Scroll down to see and play Audio.
Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends.
As you and I know, life is filled with seasons of time. Not just fall, winter, summer, spring, but years, decades, and more than that… careers, educational journeys, relationships etc.
Would you consider this word: EPILOGUE and that it is more than the short chapter at the end of a book. It is a very specific, brief period of time that is connected with a major transition, the end of a season, of life. Graduation is the transition from an educational journey completed, to what’s next, usually a career path. A wedding is a transition from single life to married life. A birth is transition from pregnancy to life outside the womb. Departure is transition from life on earth to life after death. May I suggest at every significant transition, the final step before or during the transition is the ‘epilogue’, the chance to reflect and summarize what the journey was all about, what lessons have been learned, what changes have occurred, before launching on the next season.
History is filled with famous people writing or speaking their ‘epilogues’ in the forms of great farewell speeches or books. Today, join me please on the plains of Israel, west of the Jordan river, in the area of Shechem, not far from Shiloh where the Tabernacle was. Joshua is 110 years old, it’s time to say farewell as his life nears an end. Moses had handed Joshua the leadership mantle many years before (Deut. 32-34) and Joshua had faithfully led the people across the Jordan river into the Promised land, and they’d conquered and occupied much of it. Before him stood a huge throng of people. They highly respected Joshua and all he had accomplished as their leader.
You’ll notice Joshua 23 is Joshua’s ‘epilogue’ speech to the leaders. We all know how important good leadership is, and for the nation of Israel, which may have numbered about 2 million people by this time, God honoring leadership was vital. Notice please Joshua’s message focuses on God’s faithfulness, especially with this verse: “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth (die). You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.” (Joshua 23:14)
That’s quite a statement isn’t it? I’m sure it could not be said of either you or I, or any living person! Look back to Joshua 21:43 and Joshua’s larger summary statement: “So the LORD gave Israel all the land He had sworn to their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them, the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; everyone was fulfilled.”
Here’s a life principle Joshua wanted these leaders to understand, own, and live by after he died: Almighty, Holy God is ALWAYS faithful to His Character, His Word, His Promises, His Warnings, and His people. Now ponder that and consider history as you know it. Malachi 3:6 says “I the LORD do not change”. Hebrews 13:8 says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” God is always true to His unchanging character of holiness, mercy, love, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, etc. So how have you depended on the unchanging character of God during your lifetime?
God is always faithful to His Word, the Scriptures, and His promises. Remember Peter writes, “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promises, as some understand slowness, but He is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
But also please notice Joshua wanted the people to know God is also faithful to His warnings, and repeatedly God had warned His people that if they rejected Him as their God, and abandoned their worship of God and went to worship other gods, He would bring disaster upon them in punishment. So read carefully, my friends, Joshua’s reminder of Israel’s leaders in 23:6-16 “Just as every good promise of the LORD your God has come true,… If you violate the covenant of the LORD your God, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the LORD’s anger will burn against you and you will quickly perish from the good land He has given you.”
We know what history tells us about Israel and their land. Repeatedly they have been run out of their land and often held as captives far from the land where Joshua was speaking that day. God is faithful to His warnings…so what are some of the warnings God has given you and me in our day? How about Matthew 6:19-34 and the warning “No one can serve two masters… You cannot serve both God and Money.” Or this warning about those who would lead children into sin and away from God: “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believes in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the Sea.” (Matt. 18:6) My friends, as you and I read God’s Word, are we particularly alert to God’s warnings?
But there’s one other important thing… God is faithful to His people! Joshua’s epilogue included this powerful reminder to the leaders: “Remember how I have allotted as an inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain… the LORD your God Himself will drive them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you.” (Josh. 23:4,5)
Good Epilogues call us to look ahead ahead and consider what is possible in the future because of what God has been doing in the past. Do you see Joshua saying there is yet much land which has not been fully conquered and occupied by some of the people of Israel. There was more work to do in the future, after he would be dead and no longer there to lead them. But God was trustworthy, faithful and HE would not change. HE would still be ready to lead His people to fully occupy their land inheritance, as long as they remained true to Him and followed Him and obeyed His Word to them. It was a choice! God was fully reliable… but they would need to walk faithfully with God in order to receive the full inheritance of land.
Now what about us my friends. . .what does God have, that He would like to give you and me, as some of our inheritance as His people, TODAY, as we walk with Jesus faithfully? And what might you and I forfeit, by turning away, and chasing after other things? Oh friends, as you contemplate your life, please thank God for His reliable faithfulness, but also please take seriously God’s warnings.
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 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.