Joshua 5 Bible Study (New Generation Circumcised/First Passover in Canaan) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Mimi in Joshua chapter five. Now the significance of this chapter is that the nation of Israel has officially entered into the promised land for the first time. The narrative of the Old Testament will never ever be the same again. Why? Because from now on, you and I are gonna read from the perspective of the people occupying the land that has been promised and planned for so many years concerning this people group.

And you and I have been doing what? We've been with the nation of Israel, not just in the days of Abraham when it was just him as the father of the nation, but even through that forty year wilderness journey. And we've seen the ups and mainly downs, and we have now come to this point where they cross the border, and their feet are touching the soil of what they have been anticipating and longing for for generations. And you and I are sharing in that. And what we read last week in Joshua four was a transition, literally, the steps between the border beyond the Jordan, them crossing the river on dry land and stepping into the promise.

And Joshua received instruction that they were to do what? Take these giant stones as memorials to bring with them into the promised land, and plant them, so that they would be a sign of God's faithfulness and unchanging love towards the people. And they would be teaching tools for their children, so that for generations to come, they would see that these rocks were taken out of the river, that God pushed the water back, and they were able to pick it up with ease. And they would be reminded that no matter what they face in the days ahead, God is able to do the same for them. It's exciting.

It's amazing how we have transitioned into this. But that study about the stones being a picture and an emblem of god's faithfulness was not just for the nation of Israel. Meaning that whole work done, that whole, powerful manifestation of God wasn't just for the nation to respond in a certain way. We're told here in verse one that God had a different purpose, and let's see how that is to be true. Joshua five verse one.

As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the West, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over. Their hearts melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel. So this wasn't a private show. This wasn't something that was limited to the faithful community. No.

God wanted a reaction from these pagan kings, and he got exactly what he desired. They were trembling. They heard the news, and they were crippled with fear. And you and I better believe that this is what God exactly wanted. Why?

Because remember, when Israel was coming into the promised land, it wasn't that God couldn't find a different land. It wasn't that God just wanted to cause ruckus and and he's thirsty for blood, so he just wanted to have a war and prove that he's able to take over. No. No. No.

No. That's not what God wanted to do. We know that God wanted to provide a land for his people, but he had a different purpose as well, and he fulfills different purposes at the same time. The Canaanites were wicked. They were despicable in their acts.

Their sins have reached the heavens, and God was gonna judge them. For century upon century upon century, they would not relent. They would not repent. And so, therefore, God is gonna take this nation called Israel and use them as an instrument of divine judgment, and at the same time, provide for this new nation a place to occupy and grow and thrive to usher in the Messiah. And so when when the people hear, what god wants them to realize is judgment is coming.

When the people realize who's on the side of the nation of Israel, they melt with fear, and that's exactly what the lord wants. Now here's an important question. Was that their fate in an unchangeable way? Was that sealed for them, that judgment? Meaning, was God wanting them to to have this frightful reaction, to realize that his wrath was coming to them at the speed of a freight train?

Was that what what he wanted? Was it a done deal? Well, that depends on your view of god. What we have to understand is that god did want this reaction from them, but god wanted the reaction to lead to surrender. He wanted the trembling to bring them to their knees and to realize their sin and to realize that there is a holy God that's not like their gods who will bring justice to them, and it would cause them to surrender.

It would cause them to say, okay. We were wrong. We surrendered to the God of Israel, the true and living God. That's what God wanted. And if you were all here tonight, I would ask the question, well, how do we know that?

How do we know that we don't guess that and say, well, this is what I believe God to be? How do we know for certain this is what god wanted to draw out of the people? Here's one way. You and I have read prior to this of a woman in Jericho who told the spies that Joshua sent how she and her people reacted the same way that they're reacting here in Joshua five. Do we not?

What do we read of in Joshua two? Let's go to Joshua two and see. Verse 11. This is the spies communicating with Rahab, the prostitute. And what does Rahab say?

And as soon as we heard it heard about what? The deeds that the Lord had done for Israel with Egypt and in the wilderness. As soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you. That's the same thing that we're seeing here in Joshua five. For the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

Now then now look what she does. She is reacting the same way these kings are reacting in Joshua five, but what does the trembling lead to? Now then please swear to me by the Lord that as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father's house and give me a sure sign. Now God honored that request of one prostitute who wanted to be saved from god's wrath. Here's the question.

If god was willing to do it for one prostitute, would he not be able to do it for an entire people group? Does God show favoritism? Does God have a divine lottery where he says, you're gonna be saved, not you. No. It's already done deep.

No. God longs for all to hear, to fear, and to fall in surrender. Because God longs to extend mercy, and God sometimes has to shake us and make us afraid realizing what is to come upon us if we do not respond to his grace. And that fear should should open us up to to give ourselves to him and then be showered by his love and mercy. God did it, and it worked for Rahab.

And I'm sure according to the scriptures from cover to cover, knowing the character of God, it throbbed for every single person in the land of Canaan to respond the same way, but they didn't. They didn't. And guess what? People don't do it today. I can tell you personally that people have responded emotionally to the gospel.

People have even maybe confessed that God is powerful, and he's able to do miraculous things, and he is real. And they've even maybe even trembled under certain truths being preached to them, but I can testify to you that they have. They have maybe verbally confessed that they have maybe emotionally responded to truths of God, but they have never surrendered. They have not come to the place where they said, I hear what you're saying. It's touching my heart, but what shall I do to know this God?

What shall I do to avoid the wrath of God? You you find it very rare where a person comes to that point. And so I wanna tell you, even as you're watching and you're hearing this bible study, it's not enough to respond emotionally to a message. It's not enough to even acknowledge verbally that this is the true and living God. It comes down to this.

Does it lead you to surrender? Because this is what God is after. And, unfortunately, for the kings, they didn't come to that point. But I wanna cover another thing as well. Let's consider another another motive of why God in Joshua four called for these stones to be pulled out of the river.

And we read it actually at the last verse of Joshua chapter four. Now let's go to it, and let's see what it says in verse 24. This is the reason why God wanted these stones to come out, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty. Right? You go to Joshua five one, and that's what he gets.

Every nation may know that God's hand is strong and powerful and real. But then look what it says after that. And that you no. Not the nations. No.

He says you, my people, those who follow me, those who are safe by me, those who are led by me, you, what do I want you to do so that you may fear the lord your god forever? You're saying, hold on. Joshua chapter four, you're talking about love. You're talking about stones on the breast piece of the of the priest. You're talking about faithfulness.

I like that part. How do you reconcile God doing an amazing work of intervention, provision, leading, goodness, and for him to to to want to draw out a fear of him as a result? I understand judgment and wrath and holiness to naturally pull out of me a trembling. But what you're trying to tell me is that God did something good, and he still wants fear? Absolutely.

Because what we have to understand is that every aspect of who God is, every attribute, every move, every character, every component of his being demands a fear of him. Not just the things that naturally create a response of reverence. No. Even the things that you and I might not think to cause us to revere him, God wants it. God wants us to respond to it with an astonishment.

And that's important because how you and I understand the character of God and how we respond to it determines if we really understand it. Let me give you an example. What is one of the most wonderful qualities about who God is? Our God, the true God, the God of the Bible. People say this and that.

Here's one thing. It's his forgiveness. His forgiveness. His willingness to forgive. And and we understand the forgiveness of God, and we bask in the freedom to know that we are forgiven.

Do we not? I mean, this is this is what the gospel is all about. But do we really understand forgiveness? Do we truly understand his mercy? Do we know the power behind it?

Because here's a verse for us to consider. In Psalms one thirty verse four, the psalmist says, in you, there is forgiveness. And we go, amen? Awesome. Finish the verse.

That you may be feared. Not making it up. Look for it yourself. In you, not holiness, not wrath, not justice, all true things about God. In you, there is forgiveness that you may be feared.

You know, for the longest time, I always believed that people don't fear God because they don't understand how real he is, how holy he is, transcendent, powerful, willing to intervene, discipline, cause things to happen, and nobody can tell them not to. And that is true. Many people don't believe that about God. But now I have a new understanding. And it's not something that we don't know about God, but the connection between fearing God, not just because of the things that might make us afraid of him, but even of the good things that he does, like forgiving.

What do I mean? I mean, I believe that there are some people who do not fear God, not just because they don't understand his holiness, but because they don't understand his goodness. Because when you read a verse like Psalms one thirty where it says, in you there is forgiveness that you may be feared, we have to ask ourselves some serious questions. What what about his forgiveness should cause me to tremble and to revere and to bow and to worship? What about it?

Well, we have to understand how he forgives, and we have to understand what he's willing to forgive. And when we answer those questions, then we know, then we feel a weakness in our knees, and we feel a weight on our neck to actually adore him with holy honor. When we realize what he was willing to do with his son to forgive us, when we realize that there is no sin, there is no sin black enough to be washed white by the blood of Jesus, when we realize how awesome and the depth of the sacrifice for that forgiveness to be available, if we don't tremble, then we don't understand it. If we're if we're casual with it, if we're light with it, then we don't really understand it. That's exactly what the psalmist is saying.

So we have to understand that the goodness of God will even cause the fear of God. And if we don't fear God in light of his goodness because in our generation, we just wanna talk about the things that make us feel comfortable. Even the things that make you feel comfortable, like forgiveness, should cause you and I to tremble. If not, then we're not teaching it right. If not, we're not hearing it right.

Should it cause comfort? Yes. Should it cause us to feel freedom? Absolutely. That's what the gospel is all about.

But if you do not include the ingredient of the fear of God, then there's something about our delivery of the gospel, of the grace of God, of the mercy of God that we are not getting right. So these stones that were gonna be pulled out of the Jordan River, and they were gonna be placed in Gilgal to be a memorial for generations when fathers would hold their their their kids' hands and bring them, and with their other hand, hold their their wife's hand, and they would look at these stones, and he would rehearse the story of what happened in Joshua four. You know what God's desired response was? That they would tremble, and they would look at each other and say, this is the same God that is willing to intervene for us. This is the same God who has power over all natural elements.

This is the same god that can stop the water, stop the sun, that by the word of his mouth, all things can collapse, and no one can argue and no being can retreat from the authority of who he is. And they, as God desired, would fear not the nations that don't believe God, the the faithful. My question in this bible study is where's the fear of God today? Where's the trembling? Where's the reverence?

Where's the sense of the holiness of god? Do you think god's desire was different in the old testament than the new? That's a whole different segment for a different bible study, but let's move on. We see here that the nations trembled. And then we go to verse two and we see another interesting thing that happens.

Before the people would move on, they've planted these stones. This is something that they would lean on for the rest of their history. But you come to verse two, and God gives an interesting command. Before they would conquest, before they would battle plan all these things, we read between verse two and seven that God gives instruction for Joshua to circumcise all the men. You can consider this to be the very first thing that they are supposed to do in the land of Canaan.

Dismissing the fact that they were supposed to bring the stones, the first plan of action was, Joshua, before you do anything, before you pull any sword to go and attack the enemy, you're gonna actually take flint knives, and all the men are gonna be circumcised. Now we wonder why. Why now, but why this people? Weren't they circumcised before? Remember, circumcision went all the way back to Abraham's day.

That was when it was instituted. So hundreds of years have passed, and we already know that when a male child is supposed to be born, at eight days eight days old, they're supposed to be circumcised. So this should have been already a practice. But what we read, we won't read it now, between verses two and seven, we get an explanation for why this generation wasn't circumcised. Look at verse five.

It tells us, though all the people who came out had been circumcised, came out of Egypt, Yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. So that first generation that came out of Egypt, they were all circumcised. But those who were born, because remember, it was a forty year wilderness journey, those who were born during that journey, for some reason, were not circumcised when they should have been circumcised. And you might be wondering why? Why didn't they circumcise them?

And you have people with different speculations. You have some who say, well, it wasn't feasible. They were in a wilderness journey, and it wasn't it wasn't practical to circumcise their children, so God let it pass. Some say, well, because that first generation was under God's judgment, God didn't see it appropriate for this generation that disobeyed God and would die in the wilderness to to give the seal of the covenant to their children. And some would plainly say, it's pure negligence.

The parents were not responsible to circumcise their children, and so now they have to be circumcised. Let's go with the last one just for the sake of argument. If it was due to the negligence of the parents, and here's a wonderful truth that you and I can draw from this as they're about to be circumcised, that whatever our parents failed to invest in us does not mean that you and I are exempt from experiencing them for ourselves. See, circumcision wasn't up to the eight day year old baby. No.

Circumcision was the responsibility of the parents to say, god has given us this boy, and we're gonna dedicate him to the lord. And even from his infancy, he's going to be sealed to serve and live and worship the true and living god. They didn't do that in the wilderness. There was a lack of investment into that. And I know many people who feel that way about their upbringing, who feel like they've been robbed of something, or feel like they have not been invested in the way that others who have been invested in by their parents or their generations or their heritage.

And the danger of that is that we can almost come up with an excuse that we can't be who God called us to be, or we can't know what God wants us to know because we haven't had the roots that we wish we had had. So you have people who say, I didn't have a dad or a mom who read the Bible to me or taught me how to pray. And they can almost even look back to their unfortunate upbringing and and make excuses for their present compromises. Or there are others who say, well, you know, I I didn't have parents help me develop character or disciplines or this or that. Listen.

Whatever area in life, spiritual or non spiritual, that we have not received from our upbringing or from our environment does not mean that we do not have the opportunity or the invitation to know it for ourselves. And so these men are about to take it upon themselves to connect to God even though they did not have that opportunity given to them younger in younger years. That's how merciful God is, that God doesn't consider our background. God doesn't consider the failure of others or anything. You are your own person.

I am my own person, and God wants to relate to you and to me, and he continually invites us to know him and to draw near to him. We cannot allow the failures of others to make up our own failures. No. God didn't say, well, you know, your parents didn't circumcise you, so I'll just give you a pass. Go on in and do your thing in the promised land.

He said, get circumcised. And they obey. And this is what makes it even more significant. Not just the fact that they were able to take this upon themselves. Who would be the ones that would be getting circumcised?

The men. This was just strictly for the men. But what type of men? Because these weren't just general Jews. No.

The men were also soldiers. These men were gonna fight in the promised land. So do you understand the weightiness of this command being given at this moment? Out of all the moments, they cross the Jordan River. They celebrate.

They have their memorials. They're in. And then they get an announcement from Joshua. Men gather, and all the soldiers come, perhaps even with their swords on their waist and their shields in their arms. And he says, I have an announcement from the Lord.

We must get circumcised. You think, well, what's so significant about that? We're talking about surgery. We're talking about a national surgery. We're talking about every single soldier being almost in a paralyzing state because of this act, leaving them vulnerable as they are behind enemy lines.

So you can imagine, though we don't have any opposition, you can imagine what one of these soldiers could have been thinking. So here comes Joshua, and here's a band of soldiers, and he gives the command. Let's all be circumcised. And and one of them goes, hold on, Joshua. You couldn't have given this before we crossed the Jordan River?

Joshua, all of us to get circumcised? How about how about this? How about half of us get circumcised? Let us heal up. And then once we heal up, the next half can get circumcised, and we'll be able to keep guard because what's their what's the possibility that as they're in this state that they can be ambushed or attacked and overwhelmed?

And we go, well, how do we know that's possible? How do we know that's even a strategy? Think of the bible study back in Genesis. Wasn't there a moment when an entire city, an entire family group was circumcised, And the sons of Jacob took advantage of them and killed every single one of them. Let's read it from Genesis thirty four twenty five.

Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, was raped by Shechem. So Shechem and his father come to Jacob, and they wanna make a proposal. I I wanna marry your daughter. And so, under deception, and by deception rather, the sons of Jacob say, you're dead. And so they come up with a plan.

They were so conniving. They said, listen. We get it. You wanna be a part of our family. You wanna you wanna join together.

That's fine. But we can't accept men that are uncircumcised, so you gotta get circumcised. He was willing to do it. He wanted her, so he goes back to his hometown and commands all the men to get circumcised, and they do. And what happens?

Genesis thirty four twenty five tells us, on the third day after the circumcision, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. Do you think that this generation knew that story back in Genesis? Very likely. And so as Joshua says, all the nation get circumcised. You can imagine we are literally gonna be sitting ducks to the Canaanites.

So consider the timing of this command and understand what God is asking of his people. You know what he's asking of? Faith. Faith. It would have been difficult to just obey this command as a male.

You're not eight days old at this point. You're a grown male. This is gonna be a painful experience. But on top of that, with the worries and the fears that this could lead to our own deaths, yes. Why?

Because God is pleased with faith, with trust. Do you think that this is something that you and I can experience? Maybe not to this degree of obedience to a command in the physical, but the principle is so true that oftentimes God's word, God's command is something that we have to obey even though in our natural understanding, it probably to us would be better to do it our own way. God says, obey. And we look at our finances, and we look how we have to pay our taxes, and we go, it's better to do it my way.

It's better for me to be dishonest and to hide some things so that I am taken care of. And God says, believe me. And let's go after every every scenario possible and think about how much we can relate to this, that the timing of obedience isn't necessarily to our advantage, but God still wants to ask of us to obey him because it's the faith in the command that pleases him. Sometimes it's easier to obey some of God's commands based on the circumstance that we're facing. But oftentimes, what God wants is not just the obedience to the command, but the trust in the obedience in the command when it's difficult to obey it.

I love the story when Jesus tells his disciples to go get the colt so that he can ride on it coming into Jerusalem. And he says, if anybody asks, just tell them that the lord needs it. Now we read that. We're so familiar with it. We think it was just a natural thing.

Now that's like saying, go to the random parking lot. There's a key underneath the tree. Buy it. Take it. Get into the car.

Drive it. Everybody asks, just say that the lord needs it. That's awkward. It's uncomfortable. So you can imagine the challenge for the disciples to go up to this donkey, and they don't know the person.

They don't know who this belongs to. But sometimes God asks us to do things that's awkward. Sometimes the Lord does things and commands us to do things that makes us feel uncomfortable, but he wants to see, will you trust me in obedience? Because that pleases him. And so even the timing of this tells us what God wants us to do, and that's to trust him even when we think in our own wisdom.

We're we're good at calculating. Right? We go, no, lord. I mean, this isn't very convenient to what I'm going through right now. I'm gonna hold off on obedience.

I'll do it after, but not now. And god says, I didn't say. I could have commanded you to be circumcised before you cross, but I'm gonna wait till you get behind enemy's lines enemy's lines, and then I'm gonna ask you to get circumcised. Is God cruel? Is God wanting to mess with their emotions?

No. The Bible says faith pleases him. And apart from faith, we can't please him. And so if you and I have a heart's desire to say, God, I wanna please you with my life, believe that a part of that experience will be commands given through his word and coming up to the surface of our minds when we rather do something else to avoid other things? It's a challenging scripture.

But let's just be honest. Why? Why couldn't they just get rid of all the enemies, and then after destroying all the Canaanites and they rest and everything else, why couldn't they do it afterwards? That's a natural question. And then we already answered it in one way, but let's consider another thing.

What is circumcision? Circumcision is a sign of a contract that God had instituted to the people to say, you're gonna take this upon yourself as a means to saying that you are permanently going to be in relationship to me. It's a binding commitment. And this seal of the physical circumcision speaks of an inner willingness to surrender to whatever agreement that is between two parties. So to say I'm going to choose to be circumcised at this time was to say, I'm going to essentially mark myself to say that I am forever in God's possession.

It's a very serious thing. It means a lot to God in this context. In the New Testament, it's about the heart circumcision. But in this time, it was greatly significant to the Lord. And what's amazing is that god wanted this circumcision to be done before the people would conquer the land and experience the blessings that god promised them that they would experience.

In other words, God is not interested in opening up experiences of his promises outside of the realm of covenant with him. It is only through covenant with God, commitment, lifelong surrender to the Lord as an initial step that we are able to put the key in the hole and open the door into our own promised land, so to speak. This is why the timing is the first step, because God is not in this thing to say, here's the promised land, but you don't have to be in covenant with me. No. If you want the promised land, you have to be in covenant with me.

Do you know why so many professing Christians are not experiencing what all they can experience in the Christian life? You know why they're bored? You know why they're constantly defeated? Do you know why they're constantly beat down by the world, and they're beat down by sin, and and they have no joy in their relationship with God? They don't understand how somebody can be so fanatical and so passionate.

Why? Here's one possible reason. They've never made a covenant with God. And they probably even witnessed God do amazing deeds. They probably heard the things of God.

God wants circumcision. In the Old Testament, physical. In the New Testament, the heart. Look at Galatians. Look at the different portions in Paul's letters where he talks about a circumcision of the heart.

God, I'm gonna I'm gonna make a commitment to you. You can cut out of my heart whatever you need to cut out. You can mark me how you wanna mark me, but I'm yours. And the principle is still true. That has to be the first step before anything can be conquered, before anything can be experienced, before any inheritance is deposited in our account.

And so the reason why God wants us right here, right now, before they move on to Jericho or any other place, is because God wants to send a message to the nation of Israel and to all people who would wanna be in relationship with God. You have to make a covenant with me. And that is what this people is about to do. And here's the proof of this statement being true. Look at verse nine of Joshua five.

After they get healed, verse eight tells us that they were healed. Says in verse nine, and the Lord said to Joshua, today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. How is the reproach of Egypt rolled away from them on this day because a covenant was made. So Egypt, which is a picture of slavery and bondage, and being in the world, and being under the tyranny of pharaoh, that reproach is rolled away only when a covenant is made with God.

When you have counted the cost, when you have said, you know, if this is what God has asked asking for me, then God take it. Only then is the reproach rolled away. See, you can dress like an Israelite. You can witness what God is able to do. You can be amongst the people, but unless you come to this point, that reproach will never be rolled away.

And this was the case for them, that they were now bound to God, that they were now going to experience victory. They were gonna experience what they've heard of their whole lives and had to come to this point as the entry moment for all those things to happen. Did you make a covenant with God yet, or are you still on the fence? You go to church. You hear sermons.

You even respond emotionally. You've probably even cried. God wants you to give your heart without reservation. Only until you come to that point will you only be sitting at the border watching it from a distance. But in order for you to be led and know the power of God, the revelation of God, the wisdom of God, there has to be blood.

Your heart surrender to him. Now, after this whole thing takes place, something else amazing happens in the first few days in Canaan. Look here in verse 10. While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month. So So now they're celebrating the Passover.

What Moses had instituted in Exodus, the night that they were leaving Egypt, they're celebrating it. They're celebrating it. They're celebrating it. And then there's this interesting detail about this Passover. It's not the fact that they're obeying.

It's what happened on this Passover that made it so unique, and it's in verse 12. It says, and the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land, and there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. This is why this is so exciting, because this is such a huge transition for the way God deals with his people. And one of those ways is that he made it stop raining bread from heaven. And the question is why?

Well, we know what manna was. Right? It was a miraculous act. It was a forty year miracle that for six days out of the week, the people had to do nothing. Didn't have to boil the the, they didn't have to plant, they didn't have the knee, they didn't have to they didn't have to do anything.

Every morning, all they had to do was get out of their tent and pick the manna from the field and eat, and eat. It was nothing short of supernatural. But then once they come into Canaan, he shuts the gates of heaven, and now they would eat from the produce of the land. What's the message here? Here's the message.

That God is able to provide for us in different ways. There are seasons in life because of circumstances where, because we are children of God, he's able to provide miraculously like the manna. And we can see him pulling resources out of nowhere, like Elijah, who was hiding from Ahab during a famine, and he was able to take ravens. Now that's significant because ravens were an unclean bird. But he made ravens come and bring food, meaning God is able to bring things from unseen, unknown, unpredictable sources.

But don't limit it to that because the same God who provides miraculously is also telling us that he provides in more ways in the practical. As they come to the land of Canaan, now they have to work. Now they have to toil, but the land itself was a provision. The land itself was God's extension of grace and mercy and love. And so many people fail to see God in that way.

They only see God in the miraculous. They only see God providing things that can have no explanation. But then when God provides that job, and when when God provides a house in very practical ways with contracts and interviews and all these different things, We don't see God behind that. But the land of Canaan, although required their sweat and their commitment and their responsibility, was nonetheless a provision by God. And the same way that they honored God because of the man, or they should have at least, is the same way that they should even more honor God because of the practical provisions.

And that's something for you and I to consider. Now we come to verse thirteen, and one more extraordinary thing takes place in the first few days of Canaan. Joshua, maybe at night, maybe early in the morning, we don't know, they celebrate the Passover, they're all excited, And he picks himself up, keeps it to himself, perhaps, and he escapes from the camp. And he is studying Jericho. I can imagine it.

Maybe it was night, and he's just looking at those gigantic walls. And he's looking around him, and he's thinking, how are we gonna do this? How are we gonna conquer this? And we don't see any doubt in this text. We don't see any concern.

But as a commander of an army, surely he was strategizing. Surely he was thinking, okay, Lord. What is gonna happen? And as he's walking and as he's being silent so that the enemy wouldn't notice him or anything, it tells us here in verse 13. When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked.

Behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. Can you imagine? Here you are, navigating and planning and thinking how this is gonna come to pass. And as you're maybe even looking at the ground, walking and avoiding bushes and this and that, you look up and there's a man with a sword in his hand right before you. And Joshua fearlessly keeps his composure and calmly asked this man.

Clearly, there wasn't anything necessarily supernatural about him to make him naturally respond in a way like we've seen in other manifestations. So he calmly but firmly asked this man with a drawn sword in his hand, and he says what? And Joshua went to him and said to him, are you for us or for our adversaries? We get an answer from this mysterious man in verse 14, and he said, no, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, what does my Lord say to his servant? And now this is where it's interesting. Just in case anybody thinks that this is a created angel, that this is this or this is that, all of those arguments are diffused by what this commander of the Lord's army is about to say in this next verse. In verse 15, he says, take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy. And Joshua did so.

What man would dare say such a thing? What pride would reside in the man's heart to claim that the feet that he walks in and the ground that those feet touch become holy? If Joshua was close to Moses as he was, and we believe he was close, though we don't have any interaction recorded, I'm sure that Moses, at one point, shared with Joshua how he first encountered God when he was still a shepherd for his father-in-law. And we know the story, don't we not? There was a burning bush, and that burning bush spoke.

And when it spoke and it drew Moses in, what did we read there in Exodus three? The exact words that the commander of the Lord, rather the commander of the Lord's army says to Joshua, take off your sandals, for the ground that you're standing on is holy. Who Joshua was facing was the same person that Moses faced, God almighty. God Almighty. And this is why he worships.

And this is why this angel, this messenger of the Lord does not stop Joshua from worshiping. But you know what's interesting? Is that Moses and Joshua encounter God the same way, but not in the same way. The burning bush and this soldier, this warrior before Joshua, they say the same thing about themselves. They are holy, and they are worthy of worship.

But why didn't God manifest himself the same way to Joshua like he did with Moses? Why didn't he have a burning bush show up as Joshua's trailing by Jericho? He could have. I believe it's because God and his wisdom knows how to manifest himself exactly the way we need to be encouraged for whatever we are about to face, whatever we are undergoing. Moses was going to face Pharaoh.

Moses was going to perform miracles. Moses needed to ensure himself that God was with him in the supernatural. So what does God do for this servant that he's about to recruit? He shows up supernaturally. He speaks from a burning bush, and the bush is not consumed by the flame.

That's supernatural. That's a miracle. And Moses needed to have that perception of God. Because when he would go and face Pharaoh and all the forces of evil, that would be the memory that would burn in his mind. Then you come to Joshua.

Joshua has a different mission, though very the same. He's gonna lead a people, sure, but he's gonna lead them into battle. So how does God choose to reveal himself to Joshua? As a mighty warrior with a sword in his hand. So Joshua, same God, but different manifestation, would be encouraged to know God is a warrior.

Moses would be encouraged to know God is a miracle worker, and they would have the necessary information and revelation needed for the task that they would have to endure for the sake of the Lord. You know, we look at Joshua and Moses, and we go, I wish God would do that with me. You and I have the full revelation of God. And if you and I familiarize ourselves with who God is in his entirety, you'd be amazed to know what aspect of who god is will show up at the perfect time. You'll be amazed to know what revelations of who god is will surface to your heart and to your mind and even to your emotions when you need it the most.

That is something you and I have to understand. We cannot limit ourselves from studying this book, lest we limit ourselves from the necessary facet of God and attribute of God that we need for whatever task that we're facing. Think of it in the simple terms. I mean, every person is different, but I can testify that many times in prayer, I come to God as father. I see him as my father.

I talk to him with liberty, yet with reverence. I speak to him from my heart. I pour out my emotion. I tell him what's on my mind. I don't give him a script.

You know, sometimes in prayer, we think we have to give God a script or we have a a pattern of prayer. There are sometimes where where things come to my mind, they're bombarding my thoughts, and I go, Lord, forgive me for bringing this up right away, but it's on my heart, and I I need to get it out of my heart, Lord. And I begin to explain to him what's going on. Do you think he looks at me and goes, do you understand who I am? You're not gonna worship me first.

You're not gonna thank me first. You're just gonna give me your problems. You know, people view God that way. Let me warm God up and tell him how awesome he is, and then I'll give him my problems. But I know something, and you know something from the scriptures that we are called to cast all our anxieties on him.

Why? Because he cares for us. So I see him as father oftentimes. But then many times, in this room right here, when the worship team is singing and leading us in song, the picture that I have of God, more than anything, is king. The holy one, sitting upon a throne being worshiped by creatures that would make us fall on our face.

And I and I and I see him there from the word of God, how he's worshiped in heaven, and and I enter into that place, and it assists me in my singing before the Lord. Do you see? We cannot afford a one dimensional view of God. We need the totality of who he is because life will demand for us to understand certain parts of who God is so that we can live more faithfully for him. And this is what we learn more than anything.

Yes, this is a pre incarnate manifestation of Jesus, but let's look at the deeper understanding here. This is God manifesting himself exactly the way Joshua needed to see God. Same way he did for Moses. And the same way he'll do for you and me. Not through a burning bush, not through some manifestation of a person, the complete revelation of God.

Everything that we need is here. The more we give ourselves to this, the more we'll be familiar with him in every part, and the more we will be assisted the way we need to be assisted. This is what we learned from in our bible study in Joshua chapter five. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word, and we pray and we ask that as we are learning from this chapter, we would meditate deeply upon the truths that have been revealed to us.

Lord, we fear you because you deserve it, and we ask that you would allow the fear of God to continue to intensify in our lives in this church. Lord, we see you as the provider in different ways. You can make manna rain from heaven, or you can just make us work a nine to five where we didn't have a nine to five for so long. God, help us hunger for your word because to hunger for your word is to hunger for you so that we can familiarize ourselves with who you are, so that we would know what we need to know in due time about who you are. Lord, as we as a church are preparing to return in corporate worship, protect us, give us wisdom, lead us.

And, Lord, we pray with everything within us that as we come to sit in these pews and to stand on our feet and to and to do what you've called us to do as a church, there would be a different sense of your presence and your power. We ask that you would revive this church. We're asking that not one person would be outside of covenant with you. And we're asking, Lord, that we would we would enter into something new as we come back together according to your will. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. God bless you, and we'll see you this Sunday morning.