Interlocked Lesson 17 part 1

Joshua, Judges, Ruth

Quick Review:

Up until this point, we’ve discussed Genesis - Deuteronomy from last January until now.

I know it’s been a slow grind at times.

We are now going to be working our way through Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.

Before we dig in though, I want us to look at this chart.

Let’s review a few key things we’ve discussed up until now.

Babel, Egypt, and Canaan all represent man’s kingdom.

Man’s accomplishments.

What man is capable of doing.

Did man show how powerful and intelligent he was through the tower of babel?

Of course! I mean, they built a massive tower.

They had to have great technology and great intellect to accomplish such a feat.

Man was certainly great and displayed his greatness in that feat.

But remember the problem.

Genesis 11:4 “4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.””

Direct opposition to God’s commands to Adam, Eve, and later Noah.

“Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it...”

What about Egypt? How was Egypt powerful?

There are still things that occurred in Egypt that we don’t have clear answers on today.

For example, pyramids. How were they built and what were they for?

The greatness of man, on full display, Thousands of years later!

Yet they too, took pride in their power, not God’s.

How was Canaan a representation of man’s kingdom?

There were large people there!

They were a physical presence, intimidating.

In all of these places and throughout Genesis-Deuteronomy we have seen examples of what man can do.

But! Man cannot save himself, and that is the point.

When we look at the other side of the chart we see, Grace is the only hope for man.

Ephesians 2:8–9 “8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Romans 4:1–3 “1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.””

In the old testament to the New, what saves the human Spirit is a response of faith to what God has done and is doing.

We must remember and understand that.

Abraham, Israel, Moses, Rahab… none of these people were saved as a result of their works and behavior.

It was by grace through faith. period.

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Today, we are going to move forward to the book of Joshua.

Specially, we are going to start in Joshua chapter 5.

Before we read, we need to remember, Everyone from the generation who left Egypt had died excluding Joshua and Caleb.

If you remember, Israel was faithless and didn’t trust God to lead them into Canaan because they were afraid of their enemies there.

Therefore, God had them wander in the desert for 40 years.

Now, that generation has died and it is time to enter.

Jericho was the first stop in reclaiming Canaan because it was the first city on the eastern side of Canaan and it was higher than the surrounding area.

Joshua 5:13–15 “13 Now 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 went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” 14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” 15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.”

Who do you think this commander of the army of the Lord was?

Was it Jesus?

Possibly…

He doesn’t answer Joshua’s question, but rather declares His authority. He is the commander of the Lord’s army.

Joshua falls down and worships. An angel wouldn’t accept such worship, but only God would. So it’s certainly plausible and probable that this was what we call the pre-incarnate Jesus.

This was an instance in Scripture where Jesus appears before He comes in the gospels.

After this, God gives Joshua the battle plan.

Joshua 6:1–5 “1 Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.””

Now, God has given Israel some strange commands in the past…

Walk through a river that will dry itself up.

Stay at the foot of a mountain while He comes down to Moses on top of the mountain.

Leading them by a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire during the night or day.

However, Israel didn’t always follow God’s directions.

But this time, they do…

Our lives are often driven by plans and details.

We all want to do things according to plan.

We want to detail everything out also so that we make sure there is no flaw in our plans.

But guys, God came to Israel and said, march around a massive city and then after you march, yell at it and I’ll give you victory.

We would be opening up our phones and scrolling to the notes app…

We’d open our 25 steps for a good life plan and realize that God’s plan ain’t on there.

What do you think God was teaching Israel through this battle with Jericho?

Maybe it’s simply this…

They thought the plan was insufficient and foolish, but they trusted God.

Despite their doubts and their plans or their methods, they trusted God’s plans and methods.

That right there is where the victory rests.

The victory wasn’t even when the walls came down.

The victory was when they trusted God’s plans and methods over their own.

God has to help us see that our plans and methods are not superior to his.

When we become too self-reliant, too self-sufficient, God comes in and says “Hey, march around these walls and yell at them...”

Will we trust Him?

If I trust Him, what does that look like?

for the Israelites, They carried out the plan.

The plan wasn’t theirs, it belonged to God.

Faith is believing, trusting, and following God.

You see, if Israel had had faith in God’s plan, but they never followed Him by carrying out the plan, then they never really had faith at all.

Sometimes faith is doing nothing.

It’s keeping our mouths closed when we really want to speak.

It’s humbling ourselves to listen rather than vocalize.

It’s remembering I don’t have all the answers right now in this moment, but I will wait for God to give me the answers.

Faith is also not just acting and thinking God will go along with my plan.

In Joshua 5:14, again whether it was Jesus or an angel, Joshua was not in charge in that moment.

The plan belonged to God.

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AFTER JERICHO: Israel entered into another conflict with the city of Ai.

And no, this was not a battle with artificial intelligence.

In Joshua 6:18-21, you can read about what God required regarding the spoils of Jericho, or the loot that would be there.

They were to destroy everything.

However, the gold and silver, bronze and iron, were to go into the treasury of the Lord.

One man didn’t obey this command.

His name is Achan.

If you read Joshua 7, Joshua sends spies and they return and basically say that Ai will be an easy victory.

Rather than sending the whole army, just send 3000 men up there and the will win.

In vs. 5 we read that Ai killed 36 of those men and caused the rest of the 3000 to retreat.

Joshua and the leaders of Israel are obviously confused wondering why they would lose such a small battle after the great defeat at Jericho.

Then we have this exchange between God and Joshua.

Read Joshua 7:10–12 “10 The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. 12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.”

One reason God didn’t want them to take the spoils of war from Jericho was this.

God still wanted Israel to know throughout this journey that He was their provider.

He had given them Manna, He had given them quail.

Joshua 5:12 “12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.”

They now were eating the fruit of the land that God provided for them.

Why would they need more?

Achan is an example of when we have all we need in God, but we still think there is more…

This was the original sin in the garden, that Adam and eve thought God was holding something back from them that they needed.

APPLICATION:

The lesson for us is clear.

We need Jesus.

We need Him to guide us and we need to be sure we are following Him.

Like we talked about Wednesday night, there are a lot of bad people that we can follow.

We can follow Jesus out of gratitude for what He’s done for us.

The world is constantly tempting us and luring us with things we want.

*buy that and you’ll be happy.

*Get this person to follow you and you’ll be happy.

*Happiness is the point of life…

All of this lures us to focus on our self and can lead us to destruction.

We need Jesus.

He has the plan and we are part of it.

Are we following His plan or are we too busy making our own plans and following those?

Let’s take a step back and follow Jesus’ plan.

We can daily remain in Him and trust Him even when we don’t understand.

We may even think his plan to rest in Him is crazy today...

Surrender your right to be right

He is God and we are not. and He will always prove Himself worth following.

Ask Him today to keep your faith there.

Trust Him.

It’s always worth it.