Chapter Twelve - Joshua 5:13-6:27

Who’s Your Lord? Test

        The children of Israel are now in the Promised Land and, as promised, they are about to face some battles with the inhabitants of the land. The first city they came upon was Jericho. Jericho was a highly fortified city with a formidable wall around it. How were the Israelites going to conquer it? Joshua, a military leader with a great tactical mind, had gone for a walk to come up with an idea when this encounter took place:

Joshua 5:13

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.”

        He “lifted his eyes.” When I go for a walk to ponder, I generally walk while looking down at my feet, kicking rocks while strolling, my mind working feverishly. This is how I envision Joshua. He’s walking along near Jericho and pondering… “What are we going to do, how are we going to face this battle before us?”… when lo and behold, he looked up and saw Jesus (The Commander of the army of the LORD) who was already there and had things under control! 

        This happened to me just this morning. My wife and I have been pondering and praying about planting a church. This morning I was praying about that and got a bit anxious. “I don’t know about church planting. Who would I invite to the first service? What would we call this church? What about taxes and 501(c)3’s (whatever that is)? Can I tithe to myself?”

         It was about then when I looked up. I got my eyes off the “I don’t know how’s” and put them on Jesus. “James… I’m in control, I’m here, when it’s time you’ll know and I’ve already got it figured out how… just keep looking up,” He said.

        We have to remember that. We will continue to face obstacles/battles in our lives from now till we die or until Jesus returns. If we focus on those obstacles, we will fail; if we “look up,” we’ll succeed.

Pick Your Team

        After Joshua looked up, an interesting verbal exchange took place. Joshua asks Jesus what team He’s on and Jesus answers “No.” You see, the question isn’t whose team Jesus is on; the question is whose team are you on?  We won’t succeed until we realize that Jesus doesn’t join our team when we get saved… we join His.

Joshua 5:14-15

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “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.

        When Joshua recognized his Lord, he worshiped Him. (This is how we know it was Jesus, if it had been an angel, he wouldn’t have allowed Joshua to worship him.) The word “Lord” is seldom misunderstood, but very often misrepresented in Christianity. “Lord” means master, the person you worship… or in my own vernacular—the person who trumps all other people. When this person tells you to do something, you do it.

        Most people understand that meaning intellectually, but few apply it to their relationship with Jesus. They might say that Jesus is their “Lord,” but their attitude is that Jesus works for them, and not vice versa. That’s why worship so often is about the worshiper and not about the One we should be worshiping.

        Joshua understood what it means to have Jesus as his Lord. He worshiped Him, and then he asked Him what He would have him do. That needs to be the relationship that we have with Jesus. It’s not, “Lord, here’s what I want.” Instead it’s, “Lord, You’re in charge, what is it that You want from me?” That type of relationship comes naturally when you believe Jesus is who He says He is, has done what He says He did, and will do what He says He’ll do. If you truly believe He is in charge, then He will be your Lord.

Who’s the Servant Here?

Joshua’s understanding of who the Lord was—and who the servant was—is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt in chapter six:

Joshua 6:1-5

 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 rams’ 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, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.” 

 

        What’s that you say? Jesus lays out the battle plan for Joshua (remember Joshua is an army general and expert war tactician). He tells him to get everyone together and march around the city blowing horns every day for six days, then on the seventh to walk around seven times and blow their horns… That’s the plan… I’m sorry, maybe it’s just me, but is that a bit strange? 

        In Isaiah 55:8 God tells us, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways." God doesn’t always work the way you want Him to work. The Lord asked Joshua to do something that had to confuse him; but Joshua obeyed despite that probable confusion. That is the evidence of Joshua’s belief about who his Lord is… his obedience shows his belief.

        That is how it will happen with us. When we truly commit to the fact that Jesus is our Lord, we will exhibit evidence of that commitment through obedience. But here’s the kicker… the Lord will test that in your life. You might have a walled fortress like Jericho in your life that you think you will never be able to conquer. Maybe it’s your marriage… you’re marriage is falling apart and you’re at your wit’s end. Then one day while pondering what to do, you look up and there’s Jesus! You cry out, “Lord what will you have me do to save my marriage?” He says… “quit smoking.” Your response is, “What does quitting smoking have to do with saving my marriage?” 

        God didn’t give you the response you wanted, and so, like many of us, you will ignore the instruction. Joshua could have asked, “What is walking around the city blowing horns going to accomplish?” But he didn’t. He obeyed and confirmed his loyalty to his Lord.

        God can use your quitting smoking to heal your marriage. You might not see how right away, but He can… But you’ll never know how if you don’t pass the Who’s your Lord? test. He won’t abandon you at that point, but He will keep teaching you and testing you until you do pass… He’s patient… He’ll wait.

Check Your Response

        Why does God test us? After all, if He is omniscient then He knows what our response to His instruction is going to be. Since He already knows what you are going to do, then maybe the test isn’t for Him to see your response; maybe the test happens so that you can see your response. When, despite your confusion, you obey like Joshua obeyed—and God shows up and tears down walls—you’ll begin to learn test by test of God’s faithfulness.

        You’ve now proven to yourself that Jesus is your Lord and that you can trust Him in everything! From that day forward you’ll be able to say, whether the circumstance you face is good or bad, great or horrible, that you are trusting the Lord because He is your Lord and He is faithful… period! (Or exclamation point… whatever…) In that trust you will find peace. In that peace you will find patience. In that patience you will receive endurance. And in that endurance you will find rest and joy for your soul! 

        Stop leaning on your own understanding of how things work. Look up, recognize that Jesus is Lord, worship Him, and be obedient to His instruction.

        Below is the remainder of chapter six… Leaders, notice something as you read. Joshua, as the leader of the nation of Israel, didn’t try to undercut God’s somewhat weird instruction. He didn’t say, “I know this sounds weird, and I wouldn’t do it this way, but let’s give it a try and see what happens.” He didn’t roll his eyes and say, “You know God… He’s a bit coo-coo, but let’s do what He says.”  He simply said, “Here’s what we’re going to do, now follow me as I follow Christ.”

Joshua 6:6-27

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 rams’ 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 rams’ 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 ark of the LORD circle the city, going around it once. Then they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. Then seven priests bearing seven 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 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 the seventh time it happened, when the priests 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, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, 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, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

        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 brothers, 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 and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father’s household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

        Then Joshua charged them at that time, saying, “Cursed be the man before the LORD who rises up and builds this city Jericho; he shall lay its foundation 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.