Joshua – Lesson 29

Joshua accepted the leadership of his Captain and put himself absolutely under His control. Our lack of obedience is the cause of us not seeing more taking place among God’s people today. We make our plans and then invite God in to help us achieve our plans.

Joshua realized that as he stood in the presence of his Captain that the battle was no longer his, but the Lord’s. The battle for Canaan was a holy one. It could not be fought merely on the human level. Joshua, like us, needed to submit himself to God and then resist the Devil and the devil would flee.

First of all, we need to know our Captain. Do we know Jesus as the Captain of the host of the Lord?

Second, do we know our weapons? Our weapons are not flesh and blood. Jesus is our weapon because at the mention of Jesus, Satan flees. The same power that raised Jesus from the grave is available to us. It is called resurrection power.

It was on this personal crisis when Joshua faced the Captain of the hosts of the Lord that the whole conflict in Canaan hinged. He came to view the place of battle so that he might put in motion plans for the conquest. Instead, he met the Lord face to face. Before Joshua could face the enemy he had to stand before the Lord. The same is true for us to be overcomers.

Jericho Conquered by Obedience to Faith

Everything was now ready for the siege of Jericho. Joshua had met the Captain of the hosts of the Lord and merely waited for instructions.

· Joshua 6:1-27, Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and it’s fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in." 6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant of the LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it." 7 And he ordered the people, "Advance! March around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD." 8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the LORD's covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" 11 So he had the ark of the LORD carried around the city, circling it once. Then the people returned to camp and spent the night there. 12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. 15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury." 20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it-men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys. 22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her." 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel. 24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD's house. 25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho-and she lives among the Israelites to this day. 26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: "Cursed before the LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: "At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest will he set up its gates." 27 So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

This was to be a land of rest for the Israelites, but at the same time it was a time of conflict. This is a picture of our spiritual lives. Our spiritual rests results from our spiritual conflict.

Let’s look at a brief review of the Christian life as we saw it in type in this story of the Israelites. First, there is the Christian in the world as Israel was in Egypt. The enemy in this situation is the world and this may result in conflict at times. In the second place there is the self life, the life that lacks surrender which is analogous to the people in the desert. In this case the enemy is self. There is a constant inner struggle against the self which wants to be exalted. The third stage, the important one we are now discussing, is the useful, productive, victorious life pictured in the people of Israel conquering and possessing the land of Canaan. There the enemy is no one else but Satan. Conflict in this case is unavoidable. But we need not be discouraged.

Jesus warned us that there would be hatred of us.

· John 7:7, The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.

The world does not hate its own and Satan does not hate his own. But  the world and Satan hate Jesus because He opposes the evil they do.  

· John 15:18-19, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Our rest and our peace are in Jesus. John 14:27, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

So then, the life of rest is a life of conflict. The situation confronting the Israelites was not that of a mere battle shaping up, but the beginning of a great campaign.

One of the most comforting passages in the Bible is:

· Romans 8:28-30, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

The purpose of all these things in our lives, whether we think of them as positives or negatives, is all for our good because God knows what our needs are. But this involves a campaign, not just a single battle.

Jericho might have been a discouraging sight to the Israelites. The walls seemed impassable, yet God assured His people that He had given it to them. Jericho was the key city to the whole campaign in Canaan. Once that obstacle was removed the armies of Israel could spread out in all directions. So it is no wonder that we find in this incident of history many spiritual lessons.