THE PULLING DOWN OF STRONGHOLDS
“Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour." (Joshua 6:1, 2).
Jericho was Israel's first real test of faith after God
delivered them across the swollen waters of the Jordan River. Considered to be the oldest inhabited city in
the world, Jericho sat just west of the Jordan River on an ancient trade route
that led to Damascus. It was strategically
situated at the pass that led up to the central highlands which ran north and
south along the heart of Canaan, and was well fortified against its
enemies. It had a double wall that was
30 feet tall. The outer wall was 6 feet
thick, and after a space of 15 feet, the inner wall was 12 feet thick. These walls were massive and virtually
impervious to frontal assault. Once
Jericho was conquered, Israel would be able to ascend up the pass and divide
the native city-states that were to the north from those that were to the
south. This would effectively split the
Canaanite tribes in half and give the Jews an opportunity to focus their
campaign first in one direction, and then in the other. Without question Jericho was the key to
taking, and holding, Canaan.
God
spoke to Joshua and told him, "See,
I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour." (Joshua
6:2). Notice that He said, "I
have given," and not
"I will give."
The tense used here is important.
To God the thing was already as good as done. It was dependant on nothing but the faith and
obedience of His people. The outcome was
certain because God said it was done.
The Jews didn't have to wonder or stress over whether they could pull it
off - God had already promised it.
God is the One "Who
gives life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that <He has
foretold and promised> as if they <already> existed." (Romans
4:17b Amp). When He promised Abraham a
son, He said, "I have made thee a father of many
nations." He did not say "I will
make thee..." It is the same
with the promises that God has made to you and me. He has spoken them as though they have
already been fulfilled because they have
already been fulfilled in Christ. "For
the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Whom we proclaimed among you...was not Yes and
No, but in Him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their
Yes in Him. That is why it is through Him [Jesus] that we utter our Amen to God for His
glory. And it is God Who establishes us
with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and Who has also put His seal on us
and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee." (2 Corinthians
1:19-22 ESV). None of our spiritual
goals are based on whether we can or we can't achieve them - God has already
achieved them for us in Christ. Our
whole duty then is to believe and to walk in obedience to the Lord's
instructions to us. The thing that we
focus on in our life is critical. If we
focus on God's promise and keep our eyes on Jesus, our faith will get the
victory; but if we focus on circumstances and take our eyes off Jesus, we will
get discouraged, give up the quest, and sink in the mire of despair.
In addition to God’s assurance of victory, the Lord appeared
to Joshua in the plain of Jericho with sword in hand, revealing Himself as the
Captain of the Host of the LORD. It was
there that the Lord spoke the same words to Joshua that He had spoken to Moses
many years before when He was about to send Moses back into Egypt to confront
Pharaoh. God said, "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy." (Joshua 5:15). The angelic host of heaven was prepared to
fight on God’s behalf in any circumstance.
In both cases, God considered the field of battle that these men of God
stood on as holy ground. This story
reminds me of St. Paul’s admonition to the Church to whom he wrote, “Put on the whole armour of God [the
spiritual armor that God has given His people], that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:11, 12).
Our daily struggles are just as important to God as any of
the battles that the heroes of the Bible faced.
We must believe that as we encounter these walls and fortresses in our
lives, we, too, stand on holy ground with God.
He considers the site of our battles to be consecrated, and we can be
assured that His presence will abide with us as we press forward. It is there that the Lord seals our marching
orders.
God's strategy to take Jericho was simple: march around
the city once every day for six days and on the seventh day march around seven
times. How tempting it would have been
for the Israelites to think after the first day, "Well, the walls are
still standing, nothing happened, God has left us." And what about after the
second day? Or the third, fourth, and
fifth days? They were just going around
in circles and nothing was happening!
All the time, their faith was being tried. Would they be like their fathers who could not
enter the Promised Land because they refused to believe that God had given them
the land? Would they give up too soon in
despair and be sent back out into the wilderness to perish like the previous
generation? It is easy to imagine that
these types of doubts may have crept into their thoughts. By the way, God had commanded that they keep
silent as they circled the city each day.
No complaining, no whining, no talking of defeat, or of the futility of
their efforts - nothing but silence and knowing that God was God. They were expected to trust and wait for Him
to do as He said.
At any time, Joshua’s army could have swerved aside and
run up against Jericho’s walls, expecting that they would fall flat for
them. This would have been fruitless,
however, for God already had made His battle plan. We think that if we move out in “faith” God
will move sooner for us, but all we will accomplish is to knock our heads
against the wall! We must learn to trust
in God’s plan, and wait patiently for Him to fulfill it in His time.
It is so easy for us to focus on what is not happening in our lives rather than
on what God has promised to us. At times
it seems as though we, too, are just going around in circles, and not making
any progress spiritually. We see walls
and barriers before us that impede our progress, and we know that we cannot
proceed until they come down. Sin,
self-doubt, and fear all stand before us appearing as impregnable as Jericho's
walls, and after several times around the city we begin to despair. We live as though everything depends on what
we must do and not on what Christ has already
done. It is just a matter of believing
and following His instructions if we want to see the victories. "But
thanks be unto God, which hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:57).
"Now thanks be unto God,
which always causes us to triumph in Christ." (2 Corinthians
2:14). "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians
4:13). God’s promises in Christ are
always the bulwark of our faith. They
give us hope during the times when we must circle the city, waiting for the
walls to fall; and that hope becomes an anchor for our soul!
God works in various ways that are mysterious to our
way of thinking, but there is purpose behind every path that He chooses for
us. He could always work instantaneously
if He wished. Our healing would come as
soon as we are prayed for. Our
difficulties would always be quickly corrected, and our needs immediately
met. We would not grow and mature very
much spiritually if this were the case, though.
It’s when we must endure some suffering that we learn the most valuable
lessons in life. Our trials give us
experience that we can share with others who are going through similar
adversities. Also, when we have to wait
for God’s promises, we learn to hope in Him and develop patience. “For we
are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why
doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for
that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” (Romans 8:24, 25).
When
I was a new Christian, there was a habit that I had had for some time and was
trying to quit. I felt all the
conviction in the world that I wanted
to stop, but felt that it was entirely up to me to overcome it. I would succeed for a day or two, but then
fall back into it. I became discouraged
after a while and gave up trying, wondering why I was so weak. Then, one night, at a Christian gathering,
the Lord let me know that I could not save myself. No matter how large or how small my problems
were, it was He Who would deliver me
and not my own strength or will. Just as
I was unable to redeem my own soul from past sins, I was also unable to save
myself in the future from things that would afflict me. He let me know in that hour that He was
prepared to save me to the uttermost if I would just trust in Him. I was humbled by the thought of it, and I
prayed right then and there for the Lord to forgive me for my presumption and
to rid me of this habit. Miraculously,
in that hour I was delivered from my addiction!
I was amazed that I was not even tempted by that thing again, and
haven't been for 58 years since! This
experience laid a groundwork of faith for me, and a frame of reference to
remind me of the Lord's faithfulness when I face new obstacles.
Be
assured that when the Lord promises the victory - and the Lord has
promised the victory - He will cause the wall that stands in our way to fall down flat! As God does this for us, we will find that it
is no less a miracle than any that we have read or heard about in the
Bible.
Faith and obedience to what God has told us are the key
ingredients to victory. If God has
spoken a thing to our hearts, we can rely on Him to perform it in due
time. The Prophet Isaiah tells us, “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat
the good of the land.” (Isaiah 1:19).
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