Monday, November 23, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Fall of Jericho
Jericho was shut tight. No one was coming or going. An eerie silence must have blown with the wind through the empty hills surrounding the city as God laid out the plan for Joshua.
Joshua was to lead the army of Israel in a walk around the city once a day for six days and seven times on the seventh day. After their final lap, they would blast their trumpets and shout as they watched the massive double walls crumble to the ground.
No clever Braveheart-esque tactics. No mighty siege against the walls. They would attack the city of Jericho by walking...
Therefore, when faced with a problem of any sort in your life, walk around it several times and then shout. Lock the keys in your car? Walk around it and shout. A difficult person at work? Walk around him or her and shout.
This is a perfect example of how not to interpret Old Testament narratives like Joshua. We cannot take what God said to a man in a certain point in time and apply it immediately to ourselves. There is, however, a principle to observe here. We catch a glimpse of God's character as He works in the lives of His people. Here's one thing we can learn from Joshua 6:
God's ways are not our ways.
Isaiah 55:8-9 states that His ways are higher than our ways just like the skies are higher than the earth. This plan is clearly different from what Joshua would have come up with on his own. We can recognize at least three characteristics of God's way from this episode:
1. God's way cultivates faith in His people.
Following such a bizarre plan meant that each step around Jericho was an act of faith in God's wisdom.
2. God's way brings Himself glory.
Their victory could not be accounted to their weaponry or skill. All they did was walk and shout. It was God-wrought.
3. God's way is initiated by His Word.
The path that cultivates faith and glorifies God is found only by using God's Word as a map.
In Joshua 1, God tells Joshua to be courageous and meditate on the law. Then Joshua would have success in his endeavors, including the Jericho attack. In other words, God laid out the blue print in Joshua 1. Joshua followed them and built the structure in Joshua 6.
How can we walk in God's ways if they are so high and lofty compared to our ways? By meditating on His Word and responding in obedience.
We so desperately want the historical story of Jericho to teach us that God will miraculously break through the walls of our struggles. That's not what it communicates. It communicates that God will accomplish His purposes for His glory and will allow those who faithfully meditate and obey His Word to participate.
Many want to see their problems crumble to the ground at their feet. But few apply themselves diligently to studying, meditating, thinking through, and aligning themselves with His word.
We cannot read Joshua 6 and walk away with the erroneous conclusion that God will destroy our personal Jericho that we have built brick-by-brick with sinful and foolish decisions made outside of the counsel of His Word.
We must plug ourselves into His Word. We must plug our families into His Word. We must align ourselves with His Word.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Preparation | Part Two
We're going to look at three features of the new covenant. More could be said, but for now, chew on this:
1. The new covenant promises a new heart.
In Ezekiel 36:26, God is speaking about the new covenant to come saying, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a new heart of flesh."
He will replace your stony, hard heart with a soft one full of new desires. A heart He can mold until it looks like Jesus' heart.
Many are wrestling with a tangled mess of problems, addictions, bad habits - all issues growing from stony hearts that are hardened to God. God wants to give you a new heart that is pliable in His hands.
He doesn't just want to modify your behavior, but your essence, your identity, the core of you.
2. The new covenant promises new life.
Jesus explains this in Luke 9:23-25. You give up your plans. You give up your ideas about what's best for your future. You give up your priorities. You give up your life. THEN, God will give you His plans. His ideas about what's best for your future. His priorities. New life.
In the new covenant, you must die to your old self to become alive to God.
Note, we are not promised a new life. God doesn't promise to pluck you out of your crummy life and drop you into a new one with a great family and a huge house. Abundant life is living for God through Jesus in any circumstance.
3. The new covenant promises deliverance from sin.
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9). As Psalm 103:12 states, God is able to remove our sins from us as far as the east is from the west.
Our part: confess our sins (to God and all affected) and repent (turn away from sin to God). This is the Christian lifestyle. Until Jesus returns and completes our transformation, we will be confessing and repenting.
God's part: die in payment for the sins of all who will believe in and follow Him.
He also promises to help us to see our sin, forgive us of our sin, help us to repent fully (by massaging new desires into our new, soft heart), cleanse us of our sin, and restore us to right relationship with Him and others.
Many are sinking into the quicksand of sin. The harder we fight to get out, the stronger its grip. God wants to deliver us from sin, both its hold on our lives and the punishment it earns.
This is the new covenant in Jesus' blood. Not trying to live a good life, modifying our behavior, trying to escape bad circumstances. Many have settled for this and called it Christianity and have never experienced a new, softened heart, new life, or deliverance from sin.
If this describes you, perhaps it's time to enter into the new covenant. Maybe it's time to give God your heart, your life, your sin - and receive His promises through Jesus.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Preparation | Part One
Joshua 5:1-12
On the Jericho side of the Jordan River, Joshua receives specific instructions from God. He is to circumcise the men of Israel.
Circumcision was the physical sign of the covenant (a formal, legally binding declaration of promises and conditions made between two or more people) God made with Abraham, generations previously. It was the physical identification with the promise (nation, land, and blessing for all nations). While Israel was in the wilderness, they abandoned the practice and it was time to return to it.
After performing and healing from the circumcision, Israel observed the Passover, remembering God's grace in delivering them from slavery in Egypt.
Biblical history books like Joshua preserve a record of God's character and ways through real events. What do we learn about God in Joshua 5? Many things, no doubt; but we'll focus on one for this post: God keeps His covenants.
Circumcision was the physical sign of the Abrahamic Covenant. Passover was the memorial observance of the mighty actions God took to keep His covenant, leading his people out toward the Promised Land. But we're not under the Abrahamic Covenant like they were. We're not promised the land of Canaan. Why should this matter to us?
Because Jesus invited us into a new covenant. Generations after Joshua and the Israelites observe Passover in the shadow of Jericho; Jesus sits down with His followers to partake in the Passover meal. While they're eating He begins to make cryptic remarks about how the bread and cup of the meal represents His body and blood (see Luke 22:14-20).
"This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood." (Luke 22:20)
Jesus invites us into a new covenant based on His sacrifice on the cross. This new covenant is connected to the old. Abraham was promised that God would make a nation out of his people, place them in a special land, and bless all nations through His descendants.
Jesus is the blessing for all nations. The new covenant is the invitation to the nations to receive the blessing promised to Abraham generations before.
We'll look at three aspects of the new covenant in the following post.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Crossing of the Jordan | Part Two
Once the Israelites crossed the Jordan, God didn't have them offer a sacrifice. He didn't have them feast or fast. He had them stack 12 stones from the riverbed as a reminder.
Their greatest danger at this point is that they might forget God's faithfulness. They had always been this way.
I'll prove it: In Exodus 13, God brought them out of Egyptian slavery with a mighty hand and many miracles. They started a yearly feast and a tradition associated with their firstborn to remember it; yet by chapter 14 they lost their faith because of an approaching army.
So God parted the Red Sea to deliver them, an unbelievable miracle. In chapter 15, Moses taught the nation a song of remembrance; yet by chapter 16, they lost their faith again because they were thirsty and hungry.
So God provided water and food to eat (manna from heaven). God instructed them to keep some manna in a jar to pass down to future generations so they wouldn't forget God's faithfulness; yet by chapter 17 they lost their faith yet again because of thirst. And on it goes until they finally create their own little god in the form of a calf.
Israel was prone to look ahead to the dangers of the future and forget about the provision of the past. Now, on the other side of the Jordan, they have another chance. God instructs them to stack stones so that when their children see them, they'll ask and hear the story of God's faithfulness at the Jordan River.
What does this mean for us? We must work to remember God's faithfulness. If we don't work to remember God's faithfulness, we'll forget. If we forget, we'll lapse into despair and disaster.
Don't let an instance of God's faithfulness go unremembered. Write it in a journal. Put a reminder on your refrigerator. Plant a tree. Do something to serve as a reminder so that when you're up against a danger again, you won't feel like it's the first time.
Husbands and fathers, add this to your job description. This is a way to protect and provide spiritually for your family. Don't let them forget God's faithfulness. Work with your wives on this because their ideas and memories will certainly be better than yours. But initiate it.
We're facing an epidemic of spiritual Alzheimer's. Our memories of God's work in our lives vanish, leaving us terrified. Let's fight this disease together.
*If you've thought of a creative way to remember God's faithfulness, participate in our Facebook discussion.
The Crossing of the Jordan | Part One
The spies had returned and it was time to march into the Promised Land. As Israel prepared, God instructed Joshua regarding the Ark of the Covenant.
The priests were to carry it in front of the people, leading the way to the edge of the flooded Jordan River.
The Ark was the holiest and most central object in the tabernacle, the place in which God met with Moses. The ornate box contained the law given to Moses.
For the people of Israel, this sacred object was a clear representation of God's presence and God's word. As Joshua watched the priests carrying it to the front of the nation of Israel, God's commands from chapter one must have echoed in his mind. Don't be afraid Joshua. I'm with you. Focus on my law.
Joshua's confidence in God shines through in verse five when he commands the people to "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you." We see no indication that he knew what would happen once the nation reached the Jordan at this point; yet he is sure that God will do wondrous things.
He's trusting in God's presence and God's word, moving ahead with confidence. THEN, God lays out the plan: Just as the Exodus began with a miraculously parted Sea, so it would end with a miraculously dammed river.
Those carrying the Ark were to step into the great river and wait for the waters to stop. Then the nation would cross on dry land, passing by the Ark in the middle of the riverbed.
As they passed the Ark, there could be no doubt that this was an act of God. The same God that gave them the law. What a visual teaching moment for God's people.
God didn't have to do it this way. He could have beamed the inhabitants of the land out an the Israelites in. In fact, the Israelites didn't even need a miraculous crossing. They were in no hurry. There was an Egyptian army on their heels when Moses led them through the Red Sea. This time they could have built rafts if they wanted to.
But God ordained that they would cross a miraculously dried up riverbed, the Ark standing between them and the piled up waters.
The message: trust in God and walk in His law.
The ultimate fulfillment: Jesus Christ. Jesus is God with us (Matthew 1:23). Jesus is the word in person (John 1). Jesus stands between us and the piled up waters of damnation and disaster. Follow him as the Israelites followed the Ark of the Covenant and you will be saved.
The Faith of Rahab | Part Three
Joshua 2Her name was Rahab. But she is known primarily as Rahab the Harlot. That's how she's introduced in Joshua 2. That's how she's referred to in both Hebrews 11 and James 2. Rahab the Harlot.
Why is her occupation emphasized when others' occupations aren't mentioned at all?
Since her story provides a picture of saving faith; perhaps the repetitive references to her harlotry serve to emphasize God's grace toward defiled people.
So many tell me that they're good people when the subject of God comes up. No they're not. Neither am I. Neither are you. And we're not responsible for cleaning ourselves up to receive salvation. God does that through Jesus. The Doctor came for the sick, not the well.
Once Jesus was invited to a Pharisee's house (read: super religious guy's house). While He was there, a prostitute approached and began weeping in humble adoration at His feet. As she did, the Pharisee said, "If you knew what manner of woman this was you would have nothing to do with her."
Jesus knew what manner of woman she was, which brings us to the third reference of Rahab in the New Testament: Matthew 1. This is Jesus' genealogy, starting with Abraham. Then Isaac. Jacob. Judah. Perez, father of Zerah by Tamar. Hezron. Ram. Amminadab. Nahshon. Salmon, father of Boaz by Rahab...
The prostitute weeping at Jesus' feet was the same manner of woman as Rahab, humble and desperate for God's mercy. Such a woman as this was not only embraced by God; but was used to bring about His most precious promise: the birth of Jesus Christ.
God is glorified in saving sinners; not accepting the self-righteous.
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