Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

How many of you have heard, thought, or said, well the Lord really showed up!

Perhaps in a situation, in her persons life.

It is bad theology for us to think that God comes and goes from our life.

God is with us by way of His promises made to us (2 Peter 1:4).

God has promised His children that He will work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28).

He has promised us that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

God has promised that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:38–39).

He has promised to resurrect us from the dead and grant us eternal life and joy in His presence (1 Corinthians 15:53; Titus 1:2).

As we live by faith in the Son of God and in the promises of God we will increasingly experience the truth that the triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is with us and for us (Galatians 2:20; Romans 8:31).

But we still have those aha moments don’t we.

It is not God showing up, but rather our lifting our eyes and taking notice of God.

The question is, how do we respond when we notice God in our lives?

An unknown soldier.

V. 13-14

It is kind of a funny set up to this section.

Was Joshua walking around praying?

Was he just walking around with his head down?

Was he looking off into the distance?

Who knows.

The text tells us that Joshua lifted his eyes and behold a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand.

This man is in a stance ready for battle.

The text implies that he was close to Joshua because, but seemingly without alarm, Joshua asks the man a question.

The strange confrontation of 5:13–15 resembles that between Jacob and the man of God at Peniel (Gen.

32:22–32) and that between Moses and the burning bush (Exod.

3:1–4:17).

In each case, the human protagonist encounters a divine messenger before facing a life-and-death conflict, but there is a significant difference with Joshua.

Unlike the other two figures, Joshua does not wrestle or argue with the messenger.

He questions him and responds as he is told

There are three reasons for this difference.

Firstly, Joshua is never doubting or accused of wrong by God, as contrasted with Jacob and Moses, who appear fallible.

Further, neither Jacob nor Moses wishes the coming conflict.

Joshua accepts it, perhaps looks forward to it.

A second reason for Joshua’s passive acceptance of the messenger occurs in the description with a drawn sword.

This expression appears in two other places in the Bible, with reference to the angel who stops Balaam and his donkey (Num.

22:23) and to the angel who stands ready to execute punishment for David’s census (1 Chr.

21:16).

A figure with a drawn sword is one not to be toyed with.

He is one who threatens divine judgment.

1 Chr 21 - David sought to number Israel not at God’s will but at Satan’s.

We will see the third reason out of the response to Joshua’s question.

Who are you for?

Are you for us or for our adversaries?

This is not a strange question to ask, coming across an unknown soldier, in the land they did not yet have control of.

The Commander of the Lord’s army.

The answer the man gives though is.

No.

What kind of answer is that?

The man clarifies a bit, but for us as readers, it is still confusing.

No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord.

Now I have come.

Why no?

What do you mean no, you aren’t for us or for our enemies?

Then who are you for?

And what does being the commander of the army of the Lord have to do with it?

We will look at the second part first and then come back to the answer of no.

Being the commander of the army of the Lord has everything to do with the man’s answer.

The third reason recalls the figure’s self-identification as commander of the army of the LORD.

Elsewhere, the commander of an army is the general in charge (Gen.

21:22, 32; 26:26; Judg.

4:2, 7; 1 Sam.

12:9; 14:50; etc.).

The figure assumes a role of authority.

Joshua, as leader of the Israelites, is in a comparable position, but he recognizes the superior rank of the stranger.

However, the concern is not which leader is more important but Joshua’s willingness to accept the figure’s authority and to respect this as a divine sign.

The visitor’s answer underscores what is important, his identity as God’s on-site commander, not his loyalties to either Israel or Canaan.

Which brings us back to the answer of No, or neither.

This answer brings us to a difficult question that we have to wrestle with, especially when it comes to difficult circumstances in our lives as believers.

We must answer the question - is God for us or for himself?

The answer is just as ambiguous as the man’s to Joshua, Yes.

The Lamb is worthy.

God the Father is worthy.

And therefore we ought to praise them.

And we will praise them.

Most believers have no difficulty with that truth.

God has not merely acted so as to be worthy of praise, but more, he has made it his aim to win praise.

God does not merely wait to be exalted for his power and righteousness and mercy, he has taken the initiative from all eternity to exalt his own name in the earth and to display his glory.

Everything he does is motivated by his desire to be glorified.

Isaiah 48:11 is the banner over every divine act: ‘For my own sake, for my own sake I do it, for how should my name be profaned?

My glory I will not give to another.”

Jeremiah 13:11 puts it like this: “For as the waistcloth clings to the loins of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory.”

This is not only an OT emphasis.

If we look to the book of Ephesians chapter 1, there is a phrase repeated 3 times in verses 6, 12, and 14.

I would like for us to see that the chief end of God, is to glorify and enjoy himself forever.

The reason this may sound strange is that we tend to be more familiar with our duties than with God’s designs.

We know why we exist — to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

But why does God exist?

What should he love with all his heart and soul and mind and strength?

Whom should he worship?

It matters what God’s ultimate allegiance is to!

If we look to scripture and God’s purposes in our creation, and His salvation.

The reason God lead the people out of Egypt.

Why did Jesus come?

That in his death, that in our redemption God would be glorified.

God being for Himself is hard for us to understand and we likely object to this idea.

A couple of reasons, we don’t like people that are consumed with themselves.

People that are enamored by their own power, skill, or looks.

People who try to one up everything.

That kind of person is inauthentic.

They don’t appear secure in themselves.

They compensate for their shortcomings by trying to get as many complements as they can.

Thinking of God as being self serving, seeking Himself first tends to put Him into this category in our minds.