Good Tuesday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
When you think about words like EVIL or WICKED or DEPRAVITY or DECADENT or BARBARIC what events or behavior comes to your mind? Certainly, our TV screens have been filled with it in recent weeks, would you agree? When you think about HOLY or SACRED or GOD HONORING, I wonder what comes to your mind? There is a huge contrast between those two categories of behavior isn’t there? That dramatic contrast represents the dramatic difference between Holy, Almighty God and evil, wicked Satan and their opposite desires for the human race and life on planet earth.
Now ponder that for a moment please as we step into one of the most important discussions we’ll ever have on “Walking with Jesus”.
I left you yesterday in one of the most famous places in the world, contemplating one of the most unusual events in all human history. The place? The ancient city of Jericho. The event? The Israelite conquering of Jericho. If you read or listened to the Dramatic Audio Bible recording of Joshua 6 you witnessed Joshua and the Israelites as they followed God’s clear instructions that the Israelite warriors were to walk around the outside walls of Jericho city once each day, for six days, in SILENCE! First in this unusual parade were seven priests playing, the rams’ horns, the Sophar, the trumpet the Israelites used both in worship and to call the Israelites to action. Behind those priests came the Levites carrying the Ark of the Covenant of God which contained the 10 Commandment tablets of stone Moses had brought down from Mount Sinai. Behind the Ark came the warriors armed for battle, but these warriors marched in silence not making a sound and not unleashing their weapons. WHY?
Let’s put ourselves up on the top of those huge walls with the Jericho warriors watching this silent parade. What could it possibly mean? What crazy strategy is this? And of course, if you were one of those Israelite warriors what are you thinking as you walk silently around this fortress looking at the armed warriors on top of the walls with their weapons aimed at you!?
Jericho was one of the oldest cities in the world. Some archeologists claim it may have already been in existence 1000 years or more when Joshua and the Israelites walked around it! It was famous for terrorism as a bloodthirsty, violent city which sent out warriors to terrorize towns and villages even several days ride in any direction. It was a city of wicked immorality. It was a religious city, but the religion practiced there included sexual orgies and the sacrificing of children! As Joshua and the Israelites had spent several months with God at Mount Sinai with Moses some years before, God had over and over given them instructions about how holy God was and that God wanted His people to be a holy reflection of HIM to the world.
The contrast between who God was calling the Israelites to be and what Jericho had been for a very long time, could not have been greater. God had made it clear, evil and wickedness deserved God’s judgment whether in a person, a family, or a city. God’s judgment on Jericho was for several purposes.
I don’t know how we could compare the wickedness of Jericho with the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, but here’s why I believe God instructed Joshua and the Israelites to destroy Jericho:
First... to protect the Israelites from the vicious terrorism of the warriors of Jericho.
Second… to protect the Israelites from being drawn into the immorality and wicked religion of Jericho.
Remember for 40 years these Israelites had been alone in the desert, living totally isolated from any other peoples. As they entered this Covenant Land they would be surrounded by people who did not know their God and lived wicked, immoral lives. Those people would then, as today, invite God’s people to come join them in their immorality and idol worship.
Third…to teach all people, who would ever hear of Jericho, that God has a holy standard for living and all persons will be held accountable to holy God for how we each have lived our lives.
Fourth…About 1400 years after this Jericho event, the apostle Paul wrote it so very clearly in his letter to the Romans: “For all have sinned and fall short of the holy, glory of God…the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.” (Romans 3:23, 6:23)
The judgment of God upon Sodom, Gomorrah and Jericho provided both the Israelites and all who heard of it to consider the Holiness of God and Holy God’s condemnation of sin, but also God’s invitation to a holy way of living found only in a relationship with Holy God!
But I see at least three other major purposes or lessons which God had for His people Israel in this unusual conquest of Jericho:
First... to show the people, both the Israelites and all who would hear about Jericho, that God had more than sufficient miraculous power to accomplish anything He desired and to overcome any obstacle to His purposes.
God proved it with the plagues in Egypt and the opening of the Red Sea for their escape. He proved it with the opening of the Jordan River and their crossing on dry ground. Now, God proved it again by His conquest of Jericho without the Israelites doing anything but walking in silence and then giving a great shout!
Second… to reinforce the value of TRUSTING God and His plans, and OBEYING God and His instructions!
Out before these Israelites lay the great Covenant Land provided by God but the only way the Israelites would take possession of it and settle their families in the manner which would honor God, would be IF they fully Trusted God and Obeyed His every instruction. Deviation from God’s guidance or backing away from trusting fully in God would end them in disaster.
Third… to show His people that God was a loving, compassionate God and He wanted his people to be the same.
Joshua 6:22-25 gives us the account of Joshua sending the two ‘spies’ into the city of Jericho to find Rahab, the woman who had risked her life by hiding them. They found Rahab in her home, along with her entire family, and they brought them to Joshua who assured them that they would be welcome to live among the Israelites safe and protected! This was a significant moment of integrity, as Joshua stood by his word that Rahab and her family would be spared as Jericho was destroyed.
It was a call to the Israelites to always be a people of honest, God honoring integrity, truthfulness, reliability. It was also a call to recognize our great, almighty, holy God is also a God of GRACE and MERCY and that He wanted His people to do the same!
Now, in closing today, I urge us to read or listen to the Audio Dramatized Bible rendition of the conquering of Jericho in Joshua 6:8-25. Watch carefully for the evidence of these seven purposes of God. I believe you will see this is NOT what Russia has been doing in Ukraine nor is it what Hamas did to Israel, nor is it what Israel is now doing in the Gaza Strip.
This was God proclaiming to both the inhabitants of Canaan and the Israelites, and to all who would ever hear of Jericho, some very important, fundamental truths about Holy and Merciful God and how He deals with humanity, both the wicked, the depraved, and His people, saved by His Grace. And here’s a worship song to help us consider all these things, my friends…
Today’s Scripture is Joshua 6:8-25.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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