Joshua 5v10 to 6v7 the Angel of the Lord

I)       The Angel of the Lord

A)    File:  Joshua 5v10 to 6v7 the Angel of the Lord.doc

B)    Audio:  The Angel of the Lord

C)    Series:  Victory in the Promised Land

D)    Preached:  July 1, 2007.

II)    Many firsts – Camping in the land, Circumcision, Passover, Produce of the land, the Lord as a man, specific battle plans.

A)    Following God in faith will lead to new ways of knowing God:

B)    New ways of experiencing provision, presence, plans,

III) Experiencing the Lord’s provision:  5:10-12

A)    Previously:  2 x 12 stones – 1 old life, buried.  1 a visible reminder.  Circumcision – now circumcised, previously uncircumcised.  More here points to a new life walking in faith:

B)    While memorials important, they have their place – ultimately God wants us to move on to better things.

1)      Phil. 3:13 “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

C)    First Passover – a memorial of their salvation – but more so looking on toward what lies ahead – the goal, the prize…Christ.

1)      Passover foreshadows the death of the lamb of God, Christ – the last Passover lamb.  1 Cor. 5:7

2)      Following the Sabbath after Passover, the first day of the week is a ‘wave offering’ of first fruits  foreshadowing his resurrection – Lev 23:10-14, 1 Cor. 15:23

3)      Death and resurrection – like crossing the Jordan, Baptism.

4)      Reaching ahead

D)    First real food:  Left manna behind.  The reminder of their time in the wilderness and their desire to go back to Egypt. 

1)      Ex. 16:3, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”  God brought manna.

2)      Num. 11:5, then they grumbled about the manna, “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

3)       They have matured – moved on in faith and hopefully left behind their grumbling

E)     Remember the Lord’s provision of salvation and look ahead to more salvation in Christ

F)     Now God has provided for them in a new way – a new experience for a new level of faith.  An experience with more flavor, texture, variety.  A fruit of the land that God has promised.

IV) Experiencing the Lord’s presence:  5:13-15

A)    First time the Lord appears this way to Joshua

B)    Why this appears to be the pre-incarnate Christ:

1)      He was a man (Phil 3:7)

(a)    He is not described as a strange creature such as other sightings of angelic beings.

(b)   However, other angels appeared as men.

2)      He had a sword

(a)    As Christ did in Revelation, a sword of His mouth, (Rev. 1:16, 2:16, 19:15, 21;) and as spoken of by Isaiah in a Messianic passage (Isa. 49:2).  Here it is drawn – a sign of action.  In revelation it is merely the spoken word that defeats, here at Jericho God will do a more physical work.

(b)   Jesus is called the Word of God (John 1) and the word is considered ‘sword of the spirit’ (Eph. 6) sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb.) who is said to defeat the devil with the sword of His mouth (Rev. 19:15, 21;).

(i)     Furthermore, it is said that all things were created through Christ and as we know from Gen. 1 which was done by the spoken Word of God.

(c)    As did the angel in 1 Chron. that attacked Jerusalem.

3)      He says to be the commander of the army of the Lord

(a)    A right-hand position.

4)      He accepts worship from Joshua.

5)      Joshua calls him ‘Lord.’

6)      He commands Joshua to take off his sandals because it is ‘holy ground’ just as he did Moses when he appeared to him from the burning bush.

7)      He says in 6:2 “I have given Jericho…” words previously spoken by the Lord

V)    Experiencing the Lord’s plans:  6:1-5

A)    First time they are told to march around a city to defeat it.

B)    Why was Joshua away from the others “by Jericho”?

C)    They learn they must never take for granted how to do the Lord’s work.

VI) Application:

A)    God’s reward for acting in faith.

1)      God has for us new tastes, sights, smells to experience.

2)      God will gradually reveal himself more and more to us.

(a)    The average Christian on any given day has nothing to point to that shows God acting in their life.

B)    How to know Him – by faith.

VII)          Verse by Verse:

A)    6:10 – The Passover at Gilgal.  According to 4:19, they crossed the Jordan on the tenth.  The tenth was the day the Passover lambs were to be selected.  Then they were circumcised, and now celebrate Passover started on the 14th.  (See Exodus 12) The Lord is taking His time.  It is in His timing and for His glory.  The city is being given this time to prepare so no one can say that Israel took them by surprise.

1)      Roasted lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, eaten at night with belt fastened, sandals on, and staff in hand. 

2)      The night he sent a plague on Egypt but saved the righteous by faith is the night He will reveal his plan to take Jericho with Joshua.

3)      Seven days of unleavened bread.  Does this coincide with the seven days of marching?  If so, does Jericho fall on the seventh day?  There was supposed to be a holy convocation on that day – what a party!

B)    6:11 – the produce of the land.  In one sense, the nation is being weaned.  Not off the Lord nor off of total dependence on Him but now they have a chance to take faith to a higher level.  Now they will have to rely on the Lord’s provision in the land of promise for their food.

1)      God gives immediate reward for obediently following Him.  Here it is shown by letting them eat ‘real’ food as opposed to the manna which to spite its miraculous nutrition, they grew weary of. 

2)      In a sense, the new believer is on manna.  Life-giving but bland.  They have salvation but they have not yet entered into the promises that the Lord has.  Once we follow Him by faith into uncharted territory, we begin to eat the fruit of the land.  A lifestyle that is full of taste and texture compared to Christian mediocrity.

3)      Taste and see that the Lord is good!  To eat of the land must have given the Israelites the distinct impression that they now had a home.

4)      Unleavened due to the 7-day feast of unleavened bread.

5)      The Passover required a roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs.  They had not celebrated this in the wanderings.  The Passover is their first meal other than manna or quail in many years!  It issues in a new era – without manna. 

6)      This is another wonderful sign from the Lord that their lives have changed as the Lord leads the faithful on an adventure.

C)    6:12 – Notice that the manna stopped the day after they ate of the produce of the land.  There was a day when they could choose.  The Lord gave them a one-day transition. 

D)    6:13 – Does the mere mention of Joshua being ‘by Jericho’ imply he is outside the camp at Gilgal?  Perhaps he was scoping out Jericho.  Additionally, is this the Passover?  Is it the next day?

1)      He ‘lifted up his eyes and looked’ a familiar phrase.  How biblical to see the Lord by looking up and lifting our gaze.  Good for a word study.

2)      ‘A man’ was standing before him.  Not an apparition.  Not winged creatures like others have seen.  But a man.  See Genesis 18:2, 32:24; Acts 1:10; Hebrews 13:2.  Angels show up as ‘men’ seemingly unnoticed as angels to some at the time.

3)      Exodus 23:20, 23;  God said he would send his angel before them into the land.  This angel shows up only when they have crossed over into the land.

4)      God shows himself to us in new ways when we have acted on faith and followed Him into something new.  Joshua had not seen the Lord this way before.  He had seen his glory in the tabernacle and at the tent of meeting.  He had heard His voice audibly, but now here He is face to face.

5)      Numbers 22:23, 31, describes the Angel of the Lord with this sword.  1 Chronicles 21 describes the Angel of the Lord with a sword that brings destruction upon Jerusalem during David’s reign.

6)      Rev. 1:16, 2:12, 16; all describe the Christ with the sharp two-edged sword from His mouth. Is it significant that the sword is drawn here but in other places is seen as coming from his mouth?

7)      Are you for us or for our adversaries? 

E)     6:14

1)      No, is the answer? 

2)      ‘commander’ of the army would be the king’s right hand man!

3)      Joshua ‘worshiped’ and refers to him as lord.  This is further evidence that this is no mere angel.

July 1, 2007,  The Angel of the Lord.

Joshua 5:10-15, 6:1-5. 

I)       Following the Lord in faith will lead to new ways of …

A)    Experiencing the Lord’s _________________________.

B)    Experiencing the Lord’s _________________________.

C)    Experiencing the Lord’s _________________________.[1]

II)    The Angel of the Lord: 

A)    He was in the form of a man. (Phil. 3:7)

B)    He had a sword of His mouth. (Rev. 1:16, 2:16,; Isa. 49:2;) He is the Word – John 1, the Word is a Sword – Eph. 6:17, Heb. 4:12, that He uses to slay Satan - 19:15, 19:21.

C)    He is the ‘commander’ of the Lord’s army.  I.e. ‘captain’ or ‘prince.’  Right-hand position to the king.

D)    He accepts worship.  The angel that appeared to John would not (Rev. 19:10, 22:8.)  Angels are not to be worshiped (Col. 2:18).

E)     Joshua calls him ‘Lord.’

F)     Joshua stands on ‘Holy ground’ like Moses when the Lord appeared at the burning bush in Exodus 3:5 which does not occur with other angel encounters.

G)    In 6:2, The Angel of the Lord says “I have given Jericho…” words previously used by the Lord (Josh 2:9, 24; 8:1; Dt. 7:24)

Joshua 5:10 – 6:5 Word Find

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[1] A) provision; B) presence; C) plans