Conquest of Jericho (Part B)

We understand a lot about God and ourselves from the Bible. We don't understand, of course, everything about God.

He cannot be fully understood, otherwise He wouldn't be worthy of worship. One thing that belongs to worship is awe, that this is beyond me. This is something so high and so lifted up. I just kind of appreciate what I can lay hold of and also appreciate that there's an infinite amount more that I can do.

I can't hold or get hold of and I just love knowing that that is there. The ultimate mysteries of God. And then the seventh day. A lot of sevens is clearly written into the life of Israel, the number seven. Clearly there's a significance to this number seven.

We have to be careful that we don't, you know, start trying to read this as an omen into something. There are lessons in the number for Israel and the way God moves and we can grab some of those lessons, but we don't want to become superstitious. You know, imagine if it was a Christian baseball team and everybody wanted the number seven.

It just wouldn't work out. You'd have numbers up to like 7,777 and just keep going to satisfy some superstition. The number seven. The Sabbath created on the seventh of the week. Seven times seven is forty-nine. The forty-ninth, forty-nine days till Pentecost. The fiftieth day would be the celebration. The seventh year was the sabbatical year.

Again, seven times seven, forty-nine years. It comes then the fiftieth year, the year of Jubilee. Three of Israel's major feasts were in the seventh month.

That would be the feast of trumpets, atonement and booths. And then, of course, the words number seven in the Hebrew itself, Shiva, comes from the root meaning to be full, to be satisfied, to be complete. And it helped give this sacred significance to the Jew when it shows up in scripture. They see the number seven.

They think about what's going on here. For instance, you go to Genesis chapter 12, verses one through three, and God gives seven blessings that he promises to Abraham. And, you know, anybody that I will bless who blesses you, I will curse who curses you. Those are two of the seven that are in that section of promises, seven promises to Abraham. Seven branches on the tabernacle's lampstands. Sevens are everywhere. No other number shows up like seven. Anything involving the number seven had spiritual meaning to them in their scripture that came from the Lord. And there's others, but that's enough for now. Suffice it to say that seven spoke of God's ability to finish whatever he started.

That's the point. The seventh day he rested because he finished what he started. And then the curse came and upset the whole thing. And then Jesus comes along and says, my father works until now. Yeah, I work on the Sabbath. I don't have a day off because sin. And we understand that with our emergency services, we don't want them to be off. You know, call 911, you know, sorry they're all off today.

Call back tomorrow. And so we can understand that there's this drama introduced to the human experience. The Sabbath is not what it used to be. Things change and we adjust and we follow them. We hold to what we can, but we move intelligently through time, hopefully as Christians, just as they were to move.

We'll come to that again in a minute. And then he says in the pre-shablo, the trumpets. Joshua 6, the word shofar for trumpet and another word for trumpet also shows up, but it's just interchangeable. It's not a different type of horn. Like they didn't have, you know, French horns and tubas, which is. I mean, if mankind did not have the tuba, would anybody notice? They'd be like, man, where is the thing that goes around the guy like a tire? Now, maybe you played the tuba because you didn't like your parents and, and I don't know.

It's just an interesting thought. And, you know, I haven't had hate mail in a while and I'll give somebody cause. I got the snake lovers and the tuba lovers coming after me. Anyway, the word shofar shows up 14 times in this one chapter in eight verses. And so there's an emphasis there. This is the horn of war.

That's what this is. That's how it's being used and that's its dominant usage in the scripture. So, you know, we understand a lot about God and ourselves from the Bible. We don't understand, of course, everything about God. But it cannot be fully understood, otherwise it wouldn't be worthy of worship. One thing that belongs to worship is awe, that this is beyond me. This is something so high and so lifted up. I just kind of appreciate what I can lay hold of and also appreciate that there's an infinite amount more that I can't hold or get hold of. I just love knowing that that is there. The ultimate mysteries of God, as Moses taught in Deuteronomy 29, the secret things belong to God. But there are other things that belong to us.

There are other mysteries that we can discover and explore and use to the glory of the kingdom. Verse five, it shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the ram's horns and when you hear the sound of the trumpet that all the people shall shout with great shout and the wall of the city shall fall down flat and the people shall go up every man straight before him. Now that will be on the seventh day when the walls go flat and the people go and enter the city. The walls do not have to come down in every single place incidentally. They only need to come down where they need to be breached.

That is an interesting thought also because Rahab had everything collapsed, her house being on the wall, she would have been in the rubble and God doesn't do it that way. There's a lot of details in this section that really are dead end rabbit trails, just not really worth, you know, were you sure it wasn't on the trumpet? I used to agonize over these things and you end up in dead ends and you get back to wait a minute, the study of the word is to find out what God is saying. It's not just this, you know, adventure hunt. Well, there could be a little bit.

You just can't let it get carried away. So, it would be one loud, long, clear blast that would do the city in and so we have it ordered by God, commanded through Joshua and executed by the troops, the priest and the troops. The priest with the horns, the troops with the swords, verse six. And so there we have men with horns and men with swords. Not horns growing out of their head, but they have horns nonetheless.

I thought that was kind of cute when I read it to myself earlier, but you guys are dull of heart. Verse six, then Joshua the son of Nun called the priest and said to them, take up the Ark of the Covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark of Yahweh. And he said to the people, proceed and march around the city and let him who is armed advance before the Ark of Yahweh. And now begins the first of six days marching around the city. He says proceed and march around the city. Any objections?

Troops. Nobody object. No record of anybody saying, oh man, come on. Let's not do that. It's just no hint of it.

Nobody looking to do their own thing. Although they will be, of course, akin, he will show up in the story in chapter six because of the events in chapter seven. Again, many Christians are out of formation. They're not ready to march around the cities. They're not ready to follow orders and they are missing men. He says, and let him who is armed advance before the Ark of the Lord. That is the vanguard, the troops in front. You've got the Ark of the Covenant is there, but the troops are in front of the Ark. But God also puts troops in the back rear guard. And we'll be getting to that rear guard to protect the priests and defend the people in case the enemy decides to come out and attack during this march.

Verse eight. So it was when Joshua had spoken to the people that seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before Yahweh advanced and blew the trumpets and the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord followed them. Everybody loves a parade. This is really not a parade. This is a forced march. There's a difference between a forced march and a hike.

If you've never been on a forced march and you've been on a hike, you can't tell the difference, just unless you take my word for it. Anyway, this forced march, they're ready for war. All of Jericho has got to be perplexed. But what is happening here? Looking, if you're the humanistic critic comes along, God is so mean and all of and probably in that tone, God is giving them space to repent. How come no one sees that? If Rahab can figure it out, God is giving them more space. They don't take it. That's just like the world.

That's the story of the great white throne. I gave you space to repent. I sent Christians. I published Bibles. I did signs and wonders. I documented them for you. I preserved them for you. But you said no. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one that kills the prophets and stones those who were sent to her.

How often I wanted to gather your children as a hen gathers her brood, but you were not willing. That is the story of the world, not just Jerusalem. And yet in that story, countless multitudes get saved and we are grateful and that's why we have to stay focused that everything we do is to save souls. That is the objective, to raise your children, to go to work, to support the church. Everything we do is logistical to save souls. And we have to figure out what is my role and then execute it.

And it is good to have troops who know their duty. Imagine going on a ship and the crew doesn't know what they're supposed to do. There's a name for a ship like that.

Sunk. Anyway, let him who is armed advance before the ark. And the verse 8 as we just read, so it was Joshua had spoken to the people. Seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ram.

I read that. And we get it in our heads reading this and humans are called to exercise faith. Those troops and the priests had to exercise faith. The very thing that the flesh never wants to do is never comfortable doing. It's easier to read about it and the lives of the heroes of the faith than it is to execute these things.

This is the story. You know, you're at the workplace and somebody challenges your faith and now you're going to stand up and say, no, I don't believe that. I think that is wrong. I think it is wrong because God says it is wrong. I don't have to like it. You don't have to like it either.

You don't have to like that I like it or not. The fact is I believe God just as it was said. God is doing the lessons. Elijah told Naaman, go dip in the river Jordan and your leprosy will be washed away. Naaman scoffed at that. He didn't believe it. His flesh, are you kidding me? We have better rivers in Syria.

Go jump in that muddy thing. But Naaman acted with reason when his loved ones, and that's one of the beautiful missed parts of the story of Naaman. I make it sound like I've got it and the ones who missed it don't.

But some of that's true. The loved ones around him, they circled around him and they said, well, if he has to do something spectacular, you do it. You have no problem. So he's asking you to jump in the lake. What do you have to lose? They wanted Naaman cleansed. If they hated him as a general, they would have said, yeah, you're right.

Stay away from the river. Let's go back to Syria. But they do not. They appealed and then he listened to them, which brings out in the story his relationship with them. He wasn't this tyrant leader general that, ah, you don't tell me what to do. He had a relationship with his people. So faith is the point.

I'll come back to that in a little bit. It always needs to be addressed from the pulpit. Often it needs to be addressed because our faith leaks out of us. We have it for a while and we're like a sieve, a strainer or something in the kitchen. You pour the pasta in and the water strains out. Some of the faith goes like that. You pour the word in and in time everything leaks out.

You've got to build it back up. Maybe not a good analogy, but everybody likes pasta. In fact, I don't mind if you call me Pasta Rick.

Anyhow, well, I kind of, it's better than potato. The armed men, verse 9, went before the priest and blew the trumpets and the rear guard came after the ark while the priest continued blowing the trumpets. Armed and dangerous. Would not want to be behind Jericho's walls at this point.

And I don't want to be on the other side of salvation either. The formation is us. Again, the armed troops, the priest with the horns, the priest with the ark, and then the rear guard. The Lord taking away any idea from the enemy of, you know what, we'll sneak up behind them. We can't. They've got a sufficient amount of troops there. We won't be able to outflank them.

Verse 10, 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. I'm sorry. I try not to, you know, make jokes, but some of them are kind of funny. Maybe I'll put it this way. My youngest daughter likes to talk a lot. I mean, the oxygen out of a room. She wouldn't be invited in this formation. She couldn't. There's no way she could be quiet for 50 steps.

Never mind around the city. So they're tactical now. No yakking was the order. Now, if that leaks to my little one, that's okay because I'm her dad and I can pull rank, but she would be delighted because it would give her an opportunity to talk about it.

It kind of balances out. Anyhow, no yakking. What's the word? No talking. Now, I don't know how the other branches, I know in the branch that I was in, there was no talking in formation. Once you were called to attention, business time now, and that was it. It wasn't that difficult.

What does he have to say anyway? He didn't say already in the barracks. Oh, I forgot. Anyhow, Noah, at the command of God, by faith, he built a ship where there was no water. I mean, there were rivers, but nothing. How's this thing going to get off the ground? I want you to build a plane in the middle of a jungle.

Well, where's the runway? Abraham, you go offer your son Isaac. Moses sent to defeat Egypt with a stick. I mean, just a staff and a rod of God in his hand, and now Joshua to conquer this fortified city. It requires faith.

We don't lose sight of that. This is why the heathen archeologists, they go to Jericho and they look for any excuse they can find to say the Jews didn't do this, God didn't do this. They're standing there looking at the miraculous, not all of them.

Some of the archeologists have to acknowledge that this is beyond just coincidence here. Anyway, the faith. It's always about the faith because it's always about the souls to strengthen those who are saved so that they can be used in the processes of reaching the lost, and once those lost are reached, we can be involved in the processes of strengthening those who are now saved. Verse 11, so he had the Ark of Yahweh circled the city, going around it once.

Then they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. Now here again, it is called the Ark of Yahweh. It is also called the Ark of God in 1 Samuel 3. It is called the Ark of the Testimony in Exodus 25, and it's okay to have these interchangeable titles.

They know what they were talking about and with respect, and it was very appropriate. Verse 12, and Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priest took up the Ark of the Lord. Well, you know, when Joshua's go get him kind of a guy, and he's bringing people with him when he gets up early, and we've talked about that in earlier chapters. Verse 13, then seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark of Yahweh went on continually and blew with the trumpets, and the armed men went before them, but the rear guard came after the Ark of Yahweh while the priest continued blowing the trumpets.

So up and at him, and leaving no, sensibly, leaving no chance for chance. Again, the rear guard cannot be understated. Joshua is not saying, we will be magically protected.

It was within his power to put together a rear guard sufficient. So he does it. Instead of saying, God brought us into this promised land, he'll protect us.

Well, he will, but you still have a responsibility. And as I started out, there's activity of both faith and work in action in this chapter. And we do, you know, we mature in Christ, hopefully more and more you think, what am I supposed to be doing, instead of just trying to let God do what you should be doing. If you don't study the word of God enough to know the message, then how, why would God send you in front of an unbeliever to preach the gospel and not be able to handle basic questions?

It's not magic. We have our responsibility. So if you read up, you know a good book that I recommend, I just downloaded it today. I mean, I have it in my physical library, but more and more I'm getting into the electronic library, but Haley's Bible Handbook. It is an excellent basic resource.

Unfortunately, I think Zondervan, evil Zondervan, has the rights to it now. They're not always, Zondervan used to be a good publisher, but they sold out and they have a very heavy liberal influence in their materials now. But if you can get an earlier edition like we have in the chapel store where they have not tampered with Haley's overview of Christian history, which is an excellent overview, you can go fill in the details in other places, but you get an overview of Christian history. His report on the Roman Catholic Church and Reformation is excellent. And so anyway, he has a section on each book of the Bible. He doesn't go into too much detail if you don't have a lot of time, but you have some time.

Haley's is the place to go to build up your witness through your knowledge of the word. Okay, verse 14, in the second day, they marched around the city once and returned to the camp, so they did six days. Still nothing happened. The walls are still there, seeming like they're going in circles, and we must let God arrange the unknown. Ugh, that hurts.

I just want him to just tell me everything. Verse 15, 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. So again, the inhabitants of Jericho got to think, boy, they really lost it now. They can't stop marching. There they come again. How many times are they going to do this?

It must have been just a crazy time. But Joshua's army represents the judgment of God, and it is now complete. It is now here. Rahab, of course, no longer in the world, saved from its doom because of her decision. God will make good on that. Verse 16, and the seventh time it happened when the priest blew the trumpets that Joshua said to the people, Shout, for Yahweh has given you the city.

And I don't think there's anything really to add that I've not covered already concerning the walls. Verse 17, now the city shall be doomed by Yahweh 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. So here's a woman, lived her life making wrong decisions, makes one right decision. One right decision blows away a lifetime of wrong moves. That is the gospel.

That is the good news. You can mess things up all your life in an instant. Because to God, God says it's really not so much about what you do. I'm not factoring that out entirely, but what it is about is you and me. What do you say about me? Where are you with me? How's our relationship going? If you do not see that I am sovereign almighty and there's nobody else, then we can't be friends. And it doesn't matter what happens. The great wall of China is going to burn up, wood, hay, and stubble, the tunnel, all the things that men have made, all the monuments, you know, the chiseled out faces on Mount Rushmore and not so fast more.

Those all things, it's just goofy, sorry. I'm tired too. I'm ready for a nap. Hebrews chapter 11, by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe. There it is right there. It's about belief.

When she had received the spies with peace. When you receive the Holy Spirit with peace because you're receiving Christ, then you do not perish. And that is our message. That is enough. That is enough of our message to preach.

You can preach that to anybody. You can say to an unbeliever, this is the story of Rahab the harlot. She was in the world, Jericho. She knew enough of the truth to make a decision and she did make a decision and it was the right decision.

The others did not. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of Joshua. Cross Reference is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you're interested in more information about this ministry, please visit our website crossreferenceradio.com.

You'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. By doing so, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio in iTunes, Google Play Music or your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Joshua right here on Cross Reference Radio.