Caleb: A Grand Old Warrior

Joshua 14:12 “Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims (Giants) were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said.”

Caleb is one of the forgotten men of the faith. At the time he made this request of Joshua, he was an old man, he was not ready to be retired.

How old was Caleb as he asked for this new challenge? He was 85.

The Jews divided old age into three categories:

Between the ages of 60-70 was called the commencement of old age.

Between the ages of 70-80 was called the hoary-headed age with hoary-headed meaning showing the characteristics of age.

Anyone over the age of 80 was considered to be well-stricken in years.

Caleb was well-stricken in years when he went to Caleb. At the age most people have been on Social Security for 20 years, Caleb was thinking of conquering a mountain full of giants, the Anakims.

Caleb wanted to finish strong. As we age, our bodies may become weak, but the important thing is to be strong in the Spirit, strong enough to say, “God, give me this mountain!!”

“Lord, let the young be content with the easy path, give me this mountain before I die.”

Dear friend, age is just a number, and we are never too young or too old to scale the mountains in our way or to conquer the giants in our path.

Abraham was 75 when he left the Ur of the Chaldees to become the father of all believers and to become known as the friend of God. Moses was 80 when he became a deliverer and the greatest law-giver of all-time, and Caleb was 85 as he set out to do battle with the Anakims to give the devil and his followers a thrashing they would never forget.

85-years-old!! At the other end of the spectrum, David was in his early teens when he gave a giant in his path a splitting headache, and Jesus was only 12-years-old when He taught in the Temple.

God wants you to start strong, and God wants you to finish strong, and the key is to never stop letting the Holy Spirit control your life.

I. The Great Decision in the Waking Years of Life

The best and greatest decision you could ever make is to decide to follow God, and it is best to make that decision as a youngster so that you do not become hardened to the effects of sin.

Caleb wanted to finish strong, but made the great decision in the early years of his life to follow God. At a young age, Caleb was filled with the vision of a new Lord, a new life, and a new land.

Caleb was born a slave in the land of Egypt. He knew the humiliation, agony, and defeat of being a slave. He lived constantly under the threat of death. He longed for a Savior. He longed for someone who could come and lead him to a victorious life.

This is why you must understand the importance of oral tradition in spreading God’s Word.

Caleb made a biblical discovery even though the Bible was not complete. All Caleb had was the book of Genesis. It was burned into his soul. The Book of Genesis was the verbal tradition of his people written down by Moses. The Israelites kept God’s Word alive verbally. They passed it down generation after generation.

Many archaeologists believe that written language did not even exists before Moses.

The Israelites, without a written language, kept God’s Word alive orally for generations. It was burned into their souls, and Caleb clung to a promise made by God to Abraham.

Genesis 15:13–14 “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.”

Genesis 15:15–16 “And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”

The Israelites were able to keep God’s Word alive. They guarded it, and they shared it, and because they had shared it, Caleb knew that it was time for Israel to be delivered just as Daniel knew it was time for Israel to be delivered just as I know by God’s Word that the time of the Rapture is at hand. God never acts randomly.

Do you know God’s Word well enough to keep it alive? Do you? I mean God’s Word. I don’t mean devotionals. I don’t mean commentaries. I don’t mean podcasts or blogs or what preachers say God’s Word says. Do you know God’s Word? Do you study God’s Word, or is your idea of studying God’s Word reading 10 minutes before bedtime? Is your mindset toward God’s Word like Caleb’s? Many Christians do not read the Bible, and that is why giants are not being defeated and why mountains are not being moved.

God’s Word is clear that God acts when it is time for Him to act. Moses came to deliver Israel when it was time for him to come, and that time was the fourth generation which was 400 years after the Israelites were taken into captivity.

Jesus was born in due time, and Jesus died in due time, and Jesus will come back in due time, and all of that is found in God’s Word, so instead of saying that only God knows when Jesus is returning, study God’s Word to see what He has said about it. We just think we are too busy for God’s Word, but we have time for television. Lack of time does not hold water in God’s eyes when you have time for everything else. If time was a legitimate excuse, God would not put giants and mountains in your way.

Talk about time. As Caleb is toiling in the mud making bricks, his focus is on God’s Word and the one coming to deliver his people and him from Egypt, and your focus and my focus should be on the One coming to get us too, and if our focus was on that, we would be studying God’s Word more, and we would be sharing it more.

In the waking years of his life, Caleb had committed himself to the promised deliverer. Even though he was raised a prince in Egypt, it was Moses who was to be God’s instrument of deliverance. As a young man, Caleb had made the decision to trust God, and it was the best decision he ever made just as it is the best decision any person in the waking years of life will ever make. It was a decision that gave Caleb the opportunity to climb mountains and conquer giants later in life.

II. The Great Dedication in the Working Years of Life

Joshua 14:6–7 “Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh-barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart.”

Joshua 14:8–9 “Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God.”

Did you know the hardest time of life to remain dedicated to the Lord is between the ages of 18-60? Those are the working years of life. Those years contain so many distractions that steal us away from the dedication and obedience God requires.

To move mountains and conquer giants, you must be dedicated and obedient, and those two traits describe Caleb perfectly during the working years of his life.

Caleb was chosen as one of the 12 spies sent by Moses into the Promised Land to scout the land. While there, Caleb tasted the fruits of the Promised Land, and when he tasted the fruits of the Promised Land, his appetite changed as he no longer desired the onions, leeks, and garlic of Egypt.

The message is clear. Once we taste of the fruit of the Promised Land, we should not desire what we left behind.

The vision of a new land and a new life in Canaan drew Caleb onward, and if you do not see in that the mindset we should have as Christians, I do not know what else to say.

We are not to be looking back. We are to be obedient and move forward. Did you know it is hard to navigate the mountain in front of you if you are looking at the mountain behind you?

Let me ask you a question.

What do you know about the 12 spies sent to scout the Promised Land?

We know 10 of them doubted God’s Word. (Josh. 1:3-5)

Joshua 1:3–5 “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”

God had told the Israelites the Promised Land was theirs. As a matter of fact, He had told Abraham it was theirs. All the Israelites had to do was claim what God had given them. Victory was determined. The Israelites just had to claim the victory, but instead of claiming victory, 10 of the spies were scared to death, and their lack of obedience rubbed off on the camp of Israel.

Numbers 13:27–29 “And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.”

Numbers 13:30–31 “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.”

Numbers 13:32–33 “And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”

10 of the 12 spies told a terrifying tale. The land had great walled cities like Jericho, and the land had giants that made the men of Israel look like grasshoppers.

I want you to know that these 10 spies did not lie, but where they saw walls and giants, Caleb saw God. When the 10 saw defeat, Caleb saw victory. When the 10 saw problems, Caleb saw promises.

Genesis 50:24 “And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

Because Caleb was dedicated to the Lord in the working years of life, when he was 85, he could look back over the years and say this.

Joshua 14:8–9 “Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God.”

Joshua 14:10–11 “And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.”

Caleb said that even though he was 85 that he was just as strong as he was when he was 40, and his strength came from his dedication and obedience.

Can I ask you something? Do you see problems or promises? Do you obstacles or opportunities? Are you like Caleb, or are you like the 10 who were scared to claim what God had promised?

III. The Great Determination in the Waning Years of Life

Joshua 14:12–13 “Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance.”

Caleb cared nothing about the obstacle of the mountain or the ferocity of giants. He wanted to claim what God had promised. He knew the victory was his because God had made a promise.

Now, let’s tie all this together.

God had promised the Israelites victory in the physical land of Canaan. All they had to do was claim what God had already given them.

The New Testament is chock full of promises God has made to you if you will only claim them, but too many of us act like the 10 instead of Caleb. God has made His people promises that are there for the taking if His people will claim them, and it does not matter if you are 85 or 8; those promises are for all of God’s people.

Can I share with you some of God’s promises He has given to you?

Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Galatians 1:3–4 “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:”

Those are some incredible promises. How many have you claimed? Do you look at those promises as obstacles or opportunities? Before you answer, let me give you one more promise from the New Testament from the lips of Jesus Himself.

John 14:12–14 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”

You talk about a giant and a mountainous obstacle. How many of us have claimed the promise Jesus made in John 14? As you ponder that question, are we any different than those 10 who said the Israelites looked like grasshoppers compared to the Anakims?

At 85, Caleb refused to consider for a moment that he was well-stricken in years. He was not ready for retirement. He was ready for a mountain, a mountain full of giants. He cared not about the obstacles because God had made him a promise, and dear friend, if you see the problem before you see the promise, you are ready to face the giants in your path.