JOSHUA: GOD IS SALVATION (PART TWO)
HEARING FROM GOD
"For
the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Whom we preached 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 we utter the Amen through Him, to the glory of God." (2 Corinthians
1:19,20 RSV).
The judgment that God pronounced on the rebellious Jews
was severe. They were forced to return
to the wilderness and wander there for another 40 years. It wasn’t until the last person from that
unbelieving generation had died in the wilderness that God spoke to their
children who were grown now and said it was time to enter Canaan.
Joshua had proven his faith in God's promises. He and Caleb were the only two who had
actually seen the Promised Land and were ready 40 years earlier to go in and
take it. That was when Moses was the one
hearing from God and leading the Israelites forward, however. Now, Moses was dead, and Joshua was anointed
by God to lead the people into Canaan. He
had some big shoes to fill! It’s one
thing to simply follow someone who is hearing from God, and another thing altogether
to seek for, and hear from, God for ourselves.
It’s important for every child of God to learn this, however. Though we depend on other believers to
admonish and edify us in the Lord, we must always remember that it’s Jesus
Christ Who we have been called to follow.
We can, and must, make the effort to know the Lord for ourselves and to
hear His still, small voice inside of us.
A true leader will not demand (or tolerate) that you follow him blindly,
but like the Apostle Paul, will encourage you to follow him only to the degree
to which he is following Christ himself.
This puts the responsibility on each of us to know God for
ourselves. As Paul admonishes us, “…work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling.” (Philippians 2:12). God
is faithful to every one of His children, and He will lead each of us into the
truth if we will seek Him and surrender to His will. He has placed His Holy Spirit in us to
comfort and to lead them us into all truth.
We can trust Him to speak to us just as He spoke to Moses, to Joshua,
and to every child of God down through the centuries.
BE
STRONG AND OF A GOOD COURAGE
Our Father in heaven knows our frailties and
self-doubting, and He will encourage us along the way. He constantly reminds us that it is not by
our own strength that we will prevail, but by His. Three times God spoke to Joshua before they
crossed the Jordan River. He told him to,
"Be strong and of a good
courage." Joshua evidently
needed that encouragement going forward, and so do we! It is an awesome responsibility to be used of
God and to speak the words of God. This
is why we must make time in our busy schedules to hear from God every day. If we are not drawing fresh water out of the
wells of salvation we will not have anything fresh and alive to share with
others. Oh, we can quote Bible verses
and "Christian" sayings; but if we aren't feeding on the heavenly
manna ourselves, our words will be hollow, just the letter of the Word and not
the spirit. Because God told Joshua to
be strong and courageous, Joshua could then encourage those he was leading to
do so also. Paul exressed this truth when
he wrote, "Blessed be God...Who
comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which
are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of
God." (2 Corinthians 1:3, 4).
We are encouraged repeatedly in the New Testament to
stand strong, and to draw our strength from the Lord Himself. Consider these verses:
·
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in
the power of his might.” (Ephesians
6:10).
·
“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is
in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 2:1).
·
“Watch ye, stand
fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” (1 Corinthians 16:13).
We would do well to always remember that we can’t do anything
except through Christ Who strengthens us.
ALL of God’s promises find
their fulfillment in Him. It was He Who
started the work in the beginning and it is He Who has finished the work on
Calvary. In Him is all the fullness of
the godhead bodily, and we are completed in Him. Our victory isn’t ever “iffy” in Christ. It is
never “maybe He will, and maybe He won’t”. It is always a resounding “yes” with our Lord. Yes, I can be holy. Yes, I can stand against the enemy of my soul. Yes, I can claim the territory that God has promised
is mine. Yes, I can slay giants, topple
strongholds, move mountains, and see miracles all in the name of Jesus Christ
and by His power. The essence of the New
Covenant that God has made with us, the true
House of Israel (both Jews and Gentiles alike who have been born again), is
contained in this promise: “…I will dwell
in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My
people.” (2 Corinthians 6:16). His
Holy Spirit is, indeed, dwelling in us and walking us in order to present us perfect
in Christ Jesus (Colossians 1:28).
MOSES MY SERVANT IS DEAD
After
40 years of wandering in the desert of Sinai, the generation of Israelites who
refused to believe God's promises at Kadesh-Barnea all died. It was their children who now stood at the
threshold of the Promised Land. Only
three men of the original host who escaped from Egypt now survived. They were Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. These were the men who had believed God all
along. Two of them would cross over the Jordan
River and possess Canaan, but Moses was refused admittance because of his
actions at the waters of Meribah where he openly expressed his frustration with
the people of God. Moses chose his own
actions over God's direction on that occasion, and paid a price for his
error. God did lead him up into a nearby
mountain where he could see the Promised Land, but then he died there without
ever entering into it. After Moses'
death, God said to Joshua, "Moses My
servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this
people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of
Israel." (Joshua 1:2). Only after Moses’ death could God say to
Joshua, “…arise, go over this Jordan”. There is a lesson in this.
Joshua
represents Christ and the New Covenant. As
Joshua lead his people into the Land of Promise, so Christ leads us into this
promised Kingdom of God, this new land of victory, joy, and peace. Moses represents the Law and the Old Covenant
which was unable to lead the people into the Land just as it is unable to lead us
into the promises and into the overcoming life.
Moses (representing the law) was forbidden to enter into the Promised
Land. By this the scripture is
indicating that those promises could only be attained by faith and not by the
works of the Law, “Knowing that a man is
not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ...for by
the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.” (Galatians 2:16). What the Law couldn't do because of the
weakness of mortal flesh, Christ is able to accomplish through faith in His
finished work (see Romans 8:3, 4). "For the Law made nothing perfect, but
the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God." (Hebrews 7:19). Under Moses (the Law), the people could not
enter in. Once Moses was dead, Joshua
(Jesus) was free to lead the people in.
As long as we rely on the keeping of commandments as the means of our
entry into God’s righteous Kingdom, it will never happen. The Law must be dead to us and us to the Law
in order for us to proceed into all that God has promised His children by
grace. “For I through the Law am dead to the Law, that I might live unto God.”
(Galatians 2:19). This is just one more
example of how the Old Testament history of God’s people Israel typifies and
points to the eternal principles of God’s Kingdom and their fulfillment in
Jesus Christ.
How do we become dead to the Law and alive to
Christ? Paul says in Galatians 2:20, " I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and
gave Himself for me." Through
baptism into Christ, we identify ourselves with the crucifixion and
resurrection of our Lord. Just as He was
crucified and buried in a tomb, we are placed in the water and
"buried" under the surface.
Once buried, we are then dead to sin, the flesh, the devil, and the Law. In the same way, then, that Jesus was raised
from the dead, we are raised out of the water in the likeness of Jesus'
resurrection. The Christian's life must
be completely wrapped up in Christ in order for him to be totally successful
and victorious. Our flesh wants to rule
our life and our actions. Its’ choices
are not based on God's goodness or will, but its’ own best interests. The only way we can be free from the lordship
of our old, carnal nature is to reckon him to be dead in Christ. Again, Paul expresses it best in Colossians
3:1-3, "If ye then be risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on
things above, not on things on the earth.
For ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God."
THE
MIRACLE OF JORDAN
Before the Israelites could enter into the Promised
Land, they first had to find a way over the Jordan River which was swollen past
its banks at that time. Just as their
fathers faced the Red Sea, they now faced this obstacle. In both cases, these bodies of water
represented death by drowning to God's children. If they stayed put, they could not possess
the land. If they tried to swim it, most
would surely drown. This was a dilemma,
but God had the answer. He would dry up
the river at the point where they must cross.
God's answer is always life from death, strength from weakness, and
wisdom from foolishness. Like baptism,
the Israelites had to enter the river (death), but God would bring them through
and grant them life (resurrection). It’s
the only way that we can enter in. We must die to our old life so that we
can embrace God's new life in Christ.
At the Red Sea the Israelites were fleeing Pharaoh and Egypt and leaving
them behind forever. At the Jordan River
they were leaving something much more.
Before the Jews could enter into Canaan, the whole
generation that left Egypt (save three), had to perish in the wilderness. “But
with whom was He [God] grieved forty
years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?”
(Hebrews 3:17). This is symbolic of
something extremely important. It
reveals that our old man (our carnal nature) must be put to death so that our
new man (our spiritual nature) can enter into the victory that is in
Christ. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things
are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians
5:17). The generation that rebelled
against God’s will all perished in the wilderness. Likewise, our old, rebellious and unbelieving
nature must be put to death so that our new nature can rise from the dead and
enter in.
It was a whole new generation that entered the Promised
Land with Joshua and, like the generation before them, they had to “pass through the waters” leaving their
old life behind them, and embracing the new life before them. Jesus expressed this principle when He said, “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and
he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.” (Matthew 10:39; see also Luke 17:33). Beloved, we must forsake our old life, our
old ways, and our old nature if we want to move into the promises of God and
start to mature as Christians. We must
leave our old nature to perish in Jordan, and embrace the new nature which is “created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”
(Ephesians 2:10). We cannot do the
Lord’s will and our own will at the same time!
The priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant were the
first to go down into the water. God
said that He would not roll the water back until the feet of the priests
touched the brink of the river. The
priests were those who had dedicated their lives to the service of God. They were all in for God. This is what our commitment for God must look
like also. As Christians, we are all considered kings and priests of God
today (see 1 Peter 2:9). As members of
Christ's body, we all have a crucial function to perform within that body. So, as priests, we must be willing to
"get our feet wet" in the river.
We must be willing to believe God and trudge forward even if we don't
see God's miracle immediately. If God
intends for us to walk right into Jordan before He rolls the water back, then
our faith must be up to the task. Faith
is our victory! We must walk by faith
and not by sight. We who believe need to
be the examples for those around us, proving that God is faithful to them who
trust Him. We would all rather see God
work the miracle before we
step out into those raging waters, but He won’t move until we do! We must remember that we are bearing the very
presence of God with us into the waters.
Christ Himself (symbolized by the Ark) goes with us and therefore we can
do all things through Him. He has said
that He is with us always, even to the end of this earth.
Just as God promised, as soon as the priests stepped
into Jordan, God divided the waters before them, and the priests stayed right
there in the middle of the dry river bed until every child of God had crossed
over. Right at the beginning, before any
city was taken in Canaan, and before any giant was slain, the people had to
learn to pass from death to life. Only
then could they be victorious over their enemies. What a glorious picture for us who, through
Christ's death and resurrection, have also passed from death to life. Now we are prepared to put every enemy and
every obstacle to flight through Christ.
We can indeed do all things through Christ Who strengthens us!
TWELVE
STONES
While the priests were still standing in Jordan with
the Ark upon their shoulders, the Lord commanded Joshua to do something very
specific. He was to select twelve men,
one from every tribe, and they were each to carry a large stone from the
wilderness side of Jordan and place it in the riverbed where the priests were
standing. They were then instructed to each
collect a large stone from the riverbed and carry it over to the far side of
Jordan and pile them together in the Promised Land. God said, “…these
stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.” (Joshua
4:7). The stones were to be a sign for
all generations from that time on of what God accomplished for His children on
that day. The stones that went into the
Jordan were never to be taken out again, and the stones that came out of Jordan
were never to be placed back in. Also,
because a man from every tribe of Israel was selected to represent his tribe
and perform these acts, it meant that every individual in every tribe was
represented by these acts and by these stones.
There was a stone in the River Jordan that reresented every member of
each tribe, and likewise, there was a stone reresenting every member on the
other side of Jordan. No one was left
out!
Now these twelve stones are significant for much more
than just a notable miracle that God performed for Israel to usher them across
the Jordan and into the Promised Land.
God made them a perpetual memorial for the
children of God. This means that we are
included also in this blessing because believers in Jesus, whether Jews or
Gentiles, have been placed in one body in Christ. “But he
is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the
spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”
(Romans 2:29).
The significance of these stones to the children of God
today is profound. The twelve stones
that were once on dry land and were placed in Jordan were completely submerged
once God released the waters of the river, and the stones that once were
underwater were now forever raised up on dry land. For every Jew there was a stone that was buried,
or “baptized”, forever, and for every Jew there was a stone that was forever “resurrected”
from the water. The stones from the
wilderness side represented our old life, and they were buried forever in the
waters of the Jordan. The stones taken
from the river which were once buried there represent our new life which is
raised from the dead and placed forever in the Promised Land. Our old man is forever buried with Christ in
the waters of baptism, and our new man is forever raised up with Christ from
those same waters. The Apostle Paul
tells us that we should, therefore, reckon ourselves to be dead to sin (along
with our past life), but alive to God through Christ (Romans 6:8-11).
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