Next: Devoted to the Lord (Joshua 6:1-21)

Introduction

The church father and preacher John Chrysostom writes, “You are but a poor soldier of Christ if you think you can overcome without fighting, and suppose you can have the crown without the conflict.”

A friend hopes that God would cure his wife of cancer this side of heaven. But for now, it feels like sin and Satan are winning. A family member hopes they will land a job. But for now, it feels like sin and Satan are winning and their prospects are bleak. A son hopes his father will affirm him. But for now, it feels like this will never happen. A neighbor hopes to break free of the addictions that have plagued their life and the life of family for years or decades. But today, it feels like each battle ends in defeat. We look at the Ukraine today. The Ukrainian army has held off an evil invasion, only to be bombarded with stories of violence and abuse against civilians. Doesn’t it feel at times like Satan is winning? Someone else finally gets a job after years of looking, only have high inflation remove any possibility of getting ahead, of getting out of debt, of fulfilling that deep need within us to provide for and protect our families. Doesn’t it feel at times like sin wins? A woman fights for her marriage, only to have her husband leave her anyway.

Why does it seem like Satan is winning? Have you ever felt that way? We can look around the world today, seeing so many things that aren’t as they should be. Poverty, drug use, alcoholism, human bodies breaking from age, the list goes on, and on, and on. I remember a difficult time in my life when I kept praying to God asking him, why does it feel today like sin is winning? After all, didn’t Christ defeat Satan and proclaim victory over death?

Today is the next part in our series on the book of Joshua, which is simply titled, Next. Joshua is a book of triumph and transition. It’s a book of moving forward as God’s People look to what is next for them. As we look at what God has next for the Israelites and for Joshua, we look at what God has next for us. What he has next for us both individually and corporately. Last week we learned that we remember the past to move into the future God has for us, just as Joshua and the Israelites did as they set up a memorial to the miracle of God in empowering them to cross the Jordan. Today we learn that Christ wins, every time. But how does God grant his People victory? Joshua chapter six teaches us three devotions that led his people to victory then, and they lead us to victory today.

God’s People Devoted to God’s Instructions

In verses 2-3, the Lord says to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days.” In verses 6-7, Joshua and the People of Israel follow the commands of God, and they begin the victory the Lord has given them. Warren Weirsbe writes, “Victorious Christians are people who know the promises of God, because they spend time meditating on God’s Word; they believe the promises of God because the Word of God generates faith in their hearts; and they reckon on these promises and obey what God tells them to do.” Step one for experiencing the victory of God is knowing the victory of God. Understanding the promises he has made in his Word and following his instructions.

On his sixteenth birthday the son approached his father and said, “Dad, I’m sixteen now. When I get my license, can I drive the family car?” His dad looked at him and said, “Son, driving the car takes maturity, and first, you must prove you are responsible enough. And one way you must do that is to bring up your grades. They are not acceptable. Second, you must read the Bible every day. And finally, I want you to get that hair cut; it looks outrageous.” The son began the task of fulfilling his father’s requirements, knowing that the last might be impossible. When his grades came out he came to his dad with a big smile. “Look, Dad, all A’s and B’s on my report card. Now can I drive the family car?” “Very good, son. You are one-third of the way there, but have you been reading the Bible?” the father replied. “Yes, Dad, every day,” said the son. “Very good, Son. You are two-thirds of the way there. Now when are you going to get that hair cut?” The son, thinking he could outsmart his dad, responded, “Well, I don’t see why I should get my hair cut to drive the car. Jesus had long hair, didn’t he?” The father looked at his boy and said, “That’s right, son, and Jesus walked everywhere he went.” The moral of the story is that slacking on what God teaches us doesn’t mean that we can then use a quick response to experience the life God has for us. Growing in the grace of Christ guides us into the life of Christ.

Joshua and the Israelites succeeded because they were devoted to God’s instructions. God told them exactly what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Today, God generally doesn’t give us such precise instructions. Instead, we are called to a life of knowing the heart of God. In knowing the heart of God, we live a life in line with it. We never retire from growing deeper in God. But we may allow God to get crowded out of our lives as mounting to do lists and the busyness of life crowd out time with God. A friend of mine illustrated it like this. Picture a man proposing to a woman saying that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her, but never actually spend time with one another. You can’t have a strong relationship if you do not know what another deeply. So why do we attempt to do the same thing with God? The first devotion we are taught is to follow what God says by knowing what God says.

Sinful People Devoted to destruction.

But before we move on, we need to take a step back. We’ve been studying Joshua for several weeks now. We’ve been looking at God’s call for the Israelites to cross the Jordan. We’ve seen God’s miraculous intervention. And today we learn about their victory over the city of Jericho. But there’s an important angle to the city we’d be remiss if we didn’t discuss, and we find it in verses 20-21. These verses tell us that “the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.” On the one hand, the Israelites have complete victory because of God’s leading. On the other hand, we’re talking about an entire city that is devoted to death and destruction, with the except of Rahab and her family. Why does a loving God commit an entire city to destruction and death? On top of that, it’s not the only time it happens. There will be more coming up. Plus, we can think back to Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis, both were completely wiped out. So how do we as believers understand this?

Our Westminster Confession of Faith helps us with this in chapter 33, section two, which says, “God’s purpose in arranging for this day is to show forth the glory of his mercy in the eternal salvation of the elect and the glory of his justice in the damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient. At that time the righteous will go into everlasting life and receive that fullness of joy and refreshment which will come from the presence of the Lord. But the wicked, who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, will be thrown into eternal torment and punished with everlasting destruction away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power.” These are tough issues to discuss. At the most fundamental level, God opposes sin. When we sin, we act contrary to God’s law and God’s will. One day, all who oppose God and have not received salvation from him will be judged as sinners. In the Old Testament, we get a sneak peak into this as God destroys several cities of wicked people. This doesn’t mean that there is any biblical warrant to act as judge and jury today in that way. Nor does it mean that the people of Jericho never had a chance to believe in God previously. Rather, Warren Weirsbe writes, “the civilization in Canaan was unspeakably wicked, and God didn’t want His holy people contaminated by their neighbors.” The victory of Israel was an act of God opposing sin and allowing the people of Jericho to experience the consequences of their wickedness. But, the destruction and death that occur is also God protecting his people from falling into wickedness as well. God is protecting his people as he opposes wickedness. But sadly, Joshua’s victory is not complete. 2 Kings 18:3-5 fills in the story as it speaks of King Hezekiah. The author says that, “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.” To put this simply, when the Israelites conquered and dwelt in the Promised Land, there were still remnants of idol worship there, and Israel fell into it through their history. Hezekiah and many other kings attempted to bring the nation back to worshipping the Lord, but the idolatry and worship of false gods never fully ended. Within this specific area, Joshua and the Israelites failed in their conquest. The sin of the Canaanites was not completely removed, and generations of Israelites would fall into sin as a result.

This happens today as well. Think of ways that we also worship the creation God has given us rather than the creator. What are some things, usually they are good things, that we place over and above God in our life? Family, money, patriotism, hobbies, work, prestige, the list goes on. Idol worship persists today, and Jesus wants to cleanse us of our sin, just as God called Joshua to cleanse the Promised Land of its wickedness. The second devotion we are taught is to purge ourselves of wickedness and walk in holiness.

Outsiders devoted by the Lord for Salvation.

In the middle of this purging of sin, there is an act of great compassion by God. Verse 25 says, “Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.” Four chapter earlier, Rahab hid and protected Joshua’s spies. In so doing, she made an agreement with them, and God honored the agreement. In the middle of this complete destruction of Jericho, a single family is saved. Saved because of the actions of a prostitute.

In Romans 9:15, God says, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” God wiped out the entire city of Jericho and the people in it, yet he had compassion on the family of a prostitute. “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” But even more so, in Matthew 1 we are given the genealogy of Christ. Verses 5-6 say, “Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.” Rahab was King David’s great-great grandmother. Extend it further, and Rahab, the Canaanite, the Prostitute, the surprising hero of the story is in the lineage of Jesus Christ. God worked through someone who seemed doomed destruction with the rest of the city. Instead, she plays an important link in the family line that leads to Jesus Christ.

We will never know exactly God’s plans or purpose. We will never fully understand why God works as he does. Instead, we must be committed to be beacons of God’s love to a needy world. A psychologist once reported seeing a sign on a convent in Southern California that says, “Absolutely No Trespassing-Violators Will Be Prosecuted to the Full Extent of the Law.” Signed, “The Sisters of Mercy.” Well how merciful is that? Are they showing God’s love to those who are difficult to love, or are they simply protecting their turf? We’re often more concerned with protecting our turf, our building, our comfort, our way of life than being ambassadors of Christ. Who is the Rahab in your story that you’ve written off or ignored? The third devotion we learn here is to be devoted to sharing God’s love as God devotes outsiders to salvation, even those we might not expect to be open to it.

Conclusion

Joshua chapter six teaches us three devotions that lead to victory. The first devotion we are taught is to follow what God says by knowing what God says. The second devotion we are taught is to purge ourselves of wickedness and walk in holiness. The third devotion we learn here is to be devoted to sharing God’s love, even if those we might not expect would be open to it.

why does it feel today like sin is winning? After all, didn’t Christ defeat Satan and proclaim victory over death? Why does it feel like we live lives of trouble? Loneliness, family problems, financial problems, human bodies breaking down. In this life, it’s normal to feel like Christ is losing and sin is winning. But we have hope in Christ, and we know that in the end, God wins. When we live by the instructions of God, we can experience the hope and peace of God. When we allow Christ to purge our souls of sin and walk in holiness, we don’t add to the sin and pain that we are already going to experience in this life. And when we are devoted to sharing God’s love, we follow in the footsteps of Christ. After, Christ wins every time, even when it doesn’t seem like it. Even when it’s not through people we’d expect it to be with. Nonetheless, we are called to be his ambassadors following him, listening to him, and loving him. At the battle of Jericho, God won. Period.