Before the Walls Fall: The Masterclass in Radical Preparation

Introduction: Ready or Not Here I Come (Jos. 5:1)

The Israelites were finally standing in the Promised Land. The exact dirt Moses was only allowed to see from a distance. I would have loved to be a stone on the riverbank just to see the look on Joshua’s face.

What was he feeling? If you look at his background, his immediate instinct was likely pure, unfiltered aggression.

Joshua was born into Egyptian slavery. For four hundred years, his family suffocated under the whip. He watched his own flesh and blood beaten in the dirt. The psychological toll of that trauma breeds a crushing hopelessness that destroys your very identity. Sound familiar? We see this exact struggle today—people completely paralyzed, desperately trying to figure out who they are.

The heaviest burden Joshua carried wasn't physical; it was the emotional weight of entrapment. Many of us know the suffocating distress of feeling trapped:

Drowning in overwhelming debt.

Stuck in a soul-draining, dead-end job.

Battling a chronic illness.

Hitting the wall of absolute burnout.

Surviving a heavy, oppressive relationship.

When you combine that weight with the terrifying sense that there is no end in sight, life becomes a misery.

Add forty extra years in a harsh wilderness, carry that much psychological trauma, and tell me you wouldn't want to finally strike back. You’d be itching to attack Jericho. And look at the math: Joshua had a massive army of over 600,000 fighting men at his back. They just miraculously crossed the Jordan. Jericho was terrified. Any leader would be exhilarated to draw their sword and launch a full-force frontal assault.

But history warns us what happens when adrenaline outruns preparation.

In 260 AD, the Roman Emperor Valerian panicked during a Persian invasion. Desperate for a quick, glorious victory, he hastily marched 70,000 Roman soldiers blindly into the desert.

It was an absolute masterclass in catastrophe.

He didn't secure a water supply. He marched his infantry straight into open plains against Persian cavalry. Before a single sword was even drawn, disease and starvation decimated his camp. Valerian surrendered and was captured. Contemporary historians note the Persian king literally used the Roman Emperor as a mounting block to get on his horse. That 70,000-man army completely disintegrated.

Imagine if Joshua had rushed Jericho without proper spiritual preparation. They would have ended up exactly like Emperor Valerian. Rahab wouldn't be in the genealogy of Jesus, and perhaps none of us would be sitting in this room today.

This is exactly why Joshua 5 is so critical.

If I look in the mirror, I’m too much like Emperor Valerian. I want to rush the victory. My wife knows this all too well. But this chapter cannot be skipped or overlooked. It is entirely about our radical preparation.

Before we face our own personal battles...

Before we overcome feeling trapped and burnt-out...

Before we make impulsive, stupid mistakes...

And before God brings lasting revitalization to our church.

The key word for us today is “Before.”

Circumcision at Gilgal (Jos. 5:2-9)

So what happened right before they advanced on Jericho?

Let’s be honest right out of the gate: this is not a very fun topic to talk about on a Sunday morning. Especially for the men in the room. But if we want genuine spiritual growth, and if we want to be used victoriously by God, we cannot skip verse 2.

The Lord looks at Joshua and gives him a striking, terrifying command: "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites."

You might be sitting there wondering, Wait a minute—why hadn't these men been circumcised yet? Wasn’t that commanded all the way back with Abraham?

Yes. But the fathers who left Egypt were circumcised; their sons who were born in the wilderness were not. Why?

Practically: Traveling constantly in a harsh desert without modern sanitation made the week-long recovery incredibly dangerous.

Spiritually: It was a sign of divine discipline. Because the older generation rebelled, God suspended the covenant sign. While they wandered, their children lived under that cloud of judgment.

But now they have reached Gilgal. And think about the military reality of what God is asking them to do.

Militarily speaking, commanding an entire army of men to undergo this procedure right on the border of enemy territory made absolutely zero tactical sense. It left the entire camp completely vulnerable and exposed to an attack from Jericho.

It was the equivalent of deliberately crippling your army before the biggest battle of your life. Yet, Israel obeyed. That is what genuine faith looks like. And it wasn't just faith for the men—the women and children had to solely trust in God’s protection while their men were incapacitated on the ground.

Right after the procedure was done, the Lord looks at Joshua and says these magnificent, soul-shifting words in verse 9: "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you."

You can almost feel the chills hitting their arms when they heard this.

No longer feeling the oppression of slavery, because you are no longer slaves.

No longer wandering in the wilderness, because you have been brought home.

To say "I have rolled away the reproach" means God was wiping away Israel's past shame. He was cutting off the unholy identity of their former bondage, and publicly reinstating them into the full blessings of His covenant.

This speaks straight into our lives today. In the Old Testament, this was a physical sign. But the Apostle Paul reframes this for New Testament believers as the "circumcision of the heart."

In Colossians 2, Paul says we must put off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. It is the painful, necessary removal of that old, stubborn, sinful nature that fights against obedience to God.

Just as Joshua’s men had to undergo a radical cutting away before they could possess the land, we must allow the Holy Spirit to circumcise our hearts. We have to invite Him to cut away our self-reliance, our hidden sin, and our deep-seated pride before we can step into the victory Christ purchased for us.

When that internal shift happens, it demands a practical response. It means actively cutting off the "reproach of Egypt" in your own life:

Abandoning toxic coping mechanisms.

Shedding a victim mindset.

Stepping down from compromising situations.

Choosing to forgive, even when it leaves you feeling vulnerable.

It is the painful but necessary removal of everything that belongs to your wilderness, so you can step fully into your Promised Land.

The Passover & Ceasing of the Manna (Jos. 5:10-12)

Okay. It’s been long enough. The men are healed. It’s time to advance, Joshua!

Not quite. There was one more profoundly important thing they had to do before advancing: The Passover.

The last time they celebrated the Passover was way back at Mount Sinai—almost forty years ago. Why the massive gap? According to Exodus 12, no uncircumcised male was allowed to eat the Passover meal.

That means for forty long, dusty years, an entire generation sat on the sidelines, ineligible to participate. But now? The reproach has been rolled away. This new generation has stepped into full covenant participation, and they are finally allowed to come to the table.

But here is what I find fascinating: the text doesn’t actually say God told Joshua to celebrate it. And that ambiguity is beautiful! It suggests that Joshua was exercising faithful, spiritual judgment based on what he already knew about God's covenant, rather than sitting around waiting for a brand-new divine mandate. Joshua simply recognized that the Passover belonged right here, at this exact threshold moment.

Celebrating the Passover before attacking Jericho locked in Israel’s identity at a pivotal transition point. It did two critical things:

It forced them to remember Egypt and renew their covenant before they tried to conquer the new land.

It marked a massive transition—moving them from relying on the past into actively stepping into God’s promises for the present.

What does that mean for us? It means we cannot just sit back and reminisce. We have to renew our commitment to Jesus. If we don’t do this before we face new trials, overcome current obstacles, or make major life transitions, we are going to come out on the other side depressed and hurt.

Paul refers to Jesus as our sacrificed Passover lamb who accomplished our salvation through His blood. Because of Jesus, our old pattern of living has to be ripped up and thrown away. We have to start living in the new pattern of the Gospel.

What does that actually look like?

Stop living in old, exhausting patterns of self-doubt, fatalism, and depression. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “The old has gone, the new is here!” Step into the new, breathing life Christ has actually handed you.

Stop people-pleasing. Stop doing what you think "the church" expects of you, and start doing what God requires—not out of constraint, but out of raw, overflowing gratitude. As Acts 5:29 says, “We must obey God rather than human beings!”

Stop dwelling on "I". How can I be happy? How can I get spiritually fed? The Gospel calls us to remove the word “I” and start living entirely for God and for others (Matthew 22:37-39).

When they were done celebrating the Passover, something jarring happened.

Joshua 5:11 says, “That very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain.”

That was an earth-shattering event. Why? Because for forty years, God had provided manna every single morning. But the exact moment the Israelites ate from the new land, verse 12 tells us, “there was no longer any manna for the Israelites...”

Imagine waking up the next morning, grabbing your basket, walking outside, and finding absolutely nothing. The daily miracle was gone.

Transitioning from manna to the produce of the land is a massive shift. It is the shift from depending on daily miracles to stepping up and taking personal responsibility. Yes, God’s provision never ceases, but how He provides changes when we enter new seasons.

Remembering our past is important, but having the courage to transition into the new life God is calling us to is far more important. We have to let go of the old order of things. We have to stop staring at the empty ground waiting for manna, and start living in the power of the Gospel.

The Commander of the Lord's Army (Jos. 5:13-15)

The preparation was over. The physical healing, the Passover, the end of the manna—it was all done. They were finally ready to advance.

Joshua leaves the camp and approaches Jericho, likely alone. He was probably surveying the massive walls, trying to formulate some kind of human battle plan. But God wasn’t quite ready for him to advance.

Suddenly, Joshua looks up and sees a man standing right in front of him with a drawn sword. Joshua’s mind is locked on the impending battle, so he steps up and asks the ultimate military question: "Are you for us or for our enemies?"

Honestly? If I’m alone in the desert and a massive warrior appears with a sword already drawn, I would have screamed and gotten the heck out of there. But the man answers Joshua. He says, "Neither... but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come."

Who was this man? Based on Joshua’s immediate reaction, this wasn't just a soldier or an angel. This was a Christophany—the pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.

Look at the proof: Joshua falls face down in total reverence. He asks for a message. And the commander explicitly accepts Joshua’s worship, telling him, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy."

If this were merely a holy angel, there is zero chance he would have allowed Joshua to bow down. We know this because when the Apostle John tried to worship an angel in Revelation, the angel immediately rebuked him, shouting, “Don’t do that! Worship God!” Joshua had stood by the Tent of Meeting with Moses; he knew exactly who this Commander was.

But why did Joshua need this encounter right now?

His initial question—"Are you for us or for our enemies?"—tells us everything. Joshua needed a jarring reminder that God is the supreme authority, not just a divine ally in Israel's nation-building. By answering "Neither," the Commander shatters Joshua's perspective. It shifts Joshua from trying to use God for his own military goals, to completely surrendering to God's holy plan.

God does not align with our human agendas; He calls us to align under His divine authority.

Joshua understood this instantly and fell face down in the dirt. But where Joshua was expecting a battle strategy, God only told him to do one thing: Take off your sandals.

Spiritual surrender must happen before any physical battle can be won.

Tri-County Christian Church, we do this all the time. We are constantly trying to recruit God for our own personal plans. We beg Him to endorse our agendas. God, tell me what to do to fix my life! Help me overcome this situation! God, how can I save my shrinking church?

Friends, we have it backward. The only thing God calls us to do is to take off our shoes, submit to His authority, and trust that He is leading the way. There is nothing we can do to earn the victory, because the ultimate victory was already accomplished through the finished work of Christ’s broken body and shed blood on the cross. We simply need to drop our swords and turn our lives entirely over to Him.

But how do we actually do this when real-life panic hits on a Tuesday morning? Faith cannot just be an abstract concept; it has to be a concrete, actionable habit. Here is what taking off your sandals looks like in your everyday life:

Stop handing God your blueprints. Change the way you pray. Stop praying, "God, please bless my plan and make this work." Start praying, "Commander, what is my next step of obedience?" Shift your mindset from recruiting God to submitting to Him.

Take off the religious mask. You cannot stand on holy ground pretending you have it all together. You have to get brutally, radically honest with God about your fear, your burnout, and your control issues. True surrender requires raw vulnerability.

Drop your sword every single morning. Before you look at your phone, before your feet even hit the floor, physically open your empty hands and say out loud: "Jesus, You are the Commander. I surrender my agenda to Yours today."

The Altar Call: Dropping Your Sword

It is time to stop negotiating with the Commander of the Lord's Army.

Today, we are going to come to the altar of Jesus in our seats. But we aren’t coming to ask God to bless our personal battle plans. We are coming to surrender them entirely.

Just like we physically laid down our stones of remembrance at the altar for Joshua 4, today requires a physical act of total surrender.

I want you to think about the heavy, desperate situation you walked into this room with. The battle you are exhausted from trying to fight on your own. The crisis you’ve been begging God to fix strictly on your terms.

What is the "sword" of control you are gripping so tightly right now that your knuckles are white?

What personal agenda or outcome are you demanding God to endorse?

With those things in your mind, I want you to hold your hands out in front of you, with your palms facing down toward the floor. And as you do that, I want you to physically imagine dropping your sword. Dropping your need for control. Dropping your timeline. Dropping the heavy weight of trying to be the general of your own life.

And then, I want you to turn your palms face up to heaven.

Empty hands.

That is what taking off your sandals looks like today. It’s coming to Jesus with empty hands, dropping your religious mask, and saying, "You are the Commander. I am just the servant. I surrender."

There is nothing you can do to earn this victory, because it was already won through the broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. When we finally drop our swords and surrender our plans, Jesus will step in and fight your battles for you.

The Commander is here.

References

Known by God: A Biblical Theology of Personal Identity (Biblical Theology for Life)Rosner, Brian S. • Zondervan • 2017

EERDMANS COMMENTARY on the BIBLE • James D. G. Dunn

Howard Marshall • A Concise New Testament Theology