Seize The Day "Carpe Diem" Joshua 6
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Today we are going talk about seizing the day or better known as carpe diem!
Carpe Diem means to live life to the fullest, or to enjoy it to the utter most.
Now leading up to this moment in time the Israelites had to make sure they followed the Angel of the Lords instructions perfectly.
This would be the ultimate test of faith, obedience and trust in God and in the leadership of Joshua!
They are instructed not to utter a word, to keep completely silent until they are directed to let it go and to seize the day!
They were also instructed not to take or touch any of the plunder from Jericho, it was to be the “FIRST FRUIT’s” unto the Lord!
In order for the people of Israel to receive and walk in the favor of the Lord they had to follow each and every detail exactly as the Commander of the Lord’s Army said!
Now I know this would be extremely difficult for any of us to do, not to talk to the person next to you. While you are marching around a city and the priest are sounding off with long blast of the rams horn or better know as the shofar.
The horn is a symbol of power and strength of the Lord, they would lead the way with long blast to let the people of Jericho know that something was about to happen.
The Ram's Horn and the Akedah
The shofar first brings to mind the ram caught in the thicket by its horns which Abraham sacrificed in place of his son Isaac at Mount Moriah (Gen. 22:13). By extension, this "Ram of God" -- prepared from the "foundation of the world" -- is a picture of substitutionary sacrifice of the God's Son for the sins of the world. Indeed, the first occurrence of the word love in the Torah (אהבה, ahavah, in Gen. 22:2) refers to a father's love for his "only" son who was offered as a sacrifice, a clear foreshadowing of the greater "Akedah message" of the Gospel (John 3:16). Note in this connection that the sacrificial redemption involved violent spiritual warfare between God and the Satan (Gen. 3:15). For the believer in Yeshua, the blast of the shofar represents the shout of God's victory (נִצָּחוֹן) over the power of sin and death.
As we see here the shofar has a tremendous history when it comes to the ram’s horn being caught in the thicket and becoming the sacrifice for Issac.
And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
We see how God recognizes the love that Abraham had for his son Issac, when The Lord tells him to take the son you love and sacrifice him unto me.
He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Then we see the connection with God’s love for His creation with the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Jesus death on the cross was substitutionary for our sins. As the ram in the thicket was for Issac.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
You see there will always be a battle between God’s creation and Satan until we go to be with God in Heaven.
Genesis 3:15 (ESV)
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
This is why we are given careful instructions on how to live our lives for the Lord and for His plan to help us walk in victory.
God will never set us up for defeat, if we will follow His plans that has for us we will always walk in victory.
Now don’t get me wrong I am not saying that we will not go through tough times, because we will.
But here is the key to tough time they won’t last only tough people do!
Carpe Diem Seize the Day
Listen and hear what Joshua is relaying to the people of Israel In Joshua 6:2-5
Lord’s Commanders Instructions
And the Lord said 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. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”
God has laid out the perfect game plan to take the city of Jericho and the beginning of obtaining the promise land that had been for told to Moses.
Joshua’s Instructions
And he said to the people, “Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.”
And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.”
The key to the victory for Israelites in taking Jericho is to follow every detail that has been laid out to them by God speaking through Joshua.
Now Jericho was tightly secured it was as one commentary puts it or tightly shut-up. It was a very fortified city with two walls around it, and it would had been very difficult to take the city.
But God gave them a plan and all they had to do was follow it to the nth degree!
That would mean marching around the city which was approximately 1.25 miles.
Gathering the armed men for the front and rear guard.
The seven priest with their trumpets made from the rams horn know as the shofar.
Followed by the Ark of the Covenant
Followed by the Israelites lined up in formation not making a sound.
Walking around the city one time for six days with the priest blowing the shofars as they marched around the city.
On the seventh day, they would march around the city seven times and on the seventh time they would seize the day! They would shout and scream and let all of Jericho all the promise land know that the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob was the real deal.
The last instruction was not to touch nor take any of the booty aka plunder as it all belonged to God for it was the first fruits.
But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.”
Let’s try this and walk around the inside of the sanctuary not saying a word. Just once without a sound and then let us walk around again seizing the day and giving God the glory He deserves
The beauty of this is Joshua and the people of Israel didn’t have to fight to take the city, they just had to follow God’s plan and He would take the city.
It was about faithful obedience and trusting God to do as He said He would, and that was to drop the walls and take the city with seven shofar and the shout of victory by God’s people!