Untitled Sermon (19)

New International Version (2011) Chapter 6

Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 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. 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.”

So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.” And he ordered the army, “Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD.”

When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the LORD’s covenant followed them. The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!” So he had the ark of the LORD carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there.

Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets kept sounding. So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! The city and all that is in it are to be devoted  to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury.”

When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

WALLS THAT ONLY GOD CAN BRING DOWN

God's Sovereignty and Generosity in Joshua 6:1–21

ANNUAL THEME: Vision and Purpose for Kingdom Growth

Series: Possessing the Promise | Scripture: Joshua 6:1–21

Series Theme Connection: The fall of Jericho is the paradigmatic act of Kingdom advancement — God establishing His people in His land through His power, for His purposes.

Jericho was the first fortress standing between Israel and the Promised Land — the gateway to Canaan and to everything God had declared over His people. Archaeologically one of the oldest cities on earth, its walls were so formidable that houses were built into them. Rahab lived in the wall. Taking Jericho by force was, by any human calculation, improbable.

And yet God had already spoken. Notice the opening words:

Joshua 6:1–2 "Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. And the LORD said to Joshua, 'See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor.'"

The tense is past: 'I have given.' The battle hasn't started. The walls are still standing. But in God's economy, a divine decree is as accomplished as a historical fact. This opening verse anchors the entire passage in sovereign certainty — and it perfectly mirrors our annual theme. God does not call His people to a vision without first securing the outcome. He calls us to participate in what He has already purposed.

Illustration: General Eisenhower wrote his D-Day success dispatch before the battle — and also drafted a failure message in case things went wrong. God never drafts a failure message. His declarations are sovereign decrees, not hopeful projections.

Today we will see three dimensions of God's character at work in Joshua 6 — and all three speak directly to how we pursue Kingdom growth in this season: God determines the method, God determines the timing, and God's sovereignty is always the foundation of His generosity.

Annual Theme Connection: The fall of Jericho is not merely an ancient military story. It is the template for Kingdom advance: God-given vision (the decree), God-directed purpose (the method), and God-displayed generosity (Rahab's rescue). The story belongs to a larger redemptive arc — the establishment of God's Kingdom people in God's Kingdom territory. Our annual theme, 'Vision and Purpose for Kingdom Growth,' finds its roots in exactly this kind of text.

 POINT 1: GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY MEANS HE DETERMINES THE METHOD

Joshua 6:2–5 — The Impossible Strategy

The strategy God gave Joshua was not a military strategy. It was a theological statement. March around the city in silence for six days; on the seventh day, march seven times, blow trumpets, and shout. No battering rams, no siege towers, no military genius. Why?

A. The Method Exposes Human Insufficiency

If Israel had taken Jericho through conventional warfare, the glory could have been shared with generals, weapons, or courage. God deliberately chose a method that made human strength beside the point. This is the consistent pattern of Kingdom work: God designs His methods to protect His glory.

1 Corinthians 1:27 "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong."

Kingdom growth that God authors will often look foolish by worldly measurements — until the walls come down. The method is part of the message.

B. The Method Required Prolonged Obedience

Seven days. Thirteen laps around a fortified city, in silence, in full view of enemy soldiers on the walls. The method required sustained obedience before the breakthrough became visible. Many abandon God's method right before the breakthrough, mistaking the process for a lack of progress.

Illustration: A farmer does not plant Monday and harvest Tuesday. The harvest is certain — God ordained it — but the process cannot be bypassed. Kingdom growth requires the patience to walk the perimeter before the walls fall.

C. The Method was Entirely God's Idea

Joshua didn't brainstorm this plan. God dictated every detail — days, priests, trumpets, timing. God's sovereignty over the Kingdom means He reserves the right to determine how His purposes unfold. Our role is not to improve His instructions but to obey them fully.

Kingdom growth application: Where are we tempted to accept God's vision for our church while substituting our own method for His? The sovereignty of God means He governs both the destination and the road.

 POINT 2: GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY MEANS HE DETERMINES THE TIMING

Joshua 6:10–16 — The Silence, Then the Shout

Joshua 6:10 "You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout."

A. Silence as a Form of Trust

Walking in silence around a fortified enemy city, day after day, is an act of radical trust. There was no visible evidence of progress — just the same walls, the same gates, the same soldiers watching from above. Silence required belief that God's timing was better than their urgency.

For a church pursuing Kingdom growth, there are seasons of silent obedience that look like stagnation from the outside. But God's timing is not slow — it is precise. The silence is not absence; it is preparation.

B. The Seventh Day: Maximum Effort at the Point of Maximum Faith

The breakthrough came on the seventh day — and it required seven more laps. Thirteen total circuits. The final approach demanded the most, at the moment of greatest fatigue. This is the signature of sovereign timing: the breakthrough often arrives at the point of exhaustion, when our dependence on God is most pure.

Joshua 6:16 "And at the seventh time... Joshua said to the people, 'Shout, for the LORD has given you the city.'"

Note again: 'has given.' Past tense. The walls were still standing when he said it. Sovereign faith speaks in past tense about future realities, because God's word does not depend on visible evidence.

C. The Shout Preceded the Fall

The people shouted — and then the walls fell. Not the reverse. This is the order of Kingdom faith: we respond to God's word before we see God's work. The shout was an act of worship, not a tactical maneuver. It declared: we believe God before we see it.

Vision and Kingdom growth require this kind of prophetic obedience — acting on what God has declared before the evidence confirms it.

 POINT 3: GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY IS THE FOUNDATION OF HIS GENEROSITY

Joshua 6:17–21 — The Devoted Things and Rahab's Rescue

Here is the theological heart of the passage. The fall of Jericho was not merely a military victory — it was an act of divine redistribution. Everything in the city was devoted to the LORD for destruction (the Hebrew word cherem — set apart, consecrated, under ban). The city belonged to God. And yet within this total consecration, God makes one stunning exception: Rahab and her family.

A. Sovereignty Without Generosity Becomes Tyranny

A God who exercised total control with no regard for persons would be a monster, not a Savior. But the God of Scripture is not merely sovereign — He is sovereignly generous. The authority that condemned Jericho is the same authority that rescued Rahab. Power and grace flow from the same throne.

B. Rahab: The Trophy of Grace in the Ruins of Judgment

Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute. An outsider — ethnically, morally, and religiously. She had no natural claim on Israel's God. Yet because she had hidden the spies and declared faith in the God of Israel (Joshua 2:11), she and her entire household were saved.

Joshua 6:25 "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."

And remarkably, Rahab's name appears in Matthew 1:5 — in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. The sovereign God did not simply rescue Rahab from the rubble of Jericho. He wove her into the story of redemption itself. That is extravagant, purposeful generosity.

Kingdom Growth Application: Rahab is proof that Kingdom growth is never purely institutional — it is always personal. As our church grows in vision and purpose, we must never lose sight of the Rahabs at the margins: the outsider, the unlikely, the one with no credentials. God's sovereignty reaches for them first. Our Kingdom vision should too.

C. The Scarlet Cord — A Redemptive Thread Through All of Scripture

The scarlet cord Rahab hung from her window (Joshua 2:18) is a thread that runs through the whole Bible. The blood on doorposts in Exodus. The blood of atonement in Leviticus. The blood of Christ in the New Testament. God has always marked His people for rescue with a crimson sign. The cord was not magic — it was faith made visible.

For our purposes: the scarlet cord is also a symbol of Kingdom purpose. Rahab didn't hide the cord. She displayed it. Kingdom growth requires the visible, public declaration of faith — not just in private devotion but in community witness.

 CONCLUSION: WHAT KIND OF GOD IS THIS?

Joshua 6 confronts us with a God unlike any other. He is:

›      Sovereign over history — speaking in past tense about futures not yet seen

›      Sovereign over method — choosing the foolish to shame the wise

›      Sovereign over timing — orchestrating seven-day processes with precision

›      Generous beyond expectation — reaching into judgment to rescue the unlikely

The walls of Jericho didn't fall because Israel was strong. They fell because God is sovereign. And Rahab wasn't saved because she deserved it. She was saved because God is generous. Both truths are in the service of one Kingdom purpose: a redeemed people inhabiting a promised territory for the glory of God.

That is our annual theme in its most ancient form. Vision and Purpose for Kingdom Growth is not a new idea — it is the story of God's people in every generation. The same God who flattened the walls of Jericho is calling this church to march, to trust His method, to endure His timing, and to expect His generosity.

Will you trust the method He has given, obey in the timing He has set, and believe in the generosity He has promised? The God who said 'I have given you the city' is still speaking — and still faithful.

 CALL TO ACTION

For Believers — Identify Your Wall

What situation in your life feels like Jericho — immovable, impossible, fortified against all your effort? This week, commit to one act of obedient trust: pray, give, forgive, serve, confess. Do it before you see the breakthrough. That is the shout before the fall.

For Seekers — The Scarlet Cord is Extended to You

Like Rahab, you may feel like an outsider to grace. But the same sovereign God who reached into Jericho for a Canaanite prostitute is reaching for you today. If you are ready to trust in Jesus Christ, to hang the scarlet cord of faith from your window, we invite you to respond.

For Our Church — Vision and Purpose in This Season

As a congregation pursuing Kingdom growth, let us commit to marching in God's method, waiting in God's timing, and watching for the Rahabs He is drawing to Himself through our obedience. The vision is His. The power is His. The outcome is already declared. Let us be a people who shout before the walls fall.