Overcoming Strongholds of Resistance by Faith and Obedience

Text Joshua 6 Time 05 07 20 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church (Zoom)

You may know this African American spiritual. I want you to notice in what way it is a little bit wrong or at least misleading.

Joshua fit the battle of Jericho Jericho, Jericho

Joshua fit the battle of Jericho. The walls came tumblin' down, Hallelujah!

You may talk about your men of Gideon, You may talk about your men of Saul

There's none like good old Joshua at the Battle of Jericho.

The problem, of course, is that Joshua did not fight the Battle of Jericho, not in the traditional sense. If you know the story it was quite unlike that.

So what did happen and what can we learn from it? Well, what happened we are told in Joshua 6. Joshua is commanded to have the people march around the city for a week in a certain way then at the right moment they shouted and the walls fell, allowing them to simply walk in and take the city.

And what can we learn from this? In Ephesians 6 Paul talks about the Christian's armour - armour needed to engage in spiritual warfare. In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 he talks of spiritual warfare like this

... though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

So if you are a Christian, you are involved in warfare every bit as much as Joshua was. However, where as Joshua's battle was both physical and spiritual your fight is not a physical one. Once we see that we begin to see how useful this chapter is. Four main things

1. Consider strongholds of resistance to God, shut up but ready to fall

Joshua 6:1 says Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Jericho was on lock down. They knew the Israelites had arrived but they were in a walled city and they hoped to be able to brave it out somehow.

There are many strongholds of resistance to God these days and people within them vary. Some think they cannot be defeated, others are worried they can. What strongholds? I mean strongholds of thought like atheistic evolutionism, secular liberalism, anti-christian Romanism, Islam, Indian Hinduism, the so called Queer movement, etc. Their gates are securely barred to the gospel and no-one, or hardly anyone, comes out or in. Similarly, on a personal level, there are sins and situations that look like they will never change for the better.

But that is not the whole story. Joshua 6 goes on (2-5) Then the LORD said to Joshua, this is the commander of the LORD's army speaking, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. Note that have delivered. Jericho is already defeated. But how?

In such a situation military strategists would say there are five options: get over the wall, under the wall, through the wall with a battering ram, starve them out by siege or come up with a trick like the famous Trojan horse used by the Greeks.

God (who you recall moves in a mysterious way) uses none of those methods.

Rather Joshua is told, all you have to do is this March around the city once with all the armed men and Do this for six days. Have seven priests (seven is God's number the number of completeness) carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, (note again) march around the city seven times (and again), with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in." In other words, all you have to do is have faith in me and do what I say and the city will collapse.

Now I know that it is not exactly the same for us but the principle is the same. How are we going to see the arguments of atheists and false teachers fall? First and foremost we have to rely on the Lord. Trust him. He has it all in hand. We simply need to look to him and obey. This is how animism fell, how communism fell, for example. This is how it is whenever evil is defeated.

2. Think about the surrounding of strongholds of resistance to God

So they do exactly as God says. Joshua calls the priests and tells them to Take up the ark of the covenant of the LORD symbolic of God's presence so necessary to any victory and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it. He then orders the army to advance, to March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD.

So that is what happens - the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the LORD go forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the LORD's covenant followed them. In front of them is this armed guard blowing trumpets with the rear guard follow(ing) the ark. Imagine these people, the trumpets sounding and the people marching round the city. They would do it once a day, returning to the camp after each circuit to spend the night. Verse 10 tells us that Joshua had commanded the army, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" We read that They did this for six days. And nothing happened.

It must have been a test of their patience and faith. Perhaps some were tempted to rebel. What's the point? We sometimes feel like that. We feel we are going round in circles and nothing is happening. Now there is the real danger of merely going through the routines but it is important that we remember that faith and obedience have their own power. They force us to look to God.

So I would say to you - let's go on preaching, let's go on praying, let's keep witnessing, Let's continue to love one another, as we are commanded. I know it sometimes seems pointless. Remember Naaman who was told to dip himself in the Jordan seven times. He rebelled against the very idea and it is true that, just as here, the first six times it made no difference. But as we shall see the seventh time is different.

There is a saying sometimes attributed in error to Einstein "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." It rather seems to be rooted in the world of helping alcoholics and drug abusers. This passage shows it to be wrong. Rather, it should be "Insanity is making the same mistakes over and over again and expecting different results." As one writer puts it "Like jumping out of a 40-storey building, breaking every bone, spending six months in hospital, going back to the same building, up to the 39th floor, jumping and expecting it to be different. It is NEVER different." What I'm saying is something different. Like the Israelites we must do what we are commanded to do. What will make the difference is the time when God has chosen to act.

3. Expect God to defeat strongholds of resistance by faith and obedience

Then in verse 15 we read that On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. Then (16) The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!"

The next thing you would expect to read is that the people shouted and the walls fell. But no. The way the writer constructs things is that we next read of Joshua reminding them (17-19) that The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. It was important that they keep away from the devoted things, so that they would not bring about their own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise says Joshua you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury."

It is only in verse 20 that we have the dramatic climax When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. Dale Ralph Davis suggests this order is so that the emphasis falls on the call for them to obey rather than on the actual falling of the wall. We have a tendency sometimes to emphasise positive experience over every day obedience. We should not.

We have a miracle here, yes, a strange miracle. Other towns would later be taken in more conventional ways but for this first, significant city, God goes ahead of them, as it were, and he does it in a miraculous way. It underlines who is leading this conquest and to whom the praise should be given. Sometimes God acts in that way.

We don't live in an age of miracles but even today sometimes God acts in a dramatic and sudden way and the situation is transformed. It is hard for those of you who are younger to imagine what it was like during the cold war period when atheistic communism held sway in Russia and Eastern Europe. I became a Christian around 1971. In 1969 and again in 1975 the Communists imprisoned a Baptist leader called Georgi Vins. From early in my Christian life I prayed for that man to be released. Then suddenly in 1979 the Russians expelled him and he went to live in America. I remember being sat at home in Cwmbran and it being announced on the BBC News. What an answer to prayer! Of course, ten years later the news was even more dramatic with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the demise of communism.

I have said to you before how when I was a student we would have visits from Charles Marsh who with his wife Pearl was a missionary in Algeria from the end of the 1920s until their expulsion in 1962. They saw few conversions while they served but today in Algeria there are perhaps as many as 100,000 genuine Christians. Similar things in my life time have happened in Turkey and Spain and other countries.

4. When strongholds of resistance fall devote them to God snatching sinners from the fire

The fourth thing to say concerns the aftermath of the battle. The Israelites do as they are commanded for the most part. An exception will be revealed later but for now let's concentrate on these two things

1. Devoting the spoils of victory to God

So first we read how (21) They devoted the city to the LORD ... This involved destroying with the sword every living thing in it - men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys. They were learning that the firstfruits of any harvest belong to God. It may seem harsh to us but in this situation the Israelites were being used by God to execute his wrath on a depraved people that were way beyond the pale and that deserved to be wiped from the earth.

The Canaanites practised idolatry and witchcraft and engaged in all sorts of depravity in the name of religion, even throwing babies in the fire in the delusion that the gods required it. One writer says

“Canaanite worship was socially destructive. Its religious acts were pornographic and sick, seriously damaging to children, creating early impressions of deities with no interest in moral behaviour. It tried to dignify, through the use of religious labels, depraved acts of bestiality and corruption. It had a low estimate of human life. It suggested that anything was permissible, promiscuity, murder or anything else, in order to guarantee a good crop at harvest. It ignored the highest values of the wider community – love, loyalty, purity, peace and security – and encouraged the view that all these things were inferior to material prosperity, physical satisfaction, and human pleasure. A society where those things matter is most self-destructive.” (R Brown, Deuteronomy)

As Christians we are not under an obligation to kill anyone but we are under an obligation to put sin to death wherever it may raise its head.

It also included (24) burning the whole city and everything in it, although they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD's house.

I'm not sure how we devote to God sinful structures that fall today but that must be the approach. In most cases destruction will be the order of the day but sometimes things can be used for God's glory. There is some evidence that traditional churches in this country are on sites where there were once pagan temples. In more recent years we have head of churches taking over places that were pubs or night clubs. Quite right.

2. Saving those who repent

Of course, there was an exception to this devotion, 22, 23, 25 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her." So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel. How sad that no more from Jericho had responded as well. Undoubtedly word had gone around Jericho about how to be saved. For days they had watched the Israelites make their circuit - why did they not respond?

Those saved were placed outside the camp at first. They were coming from pagan Jericho. They had to be ritually cleansed first before joining God's people.

25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho - and she lives among the Israelites to this day. It was the grace of God that spared Rahab and her family. They were Canaanites too but God was gracious.

In Jude it speaks of the need to watch out for false teachers and to be separate from them keeping ourselves in God's love as we wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us to eternal life. At the same time Jude says we must (22, 23) Be merciful to those who doubt; sav(ing) others by snatching them from the fire; and to others show(ing) mercy, mixed with fear - hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

We pray for the fall of ungodly structures, strongholds of resistance to God, yet we pray in such a way that some will see their error and be rescued. We are praying for Muslims and Hindus and Roman Catholics and atheists and homosexuals and all sorts of others to be saved. Let's pray for these two things - the fall of sin and sinful structures and the salvation of sinners.

That is the lesson of Joshua 6 then - there were then and there are now strongholds of resistance to God that are closely shut up but that are ready to fall if we only have eyes to see it. We need to surround them with prayer and preaching and everything else that will defeat them by God's grace. Expect God to defeat strongholds of resistance and when they do fall devote them to God and snatch sinners from the fire.

Finally, there are two footnotes here in verses 26 and 27. One regards Joshua's solemn oath "Cursed before the LORD is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: At the cost of his firstborn son he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates." Amazingly someone did rebuild Jericho (it is a city today) - that happened about 550 years later in the time of Ahab when an attempt was made to revive Canaanite religion. The curse was fulfilled.

The other note is verse 27 So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land. Victory came because God was with Joshua and so with the Israelites. God spread his fame throughout the land. Let's pray that God will be with us through Jesus Christ and spread the name of Jesus everywhere.

We don't know what the people of Jericho thought when they saw the Israelites walking around their city. No doubt, they thought it was foolish. How can it make any difference? When we tell people about Jesus Christ and his death on the cross they certainly wonder why we think it so important. How can a death on a cross thousands of years ago affect me today? It is not obvious but it is real. it seems so weak, so foolish but when you trust in Christ all your sins are forgiven. Let's urge all who we know to do it then.

The Commander of the LORD's army and knowing God

Text Joshua 5:13-15 Time 28 06 20 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church (Zoom)

As you probably know, when the Bible was written it was written without chapters and verses. First the chapters then the verses were all added very much later and are there to help us find our way around. Sometimes the way it has been divided up is not helpful and it is easy to miss things if we forget this factor.

A classic example is found here in Joshua 5 and 6. If you were doing a Sunday School lesson on the Battle of Jericho you might be tempted to open your Bible and start with Chapter 6:1, 2

Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. ....

I'm sure you could do a very good lesson doing that but in fact if you want to do it properly you really need to begin back in Chapter 5:13-15. When we take 5:13 -6:5 as a unit, we realise that 6:1 is really a parenthesis and so when it says in 6:2 Then the LORD said to Joshua ... it is referring back to the encounter with the commander of the Lord's army.

Before Jericho then the Israelites needed to be circumcised and it was important that they kept the Passover feast but also it was necessary for Joshua to meet with the commander of the army of the Lord and to bow down before him. So too for us - we need first to be separated to God and aware that it is the cross of Christ that saves us but more than that there must be obedience to Christ and worship of his name - that is what we want to concentrate on today.

What we have in Joshua 5:13-15 is what is often called a Theophany or sometimes a Christophany. There are certain points in the Old Testament where God's servants know more than just dreams or visions or words from God they rather encounter manifestations of God in human form. So, for example, when Jacob wrestles with a man before fording the Jabbok (Genesis 32) or when God first speaks to Gideon and later to Samson's parents or in Daniel when the three friends are in the fiery furnace and one like a son of the gods is seen in there with them - these are all such theophanies.

In Micah 5:2 we read

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.

This is a clear prophecy that Messiah will be born in Bethlehem, which, of course, he was. The Messiah or Christ is the Saviour of the world. He is God come in the flesh. He is a man. He lived his life as a man. This is why it is so important for us all to know about the Lord Jesus Christ.

But then look at the final part of Micah 5:2 whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. There is some argument about the meaning but I think it points not only to the way that the baby in Bethlehem was also the Ancient of Days, the eternal God but also to the way you get these theophanies at different stages in the Old testament story.

You know that when a painter is going to paint a masterpiece he will often make several preliminary sketches before he starts on the piece itself. We can think of it like that. Before the masterpiece which is the incarnation, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, there are preliminary sketches like this one. A close examination of this piece then will help us to understand better the masterpiece that is Jesus Christ.

Three things then

1. Consider this Theophany and know that God comes to us as a man

The first thing we read here is (13) Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. So Joshua is standing before the walled city of Jericho no doubt contemplating how he was going to lead the people to victory over this well protected city. There he sees some sort of soldier in front of him. It is a man he sees standing in front of him that is clear, although he is later referred to as the LORD.

This reminds us that Jesus is a man. When that baby was born in Bethlehem, it was a human baby. The child who grew up in Nazareth was a human being. The boy Mary and Joseph lost in Jerusalem was a human being. The young man Joseph took on as his apprentice was a human being. The man who preached and did those miracles and who died on the cross - he was a human being.

At this point too God appears as a man. It is because he is a man that Joshua finds it so easy to speak to him. It is because Jesus is a man that he so fully sympathises with us and understands us. What a comfort to know there is a man in the Godhead.

2. Consider this Theophany and realise that he is Commander of the Lord's Army

When I was a student in Aberystwyth I remember one summer term I met a friend of mine, Mark, who was with some friends of his and he was wearing a new white jacket he had just bought to wear in the sunshine. At that time there was a building near the seafront called Neuadd Y Brenin or The King's Hall. Other students would always tell you that Led Zeppelin had once played there. In the basement of the hall there were pinball machines and table football and pool and such things and I joined my friend and his friends down there. We had only been down there a short while before younger boys began coming up to my friend and saying "Hey mister, the machine's broken" or "It won't take my money", etc. It was the white jacket that threw them. They all thought my friend worked there. He never wore the jacket again. It was a case of mistaken identity. It is too easy to make assumptions about people. White jacket - he must be in charge of the machines. Something similar happens here.

13b, 14a we read next that Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?" It is an obvious question. Joshua is about to go into battle against Jericho and he sees what is apparently a soldier. In those days soldiers did not yet wear uniforms - that came much, much later. Joshua does not recognise him and so presumably he is a Canaanite, but then may be not, may be he is one of Joshua's own men. Of course, he could be a mercenary - willing to fight for either side. So "Are you for us or for our enemies?" Who goes there, friend or foe?

Now, if this is the LORD come in human form then you might expect him to say he is for Joshua and his army, for the Israelites. But that is not what he says. Rather (14a) "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come."

It is observed that when these theophanies occur the second person of the Trinity appears in just the most appropriate way that is needed. Here it is as the commander of the Lord's army. By the LORD's army is meant the angel armies of heaven.

This person is not simply a man enrolled either in the Canaanite or the Israelite army. As one writer puts it, he is more sovereign than partisan. This is the commander of the army of the LORD. He is above the battle and the armies of heaven obey him in such a way that God's will is done.

Joshua was really asking the wrong question then. He wanted to know if this man was going to help him but in fact he had come to tell Joshua what he was to do.

The sword in his hand reminds us of how in Numbers 22 and 1 Chronicles 21 the angel of the LORD is described as having a sword in his hand, a sword of vengeance and judgement.

People often come to Jesus imagining he is simply going to help them. Sometimes he is presented like that by preachers, many of whom should know better. Rather, Jesus is in control of all things and he is calling on you tonight to fall in behind him - to join his army. If you follow him, then there is hope for you. If you don't, there is none.

3. Consider this Theophany and know that God comes to us as God and is worthy of reverence and worship

These words are enough for Joshua to work out who he is dealing with and so we read (14b, 15) Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?" The commander of the LORD's army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.

So here is a figure who is very much a man and yet who is clearly God and so is worthy of worship. The phrase my Lord could be a term for a human being in certain circumstances but it is clear that Joshua is in the presence of someone who is more than a man. The commander of the LORD's army tells Joshua to Take off his sandals, for the place where he is standing is holy. This is exactly what Joshua's predecessor Moses was told when God spoke to him from the burning bush, as recorded near the beginning of Exodus.

It is a reminder that when the Lord Jesus came to this earth, the Messiah who came was not only a man but God. Indeed, he is God come in the flesh. This is why the Lord Jesus is to be worshipped. He is not worshipped as a man but as the God man, the one who is both God and man.

This passage speaks a great deal about Joshua. You see here a thoughtful man, a brave man (in the way that he approaches the man with the drawn sword) a humble man. But it is not about Joshua - it is about the Lord Jesus Christ.

So often we are looking for practical help. Joshua 5 helps us to see that first we must simply stop and worship God. That is the way to prepare for battle.

Out tendency is to pray in a rather childish way. God let my team win. God make my country successful. But that is far too superficial. We should be looking up and seeing God and what he is doing and then worshipping him.

Too often we are so taken up with guidance - knowing what to do we forget how important it is for us first to worship. Worship Jesus Christ. Give him the glory. Praise him always.

Fear, Separation, the Cross and serving Chris day by day

Text Joshua 5:1-12 Time 21 06 20 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church (Zoom)

The art of War by Sun Tzu is an ancient Chinese text explaining how to go about warfare. I have a copy in the house somewhere. I'm sure you can learn from such a book but you can learn far more from the Bible and especially the Book of Joshua, written a thousand years earlier, which one writer suggests could be called The art of War. Joshua's approach as you might guess differs from that of SunTzu.

We come this week to Joshua 5 and the beginning of a new section. Chapters 5-9 are about conquering the land. Like the sections that follow in Chapters 10 and 11, the section begins with kings hearing something (5:1 Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast (all these pagan peoples then - something like on both sides of Offa's dyke/North and south of Hadrian's Wall) heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites ... 10:1 Now Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai ... 11:1 When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, ...).

I want us to look this time just at the first 12 verses of Chapter 5. In these verses the theme continues to be preparation. The people have now entered the Promised Land and they are about to enter into their first battle - against Jericho. But they are not ready yet. Two or three things need to happen first - not things Sun Tzu would have recommended. I want us to consider those things this evening and, as we do, so I want us to think about the Christian life.

I have said to you that the conquest of Canaan is a picture of the Christian life. Just as they were led into the Promised Land by Joshua their leader and fought there to subdue the Canaanites, so we are to follow our leader Jesus into the joys and challenges of living as Christian people, warring against the world, the flesh and the devil, with his wisdom and strength.

Here we are told first how the hearts of the Canaanites were melting in fear. knowing the Israelites were on their way. Then there is the circumcision of all the men at Gilgal and the first Passover in the Promised Land after which the giving of manna came to an end. So we say

1. Fear the Lord and remember that every enemy you face trembles to see God at work in you

We are told in verse 1 Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted in fear and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.

The focus first of all then is not on the people of God but on their enemies, on the Amorites or Canaanites. They heard, of course, about how the people got across the Jordan and the news made their hearts melt and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites. They knew they were about to be invaded and they had hoped at first to be able to resist. But if these people have God with them and he does miracles like that then what hope is there for them?

Now something similar can be said with regard to the Christian life. Firstly. to become a Christian a melting of the heart is necessary. We all need to see that God is greater than all of us put together. He does as he pleases. That should make us repent and trust in him and fear him.

But then also realise that despite a bold front our enemies also realise that there is no hope for them. Remember that line in William Cowper's hymn

Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees

That is true.

About ten years ago atheists organised an advertising campaign on the sides of buses. They had a slogan put there saying ‘There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.’ It's an interesting statement as it shows that many agnostics and even some professed atheists have their doubts about God's existence and when they think he does exist it makes them worried and stops them enjoying life. They are melting with fear in truth.

We know too what a melting fear there is in our own hearts at times when we think we are saying goodbye to things that we once held dear. We hear someone going on about a football team or about music or some other matter and we think "I used to be as enthusiastic as that" but now it is all melting away.

So fear the Lord and remember that every enemy you face trembles to see God at work in your life.

2. Be determined to remain set apart to God by faith, whatever it costs

While the Canaanites were full of fear, there was calm on the Israelite side. The second thing we read here is about how the LORD commanded Joshua to Make flint knives (not iron so these were ancient times) and circumcise the Israelites again. "Circumcise again" sounds strange but it comes out of the fact that Israel is one and a whole generation had grown up who were not circumcised. Whether this was due to neglect or because they were not encouraged to circumcise we do not know. It put them in an odd position, however, - the people of God and yet not the people of God.

Joshua obeyed the LORD and had them circumcised. Verse 3 says this was at Gibeath Haaraloth (hill of foreskins). The explanation is in verses 4-7 Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt - all the men of military age - died in the wilderness on the way after leaving Egypt. All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness during the journey from Egypt had not. The Israelites had moved about in the wilderness forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way.

There are two generations then.

Generation 1 - All the people that came out had been circumcised, ... but they ... had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD

Generation 2 - ... but all the people born in the wilderness during the journey from Egypt had not. However, God raised up their sons in their place.

It also says here that the LORD had sworn to them (the first generation) that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey (the next generation). Nothing can stop God's plans.

This reminds us how one can have what is outwardly required - circumcision, baptism, church going but not be converted and on the other hand lack certain things and yet still be truly converted. Of course, what happens here is that the second generation now gets circumcised.

Circumcision is the sign of the covenant and from Abraham on all true Jewish males were circumcised. It is a painful operation and takes a few days to heal but it is given such importance here that it had to be carried out, even though they were about to invade Canaan. Verse 8 says And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.

When we come to the New Testament there is no longer any need to be physically circumcised, although spiritual circumcision is still a part of being a Christian.

In Romans 2:28, 29 Paul says A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person's praise is not from other people, but from God.

In Colossians 2:11-14 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Not just a small piece of flesh but Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, it is baptism that replaces circumcision in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

Circumcision reminds us of the importance then of seeing the whole of your flesh cut off, of being separated to God by faith in Jesus Christ as Abraham was circumcised so these men who succeed him in the covenant are also circumcised. We who are under the new covenant are circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands and buried with Christ in baptism. We dare not forget that. We are separated to God and we need to live separated lives, lives dedicated to him.

Are we a circumcised generation then? A people set apart to God? Are we given up to him? That is how it should be.

9 Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. So the place has been called Gilgal to this day. Israel had been known as slaves down in Egypt but that was now all about to change. They were now truly the people of God. This is the blessing of every Christian, whatever others may say.

3. Centre yourself on Christ the Lamb and his death on the cross and live the Christian life

The third and final thing we learn here is to do with the keeping of the first Passover in the Promised Land and the end of the manna that fell from heaven.

1. Centre yourself on Christ the Lamb and his death on the cross

The next thing we read is (10) that God says to Joshua then On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.

God so timed it that they crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land just in time for the anniversary of the Passover. You recall that the first Passover, the beginning of redemption, occurred when God's angel passed over Egypt and out to death the firstborn sons of all the Egyptians. The Israelites were safe, however, as long as they slew a lamb in the prescribed way and put the blood on their doorposts. This was the last of the ten plagues and happened when Israel left Egypt and started on the Exodus. When the angel saw the blood he would pass over. It is this deliverance that they now celebrated forty years after the event at the end of redemption.

The Passover points us forward to what was going to happen when Jesus the true Passover Lamb would come and would be sacrificed on the cross so that by his blood we would be redeemed from bondage or slavery. We must never forget what Jesus has done to save us and to set us free.

2. Live the Christian life

There is then a footnote saying (11, 12) The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan. Note three times it says that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. ... they ate this food from the land; ... that year they ate the produce of Canaan. The manna came down from heaven itself and it was a great privilege to live on manna but that period came to an end and once in the Promised Land, the people had to learn to live in a much more ordinary way but in fulfilment of God's promise.

Perhaps that reminds us of the difference between conversion and the every day Christian life. To become a Christian you need to feed on Christ the true bread that came down from heaven, Once you get that it is an easy and delightful thing to do, although it is easy to take for granted God's love. Once you become a Christian there is a certain ordinariness about the Christian life that can weary us if we are not careful. The ordinary Christian life is not just justification by faith, it is a life of sanctification, of saying no to ungodliness and walking with the Lord in faith.

I have told you the story before of how, when I was a student in Aber, I didn't have an alarm clock for some reason so I prayed that the Lord would wake me up nice and early so I could read my Bible and pray before breakfast. I was living by the sea and for the first and only time God sent a seagull to come and tap on my window at exactly the right time to wake me and I had a wonderful time of devotion before going down to breakfast. By the next morning I still hadn't worked out a way of waking myself up nice and early and God didn't send a seagull and so I slept through and had to rush down to breakfast without first reading and praying. I concluded that God had no wish to send a seagull to wake me every morning but wanted me to make my own efforts. Yes, he could do it the other way as he had shown and as when he sent manna to the Israelites every day but, no, the ordinary Christian life is to be lived by using ordinary means - alarm clocks, Bibles, early nights, organisation, etc.

Spurgeon says in one place We talk of Providences when we have hairbreadth escapes - but are they not quite as much Providences when we are preserved from danger? I have told you before what the old Puritan said to his son who had ridden several miles to meet him. "Father," said the son, "I have had a remarkable Providence! My horse stumbled badly three times, yet did not throw me." "Ah, my Son," said the father, "I have had a still more remarkable Providence than that, for my horse did not stumble once." Manna from heaven, food in the Promised Land, it is ll God's kind providence.