The Walls Came Down, and God Came In

Joshua 6:1-5; 20-21

Jericho, the gateway to the promised land

God had promised His people a land flowing with milk and honey. A land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All throughout the Old Testament we read of the promised land, and in some passages of Scripture it’s called the glorious land. Today this land is known as Israel.

The city of Jericho was the gateway into the promised land, the land of Canaan. It was a large Canaanite city that had a massive wall surrounding it. It wasn’t just tall and wide, it was thick. It was thick enough that chariots and horses could ride along the top of the wall. Jericho was a fortress. To get into the land they had to go through the walls of Jericho.

The preparation

The people had to prepare to take the land.

They had to be circumcised because the older generation had not circumcised them while they wandered in the wilderness the forty years prior.

They had to get the instructions on how to take the wall down (Joshua 5:13-15; 6:2-5)

The march, the walls come down

After the instructions the plan was in play.

They marched around the walls for 7 days. For 6 days they went around once blowing the shofars (trumpets). On the 7th day they marched around the wall seven times and on the seventh time they blew the shofar louder and long and gave a shout and the walls came down and they took the city.

You are God’s promised land

God created man in His own image. We were created to be God’s partner on earth, God had fellowship with man in the garden, but that fellowship was broken by the devil in the form of a serpent. God had a redemption plan already in place. (Gen.3:15)

God had promised to redeem man back to Himself.

God’s gateway to His promised land

If we are God’s promised land, how does He get in?

Our heart is God’s gateway.

Matt. 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart,

For they shall see God.

Deut. 6:5

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

Rom.10: 6-10

But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

There are walls around God’s gateway

We have placed walls around our hearts to keep God out. We developed these walls growing up and the things that have happened in our past.

As time went on our walls grew larger and fortified.

Matt. 15:19

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

These would include:

Fear: The fear of letting God in. The fear of God changing your life. Not knowing what a life with Jesus can bring.

Idolatry: The word Jericho gets its name from a moon deity. The inhabitants of Jericho worshipped a moon god. Everything they did was governed by the worship of this deity.

What idols have you set up in your heart that you don’t want to get rid of?

An idol is anything that you put before God.

Sexual immorality: pornography, sex before marriage, homosexuality, and anything like these.

Lying

Living a certain kind of lifestyle that you’re not willing to change for God.

Jesus wants in our hearts, so these walls must come down.

1. Before the walls can come down a decision has to be made.

(read Joshua 5:13-15)

The Commander of the Lord’s army

Joshua had an encounter. He had to decide. He had to decide to let the Lord fight the battle.

It wasn’t going to be in Joshua’s and people’s strength to bring the wall down. It was by the Spirit of the Lord.

You can’t fight this battle in your strength, this battle is the Lords.

You must submit yourself to Jesus to bring down your walls.

God’s March and Victory

Isa. 52:7

How beautiful upon the mountains

Are the feet of him who brings good news?

Who proclaims peace,

Who brings glad tidings of good things?

Who proclaims salvation,

Who says to Zion,

“Your God reigns!”

God’s march around the walls of our heart is the message of the gospel. Jesus wants our whole heart. Once Jesus comes into our heart, the promised land is His to take.

Jesus want our whole being and once He has all of your heart He will have all of you.

God wants to claim His land.

Within the promised land after the battle of Jericho, there were other battles they had to fight. Jericho was the biggest and the toughest. Our heart is the main part Jesus wants. All the other battles will be overcome as yield to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

The promised land is a land flowing with milk and honey. In other words, it was a land of nourishment and prosperity. A land that yield its fruit in its season.

Jesus want a people to flow with milk and honey, to be nourishment and prosperity to those we engage. The book of John tells us that out of our bellies shall flow rivers of living water.

God wants to work through us to provide life to others. Jesus wants to show Himself through you.