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Good morning my friends on the “Walking With Jesus” journey with Joshua and me.
Today we’re reading Joshua chapter 5 and experiencing the first few days, in the land of God’s Promise for these people who grew up, in the 40 year desert wandering with their faithless parents, all of whom they buried in the sand of that desert.
Even without CNN or Fox News, word spreads quickly, especially when it’s almost unbelievable news, and that’s what happened here in Joshua 5. The first verse tells us it didn’t take long for the news to spread, of God’s miracle of holding back the rushing Jordan river at flood stage, so all His people could cross into the new land. And as leaders heard this news in other places, their hearts melted in fear.
As Joshua and the people awakened that first morning in the new land, I doubt they were prepared for God’s ‘good morning announcement’: “…the LORD said to Joshua, ‘make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites…” What? WHY?
I wonder how many of you my friends, have lived with the consequences of saying NO to God? What about living in the shadow of your parents or grandparents who said NO to God? That’s what this is about that first morning at Gilgal, with the sound of the rushing Jordan river and the sight of the 12 big rocks piled up on the Jordan river bank. As exciting as this new reality was with so many wonderful possibilities, God knew there was a deep problem needing to be resolved, before He could lead His people even one step, into the land of His promise. The problem is described in Joshua 5:5 “All the men who had come out of Egypt had been circumcised, but all the men born in the desert during the journey from Egypt had not.”
We remember that the mark of circumcision for the Hebrew men was a mark of family, heritage, pride. It marked their identity as a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God had instituted this mark with Abraham in Genesis 17, as a covenant, irreversible mark. It was to be administered on the 8th day after birth, during a ceremony which would include the naming of the child, by his parents, and the circumcision was to be done declaring that this son was born into the blood line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, therefore part of the family of God’s people. It was a great shame for a Jewish boy to NOT be circumcised by his parents in such a ceremony.
Have you ever wondered WHY this was the mark God chose to identify the Hebrew men? Why not a mark for all to see, like a birthmark on their forehead or a scar on their cheek? The Bible doesn’t tell us why, but may I propose this reason? God knew there would be two great temptations that would draw His people away from Him… sexual immorality and idolatry. Could it be that this mark of circumcision was God’s choice of the covenant mark, so when Hebrew men moved into a sexually intimate relationship with a woman, they and the woman would both see the mark, and be reminded of the sacred covenant with God and His people, and that all sexual intimacy was only to be experienced within the God honoring, sacred relationship of marriage?
All their lives these boys and young men knew the truth… their hard-hearted parents, with whom they wandered in the desert heat, because of their refusal to trust God and follow Him into the new land…those same parents refused to give their sons the sacred mark, identifying them as men born into the Hebrew line of God’s people. They had shamed their sons, and themselves, in their refusal to honor God by dedicating their sons to Him.
Therefore, on this, their first day in the new land, God instructed Joshua, and all the people who awakened that morning, to make this right. Look at vs. 8,9 “…after the whole nation (men) had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed. Then the LORD said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.’ So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.” As painful as it was, this experience cut away, severed the shame and reproach, these men had lived with all their lives.
Is this a good moment my friends, to look deeply into each of our lives? Have we been carrying shame, regret, the shadow of past failure, either ours, or our parents, for too long? Is it time, today, to give it all over to Jesus, let Him take it from us and cleanse us from all the defilement, the shame, the guilt, of those things? 1 John 1:9 says “IF we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness.” Psalm 103:11&12 say “for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as east is from west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Is today the day you need to repent of something, turn something over to God, and let Him remove it from your life, because Jesus paid for that problem with His death on the cross? Is it time for you to let the Holy Spirit of God fully cleanse you from the stain of it, heal you from the damage of it, and restore you into whole and wonderful relationship with your heavenly Father, Almighty, Holy God? Why not right now… stop reading this, and start talking to Jesus, who loves you more than you can imagine, and who knows all about it?
Do you remember what day of the month it was when the people crossed over the Jordan in Joshua 4:19? The 10th day of the first month! Bells should have gone off in your head… Exodus 12…the beginning of the journey with Moses. They day they all took a lamb and cared for it until the 14th day, then sacrificed it and put blood on the doorfarmes of their homes, with their bags packed, because Moses had said the angel of death was passing through and would “pass over” every home with the blood of faith on the doorpost. And that night, Pharaoh finally said “get out…and take all your belongings with you”!!
Look at Joshua 5:10 “On the evening of the 14th day of the month, while camped at Gilgal…the Israelites celebrated the Passover.” Wow, can you even imagine my friends, how amazing that evening must have been, as they remembered the significance of Passover, and for the men, as they celebrated, having now the covenant mark of the Hebrews, for the first time in their lives!!
And look at the next verse… “The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the the land…The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan!” Ah, now we understand why Joshua made sure he told us that the Jordan was at flood stage “all during harvest”. (Joshua 3:15) Once again we see the perfect timing of God’s plans and purposes. Can you even begin to imagine how good that food tasted after 40 years of manna?
Finally, in the last few verses of Joshua chapter 5 do you see an encounter similar to Moses and the burning bush? Who is this man Joshua encounters who identifies himself as “… commander of the army of the LORD…”? Could it be Michael, the warrior angel? Could it be an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, as He will appear in Revelation 19:11-16? Regardless of who it is, Joshua was convinced the LORD was with Him, as He promised He would be, remember? “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
My dear friends, can you and I hold tightly to that as Jesus’ promise to us, today? (Matt. 28:20) And He promised His Holy Spirit would be with us and IN us (John 14:16,17). So as you and I walk on from Gilgal, we are “Walking With Jesus”, and I hope it will be a glorious walk for you today, and the rest of you journey, my friends.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“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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