I Have Now Come | Sunday, April 2, 2023

And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?" So He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?" ... "Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5:13–15)

When you find yourself in an unworkable situation, you may be exactly where God wants you—learning to trust Him and to bow before the One who leads.

A Mountain in Saudi Arabia

Two Sundays ago, right about the time many of you were starting your day in Southern California, I was hanging onto the side of a mountain called Jabal Maqla in Saudi Arabia. You might be wondering what on earth I was doing there—and I asked myself that same question about a hundred times. The full story is too long for this morning, but I want to share the simple, valuable lesson that was driven home to me on that mountaintop.

Here it is: God often works us into the unworkable to work into us greater dependence and trust. If you have been a Christian for a while, you have probably seen this play out. The twists and turns of life—and I do think God is involved in many of them—sometimes leave us in situations that feel impassable, with challenges and troubles too big for us. Those unworkable circumstances often involve the places we go, the people we know, the possessions we have, and the positions we hold.

Have you been in any unworkable situations lately? Have you asked, "What on earth am I doing here? How did I get into this mess?" I want to encourage you: God takes us into those situations because He is trying to do a work.

Israel Worked Into the Unworkable

That was certainly true when God led the children of Israel out of Egypt and right into an unworkable situation at the Red Sea. They had mountains on either side—the book of Exodus even names them, Pi Hahiroth and Migdol—the sea in front of them, and the Egyptian army pursuing behind them. Freedom was tangibly close; that stretch of the Red Sea is only about ten miles across. They could almost smell it. But hemmed in like that, as many as two million of them, what could they do?

The only thing they could do was trust in and depend upon God. They had nothing within themselves to address that situation. And He delivered. Israel found themselves there again when they had no food, and God gave manna from heaven. Again at Rephidim when they had no water, and God brought water from the rock. Again when the amalekites came out to fight, and God delivered them. Over and over, Israel was worked into unworkable circumstances—and when you look closely, it was God who brought them there. His endgame was to work into them a greater dependence and trust in Him.

God Fixes the Fix

It is in the unworkable—when we are doing everything in our own power, strength, and strategies to fix the fix we are in—that God shows up in manifold and mysterious ways. Sometimes God puts you and me into a fix to fix something in us. Then I try to fix the fix, only to find that my fix gets me into a greater fix, which is typically the point where I discover I need the great Fixer, God, to fix the fix I got myself into to fix the fix He put me in to fix me. You can slow that down and think it through later, but that is often how it goes.

I hope you have experienced God's mighty and miraculous power. In my own life, it always seemed to happen when I was stuck—a mountain on either side, a bill I couldn't pay, a broken vehicle, an illness in the family—when all my resources and strategies were gone and I could only trust in and depend upon God. Looking back, I can see He either allowed or led me into that circumstance so my trust in Him would increase. A parted Red Sea, daily manna for forty years (the word manna in Hebrew literally means "what is it?"), a split rock flowing with water—these are awesome, miraculous, amazing things.

These Things Really Happened

Let me pause to answer that question I planted in your mind—what was I doing 7,500 feet up on a mountain in Saudi Arabia? Sometimes when we go through these passages in Deuteronomy and Joshua, it is easy to think of them as cool old stories that may or may not be real history, with some useful truths. But two weeks ago I was on that mountain with several good friends—Pastor David Guzik of enduringword.com, Pastor Lance Ralston of Calvary Oxnard, and Pastor Chuck Musselwhite of The Village Chapel in Lompoc—to remind myself that what we read in Deuteronomy and Joshua actually happened. The people are real, the places are real, and God did amazing things there.

The evidence points to this mountain, Jabal Maqla in western Saudi Arabia, being the actual Mount Sinai of Exodus, where Moses received the law. There are three traditional candidates, but the archaeological and geographical evidence points here. As I made my way down a treacherous, pathless slope with my friends, I was reminded that God makes good on His word, that He is faithful and true, that He can be trusted, and that He enjoys perfecting our joy.

Israel in the Land—Now What?

These are not new lessons, but they are good reminders. After forty years, Israel has finally entered the promised land. I'm grateful for Pastors Garrett and Jason, who taught on the Jordan River crossing, the twelve memorial stones, and Israel's recommitment to God at Gilgal at the beginning of Joshua 5.

Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover... Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. (Joshua 5:10–12)

This was forty years to the day after Israel left Egypt—the night before the Exodus was the very first Passover. Here they are in the land, keeping Passover, moving into the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which we ourselves are about to enter this week. If the calculations are right, this first Passover in the promised land happened around April 30th, 1406 BC. You can trace it through 1 Kings 6:1—Solomon consecrated the temple in the 480th year after the Exodus—right back to this day. The Bible is that exact.

Joshua by Jericho

So Israel is in the land, and now what? Joshua does what any leader would: he goes out to figure out the next move. There is no turning back—the Jordan has returned to flood stage behind them, just as the Red Sea had closed behind them. The first obstacle is Jericho, a great fortified, walled city about eight miles north of the Dead Sea. Its ruins are still there today, and extensive 20th-century archaeology confirms it was a large walled city, supporting the biblical account perfectly.

Joshua is surveying that walled city, trying to figure out what to do. But honestly, I'm not sure he fully had a clue. He and Israel had never besieged a fortified city. They are in an unworkable situation—but they were there by God's design. God opened the Red Sea; God brought them here. And God works us into the unworkable to work into us a greater dependence and trust.

And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?" (Joshua 5:13)

"No"—The Question Reframed

Notice the word Man—there is something special about it, as we'll see. Joshua is essentially in enemy territory, and he sees a man with a drawn sword, dressed for battle. Joshua assesses the situation and asks a spectacular question—two questions in one sentence: "Are You for us or for our adversaries?" Are You on our team, or with the other guys? Maybe Joshua thought, "I have a big fight ahead, You look ready for it, and I need all the help I can get."

The answer is remarkable.

So He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come." (Joshua 5:14)

Let that settle. Are You for us or against us? "No." There is so much in that one small word. When I was a junior high pastor, the boys would notoriously ask two opposite questions at once—"Are we getting lunch or going home?"—and I loved answering simply, "Yes." Here the Commander does the same, because these are not the right questions. He is saying: I am not here to join your army, to fight your battle, or to be part of your plan and strategy.

Beware Using God as a Pawn

Here is the important truth: beware of using God as a piece of your puzzle or a pawn in your game. He is not, nor will He ever be, part of your strategy. If you try to play this God thing as a game, you will always lose. We'll see this elsewhere—in 1 Samuel 4, Israel tries to throw God into the mix of their plan to fight an enemy, and they get utterly spanked.

If you are moving forward by your own plan and strategy, what you need is a reframing. We face big challenges—and they seem to be increasing—in the places we go, the people we know, the possessions we have, and the positions we hold. Remember: God works us into the unworkable to work into us a greater dependence and trust in Him.

A Pre-Appearance of Jesus

Notice that most translations capitalize the pronouns for this Man. There are no capital letters in the original Hebrew, but the translators are making a theological note. Most scholars, commentators, and teachers—myself included—view this as Joshua interacting with a theophany, or more accurately a christophany: a visible manifestation of the invisible God, an appearance of Jesus prior to His earthly birth.

How is this possible? Because Jesus is eternal. He is not a mere man; He is the eternal God-man. This is one of several Old Testament pre-appearances of Christ: the One who walked with Adam and Eve in the garden; the One Hagar saw in Genesis 16; one of the three who met Abraham in Genesis 18; the angel who wrestled Jacob in Genesis 32; the Angel named Wonderful who met Gideon's parents in Judges 13; the fourth man in the fiery furnace in Daniel 3, who looked like the Son of God. At key moments, Jesus shows up mightily—in the unworkable fixes and impassable turning points of life, when our plans and strength are spent.

So when Joshua asks if He is with them or against them, the Commander answers, "I am not part of your plan or puzzle. I'm not here to follow your lead, leader Joshua. I'm the Commander. The question isn't whether I'm with you or against you—the question is, are you ready to follow My lead?" As Dr. Phil would ask, after trying things our own way—"How's that working out for you?"

The Proper Posture: Humble Worship

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?" (Joshua 5:14)

Joshua did exactly the right thing. The proper position in the presence of Christ is humble worship and open submission. He prostrated himself in total surrender and vulnerability: "What do You want me to do? You are Lord; I am servant." That should be the outcome of our worship—recognizing Him as Lord and ourselves as servants. And when we get there, we are ready to see God's wonders and power.

Then the Commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, "Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5:15)

How do we know this is God—this is Jesus? Because Jesus is the image of the invisible God; whenever God shows up visibly, that is Jesus, God in the flesh. We know it here because the Commander receives worship and makes the place where He stands holy. His presence makes it holy.

Your Jericho

Let me bring this around for Palm Sunday. Have you been in one of those situations where you ask, "What am I doing here? What am I supposed to do?" That is exactly how I felt at points on that mountain. If you are in that place now, I believe you are exactly where God wants you—because He wants to grow your trust and dependence, show you His miraculous power, take over leadership in your life, scrap your game plan, and replace it with His. What God told Joshua to do was certainly not what Joshua had in mind. But God can't give you His game plan until you humbly bow in submitted worship and prayer. You don't need to find a special holy ground; His presence makes any place holy. The key is your posture.

Perhaps everything seems fine in your life right now. Thank God for that. But there is still a walled city you may have forgotten—a fortified stronghold you've given up hope on. Maybe it's your brother, your son or daughter, your dad or mom, a cousin or friend who has walled up their heart in opposition to God. You've prayed, you've shared the gospel, maybe even taken an evangelism or apologetics class, and to this point you've given up because they are like Jericho—impenetrable, hard-hearted, stubborn, rebellious, and lost.

I am more convinced than I've been in years that God wants to do a new work by His grace through the gospel in our day. He wants to tear down strongholds and break down walls in the lives of those who have become like Jericho. And where does that begin? It begins in humble worship and open submission on your part, where you bow before the Lord, petitioning Him for His power, His plan, His strategy, His Spirit to accomplish what you cannot.

An Absurd Plan

Here is a quick trailer for where we're going in Joshua 6.

Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua: "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days... But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets... and all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat." (Joshua 6:1–5)

By any standard of reality, this was an absurd plan. Any leader in his right mind would say, "This is not going to work." But it came from God. And with the holdout in your life—the family member who has hardened their heart—God may ask you to do something that seems absurd too. As D.L. Moody or E.M. Bounds said, "Where prayer is focused, power falls." God's mighty acts are seen by those whose eyes are set upon Him in prayer and worship. That truth was driven home to me the entire time on this trip.

Closing Prayer

God, I pray that You would remind us of this here on Palm Sunday—that You would encourage us with the word in Joshua 5 and 6. Do a work in our day. We pray for those brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, cousins, uncles, and friends who have hardened their hearts toward You. We ask that by Your Holy Spirit You would move mightily and powerfully in their lives to break down strongholds, and that You would cause an openness—just as there was in Jericho with Rahab and her family, who were ready to receive You. There are such people in our lives. Open the doors so we can reach them with the gospel. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

So remember: God desires to do a great work in your life and through your life. He often brings us into things that seem unworkable so we will grow in dependence and trust. And when we depend on Him in humble, submitted worship, He moves mightily and powerfully—even in the life of that one who has been like an impenetrable Jericho. Don't stop praying, don't stop persisting, don't stop loving them. God wants them saved as much as you do; Jesus died for them. Don't give up hope. Keep praying.