai and then gone into the the jezreel valley which is quite fertile but they're sent to jericho their first point of contact is going to be with jericho jericho means the house of the moon god interestingly enough isn't it who is the moon god allah of islam again foreshadowing perhaps the final world influencing situation in the middle east will be the dominance of islam trying to snuff out not only christianity but more importantly judaism the hebrew worship of god and so it's interesting that that is joshua jesus is coming in his first point of conflict is going to be with allah the the house of the moon god let's move on and it was told the king of jericho saying behold men have come here tonight from the children of israel to search out the country so the king of jericho sent to rahab saying bring out the men who have come to you who have entered your house for they have come to search out all the country then the woman took the two men and hid them so she said yes the men came to me but i did not know where they were from and it happened as the gate was being shut when it was dark that the men went out where the men went i do not know pursue them quickly for you may overtake them but she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof then the men pursued them by the road to the jordan and the fjords and as soon as those who pursued them had gone out they shut the gate we have an interesting situation here which is really the lie of rahab these young men come into the city apparently their their arrival is well known it immediately reported to the king it would appear as though they did not even try to hide the fact that they were from the nation of israel across the river it wasn't as though they were trying to sneak around in the in the dark corners or something it appears as though the city not only knew they had entered but that they had gone to the house of rahab and the question really that people love to focus on is is it right what rahab did perhaps she thought she was helping god which when you consider the fact that these were two spies of the nation of israel we can be caught in this type of situational ethic where we think we're helping god by lying well let's investigate this you have to ask yourself a question is god incapable of taking care of his own servants or does he need us to lie yes some will argue that during a time of war misdirection lying moving by stealth is is all forms of lying and therefore really could a christian be a be a spy or could he be involved in the intelligence community where misinformation and disinformation is a part of it i mean it really is sort of an interesting conversation to get into i don't know the answer to those i would know what to say if somebody said you know that you need to lie because when we look at what the bible has to say although there's the record of what rahab is doing the bible says that faith in god means that we must obey his laws and we're not to lie well let's then just play that out then what might have happened had she said yep the guys are here i've got them hit upstairs well if god wanted them to escape they would have because god can hide or defend his own servants remember in genesis chapter 19 what happens when these two angels come in to sodom and gomorrah and they come to the house of lot and the men of the city come out and want to drag drag them out into the city and and god causes blindness to fall on their eyes and they couldn't find the door so god is capable of defending his people if he so desires to so i'm sort of lean at least from a biblical standpoint that says that we don't need to lie to advance the gospel lie to i think we can be intelligent and perhaps you know be careful what we do say but i don't i don't think we necessarily have to lie but nonetheless when we review this story of rahab you'll notice that she will be commended for her choice not her conduct but so too with the patriarchs abraham lied a number of times well not in so many words i mean when he introduced sarah as his sister technically he was she was his sister a half-sister but he was hiding the fact that he was married to her this is the patriarch the father of the nation of israel and you'll find a number of instances like that and it shows a lack of trust in the lord and in both instances for abraham of course god appears to the men who took his wife and says to them look if you touch these ladies you're in big trouble so god will take care of the situation carrying on verse 8 now therefore lie down now before they lay down she came up to them on the roof and said to them i know that the lord has given you the land that the terror of you has fallen on us and that all inhabitants of the land are faint faint-hearted 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 those two kings of the amorites who were on the other side of the jordan sion and og whom you utterly destroyed and as soon as we heard these things our heart 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 below now as you consider rahab's declaration here you get some real insight into a person who is able to come into the saving knowledge of god without the law and without an evangelist she's heard of god's dealings with israel the dividing of the red sea that story had gotten all the way up there to to jericho the defeat of the amorites well of course that was across the jordan river i can understand that they would know that but that she understands the greatness of god he is god in heaven above and on earth beneath she really has a concept of who this god is that the children of israel serve you know in in a way this is an example of what romans chapter 1 verse 20 tells us for since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power in godhead so that they are without excuse i love the fact that the bible tells us that if you seek him with all your heart you will find him people will often offer as an objection to the exclusiveness of the gospel of jesus christ well what about that poor person someplace and in you know outer someplace on the globe i don't even know where there is an outer any place reason why is because every the internet is everywhere now i had a missionary return from venezuela who was saying that they were struggling to get um radio transmitters so that they could get the bible out and so they were going around the country putting these small radio transmitters that would then use a little solar pattern powered satellite link and they could have radio frequencies throughout venezuela and the project kind of came to a grinding halt when they recognized that although they didn't have the didn't they have radio they all had 4g cell phones so they're all able to to listen to listen to things and and communicate better than than we can here in new zealand in that sense you know with the with the phone service they had so point of the matter is they'll always bring up that well what about this poor person he's here and there uh won't he be condemned because he hasn't heard the gospel well neither did job job is a man whom god brags upon and yet there's no indication that he ever heard the law of god he makes no reference to the nation of israel nor in knowledge of abraham abraham came out of ur the chaldees where his father was a pagan these are all individuals who had no predecessor but because they had a heart after god god revealed himself to him and like i said i suspect that this rahab is someone who was keenly attuned to the to to knowing god and so god took two spies to come to her house so that she might be able to express that faith you notice also that she relays to these two spies the fear of the canaanites now isn't it interesting 40 years earlier it was israel that feared them now the shoes on the other foot as it were and under the leadership of joshua the enemies of israel will now fear again an interesting parallel when you approach the the ways of the influences of the world in the power of trying to keep the law the world has nothing to fear about because you will naturally feel a sense of of of being not empowered because the bible will bring condemnation but when you go in the power and in the authority of jesus christ then the enemies of god flee because we go in the name of jesus we don't go in the name of ourself and the law of god the law is there to bring us to crisis what the new testament tells us continuing verse 12 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 so the men answered her our lives for yours if none of you tell this business of ours it shall be that when the lord has given us the land that we will deal kindly and truly with you so we have now this this uh contract that these two spies enter into with rahab with regards to her family she's expressing faith in fact she's listed in the hall of faith in romans chapter 11. verse 31 by faith the harlot rahab did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace there was there was a there was a divinely guided meeting that took place here it wasn't just guys who were looking for military information they might have thought that's why they went out but god was guiding them to the house of this woman because she already had a willingness to express faith in the true and living god now rahab's heritage is interesting she becomes the wife of salman who is related to caleb and she will be marrying into the tribe of jehoshapha he she will be the mother of boaz and of course boaz marries ruth and boaz is the great grandfather of king david so she's a very important person in the genealogy of not only david but of course jesus christ and in both instances by the way both with with rahab and with ruth ruth was from the the moabites who were cursed up to the 10th generation and interestingly enough when you do the math you find that when david is born he is the 10th generation so the curse is broken that that boaz when he marries ruth is actually technically breaking the law in the sense that he's taking a moabitus as his wife but god is showing that he will use these two women who are from cursed nations to be not only in the lineage of king david but of course that of jesus christ another thing i want to highlight here is the hiding place that rahab has we're told that he she hides them in stocks of flax now here in new zealand we know what that looks like there's lots of flax around here when they're unrefined in other words used in their semi uh natural sort of thing they're used for making kind of crude baskets and things they're they're ornamental they're useful but when they're refined they're used for making linen and you remember the the high priest garments were made out of linen and i wonder i haven't really sort of developed that a lot but i just wonder if there isn't also there a very interesting parallel that this woman was not just a harlot she had industry she was carrying to the top of her house that they might dry these stalks and so she was in some kind of industry but it was an industry that had two uses one as baskets one as linen and i think that being a a future relative in the line of not only david but more importantly jesus christ who is not only our king but our high priest i think there's probably some interesting mystical aspects to that linkage also let's carry on verse 15. then she let them down by a rope through the window for her house was on the city wall she dwelt on the wall and she said to them go to the mountain lest the pursuers meet you hide three days until the pursuers have returned afterwards you may go on your way so the men said to her we will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us to swear unless when we come into the land you bind this line of the 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 house so it shall be that whoever goes outside the door of your house into the streets his blood shall be on his own head and we will be guiltless and whoever is with you in the house his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him and if you tell this business of ours then we'll be free from your oath which you have made us swear then she said according to your words so be it and she sent them away and they departed and she bound the scarlet cord in the window and so we have this beautiful imagery that takes place there they enter into this agreement the spies now are going to leave and they are going to remember that as they come against this city the household who is against the wall that has this red cord this scarlet court hanging out of it they are going to spare them now i find that interesting because they could not have known the way in which the city was going to be breached for fast forward you know the story well enough to know the way the city is breached is god causes the walls to fall down and their house is on the wall so as we will talk about when we get to that part of the story of jericho it probably was a very peculiar sight all the walls would have fallen down except the house of rehab because obviously her household was all safe when we examined this this scarlet cord of course most bible bible commentators will say it's symbolic of the blood of the passover lamb and notice that there is faith required by the person to enter into this place which will be on the battle line by the way to be housed on the wall meant that you were essentially at the coal face if you understand that term they're going to be at the at the the the face of the uh the the coming invasion but they are told that all those who enter the house and remain they are safe but if they leave the house they will be killed but wait i think there's more to this than that you see paul writing the corinthians tells us that there's a significance within the three days between the cross and the resurrection of jesus christ paul writes it this way 1 corinthians 15 verse 3 for i deliver to you firstly that of all that which i receive that christ died for our sins according to the scripture and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures now of course the scriptures that paul is referring to is the old testament and one of the challenges of course is to go to the old testament and find the places where there are references to the resurrection of the messiah three days after the crucifixion well jesus makes reference according of course to the story of jonah in matthew chapter 12. he says as jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish so the son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth and so he makes that but there are actually more the next one that you come across is this of rahab's cord and i'll show you as you take a look at verse 15 of chapter 2 she lets them down by a rope through the wall and later on we know that they are told take this same rope and hang it out the window and that'll be the scarlet cord that we see so when you look at the hebrew word there for the rope the rope is a habel and it means a rope record but it can also mean pain sorrow or travail if you look at the next reference in verse 18 we read unless when we come into the land you bind this line of the scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down so he's referring to the same thing one time it's called a rope the other time it's called a line and interestingly enough there the word is tikvah the word tikvah means hope but it also means line in court in fact when you sing the israeli national anthem it is hatikva the hope that's its primary use is tikvah now when you examine the khabel which is pain and sorrow that's when they first leave her house and the tikvah the hope there's three days verse 16 says now go away for three days so from the descent and the hiding in the mountains for three days and again when they return with the invading army we have a representation of the cross and the empty tomb and so there's another example that's hidden within the text of the three days of jesus being in the grave as paul makes reference to in first corinthians chapter 15. now they departed and went to the mountains and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned the pursuers sought them along the way but did not find them so the men returned descended from the mountain crossed over and they came to joshua's son of nem and told him all that had befallen them and they said to joshua truly the lord has delivered all the land into our hands for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are faint-hearted because of us and so they deliver a good report wow how exciting that must have been for them the confidence of israel much different than the response was 38 years earlier when they entered the land and they saw giants and they were afraid now because joshua is the one leading them god is encouraging their hearts the spies have gone in they have gone to the one person in the city of jericho who with prior knowledge already knows of the god of abraham isaac and jacob calls him by name the yahweh but although they're ready to go they still have some unfinished business that they need to deal with and we'll get that in chapter three for their spouting great uh willingness to be the servants of the lord now to go in and and take the promised land but before service there has to be sanctification and so we'll get that in our next study and so for our next study read chapters three through five uh and we'll we'll cover that in session two so let's bow our hearts in a word of prayer lord we are grateful that you are the one who leads us into that which you have procured for us and the lord it is you that makes it possible for us to enter into the inheritance which you purchase for us on that cruel cross on calvary we're thankful lord that as we trust in you you see that as as faith that is pleasing to your heart lord may we not fail by trying to accomplish that which you do through the spirit we're thankful for your word and thankful for the examples lord that you've given us in scripture and as we go continue through our study of the book of joshua lord i pray that you would continue to just open our hearts and minds to the goodness and the greatness of our god and lord and savior jesus christ for it's in his name we pray amen you

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Length: 66min 47sec (4007 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 09 2020