Jesus Visits Joshua

Introduction

Raise your hand if you’ve ever met a famous person that you admire. I’ve not met many, but I did meet Trevor McNevan once. I’m sure most of you don’t know who that is. Have you ever heard of the band Thousand Foot Krutch? They’re a really popular Christian Hard Rock band that started out in Toronto actually, and made it really big at least as far as Christian bands are concerned. They’ve won 7 GMA awards and sold tons of albums. Well Trevor McNevan is the lead singer of Thousand Foot Krutch. While I was still going to Kingswood University in Sussex I bought tickets for a massive concert called “Maple Noise” that had, like, twelve bands on the ticket with twin Headliners Thousand Foot Krutch and Newsboys. I guess I must have recently come into money because I splurged and got the extra expensive tickets that granted you the privilege to meet the two headlining bands in a meet and greet backstage.

Turns out that was a bit of a waste of money. I wasn’t really all that interested in meeting the Newsboys so I was really just wanting to meet TFK, and the meet and greet turned out to just be a quick handshake and then back to the concert. That, and I had already met Trevor McNevan before the Meet and Greet started.

You see we arrived to Mocton Wesleyan Church where the concert was being held very early, because that’s the kind of guy I am, and arrived to a mostly empty lobby. I looked across that lobby and saw a couple people standing around a guy that I recognized, the lead singer of TFK himself, just hanging out with people before the show. So I got to go over and introduce myself to him and chat with him for a minute. I shook his hand and said “hi, I’m Josh.” and he just said “hi, I’m Trevor,” so I said, “yeah, I know.”

It was a really cool moment, but it really pales in comparison to the famous one that my namesake Joshua ran into near Jericho, though he similarly was not expecting to meet Him where He did. You see Joshua had led the Israelites across the river Jordan in a beautiful poetic moment where the river split in two to mark the end of their long journey through the wilderness which had started with parting the Red Sea. Now here he found himself facing down the fortified city of Jericho with a hermit nation of Israelites who were woefully ill-equiped to storm a walled fortress. See most of the time when you storm a fortress if you want to succeed in any way you need seige equipment, which they didn’t have. The odds seemed stacked against them, so Joshua went off by himself. The bible doesn’t tell us why he was alone, perhaps he was taking time to meditate on their situation and strategize, or maybe even better he was seeking the Lord in prayer for direction. I’d like to think it was the second one.

Either way he was certainly not expecting what he found there. Let’s take up the narrative in our text for this morning, which is Joshua 5:13-6:7

Joshua 5:13–6:7 CSB

When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua approached him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied. “I have now come as commander of the Lord’s army.” Then Joshua bowed with his face to the ground in homage and asked him, “What does my lord want to say to his servant?” The commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did that. Now Jericho was strongly fortified because of the Israelites—no one leaving or entering. The Lord said to Joshua, “Look, I have handed Jericho, its king, and its best soldiers over to you. March around the city with all the men of war, circling the city one time. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets in front of the ark. But on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the rams’ horns. When there is a prolonged blast of the horn and you hear its sound, have all the troops give a mighty shout. Then the city wall will collapse, and the troops will advance, each man straight ahead.” So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark of the Lord.” He said to the troops, “Move forward, march around the city, and have the armed men go ahead of the ark of the Lord.”

So we’ve been Finding Jesus in the Old Testament through this sermon series, which by the way we’ll be taking a break from very soon, in three different ways: in types of Christ that foreshadow who Jesus will be and what He will be like, prophecies of Christ where prophets tell us in advance who the Messiah will be and what He will do and finally Christophanies where Jesus shows up in preincarnate form throughout the Old Testament. I believe that this passage is a great example of one of these. By the way as an aside, apart from moving around some of the sermons to coincide with calendar events like going through prophecies about the crucifixion leading up to Easter I’ve been mostly going through these in order of where they appear in the Old Testament in the order we have the books in our English Bibles. That means I’ve spent nearly 6 months on this series and we’re only just now leaving the first five books of the Bible, otherwise knows as the Law or the Torah. So no wonder Jesus said that if His contemporaries knew Moses they would know Him.

So why do we believe this is a Christophany? The primary reason is because this commander of heaven’s armies speaks the same way that the angel of the Lord does that makes us thing He is God, which is that He talks about God in the Third and First person. He talks in other words as if He is God but somehow simultaneously like God is another person. This seems an awful lot like Trinitarian theology to me. Jesus is God, but He’s not the Father. Also this image of the Commander of Heaven’s Armies is incredibly reminiscent of the image of Jesus we see in revelation, who weilds a two edged sword and commands the armies of the Lord.

So if this is in fact Jesus who meets Joshua in the wilderness, what can we learn about Jesus from this encounter? Well I believe there are three important lessons in this passage,

Jesus is On God’s Side

Jesus is a Conquering Warrior

Jesus Wins the Fight For Us

1. Jesus Is On God's Side

Be honest with me, have you ever prayed for a sports team to win their match? I know the Maple Leaf’s fans in this church certainly have. It’s a little silly right, because you know it’s just a sports game. Plus what happens if someone on the opposing team also prays to win the game? Well in a way even things that are far more important to us like individual battles and wars are small in comparison to the larger picture of God’s Kingdom and His plans. This perhaps explains Jesus’ answer to Joshua in our passage for the day. Joshua 5:13-14

Joshua 5:13–14 CSB

When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua approached him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied. “I have now come as commander of the Lord’s army.” Then Joshua bowed with his face to the ground in homage and asked him, “What does my lord want to say to his servant?”

Now I think the CSB Bible does a good job bringing out the meaning of Jesus’ words, but the literal answer that He gives to Joshua’s question is more like this: “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “No.”

Which I just love. It’s almost like He’s saying that Joshua isn’t even asking the right question. That’s because technically He’s NOT on the side of the Israelites. The Israelites are on HIS side. That’s an important distinction. See the Israelites were concerned with finding a home and conquering the promised land. God had much, much bigger plans in mind. The Israelites were God’s instruments for a much bigger battle beyond what Joshua could imagine.

To start with the conquering of the promised land wasn’t even just about giving the Israelites a home. God was fulfilling three promises at once, His promise to the patriarchs to bring their descendants into the land to prosper there was just one of them. The second was His promise to bring judgment on the wicked nations that lived in the promised land before the Israelites. In fact when God made the promise to Abraham to bring His descendants into the land He says in Genesis 15:16

Genesis 15:16 CSB

In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

In other words the Amorites were being given more time before God would punish them for their sins through the return of the Israelites.

So Jesus had come not just to help the Israelites but to judge the Canaanites. Even more important was the third promise that God was going to keep through the nation of Israel. That in the words of Genesis 22:18

Genesis 22:18 CSB

And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command.”

So God brings them to the promised land to conquer it as a part in His unfolding redemption plan for all of mankind, since we know from Paul in Galatians is a promise to bring the gospel to the nations through Jesus. Galatians 3:8

Galatians 3:8 CSB

Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you.

So even in just His short reply to Joshua that He was not on the side of the Israelites is an insight into a much bigger battle that Jesus was concerned with outside of this small skirmish with one walled city.

2. Jesus Is a Conquering Warrior

Have you ever heard the saying “the clothes make the man?” We shouldn’t make too much of that idea, but I think there is something to be said about the effect on other people’s perceptions of you and your own perceptions of yourself that your clothing can have. There’s a reason I wear collared shirts and dress pants when I preach. The principle my Pastoral Ministries professor at university taught us is that we should on Sunday mornings aim to dress just slightly more formally than the average church attendee when we are speaking. This is to show others and remind ourselves about the seriousness with which we take speaking about and interpreting God’s word for people. There’s a similar reason that I dress up a little bit for my ordinary office days, even if I don’t have any appointments and will probably be alone in the office. There’s something to be said about the effect it has on your own work ethic to dress up for work, and it helps me to pyschologically seperate my working hours from my at home hours.

God does nothing by accident, so when He appears in a particular form He’s doing so in order to communicate something. He has control not just over what He wears but His entire appearance unlike us, so whatever He chooses to show Himself as we should pay attention to, because it could be teaching us something. Now Jesus in the Christophanies and later in the incarnation appeared in many forms. Though can be said and has been said about the great humility the Son of God showed by being born as a baby in a manger, Jesus doesn’t always appear in meek and mild form. Here when He shows up to meet Joshua He shows up dressed as a warrior and wielding a drawn sword. What should we make of this?

The first reason is likely to reassure Joshua that He would be fighting alongside Him. Though He isn’t “on Israel’s side” they are at the moment on His side, so He is dressed in the attire of a warrior to reassure that He has a sword drawn alongside them, and that He will be standing shoulder to shoulder with them when they march to battle. This is confirmed again in the instruction to bring the ark of the covenant with them as they marched around the walls of Jericho. Remember that the point of the Ark of the Covenant was that it was the place God’s presence would rest in the midst of the Israelites. That means that by telling Joshua to carry the Ark in the middle of the congregation He was commanding Him to go with God in their midst rather than in the strength of men. If Joshua had left the ark of the covenant behind in the camp, I’m certain that the Israelites would have failed and lost that battle.

The second reason Jesus shows up with a drawn sword is to show that there is a time of God’s judgment. Though He had delayed more than 400 years, perhaps out of mercy and compassion for the people of Canaan, the time had come for God to punish the people who worshipped idols and commited all sorts of sinful acts. This in itself is a shadow of things to come. Though Jesus came in the flesh first as a small humble baby, we see in Revelation that Jesus will one day return with a sword again to judge those who do not follow Him in order to usher us into the promised land. This picture of the Israelites coming to the promised land is a picture to show us our future symbolically.

We can rest assured that a just God will see His justice done. This is reassuring because we know that many who do wrong never see justice for what they’ve done, either because they are too powerful or too clever to be held accountable for their actions. We should take comfort in the fact that Jesus will make all wrongs right. On the other hand we should look at our own lives and the sins and wrongdoing that we’ve committed and make sure that when Jesus comes to the world with a sword that we’re standing on His side.

3. Jesus Wins the Fight For Us

Now remember the situation that the Israelites are in? I talked in the introduction to this sermon about what they were facing. They were getting ready to march towards a fortified city. We know they don’t have seige weapons, like ladders to scale walls or trebuchets or anything like that. If you march on foot up to a massive walled city, they aren’t just going to laugh and tell you to leave like in VeggieTales. No, they will likely put their archers to work, or drop stones on you, or maybe even pour vats of boiling oil on you. This was no small thing. The Israelites were probably terrified.

And rightly so. The fact is that if they were fighting for themselves they would lose. We find ourselves in a similar situation in this life. We are told in Ephesians 6:12

Ephesians 6:12 CSB

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.

That’s a fight we can’t win. Heck, we can’t even win the fight against our own sinfulness and our own lack of discipline.

In the context of the looming battle against the city of Jericho Jesus shows up to give them comfort, and to give them a plan. On the face of it, it’s not a very good plan. He tells them to march around the city once a day for six days, and then to march around the city for seven days on the seventh day and to blow the trumpets. This is not a battle winning strategy. This is the kind of strategy that by human means would simply lead to the death of the nation of Israel in humiliating defeat.

But they aren’t relying on human means. This is why God tells them to do what they are about to do. He practices the same principle when He has Gideon reduce his army to only 300 men, or when He has the Israelites travel to the Red Sea so that they’ll be trapped betweent he water and Pharaoh’s chariots. He’s getting ready to demonstrate a truth for all of the ages that speaks volumes to us even today:

2 Chronicles 20:15 CSB

and he said, “Listen carefully, all Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat. This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast number, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

The full context of the Ephesians verse we read earlier that tells us that our battle is not against flesh and blood is in the context of putting on the full armour of God. Ephesians 6:10-13

Ephesians 6:10–13 CSB

Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.

So it is not in our own strength that we stand but in the strength of God by putting on His full armour. So Jesus teaches Joshua and eventually we who sit in this church that the only way to truly win is to surrender to God and have Him fight the battle for you.

Conclusion

So then, as we read and reflect on this passage of Scripture, how does it inform our journey as disciples of Jesus? How does it help us to become better disciples who make disciples? I think there are primarily two applications of this information.

The first is that we should have confidence in Christ. He shows us in scripture that He is the mighty warrior and the commander of Heaven’s armies, and that nothing can stand against Him. If you know then that He is on your side, than you can be at peace and assured that you will make it through. I know I read and reference this passage a lot but it’s one of my favorites and very relevant to this point. We read in Romans 8:31-39

Romans 8:31–39 CSB

What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How good it is to know that He is on our side!

The second application is to surrender in obedience to Jesus. When Joshua realized who He was standing before He “fell on His face” and worshipped Him. This is the posture we are supposed to have towards Jesus. Laying down in front of Him and calling Him Lord of our lives. And when Joshua does this Jesus speaks and gives Him instructions. He doesn’t question, he doesn’t contradict, instead he takes this message to the priests and tells them exactly what God had told him. Then in loving obedience the Israelites face unsurmountable odds and put their lives at risk to follow God’s commands and God does exactly what He promised He would do. The city falls and the people enter their promised land.

We should do the same. Lay down our lives and Jesus’ feet and listen when He tells us what we need to do. Don’t forget what our last “marching orders” were. Matthew 28:16-20

Matthew 28:16–20 CSB

The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted. Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This commandment has at different times called us into danger and distress, and put the very lives of Christians at risk. The right response to this command of Jesus? Faithful obedience. Let us strive every day to abide more in Christ so that He can win this victory through us and we can realize the same fulfilled promise as those Israelites. The walls will fall down and we will enter our promised land.