Jericho

This week we look at the story of Jericho and how God was establishing something in this generation of Israel. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hello and welcome to a Path to Redemption of the Podcast. My name is Daniel Rona, and just remember the simple truth. The Father loves you, Jesus loves you, and the Holy Spirit loves you. Once again, I hope that you had a good week. I hope that you've had time to spend with the Lord in prayer and also in his word. Again, I know I say it every week, and you're probably tired of me being a broken record here, but it truly is important. Make sure you're fostering that relationship. You've got to be putting in the work to be intimate with the Lord, especially right now. I I've talked a lot about how I truly believe it's going to be difficult to be a Christian going forward, especially in the society, in this post-Christian society. I'm hoping to do a midweek podcast about that this week, you know, and some other things that are happening as well. But the world is teetering. I think we're going to see the society in the world continue to this downward spiral into depravity and into uh fullness of iniquity. Um and I truly believe that we're going to have to go through some of this stuff, but even before the rapture, um, which again is different than the second coming of the Lord. But I think we're going to have to go through some of this stuff and we've got to be prepared spiritually. God will take care of us according to his will. We have to understand that. We have to truly believe that because he will. We see it throughout scripture that that's exactly what he does. Um, up until a point where it's time for us to go on home, uh back up uh up to be with him, you know, and I think that's key, right? Like he protected Paul numerous times. We saw that, got bitten by the snake, shook it off, didn't really affect him. But then when it was time for Paul to go, he was beheaded in Rome. And, you know, is the truth and the same truth for all the disciples, with the exception of of John, just because he would have still had to fulfill and and write the the book of Revelation they did on the Isle of Patmos. But let's not forget that he was boiled in oil before that and was miraculously saved. Now, look, am I saying that that's the same type of things that are going to happen? Maybe not to that extent, but am I telling you that, hey, in in Nigeria, their Christians are being killed. In uh in Canada, uh, Christians are being silenced, and uh the United Kingdom Christians and preachers are being arrested for the words that they said um on the street or in their in their pulpits. The United Kingdom just canceled a march with Christ because they were afraid it was going to upset the Muslim population. So we have got to understand that things are changing and drastically. And we are about to go in. I shouldn't say we were about to go in, we're already in a post-Christian society, and and that's what I'm gonna hopefully talk about midweek this week. And I'm gonna try really, really try to start getting those midweek, midweek ones um set up. Uh, I've got a better plan. I think I've got some better time management pieces coming up for me. So I'm gonna really try and focus on that because there's some current event things. We know that that the U.S. is now um putting troops over in Israel at this point, anticipating an attack on Iran. Um, there are rumors swirling everywhere that they might be attacking the nuclear sites and those things. So don't forget about the prophecy of Jeremiah 49 about Elam. Uh, all of that is where we might be staring down the face right now of that again. Um, we thought we were last time the U.S. attacked Iran, but it was it was not so at that point. Um, but we might be looking at it again. And if that happens, then you know it'll be it'll be interesting, um, to say the least. And then you know, on top of that, we're talking about some crazy weather uh events. Um obviously we're looking at this winter storm over this weekend. Um, you know, God talks through the weather, he always has, he always has his judgment has typically come through natural events, so um we need to be paying attention, and uh, we've got to make sure that we are once again focused on him and understanding who he is. Amen. So, with all of that being said, um, we're gonna go ahead and talk about Jericho today, uh, which is a pretty cool story, really, really cool story. Um, obviously, as a kid, you learn the story pretty early, um, you know, just about the the strength and power of God uh around that. Um, but there's some other key aspects here of this that we need to kind of go through uh so that we can understand what God exactly was doing here in the land of Israel and and what he wanted to do with with uh with the Israelites in this land of Canaan. But before we get there, again, all of our scripture comes from the New King James Bible. If you'd like a copy of a New King James Bible, feel free to drop me a note at Pathsredemption Ohio at gmail.com. More than happy to get one into your hands. Also, my book's out Grace Abounds. If you'd like a copy of that, feel free to drop me a note at Pathsredemption Ohio at gmail.com. Again, more than happy to get one into your hands as well. Also, my second book is out, uh, the first part of a trilogy called Iniquity of the Cross and Redemption. It is available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, um, those places. So if you'd like a copy of that, um, you know, go go ahead and uh and and reach out and and grab one there. Uh it's basically about the root cause of everything that's going on today um through the eyes of scripture. So um it's uh it's an interesting study in iniquity, sin, and transgression. So um make sure you grab your copy. And again, finally, once again, uh just don't take my word for it. Make sure you stay to show yourself approved unto God. Make sure you are putting in the work. Amen. That's important. You've got to put in the work with him. Okay. So with that, let's go ahead and jump on in. So we've seen what like we talked about last week through the memorial stones, the re-establishment of the racial of the relationship between God and Israel in the previous chapters through the Jordan Crossing. Now that that that relationship has been reestablished, it's now time to take the promised land. See, they were never going to be able to do that without having being back into full covenant with God through the circumcision, through the baptism, and um and through the through the the sanctification piece here as well. So um before we get into the specific battle of Jericho, there's one last section here in Joshua five that we need to talk about. And it's Joshua five, thirteen through fifteen. And it says, And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries? So he said, No, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped him and said, What does my Lord say to his servant? Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so. So this passage almost feels a little misplaced, but it is actually essential to understand exactly what's happening. Again, the relationship between God and Israel was re-established in the Passover and the circumcision and the baptism in Jordan. So again, through those three things, you see the redemption, you see the sanctification, and you see the death of what you were before. The previous generation had rejected God, so now he had to they had to walk through the same process that they did when they came out of Israel. The only issue was that they were no longer in that kind of form of grace that led up to the law, but rather they were in a time of law, so the rules had changed, and there are certain ways that things had to be done. So only after that re-establishment could the commander of the army of the Lord come on their behalf and fight on their behalf. You know, the other thing here is Joshua sees him and does not recognize him. You see, Joshua had been in the tent of meeting with Moses, he had felt God's presence, and at least says Moses talked to God in this manner. We know that from Exodus 33, 11, where it says, So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend, and he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. So God talked to Moses face to face, yet Joshua outside of Moses did not have that type of interaction, at least not that we know of from Scripture, right? This is also a different aspect of the Lord that Israel and especially Joshua had never seen before. Yes, they'd seen the cloud, they had seen the pillar of fire, they had seen all those things, they'd seen the miracles, you know, because Joshua came out of Egypt and at this point, and they had seen all of those things, but they had never seen him as the commander of the army of the Lord. They had never seen the Lord as really battle ready, more so as they have as the protector and the leader in in those types of things. So Joshua had never seen this aspect of God before, even through all of his work with Moses. But when he tells Joshua who he is, Joshua immediately falls down on the ground and worships him. And this is a key component to telling us who this is. And I truly believe that as we're looking at this captain of the army, um, I believe it's the preincarnate Christ. We know he is the commander of the Lord's army, as we are going to see that in Revelation when he comes back as the warrior king. But Joshua had to recognize him as Lord in order to bow down to him. And I think that that's key. Joshua, having that relationship with God, would not just bow down to any entity. When he told him who he was, he had to recognize who he was. So this also gave Joshua the knowledge and confidence that God was with them. But that could again only happen after the restoration in the earlier parts of chapter 5. And I want to be clear here because that's very key. In this type of law, in this type of nature where where you know if you sin against the law, you sin against God, all of those things, like it is very, very important that God had to re-establish that covenant in in uh in Joshua and in this generation of Israel. And we're going to talk a little bit about that here in a couple weeks when we get to Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, when we talk about the mountain of cursing and the mountain of blessing. But regardless, the commander of the Lord's army tells him that he's standing on holy ground. Look, we saw the same thing happen to Moses in the burning bush. While Joshua's experience is different, it follows a similar pattern to that of Moses. God is establishing his own relationship with Joshua to lead Israel through the Canaanite conquest. And if you think about it, you know, you Moses saw God in the burning bush up top up on top of the mountain, right? Why was that? Why would Moses need to need to see him as a burning bush or a bush that is not consumed with fire? And I believe the reason for it is because he was going to use that in order for to set a fire in Moses to go ahead and free Israel and to be the deliverer that he was truly called to be, right? And sometimes what you have to do is you have to set fire to purify a people or to purify things, particularly the gold, the you know the things that you want that are refined by the fire. We know that from tons of scripture about that, that we all have to be refined by a fire as well. And I think that's what God wanted to do with Israel. He wanted to pull them out of slavery, pull them out of their hard bondage in Egypt, and make of them a uh a people, a royal priesthood, as he told them. But and you have to have the fire to be able to do that. It's got to be able to change you and to and to deal with who you were before. But unfortunately, as we've talked about before, that you know you could take the children of Israel out of Egypt, but he couldn't take the Egypt out of the children of Israel here at times. So that's why I think that was so important. But for Joshua, he sees him as the commander of the army of the Lord, and that's because of the Canaanite conquest. See, God shows himself as he needs to at that moment in time. And what Joshua needed was a warrior. Joshua needed a warrior who was going to help Israel do all the things that they needed to do. Amen. Now, let's go ahead and let's start looking at Jericho. Joshua six, one through five says, Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into your hand, its king and the mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all you men of war, you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days, and seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram horn ram's horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, and that all the people will shall shout with a great shout, then the wall of the city will fall down and flat, and the people will shall go up every man straight before him. Now Jericho was a city due west of where Israel crossed the Jordan. They did that just north of the Dead Sea. It was the most obvious choice from a geographical standpoint, but also one of the hardest due to its fortific fortications. However, we remember from the discussion around the spies and Rahab how the city is viewing Israel. Joshua two, eight through eleven says, Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to them, I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are faint hearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the other two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things our hearts melted, neither did there remain any courage at any one because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven, above and on earth beneath. So the people of Jericho had no defense against God, and they knew it based on what Rahab said. So we see in the beginning of this chapter, it was securely shut, and no one came in and out. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, from archaeological discoveries, the walls were estimated to be between twelve and fourteen feet tall, with some portions of readout that would make it twenty-eight feet tall, along with towers. Jericho is the earliest representation of wall technology used purely for a military reason. In this case, defense for the settlement and the water supply. So that's how fortified this was. That's why I said, you know, from a geographic standpoint, it makes all the sense in the world. From a siege or a defensive standpoint, or from actually an attacking standpoint, it did not. It was a hard one to get into because of the walls. Now the Lord told Joshua how to do this and how to conquer this city. Joshua and all the men were to march around the city once for six days. Six is the number of men, and the men of war represent the strength that rests within Israel and their ability to take their own, take the city on their own. God was showing them that their skill in battle, in their battle and their war did not matter. Only he did. And God had to establish this early in this generation of Israel because it was the first conquest, it was the first battle they were going to face. They're going up against a huge walled city. So God had to show them that look, it's not about you, it's about me. Right? And that's exactly what he does here in Jericho. So for six days they would circle it and nothing would happen. Yet the priest during that time bear seven trumpets of rams, horns, or shofars, and they will walk before the ark. Remember, the ark is where God would commune with the high priest. It represented the presence of God. The trumpets went before the ark, heralding the presence of the king, which was God. They blew each day until the seventh day, when the king was coming, the trumpet would sound. There's a really, really deep study about that, but I can't go into it here. But when the trumpet blows, the people will shout and the wall will fall down. I think about this in return of in the return of Christ. Remember, the return of Christ is different than the rapture, but this is after the seven year tribulation. But Revelation nineteen, eleven through sixteen says, Now I saw heaven open, and behold a white horse, and he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and the righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, he had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God, and the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on the white horses. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, and that with it he would strike the nations, and he would and he himself will rule them over them with a rod of iron, and he himself treads the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of the almighty God, and he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written on it, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You see the presence of God here comes and destroys many of the modern shouldn't say many, it destroys all the modern defenses of the armies, and there is a shout of triumph. You know, I talk about this a lot with people where you know we get to come back with him, we get to come back riding on a horse as well, and you know, I I couldn't help but yell about the the conquering king that is my savior and my salvation, Jesus Christ, who's gonna come back and rule and reign and shout for joy over who my God is and over over who my salvation is, and that he is gonna take his rightful spot as king of this earth. Amen. Hallelujah. But after this, the we're gonna see this all happen, and then this all play out here in Joshua six, six through twenty-one, where it says, Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, Take up the Ark of the Covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark of the Lord. And he said to the people, Proceed and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the Ark of the Lord. So it was when Joshua had spoken to the people that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Lord advanced and blew the trumpets, and the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord followed them. The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark. While the priests continued blowing the trumpets, now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth until the day I say to you, shout. Then you shall shout. So he had the dark the ark of the Lord circle the city, going around at once. Then they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priest took up the ark of the Lord, the seven priests bearing the trumpets of rams, horns before the Ark of the Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets, and the armed men went before them. But the rear guard came after the Ark of the Lord, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. And the second day they marched around the city once and returned the camp. So they did six days, but it came to pass on the seventh day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did six days, but it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times, and in the seventh time it happened, when the priest blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people, Shout for the Lord has given you the city. Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, and she and all who are with her in the house. But she hid the messengers because she hid the messengers that we sent. And you shall by all means abstain from the accursed thing lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it. But all the silver and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are consecrated to the Lord, they shall come into the treasury of the Lord. So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets, and it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city, and they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkey with the edge of the sword. So the walls came tumbling down. You see, God had shown that it was not by the might of Israel, but by his hand that this happened. And it reminds me of a scripture in Zechariah 4 5 through 6, where it says, The angel who talked with me answered and said to me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my Lord, so he answered and said to me, This is the word of the Lord to Zarababel, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. This context is always true. Everything that happens is by the Lord. It is not by us. To believe that we do anything is iniquity and arrogance. It goes back to that old song that says, I can't even walk without you holding my hand. And that is a hundred percent true. It's something that we have to understand and fully believe. Now, remember there was a command here from Joshua. The command was to abstain from the accursed things lest they become accursed and make Israel accursed. But the silver, gold, bronze, and iron are consecrated. And there's a separation here. The metal pieces were consecrated because they had gone through the fire. Everything else had to had not and was accursed and had to be destroyed and burned. Remember, the command was to completely destroy everything and to kill everyone. Again, we discussed this. There were still giants in the land and a lineage from them that had to be dealt with. We saw that in Numbers, and that is exactly what Israel did for the most part in terms of what they're looking at. Now, it's going to be a man named Achan that we'll talk about next week in terms of his sin that would lead ultimately to Israel's first defeat, and where God is fully establishing exactly what's going to be expected of Israel here. But now Joshua 6, 22 through 25 says, But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, go into the harlot's house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her. And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brother, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel, but they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver, gold, and vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the of the house of the Lord. And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father's household, and all that she had. So he so she dwells in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. And Rahab saved the spies' lives for her and her family's lives. She then dwelt with Israel. And I find it fascinating. She would go on to marry an Israelite man named Salmon, and who she would then be the mother of Boaz, who would be the one that married Ruth in the story of Ruth. Then Ruth would be the mother of Obed, who would be the father of Jesse, who is the father of King David. So here you see that Rahab is in the lineage of King David and ultimately the lineage of Christ. And we've but there's another point here. We've talked about this before. Both the law and grace are founded on faith in who God is. And Rahab made her declaration of faith, which is why she was accepted into Israel, and why she was ultimately spared, and why she decided to hide the messengers. Because if you think about this, in Joshua 2, 11, she said, And as soon as we heard these things, our heart melted, and neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you. Then here's her declaration of faith, where she says, For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. She recognized God for who he is. And then what she does, she put action behind her faith by hiding the spies. So we see that the declaration of faith is key, whether it's in the law or whether it's in grace. You've got to believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. So the Lord showed her grace as she was a Gentile because of her just declaration of faith. And I think it's amazing. And we see the same thing in Ruth, who is a Moabitist, when she declares her faith in the God of Naomi. You know, so it this is all important, right? The declaration of faith, you see it from these from this woman, and you see the failures of it in the prior generation of the Israelites. So it's just fascinating here that God would allow that, but it's because of her faith and because of her declaration of faith. You saw it with a centurion who declared his faith before Jesus Christ in him, saying, Nope, all you have to do is speak the word. In this same hour, my my servant will be healed. And that's exactly what it is. So understand that, right? That everything begins with a declaration of faith. Now there's one last section regarding Jericho that we will look at, and that's in Joshua 6, 26 through 27, where it says, Then Joshua charged them at the same time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord who rises up and builds the city Jericho. He shall lay its foundations with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates. So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout all the country. Joshua put a core curse on who would build this city back because the whole city was accursed. Well, there were areas around Jericho that would have been inhabited up to this point. It was when Ahab became king over Israel that the foundations and the gates of Jericho were put back up. First Kings 16, 34 says, In his days heel of Bethel built Jericho, he laid his foundation with a beer on his firstborn, and with his youngest son Sagub, he set up its gates according to the word of the Lord which he had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun. I find it absolutely fascinating that when one of the worst kings that will come to Israel comes that Jericho is rebuilt. It was a curse back upon the land due to the terrible king of Ahab ruling. So look, you know, another kind of kind of in a little bit in depth study on Jericho and what was happening, but I want you to understand, God was establishing something in this generation. He was establishing that look, it's not going to be by you, it's not going to be by your might, it's not going to be by the things that you do, but it's going to be by me, is what he was saying. And that's exactly what he did. He's like, they didn't take uh Jericho because of some great weapon or because of their great armies of war. No. They took Jericho because God brought the arms, brought, brought the walls down. And the only reason that they brought the walls down is because Joshua and this generation were obedient and because the covenant was re-established in them. So when we think about that in our own lives, you know, it's important for us to realize that everything that we have comes from God. Nothing comes from ourselves. And I truly mean that. You might say, oh, well, we have to do this, we have to do that. Yes, you have to be obedient to the word of the Lord and you have to do those things. But at the end of the day, you have to realize everything that you have has been given to you by the grace of God. And recognizing that and being thankful for that, being thankful for the relationships you have, being thankful for the people in your life, being thankful for the things that God's given you. That's what's important. It doesn't mean you're not going to have to do hard things. It doesn't mean that you're not going to have to have to follow the authority that's over you or follow the authority that God has placed over you. But at the end of the day, we have to go and do what God has asked us to do. Um and but recognize and be thankful for the fact that He has given us all things. Amen. So look, next week we're going to talk about the sin of Achan, what happened, and ultimately what happened when sin entered the entire camp. But God's going to establish here again through these two stories. One, it's all by him. And then two, that if you don't do things the way I do, there are consequences. So understand that. And we'll talk about that part next week. And that actually plays into Mount Garrison and Mount Ebal as well. So um, but I hope you're getting something out of the study. Uh, but again, until next time, just remember the simple truth the Father loves you, Jesus loves you, and the Holy Spirit loves you. God bless.