SFJ Bible Reading Plan

Going Deeper

Joshua (1-16-16)

By the end of the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Bible covering the Creation Era, The Patriarchs Era & the Exodus Era)  Israel has been brought into the blessing of covenant relationship with the Lord and has become a great people, but they remain outside the Land of Promise, on the plains of Moab. Now, after so many years of wandering, Joshua, the “new leader of God’s people” is ordained to lead God’s people into the land, take it, and divide it among them as their inheritance from the Lord.

In chapters 1-5, we see Joshua take the lead position and give a charge to the people to obey God in all things- to study his Word and to follow his guidance.    The Lord said to Joshua this in his charge:

Joshua 1:7-8 …be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

We too can hear these words and remember the vital importance to study and know God’s word so that we have guidance in our lives for all that God has for us.

Next, God uses a faithful outsider, a prostitute, named Rahab to help his people escape the enemy.  Then he guides them to the Jordan and makes way for them to cross on dry land by parting the waters like he did at the Red Sea.

The LORD our God is truly our great guide.  My prayer is for you to look to Him and His loving Word, the Bible, and the counsel of the Holy Spirit for guidance in all you do in your life.    

The book of Joshua closes with the Israelites settling in and finally enjoying REST.  The people are, more now, faithful to God in their service to Him, which is the center point of Joshua’s farewell to the leaders of God’s people.

In this, Joshua urged the Israelites to continue to follow the Lord and worship Him alone.  “So be very careful to love the Lord your God” (Joshua 23:11), and “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve …. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

The people had seen God deliver them from many enemies and miraculously provide for all their needs, but they were prone to wandering from the Lord.

→ This is a great reminder to us today.  Even though we may have experienced God at work in our lives, we too must continually renew our commitment to obey him above all other authority and to worship Him alone.

Now, I want to take a closer look at one passage found in Joshua 5 verses 13-15…. Let’s look at it together.

Joshua 5:13-15  When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him  with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” 15 And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

• The Holy Lord:  Who God is and why it matters

Joshua is out by himself and he looks up. What is he doing?

Forty years before, the Israelites are out of slavery and headed back to their ancestral land and their ancestral land is now occupied by another people.  Which means if they are going to get it back there is going to be a fight.  So, just like we still do today, before marching in they sent in spies or scouts to survey the enemy to see what they are up against.

All but two of the scouts said we will never overcome those huge fortified cities.  We are going to die in there.

The only two who had confidence they could do it was Joshua and Caleb. Because the people rebelled against God and showed him no confidence, God sent them back out into the wilderness for 40 years until a new generation was ready to follow, a now older, Joshua who has been put in charge after Moses passing into battle to claim the Promised Land.

Now, he is standing outside the huge fortified walls of Jericho on the eve of their attack and it is clear that the other scouts were right about one thing. The Israelite people did not have any amount of needed resources to take that city by human effort.   Only with God’s mighty divine provision and power would they be able to conquer the fortified walls of Jericho.  He is out there, most likely, seeking God for his battle plan because Joshua knows his battle plan is already defeated.

He looks up to find that he is not alone, but lingering on the shadow of an unknown man with a drawn sword!

Now, when a man is in your space with a drawn sword, it’s probably not to offer you shade.

So, Joshua draws an immediate line and asks, “Are you for us or against us?”   Meaning, if you are for our people you will bow before me as your leader or if you are for the enemy and you have your sword drawn, it’s about to go down.    

The stranger’s response is unique. He says, “NO!” in verse 14.

What he means is…neither.     What he is saying is:   You are asking the wrong question.  I am the commander of the army of the LORD.  (YHWH).   The question isn’t am I for or against you.  The real question is are you for or against me?  

Realizing who this is, JOSHUA falls to the ground in worship.

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

Israelites did not worship other men nor did they worship the created angels.   They only worshiped God!  Joshua knows who he is in the presence of.

15 And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

What is cool about this is that it is a very similar interaction that God had when He calls Moses at the burning bush.

Just like the burning bush, this mighty warrior is both breathtaking and scary all at the same time.  

This is a picture of God’s holiness.   

My question for you today is do you get the holiness of GOD?

The holiness of God is his unmatchable majestic perfection and purity.  

If you do, then you will fall face down before him.. WHY?

1. …because you have nothing to offer that comes close to matching him.
2. …because you are so stained with impurity in your sin in the brightness of his perfection.

When Isaiah sees God high and lifted up and the seraphim cry out to God in song shouting “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD God almighty”, Isaiah’s response is, “Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips”.

What is so profound about this is that for Isaiah, he was a prophet and preacher and his lips were what he was most proud of.  But in the presence of God, he admits his best attribute is garbage compared to GOD.

We need to get the holiness of God.  We need to come face to face with how unmatchable He is- how perfect He is- how pure He is- how mighty He is!     WHY?   Because only in light of this will you and I see who we really are in his shadow.   Only then do you and I really begin to see our sin.   Because if you just look to your fellow man to see how you stack up, you will look hard enough to find people that make you feel good about yourself compared to them.

This is why man’s love affair with the old adage “I am a good person” is so damning!

Because compared to man, maybe that is true but, compared to the HOLINESS OF GOD it is a laughable lie.   

We need to see the HOLINESS of GOD…. so we can see the fullness of our sin.

We need to see the DEPTH of OUR DEPRAVITY… so we can feel bad about ourselves.

This is the response of SOME and oh, how they tragically miss it. They MISS THE GOOD NEWS!

We need to see the depth of our depravity in light of the holiness of God so that we see our need for one thing- THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST!

2. The Holy Servant Lord:  What Christ did and why it matters
   

The only thing big enough to mend the enormous gap that rightly separates me in my sin from GOD in his glory is the cross.  

Praise God for the Cross of Jesus Christ!

ONLY when God reveals himself to you and shows you his unmatchable majestic perfection and purity- his holiness thereby revealing your utter wickedness and weakness in sin- only then will you fall face down before Him and lay your deadly doing down and worship Him.  Only then will you realize that by no effort of man will you ever conquer the fortified walls of your life that keep you from the Promised Land.

-The mercy of God on his elect is the source of all our praise… WHY?   Because He should have righteously taken out his sword of justice and cut our guilty heads off.  

But He didn’t!   God’s people needed delivering. So, God became human!

In this encounter between Joshua and the man holding up his sword, who is the man holding the sword Commander of the Lord’s?

Alec Matier says that only the angel of the Lord God can come among people safely.  The angel appears as a merciful accommodation whereby the Lord can be present among a sinful people. But, if He were to go among them himself, his presence would consume them.

So, the angel of the Lord is that mode of divinity whereby God can keep company among sinful people.    → Does that remind you of anybody?

There is only one other in the Bible who is both identical with and also distinct from God. One who without abandoning the full essence and prerogatives of deity or diminishing the divine holiness is able to accommodate himself to the company with sinners while affirming the wrath of God is yet a supreme display of His out reaching mercy. The angel of the Lord in the Old Testament can be appreciated only if we understand him as a preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ himself.

-This is the grace of God who sends his son to take the sword for his people so that we can have his holiness and therefore watch the walls of sin crumble at our feet so that we can march into the Promised Land and forever feast with the KING!

This is the good news of the HOLY LORD!

Genesis 3:24- He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

The sword of Eternal Justice– The only way back to God is to pay the ultimate price.

The only way back to God is to go under the sword.

To be “at one” with God we needed ATONEMENT.

The spotless Jesus…. crucified!   The one who was able to take on the sword for his people.

John 17:19 Jesus says, “I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.”

God shows up and Joshua is rightly scared and full of reverence before God and what does he get up and do? He leads his people in great courage up to the wall and what do they do? They don’t lean on the power of man, on their best laid plans, or great tools of war.

No. He walks them around while blowing trumpets so that when the walls fall down, the one who receives all the praise is only GOD himself.  Joshua is the like Christ servant leader that faithfully surrenders to his God and obediently serve his King.

Like Joshua, we too can faithfully surrender to our God and obediently serve our King in the battle He has put us in.

3. His Holy Servants:  Who we can be in Christ and why it matters

Two things:

1. To be exclusively, undividedly, unconditionally obedient to God.
2. To be different than the world.

To be exclusively, undividedly, unconditionally obedient to God

Why does he need to take off the sandals?

In Leviticus, there is holy use and common use.

The difference was things that were used exclusively for God were holy and things used for man were common.

I will serve you if….

Do you realize anytime you give God this ultimatum you are highlighting the fact that it is not really God you are serving or living for? It is the things you want Him to give you.  The IF is the rival against God for your greatest affections.    But God will have no rivals.  First commandment…“Have NO OTHER GODS before me”.

IF you have ifs that you put between you and God, you are placing conditions on Him.

The life of a HOLY SERVANT means you are wholly devoted to him- not partially devoted.

Partially devoted is an oxymoron.

To be different than the world

When understanding the word holy in the Bible, it often means separate.   It is separate than other things used for common things.  It is set apart.   This means holy people will be different than the world.

Why was the early church so revolutionary in the Roman dominant culture they lived in?

Why was the gospel so transforming in that day?    Because their faith was truly radical!

Four BIG areas we can see how they lived very different than the world around them:

1. Integrity- In a lie-to-advance-yourself culture, they were honest to a fault.
2. Sympathy – In a quick-to-shame-the-guilty culture, they were for forgiveness.
3. Chastity – In a live-loose and hedonistic culture, they were faithful to sex only within marriage.
4. Generosity – In an acquire-wealth-and-success culture, they were recklessly open-handed in sharing what they had.

May we be soldiers of holiness. May we hold high the worthiness of God not just in our praise of Him, but in the way we live our lives for Him.  

By His grace and for His glory,

-Shepherd

Soldiers for Jesus MC

National Chaplain

Hebrews 4:1-8

4:1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.¹ 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

  “As I swore in my wrath,
  ‘They shall not enter my rest,’”

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said,

  “They shall not enter my rest.”

6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,

  “Today, if you hear his voice,
  do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God² would not have spoken of another day later on.

Footnotes

[1] 4:2 Some manuscripts it did not meet with faith in the hearers

[2] 4:8 Greek he

(ESV)

Joshua 24:1-31

The Covenant Renewal at Shechem

24:1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel. And they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates,¹ Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. 3 Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River² and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac. 4 And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. And I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. 5 And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and afterward I brought you out.

6 “‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. And the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 And when they cried to the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time. 8 Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. 9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. And he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, 10 but I would not listen to Balaam. Indeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand. 11 And you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand. 12 And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow. 13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’

Choose Whom You Will Serve

14 “Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods, 17 for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. 18 And the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”

19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” 21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.” 22 Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” 28 So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

Joshua’s Death and Burial

29 After these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being 110 years old. 30 And they buried him in his own inheritance at Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.

31 Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the LORD did for Israel.

Footnotes

[1] 24:2 Hebrew the River

[2] 24:3 That is, the Euphrates; also verses 14, 15

(ESV)

Joshua 5:13-6:27

The Commander of the Lord‘s Army

13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped¹ and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” 15 And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

The Fall of Jericho

6:1 Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. 2 And the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. 3 You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat,² and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.” 6 So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD.” 7 And he said to the people, “Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the LORD.”

8 And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the LORD went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD following them. 9 The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. 10 But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” 11 So he caused the ark of the LORD to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

12 Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets blew continually. 14 And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days.

15 On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. 16 And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city. 17 And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction.³ Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. 18 But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. 19 But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD.” 20 So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. 21 Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.

22 But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” 23 So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel. 24 And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. 25 But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

26 Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, “Cursed before the LORD be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho.

  “At the cost of his firstborn shall he
    lay its foundation,
  and at the cost of his youngest son
    shall he set up its gates.”

27 So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

Footnotes

[1] 5:14 Or and paid homage

[2] 6:5 Hebrew under itself; also verse 20

[3] 6:17 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verses 18, 21

(ESV)

Joshua 1:1-18

God Commissions Joshua

1:1 After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. 5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success¹ wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua Assumes Command

10 And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, 11 “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”

12 And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, 13 “Remember the word that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’ 14 Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, 15 until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

16 And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses! 18 Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”

Footnotes

[1] 1:7 Or may act wisely

(ESV)