Joshua Did Not Fight the Battle of Jericho

We’re back into Joshua and finally we have the fall of Jericho. The biggest event in the book and it seems like it has taken a while to get there. Imagine what it was like for the Israelites, waiting 40 years for this day!

The most important verse of this chapter is verse 2. The Lord says to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and it’s fighting men.” God promised and then he delivered on that promise.

We’ve all made promises, and I’m sure we’ve heard others make promises. Some people are fabulous at making promises and they go to great lengths to keep them! Politicians, not so much! God has a perfect record. He delivered Jericho into Israel’s hands.

I know I have been emphasising this throughout the series, but I need to mention it again. God is faithful. God works for us, through us, in spite of us, and through others. All we need to do is trust him. I’ve been pounding down these same words because I need to hear them as much as you do, if not more.

Accepting the call, suffering the huge loss in Renee’s mom’s death, saying goodbye, moving the family, starting to serve Springdale, trying to understand Springdale’s recent history, trying to figure out who is whom and who is biologically related, has all been challenging. Throughout it all, God has been speaking to me, “Trust me. It will all work out; I’ve gone ahead of you. Don’t worry, simply obey, simply do the work I’ve called you to do.

Congregation of Jesus Christ, that’s God’s word for you this morning. “See I have gone before you. I know the plans I have for you. The good work I began in you, I’ll complete it.” Trust God.

Trust isn’t always easy. Have you ever climbed a climbing wall? I have a couple of times. I can still vividly remember hanging from the line, getting ready to rappel down, and feeling very uncertain about how well my anchor was holding me. I had no choice; I simply had to trust.

God is trustworthy. God goes ahead, and God fights our battles for us. God went ahead of the Israelites and he scared them to pieces. They were so afraid that Israel marched around that city for a week, and no one challenged them. Now honestly, you have to admit, this was a bizarre military tactic. Perhaps Jericho’s fighting men didn’t have bows and arrows; they certainly didn’t have slushies as depicted in the veggie tales movie! Nevertheless, this was a strange, a ridiculous military tactic.

What if North Korea decides to declare war on the United States. What if the US responded by marching through the Demilitarised Zone? They’d be completely vulnerable. They’d be totally at the mercy of North Korea. Israel was totally at God’s mercy and it must have been quite difficult to trust God’s plan.

God chose this tactic to show Joshua that he is indeed in control, he is going ahead of Joshua and Israel, and that the battle belongs to the Lord. When you look at this historical account, it seems totally foolish. But that’s exactly what Christianity looks like to the wise and learned, those who have placed their trust in their own intellect, in humanity, in the scientific method. The idea of God to them is foolish, a human construct, a holdover from our less enlightened time. The idea of God becoming flesh, living, suffering, and dying, rising again is as or more foolish than the walls being knocked down by people marching around once a day for six days, then seven times on the seventh day, and shouting. Jesus is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Christianity isn’t just for simple-minded people. Rather, you need to be intellectually engaged to see that Christianity is reasonable, rational; it makes sense of the world; it gives the most intellectually satisfying answer to the problem of evil.

The account of Jericho’s destruction also reminds us that our actions are secondary to God’s actions. The city of Jericho represented the total wickedness of the human heart. As humanity was described in the days of Noah, “all their thoughts were evil all of the time”. When we look at Jericho’s destruction, we see the judgement all of us deserve. When we look at Jericho, we see God’s judgement against human rebellion, human sin. When we look at them, we can’t say, “They got what they deserved.” We have to say, “They got what we deserve.” Jericho points to the cross. There God received a just payment for sin when Christ willingly took our sin upon himself. Christ got what we deserved.

When you look at our passage this morning, you have to put yourself into it in the right place. You and I, we’re Rahab. We are spiritually alive because we trusted God’s promise to spare us. Rahab and her whole household lived because she trusted God’s promises. We’ve been saved as by the skin of our teeth! This ought to fill us with incredible joy and wonder! There’s no sense of entitlement here, rather there’s a sense of, that out of control truck missed hitting me by millimetres! I can’t believe I’m alive!

We exist to tell other people about God’s grace and mercy toward wicked people, of whom I’m the most wicked. Most people think fairly highly of themselves, but if you ask them, “Have you ever stole something from someone or from a store, have you ever told a lie, have you ever taken the Lord’s name in vain?” If the person you’re talking to says yes, then you can say, “I guess that means you’re a lying, blasphemous thief.” It makes people stop and think.

We need to go around being honest with the way things really are. We need to tell them that the God we serve does exist. He’s acted in history, through the destruction of Jericho, through the plagues in Egypt, through the death of Jesus on the cross. Rahab understood. She recognised that the spies from Israel served the one true God. Her faith spared her life. Her faith transformed her life; her trust in God resulted in her becoming King David’s, Jesus’ ancestor. She didn’t just become a part of a group, a clique; she became a family member!

That’s what we are; we’re members of God’s family. Our job is to go out and welcome other people to become the family of God. We trust God that he’s gone ahead of us. We trust him that he’s at work in his people’s hearts. We trust that his methods of using preaching and teaching, of gathering for worship, of having social activities are going to bring people into saving faith in Christ.

You might be thinking, “God uses me? Who am I? There’s nothing special about me.” The Israelites must have felt foolish marching around the city. They must also have thought the residents of Jericho were foolish for staying locked up in their city. Just remember, God uses the weak to shame the strong.

Just remember, God’s not done with you yet, God’s not done with us yet, not by a long shot! These are very exciting times! God is at work in you, in me, in all of us. He’s already at work in Bradford and the surrounding areas. All we need to do is trust and let our eternal king lead. People of God follow your king! Amen.