James 1:3-8 - Perseverance

Now we get to some of the reasons of why we should consider facing trials to be pure joy. We should remember that Paul (Romans 5:3-5) and Peter (1 Peter 1:6-9) said very similar things. So there is no getting away from this lesson!

Testing produces perseverance. Perseverance is a steadfast and unshakable conviction in the truth of what God says. Trials prove that what God says is right. So when we go through trials we will eventually learn that God is even more faithful than we imagined at the outset. We need to let perseverance complete its work in us if we are to be mature.

Trials test our wisdom, because we face situations and we simply do not know what to do. If we find ourselves in such situations we are to ask God. He will give us wisdom, and He does so without finding fault. Emotions common in trials are feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness. So we then deduce that God will not help us because we do not deserve it. This is wrong. He gives without finding fault. He puts us through trials so that He can rectify faults within us, not so that He can condemn us for them. 

We need to have faith in God.

James 1:1,2

James refers to himself as "a servant of God". Now he was the brother of Jesus, but he makes no mention of this. His relationship to Christ was now one with Christ as Lord. The twelve tribes scattered among the nations indicates that the letter was written to Jewish Christians throughout the nations.

These people would be facing trials on two fronts. Christians anyway were likely to have a hard time, and Jewish Christians doubly so because they would also face opposition from the Jews who would consider them traitors. Now instead of showing sympathy, James says "consider it pure joy". We come against situations and circumstances in a different spirit. Look at the life of Jesus, He reacted differently to all sorts of situations. When there were five thousand needing fed and they had five loaves and two fish, He told His disciples to feed them. When He was the victim of a show trial He reacted with calmness, authority and mercy. We need to be on our guard against our natural human reaction to events and situations. Instead we need to look for the Jesus reaction. 

Note also that it says "trials of many kinds", that means it includes the trials you and I might be going through just now. Every trial is an opportunity. This is because we do not live just in our own strength, but in the power of the Holy Spirit and the love of God. Jesus came to make our lives different, to make us different. Trials are often the situations where this becomes most apparent.

More on this tomorrow.

James - Introduction

This letter was called a "right strawy epistle" by Martin Luther. Clearly he failed to understand the letter! The reason for his remarks were that the letter is very practical in what it says. A very superficial reading may lead one to think James is at odds with Paul. James believed in action, Paul in faith, but in reality there is no conflict at all.

James is the brother of Jesus, probably the eldest brother. He is not the apostle James, for he was killed by about 44 AD (Acts 12:2). James was initially opposed to Jesus, or at least definitely not for Him, not understanding Him. Clearly he later did believe, and was one of those who Jesus appeared to (1 Cor 15:7). He was a very prominent leader in the Jerusalem church.

The letter was probably written to Jewish Christians, and is an intensely practical letter. For centuries the Jews had considered themselves saved by virtue of simply being Jews. James is perhaps at pains to make sure that they do not proceed to make the same mistake, thinking that giving themselves the label Christian is enough.

Anyone who believes in "salvation by faith alone" (among which I include myself) does well to pay close attention to this letter. Any notion of salvation that does not result in practical changes in our lives is seriously in error.

Psalm 84 - Made to be with God

We were created to live in fellowship with God. This is an amazing truth. There is a longing within our souls to be with God and to know Him. This Psalm expresses that longing. 

But it is not just an expression of the soul, he says "my heart and my flesh cry out". Our physical being as well as our spiritual being long for God. We are only complete when we live together with God.

More than that, all of creation longs for the presence of God. In Romans 8 Paul talks about creation waiting for the sons of God to be revealed.

The whole universe was created to be in harmony with God, but God made this dependent upon mankind fulfilling his proper role.

We are blessed if we make the Lord our strength. The Valley of Baka was a dry place. If we know God then we can bring refreshment to dry places. People who know God are people who transform situations. We need to realise this. We are not under the circumstances, but are people who can rise above them. 

We will go from strength to strength until we reach our final destination. We need to realise this as well. Death should hold no fear for us if we know the Lord, but death is not an escape route from life. We will go from strength to strength until the day we die. 

One day in God's presence is better than a thousand elsewhere. And we will be with God forever. And the Lord protects and blesses us.

Blessed indeed are those who trust in the Lord.

Psalm 83 - God rise up

There are times in life when God seems to ignore us, or be totally oblivious to what is going on in our lives or the world around us. The Psalms show that God is totally aware that that is how we sometimes feel. 

The enemies of God were making threatening noises and were conspiring against God's people. They were united against God and His people. The Psalmist then lists several nations that were working as one.

Then the Psalmist calls on God to fight against these nations as He had fought against other nations in the past.

Today our society is increasingly anti-Christian. There is not much in the way of violence against Christians in the West (though there is in other parts of the world), but in the UK at least the state is slowly trying to suffocate the church. We do well to remember that this is far from being the first time that the state has tried to crush the church, and it has never succeeded yet, nor will it do so now.

There will come a point where God will demonstrate to the nations beyond all doubt that He is Lord over all the earth.

Psalm 82 - Know your place and act accordingly

God presides in the great assembly, He renders judgement among the "gods". What does this mean? Ephesians chapter 6 talks about principalities and powers, and earlier in that same book it talks about us being seated in heavenly places with Christ. Christ has all authority. Our God is supreme over absolutely everything. When it says we are seated with Him, it means that we too have authority (when we live in trust and obedience to Christ).

"How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked." The "you" here is plural, and I think we must take it as being directed at the rulers of the day. Since God is God, we must use the authority we have with justice and mercy, showing concern for the poor and needy.

There other powers and forces (the "gods" mentioned here), which have a form of power for a time, but ultimately they are nothing and understand nothing, and will come to nothing. 

The Psalm closes with a call on God to rise up and judge the earth, and one day, maybe soon, He will do so.

Psalm 81 - Respond with trust

This is a real  mixture of a Psalm. It begins with a declaration of praise to God, calling on the nation to praise the Lord  and announcing that this is an everlasting decree.

Then we get a reminder of how God brought Israel out of Egypt, and also how He tested them at Meribah. Meribah was one of the many places where Israel complained  against Moses (and so against God) when there was no water. Here, in response to God's command, Moses struck the rock and water came forth.

The Israelites were a ransomed people, a rescued people, but it did them no good because they refused to listen to God, they refused to trust in Him. If only they would listen to God, then all would go well with them. This is as true for Israel today as it was then.

We also need to learn from this. We can especially learn from the Meribah incident. There was indeed no water, but complaining and grumbling was the wrong response. God would have brought water when they needed it. It would have been far better for them to trust God. We need to do the same. We so easily get all uptight about situations, demanding that God, or someone, do something about it. Sometimes, a little patience, a little trust, would be a far better response.

Psalm 80 - Rescue from deserved punishment

"Shepherd of Israel". Jesus referred to Himself as the good shepherd. God leads His people like a flock. He does not just lead us as individuals, but as a group of people. We need to understand this if we are to understand His ways.

The use of "Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh" implies that this Psalm is probably written about the Northern Kingdom after Israel split in two. The Northern Kingdom suffered much, and she did so because of her rebellion against God, worshipping false idols.

The nation had become an object of derision among the nations and the Psalmist calls on God to restore them.

He recalls Israel's history. God had transplanted them from Egypt to the Promised Land. He drove out nations so that Israel could live there. Yet now He had removed all protection and had let other nations defeat her. 

Verses 17 and 18 seems to be prophetic, pointing forward to the Lord Jesus. Only He can produce a people who will not turn away from God.

Psalm 79 - Forgive and Restore

This Psalm was probably written in response to the Babylonian defeat of Jerusalem. Then the nation invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Many Israelites were killed, and many others taken off into exile as prisoners. The nation was utterly humiliated.

Although it was Babylon that had done this, the Psalmist saw this as a sign of God's anger against Israel, and indeed it was so, as the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel make clear. The Psalmist calls on God to shower His wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge Him. 

Then he calls out for mercy and forgiveness, and to be set free from the sins of previous generations. 

The Psalm closes with another call for God to execute judgement on the nations, with the hope that God's name will be honoured and that the Israelites would praise God again.

Psalm 78:8-72 - Do not be rebellious

We need to listen and learn, then we will not be stubborn and rebellious. If we love God then we will be teachable. Pride is the root of our rebellion against God, humility is vital to restoring that relationship.

Ephraim sometimes refers to the northern kingdom, but here seems to be applying to Israel in general. Forgetting what God has done, not keeping his commands turns us into cowards. If we want to be really bold, then we need to meditate on the word of God and to do the word of God. David was one of the bravest men that has lived, and he was also a man who dwelt upon the word of God.

The Psalmist reminds them of the acts that God carried out in bringing them through the Red Sea and afterwards. They tested God. When God brought water out of a rock they asked if He could also bring bread. When people have a rebellious spirit it does not matter what one does, it will never be enough. God even gave them what they wanted, but it still was not enough. If we have a rebellious or grumbling streak within us we need to get rid of it quickly.

The Israelites refused to learn. Time and time again they would go through the same cycle of rebel, suffer, be rescued. But they never truly repented.

God brought them through the desert, and into the promised land. He led them in victory, but still they did not learn.

The end of the Psalm talks about God choosing David. The nation of Israel had failed, so David was chosen. Perhaps there is a parallel here between Israel failing to recognise Jesus, and the gospel then going out to the Gentiles.

The key lesson of all this is that it is the condition of our hearts that counts.

Psalms 78:1-7 - Listen to my words

This is one of the longest Psalms. It is a Psalm of instruction, and the writer is using lessons from the past. It is vital that we learn the lessons of the past. God had acted in Israel's history in order to achieve His purposes, and to reveal His nature to them. God does the same with us, so we need to learn from the things that happen to us. They also had to learn from what their ancestors had told them. We must not reject the lessons and the teachings from the past. It is the temptation of every generation to think that we know it all, and that everything that went before was in some way inferior.

The Lord has done marvellous deeds and issued decrees and the law. The actions and the instruction go together, one without the other makes no sense. Some people just look at the actions of Jesus, His miracles and attitudes towards people, without considering all His teaching. Others focus on the teaching, disregarding the miracles. We need to see both together.

The goal is that we put our trust in God, do not forget His deeds, and keep His commands. 

Joshua 24 - Renewing of the Covenant

We now come to the closing chapter of Joshua. Once again the covenant is renewed. It was Israel's covenant with God that made them different, without this they were no different than anybody else, in fact they were less than anyone else if anything. We need to always remind ourselves that we are defined by the covenant of the cross.

Before God got hold of Abraham, their ancestors had worshipped other gods. Sometimes we can put an unhealthy fear into people because of what previous generations have done. Now it is quite likely that previous generations have done wrong things. The solution God gave them was first that He called them out from these generations, and then He gave them clear instructions to have nothing to do with false idols.

Next God reminds them of what He did at the Red Sea, and how Balaam had been helpless to curse them. Then He tells them of how He enabled them to conquer the land.

Their response is to be fear the Lord and serve Him with faithfulness, throwing away all false gods.

Joshua seemed to know that the people would fail to serve the Lord. The people deny this, and declare that they will indeed serve the Lord, and the covenant is renewed. Then Joshua died and was buried.

Joshua 23 - How to maintain the victory

Israel was given rest from her enemies. This took a long time. Again we are reminded that we get a very condensed history in the Bible. 

Joshua gives a farewell address, telling the Israelites what they need to know in order to continue to be victorious. First he reminds them of what they have seen, of the victories they have seen the Lord give them. Joshua had allotted land, and it seems from verse 5 that there was still areas to be possessed. God often takes a leader away before the task is complete? Why is this? One reason may be to impress on the people that it is God who gives victory, not any individual leader.

Just as God had instructed Joshua right at the start of the book, Joshua tells the people to be bold and to observe the Law. They were to ensure that they remained free from idols and wrong associations with the surrounding peoples.

It was the Lord who had given them victories, so they must continue to remain close to Him.  If instead they intermarried with the nations, then defeat would quickly come there way. This would be a snare for them.

They had seen the Lord fight on their side. But if they turned from the Lord they would see Him fight against them, and turf them out of the land, just as He had turfed their enemies out of the land. They must not take God for granted.

Joshua 20-22 - More land

More of Moses' instructions are implemented, this time the cities of refuge. These were there to protect people who accidentally killed someone. When such a thing happens there is a natural tendency on the part of the relatives of the victim to want revenge. The Law put a restraint on that. The guilty person was given refuge until a proper trial had established the facts. 

Next the Levites were allocated towns to live in, and there follows a long list of the towns allocated.

Then we read that the allocation of the land was complete, their enemies were defeated, and they had rest from every side. Note that rest here does not mean an absence of work. It means that they were now free to build the society that God had in mind for them. 

The tribes that had elected to take land on the other side of the Jordan were now released to go back there, for they had helped the other tribes gain victory in the land. However, they still had to observe the law. They were sent back with a blessing. However, when they returned they built an altar. At first this causes great consternation to the other tribes. They remembered the various times they had come under judgement from God for obedience, and how the whole nation could affected by one man's sin. So they were ready to go to war. However, they confronted the trans-Jordan tribes first. The tribes then explained that they had built the alter to emphasize that they were still part of Israel and were still worshipping God. They feared that other tribes might forget that they were still part of Israel. And so peace came between the tribes.

The whole matter of the trans-Jordan tribes is perhaps a lesson for us of how some people will do things differently, and make different choices. As long as their heart is still for the Lord we should let them do this.

Joshua 18, 19 - Realise the authority we have

There was still more land to be allocated. The problem was that some of the tribes were not taking action to take possession of the land that the Lord had given to them. There is an obvious spiritual lesson to be learnt here. There are areas of life that God has given to us, but we fail to take possession of these areas. In fact this is a pattern from the very beginning, for in Genesis God commanded man to take dominion and subdue the earth. It is a great mystery that we rebelled against God thinking that we would gain freedom but in actual fact became helpless. When we come back to God we regain freedom and authority, but we have a terrible job realising that this is so. We live so much of our lives as if we are still weak and helpless, and we are afraid to exercise authority. This runs very deep in our souls and it is part of the work of the Holy Spirit to enable us to realise the authority we have and to learn how to exercise it.

The people finally get a hold of the message and put it into practice and the land is allocated to them.

Joshua 15-17 - Allocation of the Land

We now get a whole lot of detail on allocation of the land to various tribes.

In among all the details there are one or two nuggets.

First there is Caleb's daughter who asked for more from God, asking for springs of water.

The instructions left by Moses were carried out to the letter. 

The Canaanites were never completely destroyed, though they were subjected to forced labour.

The people of Joseph complained about their allotment, but Joshua told them to take more land for themselves, this would involve defeating more enemies. Often if we want to make progress we need to do it for ourselves. God has given us abilities and expects us to use them. It is a mistake to live purely out of our own strength, but it is equally a mistake not to use our own strength. We are meant to live out of our abilities and out of God's strength.

Joshua 14 - The Faith of Caleb

The land in Israel itself was allocated by lot to the remaining nine and a half tribes. Quite often things are decided by lot in the Bible. The Bible seems to see no contradiction between things being apparently decided by chance and God sorting things out.

Again it is mentioned that the Levites did not receive an inheritance. They did receive towns, and they did receive food, but they operated in a different way to the others. Sometimes in our service of Christ God will provide for us in a different way to the rest of society.

Caleb gets special mention. He, along with Joshua, had given a good report of the initial exploration of the land, declaring that they could indeed conquer the land. Moses declared that despite the unfaithfulness of others, he would indeed receive an inheritance in the land. The Lord kept Caleb in good health all these years. Think how differently he could have acted. Caleb could have become bitter, he could have been resentful at the effect of others failings on himself and his family. He could have gone off in huff. Instead he stayed faithful to the Lord and relied upon the Lord providing for him. We need to do the same.

Most importantly Caleb's faith remained as strong as ever. He asked for the land that God had promised him, and he knew that God would enable him to drive out the Anakites. We need the faith of Caleb.

Joshua 13 - Much to do, the freedom to do it

Joshua was very old and there was still much land to take. What we read in Joshua is a very condensed version of what happened, and what takes a few pages actually happened over many years. We do well to remember this. Otherwise we get discouraged because we have an unrealistic picture of what to expect. Joshua did make much progress and achieved much, but it took many years and involved all sorts of ups and downs. And now there is still much to do. 

So we should not get discouraged. At the same time we must not just settle back and take things easy. For all of us, there is still much to do, much land still to be taken.

We then read of the land allocated to the tribes that elected to stay on the other side of the Jordan. Remember that God gave them this choice. In fact if we read the Bible it is amazing how much choice God gives people. Yet He still achieves His purposes. Any theology that builds a picture of a God who just decides everything and that is that is wrong and utterly unbiblical. It is not the way God works. God gives man an amazing amount of freedom.

If you want more freedom in your life the way to get it is not to just do your own thing and do things your way, but to live our lives God's way. Then we will find an ever increasing amount of freedom in our lives.

Joshua 11, 12 - Continuing Conquest

Having defeated the Amorite kings, attention now turns to the northern kings.  These kings got together and gathered a massive army. The Lord assures Joshua that he does not need to fear, for the Lord will hand the army over to him defeated. "Do not fear, do not be discouraged" is a constant refrain throughout the book of Joshua.

So the Israelites attacked the army and defeated them. Note that they had to attack them. God was going to give them into Israel's hands, but Israel had to attack. Receiving God's promises is often not a matter of just sitting back and waiting, but is an encouragement to take action.

As before, there was much death and destruction.

This period of war went on for a long time (verse 13), probably about seven years. So much land was conquered and then the land had rest from war. Chapter 12 gives a long list of all the kings who were defeated by the Israelites.

Joshua 10:16-43 - Conquering

The five kings had fled and hid in a cave. Joshua trapped them in the cave and went to chase the rest of the enemies, nit allowing the army to get distracted. Later he had the kings brought out and beheaded them. He did this as a demonstration that the Lord will defeat all their enemies. We find thus brutal behaviour hard to take, but the key spiritual lesson is that God will give us victory over our enemies. We do not need to fear anything or anyone. On the brutality there are some things that can be said, such as the difference in society at the time, the probable barbarity of the kings etc, but we do still find it difficult. However, we must not let this blind us from the lesson that God will give us victory. It is absolutely vital that we know and understand that if we faithfully follow the Lord we cannot be defeated. There will be prices to pay, suffering to go through, but in the end God will lead us to victory.

More cities were then destroyed. Many cities and the whole region were subdued under Joshua.

Joshua 10:1-15 - The Sun stands still

From an event that highlighted mistakes and human duplicity we come to a quite amazing event.

Adoni-Zedek, the king of Jerusalem, sought the help of several other kings to go and attack Gibeon. So the five kings made plans and took up positions against Gibeon.

The Gibeonites then sent a call for help to Joshua. Israel was now obliged to help Gibeon because of the treaty she had made with Gibeon. So Joshua marched out to help the Gibeonites. The Lord assured him that He would be with him. Now if Joshua had reneged on his promise to Gibeon, because it was made as a result of deception, he would not have known the Lord's blessing. So this stresses further the importance of keeping our word. 

The Israelite army took the enemy by surprise and completely routed them.

After this Joshua said to God in the presence of the Israelites "Sun stand still over Gibeon", and the sun did stand still. This is quite amazing. First that Joshua said this in the presence of Israel, and that the Lord answered Him. 

Joshua 9 - Deceived

The story of the conquest is one of a mixture of victories, defeats and failures. It is not one of victory after victory. This is normal! Yet in all this progress is constantly made.

Some of the kings, on hearing what Israel was doing, came together to try and oppose Israel. The Gibeonites, however, adopted a different strategy. Israel was conquering the local nations, not the ones from afar. So the Gibeonites decided to try and deceive Israel into believing that she was a distant nation. They knew the deception would not last long, so she sought to make a treaty before the deception was realised.

They tried to make out that they had travelled from afar. The Israelites were suspicious, but investigated the matter. However, they did not inquire of the Lord. One of the proverbs warns against relying on our own understanding.

When the deception came to light the people were angry. Joshua, however, insisted that they observed the treaty they had made. So we see here how we should respond to mistakes we make. If we have made agreements, then we should keep to them. Throughout the Bible we see God working through, and despite, the mistakes that people make. To make the treaty was a mistake, but to break the treaty would have been a sin against God, and would have had really serious consequences. We need to apply this principle to our own lives. 

So the Gibeonites became effectively slaves for Israel.

Joshua 8:30-35 - Covenant Renewed

After the victory over Ai an altar was built on Mount Ebal. This was following the command of Moses. 

Uncut stones were used for the altar, and sacrifices were offered. Furthermore the law of Moses was written on the stones. The foreigners and native-born Israelites were there. All the words of the Law were read out, and all heard it, men, women, children and foreigners.

We can note several things from this. First is the inclusivity. Men, women, children and foreigners were included in everything. It has always been God's plan that all people come into His kingdom. To Abraham He said all nations would be blessed.

Why were the stones to be uncut? Maybe to stress the lack of man-madeness of the altar. 

The Law was crucial.. The foundation of the nation was the sacrifices and the Law. It is the same today. It is the cross and the commands of Jesus. If we love Jesus we will obey Him, as it says in John's gospel and his letters. At the end of Matthew Jesus commands His disciples to teach all peoples to obey His words.

At each key step the same covenant is renewed. The latest victory did not change things.

Joshua 8:1-29 - Taking Ai

Now we see Ai defeated. At the outset the Lord says to Joshua "Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged". Joshua has just suffered a defeat and a rebuke from the Lord. However, the matter has now been dealt with, so it is time to move on. We have tremendous problems distinguishing between discipline and rejection. The Lord disciplines us. ie He opens our eyes to things that are wrong in our lives, and tells us to put them right. He does this so that we can get things right, and continue to grow in Christ, but we are so used to people using our failings as an excuse to do us down, or to get one over on us, to belittle us in some way, that we treat it as rejection. We need to learn to be disciplined.

This time they could carry off the plunder. Achan thought that God's command not to take any plunder from Jericho was denying him something, when God knew all along that soon He would give them the plunder. All of God's plans are for our good. If we think "I am being denied something here", then we need to be on our guard that the enemy is seeking to lure us into disobedience.

At the first attempt to take Ai an army of 3 000 was used, not 30 000 are sent. A much more realistic plan is put into practice. God is often more realistic and practical than we are!

So the battle was won, and the plunder was taken.

Joshua 7 - Achan's sin

Achan took some of the devoted things, thus disobeying the Lord's command. God's anger burned against Israel. The sin of one man brought trouble for the whole nation. We do not exist just as individuals. We often keen to isolate ourselves from others, particularly those we consider worthless and worthy of judgement. But we are a society. We are all affected by each other, we all affect one another. As has been said, no man is an island. This means we have to deal with sin.

Joshua did not know that this had happened, and made plans for the next conquest, Ai. Spies were again sent out. They brought back a confident report, and only a section of the army was sent against the city. However, the raid ended in disaster. 

The mood of the people, and of Joshua, changed very quickly, from one of expectation of victory, to one of defeat. Joshua prostrated himself before the Lord, and wondered why the Lord had brought them to this land. 

He then repents of crossing the Jordan. When things go wrong we can sometimes end up repenting of the wrong thing. The Lord had commanded them to cross the Jordan. When things get difficult we need to be very careful, for we will try and find the wrong reason for the failure. 

The Lord tells Joshua to get up, and tells him the real reason for the problems. Joshua needed to take steps to address the real issue. So all the people were called together.  Eventually Achan was identified as the culprit. Achan confessed his sin and was stoned by the people. They had to deal with the sin in their midst.

Joshua 6:12--27 - Jericho Falls

So the plan was put into operation. The ark of the Lord went with them. Success can only come if the Lord is with us.

This went on for six days, then on the seventh day they marched around the city seven times. On the final circuit the people were commanded to shout. So Joshua had to ensure that they persisted in carrying out the task for seven days. He believed that God would give them victory, but he had to persist for seven days. If he had told them to shout for victory in the 1st or 3rd day it would have done no good. If he had given up after five days they would not have seen victory. We have to persist in carrying out the Lord's plans, victory will only come at the right time.

Rahab was to be saved, and the people were to ensure that they did not defile themselves with the devoted things.

The city and its walls fell and there was a wholesale slaughter of its inhabitants. This is difficult for us to take. What sort of God commands wholesale slaughter? There is no simple answer, but there are several things that can be said.

• The sins of the people had built up over many years, and this was not some nice quaint village. People will receive judgement for their sins. This is still true now as one can see at looking at Jesus' teaching on hell. There is a way to avoid this, namely by turning to Christ. Rahab was saved by helping the Israelites.
• There are some who way there is exaggeration here, and it was quite normal for terms such as complete destruction to be used when in fact what happened was just a very good victory. This may well be true (and indeed does seem to be supported by the Bible), but it does not get over the fundamental issue.

It seems best to day that the reason we object to this is that we object to the concept of God's judgement. We find it so difficult to accept that we do actually deserve hell, we do not realise the awfulness of sin. Our goal should be to fully appreciate the horror of sin, then we will focus more on salvation.

Joshua 6:1-11 - The Plan

Jericho had barred its gates to protect itself from the Israelites. The enemy was in fear of Israel.

The Lord assures Joshua that He has delivered the city into his hands. Now the thing that God was giving to Joshua was resisting this. Often things will resist the Lord's will, but this will ultimately be futile. We also need to realise that we are in a battle. In a way the conquest of Canaan is a model of the conquest of the world. The world is occupied  by the devil. Jesus refers to him as the prince of this world (John 12:31), as says that the time for judgement has come and the prince of this world will be driven out. Like Jericho, he will batten down the hatches and try and resist, but God has a plan.

We now get the famous marching around the walls of the city. They were to do this for seven days, once each day for six days, then seven times on the seventh day. The priests were then to blow loudly on rams horns and the walls would collapse. Meanwhile the army were to remain silent until the last moment when they were to give a loud shout.

Joshua 5:13-15 - The Commander of the Lord's Army

Joshua saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword. There is no indication that the man looked in anyway unusual. Joshua asked whose side the man was on. The man replied neither, but that he was the commander of the Lord's army. There is an important point here. We find our meaning and our salvation when we look to God, and make Him the focus of our life. It is absolutely true that the Lord will help us in all sorts of ways, and above all He gave His life for us, but we need to adjust the focus of our life. We need to stop being self-centered and become Christ centered. 

Joshua then recognised who the man was, or at least what he was, and asked what the Lord wanted. Clearly he realised that the man had come to give him instruction from God.

The man's first command was not to give him the word itself, but to tell him to take his sandals off for he was on holy ground. This is reminiscent of what was said to Moses at the burning bush. The circumstances are different, but the reality was the same. We need to prepare ourselves to hear from God.

Joshua 5:1-12 - A new chapter

The Lord's action in drying up the Jordan put fear into the heart of their enemies. In terms of spiritual battles we need to be aware how much fear the resurrection has put into the heart of the principalities and powers, as has the fact that God has brought us into His kingdom. This means that Satan is due to be evicted from the earth!

Next the Israelites were circumcised. This custom had fallen by the wayside during their time in the desert. Not surprisingly this left them all feeling rather sore, and they waited a few days until they were healed.

"I have removed the reproach of Egypt". Egypt maybe would have scoffed at the Israelites, saying they managed to get out of Egypt, but then they just wandered around the desert. Now it was clear that they were going somewhere. There can be times in our life when we are mocked, and it does indeed look as if we are going nowhere. If we continue to follow the Lord we can be sure that He will lead us to a place where we are no longer mocked.

They then celebrated the Passover, remembering where they had come from. The manna also stopped, as there as no longer any need for it. They were moving into a new season of life and needed to adapt to the change. In the same way we need to appreciate the times that God leads us through, and recognise the changes that might be needed.

Joshua 4 - Crossing the river

One representative from each tribe was to collect a stone and these were to be collected together. These stones were to be of significant size (for they had to carry them on their shoulders). The purpose was that they were to save as a reminder for themselves and for future generations. They were a memorial of what the Lord had done, how He had brought them into the land. Remember that Deuteronomy contained several warnings against the Israelites forgetting that it was only because of the Lord's goodness that they had come in to the land. We need markers in our life to signify what the Lord has done.

The priest had to stay in the middle of the Jordan until everyone had passed through. The fact that this was a second river crossing was significant. It showed to the people that Joshua was continuing in the line of Moses and had the same blessing from God on his life.

When everyone was through the priests came out of the river with the ark.

The memorial stones were a sign to the Israelites, but also to all other people, a reminder of what the Lord had done. The people of the Lord are to fear God, and the rest of the people are to see that He is powerful.

Joshua 3 - Preparing to cross the Jordan

The people are now to prepare to enter the land, and things are out in order. They had to follow the ark of the covenant. They were entering a place they had not been to before, so it was vital that they were led by the Lord. We too need to allow God to lead us in and through situations. They had also to keep a certain distance from the Ark. In the Old Covenant there was always a degree of separation between the Lord and the people. Only in Christ is the curtain torn in two and the barrier removed.

The people had to consecrate themselves for the Lord was going to do amazing things among them. Now why did they have to do this? Well, when God does amazing things it means that He is very close. God does not operate at a distance, but gets intimately involved in our lives. When Jesus came He said "the kingdom of God is at hand", and, as we know, He did amazing things.

The Lord then assures Joshua, for this is the biggest moment of his life. Note also that the Lord doing amazing things will result in Joshua being exalted as well, the people will recognise that he is truly a man of God. This is part of the reason why character formation is so vital if the Lord is to work in our lives in a big way, otherwise we will not be able to handle it and will be destroyed.

A representative from each tribe had to be chosen. It was only as they put a foot in the water that the Lord would start to hold the waters back. We will only see the greatness of our God as we take steps of faith.

The Jordan was in flood at the time that this happened. So naturally this did not look like a good time to be crossing the Jordan, but God's intervention made things different. We are not to ignore the natural state of things, but God's word counts for more than anything else.