HIGHLIGHTS IN JOSHUA
Number 6
THE MESSAGE OF THE LORD
Joshua 5:13-6:27
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THE HISTORY of the fall of Jericho to the Israelites is an exciting and stirring story. The familiarity of the story may easily numb our minds to the extraordinary miraculous happening of it. There is no battle quite like this one, in fact it was no battle at all but a rout, and all of it given by the Lord. The key to the whole incident is in the opening part where Joshua meets the angel of the Lord, and hears the message of the Lord from him. The lesson of this history is the importance of implicit obedience to the word of the Lord.

Here the word of the Lord was a specific instruction concerning this specific incident of the overthrow of the city of Jericho. Because of this the importance of obedience to the word of the Lord is particularly clearly given. If Joshua and the people had deviated one jot from the instructions, there would have been disaster. We are meant to get hold of this fact here in order that the general truth concerning obedience to the word of the Lord is pressed home clearly. However Israel was given the general word of the Lord in the code given them through Moses. It was just as important to be implicitly obedient to this word as well. The consequence of disobedience is seen only too plainly in the subsequent history of Israel, where their disobedience resulted in the final total defeat of the nation and there being carried into captivity in Babylon.

These two aspects of the word of the Lord are always present. We have the general word of the Lord in the Bible, and then from the Bible and circumstances we may be given a more direct word from the Lord for a specific issue, which also has to be implicitly obeyed. The lesson which comes through from this history before us is just as relevant for us today as it was for Joshua.

THE UNDERLYING TRUTH

There is an underlying truth concerning the people of God which is revealed in the meeting of Joshua with the Angel of the Lord. When Joshua asks if this awesome figure is for Israel or for their enemies, the angel of the Lord says he is for neither. This at first seems odd. Surely he was for Israel, but this is not so. He was not for Israel, he was for God and him alone. The will of God was the important thing. The will of Israel was totally irrelevant. Israel must renounce any ideas or wishes of their own. They must renounce their own wisdom, and submit to the wisdom and will of God.

God has a purpose for them. This purpose is the only right purpose and good purpose. The fulfilment of this purpose is the only purpose that God would support. Israel must not try to change this purpose or supplement it in anyway. Instead there must be implicit obedience to the instructions of the Lord. Only in this way will God's good purpose be realised for them. If not, God would realise his purpose, but without them.

This is the underlying truth behind the importance of obedience to the word of the Lord. It is the will of God that is important. We must submit in obedience to this will, and so place ourselves in obedience under the word of the Lord for the carrying out of God's will. This is the only place of victory and blessing.

SECURITY IN OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD OF THE LORD

We read this extraordinary fact in chapter 6 and verse 1 that Jericho had been so demoralised that they had shut themselves in their city, and access in and out had ceased. This was the way they felt would enable them to stop allowing any Israelite within the city, and so preserving themselves from defeat. Plainly this state of demoralisation was caused by the power of God. We can deduce this from the next verse where Joshua is told that Jericho had been delivered into the hand of Israel by the Lord.

This total demoralisation is quite extraordinary. Even with human wisdom anyone can see that it is a totally ineffective means of defence to isolate oneself in the city. Something else was needed in their strategy in order to have a more effective defence against Israel. They effected no action against Israel to slow their advance or destroy any of their potential, nor did they seek any help from neighbouring cities who were equally interested in the overcoming of the power of Israel. Plainly God had paralysed this city.

From this we learn the complete security in obedience to the word of the Lord. The power for defence and defeat of the enemies of God's people, whether physical or spiritual, lies in God. The only secure way forward is to rely on God and obey his word. Any other course loses all security, placing it in the hands of human beings which are so fallible.

THE REASON FOR OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD OF THE LORD

The reason why it was good and best for Joshua to be obedient to the word of the Lord was because it was God's plan and purpose to deliver Jericho into the hands of Israel. This we see from the direct declaration of God to Joshua in verse 2 of chapter 6. There would be no force in this declaration of God unless God had already planned how and when he was going to achieve this purpose. Thus we deduce that the word of God to Joshua how the campaign against Jericho was to be conducted must be the way God had planned to realise his purpose. Thus obedience to his message is the only way forward if this purpose of God is to be achieved.

This incident is very powerful in the whole learning process concerning the importance of obedience to the word of the Lord. It illustrates for us that God is sovereign and in control, and he always has a purpose for his people which he has worked out so that it will be effective. So often we do not see so clearly what the purpose of God is, but we still have the word of the Lord. Not knowing the next step forward in life means that we will have no means of knowing what is the best way forward. We need not fear, for we have God's word. The way forward is to live by it, and then we shall find God's purposes unfold before us.

Israel in its subsequent history did not know the details of the purpose of God for them, but they knew how God wanted them to live because that was in his word given to them. The fact is that they lived the way they wanted to live, and disaster followed. If they had only lived as God had told them to live, the good purpose of God would have been realised for them, and all would have been well. The reason why we must always be obedient to the word of the Lord in the Bible, and when it is given us in a more specific form, is that God has his plan and purpose and this is the purpose it is best to follow. We can only follow it by being obedient to the word of the Lord.

OBEYING THE WORD OF THE LORD

We may well worry over whether we will be able to be obedient to the word of the Lord. Will the commands of the Lord be too difficult for us to perform or beyond our capability or resources. Well again, this occasion of the overthrow of Jericho gives us wonderful assurance with regard to this question.

The Lord took upon himself the victory over the city of Jericho. The Israelites did not have to worry how they were going to get into the city, and how they were going to overcome its inhabitants. God was going to do this for them. They simply had to obey the word of the Lord. When we look at this word there is no doubt that the instructions were well within the ability of the Israelites to perform. The order took a bit of organisation and effort, but nothing more. This illustrates that God does not give instructions to his people that they are unable to perform. If there is difficulties he will supply the grace and strength and the wisdom to carry them out.

What we do notice, however, is that the instructions given to Israel were certainly strange, and human wisdom may have well questioned the sensibleness of them. This illustrates the fact that sometimes the wisdom of the instructions of the Lord in the situations that we find ourselves may, to our limited human understanding, seem to be senseless and foolish. We have illustrations of this in some of the directions Jesus gave to the people he was going to heal in the New Testament. Joshua never questioned the wisdom of the instructions he was given, and we must not ever question the word of the Lord.

In the last hundred years of the history of the church of God, there has been many examples of the questioning of the Bible by human wisdom, and the rejection or human rationalisation of much of the word of God. Miracles have been denied. Aspects of the life and work of Jesus also have been revised and altered. All this is disobedience to the word of the Lord, and the result has been that the church has lost the Gospel and the salvation that is in Christ. Of course we must be certain that we have understood the word of the Lord correctly, but this does not mean that we can reject or change what we think is untenable or which can't believe.

THE WAY OF OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD OF THE LORD

In verse 6 of chapter 6 we read that when he had heard God's message "Joshua .... 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." And he ordered the people, "Advance! March around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord." In other words he set about carrying out the message of God given to him to the letter of its word.

The way of obedience is always in this way. God means us to obey him implicitly. We are not meant to question his word or revise it in any way whatsoever. It is only in such implicit obedience that Joshua realised the purpose of victory that God had for Israel, and we shall find also that it is only in implicit obedience to the word of God, as it is made known to us, that we will also realise the good purpose of God for us.

There will always be plenty of people to advise us that some change to the word of God will be a good thing. This was the case in the Galatian church, where teachers had come in to advise the church there that the Gospel needed to be added to with religious works in order for it to be perfected. This is always fatal. The result is the destruction of the purpose of God, just as the additions in Galatia, as Paul pointed out, was a destruction of the Gospel. There is only one way forward for the Christian and that is implicit obedience to the word of God.

However we must always be open to the Spirit instructing us more perfectly in what the word of the Lord is saying. There has been many cases in the life of the church where Christians have sought to implicitly obey the word of the Lord, but that word of the Lord has not been properly understood. God will not penalise us for such obedience, unless we refuse to be instructed more perfectly in the word of the Lord. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection are examples of the need for more perfect understanding in the word of the Lord. In their need Jesus opened the word of the Lord to them more perfectly. True obedience always is ready to confess imperfect understanding, and to listen to the Spirit's clearer instruction.

MORE HASTE LESS SPEED

No doubt Joshua was impatient, as no doubt was all Israel, for the victory over Jericho to be realised. Yet the plan of God could not be hurried. Surely there would have been a temptation to short cut the message of God, and perhaps reduce the numbers of times that they had to walk around Jericho. If they had succumbed to this temptation, all would have been lost.

God has got his own time for everything. We must be ready to submit to this restraint as well. It is part of the obedience. We must not hurry beyond the instructions of God. In the case of Israel here, we can see that short cuts were out, but it is not so easy in the on going life of the church. The desire for blessing and advance in the work of a congregation is so urgent, that sometimes we seek to walk more quickly than God has in mind, and we strive in our own effort. The result is failure and disillusionment. God's work needs patience and the waiting on God in his time and way.

KEEP TO THE DETAILS OF THE WORD OF THE LORD

The main instructions concerning the defeat of Jericho were plain. Once these were carried out and the city taken, it would have been easy to forget or neglect other instructions God had given such as we read in verse 18 of chapter 6. God had given instructions, not only for the capture of the city, but also what was to be done with it after. God had said that all of Jericho must be annihilated. The people were not to take anything for themselves. This word of the Lord was just as important as the initial word that allowed them to take the city.

The disaster of failing in obedience here is the subject of the continuing history in the next chapter or so. The details of God's word are as important as the main commands. We must be careful to live by the whole word of God and not just part. For this reason we must be always careful never to let our guard down and allow ourselves to be overcome by temptation of Satan, as Achan was.

CONCLUSION

So we have had illustrated before us the blessing of obedience to the word of the Lord. A victory was won for Israel that made Joshua and the nation a bye word in all the land. Let this message be imprinted upon our hearts and minds, so that we may be encouraged in our obedience to the word of the Lord, and never be led astray into tampering with the commands of God.