Navigate Podcast
Welcome to Navigate, we are two long term friends doing life and ministry together. I got tired of the same ole answers when I started looking for help when it came to my walk with God. So together we go deeper than most would on topics that most people have heard or were taught but never fully understood. It is our way of simplifying concepts that we may have over complicated throughout our lives. Bringing theology and life experience into each episode. It is our hope and desire to help Navigate your Christian walk with you
Navigate Podcast
The Book of Joshua and the Great Commision (Repost)
TJBHpodcast@gmail.com
Our conversation takes a deep dive into evangelism, obedience, and the divine orchestration of Scripture, casting a new light on the stories you thought you knew. Discover with us how the journey of Joshua and the Israelites reflects our modern spiritual endeavors and how the narratives of the Old Testament symbolize the fullness of God's nature, magnificently fulfilled in Christ. We grapple with weighty themes such as God's exclusive reservation of the Promised Land for His people, and the roles of believers as spiritual scouts in a redemption-hungry world. Justin shares gems of wisdom on these complex topics, providing refreshing insights into evangelism and the strategic, often challenging, obedience required for spiritual conquest.
Hey guys, welcome back to Navigate. I'm with Justin, what's?
Speaker 2:up bro. How are you, man, you ever gonna do an introduction in Spanish?
Speaker 1:Me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you started like hola, amigo boundaries Cato, I don't even know what that would be. You know what we could reach a whole different group of people.
Speaker 1:Dude in Spanish. If I could do a Spanish dub person dude, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 2:I don't even know what you mean. A Spanish dub, you hire somebody.
Speaker 1:Oh, to dub over it. I was like what is a Spanish dub person? Some of you could speak Spanish. Some bracist, you know.
Speaker 2:Spanish dumb person. Tim, really, all the big YouTubers are doing it. You are a Christian. We should totally jump on that board. That's the point of what we're trying to do. What is happening here?
Speaker 1:Yes, all right, let's take a long time to get this thing going today, buddy.
Speaker 2:Well, it's been a crazy day and I kind of feel like I feel like my average phone call per day is going up a little bit. We're moving up in the brave world. The bravest fear, the bravest fear.
Speaker 1:I'm not gonna bite on what that is, the church sphere. If y'all don't know.
Speaker 2:I am busy trying to help Instead of just the campus that I was dealing with before. Our campus is so it's been actually pretty awesome. What's cool is that I'm getting to pastor pastors, which is really what I like doing. I really like that. I really like training and pouring into guys I'm getting to run into you, just like telling people what to do. Well, I like equipping Timmy, but like Tim's actually part of our internship right now, Last night we were teaching biblical literacy to a bunch of guys, and it was a good time.
Speaker 2:Tim enjoyed himself.
Speaker 1:Had fun. Yeah, all this stuff he kept bringing up and you're like oh, you remember this stuff. I'm like dude, I sat next to you when we learned this the first time I drove you for four years, I taught you these things.
Speaker 2:I was there too. I don't want to thank you, it was kind of a fun thought. Yeah, I started laughing myself a little bit. I did it. You're in an internship with me, learning the stuff that we did in seminary together. We're all over together. I'm like, okay, yeah, it was a cool refresher, but anyway, that's not the topic today.
Speaker 1:All right, yes, tim, you have a thought there. You guys, you brought up something that got interesting is Joshua.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And how it correlates with kind of the great commission with Jesus. Yeah, yes, yeah, and to kind of dive into that a little bit, speaking of that a little bit yeah.
Speaker 2:We were talking about this idea, that that, okay. So there's a term, tim, called typology. Yeah, I think we've covered it before, but typology is essentially when one thing is a microcosm or a lesser picture or a greater picture, depending on the circumstance of another thing, it's an. If you could think about it this way, it's like a meme that you see throughout scripture happening again and again and again.
Speaker 1:It's a meme yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was trying to give you like it. It's essentially a snapshot. Okay, so like, for instance, joshua gets, like, commissioned into ministry by God and one of the first thing that happens is they have to cross the Jordan, yeah, and so God parts the Jordan River with 12 steps, and then they walk across and then they build an altar, but what's the first thing you know that we think about when we think about water parting? Moses, exactly. So it's like this picture of, oh, see how I did this for Moses, and now here's another snapshot, oh, and now I'm doing this for Joshua, and it's communicating something, joshua, was the like the baton got passed on, the Joshua after Moses, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So.
Speaker 2:Joshua gets the baton after Moses. But I was just trying to, I'm trying to explain. There's some, there's snapshots in scripture where you could look at this and be like see this, this is that, okay, and the Bible communicates this way all the time Like, like, like, nonstop. We have these pictures where the Bible is trying to communicate on multiple levels. See this, this is that, see this, this is that. I mean like, even, when we think about, you know, the man, you know crushing the head of the serpent and the serpent bruising his heel, and then we get to revelation and it's like the dragon that's the you know that did this, that's the same one that was in Genesis. It's this picture here, like it's. It's giving you pictures throughout scripture where it's saying see this, this is that, yeah, this is that. But it doesn't always explicitly tell you that. Oftentimes it shows you, through the story or through the circumstances, what's actually happening.
Speaker 2:Okay, so typology is very pervasive throughout scripture. Sometimes it is just language and it's like, I'll see this phrase. This phrase is used three other places and it's a very specific phrase that carries with it a little bit more of a connotation Okay, so like even and this isn't typology, I think the word for this is gosh. What is it called the longitudinal dialectic? I think something like that yeah, I know.
Speaker 2:It literally means, like how a word will take on more and more meaning throughout scripture. So when you say the seed of the woman, you know I mean that word seed there turns into something later on, where you're continuing to hear about this seed of the, you know the woman, or the seed of Jesse and I don't know where suddenly this word becomes something that actually is so much more rich with meaning and prophetic words that have been spoken into this thing, so that at some point that word for seed turns into this idea of the. You know the Messiah, right, the Messiah who is to come, and then eventually you have this picture of Jesus, right, and what that means, and he's the fulfillment of these things. But anyways, I'm saying all of this to say Joshua is essentially a typological picture of what we're supposed to be doing as a church, okay, so so hear me out on this. This might be like wait, what are you talking about?
Speaker 2:Joshua or Yeshua happens to have the same name as Jesus, which is also Yeshua, and it literally means savior for the record, which is kind of important, and Joshua's job is to go into the promised land, which is full of wicked people, and remove all the wickedness and create a land that is totally dedicated to God and for the people of God and the worship of God. And it's this process where they enter in into one small portion and then they do the work of removing all of the filth and dross and sin and all the wickedness until they have the promised land. So the promised land is such an ironic thing, right? Because really it was a now and not yet kind of promise. They got the promised land because God said it's yours Now go in and take it. Yeah Right, like go in and it's all yours and I've given it to you, but you have to walk through this process until the completion of it actually happens.
Speaker 1:Right, because they didn't remove wickedness, they slaughtered the wickedness. So there's a yeah.
Speaker 2:So I mean, they really did. They went in and did this, but we should get to that in a second, because I think that's important. But what I wanted to show is that the Great Commission is actually the exact same thing. Jesus shows up on the scene and gives us this at one point, the whole world will be made new. You know what I mean. All this stuff is going to happen, but until then, I want you to go out to all the nations, discipling them. You know, discipling the nations, baptizing the name of the Father, son and the Holy Spirit. I'm going to be with you through the entire thing.
Speaker 2:The picture is like with Joshua go in, take the land, I'm going to help you cleanse the whole thing. We're going to bring about redemption and all this stuff. And then Jesus, yeshua, comes in and basically gives the same marching orders to the 12 disciples, to the apostles, to go and start, and I'm going to bring about the redemption of all things. I'm going to give you the promised land. In a sense, you know what I mean. So when we talk about Joshua and we read the book of Joshua, it's a great book to read because it's actually kind of giving us a picture on a smaller level of what's happening spiritually or what things that we need to avoid in our life and some of the mistakes they made. Because what we know is that any typology of Christ is an imperfect typology and anything that is trying to we're saying is like Christ, is like Christ in certain areas, but is not Christ, right? So Joshua is not Jesus, although he represents for us a picture of the conquering hero who goes in and disarms the rulers and authorities and principalities and gives the authority and rule back to the Israelites, you know, back to his chosen people, right? So Joshua, you know, does some different stuff and throughout this whole process there's some mistakes made.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean and it's kind of like you know you get the story of Achan. You know what I mean, where they're like go in, get rid of all this stuff, don't take any of the spoils, because if you take stuff from this land, it's actually going to corrupt you. I want all of that, burn it, get rid of it. And then you got this guy who goes in and, instead of doing what God said, takes it for himself and then ends up costing the Israelites a bunch of deaths because God is not with them when they sin like this and when there's sin in the camp, it stops the progress of their ability to move forward and until that guy is removed and his family is removed from that situation, they don't have victory.
Speaker 2:It's a real Ananias and Sapphira kind of situation, okay, where they're literally put to death because of their lying and that lying affecting the people around them. They're saying something, but God knows differently, and they're acting like everything's fine but it is not fine and God doesn't tolerate it, which is another great reason to say see Old Testament, new Testament and not as different as maybe we would think. Okay, okay, but yeah, so Joshua goes in, and I think it's. I just wanted to encourage people with that because I think looking at Joshua is kind of marching orders for us as Christians, and I don't mean to go in with the sword and start annihilating the first Canaanite that you meet.
Speaker 1:Ah, you're a Canaanite.
Speaker 2:But it is a picture of what has happened in the heavenlies and what God has actually given to us and how that should in some sense function, the way that we think about how God wants the church to move forward until the nations are worshiping him.
Speaker 1:See, jesus did the Great Commission. That's what a lot of evangelism is all about. Yes, right, yeah, yeah. So you take that, but then you can correlate that back to Joshua too.
Speaker 2:So that's actually kind of the picture.
Speaker 1:So was there evangelism in the Old Testament? Yeah, I was just about to say.
Speaker 2:So, if you ask me like okay, how come there's evangelism in the New Testament but there is not evangelism in the Old Testament? I would say the New Testament has this wonderful invitation that comes along with it, because Jesus has shed his blood for whosoever may come. So that means that God is offering a spot to anybody who would escape the darkness and come to the light and, instead of fighting for the darkness, fight to vanquish the darkness, and there is typology of this in the Old Testament. Okay, so, for instance, rahab, who is in the battle of Jericho, who is the woman who hangs the red strand out the window. You know what I mean, which is ironic. Color, right, the person who should have been destroyed is not destroyed and gets to join the people because the color red that is hung outside their door Kind of like the red that's over the doorpost for the Israelites when the angel of death comes through but doesn't kill them oh, interesting. Kind of like the blood of Christ that covers us from all sin, invites us to see this.
Speaker 1:Okay, hold on real quick.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Is that all true or is that just coincidence? Like this sounds like a stretch.
Speaker 2:This is what I'm getting at is the Bible communicates in these ways and it didn't emphasize it. Look, there's a lot of stuff that's not in the Bible, that they could have put in. You know what I mean. There's a lot of details It'd be cool to know about this guy, or I mean this guy's cool. Why don't you tell me more about that? And they're like no, what I want you to know is that it was a scarlet rope that was hung from that door. You know what I mean. That's what saved her. Like those things are important.
Speaker 2:And you have to remember that the Bible doesn't just have, you know, 66 books with, I don't know it's 40 authors or something like that. It has one author as well who's bringing the whole thing together, and I think it was Vodibhakum who said this. He said the New Testament is just a new translation of the Old Testament. It's communicating exactly the same stuff. It's just doing it in different ways in light of who Christ is and that the fullness has actually you know, the fullness of who Christ is has actually come. So the things that it was trying to reveal to you through stories and pictures, and all this stuff is revealed in Christ. In fact, the Bible tells us in Colossians that Jesus is the iconia, or the icon of God himself. Like, literally, he is a picture of the fullness of what God is. So if you have an icon on your screen, it's like you click on the icon, it gives you access to the full program. Christ is the icon, he's the representation of who God is, he's the picture of the fullness of it, and all of the Old Testament is pointing to the icon. Click on this. You know, pick that this is what's going to give you access to God, and without that icon there's no way you can access the program. You know, like so that's, it's a Greek word, I mean, I'm playing off the word itself, but that's really is the picture of what it's getting you. So you get pictures all throughout the Old Testament of like interesting, I mean what we've talked about, like the Azazel before.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean and how they're literally. You know the crowd that's calling out for Jesus' head is yelling. You know, take him away, take him away, crucify him. And the word there is Azazel, azazel, crucify him. And the goat that was cursed with the sin of the people and sent outside of the camp to Azazel, or the cursed one. It literally, it's like it's a picture of just so that they're literally yelling Azazel to the scapegoat who's going to take away the sin of the world. You know what I mean. And they don't make that connection. We make that connection in hindsight, because we get to look at it and we're like, oh, this is that, what amazing mind blowing and we want to do those things.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, so if you're asking me about like evangelism, what I was going to say is evangelism now is that anybody has an opportunity to be a Rahab. And in fact we're going into those places first and we're looking for those people and saying, hey, come out. Like, get out of here, change your life. Why? Because judgment is coming, judgment is coming. We are the spies going into these places and saying, listen, judgment is, it's going to fall on this place, it is going to explode on this place because God gets rid of and destroys the wicked. But he destroys the wicked in two ways. One either he converts them and then they're destroyed because they become righteous, they're crucified with Christ and now they're new in him, or he destroys them through other processes, which happens frequently all over the world.
Speaker 2:It's an interesting thing, but what I love is this reminder to all of us that essentially, we are on a mission and that God has commissioned us to and at some point we inherit the promised land. It's this beautiful picture, but I do think it's worth noting, tim, that the book of Joshua is a sad book because it's a picture that's less than the fullness of what Christ gives us. One day we will inherit the fullness of the kingdom. You know what I mean, but the book of Joshua is a book about people not actually getting everything out. The book of Joshua is about a book about people getting most of it out and then leaving a bunch of people for convenience sake that then end up being the people that pervert and destroy the very nation later on.
Speaker 2:All the work that got put in to cleaning out the promised land and getting rid of the Canaanites and the Ammonites and the Amorites and the Moabites and the Gittites and the Hittites and the Jebusites and all these different people, all the work that went in to clearing out the land so that it would be holy and set apart for God and where worship would happen, it would belong to the children of Israel, it became this place where, instead of that happening, it was like no. Slowly, the people that you left took back over the things that you refused to get rid of, slowly made inroads into all the things that you were doing and perverted and ended up destroying the very things that you spent lives and effort trying to fight for and produce. That is not a parable of exactly what can happen in our own homes and our own lives and marriages and everything else. I don't know what is.
Speaker 1:I mean. I think of Joshua. I think it's a book of violence really, because he does fight a lot of people and I love reading it. But when I'm thinking of the church I'm thinking, hey, let's go out and invite these people in. Why was the promise land such off limits to other people? Why wouldn't God allow?
Speaker 2:other people in the promise land or someone there, I don't remember.
Speaker 1:Yeah instead of God having Joshua wipe these people out Actually real quick, tim.
Speaker 2:Can I read something to you? Sure, this is Deuteronomy 28. There's foreigners who live in your land, will gain more and more power while you gradually lose yours. They will have money to lend to you, but you will have none to lend to them. In the end, they will be your rulers. All these disasters will come on you and they will be with you until you are destroyed because you did not obey the Lord, your God, and keep all the laws that he gave you.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I'm just going to throw that in. There's Deuteronomy 28, 43 and 40 through 45. And the picture there that God was giving them is that, hey, people that are coming in who want to be part of this kingdom and who want to worship me and be a part of what I'm doing, they have a place. They have a place in the lineage of Jesus. Is Rahab, tim, right? I mean, that's kind of awesome. You got Ruth in there. Yeah, you got Ruth in there.
Speaker 2:You have foreigners who were brought into the covenant people of God through the providence of God, who are bringing forth the God man, and so the picture is that they're part of this story and God is inviting anybody that wants to come and worship and be a part of his story, to join this side. You know, and I mean to be a part of what's going on. But let's be honest wickedness cannot stand before God. God is not going to allow pockets of people who continue to proliferate garbage and nonsense and unfortunately I feel like oftentimes we as Christians do. We're okay with tolerating things that we should not tolerate in the name of love, and in the name of love we allow those things to destroy all the good, like we tolerate more wickedness than we should.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I'm saying we tolerate wickedness period, and that's the problem. And I don't mean look, this is my point. You go into Jericho, you tell Rahab, hey, you're welcome to come with us. Are you going to? You know, egypt? And you say, hey, if you don't have blood over the top of your door, it is not going to go well for you. You know, it's this invitation, it's Jesus going to these places and say repent, the kingdom of God is at hand. The axe is at the root of the tree Turn.
Speaker 2:And there's thinking through what happened in 70 AD and how God said listen, not one stone is going to be left on another, all of it's going to be torn down. And in 70 AD, vespasian or Titus II went in and utterly destroyed the place. And it just makes me think of you know Jesus, and it's I think it's Luke 19, jerusalem, jerusalem, high of long, to gather your children under, you know, under my wings, as it hand gathers your chicks. But you wouldn't have it. You know he's like so. So here's what, here's what you need. Destruction is coming and it's not because I'm not here inviting you, it's because you don't want that invitation when Jesus shows up on your doorstep and you crucify him.
Speaker 2:It doesn't go well for you, and I think a lot of people are outright rejecting Jesus. And the whole story of the Bible is hey, either you're with me or you're against me, and that's the kind of the whole point those who are not with me are against me. There is no in between, there's no middle, there's no neutral, which is why we did that whole podcast on the secular world. It's like this idea that there can be neutral ground and it's like no neutral ground is pagan. That's what that is, because either things are right or they're wrong. But we don't have this weird in between place Either you're worshiping God or you're not worshiping God. It can't be both.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but did Jericho know that, like, did they know they were sitting in the promos when God gave to Israel? Dude, I mean, you know what I mean, hey.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you what I know this. It says that Rahab tells them that the entire place is shaken because they've heard of the God that you serve you know what I mean which tells me that it's like at that point, either hey, he split the Red Sea in half and all of the Egyptians died because they were in rebellion to the God who revealed himself through plagues and said let my people go, or I'm going to end you. And they're like nah, go ahead and end us. Okay, he did. They heard about all of that.
Speaker 1:They knew. That's actually the question I can't like. Do people know about the story of the Red Sea?
Speaker 2:I mean it says they did and it says that they were terrified, and which tells me like, hey, you know this God, get out of there, goodness gracious, leave. If this God tears the superpower of the world at the time, egypt just tears it apart, splits a sea in half and brings his people forth and then tells them hey, I want you to move through this place. And they know, oh man, these people are coming. You would think you would at least ask the question should we just surrender? Should we give them the town? Clearly, they serve God. And what was their answer? No, we're going to hunker down and fight them. Okay, that's our world. That's a lot of people that we're dealing with.
Speaker 2:The Lord, god Almighty, who spoke the universe into existence and everything else, and in him we have life, breath and all those different things. I mean we serve a good God, but he's a powerful God and he's a just God and he's also a merciful God and he gives anybody who wants to come. You're welcome on this side. I mean, that's kind of the picture and I think it's Colossians where he talks about us, transferring us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son, from whom we have remission of sins. You know it's like there is forgiveness and hope for anybody who wants a seat at the Father's table. Come on over. But you got to choose to pursue Jesus and I could get into election and I could get into that whole portion of it.
Speaker 2:But I do think the grand picture is that God has weaved into the story those who are outside of the camp on purpose, and those people are weaved into the story of how all men come to be saved, and which is fantastic.
Speaker 2:So when we have the Great Commission again, it's this picture of God saying go into all these places, preach the gospel, make disciples, create a promised land and for those who stand against you, there is judgment.
Speaker 2:And I'm no problem saying that For those who are wicked and don't love Jesus and are set against him, there is judgment coming. It's coming. There's no getting around that or denying that we serve a merciful, gracious God and he is so patient, way more patient than I can even fathom. But the bill comes due and at some point judgment comes in and the Bible tells us that men will be without excuse, that what we do to set ourselves up against God, there is no excuse for those things. There is no neutral and the people know who God is, and so the hope that we have is that at some point, we have a real promised land that isn't perverted with pockets of wickedness and destruction that end up perverting everything else that we're doing, but at one point, god really does bring us into that beautiful, perfect kingdom where he has made all things new and that is heaven.
Speaker 2:right, that's the picture. It's not that there's endless watermelon and I feel rested. It's heaven because there is no wickedness, evil, sadness or brokenness, because all things have been made new and perfected by the Father and are placed into an eternal state where they cannot change. Imagine having a moment, the best moment of your life, and just that feeling, that moment, that special time, that it never goes away.
Speaker 2:I can't even imagine that we have moments where we experience types of perfection and we're like man. This is so. I wish I could stay like this. There's almost a sadness with every great moment, because you know it's going to go. Well, what if that wasn't there? Because what you're saying is I am actually touching some of heaven right now. I'm getting an experience of what something is supposed to be, and I know it's going to go away. But that's like God's gift of letting you know hey, it's coming. There's a moment coming where you are going. This is not going to go away anymore. It's eternal. I'm like give me that, I'll take that. Give me the blood, I'll put it over the door. Get me out of Jericho. This place is going to crumble. I'm out of here. I don't want to do that, right.
Speaker 2:But that's the great story of the Bible is that God is not just picking one people, he's picking his people. You know what I mean. Come with me, join the side of righteousness. One day, all wickedness and darkness will perish, and in the moment it looks powerful and it looks menacing, and I know there are lots of people who are trying to convince you, and the devil himself will try to convince you to come to this side because it's better, but you will be joining the losing side because at some point the Lord, god, shows up in power and destroys the works of darkness. And it is good.
Speaker 2:I love that. I mean, it's this amazing, beautiful story and I'm sitting here in Colorado, westminster, colorado currently enjoying God's goodness and His mercy, but I'm in the middle of the fight and there's a lot of temptation for wickedness and darkness. There's a lot of temptation to be inaken and enjoy the pleasures of this world or of the land of Canaan. And the reminders don't do it. You will sabotage the very work that you're trying to produce and you will place yourself in the very camp that you're saying you're fighting against. And as Christians, we've got to walk in holiness. I mean, we've got to know that. That's the story of Joshua, as they failed because they weren't walking in holiness. And can I take a man? There's a couple tangents I want to take here, tim, I don't know if you're cool with that. One of them is one of my favorite passages in the whole Bible is actually Joshua, chapter 23. And I want to share this because when we talk about holiness, when we talk about finishing well and that they didn't get these people out of the land.
Speaker 2:What I want to share with you is in Joshua, chapter 23,. Joshua is old and he's dying, and he knows he is, and he knows he can't finish the fight because he's dying. And so he hands the sword off to the rest of the people and tells them what work is not done and what they need to finish. And they don't do it, you don't do it, and I got to tell you this. This portion just echoes in my ears because Joshua gives this amazing talk. I mean, people know Joshua 24. As for me and my, you know choose this day whom you'll serve. As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord, right, everybody knows that. But the portion before this, can I just read it? I mean it's a big text but it's good. I'm going to read it.
Speaker 1:I'm going to read it All right.
Speaker 2:As it says Now. It came about after many days, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies on every side, and Joshua was old and advanced in years. That Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and their heads and their judges and their officers, and said to them I am old, advanced in years. Okay, listen, man, I'm decrepit. Okay, I can't do this crap. And you have seen all that the Lord, your God, has done to all these nations because of you, for the Lord, your God, is he who has been fighting for you, and he says the sea I have appointed to you these nations which remain as an inheritance for your tribes, with all the nations which I have cut off, from the Jordan even to the great sea, toward the setting of the sun, the Lord, your God, he, will thrust them out from before you and drive them out from before you, and you will possess the land, just as the Lord, your God, has promised you. Be very firm, then, to keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from the right hand or to the left hand, so that you will not associate with these nations, these which remain among you, or mention the name of their gods or make anyone swear by them, or serve them or bow down to them. But you cling to the Lord, your God, as you have done to this day, for the Lord has driven out great and strong nations from before you. As for you, no man has stood before you to this day. One of your men puts to flight a thousand for the Lord, your God, as he who fights for you, just as he has promised. So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the Lord, your God. For if you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know with certainty that the Lord, your God, will not continue to drive these nations out from before you, but they will be a snare and a trap to you and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off of this good land which the Lord, your God, has given to you. And he says this now, behold, today I'm going all the way of the earth, and you know in all your hearts and all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the Lord, god, spoke concerning you has failed. All of them have been fulfilled. Not one of them has failed, and he basically warns them again not to fall off.
Speaker 2:But why I love this is he is a good father and he's looking at his spiritual sons and he's saying I've spent my entire life fighting for what God has called us to. I've cleared this land of sin. I've been pouring my heart out to see you guys have a place and a heritage and hope. And he hands them the sword and he points over there with his old hand that can barely be lifted at this point because he's swung it so many times at evil and he says I can't finish it. I need you to finish the fight and I want you to know that God has put to flight every single person, and the reason we're standing on the ground, that your sandals are in right now, is because God removed the wickedness from it, because we walked in obedience to what he called us to do. And he tells them I need you to finish this fight. I need you to be obedient to God. Do not let them stay or they will turn your hearts away, they will turn your people away and they will end up doing the opposite of everything that we have been fighting for. And I just think about my son, tim, I think about Bennett and I think about Knox and I think about our children. And my call as a father at the end of my life is to have worked really hard, tim, in my life to kick Canaanites out of the Promised Land, to kick wickedness and evil out of my life and out of my family's life and out of the church and the neighborhood that I'm in and the culture that I find myself, to fight like a madman for righteousness and holiness and for ground to be gained for the kingdom. And then, at the end of my life, to look at my son, put the sword in his hand and say I gave everything that I could to give you this space, this foundation to fight from, so that you would be able to continue the work of seeing righteousness. Go forth, get in there and do it. Finish the fight.
Speaker 2:And I think too many men are fighting in such a way that they can't communicate or hand off the sword to their families because it's abstract what they are even working towards. If your kids don't know what you were fighting for you won't hand them anything or at the very least, they won't appreciate it or understand what your life meant, what the purpose was. And this is kind of the point of family names. This is the point of fathers, as fathers are supposed to be able to tell their families. This is what we've been doing, everything that we've been. This is why our family exists, which is why we've talked about this before, tim.
Speaker 2:But the center of the family is the mission, not the family. The center of the family is why are we here? Well, we're a picture of God and we're a picture of the church. And what is the goal of the church? To disciple the nations. We're a small picture of the glory of God being put on display, his unity, his goodness, his mercy and the Prolific nature of God, with our children who are going to go and extend the glory and the image of God to all the earth. That's Genesis 1, 2, and I mean 1 and 2, like that's the whole picture. And we're to do that, and I just I want to encourage fathers out there and even mothers that our goal is to help set the tone for what the mission is for our families to not let evil Reside or have a part in your family. If you leave things there, they will make inroads.
Speaker 2:I mean, my dad sent me a text I Think it was yesterday and he's like hey, I have a heretical thought for you. I was like he always starts that way, he cracks me up, but he makes this point. He's that you know, there's such a, there's a spiritual heritage that comes not just with the good things but also the bad things. He was making the point. That was like David really screwed up with his kids and and God said that this is the guy that's gonna sit on the throne and this is what's gonna happen. There's good thing that you're gonna have this thrown forever and all this stuff. But the other things that David passed off was his problem with women you know what I mean and David's problem, which was significant his son. When he gave it to his son, became ten times louder.
Speaker 2:Yeah and how many people dabble with alcohol. You know more than they should that their sons become alcoholics. How many fathers are a little more physical than they should be with their kids and suddenly, now, now we got abuse going on. I'm you know how many parents, how many mothers, are struggling with anger and outbursts and then, that same thing, you start to see those Things in your kids like what are the things that we're passing on and are we handing off the sword or are we handing off the them, a heritage of all the nations that we didn't destroy in our own lives? You know? And what is it that we're going to war against? Do we, do our kids know that? Do they know why we're here and why we exist and what this looks like? Because the Bible is trying to communicate to us through Joshua and especially through Christ Get this crap out of your life and go forth and tell people about Jesus, because wrath is coming, and I hope my kids know that. At the end of my life, I hope they're able to pick up the sword and know what I spent my life fighting for and be able to continue to do the Same thing. What's sad is if you spend too much time working on things that don't matter. I just think I don't think they'll know where the fight is, and all the ground that you gain in your life will be lost If you aren't able to hand off the sword well. So I just think that's an important Reminder to you.
Speaker 2:Know, fathers especially out there, but mothers as well what your husband needs to be working hard at is handing off the sword to your kids, handing out especially to your sons. How are you handing off that identity of you? Don't understand, son, we're a chosen people of God and the only reason your father up with, the only reason I'm alive and I'm not dead and there's several times in my life time, to be blunt, where I feel like I should have died, and I have friends who were in similar situations, who didn't make it is because God had a plan for me and kept me alive and and allowed me to continue. You know, through this process and I want to let you know right now, your old man's here and you're here because God had a plan for us. We're chosen, son.
Speaker 2:Now pick up the sword we got. We got work to do, we got a fight and I just so. I keep hammering on that, but I think it's an important note for people to pick up, as we're talking about evangelism and God's story and this Typology and and what it communicates to us on a very base level is that we have a, we have a mission, we have a call and we have stuff that we're fighting for and and the Bible's trying to tell that to us and communicate that to us.
Speaker 1:What happened then afterwards with Joshua, after you passed off that one?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean that's. I think that's kind of the. The sad part Is because he handed off the sword and people did not follow up and do the things that they were supposed to do. They didn't kick the rest of the people out of the land, they didn't do those things.
Speaker 2:The very next book, tim, do you know what it is? The book of judges, nice, and we enter into an absolute mess where the Midianites and all these different people, the Philistines, are a Thorn in the side of the people of God For a long time, until we get to guys like Samuel. You know, I mean, it's a mess. And and, and you know, the book of judges ends with an everyman was doing what was right in his own eyes. How did that happen? You didn't finish the job, you didn't, you didn't, you know, you didn't do the thing that you were supposed to do. And now it is wrecking you and it's, yeah, so the end of Joshua's judges.
Speaker 2:I mean, I feel like that's a great reminder to all of us of what not to do. And you know, obviously, in a lot of ways, tim, like this whole thing's a parable of the United States, it's a parable of a good company, it's a parable of it or a company. It's a parable of a church. It's a parable of anything that you want to survive. Yeah, mercy is great for those who are looking for Christ and want to change and become who Christ has called them to be, for those who want to live righteously. Mercy is not a good thing for those who do not want to change or I don't love God. Yeah, that's not mercy, that's stupidity. Okay, and I love what? Yeah, rj Rushdouni, tim had this amazing thing that he said he was talking about mercy and when to extend grace.
Speaker 2:He was talking about biblical law and he made this point that he said murder was such an egregious thing Like that. You know we want to extend mercy, but murder is such an egregious thing that capital punishment exists because our job, when that happens, to send them out up to a higher court for God to decide what the decision is. And I thought that was very, very, very interesting. He was like our job at that point. If somebody takes the life of somebody who has the Amago Day in a wrong way, where God has not sanctioned that, then that's actually not us. Our job is to take their life, just send them to God and he can decide whether mercy should be extended or not, and I'm like that is that's man, that's what I mean. It's such a great insight from institutes. Yeah, really good.
Speaker 1:I just I got off the cuff question. Yeah, Just tickling me a little bit Weird.
Speaker 2:Was there any other nations you?
Speaker 1:know, was there any other nations besides Israel that God saved? Was it because I feel like the Old Testament is all about Israel?
Speaker 2:Well, so you have, like Jonah right, going to the Ninevites, and it says all like the whole nation gets wrecked and turns to God, which is like that's cool, okay. You have nations with like Melchizedek, where he's a priest of the Most High God who's the prince of Salem, you know what I mean? Or I'm trying to King of Salem or Prince of Salem. I think it's the Prince of Salem, because Salem means peace and I think Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Oh, typology, there you go, just show it quick. But yeah, so it seems like you have places, or like Job, who is probably around at the same time as Abraham and Job is. It seems like he's a kingly official or a government official. It's some. I mean the he, what he owned and the extent of his reach. I mean it seems like he is some kind of high ranking official in this city or town or whatever. So, clearly, the closer you get, obviously, to like Genesis, two and not two, but the closer you get to Genesis, the closer you get to the fall. It seems like the more people knew about God you know what I mean and the farther away you get from that, the more separation there seems to be, and some of that is, I think, demonically inspired, because you see, after, like the Tower of Babel, these different nations kind of being handed off to these like different, let's say, demonic entities. But God says I'm going to keep this nation for myself and I'm going to use this nation to bring redemption back to all the nations. And it's not.
Speaker 2:The Bible makes it clear God does not show favoritism. But he did use the Jews and is using the, however you, you know wherever you want to go with that. But he did use the Jews as his method and his hand in reality to bring about the fullness of what he's going to do across the entire world. And he tells Abraham this I'm going to bless all the nations of the world through you. He tells David this you're going to sit on this throne forever. And he's a David, a typological Christ, right, but this, the picture is pretty consistent. God doesn't have favorites, but he did choose someone on purpose to bring about his plans and his purposes.
Speaker 2:I feel that way. I know I'm not God's favorite. I also know he chose me. You know what I mean. And it's not favoritism, it's just God's mercy and goodness and him bringing about the fullness of the counsel of his will through people who have no business being a part of it. Because anybody who has read the Bible knows that Israel is not awesome.
Speaker 2:Okay, and just like. If you're like I'm not a good person, I'm not sure God loves me. Well, he loved Israel. Oh, yeah, all right, I'm fine. Okay, they were doing all kinds of awful things. It's terrible. It's not a comparison thing, but it is a reminder that God's not like picking people. He's like that dude right there. Now, I'll be straight.
Speaker 2:There's a couple people in the Bible that I mean. It makes it pretty clear that God really loved. He really loved, and it does say that God so loved the world, like we are appointed his affection. He's sent his son to die for us, right, but it's not because God has favorites. It's God has decided to display and pour out his love on specific individuals who have chosen to pursue and love him, like that's the picture that we see throughout Scripture. So, yeah, god doesn't have favorites, but he did choose Israel. But we do see in the Old Testament it seems like a, I would say quite a few other nations that seem to either be aware of God or worshiping God or turning to God, and I think that's fascinating. But the Bible doesn't follow those stories.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my brain, like Nineveh, was always like a Jewish nation or city or whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:That's like I don't know why. That's what my brain always figured.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's interesting, I mean even with Daniel Nebuchadnezzar. They're all Jewish, you know what I mean Everyone in Babylon is a Jew.
Speaker 1:They are now, yes, Well cool man. This was fun. I appreciate this topic today, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm trying to think, even the fullness of what we talked about. I feel like we covered evangelism in the Old Testament, the conquest of Joshua and how that parallels to our own lives and the need for us to be able to get wickedness out and hand off the sword is probably the fullness of it and in God's kind of story and narrative throughout history, which is broad. But I think there's some narrow points for us to take from this and I hope you guys are encouraged and are more excited to get into your Bibles, especially Joshua, maybe this week, and read through some of the mistakes they made and some of the things that they did that were not great. And, tim, can I share one more thing that I think would just be cool before we close up. Yeah, in Joshua, I think it's chapter five. Yeah, it's chapter five, just to show you that God doesn't show favorites here. It says this in 1314.
Speaker 2:Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho. He lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, a man was standing opposite him with the sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, are you for us or for our adversaries? And he said no, rather, indeed, I indeed come now as a captain of the host of the Lord. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and bowed down and said to him what has my Lord to say to his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you were standing on is holy ground. Oh, it's unfamiliar. More typology.
Speaker 1:I hope you guys are picking up on this name.
Speaker 2:I brought this up because it's really interesting. Joshua says are you for us or against us? You know what the angel of the Lord says? Neither. Nah, yeah, true, you think I'm for them or for you? I'm for God, I'm from God.
Speaker 1:Whoever's for God, I'm for. That's cool.
Speaker 2:Whoever is against God, I am against, and that right. There is a reminder to all of us that God is not for one particular person versus another as much as he is for his counsel, his will, his decisions and anybody that is on the side of righteousness and good and light. People find themselves serving alongside these captains of the Lord of hosts, which is just such a cool picture that's really cool, Just to remind you guys.
Speaker 2:God has angels and hosts of angels everywhere that are serving him, and you are never alone. You never study the Bible alone, you never worship alone and you never do life alone. If you know Jesus, you are not alone in your endeavors for righteousness and hopefully that's an encouragement for you. On the way out.
Speaker 1:I really like that actually I always forget Jericho's and Joshua.
Speaker 2:I know the stories. There's a lot of good stories in Joshua.
Speaker 1:I think of the.
Speaker 2:Bible pretty good.
Speaker 1:I think of John. I always go to the back. He brought up earlier this, the drying up of the Jordan.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just love that picture.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's fantastic. You wouldn't dry it up until the set foot in it.
Speaker 1:I'm like, yeah, you want God to do a miracle. Get your feet wet first.
Speaker 2:I mean we could do a whole podcast on that. Like right, like obedience comes before faith. Or obedience comes before the miracle Every single time and it's really hard to step on the water before you know it's solid when I first read that passage too.
Speaker 1:It says those 12 stones we made there to this day, it's like did a Google search. I'm like do they find these stones? Because that'd be awesome.
Speaker 2:I was like. Somebody who reads it 2,000 years after the text is read is like they're still there.
Speaker 1:right, they're still there. Yeah, they've got to be. The Bible said so.
Speaker 2:Although some stuff is, I think, some pretty cool archeological digs where they found some pretty amazing things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, especially on the one in Sodom and Gomorrah.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, would recommend 100%. Look that up. Yeah, look that up. That's a fun one, but cool. Thanks, buddy. Y'all have a fantastic week and praying that God just doesn't work in your life this week. Pray, god blesses you. And just to encourage you guys, if there's anybody that you think this podcast would bless, send it to them and hope it blesses them as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, reach out, email us. We like hearing from you.
Speaker 2:Heck yeah.
Speaker 1:Comment, like always helps, and we'll see you guys. Catch you all next time. Bye.
