FAITH IS THE VICTORY
JOSHUA-THE ADVENTURE AND VICTORY OF FAITH
by Doug Goins
In my last message, I talked about a ministry trip to an Islamic
country that Scott Grant, Ron Ritchie, Ed Woodhall, Steve Zeisler, and I
took in February. One thing that the Pakistan trip made very clear to us,
both in the process of preparing to go and in the ten days that we were
traveling, was that the Christian life does involve challenge and struggle,
whether we like it or not.
In the fourth century A.D. there was a courageous Syrian pastor and theologian
named John Chrysostom. He suffered opposition from a heretic Roman emperor
and was eventually martyred for his faith. John Chrysostom said, "You
are but a poor soldier for Christ if you think you can overcome without
fighting, and suppose you can have the crown with the conflict." He
was absolutely right. As Christians we have enemies that constantly wage
war against us, trying to keep us from claiming our inheritance in Jesus
Christ. The world system, our own flesh, and Satan himself are all united
against Jesus and the church, just as the pagan nations in Canaan were united
against Joshua and the people of Israel.
There are people in the church today who are not comfortable with this idea
of a church that is militant, of being soldiers for Jesus Christ. Maybe
it's because this idea of warfare seems to contradict a lot of things that
Jesus said and did. But one of the main themes in the Scriptures is God's
holy warfare against Satan and against sin, beginning right after the fall.
In Genesis 3:15 God declared war on Satan when he said,
"And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel."
And one day God is going to declare ultimate victory when Jesus returns.
There is a powerful picture in Revelation 19 of Jesus riding a white stallion,
coming back as the conquering general, defeating all opposition. If we eliminate
this militant reality of our Christian faith, then we have to abandon the
cross, because it was on the cross that Jesus won the victory over sin and
Satan. In Colossians 2:15 Paul talks about the meaning of the crucifixion
of Jesus: "He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public
example of them, triumphing over them in him."
It's easy for us, if we're not careful, to cultivate a sentimental emphasis
exclusively on the love of God, the peace of Christ, and good will among
men, and to ignore the spiritual battle against sin-sin all around us in
the world and even sin at work in our own lives. If peace is our primary
emphasis, it could mean that unwittingly we're being co-opted by the enemy,
that we might even be in danger of losing spiritual victory in life. The
Scriptures are clear that the battles we fight are not against people-it's
not against flesh and blood, Paul says, but against enemies in the spiritual
realm (see Ephesians 6:12). And the weapons that we use are spiritual, not
carnal or physical. Satan and his demonic army will use people, organizations,
and movements to oppose us, to attack the church of Jesus, but again, neither
the people themselves nor the organizations are the ultimate enemy. The
evil force behind them is the true enemy.
So we are called as soldiers of Jesus Christ to take our stand. In Jesus'
army there is no place for neutrality. Jesus himself said in Matthew 12:30,
"He who is not with me is against me...." He spoke those words
in the context of spiritual warfare. The Scriptures over and over again
use military images to describe the Christian life. We can't ignore it.
And chapter 6 of Joshua will not allow us to ignore it.
In chapter 6 we're starting a new section of the history of Israel. Remember,
in chapter 1 God called and commissioned Joshua to leadership in the nation,
and promised him three things: First of all, he promised that Israel would
enter the land of Canaan. Our studies in chapters 1-5 have examined the
wonderful fulfillment of that promise; chapters 3 and 4 covered the crossing
of the Jordan River and chapter 5 the period of spiritual preparation at
Gilgal. Second, God promised Israel that they would have victory over all
of their enemies in the land. In 1:5 God said, "No man shall be able
to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I
will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you." Beginning in
chapter 6 and continuing through chapter 12 will be the record of battle
after battle that God fights on behalf of his people and wins, beginning
with Jericho. Third, God promised Joshua that he would be able to divide
the land as an inheritance for the conquering tribes. In the last section
of the book, chapters 13-22, the land is divided up, the tribes are settled,
and there is peace in the land.
Israel's victory in Jericho here in chapter 6 is going to illustrate four
principles for spiritual conflict and victory that are very important for
us today, no matter what spiritual battle we're called to fight, no matter
what "Jericho" may loom before us in terms of personal challenge.
(1) Before the spiritual conflict, remember that we fight from victory,
not just for victory. (2) During the spiritual conflict, remember that we
overcome the enemy by faith. (3) After the spiritual victory, remember to
continue to obey the Lord's direction. (4) After the spiritual victory,
remember to give the Lord all the glory.
We fight from victory
The first five verses focus on God's direction to Joshua before the battle.
The principle that we hang onto before the battle ever begins is that we
fight from victory, not just for victory. There are three factors at work
in this victory that Israel will have in Jericho: The fear of the Lord,
the promise that the Lord makes to the people, and the instructions that
the Lord gives them. Look at verse 1:
Now Jericho was shut up from within and from without because
of the people of Israel; none went out, and none came in.
The fear of the Lord was at work here. In chapter 5 we talked about how
afraid the people of Jericho were. The text here says that the city was
prepared for a siege; it was shut up completely. Jericho was a heavily fortified
city, and excavations in Jericho suggest that there were high parallel walls
around it. Remember, when the spies first went into Canaan from Kadesh-Barnea
thirty-eight years earlier, as recorded in Numbers 13, it was cities like
Jericho that frightened them and convinced most of them that they could
never conquer the land of Canaan. The cities were formidable. But the news
of Israel's exodus from Egypt and the recent victories east of the Jordan
had already spread panic among the people of Canaan. God had promised the
nation of Israel back in Exodus 23:27, "I will send my terror before
you, and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall
come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
Look at verse 2. The promise of the Lord to the people is another important
factor in Israel's victory:
And the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have given into
your hand Jericho, with its king and mighty men of valor."
The verb tense here is very important. The Lord was saying, "I have
already given Jericho into your hand. You're looking at a defeated
city as you look at those walls." All Joshua and the people have to
do is claim this promise and obey the Lord.
Victorious Christians are people who really do know the promises of God,
because they spend time reflecting on his word, where those promises are
communicated. The Lord had told Joshua in 1:8 that this would be an important
part of his spiritual success in leadership: "This book of the law
shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and
night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in
it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have
good success." Joshua was called to focus on the word, listen to it,
and follow it.
We are called to believe the promises of God that we find in his word. That
is, to use Paul's language, we are to reckon or consider those promises
true, and then obey what God tells us to do because we're certain of the
promises. That word reckon, which we saw in Romans 6:11-13 in the last message,
means to count as true in our own lives what God says about us in his word.
Let me give you an example of this in terms of spiritual warfare. Christ
has conquered the world, the flesh, and the devil; and if we reckon that
to be true, then we can conquer the world, the flesh, and the devil through
him. Here is what God says in his word: About the world, Jesus said, "...Be
of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). About the flesh,
Paul says, "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the
flesh with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:24). And about Satan,
Jesus said, " Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler
of this world be cast out...." (John 12:31). These are the promises.
Christ has conquered the world, the flesh, and the devil, and if we reckon
this to be true, we can conquer the world, the flesh, and the devil through
him.
It's possible to believe promises like that on some level, but still not
reckon them true and follow through in obedience. "Believing a
promise,"
somebody wrote, "is like accepting a check." But you could hang
on to the check and never cash it. Reckoning the check to be valid means
that you endorse the check and deposit it into your account. The promise
here is that Israel was fighting from a victory that had already been
determined.
They still had to believe it and walk through it, but as far as they were
concerned, the money was already in the bank.
In verses 3-5, the instructions of the Lord are a factor.
"You shall march around the city, all the men of war
going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. And seven priests
shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark; and on the seventh
day you shall march around the city seven times, the priests blowing the
trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, as soon as
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, and the people
shall go up every man straight before him."
God's instructions were that the entire army would march around Jericho
once a day for six days. Half the army would lead the way as a front guard.
They would be followed by seven priests, each blowing on a shofar, a trumpet
made out of a ram's horn. Priests carrying the ark of the Lord would come
next, and then the rest of the army would serve as a rear guard to complete
the procession. On the seventh day that processional would continue seven
times around the city. At the end of those times the priests were to give
an extra long blast on the shofars, and then the entire nation, all two
million people, were to shout at the top of their lungs (perhaps the rest
were to be gathered around the processional in an even greater circle around
the city). God promised that the walls would then collapse, which would
make it easy for the soldiers to enter the city.
What is significant here is that God knew exactly how he was going to accomplish
the outcome. That is still true today. God always knows what he is going
to do in any circumstance. Joshua wasn't to take the city by some clever
human military tactic. The strategy was the Lord's. And no problem is too
great for the Lord to solve.
I was reminded of John 6:5-6, when Jesus was faced with five thousand hungry
people in the Galilean highlands, with no Burger King restaurants anywhere
in sight. He asked Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, that these may
eat?" Then John adds a little editorial note: "And this He was
saying to test him; for He Himself knew what He was intending to do."
Jesus knew how the problem was going to be solved: He would feed the people
miraculously. Our responsibility is to wait for God to tell us all that
we need to know and then obey it.
>From a human perspective, God's plan for the conquest of Jericho was foolish,
but we'll see that it worked as the story unfolds. God delights in using
plans and people that seem foolish to the world. That truth is at the heart
of 1 Corinthians 1:26-29: "For consider your call, brethren; not many
of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful,
not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world
to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong,
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not,
to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast
in the presence of God." Whether it's Joshua with these trumpets, Gideon
with torches and pitchers, or David with a sling, God delights in using
weakness and seeming foolishness to defeat his enemies and glorify his name.
The first principle, again, is, before the spiritual conflict remember that
we fight from victory, not just for victory. This understanding is illustrated
powerfully in the life of a dear friend and Christian leader in an Islamic
nation. He shared with wonderful candor and vulnerability his struggles
a number of years ago in accepting a call to be a pastor. He had been
ministering
in anonymity behind the scenes, but he was invited to take more responsibility
in organizational leadership, to be ordained in a church in his country.
He said to us, "I am a timid man," and told us it was a great
struggle to accept that responsibility, because he knew that it would involve
higher public visibility, which meant greater threat of government harassment
or even persecution. He had seen persecution of other Christians around
him who stood for their faith. He confessed the anxiety and stress that
he and his wife had felt, which was communicated to their children, about
this process of moving into a pastorate.
He talked about how they prayed together and received counsel from godly
friends. They knew ultimately that this call was God's will for them, even
though it went against the grain of his natural temperament. They became
convinced that if the Lord called him to the work, then the Lord would protect
and defend them. They told the Lord that they would trust and obey his will,
and they asked him to calm their fears, partly for the sake of their
children.
About eight years ago they moved into the pastorate, reckoning God's promises
true, claiming victory that God would use them in these new responsibilities
of leadership.
We overcome by faith
The second spiritual principle is, during the spiritual conflict, remember
that we overcome the enemy by faith. Look at this incredible story of what
God does in verses 6-16:
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." 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."
And 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. And the armed men
went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after
the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. But Joshua commanded the people,
"You shall not shout or let your voice be heard, neither shall any
word go out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then you shall
shout." So he caused the ark of the LORD to compass the city, going
about it once; and they came into the camp, and spent the night in the camp.
Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of
the LORD. And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns
before the ark of the LORD passed on, blowing the trumpets continually;
and the armed men went before them, and the rear guard came after the ark
of the LORD, while the trumpets blew continually. And the second day they
marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for
six days.
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. 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.
Now let's jump down to verse 20 for the climax:
So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon
as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people raised 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 took the city.
Now, it wasn't sound waves that knocked those walls down. The writer of
Hebrews gives very clear commentary on the story: "By faith the walls
of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days"
(11:30). The apostle John expands the principle: "...And this is the
victory that overcomes the world-our faith" (1 John 5:4). They walked
around the walls by faith day after day. They had been given one demonstration
after another that God's word and his power could be trusted. The Lord had
opened the Red Sea, defeated the Egyptian army, kept them in the wilderness,
opened the Jordan River, and brought his people safely into the promised
land. How could they do anything else but believe him? Even though the plans
didn't make a lot of sense to them, they could ultimately trust God. They
expressed their faith by obeying the instructions that God had given to
Joshua and to them. The priests, the people, and the army followed them
completely.
In verse 6 Joshua shared the Lord's plans with the priests. It was most
important that the ark of the covenant be central to this whole event, because
it represented God's presence with his people. When Israel crossed the Jordan
River back in chapters 3 and 4, the ark was mentioned sixteen times. Here
in this account it's mentioned nine times. The point is, Israel could march
and the priests could blow the trumpets, but if the Lord wasn't with them,
there wouldn't be a victory. When we accept God's plan by faith, we invite
God's presence, and that's what guarantees victory.
In verse 7 Joshua instructed the army and the rest of the nation, and then
verses 8-16 tell us, with almost excruciating detail and repetition, how
the entire nation, over two million people, acted in faith and played their
roles, received the orders and followed them exactly. The author doesn't
want us to miss the point that the people did what God asked them to do.
Faith expresses itself in obedience. All the people believed the promise
of the Lord.
Think about how tedious and monotonous this had to have been day after day.
It really was a test of faith and patience waiting on the Lord. Some people
probably wanted to try more conventional military tactics-put up earthworks
for siege, battering rams, and the like. Others would have banked on God's
promise that he was going to give them the land. He had said, "...The
LORD your God is providing you a place of rest, and will give you this
land"
(1:13). So they might have said, "Why do we have to work this hard,
trudging around the city day after day?" But remember, what to them
might have seemed futile, perhaps a waste of time, God used to deal with
a besetting sin that Israel had-impatience. God was helping them learn obedient
patience. Hebrews 6:12 says it was through "faith and patience"
that God's people inherited what he had promised. In the last message I
mentioned that God is never in a hurry. He knows what he is doing; his timing
is never off.
If a week-long schedule of walking around the city was a test of patience,
then there is another test that is introduced here-self-control. Do you
know what would have been the hardest part of this regimen for me? Keeping
my mouth shut for a whole week! James teaches us that people who can't control
their tongues are going to have a hard time controlling their bodies. And
we're not going to be good soldiers without bodily discipline. There is
a beautiful line in Psalm 46:10: "Be still, and know that I am God."
Did you know that this psalm was written while Jerusalem was under military
attack? When the battle is the greatest, that's when we need to be the quietest
before the Lord, waiting and trusting.
Throughout this process, the fear of the Lord must have been growing in
the people of Jericho. Put yourself in their place. They were under siege,
and these people kept marching around the city day after day. At first,
the people of Jericho might have been a bit relieved, but then their anxiety
level must have grown and grown: "What in the world is going on? We've
never seen anything like this." Rahab had told the spies that the people
of Canaan knew that the God of Israel was a God of great wonders, so they
had to have been concerned about what this God was going to do with them.
The tension must have increased to frightening proportions. Then on the
seventh day came the blast of the trumpet and the incredible victory shout,
and the walls fell down. All the soldiers rushed into the city and took
it over.
The fall of Jericho should be great encouragement to us as God's people
to trust his promises and obey his instructions, no matter how impossible
the situation appears to be. You and I may never capture an entire city
the way Joshua was privileged to do, but in our everyday lives we face spiritual
enemies and high walls that challenge us, and the only way to grow in our
faith is to accept the new challenge and trust God to give us the victory.
A great preacher of the nineteenth century, Philip Brooks, said, "Do
not pray for easy lives; pray to be better men and women. Do not pray for
tasks equal to your powers; pray for power equal to your tasks."
My pastor friend in the Islamic nation told of how he was suddenly caught
in a violent spiritual conflict about three years ago, after he had been
serving the Lord for several years in these new responsibilities in the
church pastorate. He said that an officer of the secret police walked into
his study at home unannounced. The first prayer that came to Assad's mind
was, "Lord, don't let him see everything lying around," because
that study was the nerve center of the ministry; in it were equipment, records,
and materials amounting to substantial incriminating evidence of all the
ministry activity. He said the official didn't look at anything, he just
said, "We have to go." He rushed my friend out of the house and
down to the police station. This Christian leader said he prayed all the
way down, "Lord, you told the apostles you'd give them words to say
when taken before magistrates. I don't want to lie, but I don't want to
incriminate or endanger anyone else."
He told us of some of the accusations made against him: "You convert
Muslims to Christianity."
The pastor said, "Sir, I don't convert anyone. We believe that the
Spirit of God sovereignly changes people to belief in Jesus Christ. I don't
do it." The policeman said, "You baptize Muslims." My friend
said, "Sir, I baptize followers of Jesus Christ, people who have placed
their faith in him. I don't baptize Muslims." To every question, the
Lord gave Assad clear, honest responses. After three hours of interrogation
all the officer could say to him was, "Well, we're going to be watching
you." And they let him go. That is overcoming the enemy by faith during
the spiritual conflict.
After victory, keep on obeying
Now, after the spiritual conflict, remember to continue to obey the Lord's
direction. We can be especially vulnerable to failure after the battle.
We have to be watchful after the victory as much as before the battle. Joshua
gives the army three instructions to obey after they have taken the city.
Look at verses 17-19. First of all, he says to devote the entire city to
the Lord, except for Rahab:
And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to
the LORD for destruction; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her
in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 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. But all silver
and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are sacred to the LORD; they shall
go into the treasury of the LORD."
The first instruction was that everything in Jericho belonged to the Lord;
it was dedicated to him---the people, the houses, the animals, and all the
spoils of war. In the first victory in Canaan, Jericho was presented to
the Lord as an offering, as the firstfruits of all the victories that would
follow in the battles for the land. We'll see in the battles that follow
that usually the soldiers share in the spoils of war, but it wasn't the
case in Jericho. Everything there was put into the Lord's treasury. We're
going to see in the next chapter that this was a command that a man named
Achan disobeyed, and his disobedience brought defeat and disgrace for Israel,
and death for him and his family.
The second instruction is more difficult to understand. In verses 21 and
24, as instructed, they destroyed the people in the city and burned the
city. Verse 21:
Then they utterly destroyed all in the city, both men and
women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and asses, with the edge of the
sword.
Verse 24:
And they burned the city with fire, and all within 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.
This is very stark, and it is disturbing. God commanded every living thing
in Jericho to be killed. But isn't our God a God of mercy? It's one thing
to kill enemy soldiers, but why kill women and children, and even animals?
In terms of historical context, it's important to know that this commandment
was not a new one. God had given this word to Moses years earlier. Deuteronomy
7 and 20 spell out God's law for the nation of Israel regarding holy warfare
on God's behalf. That law made a clear distinction between attacking cities
that were outside the land and attacking cities that were inside the land
of Canaan where Israel was to dwell. Before they would besiege a city that
was outside the land of Canaan, they were to offer a truce to the people.
If the people responded to the offer of peace and surrendered, they were
to spare the lives of the people. But the people of the land of Canaan were
to be destroyed completely, their cities burned. Why this horrible demand?
There were two reasons, in summary. First of all, the civilization in Canaan
was completely wicked and debased. When we studied the life of Rahab in
chapter 2, we talked about the horrible degradation there. Compared to all
the other peoples around, it was the most wicked, vile culture in the ancient
near east. God didn't want his holy people corrupted through coexistence
with the Canaanites. God had put Israel in the world for a purpose: He told
Abraham that they would be a blessing to all the world. Included in the
blessing was the writing of the Old Testament Scriptures. Also included
was the coming of Messiah, Jesus the Savior of the world. Old Testament
history is a record of Satan's doing everything he could to pervert the
Jewish nation, to prevent the birth of Messiah. If Jewish men married pagan
women and worshiped pagan gods, it threatened God's purposes for his chosen
people. God wanted a holy seed so his holy Son could come to be the Savior
of the world. G. Campbell Morgan says, "God is perpetually at war with
sin. That is the whole explanation for the extermination of the
Canaanites."
The second reason that the Canaanites were to be destroyed was that they
had been given plenty of opportunity to repent and turn to the Lord, as
Rahab and her family did. God had patiently endured the evil of the Canaanites
from the time of Abraham to the time of Moses. That was 645 years. There
were 40 more years of waiting through the wilderness wanderings, which made
it 685 years. And the Canaanites knew exactly what was going on. Every wonder
that God performed, every victory that God gave his people, was a powerful
witness to the people in the land. But they consistently chose to reject
the salvation that he offered. They chose to continue in their sin. We shouldn't
think of the Canaanites as helpless, ignorant people. They were willfully
sinning against clear revelation.
But the wonderful climax to the story of Rahab and her family shows that
God's grace is at work even in the midst of horrible judgment against sin.
This is the third instruction, the call to rescue Rahab and her family.
Verses 22-23, 25:
And Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land,
"Go into the harlot's house, and bring out from it the woman, and all
who belong to her, as you swore to her." 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 kindred, and set them
outside the camp of Israel...Rahab the harlot, and her father's household,
and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive; and she dwelt in Israel
to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out
Jericho.
God saved and protected Rahab (including sparing her house on top of the
wall when it collapsed!) because of her faith, and because she led her family
to trust in God as well. These Gentile believers were rescued from fiery
judgment because they trusted the God of Israel. Jesus said, "...Salvation
is from the Jews" (John 4:22). Rahab and her family, to use the words
of the apostle Paul, were "afar off" in regard to the covenants,
but their faith brought them into the nation of Israel. The Scriptures tell
us that Rahab married a man named Salmon. It isn't in the Bible, but Jewish
tradition says that Salmon was one of the spies. What a great love story
to have the spy that rescued her marry her! And she became the grandmother
of King David in the line of Jesus the Messiah.
Give God all the glory
The last spiritual principle is found in verses 26 and 27: After the victory,
remember to give the Lord all the glory.
Joshua laid an oath upon them at that time, saying, "Cursed
before the LORD be the man that rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho.
At the cost of his first-born shall he lay its foundation,
and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates."
So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land.
After the triumph, Joshua, speaking on God's behalf, put the burned city
under a curse. This warning not to rebuild what God had destroyed speaks
of refortification. The words "foundation" and "gates"
refer to military battlements. The city of Jericho was to remain an object
lesson of God's great victory in Israel's first battle.
As he promised, God was with Joshua, glorifying himself through Joshua's
leadership. God sovereignly enhanced Joshua's reputation. But Joshua didn't
magnify himself, he was careful to give God all the glory. The old spiritual
that says, "Joshua fit the battle of Jericho" really isn't true.
God himself fought the battle of Jericho. Joshua and all the people were
very clear about that.
Let me tell you about my friend, the Christian leader in the Islamic country
today. He continues to demonstrate the same kind of obedience that Joshua
and the people demonstrated here in terms of the Lord's direction, even
after the pressure was off, after the battle was over. He told us that since
that interrogation, he has had three years of peace in his ministry, with
no opposition. There is even a degree of government cooperation. He has
been given a higher profile now as a bishop in his church. He says that
now the government asks him for information, they don't demand it. Now they
ask if they can come to his office to talk, they don't demand that he come
downtown to the police station to talk to them.
He has much more freedom in ministry, but he is very clear that the Lord
has done it. It's not his cleverness in creating strategies. He has a great
personal humility before the Lord of the church. He understands that God
has taken a weak man and given him spiritual strength that is not natural
to him, so that, in the words of Paul, he cannot boast before God.
He also doesn't want to take this victory for granted. He knows that warfare
can come back at any time. Having three years of peace doesn't mean that
it's always going to be that way.
In summary, the four principles for us are these: (1) Before the spiritual
conflict, remember that we fight from victory, not just for victory. (2)
During the spiritual conflict, remember that we overcome the enemy by faith.
(3) After the spiritual victory, remember to continue to obey the Lord's
direction. (4) After the spiritual victory, remember to give the Lord all
the glory.
Let me ask you two questions in conclusion: First, what is the city of Jericho
that you're facing in your life? Let me encourage you to ask the Lord to
show you your own points of vulnerability as you face that opposition. What
are your temptations to doubt God's promises, to disobey his clear instructions?
What are the points of spiritual warfare in your present life experience?
Second, are you allowing God to conquer this Jericho for you? Is he being
allowed to wage the battle, or are you doing it in your own power? Is the
strategy his, or is it yours?
Catalog No. 4462
Joshua 6:1-27
Ninth Message
Doug Goins
March 3, 1996
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