Living and Fighting as the Friends of God
Notes
Transcript
Joshua 6:15-26 ESV
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. 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.”
Something that shocks a lot of people when they hear it is that God has enemies.
Now, when you think about God’s enemies, what is the first thing you think of? The devil. But what surprises many people even more than the fact that God has enemies is that many of God’s enemies are people.
But what really surprises many people is that God judges His enemies. God condemns His enemies.
Many people say that God is so loving that there is no way that He could ever have enemies. Furthermore, they say that there is absolutely no way that God would ever judge or condemn anyone period.
But what many people fail to understand is that while God is a most loving God, God is also a holy and just God. So, because God is holy and just, His just nature demands that He judges and condemns all who are not holy.
But not all are enemies of God, God also many friends. And because God is holy, in order for one to be a friend of God, you have to be holy. And none are naturally holy, therefore you must be made holy byGod.
Now being naturally born into sin with a sin nature, it is uncommon for one to spiritually come out of a world steeped in sin. For one to come out of the world and become a member of the family of God is indeed a miracle from the hand of God.
And today, as we discuss the battle of Jericho itself, we are going to be talking about the enemies of God, the friends of God, and an example of one who came out of the world so that she too could become a friend of God.
So, let’s go ahead and jump into our reading, first looking at verses 15-21, the Battle of Jericho itself.
These verses read:
*Joshua 6:15-21 ESV
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. 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.
Last week we talked about the battle preparations that God had assigned to Joshua, to the priests, and to the fighting men of Israel. God had told them to march around the city once for six days, blowing ram’s horns as they marched around the city.
But now is day 7, the day of battle. And on the day of battle, the instructions were different than on days 1 through 6. Rather than having the people march around the city of Jericho one time, God had them march around the city 7 times.
And on the seventh circuit around the city, when the priests blew the ram’s horns, the people shouted. And do you know what happened when the people shouted? The walls of Jericho, that mightily fortified city, came tumbling down.
And when the walls came crashing down, the command was to devote the entire city to destruction. This means that everything in the city that breathed, was to be put to death. That means men, women, children, even animals. And whatever property they find there was to be placed in the treasury of the Lord.
The Lord demands the first and best of all things, and this city, being the first city that Israel encountered west of the Jordan River, God demanded fully. The men of Israel were to take absolutely no plunder for themselves, it was all to be given to God. And there were to be survivors, they too were to be given to God, at the edge of the sword.
Now, this is one of the many “hard sayings” of the Bible. God commanded that everything that breathed the breath of life be put to death?! What?! Why would God ever do such a thing?!
Well, let me ask you, if you own something, or more particularly, if you create something, is it not your right to do with it as you wish? Well, who created everything that there is? God of course! And as Job says, the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.
The Proverbs even go so far as to tell us:
*Proverbs 16:4 KJV
4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Does anyone deserve good from the hand of God? Not at all! So, if God sees fit to bring a certain evil to its end by causing it to die, then who are we to question Him? After all, as I said, God created everything and has a right to do whatever He wants with what He creates.
And so, what we see here is a clear division as to how God handles His friends, and how He handles His enemies.
The friends of God were the ones who God used to conquer. He empowered them to conquer and win, and that’s just what they did as they overcame the enemies of God.
The enemies of God may have lived in luxury and flagrant sin with seemingly no consequences for some time, but in time, God did away with His enemies and God caused His friends to overcome.
Well, beloved, as I hope we all know, we become the friends of God when we humbly place no trust in ourselves or anyone else and instead place our absolute trust in the power of God and depend on the sacrifice that He made for us on the cross to eternally save us.
And so, if it those who truly trust God who are His friends, then it is obviously those who do not trust God who are His enemies.
And we know, based on experience, but most of all, based on Scripture, that God causes everything to work together for the good of His friends, for the condemnation of His enemies, but most of all, for His own glory.
And so, because we are the friends of God, if we are the friends of God, we can know that God will always empower us to overcome His enemies.
But even if one is an enemy of God, you don’t have to remain that way. We say an example of this in our reading in the form of Rahab, found in verses 22-25, where it says:
*Joshua 6:22-25 ESV
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.
Now, we’re probably all pretty familiar with what is being said here.
Joshua had sent two men to spy out the city of Jericho before they had gone on the offensive, and while there, there was talk that there were Israelis in town, and so the men of the city began to search for them that they may kill them.
But Rahab, recognizing God’s hand in everything that had been happening in that region as of late, and she herself coming to fear and reverence God, hid out the spies that they may live to see another day.
Rahab may have lived amongst the enemies of God, yet here she proved herself to be a friend of God.
And because she was a friend of God, she was called out of the city and spared from destruction.
In the same way, we may naturally come from the world and be among the enemies of God. Yet when God calls you with His effectual call, you come, and you become His friend. And what a miracle this is!
And because we become His friends, He spares us from eternal destruction.
But this separation that we have from the world is to become a permanent separation. That is, when we divorce ourselves from the world and cleave unto God, we certainly should not desire to be joined to the world again.
Joshua makes this clear to Israel as they took Jericho, when he said:
*Joshua 6:26 ESV
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.”
God destroyed this city; it was absolutely devoted to destruction. The fallen city was to be a lasting symbol of God’s displeasure of evil and His enemies. Therefore, rebuilding it would be most dishonoring to God and it would certainly result in trouble for the one who rebuilt it.
As a man who is now married is expected to be faithful to his wife and divorce himself from how he behaved when he was a single man, and to love his wife alone, so are the friends of God to completely divorce themselves from the world, to no longer desire the lusts of the world, to certainly not act on the lusts of the world, and to desire our new Love, and Him alone.
But if we do desire to return to the world, and act upon this desire, the results will be most grievous for us as we are now able to see and feel the truly evil nature of the world that God called us out of.
Beloved, if you are a friend of God, then bask in that friendship and desire to never again rebuild what God tore down.
Amen?