The Authority and Presence of the Lord (Joshua 5:13-15)

Introduction

As we continue our series this morning, on walking in God‘s favor, we are asking and pleading God that as we walk faithfully and obediently to his word, that we would experience the blessing of his fellowship and leadership as a church body.

Today we come to a powerful passage of scripture and we are going to talk about the Authority and the Presence of the Lord.

There are certain people who can walk into a room and immediately change the atmosphere.

Maybe you’ve had a boss, a supervisor, a teacher, or an athletic coach like that. The moment they walked in, everybody sat up a little straighter. Conversations changed. People suddenly made sure they were doing what they were supposed to be doing.

And sometimes, you respected that person simply because of the position they held. They may not have done anything personally for you. You may not have even particularly liked them. But they were your supervisor. They were your coach. They were your teacher. They had authority, and you understood that there were consequences for refusing to recognize that authority.

That is simply how life works. If a student constantly rejects the authority of the teacher, school is probably going to become difficult. If an employee constantly rejects the authority of his supervisor, he probably won’t keep that job very long. Life tends to become harder when we constantly fight against legitimate authority.

But we also know that not all authority feels the same.

Some leaders seem to care primarily about their position. You obey them because you’re afraid of what will happen if you don’t. But the best leaders are different. The best leaders don’t merely exercise authority over you—they care about you. They want you to succeed. They correct you when you need correction, encourage you when you need encouragement, and use their authority for your good.

And that brings us to the authority of Jesus Christ.

As Christians, we confess that Jesus is Lord. He is not merely one authority among many. Scripture teaches us that He is the Head over all things. He has every right to command our obedience. If Jesus were nothing more than our King, His authority alone would be enough reason for us to bow before Him.

But here is the beauty of the Christian life: the One who has absolute authority over us also has perfect love for us.

We are not submitting ourselves to a cruel master who is indifferent to our lives. We are submitting ourselves to the Savior who gave His life for us. The One who commands us is the One who cares for us. The One who leads us is the One who knows what is best for us. The One who tells us where to go is the One who promises never to leave us.

And yet there is something deep within the sinful human heart that resists that kind of submission.

Sin says, “I want to be my own authority. I want to determine what is right for me. I want to run my own life. I want to choose my own direction. I want to be my own king.”

In many ways, that is at the very heart of our fallen nature. We don't simply break God's rules; we want God's seat. We want the authority to determine for ourselves how life ought to be lived.

But that mentality stands in direct opposition to the Christian life because Christianity begins with the confession: Jesus is Lord.

And here is what we eventually discover: submission to Christ is not slavery to a tyrant; it is surrender to a King who loves us.

There is blessing in living underneath His authority. There is peace in trusting His leadership. There is freedom in no longer having to pretend that we know better than the God who created us, redeemed us, and cares for us.

When we come to this passage of scripture, Joshua makes it very clear that he had to come to a point where he recognized the authority standing before him.

Let’s read and find out what happens in Joshua 5....

Joshua 5:13–15 “When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.”

PRAY

Context: I know I say this every week, but it’s important to start off with the context of where we are in this passage of scripture. Remember what has happened so far in the first five chapters of Joshua.

We come to this passage of scripture, we see that the people of God have had a long journey to get to this point. By the way, the journey may seem long to us, but to the Lord, it’s like a blink of an eye. He has existed from eternity to eternity, he has no beginning and end

I try to put myself in their sandals for a moment, because by this point in the story, Israel has been uniquely prepared to obey the Lord.

Think about the journey that has brought them here. They set out from Shittim. They crossed the Jordan River. They came to Gilgal. And at every stage along the way, God has placed something in front of them that required faith and obedience.

When they left Shittim, they had to leave behind what was familiar and comfortable and move toward what God had promised.

When they came to the Jordan, they had to face what seemed impossible. The river stood between them and the Promised Land, and they had to trust that when God told them to step forward, He would make a way.

When they arrived at Gilgal, they faced perhaps their most personal test of obedience. Before God allowed them to fight a single battle in the land, He commanded the men of Israel to be circumcised. They had to renew their covenant commitment to the Lord and demonstrate that they would obey Him even when that obedience made them vulnerable.

And now, after all of that, they arrive at Jericho.

This is what everything has been moving toward. The wandering is over. The Jordan is behind them. They are finally standing in the land God promised them.

But there is a problem.

Jericho is standing in their way.

And Jericho isn't a river that God is going to part. It is a fortified city that Israel is going to have to confront. The conquest is about to begin.

So imagine Joshua standing there, looking at those walls. He is the leader now. Moses is gone. These people are looking to him. And you can almost imagine the questions running through his mind: Where do we attack? Where is the weakness in the wall? How are we going to get inside? How are we going to defeat this city?

Joshua is surveying Jericho, preparing for the battle ahead, when suddenly he looks up.

And there, standing in front of him, is a man.

But this is no ordinary man.

Joshua notices something in his hand.

His sword is drawn.

Before Joshua ever steps onto the battlefield of Jericho, he is about to learn one more lesson about obedience: the most important question is not whether God is on Joshua's side. The question is whether Joshua is on God's side.

I’m sure a hundred questions were running through Joshua’s mind. Was this one of the thousands of Israelites, here to strike him down and betray him, or was it a lone person ready to go to battle? Was this a person from Jericho who was a spy sent to take Joshua down?

And so I just imagine Joshua inching closer to this figure and then maybe calling out to him are you Forrest or are you for our adversaries?

It’s very important for us right now to stop and identify. Who is this person?

the angel of the lord

Immediately, there are clues in the text that this is no ordinary angel.

Joshua falls on his face before Him and asks, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the Commander responds, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.”

Now where have we heard that before?

Go back to Exodus 3. Moses is standing before the burning bush when the Angel of the LORD appears to him in the flame. But as the passage continues, something remarkable happens. The One identified as the Angel of the LORD is also identified as God. Exodus 3:4 says, “God called to him out of the bush,” and then God tells Moses, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

Joshua is now hearing almost the exact same command Moses heard.

And there is another important detail. When we move from Joshua 5 into Joshua 6, the conversation continues. Joshua 6:2 says, “And the LORD said to Joshua…”

Remember, the chapter divisions in our Bibles were added centuries later to help us navigate the text. Joshua did not write “Chapter 6” and begin an unrelated story. The narrative flows directly from Joshua encountering the Commander into the LORD giving Joshua instructions concerning Jericho.

So who exactly is this Commander?

Christians have interpreted this passage in different ways. Some understand Him to be a powerful angelic representative of God. But I am persuaded that Joshua is encountering a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son of God—Jesus Christ before His incarnation. The theological term for that is a Christophany.

And Joshua 5 is not the first time we encounter a mysterious figure like this in the Old Testament.

In fact, there is a theme running throughout the Old Testament involving someone Scripture calls “the Angel of the LORD.” And what makes this figure so fascinating is that Scripture sometimes distinguishes the Angel of the LORD from God, while at other times identifying Him with God and giving Him divine authority.

Go all the way back to Genesis 16. Hagar has fled into the wilderness, and the Angel of the LORD finds her beside a spring. The Angel doesn't merely say that God will bless her. He says, “I will surely multiply your offspring.” And after this encounter, Hagar says, “You are a God of seeing.” She recognizes that in some mysterious way she has encountered God Himself.

Then come to Genesis 22, when Abraham raises the knife to sacrifice Isaac. Who stops him?

The Angel of the LORD.

And listen carefully to what He says: “Do not lay your hand on the boy…for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

Not merely from God.

“From me.”

Then the Angel of the LORD speaks again and says, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD…” Once again, this mysterious figure speaks with the authority and identity of God.

We see something similar in Genesis 31, where the Angel of God appears to Jacob in a dream and says, “I am the God of Bethel.”

Then we come to Exodus 3 and the burning bush. Exodus tells us that the Angel of the LORD appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. But only a few verses later, the text says that God speaks to Moses from the bush and identifies Himself as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

The Angel appears.

God speaks.

And Moses hides his face because he is afraid to look at God.

Then later, in Judges 6, Gideon encounters the Angel of the LORD. As the conversation unfolds, the narrative moves back and forth between “the Angel of the LORD” and “the LORD.” When Gideon realizes who has been speaking with him, he cries out because he believes he has seen the Angel of the LORD face to face.

And perhaps one of the clearest examples comes in Judges 13, when the Angel of the LORD appears to Manoah and his wife and announces the birth of Samson. Manoah asks His name, and the Angel responds that His name is “wonderful”or beyond understanding. Then the Angel ascends in the flame of the altar.

And what does Manoah say?

“We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”

Do you see the pattern?

Throughout the Old Testament there is this mysterious figure who is called the Angel of the LORD. He is sent by God and therefore in some sense distinguished from God, and yet He speaks as God, exercises divine authority, receives responses appropriate to a divine encounter, and is sometimes explicitly identified as God.

Now, we should be careful here. The text does not stop and say, “This is Jesus Christ before Bethlehem.” So I don't want to claim more than Scripture itself claims.

But when we read the Old Testament through the fuller revelation of the New Testament, I believe there is a compelling theological case that at least some of these appearances of the Angel of the LORD—and particularly this encounter with the Commander of the LORD's army—are appearances of the eternal Son before His incarnation.

Remember: Bethlehem was not the beginning of Jesus.

John 1 tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And then John says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

Jesus did not begin to exist when Mary gave birth to Him. The eternal Son has always existed. Bethlehem is the moment when the eternal Son became flesh and entered human history as Jesus of Nazareth.

So I believe Joshua is standing here in the presence of the eternal Son of God.

Now, does that mean this figure looked exactly like Jesus would later look walking through Galilee? Scripture doesn't tell us, so we shouldn't speculate. What matters is not His physical appearance. What matters is His identity.

Joshua is standing before the Lord.

And think about how powerful that is in this moment.

Joshua is preparing to face Jericho. There are enormous walls in front of him. There is an enemy waiting for him. There is an entire nation depending upon his leadership.

And before God gives Joshua a battle plan, God gives Joshua His presence.

Before Joshua learns how the walls are going to fall, he learns who is standing with him.

And that same truth runs all the way through Scripture.

The eternal Son who stood before Joshua is the One who would eventually take on flesh and dwell among us. He is the One who would live the sinless life we could never live, die the death our sins deserved, rise victoriously from the grave, and declare that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

And then this same Jesus sends His people into the world with a promise:

“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

That's what makes this passage so relevant to us.

The Jesus who stood with Joshua before Jericho is the Jesus who promises to be with His people today.

The Jesus who commanded the armies of the LORD is the Jesus who walks among His churches in Revelation.

The Jesus who stood with His sword drawn before Joshua is the risen and glorified Christ whom John sees in Revelation—the King of kings and Lord of lords.

So when we talk this morning about recognizing the presence of the Lord, we're not talking about some vague spiritual feeling. We're talking about recognizing that the risen and reigning Christ is present with His people.

And once Joshua realizes who is standing before him, Joshua responds in three ways.

He Worshiped the Lord

1. His Presence Should Lead Us to Worship

When Joshua recognized that he was standing in the presence of the Lord, notice his immediate response. Joshua 5:14 says, “Then Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped.”

Joshua doesn't begin by asking about Jericho. He doesn't ask for military strategy. He doesn't ask how many soldiers he is going to need or how he is supposed to get through those walls.

He falls on his face.

Because when Joshua recognizes who is standing in front of him, his natural response is worship.

And we see this pattern throughout Scripture. When sinful human beings are confronted with the holiness, majesty, and glory of God, they are overwhelmed by the reality of who He is. Moses hid his face before God at the burning bush because he was afraid to look at God (Exodus 3:6). Gideon was overwhelmed when he realized he had encountered the Angel of the LORD (Judges 6:22–24). Manoah believed he would die because he had “seen God” (Judges 13:22). Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up and cried, “Woe is me!” (Isaiah 6:5).

And here Joshua falls on his face.

Why?

Because the clearer our vision of God becomes, the more appropriate worship becomes.

Joshua recognizes that the One standing before him is greater than he is. He is holy. He is sovereign. He is Creator. He is Sustainer. He is the One who spoke creation into existence. He is the One who rules over nations and kings. As Paul would later say of Christ in Colossians 1:17, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Joshua is standing before the One who holds everything together.

And friends, here is what I want us to understand this morning: the presence of the Lord should be just as real to us as it was to Joshua.

Now, immediately we might think, Well, it was easier for Joshua. He could see Him! If I could physically see the Lord standing in front of me, I would fall down and worship too.

But remember what Jesus said to Thomas.

After the resurrection, Thomas struggled to believe until he physically saw Jesus. Then Jesus appeared to him and invited Thomas to see His hands and His side. Thomas responded, “My Lord and my God!” And Jesus told him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:28–29).

That's us!

We have not physically stood where Joshua stood. We have not put our fingers into the wounds of the resurrected Christ as Thomas did. But that does not mean the presence of God is somehow less real for the Christian today.

In fact, Jesus promised His disciples something extraordinary: God would dwell within His people through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus told His disciples in John 14:16–17 that the Father would give them another Helper who would be “with you forever,” and then He says, “He dwells with you and will be in you.”

Paul says in Romans 8:9, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” And Ephesians 1:13 tells us that when we heard the gospel and believed in Christ, we were “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”

So when a person repents of sin and places his faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within that believer.

Think about how remarkable that is when you consider the story of Scripture.

In the Old Testament, God's presence was uniquely manifested among His covenant people. His glory filled the tabernacle. Later, His glory filled the temple. Here in Joshua, the Ark of the Covenant served as the visible sign of God's covenant presence among His people. Israel followed the Ark across the Jordan because it represented this glorious reality:

God is with us.

But something remarkable happens when we come into the New Testament.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?”

Think about that!

The temple was the place associated with the dwelling presence of God. And now Paul looks at believers and says, in essence, “You are God's temple because God's Spirit dwells within you.” Paul makes the corporate dimension especially clear in 1 Corinthians 3:16: “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?”

That means the Christian should never think of God's presence as something we only experience when we walk into a church building.

We don't come into this room on Sunday morning and suddenly enter God's presence, as though God were waiting here for us all week.

We bring the reality of His indwelling presence with us because His Spirit dwells within His people.

You woke up this morning in the presence of God.

You drove to church in the presence of God.

You will go to work tomorrow in the presence of God.

You will sit around the dinner table with your family in the presence of God.

And when you lie down tonight, you will still be in the presence of God.

So here is the equation I want you to remember:

The recognized presence of God produces the worship of God.

And maybe somebody asks, “Caleb, if God's Spirit dwells within us, and we are continually living in His presence, does that mean we should be worshiping God all the time?”

Yes!

That's exactly the point.

Now, that doesn't mean we walk around singing worship songs twenty-four hours a day. It means that the entirety of the Christian life becomes an act of worship.

That's what Paul teaches us in Romans 12:1:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Notice the order.

Paul spends eleven chapters explaining the mercies of God—our sin, God's grace, justification by faith, peace with God, freedom in Christ, life in the Spirit, adoption into God's family, and the security of God's love.

And then Paul essentially says, In light of everything God has done for you, here is the appropriate response:

Give Him your life.

Not just your Sunday morning.

Not just your singing.

Not just ten minutes of prayer before you begin your day.

Your whole life.

“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.”

In the Old Testament, a worshiper brought a sacrifice and laid it upon the altar. But Paul says that because of the mercies we have received in Christ, we climb onto the altar ourselves.

Lord, here is my life.

Here are my plans.

Here is my career.

Here is my marriage.

Here are my children.

Here is my money.

Here is my time.

Here is my body.

Here is my future.

It all belongs to You.

That is worship.

Sometimes we make the mistake of reducing worship to music. Singing absolutely is worship, and Scripture repeatedly commands God's people to sing His praises. But worship is much bigger than singing.

Worship is the response of the whole person to the worthiness of God.

You can worship God through the way you work.

You can worship God through the way you treat your spouse.

You can worship God through the way you raise your children.

You can worship God through generosity.

You can worship God through obedience when nobody else is watching.

You can worship God through the way you use your body.

You can worship Him driving down the road on Monday morning.

You can worship Him in a hospital room.

You can worship Him when life is wonderful, and you can worship Him when your world seems to be falling apart.

Because our worship is ultimately rooted not in the quality of our circumstances, but in the worthiness of our God.

And that matters here in Joshua 5.

Remember where Joshua is.

Jericho is still standing in front of him.

The walls haven't fallen yet.

The enemy hasn't been defeated yet.

The battle hasn't even begun yet.

God has not yet explained to Joshua how any of this is going to work.

And Joshua worships before the walls fall.

Don't miss that.

Joshua doesn't wait until Jericho is defeated and then worship God for the victory.

He worships while Jericho is still standing.

And somebody in this room may have a Jericho standing in front of you right now.

You may be facing something you don't understand. You may be carrying a burden you don't know how to fix. You may be waiting for an answer that hasn't come. You may be staring at circumstances that seem completely impossible.

And sometimes we think, When God fixes this, then I'll praise Him. When God answers this prayer, then I'll worship Him. When these walls finally come down, then I'll rejoice.

But Joshua teaches us something better.

God is worthy while the walls are still standing.

He is worthy before the answer comes.

He is worthy before the circumstances change.

He is worthy before you understand what He's doing.

Because circumstances do not determine whether God is worthy.

He is still God.

He is still sovereign.

He is still good.

He is still faithful.

He is still sitting upon His throne.

And He is still with His people.

So when Joshua recognized the presence of the Lord, he fell on his face and worshiped.

And when we recognize the presence of the Lord, our response should be the same.

Offer yourself to Him.

Offer your plans. Offer your desires. Offer your future. Offer your body. Offer your family. Offer your work. Offer your entire life as a living sacrifice.

Because the natural response to the presence of a worthy God is the worship of a surrendered life.

2. He Listened to the Voice of the Lord

The second thing Joshua did when he recognized the presence of the Lord was he listened.

Look at his question in verse 14:

“What does my lord say to his servant?”

I love that question.

Joshua falls on his face in worship, and then essentially says, “Lord, I'm listening. What do You want to say to me?”

And I don't know about you, but if I were standing in front of the Commander of the LORD's army and He had a drawn sword in His hand, I think I would pay very close attention to whatever He was about to say!

Joshua recognizes that this is not the moment for him to do the talking.

This is the moment to listen.

And friends, I believe that one of the disciplines we desperately need to recover in the Christian life is the discipline of listening to the Lord.

Now, I want to be very clear about what I mean by that, because there can be confusion here.

Does God still speak today?

Absolutely.

But we need to understand what we mean when we say that.

Hebrews 1:1–2 says:

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”

Throughout redemptive history, God revealed Himself in many extraordinary ways. He spoke through prophets. He spoke through visions. He spoke through dreams. At times He spoke audibly. He spoke through the Angel of the LORD.

But all of that revelation was moving toward its climax in Jesus Christ.

Jesus is God's supreme and final revelation of Himself. And the apostles, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, have given us the authoritative testimony concerning Christ in the Scriptures.

So let me give you some guardrails here.

Is the canon of Scripture closed? Yes.

Is God's Word sufficient for everything we need for life and godliness? Yes.

Can any impression, experience, dream, circumstance, or supposed “word from God” ever possess the authority of Scripture? Absolutely not.

And yet, does the living God still lead, convict, comfort, illuminate, direct, and impress His truth upon His people through the Holy Spirit? I believe He does.

The God of the Bible is not silent.

The question is whether we are listening.

And Scripture shows us several ordinary ways through which God leads His people.

First, and above everything else, God speaks through His Word.

If you want to hear from God, open your Bible.

You never have to wonder whether Scripture is God's Word to you. You don't have to interpret a feeling. You don't have to wonder whether you imagined something. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.”

That means when Scripture speaks, God speaks.

And every other way we believe God may be leading us must be tested against what He has already revealed in His Word.

God's Spirit will never lead you contrary to God's Word.

The Spirit of God is the One who inspired the Word of God. He is not going to contradict Himself.

So if somebody tells me, “God told me to do this,” but what they're doing clearly contradicts Scripture, I can tell you with confidence:

That wasn't God.

The Word is our standard.

Second, God meets us and leads us through prayer.

Romans 8:26 says that “the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

Prayer is not merely giving God a list of things we need. Prayer is communion with God.

And there have been times when I have been praying and suddenly someone comes strongly to my mind. Maybe I haven't thought about that person in months, but there they are.

What should I do?

Pray for them!

I don't necessarily have to stand up and announce, “God gave me a revelation.” I don't need to make a supernatural claim that Scripture doesn't require me to make.

I can simply say, “Lord, this person is on my heart, so I'm going to pray for them.”

And maybe I'll call them afterward.

Maybe I'll send them a message.

Maybe I'll discover they were going through something difficult at that very moment.

God, in His providence, can use prayer to turn our attention away from ourselves and toward the people He wants us to love and serve.

Third, God leads His people through the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:14 says, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

Galatians 5:16 says, “Walk by the Spirit.”

And one of the things that struck me when I studied through the book of Acts was how sensitive the early church was to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 13:2 says, “The Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’”

In Acts 16, Paul and his companions are prevented by the Spirit from going into certain regions, and eventually God directs them toward Macedonia.

Now, we need to remember that Acts records a unique period in redemptive history involving the apostles and the expansion of the gospel. We should be careful about assuming that every extraordinary experience in Acts is normative for every Christian.

But we absolutely should recover their sensitivity to the Spirit's leadership.

There are times when you may feel a strong conviction that you need to encourage someone, call someone, give generously, serve someone, share the gospel, or step into an opportunity.

And when that happens, test it.

Does it agree with Scripture?

Does it glorify Christ?

Does it demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit?

Is it consistent with wisdom?

Does it move me toward obedience rather than sin?

Sometimes I use a very practical question: What would my flesh naturally want to do here?

Suppose someone needs a ride late at night.

Does my flesh naturally say, “Wonderful! I'd love to get out of bed and drive across town!”

Probably not!

But could serving that person be an act of Christian love? Could it give me an opportunity to share the gospel? Could it demonstrate the compassion of Christ?

Absolutely.

Now, that doesn't automatically mean every inconvenient thought is the Holy Spirit speaking. But it does mean that a surrendered Christian should cultivate sensitivity to opportunities for obedience.

Fourth, God uses other believers to speak truth into our lives.

This is one reason Christian community matters so much.

Proverbs 15:22 says, “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.”

God has put people around you for a reason.

Sometimes He uses a pastor.

Sometimes He uses a spouse.

Sometimes He uses a mature Christian friend.

Sometimes He uses a Sunday school teacher.

Sometimes He even uses a child who says something simple that cuts straight to your heart.

And sometimes you may be the person God uses to encourage somebody else.

Think about Barnabas. His very name became associated with encouragement. Acts 4:36 calls him the “son of encouragement.”

Do you want to become that kind of person?

Here's something practical you can begin doing: read your Bible not only asking, “What does God want to teach me?” but also, “How can I use what I'm learning to encourage someone else?”

Maybe this morning you read a passage about forgiveness.

Then later somebody tells you they're struggling with bitterness.

You can say, “You know, I was reading something in Scripture this morning about forgiveness that really challenged me. Can I share it with you?”

Now your quiet time isn't staying in your quiet time.

The Word of God is overflowing from your life into somebody else's life.

That's discipleship.

That's encouragement.

That's part of what Paul meant when he could say in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

What a statement!

Paul isn't saying, “I'm perfect.”

He's saying, “I'm following Jesus, so come follow Jesus with me.”

A mature Christian should increasingly be able to say that.

Watch how I handle difficulty.

Watch how I forgive.

Watch how I treat my family.

Watch how I respond when somebody hurts me.

Watch how I handle money.

Watch how I serve.

Watch how I repent when I'm wrong.

And imitate me insofar as I am imitating Christ.

That's the kind of Christian we should desire to become.

Fifth, God can use circumstances providentially in our lives.

And we need another guardrail here.

Circumstances do not interpret Scripture. Scripture interprets our circumstances.

We have to be careful about turning every coincidence into a divine message.

The traffic light turned green, so God must be telling me to take that new job!

No.

That's not how biblical discernment works.

You cannot base major spiritual decisions merely on open doors, closed doors, coincidences, feelings, or circumstances.

But at the same time, we shouldn't go so far in the opposite direction that we deny the providence of God.

God is sovereign over our circumstances.

Sometimes a door opens that you could never have opened yourself.

Sometimes a relationship develops at exactly the right moment.

Sometimes an opportunity appears that you never expected.

Sometimes a prayer is answered in a way that reminds you just how personally and graciously God cares for you.

And sometimes I think it's perfectly appropriate to look at something good God has providentially brought into our lives and simply say:

“Thank You, Lord. That was kindness.”

Maybe it was a new job.

Maybe somebody unexpectedly helped you.

Maybe a conversation happened at exactly the right time.

Maybe an opportunity opened.

We don't need to manufacture a prophetic message out of every circumstance.

Sometimes we can simply recognize it as a little reminder of the Father's kindness.

But friends, underneath all of these things is something deeper.

You cannot hear well when your life is constantly filled with noise.

And I am convinced that one reason so many Christians feel spiritually dry is not because God has abandoned them.

We have forgotten how to be still.

Our phones are always making noise.

The television is always playing.

A podcast is always running.

Music is always in our ears.

We're scrolling while we're eating.

We're checking notifications while we're talking.

We wake up and immediately grab our phones, and some of us fall asleep with them in our hands.

And then we wonder, Why does God seem so distant?

Maybe the problem isn't His distance.

Maybe the problem is our attention.

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

There is something spiritually healthy about opening your Bible, putting your phone somewhere else, sitting quietly before God, and praying:

“Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.”

And notice how Joshua approaches the Lord.

He doesn't say, “Lord, let me tell You what I've decided to do.”

He says, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

That's the posture.

Before Joshua hears the command, he has already identified himself as the servant.

In other words, Joshua isn't listening so that he can decide whether he agrees.

He's listening because he's already decided to obey.

And friends, that's the difference between curiosity and surrender.

Sometimes we want God to tell us His will so that we can evaluate it.

Lord, show me what You want, and then I'll decide whether I want to do it.

That's not surrender.

The surrendered heart says:

“Lord, whatever You say, my answer is already yes.”

That's where spiritual sensitivity begins.

If you want to recognize the leadership of the Lord in your life, live surrendered to Jesus Christ. Saturate yourself in His Word. Pray. Seek godly counsel. Pay attention to opportunities for obedience. Walk by the Spirit. Test everything against Scripture.

And then when the Lord makes His will clear:

Listen.

Because the proper response to the Commander of the LORD's army is not negotiation.

It is obedience.

Joshua recognized the presence of the Lord, and he worshiped.

Then Joshua recognized the voice of the Lord, and he listened.

#3. He reverenced and feared the Lord

3. He Reverenced and Feared the Lord

There is one final response Joshua has to the presence of the Lord.

He reverenced and feared the Lord.

Look at verse 15:

“And the commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, ‘Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.”

Joshua takes off his sandals because he realizes something:

This is a holy moment.

As we have already seen, this immediately takes us back to Exodus 3. Moses is standing before the burning bush, and God tells him:

“Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

Now think about this for a moment.

What made that dirt different from every other patch of dirt in the wilderness?

Was there something inherently holy about the soil?

No.

The ground was holy because God was there.

And the same thing is happening with Joshua.

This is ordinary ground outside of Jericho. But when Joshua recognizes the presence of the Holy One, ordinary ground becomes holy ground.

And Joshua responds accordingly.

He removes his sandals.

He recognizes, I cannot treat this moment casually. I cannot approach this Person flippantly. I am standing before the holy God.

Friends, I believe the modern church desperately needs to recover a biblical understanding of the fear of the Lord.

Now, when Scripture talks about fearing God, it doesn't simply mean that Christians should spend their lives terrified that God is waiting to destroy them.

For those who are in Christ, “there is therefore now no condemnation” (Romans 8:1). We have been adopted into God's family. We can approach the throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:16).

But familiarity with God should never produce casualness toward God.

He is our Father.

But He is still holy.

He loves us.

But He is still Lord.

He welcomes us.

But He is still King.

He calls us His children.

But He is still the God before whom angels cry:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

The fear of the Lord is that deep, trembling reverence that comes when we begin to understand who God actually is.

Proverbs 9:10 says:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”

Ecclesiastes concludes:

“Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

And even in the New Testament, Hebrews 12:28–29 tells believers:

“Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

Don't miss that.

That's not Old Testament language that disappeared when Jesus came.

That's written to Christians.

“Reverence and awe.”

Why?

Because “our God is a consuming fire.”

Grace has not made God less holy.

The cross has not made sin less serious.

The love of God does not diminish the majesty of God.

If anything, when we understand the gospel correctly, grace should cause us to stand in even greater awe because we realize the holy God whom we have sinned against has graciously brought us near through the blood of His Son.

And I wonder sometimes if we have become too casual with the things of God.

We can become so familiar with church that holy things begin to feel ordinary.

We sing about the blood of Jesus without thinking about what it cost.

We open the Word of God without remembering whose words we are reading.

We pray without considering the One to whom we are speaking.

We gather with the church without remembering Jesus' promise to be among His people.

We take the Lord's Supper without stopping to consider the body that was broken and the blood that was shed.

We speak the name of Jesus so casually that sometimes we forget:

This is the name above every name.

There ought to still be some awe in us.

There ought to still be some wonder.

There ought to still be moments when we recognize:

“I am dealing with holy things because I belong to a holy God.”

That's what Joshua understood.

And notice the last words of Joshua 5.

They are incredibly simple:

“And Joshua did so.”

I love that.

God said, “Take your sandals off.”

And Joshua did so.

No argument.

No negotiation.

No delay.

No explanation about why he thought keeping his sandals on would be more convenient.

He simply obeyed.

And really, that brings everything in this passage together.

Joshua worshiped the Lord.

Joshua listened to the Lord.

And Joshua reverenced and feared the Lord.

And all three responses flow out of one reality:

Joshua recognized whose presence he was in.

Friends, that's the invitation of this passage for us.

We need to recover an awareness of the presence of God.

Because when you truly recognize the presence of the Lord, you cannot remain unchanged.

His presence should cause us to worship.

His voice should cause us to listen.

And His holiness should cause us to fear and reverence Him.

And maybe that's what some of us need to recover this morning.

Maybe you haven't stopped believing in God.

Maybe you haven't walked away from church.

Maybe you're still reading your Bible and saying your prayers.

But somewhere along the way, God became ordinary to you.

You've become familiar with holy things.

The wonder has faded.

The reverence has weakened.

The fear of the Lord has grown small.

And perhaps the prayer we need this morning isn't, “Lord, give me something new.”

Maybe our prayer needs to be:

“Lord, help me see You again for who You are.”

Because Jericho is still standing in front of Joshua.

His circumstances haven't changed.

The walls haven't fallen.

The battle hasn't been won.

But Joshua has encountered the Lord.

And suddenly, Jericho isn't the biggest thing in Joshua's world anymore.

That's what happens when we get a proper vision of God.

The walls may still be there.

The diagnosis may still be there.

The financial problem may still be there.

The family struggle may still be there.

The uncertainty may still be there.

But when you see God for who He is, everything else begins to shrink into its proper place.

Joshua thought he was going out to inspect Jericho.

Instead, he encountered the Commander of the LORD's army.

And before God ever showed Joshua how to conquer the city, God reminded Joshua who was really in command.

Maybe that's the word some of us need today.

You don't need to be in control.

He is.

You don't have to know how every wall is going to fall.

He does.

You don't have to understand every detail of what comes next.

You need to recognize who stands before you.

And when you do:

Fall down and worship.

Listen when He speaks.

And walk before Him with reverence and holy fear.

Because wherever the presence of the Lord is recognized, ordinary ground becomes holy ground.