Joshua Part 6 - The Lord and His Army

Andrew Grey continues the series on the book of Joshua. The Bible reference is Joshua 5v13 - 6v14. This sermon was given at Immanuel Church Brentwood on Sunday 19th Oct 2025.

Transcript

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All of us, please, would you open up your Bible to Joshua chapter 5? If you've got one of the church Bibles, that's on page 181. So we're continuing our series, working our way through this Old Testament book of Joshua. Just a reminder, where are we in the story of the Bible? So 60 seconds. Where are we in the story of the Bible when we open the book of Joshua? So God has made the world, it is his. He's made people in his image to love and worship him. But our first parents, Adam and Eve, they walked out on God, their natures were changed, and all of their descendants, us included, come into the world, our hearts bent away from the one true God. In his wonderful mercy and grace, he chooses a man, Abraham, and he makes with him a covenant of grace, like a marriage, a bond between him and his people, and it's a bond of love and grace. And anyone in Abraham's family who trusts and believes like Abraham will be a recipient of God's mercy and grace. The family grows, they find themselves enslaved in Egypt. God rescues them with mighty acts of judgment to show us how God rescues anyone. And it's a little taster of what God will do through Jesus one day. Out of Egypt, they've given God's law, they're brought to worship Him. This is what human beings are made for. It's made to worship. Again, this sinful disobedience crops up, and for a whole generation they find themselves wandering in the wilderness, not coming into that blessed and promised land, like another Eden, which was their destiny. Now, when we come to the book of Joshua, a new generation, they have uh crossed over the river Jordan into the promised land, and they find themselves now with the task of possessing the land, receiving what the Lord has promised to give them. So that's where we are in the story of the Bible. Let me pray, and then I will read our passage today. So let's pray. Almighty God, Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, the Bible. We thank you that it gives us not just facts or information, but it brings your power and also your kindness and your mercy. Would you get your word inside of each one of us such that it makes a difference to our head, our heart, and our hands? And we ask that for Jesus' name's sake. Amen. Amen. So let's listen to God's word. I'm going to read from Joshua chapter 5 and verse 13 down to chapter 6 and verse 14. So hear the words of God. When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries? And he said, No. But I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped, and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant? And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy. And Joshua did so. Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. 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, every one straight before him. So 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, 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 following who were blowing the trumpets, and the rearguard 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. So he caused the Ark of the Lord to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the Ark of the Lord, and the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of Rams horns before the Ark of the Lord walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually, and the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the Ark of the Lord while the trumpets blew continually. And the second day they marched around the city once and returned into the camp. So they did for six days. Well, thanks be to God for his word to us today. War is a bloody and a complicated business. Just think, in a war, there are many, many different jobs to be done. You might find yourself a foot soldier or a general. There's the business of logistics and supply. People have got to eat, they've got to have armor to wear, ammunition, and intelligence. Spies on the ground, spies in the sky. It is a bloody and also a complicated business. Now, what about the Christians' warfare? What about the Christians' warfare? Who does what? What is our job in the Christians' war? Now, the Church of Jesus Christ is not called to pick up guns and swords as the Church of Christ, though Christians sometimes have to fight at the command of the state in a just cause. But as the church and as Christians, the Bible says we are in a war. You might remember that the New Testament says things like this. But we don't use worldly weapons. That's 2 Corinthians 10. It says things like, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of evil. Ephesians 6. So, what is the Christian's job in the Christian's war? Now, this true Bible story that we have got before us today, it is part of our Christian family history. And it is a word from the Holy Spirit of God to instruct and to encourage us. It gives us the run-up to actual warfare when the people of God, all those centuries ago, were about to enter the promised land of Canaan, or rather they're in it, and they are now about to fight actual battles with actual swords and spears and shields. And at that point, such warfare was part of the job of the Old Testament church in this very special and unique time. But this passage before us, it will help us all in our warfare. So you're called to warfare if you're a follower of Christ today. You will be engaged in warfare this week. And it helps to show us who does what in that battle. And the Holy Spirit will use this scripture to give us confidence, to give us heart in the battle, and we need it, as we're called to fight against lies, as we're called to put to death things like sin in our own lives, as we're called to do battle daily with Satan, all of which things involve cost and sacrifice. So that's where we're going with this scripture before us today. And as we come to this passage, we meet this person called the commander of the army of the Lord. Now, do you remember what's happened in these first couple of chapters of Joshua? There has already been an unfathomable delay. They're in the land, the people are terrified, you know, the Canaanites, they've heard about this great people and their great gods. Surely now is the time to strike. But the Lord had other ideas. Do you remember the passage last week, the first part of chapter 5, those mass circumcisions and then the Passover? You know, they had to be marked out with the sign of the covenant and enjoy the covenant meal before they go to war. And now in verse 13, where our passage today begins, there's Joshua. He's scoping out Jericho, we assume. Surely he has got war in his mind, the beginning of the campaign. And then he meets the commander of the army of the Lord. And who is he? Who is he? Well, he's called a man. We're told that he's a man. He's standing there with a drawn sword, and it's like he comes out of nowhere. He's called a man, but he is evidently not just a man. And there are some clues. So, children, down on your learning sheets, there are some clues. This is more than just a man Joshua met. For Joshua worships him, and he receives Joshua's worship. Where he is makes that place holy. It's holy. When he opens his mouth and speaks, chapter 6, verse 2, we're told these are the words of the Lord. Just by the way, that chapter division, start of chapter 6, it's not very helpful, the story just flows on. So who is he? Well, he's a little bit like the angel of the Lord. So elsewhere in the Old Testament, we bump into this mysterious figure where you think to yourself, is this an angel or is it the Lord Himself? And it's very hard to say. Is this a physical appearing of Jesus? Did God the Father send the Son in a temporary human form years before Jesus took on flesh in the manger at Bethlehem? Maybe, but we just don't know. His purpose, though, is very clear. He's got a drawn sword. Okay, he is ready for war. And so Joshua's question is a pretty reasonable one, isn't it? Whose side are you on? Are you on our side or are you on our enemies' side? And the answer is an amazing one, isn't it? No. Did you mishear the question? You know, are you for us or are you for our enemies? And the answer is no. And he goes on, verse 14. I am the commander of the army of the Lord, and I have come. It's a really amazing moment. Who are you? What army are you talking about? And what have you come to do? But the first thing he wants Joshua to know is this he has not come to take sides, he has come to take charge. Now, this army of the Lord, I don't think he's talking about Joshua's army. So he's not saying, I have come to take command of your 40,000 fighting men. That's roughly how many Joshua had. He's talking about a different army altogether. The Bible says there is more to this universe than we can see with the eyes in our head. So in the New Testament, Matthew 26, think of how the Lord Jesus spoke about the legions of angels that were at his disposal. Or in 2 Kings chapter 6, an angelic army with chariots of fire, normally invisible, but on this occasion made visible to Elisha's terrified servant. Think how the walls of Jericho would eventually come crashing down. Not by the work of Joshua's army. One of the names of our God, one of the names of the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is Lord of hosts. Now we sang that in our Psalm today, Psalm 84. He is the Lord of hosts, which literally means the Lord of armies. That's the host. It is the great army. But he does not need Joshua's army. He does not need our army. He has his own army. Now I perhaps we so easily forget that. Spiritual warfare goes on around us all the time. God and the devil, angels and demons, the Lord and his army. It's part of the picture. We shouldn't forget it. And here, astonishingly, Joshua is given this audience with the commander of the army of the Lord. And it's as if he says to Joshua, You and your army, you can step aside for now. I have come. But he's not come to take sides, he has come to take charge. So Joshua, uh Jericho will fall. And where will the victory come from? Well, the answer is, I have come. So the battle is not ours, the battle gloriously is his. And Joshua gets this, he gets it entirely, doesn't he? Verse 14. What does my Lord say to my servant? Tell me what I need to hear. He realizes he cannot get the Lord on the side of his plans. That is not how this is going to work. He doesn't sense any threat to his own authority. He knows he has no authority, none whatsoever, in comparison with the Lord's commander. And I imagine this came as a joyful and terrifying relief to him. Probably both of those things. It was probably joyful and it was terrifying. So here is the Lord, here is his army, they are going to deal with Jericho. So your enemies, Joshua, I will destroy them, me and my army. And what Joshua does, it is the right response. He falls down on his face, as in the presence of God, and he worships. And he takes the sandals off his feet because he's in holy ground, he's in a holy place. You say it's holy fear, and it's right. So the Bible has lots to say about the fear of the Lord. And the fear of the Lord does actually involve fear. Narnia fans, remember Aslan the Lion. He is not safe. He is not safe, but he is good. Holy fear. Now, what about us? The battles of the Christians' war. Uh, it does not involve uh fleshly weapons, guns, swords, spears, etc., but it is constant, and it can be quite terrifying. You know, having to go up against the equivalent of well-armed Canaanite soldiers. We have a devil who stands against us, the world around us. And maybe we wonder to ourselves, perhaps as we wrestle with our own sinful natures, are we going to win? Are the walls going to come down or not? And we're encouraged here to remember who's really in charge. Uh the commander of the army of the Lord. He still fights, he fights for his people. Unless we get it the wrong way round and forget who's really in charge, just consider the Lord's plan. They're quite strange instructions, aren't they, that the Lord gives to Joshua. And if we've grown up with the Old Testament, we'll be so familiar with this. But it's very strange what he commands Joshua to do. There is nothing about soldiers and weapons and tactics, nothing. And what the Lord's orders will make it 100% clear who will win the battle and what Joshua's army need to do. So the Lord will win the battle, and the people simply need to worship. Now we'll get to the people's response in just a minute, but think about the plan for a moment as it comes from the mouth of the Lord. It's all about marching around the city of Jericho. Once a day for six days, then on the seventh day do it seven times. And who's doing the marching? Well, there's priests, there's trumpets. Actually, there's seven priests, seven trumpets, seven days, and then seven times on the seventh day in the Bible. Uh the number seven, it has a it has a feeling and a meaning. That's the number of God, it is full and it's perfect. But most of all, who's doing the marching around the city of Jericho? It's the it is the Lord's. And the clue is the Ark of the Covenant. Uh, did you see that? Uh meet it first in verse six. And then again and again and again we read about how the Ark of the Covenant will encircle constantly and encompass the city of Jericho. So the Ark of the Covenants, it's a a box, a box on poles that was normally kept within the tabernacle that contained the law of the Lord, and it was to the church back then the very presence of God among them. Now imagine yourself as a as a Jericho soldier up on the battlements. What would you have thought? Must have seemed odd what you saw happening. Must have seemed eerie, maybe even intimidating. And it is worth remembering. They could have done what Rahab did. They could have joined with the one true God. They could have literally opened the door to the Lord at any point, and that warrior judge would have become to them a merciful saviour. And that's really what was before them. And in a sense, that's what's before every person in history. You are encompassed, you are surrounded by the one true God, and you need to lay down your arms and submit to him. Chapter 6, verse 1, though, it says that Jericho was shut up. Literally, and also I think metaphorically, they did not want the God of Israel, they did not want his mercy. Now, if that's what it if this that's what this strange procession said to the people up on the walls, the city, what did it say to God's people, to Israel? Well, it said this the Lord is with you, he surrounds his enemies, he marches with his people, and he will destroy. That work of judgment, he will do it. And did you notice in verse 5 the way that the walls will come down, the little footnote at the bottom, the city wall will fall down under itself. I think we're to imagine it almost being pressed down from above. The Lord would push them down. So it's all about the power of God, isn't it? And the presence of God in judgment and in holy destruction. And it's really clear the battle is the Lord's. So, Christian people, uh, in our warfare, and that is one way that the Bible would encourage us to think about our Christian walk. It is it is warfare. Any progress in it, uh, it is the Lord's victory, isn't it? It's the Lord's work. It's not that we're rendered passive, there are plenty of things for us to do, but the victory is the Lord's. And the order here is very striking. Worship. Worship comes first. He's a holy God, bow down, worship. That comes first. A bit like the same message last week in the first part of chapter five. Uh circumcision before the battle. Now, worship comes before the battle. This passage might even say something more than that. Worship is the battle, this holy procession, this march of worship. By means of this, the Lord will tear down his enemy's walls. So you see what happens? There's Joshua. He had to fall on his face and worship. Then all of the armed men, they had to buy into the same thing: ritual procession, with the Lord in their midst, out of which then comes victory. Same for us. We have a Savior in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the commander of the army of the Lord. We go by his strength. There is a land, there is a home to which he is bringing us. He calls us to fight along the way by worship and by holiness. So, what will the people do? Let's think about the people's uh response, the last part of the chapter. All that actually is asked of them is that they trust, obey, and worship. The Lord doesn't say to them, I hope you're up to it. You know, strategy, bravery, military prowess, skill with the sword, competency. That's not what he says. He actually tests their faith and obedience. It's a little bit like he says, This I'm going to ask you to do this one thing, and aspects of this plan will probably make no sense to you, but will you trust me and will you obey me? And there are many times, Christian people, when we look at the word of God, his revealed word, if you like his battle plan for us, by which he rules us and governs us, and there are aspects of his battle plan which it sometimes is very hard to believe, is wise and good and true. And we think to ourselves, wouldn't it, wouldn't it make much more sense if we just cut a corner over here? Or, Lord, you say certain things about holiness that frankly I just find hard. Does it really matter? So the same word comes. Will you trust me and obey me? So try and imagine yourself back in the camp of those fighting men. Day one, you know, march around the city, total silence, not a word, the only thing you can hear is the ram's horns blowing. Day two, do it again. Then day three, and day four, and day five, and I wonder how that plan of God felt on day six. You know, trust me, obey my words. Exactly. Worship me when it might seem like you should be doing something else. But they do it. Joshua commands the priests and the soldiers, and they obey. And of verse 14, so they did for six days. Now, most of us we will uh know how the story ends. Spoiler, the walls come down. At this point, the walls had not yet come down. And those people, uh, in their warfare, they were called to live by faith, not by sight. They'd been commanded something and promised something, and so they obeyed, but they hadn't yet received what was promised to them. And I wonder if we could think about the life of faith, our warfare, as a bit like living on day one through to day six. There is where you and I are called to be faithful. Now, there isn't an exact parallel for the Christian church to uh marching around uh the city of Jericho. Uh genuinely, this is not a model for the Church of Jesus to follow, but it does tell us something about the shape of obedience. We trust the Lord, we give ourselves to his worship in accord with his instructions. And we know, don't we, that living like that, being an open Christian, being a worshiping Christian, it might look a bit ridiculous. But it also spoke of defiance. So imagine living like that in front of the city walls. You know, there are other gods in the city, and we will not worship them. There are other forces and powers in this universe, and behind them stand demons and a devil, and we will not cohabit, we will not come to terms with such gods. So we defy you, we worship the one true God, Father, Son, and Spirit. We serve Him, we trust in Him and in His army. Now, just before I finish up, can I give a tiny trailer for where we're gonna go next week when we look at the rest of this chapter? We're gonna listen as God preaches to us about the capture of Jericho, the very first victory in the campaign to take the promised land. And we're gonna think about two things: a sentence of death and an invitation of grace. We are gonna think about God's judgment imposed by God on this entire city. And when we stop and think about that, and we're gonna do that, it feels difficult, and it is difficult. And hopefully, we are gonna see how a clearer view of holiness and sin and the goodness of judgment means this is actually a really wonderful uh bit of the Bible to have before us, but we will also see saving grace and mercy. Remember, Rahab and her family. So it's a wonderful story. Actually, when you listen carefully to it, it's a difficult story, and what we've begun today, in a sense, it's unfinished. Um, it's an unfinished story. So be here next week. Uh it's the Lord's Day, of course, so be here anyway. Um, but as we finish, just think about your own war, uh, the Christian's warfare. Maybe you don't think about uh your Christian walk in those terms. The Bible would say you should. Uh the Christian war will swirl around you as soon as we finish in worship this morning. Uh, when you get up tomorrow morning, Monday morning, be sure you will find yourself uh at war. And God's word today encourages us. Maybe you know that there are specific bits of battle for you. Battles of being unashamed and public in your testimony and witness, or battles within your own heart and against the flesh. There'll be other skirmishes which will come along, of which at this point in time we have no idea. And we are encouraged, we don't need to fear. Or rather, we are called to fear, actually, aren't we? We are called to fear. We're called to fear the Lord, and wonderfully we know that in Christ every Christian's battle is a victory. And so, uh, Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you and praise you that you died and rose and you have been raised and seated at the right hand of your Father far above all rule and authority and power and dominion above every name that is named, uh, not only in this age but in the one to come. We thank you that all things are under your feet, and thank you that you have been given to us as head of all things for the church. We thank you for your love for us, we thank you for your love for the church, that you go with us uh in our daily walk and in our daily warfare. Uh we thank you that you are our great commander uh that in the blood of the cross and in your resurrection and your rule, well, all power, grace, mercy is available to us when we need it. And we bless you for that. Amen.