WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.919 Okay, so we're going back this evening to continue in our studies in Joshua. 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:10.279 If you're visiting with us, we've been looking at the first few chapters in Joshua up till 00:00:10.279 --> 00:00:13.359 now, and so we come to this passage. 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:17.640 Last week we looked at the Crossing of the Jordan and the memorial stones that were brought 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:22.960 up, and now we're looking at the Fall of Jericho. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:29.320 And so the first thing we notice is really that this is a story of God working in an 00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:30.320 ancient civilization. 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:35.240 So I want to say that at the beginning, that God is working in an ancient civilization, 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:41.240 and by the very nature of that, we recognise that we're going to have to do some work. 00:00:41.240 --> 00:00:43.679 Okay? 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:47.880 I think we can be, sometimes we can be a bit too simplistic when it comes to God's word 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:50.480 and when it comes to these Old Testament stories. 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:55.619 It's not simply cut and paste truth, that we can just cut and paste and apply to our 00:00:55.619 --> 00:01:01.640 life today, as if, you know, circumstances are easy to understand. 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:09.280 We need to recognise this story as part of an ongoing story from a long time ago. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:15.319 A real God working in a real time, but not our time. 00:01:15.319 --> 00:01:21.959 And we need to allow our minds and our understanding to grapple with that. 00:01:21.959 --> 00:01:27.819 So what I'm going to do first is I'm going to do the first point of application now. 00:01:27.819 --> 00:01:31.879 And then we're going to look at the story, because the first application is very important. 00:01:31.879 --> 00:01:35.599 The first application comes from a question which is, how do we interpret a chapter like 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:37.759 this for today? 00:01:37.759 --> 00:01:42.159 How do we take this kind of story, which is all about blood and guts and destruction 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:47.959 and annihilation and death and God behind that? 00:01:47.959 --> 00:01:51.039 How do we interpret that for today? 00:01:51.039 --> 00:01:53.120 Does it justify a holy war? 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:55.879 Does it say that Jihad is okay? 00:01:55.879 --> 00:02:00.879 Does it mean that the Bible's happy with indiscriminate killing? 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:03.879 What does it say about the mercy of God or the person of God? 00:02:03.879 --> 00:02:06.840 You know, you might not grapple with these questions. 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:11.079 You've been, many of you, you've been brought up with a story and, you know, it's a happy 00:02:11.080 --> 00:02:15.719 children's story when we tell about the Joshua and the Battle of Jericho and the walls come 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:17.220 tumbling down. 00:02:17.220 --> 00:02:19.960 And we forget the kind of brutal side of it. 00:02:19.960 --> 00:02:25.320 And so, but many coming into our churches, many who don't know about the gospel or don't 00:02:25.320 --> 00:02:29.240 know much about the Bible will have lots of questions about a chapter like that. 00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:33.439 And if you're sharing the gospel with your friends or if you're speaking to people who 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:40.160 are not Christians but who are exercised about spiritual things and who are interested 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:44.680 and have questions, this is often a question that will be asked. 00:02:44.680 --> 00:02:50.039 It will be asked about the God of the Old Testament, a harsh, oppressive, brutal God 00:02:50.039 --> 00:02:54.919 who is very different from the God of the New Testament. 00:02:54.919 --> 00:02:58.879 So I just want to give you two principles to take away, not just for this story, but 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:02.000 for any story that we're reading in the Old Testament. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:07.639 The first is you must let Scripture interpret Scripture, okay? 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:17.479 So you must recognize this story as part of the story of God that develops and changes 00:03:17.479 --> 00:03:23.839 and further events shed light on earlier events to help us understand. 00:03:23.839 --> 00:03:26.560 So we must let Scripture interpret Scripture. 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:32.359 You can't simply pull out a story like this and let it stand on its own without recognizing 00:03:32.359 --> 00:03:35.959 its place in the Bible. 00:03:35.960 --> 00:03:40.520 And we recognize that the Old Testament, and particularly this part of the Old Testament, 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:49.120 we have a God with entering into history with specific interventions during a temporary 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:54.760 time, a focused time. 00:03:54.760 --> 00:03:58.680 He was intervening for a specific reason. 00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:01.200 He was revealing the seriousness of sin. 00:04:01.200 --> 00:04:05.680 His actions were in keeping with the day in which it was revealed. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:14.599 And all of these events lead up to the incarnation of Jesus Christ and the killing of Christ on 00:04:14.599 --> 00:04:16.840 Calvary. 00:04:16.840 --> 00:04:19.800 And we need to see it in that light. 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:25.079 But in this temporary period, the people of God in the Old Testament became the instruments, 00:04:25.079 --> 00:04:29.160 both of God's mercy and of God's judgment. 00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:33.960 And they were protected in that Old Testament period because they were the cradle through 00:04:33.959 --> 00:04:35.959 which Christ would come. 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:40.399 It was through the people of God, through the Old Testament people of God, and that line 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:46.359 from the seed that was promised in Genesis 3 to Christ coming, it was through God's people. 00:04:46.359 --> 00:04:52.399 And they became a protected seed, therefore, against the opposition and against satanic 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:55.359 darkness, against them. 00:04:55.359 --> 00:05:03.479 And often we see just shadows of grace in the Old Testament and clear reality of judgment. 00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:11.240 But at Calvary, and I'll say a little bit more about later, we see Christ being judged, 00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:18.360 Christ being destroyed in the same way that Jericho was destroyed, and destruction being 00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:23.080 meted out on him as our substitute. 00:05:23.080 --> 00:05:28.879 And sin was ultimately defeated on the cross at Calvary. 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:33.719 And so in the New Testament, following on from Jesus, following this judgment, sin is 00:05:33.719 --> 00:05:40.319 defeated, and our calling is to make disciples and to spread the good news, to love our enemies. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:45.399 And the war that we face is a spiritual war, not a physical war. 00:05:45.399 --> 00:05:48.120 We don't fight physical enemies. 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:53.639 We are to wear a spiritual armour and recognise spiritual battle. 00:05:53.639 --> 00:05:59.360 In Matthew 6, it speaks about the armour of God that we need to wear. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:07.199 And so we look for God, knowing that Scripture, interpreting Scripture and the reality of 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:13.479 these temporary times of physical judgment in the Old Testament, pointing forward to 00:06:13.479 --> 00:06:16.360 the judgment of Jesus Christ on the cross. 00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:21.120 We let Scripture interpret Scripture and recognise what our role today is as Christians, is to 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:29.040 be fighters, but fighting spiritual battles, not physical battles, and not judging and being 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:33.800 used as God's weapons of judgment, instruments of judgment, as it were. 00:06:33.800 --> 00:06:37.840 So in all of these difficult stories, we must let Scripture interpret Scripture. 00:06:37.840 --> 00:06:39.840 That's the first principle. 00:06:39.840 --> 00:06:43.480 The second is we need to let God be God, okay? 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:46.879 That's very important. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:51.639 We'll work hard at understanding this passage because it's difficult, but we need to understand 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:57.279 that God is at work, and God is true to Himself, and He's true to His promises, and He's true 00:06:57.279 --> 00:07:01.079 to His grace and to His warnings and to His judgment. 00:07:01.079 --> 00:07:07.240 And we often find in the Bible outworkings of both judgment and mercy. 00:07:07.240 --> 00:07:12.680 And that will be shocking for you, and it's shocking for me, because He's holy and He 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:16.399 is perfectly good, and you and I are not. 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:18.279 And so we struggle with that. 00:07:18.279 --> 00:07:22.519 We struggle with His holiness, and we struggle with His justice, and we struggle with His 00:07:22.519 --> 00:07:28.959 purity, and we struggle with His judgment because we actually think, I'm not so bad. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:32.279 I don't really deserve this. 00:07:32.279 --> 00:07:40.079 And so there's this constant recognition of battling with who we are before a holy, just 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:41.079 and merciful God. 00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:50.039 I want to give you a quick example of the danger of interpreting a story like this without 00:07:50.039 --> 00:07:54.039 recognizing the rest of Scripture, without doing some work and knowing more about what 00:07:54.039 --> 00:07:55.039 God is doing. 00:07:55.039 --> 00:08:00.680 And it was an example I used to use a lot with youth groups that we did. 00:08:00.680 --> 00:08:02.719 I can't remember where it came from originally. 00:08:02.719 --> 00:08:04.799 I think it was maybe a tear-fund example. 00:08:04.799 --> 00:08:08.719 I can't remember, but it was in the 80s, and it was at the time when AIDS, there was a 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:16.000 AIDS epidemic, and it was about not judging people without having more knowledge of the 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:19.640 situation and loving them. 00:08:19.640 --> 00:08:26.120 And it was an illustration which, for you were the person who had a cure, one cure for 00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:29.560 AIDS that you could give to one person. 00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:34.080 There was only one cure that you could give, and you had four people in front of you, and 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:38.320 you had to decide, you know, I do this with us, a youth group, and you had to decide which 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:41.280 person was worthy of getting the cure. 00:08:41.280 --> 00:08:46.160 And so there was a businessman, there was a prostitute, there was a single woman, and 00:08:46.160 --> 00:08:47.840 there was a baby. 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:51.800 And so they would spend some time discussing who would they give the cure to, who was the 00:08:51.800 --> 00:08:58.800 one person of these four victims who had AIDS, who was worthy of getting the cure. 00:08:58.800 --> 00:09:01.080 And then you unfolded a little bit more information. 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:04.080 So the businessman had a wife and two kids. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:07.240 The prostitute was a prostitute and a slum. 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:14.360 The single woman was from a rich family, and the baby had been infected by her mum. 00:09:14.360 --> 00:09:17.159 So he gave them some more time to think with that little bit more information, who would 00:09:17.159 --> 00:09:22.519 get the thing, who would be right, as they learned a little bit more about the situation. 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:28.519 And then the third piece of information always was something that changed their thinking. 00:09:28.519 --> 00:09:32.840 So the businessman who had a wife and two kids had sex with a prostitute when he was 00:09:32.840 --> 00:09:34.600 on a business trip. 00:09:34.600 --> 00:09:39.840 The prostitute in a slum sells sex to support her child. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:45.320 The single woman from a rich family was raped by soldiers at war. 00:09:45.320 --> 00:09:51.080 And the baby who was infected by her mum is orphaned and is dying of malnutrition. 00:09:51.080 --> 00:09:55.519 So it reminds us that, you know, we're quick to make judgments and people can look at a 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:59.680 passage like Joshua, and that's a very imperfect example. 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:09.239 But it does make us think about the need to be as well informed as we can be about Scripture 00:10:09.239 --> 00:10:13.639 and about these passages in Scripture, especially when people throw them at us and say, well, 00:10:13.639 --> 00:10:14.879 that's the kind of God you've got. 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:15.879 It's crazy. 00:10:15.879 --> 00:10:17.759 I don't want anything to do with that. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:21.799 We need to be reminded that these are difficult passages, and sometimes there are not easy 00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:22.799 answers. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:29.519 We wrestle with them, but we seek to be guided by God and submit to God's perfect justice 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:34.720 and knowledge and appreciate that we need wisdom and grace to understand them. 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:40.480 So in going through this story, I just really want to say a couple of things. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:45.960 First of all about Jericho's judgment and then how does that Jericho judgment speak 00:10:45.960 --> 00:10:46.960 to us today? 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:51.399 So I use that word deliberately because this is a story of judgment because of Jericho 00:10:51.399 --> 00:10:52.399 is being judged. 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:56.759 The people of Jericho and the Amorites are being judged in this story. 00:10:56.759 --> 00:11:03.799 And so I use that very deliberately because this story and many others in the Old Testament, 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:11.600 they tell us about the nature and character of God and of humanity that is in catastrophic 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:20.200 opposition and rebellion to the living God, the author of life, resulting in humanity 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:22.639 being alive but being on death row. 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:25.759 And there's a real stark reality of that for humanity. 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:30.319 Not just then, but for all humanity in all of time. 00:11:30.319 --> 00:11:37.960 And yet within that, there's a hope of rescue, of life and unimaginable reconciliation with 00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:47.039 this infinite God in His spectacular glory who has given us an opportunity to be dealt 00:11:47.039 --> 00:11:52.039 with in mercy and to be dealt with in grace. 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:57.159 And that's the truth we all need to come to terms with about God as He reveals Himself 00:11:57.159 --> 00:12:04.240 throughout the Bible, primarily as it's revealed in Jesus at Calvary. 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:14.799 But this shadowy story speaks into that because it reminds us both about His saving work but 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:23.279 also about His saving work through judgment and that's an important distinction to make. 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:27.279 Because in this story, we see a lot about God as Savior. 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:33.439 When we broaden a little bit more from the passage itself, there's lots of indications 00:12:33.439 --> 00:12:39.719 that God is working with His people here, the Joshua and the people of God. 00:12:39.720 --> 00:12:47.080 He's revealed Himself to them as a Savior already and they are descendants of Abraham 00:12:47.080 --> 00:12:52.200 and they are His covenant people and He has already rescued them. 00:12:52.200 --> 00:12:57.720 They're not a particularly, they're not in any way a worthy people. 00:12:57.720 --> 00:13:00.240 But He's rescued them and He's saved them. 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:04.240 In chapter 5, we didn't read the passage because it was long enough the passage we read. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:11.440 We told that after they'd come over the Jordan miraculously and they celebrated the Passover. 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:17.120 Now the Passover was a celebration they did once a year to remind them that they had been 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:22.560 enslaved, that they had been dying, that they'd cried out to God and God had rescued them. 00:13:22.560 --> 00:13:25.159 You know the story of coming out of Egypt. 00:13:25.159 --> 00:13:30.200 And when they did so, when God rescued them, He made promises to them that He would give 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:34.360 them a land, He would give them a home and He would never fail them. 00:13:34.360 --> 00:13:36.800 And this is God outworking these promises. 00:13:36.800 --> 00:13:43.640 So they celebrated the Passover, which was God's reminder to them that they were a saved 00:13:43.640 --> 00:13:44.640 people. 00:13:44.640 --> 00:13:52.360 And also, a bit more painfully, they reinstituted circumcision because that was the covenant 00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:55.920 sign, the physical covenant sign that they belonged. 00:13:55.919 --> 00:14:02.000 They were a people who were set apart from God, set apart for God and belonged to God. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:05.439 And the evidence of that was through the shedding of blood. 00:14:05.439 --> 00:14:13.079 Now, although that was a symbol and a painful symbol at that, it actually also symbolized 00:14:13.079 --> 00:14:17.919 a heart that was changed to love God, even in the Old Testament like that, due to Run 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:19.279 in May 30, verse 6. 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:23.519 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:27.600 you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:28.600 live. 00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:34.120 It's the same message of the gospel, but in the shadows of the Old Testament, they were 00:14:34.120 --> 00:14:39.240 a people who'd been redeemed to love God, God revealing Himself even at this point 00:14:39.240 --> 00:14:40.799 as their Savior. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:43.639 And as Don mentioned in his prayer, there's lots of… 00:14:43.639 --> 00:14:47.559 Don or maybe it's Colin, can't remember. 00:14:47.559 --> 00:14:51.759 Someone mentioned the fact that God works with us as individuals all the time. 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:53.439 And we see that in the story. 00:14:53.439 --> 00:15:00.799 And there's individual stories of God working as Savior in the story, both with Joshua, who 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:06.799 worshiped God and who obeyed every last letter of God's commands to Him. 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:12.399 And also Rahab, who is miraculously, and we look to the story of Rahab a couple of weeks 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:18.960 ago, who's miraculously redeemed and who follows God and who is saved from the impending 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:19.960 judgment. 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:27.320 And so, in these huge, big, complex and difficult stories, you've got personal interventions 00:15:27.320 --> 00:15:33.480 of God at work in people from very different contexts, both who come to terms with God, 00:15:33.480 --> 00:15:38.639 both who are worshipers, both who cry for mercy, one with the privilege of coming up 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:46.400 from God's covenant people and the other from hearing about God in a foreign country, 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:51.480 with a gentile, an outsider, and the Bible's full of these stories of individuals coming 00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:52.480 to faith. 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:57.959 And the church is full of stories of people coming to faith, individuals coming to faith 00:15:57.959 --> 00:16:00.079 in Jesus Christ. 00:16:00.079 --> 00:16:06.000 And so we see that in this story of Jericho's judgment, God reveals Himself as Savior, but 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:11.480 He also reveals Himself as Savior through judgment. 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:17.360 And it's probably the difficult part of the story where He commands that the whole city, 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:23.440 animals, people, life, so everything goes is to be destroyed and only the silver and 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:25.279 the gold is to come into the temple. 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:28.680 It's devoted, it's set apart for God in judgment. 00:16:28.680 --> 00:16:31.920 And I just say one or two things about that. 00:16:31.920 --> 00:16:36.480 The first is that this judgment of God was a long time coming. 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:42.399 This is 15 verse 16 where God's speaking to Abraham about the promise of entering the 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:43.399 land. 00:16:43.399 --> 00:16:48.360 He says, And your people shall come back here in the fourth generation for the iniquity 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:51.320 of the Amorites is not yet complete. 00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:56.320 So here He's speaking about the people, the wider people were called the Amorites here. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:07.039 And 400 years before, God says, You will receive this land Abraham when the time is right for 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:13.039 this people to finally be judged by Me because their wickedness, their iniquity is not yet 00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:14.600 complete, it's not yet full. 00:17:14.600 --> 00:17:20.120 He gave them a long time to repent and to turn to the living God. 00:17:20.120 --> 00:17:23.120 Rahab did. 00:17:23.120 --> 00:17:24.480 But others didn't. 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:29.240 The background is God's covenant promise to Abraham to give them a home. 00:17:29.240 --> 00:17:34.279 And within that, as he was working and as the fame of God was spreading through the people 00:17:34.279 --> 00:17:41.079 of Israel, the Amorites, that people had many opportunities to repent and turn and believe 00:17:41.079 --> 00:17:42.079 and acknowledge God. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:48.039 But they were violent and they were brutal and they were immoral and child sacrifice 00:17:48.039 --> 00:17:49.599 with the norm. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:55.199 Life was cheap and they were utterly dark and evil as a people. 00:17:55.199 --> 00:17:58.240 So their judgment from God was long time come. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:05.000 This was God saying, Okay, you've lived, you've carried on living, but now is the time for 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:10.519 you to face judgment. 00:18:10.519 --> 00:18:13.879 And as God comes, this is God's work. 00:18:13.879 --> 00:18:15.639 This is not Israel doing their own thing. 00:18:15.639 --> 00:18:17.279 This is God at work. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:21.879 We recognize it's in the context, as much of the Old Testament is, it's in the context 00:18:21.879 --> 00:18:24.879 of human impossibility. 00:18:24.879 --> 00:18:26.319 God made the promise to Abraham. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:27.319 He was an old man. 00:18:27.319 --> 00:18:28.319 He had no descendants. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:29.319 He had no children. 00:18:29.319 --> 00:18:30.720 His wife was old. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:34.480 He couldn't, they should be on childbearing age. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:38.879 And he was standing alone in the land. 00:18:38.879 --> 00:18:41.480 And yet God promised it would happen. 00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:47.839 He surrounded by enemies and the Egypt and the Red Sea and the opposition and then the 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:49.640 desert and then the crossing. 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:53.680 And then here, it's interesting, you have the picture of the commander of the Lord and 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:55.360 the end of chapter five. 00:18:55.360 --> 00:19:01.079 And then you've got a parenthesis at the beginning of chapter six before God speaks again. 00:19:01.079 --> 00:19:05.440 Jericho was shut up inside and outside because the people of Israel. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:07.799 There was a sense of impossibility. 00:19:07.799 --> 00:19:09.279 The city was shut up. 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:11.920 It was kind of like the castle. 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:12.920 It was high up. 00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:13.920 It was ramparts. 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:18.359 It was impossible for Israel or anyone else to get into. 00:19:18.359 --> 00:19:20.839 And there was no way of defeating them. 00:19:20.839 --> 00:19:26.119 It had to be God working through them. 00:19:26.119 --> 00:19:28.000 So God is Savior through judgment. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:32.799 And it's both a picture of judgment and victory. 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:36.079 And we see that God is entirely at work here. 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:41.679 So you've got the amazing story of the commander of the Lord's army coming to Joshua at the 00:19:41.679 --> 00:19:44.960 beginning of the end of chapter five. 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:49.159 And you know, Joshua says to him, you know, are you with us or for the enemies? 00:19:49.159 --> 00:19:56.039 And he says, neither, mate, get it right. 00:19:56.039 --> 00:19:59.319 He is the commander of the Lord's army. 00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:02.599 And he goes on to say, I've already delivered Jericho into your hands. 00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:04.439 This is God's work. 00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:14.240 And this is an Old Testament revelation of God in the flesh. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:17.120 Sword in hand, sword of judgment in hand. 00:20:17.120 --> 00:20:19.279 Joshua bows down and worship him. 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:23.880 And he's not told not to do that. 00:20:23.880 --> 00:20:28.440 And this commander of the Lord's army, God himself, is not acting on anyone's behalf. 00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:30.039 He's not on anyone's side. 00:20:30.039 --> 00:20:36.119 He's fulfilling his own will and Joshua's standing on holy ground. 00:20:36.119 --> 00:20:44.279 And he gives, he gives specific and unique and very unwarlike instructions that what 00:20:44.279 --> 00:20:47.720 you're to do is to, you're just to walk around the city seven times. 00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:50.960 Say a little bit more about that in a minute. 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:55.720 But this is God's judgment and this is God's work, not only from the commander of the Lord's 00:20:55.720 --> 00:21:02.079 army being there, but also because the Ark of the Covenant is absolutely crucial and 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:06.799 central and in the middle of everything that the people of God are doing as they walk around 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:07.799 the city. 00:21:07.799 --> 00:21:11.960 So the Ark of the Covenant is mentioned ten times in the story. 00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:16.360 And that's the Ark of the Covenant is the symbol of God's presence with the Old Testament 00:21:16.360 --> 00:21:17.360 people. 00:21:17.360 --> 00:21:22.039 It held the Ten Commandments and had the mercy seat on top of it. 00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:29.119 And it was just a symbol of who God was with the blood would be sprinkled on the mercy 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:30.920 seat on top where they would be forgiven. 00:21:30.920 --> 00:21:38.119 And there's a visible sign pointing forward to again the Christ and his work on the cross. 00:21:38.119 --> 00:21:40.879 But so God's presence was going to be with them. 00:21:40.879 --> 00:21:41.879 This was God's fight. 00:21:41.879 --> 00:21:44.440 This was God's judgment. 00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:49.200 And then the enacting of the commands that God gives are interesting too because they're 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:55.080 to walk seven times round and then on the seventh day they were to walk seven times round. 00:21:55.080 --> 00:21:59.559 And seven in the Bible is God's number of perfection. 00:21:59.559 --> 00:22:08.440 And you may think this is a bit far fetched, but on the Passover meal they celebrated would 00:22:08.440 --> 00:22:15.880 have been followed in the feasts by the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread where 00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:20.560 they celebrated God's freedom and the removal of sin and God's rescue. 00:22:20.560 --> 00:22:26.440 And so the seven trumpets as well were religious trumpets, speaking about jubilee and about 00:22:26.440 --> 00:22:28.000 freedom. 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:35.040 And they were to be walked, they were to walk round each day once in silence. 00:22:35.040 --> 00:22:44.380 It's not a great sort of war, sort of instructions, is it, for a fighting corps who were standing 00:22:44.380 --> 00:22:47.040 in front of the Ark of the Covenant and behind it. 00:22:47.040 --> 00:22:50.720 Can you imagine a young soldier, they'd prepare if he'd done his press-ups, he was all ready 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:51.720 for the fight. 00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:56.680 And he was just looking forward to being in the battle and he was having to walk round 00:22:56.680 --> 00:22:57.680 in silence. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:22:59.680 What's happening, you know? 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:00.680 What's going on? 00:23:00.680 --> 00:23:01.680 What kind of war is this? 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:04.800 And he would have to think as he was walking around. 00:23:04.800 --> 00:23:09.760 Then they went back to the camp and all they were seeing was the size of the walls and 00:23:09.760 --> 00:23:13.960 maybe the people of Jericho looking out, maybe even mocking them as they went round. 00:23:13.960 --> 00:23:15.480 What kind of fight is this? 00:23:15.480 --> 00:23:18.000 I've got my armour on, I'm ready to go. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:21.440 And I've just been out there walking around like a fool. 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:24.680 What's the point of... 00:23:24.680 --> 00:23:30.600 And then on the seventh day, the shout that they were asked to do and the walls collapse 00:23:30.600 --> 00:23:32.400 miraculously. 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:36.319 An act of God fulfilling his promises. 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:46.599 And the people are then to enact God's judgment on that city. 00:23:46.599 --> 00:23:52.480 Verse 17 speaks about that, it speaks about the city being devoted to the Lord. 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:56.119 And that's a difficult concept, the city and all that's within it shall be devoted to the 00:23:56.119 --> 00:23:58.839 Lord for destruction. 00:23:58.839 --> 00:24:01.799 And really for judgment, okay? 00:24:01.799 --> 00:24:04.240 You could say that as well. 00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:09.519 In other words, everything, everything in the city was going back to God from whom it 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:10.519 came. 00:24:10.519 --> 00:24:14.319 So he'd given them life, he'd given them children, he'd given them families, he'd given them 00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:18.279 food, he'd given them clothes, he'd given them everything, all his gift. 00:24:18.279 --> 00:24:24.920 And now in judgment, it was all being devoted back to him, in judgment as it were. 00:24:24.920 --> 00:24:32.680 He was taking back life and it was returning to him the giver of these things. 00:24:32.680 --> 00:24:38.880 And now interestingly, everything in that city was devoted to God, either in judgment 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:41.560 or salvation. 00:24:41.560 --> 00:24:49.160 Rehab was devoted to God also, but in salvation, because she put her trust and faith in God, 00:24:49.160 --> 00:24:54.080 she also returned to the Lord in salvation. 00:24:54.080 --> 00:25:00.920 But those who would not repent and would not return are devoted to God in judgment. 00:25:00.920 --> 00:25:03.480 A city devoted to God. 00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:09.320 So God reveals himself as Savior through judgment in this chapter. 00:25:09.320 --> 00:25:11.200 So how does it speak to us today? 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:16.640 I hope you've begun to unpack and I've only really looked at it very briefly, a little 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:24.600 bit of why when we see it in its historical context, redemptive historical context, how 00:25:24.600 --> 00:25:28.920 it points forward to something very, very important. 00:25:28.920 --> 00:25:36.400 Is that Calvary is the ultimate fulfillment of what happened at Jericho, where Jesus Christ 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:42.360 is devoted in judgment back to God this matter. 00:25:42.360 --> 00:25:51.800 And so what we see in reality is that God takes on, in his unique character, three persons, 00:25:51.800 --> 00:25:52.800 one God. 00:25:52.800 --> 00:25:56.560 He takes our sin on himself. 00:25:56.559 --> 00:26:01.159 The Son is devoted to destruction in our place. 00:26:01.159 --> 00:26:05.240 He drinks the cup of God's wrath to the full. 00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:13.319 And God's punishment, God's just punishment and sentence for death for our sin is paid 00:26:13.319 --> 00:26:19.399 by God the Son, who is devoted to destruction on the cross. 00:26:19.399 --> 00:26:22.559 He atones for all that we've done. 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:24.879 He satisfies God's judgment. 00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:27.520 He's paid in full. 00:26:27.520 --> 00:26:31.920 And He rises to life as our guarantee. 00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:39.560 So Jesus Christ, interestingly, is the Savior through judgment, just as we see God at work 00:26:39.560 --> 00:26:42.400 in salvation through judgment in Jericho. 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:48.040 Jesus Christ, the cross therefore, always for us, if you're shaming the gospel for you 00:26:48.040 --> 00:26:53.720 with your friends, it's always a case that there is justice and judgment and bad news 00:26:53.720 --> 00:26:56.000 before the good news. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:04.000 But the absolutely good news is that for all who come to Jesus Christ and love and cry 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:09.960 out to Him for salvation, then the price has been paid. 00:27:09.960 --> 00:27:13.079 And His mercy is poured out. 00:27:13.079 --> 00:27:15.079 Rahab's a great example of that, right? 00:27:15.079 --> 00:27:20.319 In the midst of that Old Testament story, we've got a great picture of Rahab becoming part 00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:22.759 of the people of God, living forever. 00:27:22.759 --> 00:27:27.400 And we'll meet her in heaven when we get there, and we'll be able to ask her about her own 00:27:27.400 --> 00:27:29.359 life of faith. 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:37.039 And that is the greatest and the costliest and the most glorious act of love you will 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:41.440 ever recognize anyone pouring out on your behalf. 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:43.119 It's everything. 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:45.319 It's everything. 00:27:45.319 --> 00:27:47.079 The gospel doesn't go beyond that. 00:27:47.079 --> 00:27:53.319 It's absolutely everything is that we take all these complex and difficult passages in 00:27:53.319 --> 00:27:56.879 the Old Testament and we see them through the eyes of Calvary and they begin to make 00:27:56.879 --> 00:28:00.279 sense that God was saying, sin is really, really serious. 00:28:00.279 --> 00:28:06.439 You know, we're no better than the inhabitants of Jericho than the Amorites. 00:28:06.439 --> 00:28:09.279 We're no better. 00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:13.439 We all under God's judgment unless we come to Jesus. 00:28:13.439 --> 00:28:14.599 Every single living soul. 00:28:14.599 --> 00:28:15.599 That's why it's also urgent. 00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:17.399 That's why it's also important. 00:28:17.399 --> 00:28:22.559 That's why the story of Jericho isn't just either a conundrum that we throw away in the 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:27.559 side or a pretty story that we sing spiritual songs to it. 00:28:27.559 --> 00:28:32.240 And it's a nice story about Jericho's walls falling down. 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:36.279 But can I just say that archaeologically, there's lots of evidence that these walls 00:28:36.279 --> 00:28:38.039 did fall down miraculously. 00:28:38.039 --> 00:28:46.039 And there is also evidence that part of the walls stayed up where rehab's house was. 00:28:46.039 --> 00:28:51.119 So we recognize that Calvary is the ultimate fulfillment of this story. 00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:55.440 We also recognize surely through a story like this that his ways are not our ways. 00:28:55.440 --> 00:28:59.480 Isaiah 55 verses 89, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. 00:28:59.480 --> 00:29:02.480 Neither are your ways my ways. 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:07.159 For his heavens are higher than theirs, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts 00:29:07.160 --> 00:29:08.360 than your thoughts. 00:29:08.360 --> 00:29:12.400 If we are worshipers, we need to understand that. 00:29:12.400 --> 00:29:16.040 We mustn't always be taking, bringing God down to our level and say, well, you've got 00:29:16.040 --> 00:29:18.160 to justify yourself here, God. 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:21.560 You've got, I've got to agree with you. 00:29:21.560 --> 00:29:24.320 We have to let God, because his ways are higher than us. 00:29:24.320 --> 00:29:26.000 And trust can be difficult. 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:32.440 Put yourself in the place of the soldier that's going around, who's trained for war. 00:29:32.440 --> 00:29:35.320 He's walking around there and he's struggling. 00:29:35.319 --> 00:29:38.879 He's struggling to understand what God's doing and why God would be doing this. 00:29:38.879 --> 00:29:45.000 Well, put yourself in his place or just put yourself in a similar place where you're walking 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:47.879 around something in your life and you're wondering, what on earth is God doing? 00:29:47.879 --> 00:29:48.879 Is he interested? 00:29:48.879 --> 00:29:49.879 Does he care? 00:29:49.879 --> 00:29:54.279 What, his purpose is they don't seem to make sense to me. 00:29:54.279 --> 00:29:56.399 His ways are higher than our ways. 00:29:56.399 --> 00:30:03.799 He asks us to be patient and he asks us to worship him like Joshua did and all the craziness 00:30:03.799 --> 00:30:11.639 of what really Joshua seemed to be being asked to do, day to day, and to know his presence 00:30:11.639 --> 00:30:14.680 with us through that. 00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:16.799 We don't have an ark of a covenant to walk in front of us. 00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:20.240 We don't have an ark of covenant we can place in these flowers. 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:27.319 We've got Jesus Christ in our hearts, something far greater of which they are pointed towards. 00:30:27.319 --> 00:30:30.359 I am with you, Emmanuel, Jesus with you. 00:30:30.359 --> 00:30:32.919 I will never leave you and forsake you. 00:30:32.920 --> 00:30:35.880 We only believe that when things are going well, don't we? 00:30:35.880 --> 00:30:41.880 When we think he's answering our prayers. 00:30:41.880 --> 00:30:46.640 And yet we're asked to recognize, you know, in the things we don't understand, that his 00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:48.480 ways are not our ways. 00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:51.440 They're higher than ours. 00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:57.000 And lastly, in terms of applying, I think we need to remember and understand that we 00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:03.839 do walk an impossible road, humanly speaking. 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:08.359 People of Israel, say, face Jericho, that was an impossible fight crossing the Jordan. 00:31:08.359 --> 00:31:10.440 It was an impossible crossing. 00:31:10.440 --> 00:31:13.720 Abraham having children was an impossible task. 00:31:13.720 --> 00:31:17.920 Getting out of Egypt was an impossible reality. 00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:22.000 And throughout the Old Testament you have story upon story upon story with David and 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:28.559 Goliath or Ruth, and right through the Old Testament you've got stories of impossibility 00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:33.200 that has got to intervene in the impossibility of life. 00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:38.799 And maybe you struggle and you're thinking, you know, I'm fed up of this. 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:40.920 It's an impossible walk. 00:31:40.920 --> 00:31:44.519 And I've shared my faith and nobody's interested in becoming a Christian. 00:31:44.519 --> 00:31:47.920 It's impossible today for people to come to faith. 00:31:47.920 --> 00:31:48.920 And you're struggling with that. 00:31:48.920 --> 00:31:53.200 And you have a vulnerability, you feel a struggle with that, and it does seem overwhelming. 00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:56.200 Did I put up synchrointines 4-7? 00:31:56.200 --> 00:31:57.200 Yeah. 00:31:57.200 --> 00:32:01.440 But because that's the way it is, isn't it? 00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:04.900 We have this treasure in Jarzai clay that shows that the surpassing power belongs to 00:32:04.900 --> 00:32:05.900 God and not to us. 00:32:05.900 --> 00:32:09.519 That's why things seem so impossible for us so much of the time. 00:32:09.519 --> 00:32:15.000 Because it drives us to the one who has the surpassing power to forgive and to change 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:20.480 and to transform and to renew and to answer our prayers and to bring people of faith whom 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:21.480 we love. 00:32:21.480 --> 00:32:24.920 But the three people you've been praying for, for seven or eight years in St. Columbus, 00:32:24.920 --> 00:32:25.920 it's impossible, isn't it? 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:27.480 You're fed up praying for them. 00:32:27.480 --> 00:32:28.480 Nothing's changed. 00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:29.480 Keep going. 00:32:29.480 --> 00:32:30.480 Keep persevering. 00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:32.579 Keep sharing. 00:32:32.579 --> 00:32:34.779 Keep looking for opportunities. 00:32:34.779 --> 00:32:40.920 Because this God is a God who in fulfilling His promises to deal with this city and give 00:32:40.920 --> 00:32:46.400 the people a land that He told Abraham 400 years before, was reminding them that His promises 00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:48.920 always are true. 00:32:48.920 --> 00:32:52.080 That's why we're looking at promises on the Wednesday night at the engine room. 00:32:52.080 --> 00:32:53.240 Because they're always true. 00:32:53.240 --> 00:32:55.039 He doesn't lie. 00:32:55.039 --> 00:33:00.920 And the victory He gives is exceedingly above and beyond what we can ask or even imagine. 00:33:00.920 --> 00:33:02.759 So it's tough truth. 00:33:02.759 --> 00:33:03.880 I know that. 00:33:03.880 --> 00:33:10.160 And it's difficult to argue this truth in the society and in the world in which we live. 00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:12.040 But we do need to mine it. 00:33:12.040 --> 00:33:13.040 We do need to work it. 00:33:13.040 --> 00:33:18.279 We do need to understand it and always bring it through the lens and the prism of Calvary 00:33:18.279 --> 00:33:21.000 and what Jesus has done for us at Calvary. 00:33:21.000 --> 00:33:28.840 And in one application of a story, that it surely must be in our lives when the commander 00:33:28.840 --> 00:33:32.680 of the Lord's army speaks to Joshua. 00:33:32.680 --> 00:33:37.160 And Joshua says, you know, are you for us or for our adversaries' adversities? 00:33:37.160 --> 00:33:41.200 And he says, no, I am the commander of the Lord's army. 00:33:41.200 --> 00:33:47.720 And the question that we often ask is, I wonder if God's in my side? 00:33:47.720 --> 00:33:49.240 And that's not the big question. 00:33:49.240 --> 00:33:53.720 The big question is, are you on His side? 00:33:53.720 --> 00:34:01.360 Are you living on His side, on the side of victory, on the side of the defeat of death 00:34:01.360 --> 00:34:03.279 on the cross at Calvary? 00:34:03.279 --> 00:34:10.360 Or are you on the side of Him who gave Himself for you and you say, this is where I stand. 00:34:10.360 --> 00:34:13.719 And He is who I stand for. 00:34:13.719 --> 00:34:18.960 In all the difficulties and mysteries and impossibilities of that, because His is the side of victory 00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:24.719 and love and grace and hope and forgiveness and a future and an identity in Him. 00:34:24.719 --> 00:34:31.159 He's a great God and He does make us work to understand Him. 00:34:31.159 --> 00:34:33.519 So we have to put our heads in prayer. 00:34:33.519 --> 00:34:37.000 Heavenly Father, we ask in prayer that we would understand you better. 00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:42.839 We pray that these passages that we read, which are filled with difficulties for us 00:34:42.839 --> 00:34:51.279 in many ways, that we would accept and believe and be able to argue, not in an argumentative 00:34:51.279 --> 00:35:00.480 way but in a humble and persuasive way as we see them pointing towards Calvary and how 00:35:00.480 --> 00:35:10.159 could sin ever be more serious than it requiring the death of God, the God the Son? 00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:19.880 What more expensive price could ever be meted out in order to bring justice and mercy together 00:35:19.880 --> 00:35:21.920 and bring hope? 00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:27.519 And forgive us, Lord, in the light of that for treating it cheaply and lightly as if 00:35:27.519 --> 00:35:33.880 it doesn't matter and if God will just forgive anyway and He couldn't care less. 00:35:33.880 --> 00:35:40.960 Help us to see that all these Old Testament stories too are pointing just to the weightiness 00:35:40.960 --> 00:35:47.280 and the brutality and the ugliness and the evil of the human heart and that it will always 00:35:47.280 --> 00:35:53.119 come to judgment either on Jesus or on ourselves. 00:35:53.119 --> 00:35:58.599 That's a solemn thought and one we should do well to weigh and think about this evening. 00:35:58.599 --> 00:36:02.599 When we think of our lives and we think of our friends who don't know you and when we 00:36:02.599 --> 00:36:14.839 lack courage and maybe effort and energy to share Jesus and to wrestle with these issues. 00:36:14.839 --> 00:36:20.159 So help us, we pray, live in God in our lives and into this week that we've entered for 00:36:20.159 --> 00:36:21.159 Jesus' sake. 00:36:21.159 --> 00:36:22.159 Amen. 00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:23.159 Thank you. 00:36:23.159 --> 00:36:52.159 Thank you.