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Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig.
So the waters that went down into the sea of the Arabah, the salt sea that is the Dead Sea, failed and were cut off, and the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
Now, over the years, people have tried to come up with natural explanations of this event, and they say, "Well, back in the year 1267, there was an earthquake, and there was it's on record." And the banks of the Jordan River went into the river and stopped the flow of the Jordan River for ten hours. Then they'll point to something that happened in 1929, and same thing, earthquake happened in the same area, and it stopped up the river for 21 hours.
So those are natural phenomenon. It has happened before.
However, none of those. Examples happened at what the Bible says happened here. What happened here? It was at flood season. It's very, very different.
So the timing was exact. The waters heaped up, which is not a natural phenomenon. The bottom dried up. Then they crossed over. Then the waters filled in where they were before.
Now most of the year. The Jordan River is about a hundred feet wide in this area, at least before all the farming that siphoned the water in more recent time. About a hundred feet wide, at flood stage it's about a mile wide.
So it's not like those earthquake. That put some of the banks and and kept the water from flowing. It's a little bit different. And when I find things like this in the Bible, rather than thinking I have to find a natural explanation, I'm really okay with God just pulling off a supernatural miracle, so that the children of Israel don't go, "Oh, coincidence." There's an earthquake today. Isn't that cool?
They're walking through, going, "This is God." This is God, because at the exact time the toes of the priests hit the water, boom, those waters opened up. Another quick note: fast forward to the New Testament. There is a guy down at the New Testament times, just before Jesus shows up, at that area, same area of the Jordan River, named J. The B. That's my nickname for John the Baptist.
J the B is baptizing. It says in John chapter one verse twenty-eight, these things John's baptism were done in Bethabara. You remember that word in your New Testament? These things John the Baptist baptizing were done in Bethabara, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. Bethabara means the house or the place of passage.
So John was baptizing where the children of Israel once crossed 1,500 years earlier, and John said something very interesting to the people who were coming to be baptized, especially the religious people. He said, "Don't begin to think within yourselves that we have Abraham as our father." In other words, we think we're okay because we have Jewish blood. He continues, "For God is able to raise up of these." Stones, children to Abraham.
Now I've been in that area. There are a lot of stones in Israel, but interestingly, down by the Jordan River, it's dirt. There's not a lot of stones in that area. But he refers to these stones. I don't know what exactly he was referring to, but I'm going to suggest that we find out perhaps in the next chapter, chapter four and five.
They're instructed to take twelve stones out of the Jordan River and pile them up as a memorial for generations to come. Chapter four, verse nineteen: The people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.
So they've made it across the Jordan River. They're now in the land of Canaan. They go to a place called Gilgal. Gilgal is a Hebrew word that means circle. A lot of scholars believe it was once a pagan worship site.
So they kind of move in and reclaim it and redeem it, and they set up HQ there. That's their base camp. That's their beachhead.
So by a miracle of God and leadership of Joshua, over two million people have crossed that Jordan River on dry land. And they're now in the Promised Land. Chapter five. The story continues, but they're not ready for the battle yet. They're not ready to take the land.
There's something that they failed to do and needs to happen. It's called consecration. Consecration must precede conquest. If you're going to win the battle, make sure your heart is right before God. Consecration must precede conquest.
And what they neglected to do is circumcise their male children the entire time they were in the wilderness. And celebrate the Passover, so they do that in this chapter, chapter five, verse four. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the people who came out of Egypt, who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they came out of Egypt. For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness on the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised.
Now circumcision. Without elaborating on it, because I think you know what that is. It was a covenant symbol that God first gave to Abraham. Right? It was an outward symbol of an inward covenant that they made with God.
In fact, always it was to mean a spiritual operation more than just a physical operation. In Deuteronomy chapter ten. Moses says, "Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer." Of course, the children of Israel turned out to be stiff-necked a lot longer. They disobeyed. They refused to live by the spirit, and they lived by the flesh.
And the idea of circumcision is just as you cut away the flesh, cut away living for the flesh, and live by and for the spirit.
Now it's interesting that he said, "Don't be stiff-necked any longer." In Acts chapter seven, Stephen will say to the Jews of his day, "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did.
So do you." So the circumcision meant far more than just an outward symbol of a covenant. It meant live in the spirit, live for the Lord, and cut away fleshly desires. Interesting note in verse twelve of chapter five: something stopped. Notice what it is. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land.
The children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan this year. I bet they were stoked to be done with the manna, even though manna was cool and it sustained them, and it had all the vitamins necessary for refueling and for keeping them those forty years. They had had it for a long time. They had a miraculous provision of manna. They had the cloud cover and the fiery pillar by night.
All of these were visible evidences of God's presence.
Now it stopped, and I think there's a lesson there. As long as the manna was on the ground and the cloud, the pillar, all that stuff was there, they could live by sight. They would go when the cloud went and when that pillory fire went, and every day they got up, there it is again, manna. Let's cook it up. Every day, there it is again.
Cook it up. They just—it was always there.
Now it's not there, because they're graduating to a life of faith. Likewise, we live by faith and not by sight. That's the Christian life.
So sometimes the provision ends, and when it ends, we go, "Oh no, God! What are you doing?" Wait for it. Keep walking. Get those feet wet. Just keep moving ahead.
Something will happen. God will show up. Chapter five, verse thirteen. It came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho. This is still part of this consecration that he lifted up his eyes and he looked, and behold, a man.
Notice his capital M in your Bible. At least it is in mine. Is it capital M?
Okay, that's a little clue then for you. A man, capital M, stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went to him and said. Are you for us, or for our adversaries? It's a good question.
It's a fair question. Has to sort out. Are you friend or foe? Because if you're a friend, you shouldn't be here. If you're a foe, my sword's about to teach you a lesson.
That's how this is going.
So he says, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" Adversaries. The answer comes back, very interestingly.
So he said. No, what kind of an answer is that? Are you for us or for them? No. In other words, wrong question.
Your question is, "Am I on your side?" This man is saying the real question is, "Are you on my side?" He said, "No," but as the commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped him and said, "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 that you stand is holy." And Joshua did so. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. The Bible is a big book—66 books filled with history, poetry, prophecy, letters, laws, and more. It's easy to lose sight of how it all fits together.
That's why Pastor Skip Heitzig wrote his new one-year devotional, Soaring Above It All. It gives you a panoramic view of Scripture, helping you understand the key people, events, and themes from Genesis to Revelation, while deepening your walk with God. Request soaring above it all as our thanks when you give fifty dollars or more today to help connect with Skip share clear verse by verse Bible teaching with people everywhere. Give now at connectwithSkip dot com slash offer or call eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty eight.
Now here is more from Pastor Skip.
Something happened, or he saw something, or felt something, or noticed something. That convinced Joshua that this was no mortal soldier. This was no human being, because he addresses him as Lord. Very similar. To Abram in the plains of Mamre, when three visitors came and one identified himself, one of these men as the Lord.
Very similar to Jacob wrestling with the angel at Peniel, and he wrestled with this man. It says through the night, and the man identified himself as the Lord. Very similar to the voice at the burning bush, who speaks as the Lord.
So Joshua figures that out. Like the burning bush, takes the sandals off, and he worships before the commander of the Lord's army.
So Joshua was the commander of Israel's army, but now he goes, okay.
So you outrank me. I'm not number one. You're number one. I'm number two. I hope I'm on your side, and he worships him.
Public. Victories are the results of private visits. What will get you through the trials that you face, that seem excruciating? These battles that seem insurmountable are private times with the Lord. Stay at it.
Keep your quiet times every morning or whenever you have them, whether it's at noon or evening. Have them those private visits with the Lord, and so he bows and he worships, and therein lay his strength. And there's the strength of this battle coming up. When I was in Scotland years ago, I remember going to Edinburgh and visiting where John Knox lived and preached, and there's a little recording there talks about Mary Queen of Scots. Remember her?
She was the Queen of Scotland, and. John Knox would would often preach against her, and she went on record as saying that she said, "I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe." Isn't that a great statement? I fear his prayers more than all the armies of Europe because she knew when this man prayed, his private visits meant public victories.
Now we come to the second section of the book of Joshua, chapters six through twelve. Chapter six, verse one.
Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out, none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand; its king and all the mighty man of valor.
Now, if I'm Joshua and I hear this," I'm going to think. No, I don't see. Right, because what I see is a city securely shut up. I'm in the Promised Land. You said we're going to have this land, but I don't see it opened up and ready to be given to me.
I see a a city tightly closed off because the armies are outside of it. And so God said, "See, I've given you the land." I'm going. No, I don't see it. And I'm bringing this up because this is. How it seems sometimes, God gives us a promise, and yet everything just seems closed up.
Doesn't seem like it's working. You know, I know God made this promise, but where's the provision right now? I don't see it.
Okay, so that's that. That's how Joshua is. The land has been promised, but he doesn't see it right away. What he sees is a closed-off city. Verse three: You shall march around the city.
All you men of war, you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do for six days. I imagine the first day, marching around the city.
So I'm in Jericho. I'm watching this. I'm watching them go all around the city. I'm scared because there's a large army and they're marching around the city. They're casing out the joint.
I'm probably terrified the first day. Oh no! Oh no! Remember, their hearts were melting within them. Then the second day.
By the third day, I'm thinking.
So, day one and two, they just kind of walked.
So it's day three. They're probably just going to walk.
So I'm out there looking. I'm feeling very confident now on day three. There they are.
So what? I don't care. Yeah. Hi. How are you?
Until the seventh day. By the seventh day, I'm probably laughing at them. I'm mocking at them because they're not making any overtures to attack the city that I live in.
Now, verse four. Did I cover verse three? Verse four, and seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark.
So. Picture the process: guys blowing horns, carrying that gold box, armies behind them. But the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
Okay, I'll get back to the people in Jericho in just a minute. But God has them march around the city. How many days total? Total. Seven days, six time, one time for six days, seven times on the seventh day.
Seven days they are marching around the city. One of those days had to be the Sabbath. God said the Sabbath is holy. Keep the Sabbath holy. God now commands them to march around seven straight days.
Why would God do that? Because God has that prerogative, first of all, He's God, and it illustrates something Jesus said in the New Testament about the Sabbath. He said the Sabbath was made for man; man was not made for the Sabbath.
So here, God puts on hiatus or pause for this battle, that seven-day rest, and tells them to march around it.
Now, again, insight into God's ways. First Corinthians one, I've quoted many times, hundreds, thousands of times from this pulpit or table, whichever. God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. What could be more foolish than an army marching around the city? Six times, then seven more times on that seventh day, doing absolutely nothing.
First day they feel terrified. Third day they feel confident. Seventh day they're laughing and mocking at the children of Israel. Let's draw a parallel: to the world you look foolish. To the uninformed, the worldly person, they look at the Christian, they look at your values.
They look at what you believe in. That seems so stupid, so foolish, so naive, so dumbed down. And you keep this in mind next time you are standing up to a worldly person mocking you for what you believe. And when they mock you and they tell you how foolish you are, just remember it's only the first day, or maybe it's just the third day. But the seventh day is coming.
And when that comes, when that judgment day hits. You're going to be standing strong and tall, and I'm glad five of you think that's a good thing. The rest of you need to get a move on here.
Now we get into chapter seven, and we have a stark contrast. It's like we're reading a completely different book. It's totally different chapter seven from the previous chapters. Um. In chapter six, they march around the city.
In chapter seven, they run like scared kids because they're a little bit overconfident, having taken the city of Jericho. They come up with a smaller city, the city of Ai. A i remember how the flight attendant said, "Say Ai, Ai." That's this city. Ai.
So Ai was a small town. Jericho had fallen. The children of Israel are feeling really good about themselves. They're flushed from the victory, and they now come to the little town of Ai, feeling very overconfident. We don't need to do anything here.
We don't need to talk to God about it. We just need to do this in an afternoon—a quick mop-up. They get defeated in Ai. You are not most vulnerable when you are down and out. You are most vulnerable.
When you are up and in, when you have success and you feel really good about who you are, that's when you're most vulnerable. Children of Israel felt really good about Jericho. It's like, man, we did good.
Well, actually, you did nothing. You tooted your own horn a whole bunch of times, but those walls didn't come down because, well, I blew my horn really well. It was a miracle of God.
So you did absolutely nothing, and you should be depending. On the Lord.
Well, what what happened here? Not only were they overconfident, but there's a guy named Achan. Name means trouble. Who saw Babylonian garments, some silver, some gold, stole it, brought it to his tent. Nobody knew about it.
God knew about it. Microphones always on with God. Cameras always rolling with God. God saw it. Joshua gets wind of it.
He gets eliminated. Along with his family and 36 total die because of this. He is taken out and he is eliminated. Achan's sin affected other people. Our sin affects other people.
You cannot sin without having that hurt others around you. That's the thing about sin. It's just, it's just, it's my life. It's my body. It's going to affect others, and so it is in the church.
When one Christian heart grows cold, the temperature of others around you gets diminished just a bit.
So that's why we need to be encouraging each other and holding each other accountable. Remember Jonah when he sinned, he didn't just experience the consequence alone. There were people in that boat who experienced the storm along with him. And those unbelieving soldiers and sailors were saying, "How do we get this storm to stop?" Jonah said, "Throw me overboard." But they were affected by his sin.
So it was with Achan. In this chapter, chapter eight, Joshua builds an altar, and I'm taking you to the end of the chapter. They finally defeat Ai because they pray about it. They talk to God about it, and they build an altar. They go to the central portion of the land, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim.
If you remember in previous studies, Moses told them to do that once they get into the land. And Joshua takes and copies. Get this. Get he copies the whole Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses. He copies them by hand, and then he reads them out loud.
Look at verse thirty-five, chapter eight. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them. This is not the Bible from thirty thousand feet. He was going through the Bible from three feet. He read.
This was a long church service. As Moses read. All those books of Moses that we just covered, the 30,000, he read them all word for word to them. Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember that your generosity helps share clear verse-by-verse Bible teaching with people everywhere, helping them know God more deeply and live out His truth.
And this month, when you give fifty dollars or more, we'll send you Pastor Skip's brand new devotional, Soaring Above It All, as our thanks. This one-year journey through the Bible will help you see how Scripture fits together, understand its key people, events, and themes, and grow deeper in God's Word each day. Give today at ConnectWithSkip.com/offer or call eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty eight. See you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
