Through the Bible - Joshua

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8:1–4)

Joshua is the book of victory—how a redeemed people steps by faith out of wilderness wandering into the land of rest, fruitfulness, and life in the Spirit.

Why the Old Testament Still Speaks

If I had to choose my favorite book in the Old Testament, it would probably be Joshua. There is so much in its pages that I could teach it over and over again, yet we'll cover the whole book tonight and consider what the Lord wants to speak to us.

It's important to read Joshua in light of a verse we've considered several times in 1 Corinthians 10:11, where Paul says these things happened to Israel as examples, written for our instruction. If you treat the Old Testament merely as a history book, it loses so much of its application and spiritual meat. Many Christians neglect it, saying, "We're just New Testament believers." Yet Paul tells us the entire thing was written down as examples for us, so we'd learn and receive instruction. And the very next verse warns, "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." When we don't consider the failures and victories of those of old, we're not sufficiently equipped to stand.

It has been said that the New Testament is the Old Testament concealed, and the Old Testament is the New Testament revealed. The New Testament gives us principle after principle; the Old Testament gives us the pictures that illustrate those principles. A picture is worth a thousand words. Many Christians are weak in their walks because they have never considered the Old Testament this way.

The Land of Rest We Long For

Every believer wants to live the victorious Christian life—the life of rest, the land of rest God has for us. Hebrews says, "There remains a rest for the people of God." Jesus said in Matthew 11, "Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." God desires that we come into that rest.

We've considered the five books of the Pentateuch in light of Romans. Genesis shows man's complete inability—man is left dead in a coffin in Egypt, and a dead man can do nothing. Romans 3:23 sums it up: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Exodus is God's redemption plan; Romans 5:6 says, "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Leviticus is about holiness, matching Romans 6: "How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?"

Numbers shows the struggle of the flesh—Romans 7's back-and-forth: "The good that I would I do not... O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?" Deuteronomy, the second telling of the law, shows what Romans 7:12 affirms: there's nothing wrong with the law; the law shows that the problem is with us. The law is holy, just, and good. All of this brings us to Joshua—the entering into the land of rest, victory, and fruitfulness, the land flowing with milk and honey, exactly as Romans 8:1–4 describes.

Moses Cannot Bring You In, But Joshua Can

Moses dies at the end of Deuteronomy 34, and Moses is a picture of the law. Notice Romans says, "What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh." Moses could not bring Israel into the land. We saw it when God told him to speak to the rock and instead, out of frustration, he struck it, and God said, "You've misrepresented me to the people." Not that there's anything wrong with the law—but the law can't save you. As Galatians teaches, the law's purpose is to bring us to recognize we are sinners who need a Savior. That is all it can do.

Who is God's own Son who did what the law could not? Jesus. His name in Hebrew is Yehoshua—Joshua. So when we come to Joshua, the sixth book, we find a perfect picture of the Romans 8 experience. Israel is just another group of sinful people, not perfect, yet there is no condemnation because God brings them into the promised land under Joshua's leadership. God brings us into this victorious Christian life under Joshua—Jesus—as well. Romans 8:37 says through Him who loved us, "we are more than conquerors." We are completely victorious in Christ.

A Land Given, Forfeited by Unbelief

In the very first chapter, the land is given to them. They didn't earn it by their works; God gave it. There's an inheritance God has merely given to us—not earned by good works, but ours to take, to inherit and possess. That idea of possessing the inheritance appears over and over in Joshua.

Israel could have possessed the land 38 years earlier. What kept them out? Their unbelief. In Numbers 13, Moses sent twelve spies for forty days, and ten returned with an evil report:

"We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we... And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak... and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." (Numbers 13:31–33)

Those ten saw the obstacles in their own sight, not with God's eyes. But Joshua and Caleb said the giants were bread for them, for God had given the land into their hands. Because of their unbelief, the rest died in the wilderness, wandering and living a beggarly existence—crying for water, for food—when a land flowing with milk and honey was right there for the taking by faith.

Terrified Foes and a Pool Waited at 38 Years

Now consider how the people of the land viewed Israel. In Joshua 2, Joshua sends only two spies, who meet Rahab in Jericho, and she says:

"I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us... For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you... And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath." (Joshua 2:9–11)

The inhabitants were shaken in their sandals; their hearts had melted ever since the Red Sea. All Israel had to do thirty-eight years earlier was step into the land and take the victory God had created for them. The giants were too big for them—but never too big for God. Indeed, when they finally took the land, Caleb, now 85, went up and killed those very giants and claimed his hill.

One more illustration—John 5, the pool of Bethesda, Jerusalem's emergency room, where the blind, lame, and withered waited for the moving of the water, believing the first one in after the angel troubled it would be healed. There lay a man with an infirmity for thirty-eight years—the same span Israel wandered. Jesus asked, "Wilt thou be made whole?" The man answered, "Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool." He was focused on his inability, on the giant. Jesus said, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk," and immediately the man was whole. All it took was a step of faith at the word of God—exactly what Israel needed to enter the promised land.

What the Land Pictures: Milk, Honey, Fruit, Rest, Victory

Some hymn writers have used crossing the Jordan as a picture of dying into heaven, but that's a poor illustration—Israel's first seven years in the land were filled with war, and there's no war in heaven. The promised land pictures the abundant, Spirit-filled life of Romans 8, walking in the Spirit.

The land flowed with milk and honey. First Peter 2:2 says, "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word." Psalm 19:10 says God's word is "sweeter than honey in the honeycomb." Living in the land of milk and honey is reliance upon and communion with the word of God. John 1 tells us the Word became flesh; Jesus is the Word, and the land of victory is abiding in His word, desiring it more than our necessary food.

In the wilderness Israel ate manna—almost like eating cornflakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for forty years. God never meant manna to be permanent; the day they entered the land in Joshua 3, the manna ceased so they could enjoy the corn of the land. The land was fruitful—remember the cluster of grapes in Numbers 13 carried between two men. There is fruit God wants us to enjoy too: the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22–23. Many Christians barely get by on manna in the wilderness, never feeding on the milk and honey of the word, and when you speak of love, joy, peace, they look at you blankly because they don't know that life.

God wanted them in this land to experience rest—Matthew 11:28, "I will give you rest." This is a place where we are satisfied in Christ, complete in Him, as Colossians says, for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And it is a place of victory; rest is the product of victory. After Jesus offered Himself for sin, He sat down at the right hand of God in the position of rest, because the victory was finished on the cross. The rest of Romans 8 is realizing we no longer try to keep the law in our own strength to be righteous; Christ accomplished it. We don't throw the law out—it's holy, just, and good—but we keep it to glorify God who made us righteous. Second Corinthians 5:21: "He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in Him."

Entrance by Faith: Crossing the Jordan

The book of Joshua divides into four sections. The first, chapters 1–4, covers the entrance into the land. We don't want to be wandering in the wilderness; the wilderness is no place for a Christian. But how do we get in?

They didn't have to build a dam, a tunnel, or a bridge over the flooded Jordan. Their entrance was purely by faith—the same way they came out of Egypt by faith in the blood of the Passover lamb. We come out of the world by faith in the Lamb of God. And we come out of the wilderness into the victorious life purely by faith—but it is a step of faith where we have to get our feet wet. In Joshua 3, the priests bearing the ark had to step into the overflowing Jordan; only then did the waters part and stand in a heap.

The Red Sea crossing pictured baptism and identification with Christ's death (1 Corinthians 10). Crossing the Jordan is another kind of death—where we die to ourselves. Jesus said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live." Many Christians wander in the wilderness as captains of their own ship, eating manna, depressed. God wants you to take that step of faith and die to yourself, presenting yourself a living sacrifice (Romans 12).

Memorial Stones, Circumcision, and the Passover

Once across, Israel didn't immediately go to war. First, Joshua had twelve men, one from each tribe, take stones from the middle of the riverbed where the priests stood to set up a memorial, a witness of God's power that brought them in—stones that could only have been retrieved by God's power. We must recognize we have come into this victory only because of Jesus, the victor. Joshua also set twelve stones down in the riverbed itself, which the returning waters covered over—a picture of our old life crucified with Christ, dead and unreachable. We can't go back.

Next came circumcision—the identifying mark of God's covenant people. But circumcision was never merely physical; in Deuteronomy 10:16 and 30:6, God called for a circumcision of the heart, a heart surrendered to Him. The outward sign showed an inward reality, just as baptism is an outward washing showing an inward heart change. So the path in is a step of faith, dying to self, and the surrender of our hearts.

Immediately after, they kept the Passover. God commanded it yearly, yet that wilderness generation kept it only twice—once leaving Egypt, once at Sinai—and then not again for thirty-eight years until this moment. We too are to partake of communion regularly, remembering His death, burial, and resurrection, proclaiming His death until He comes.

The Commander of the Lord's Army

At the end of chapter 5 comes something vital. Joshua, this seasoned general, is eyeballing the great stronghold of Jericho about five miles from his camp at Gilgal, with over two million people who are not hardened warriors. As he walks, he sees a man with sword drawn:

"Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come." (Joshua 5:13–14)

Joshua could have insisted that he was the captain. Instead, he fell on his face and worshiped—and this man received the worship, telling Joshua, "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy." This was no created angel but, I believe, Jesus Christ before the incarnation—the image of the invisible God, eternal, able to appear at any point in history. Joshua bowed and asked, "What says my Lord unto his servant?" He recognized this one's authority. To have victory in the land, we too must recognize the authority of Christ as Lord of our lives, doing what He says—or we'll never experience victory.

The Conquest: Strongholds and Snares

The second division, from chapter 5 through chapter 12, is the conquest of the land, full of battles. The first is Jericho, a picture of a great stronghold—the serious, deep-rooted habits believers often battle early in their walk. Jericho had thick walls, wells, and stores of food; archaeology confirms it could have outlasted a siege. Israel won by obedience to the commander of the Lord's army: marching around the city with the ark—the visible presence of God—once a day for six days and seven times on the seventh, then shouting, so the walls fell flat. During those days I believe every Israelite came to the same conclusion: "We cannot take this city." God wants us to reach that realization. You will not defeat your strongholds on your own; in your own strength you're back in the wilderness of Romans 7. It is the presence of God that brings the walls down.

The next battle is Ai—a picture of the little spurs and burrs, the sins that so easily ensnare us, especially when we think, "I've got this one licked." The spies told Joshua to send only 3,000 men; Ai turned them back and killed 32, because there was sin in the camp—Achan's theft from Jericho. Once the sin was dealt with, Israel sent the whole army and trusted the Lord, and God gave the city. Ai warns against the attitude of Galatians 6, where one who thinks he is something when he is nothing deceives himself.

The Gibeonites, Adoni-Zedek, and the Caves

The Gibeonites (Joshua 9) picture sin that comes in secretly and craftily. Living in the middle of the land, they disguised themselves with old shoes, worn clothes, moldy bread, and cracked wineskins, claiming to be from a far country. Joshua 9:14 says the men "asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD," and made an unholy alliance. How often do we make decisions—marriages to those who don't know the Lord, partnerships with the unethical, ungodly friendships—without seeking the Lord's counsel, ruining our victory in the land? Yet God can turn even these around; the Gibeonites became hewers of wood and drawers of water for the tabernacle.

In Joshua 10, Israel faces Adoni-Zedek—"Lord of righteousness"—king of Jerusalem, a picture of the Antichrist. He doesn't attack Israel directly but the Gibeonites, testing their newly made covenant with Joshua. Most people come to Jesus at first because they're afraid of death and hell, as I did as a child praying with my mom; then our trust in Joshua is tested. The Gibeonites could have switched sides, but they called for Joshua, and he came. God rained hailstones that killed more than the sword did, and Joshua called the sun to stand still for the long day. The five kings hid in the cave of Makkedah, were brought out, and Joshua had his commanders put their feet on their necks, declaring God would do so to all their enemies, then executed them.

Caves are significant in Scripture. The first mention, Genesis 19, is where Lot's daughters made him drunk—darkness and the flesh. Sometimes we have hidden things, and we must let Joshua—Jesus—bring them out and expose them, then put our foot on the neck. As 1 John 1:9 says, confess your sin, and He is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse. The remaining battles through chapter 12 picture complete purging—our sanctification, which happens in the promised land. Twice Jesus cleansed the temple, and now we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6); when He comes in, He cleanses the temple.

Dividing the Land—and the Beginnings of Failure

Chapters 13–21 cover the division and possession of the land—and the beginnings of Israel's failure. As God divides the inheritance, we read repeatedly that they failed to expel their enemies. Joshua 13:13: "Nevertheless the children of Israel expelled not the Geshurites, nor the Maachathites: but... they dwell among the Israelites until this day." The same appears in Joshua 15:63 and 16:10. Just as God warned in Deuteronomy 28, those spared enemies became thorns and snares that tripped them up.

Yet there are great victories too. In Joshua 14, Caleb takes Hebron and kills the giants. In chapter 15, Othniel—whose name means "like a lion," from the tribe of Judah—takes a city to win Caleb's daughter as his bride. A lion of the tribe of Judah who took a city to win a bride: does that sound familiar? And the bride asks her father for the springs of water, receiving the upper and lower springs of living water—a picture of the Holy Spirit, just like you and me.

In the same division comes failure: Ephraim, Joshua's own tribe, makes excuses (Joshua 17). They claim to be a great tribe deserving more, but when Joshua tells them to take the mountain region and the valleys, they refuse—the Philistines have chariots. They wanted a free ride and weren't willing to do what was necessary. We do this too, sometimes thinking, "I'm a child of the King, so I should get this." Guard yourself against making excuses like Ephraim.

By contrast, Dan (Joshua 19) said their inheritance wasn't large enough, so they went up and took more. Scripture promised, "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you." Any tribe under Joshua that stepped out by faith and took the land received the inheritance—and the same is true for you and me.

Cities of Refuge and Provision for the Priesthood

Joshua 20 gives the beautiful picture of the cities of refuge, with great implications for us—I encourage you to study the message on the church website, as we don't have time tonight. Joshua 21 is the provision for the priesthood: the Levites had no land inheritance because God Himself was their inheritance, yet the people were to care for them. This is the biblical example of the body of Christ providing for the priesthood—not something the church invented to make money, but found right here in Joshua.

Perils and Pitfalls in the Promised Land

The last division, chapters 22–24, gives the perils and pitfalls in the promised land. Being in the land of life, rest, and victory does not mean the enemy stops coming or everything becomes perfect. We must take diligent heed to the word of God, not turning to the right hand or the left, observing to do all that is written, so that we will have good success and a prosperous way—exactly what God told Joshua in chapter 1. If we depart from His word, this passage warns God will remove us; He will not let us be squatters in the land, loitering and feeding on its faithfulness while ignoring Him.

Joshua 22 also presents misunderstood motives: the two and a half tribes east of the Jordan build an altar, and the rest of Israel prepare for war, having misread their intentions. How often do we misunderstand a fellow believer's motives and gossip or cut them down with the sword of the Spirit? If we want to dwell peaceably with one another, as Paul urges in Romans, we must communicate as Israel finally did.

Finally comes the great call to serve the Lord. Joshua declares, "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD," and the people answer that they will serve Him too. Yet Joshua gives a striking caution—reminding them that we need the help of the Lord to accomplish what He has set before us. Amen.

<<<CLOSING PRAYER>>> Lord, we thank You for Your faithfulness. As we sang tonight, Your mercies are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. We see that faithfulness in this book—that You are faithful to bring Your people into the land, just as You promised. We thank You so much, and we pray that tonight You would speak to us from it. For we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.