Joshua Who? | Sunday, February 5, 2023

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I believe in God our Father, I believe in Christ the Son, I believe in the Holy Spirit. Our God is three in one. I believe in the resurrection that we will rise again, for I believe in the name of Jesus. Our church, our Defender, suffered and was crucified. Goodness is in you.

Send it into darkness. I believe in God our Father. Hallelujah! I believe in Christ, the Son. God is three. I believe in the resurrection, that we will rise again, for I believe.

Jesus Christ is full. Three years ago, at the beginning of 2020, we began a study in the book of Deuteronomy here at Cross Connection Church. We have been rather slowly working our way through this book for much of the last three years. The last three years have been, shall we say, a little bit abnormal. I ventured out of Deuteronomy to cover a whole bunch of different topical things that had to do with where we were as a church and as a nation, and all the crazy things that we've been going through.

But Deuteronomy has been our primary focus. In our last study in Deuteronomy, back at the end of November, we came to what is effectively the end of Moses's core message in Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy is really a prolonged sermon.

Moses delivered a message for the children of Israel as they were preparing to finally enter the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. When we began our study in Deuteronomy, I called that series of teachings "Bordering Blessing" because that is where Israel was at that point in time. They were standing before Moses, who is the preacher of the book of Deuteronomy, sharing this message with the people of Israel.

They were in what is today modern-day Jordan, specifically in the plains of Moab, as Moab was the region at that time. In fact, Jordan is referred to as the Moabite Kingdom of Jordan. They were standing in the plains of Moab near what we know today as the Dead Sea, on the southern part of the nation of Israel, on the east side of the Jordan River. The land of blessing, the Promised Land, was standing before them on the other side of the river.

Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel, is known today as the father of all monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and he is also very prominent in Islam. Abraham was promised this land for himself and his descendants some 400 years prior to Moses standing there with the children of Israel, back in the Book of Genesis. Deuteronomy represents Moses's final words of exhortation to the descendants of Abraham, to the nation of Israel, as they prepare to enter the Promised Land.

Before the holiday season, we finished up in Deuteronomy chapter 30. Now, we come to Deuteronomy chapter 31, and we will be making a transition over the next several weeks as we move out of Deuteronomy and into the books that follow. Deuteronomy chapter 31 is key because we are introduced to someone new in this passage.

Open with me in your Bibles, if you have them, to Deuteronomy chapter 31, beginning at verse 1. We read there, "Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel." He said to them, "I am 120 years old today." Maybe it was his birthday that day; I don't know. "I can no longer go out and come in, so I'm getting kind of old. I can't be leading the nation," and so on.

The Lord has said to me, "You shall not cross over this Jordan." So, Moses knew that he was not going to be coming into the Promised Land. There they are at the border of the Promised Land, getting ready to go in.

In Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse 3, it states, "The Lord your God Himself crosses over before you. He, God, will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua himself crosses over before you, just as the Lord has said." The Lord will do to them, these other kings of this region in the Promised Land, as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites and their land when He destroyed them. The Lord will give them over to you so that you may do to them according to every commandment which I have commanded you.

"Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear nor be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, He is the one who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you." Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. The Lord, He is the one who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear nor be dismayed."

For the last three years, Moses and the people of Israel have been the major characters in our study as we have been going through the book of Deuteronomy. That's who we have been looking at: Moses and the children of Israel. Moses is the great lawgiver and leader of the children of Israel, the man who, by the power and authority of God, delivered these people from their enslaved bondage in Egypt. He then led them faithfully through the wilderness for 40 years.

Now, Moses is 120 years old, and he is preparing to hand the leadership of the nation of Israel over to another. What we have here is a character shift. No longer will it be Moses and the children of Israel, but now it is going to be this guy Joshua who becomes the focus. This does beg the question: Who is Joshua? To answer that question, I think it is helpful to understand a bit more of the larger story.

Leads up to this point in Deuteronomy chapter 31. Now, for some of you, I recognize you already know this story. Maybe you've read through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. You've read through the Pentateuch, the Torah, before; you know this stuff. But I also don't want to take for granted that there are probably some people who don't know the lead-up to everything that is going on here as we come to Deuteronomy chapter 31.

To understand who Joshua is, we need to go back a ways. We need to go back to the beginning, back to the very, very beginning, back to the Book of Genesis, the very first book of the Bible, and the first chapter of the first book, where we read about creation. In Genesis chapter 1, beginning at verse 1, hopefully these words are familiar to you, but I recognize they may not be. There in Genesis 1:1, we read, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth." The Earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

If we skip down in that very same chapter, Genesis chapter 1 moves from that first day of creation and goes through the second, third, fourth, and fifth days, down to the sixth day of creation. In six days, God created everything that we know and see.

Now, there are a lot of different discussions among Christians about exactly how God did that. Did He do it in six literal days? Were these six epochs of time? Was there a gap between the first creation of the heavens and the Earth and all the six days of creation? Did God use the process of what's sometimes referred to as theistic evolution? There are all kinds of questions about that, but that is not what we're going to be getting into today. We'll talk about that at another time in the future.

All I will say at this point is that the Orthodox Christian view, the view that all Christians who are true believers have held for all time, is that there is a God, and He is the creator of all things. Here we have God creating the universe, the Earth, and everything that is in the Earth. Then we get down to what is referred to as the sixth day of creation, and we read this in verse 26: "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image.'" Those words "us" and "our" are so important. I could spend an hour talking about "us" and "our."

Verse 26 states, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness." It continues, "Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So, God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him. Note this: male and female, He created them.

I could go into all kinds of discussions about those words. We could spend at least one message, if not twenty, on the reality that God created humanity male and female. Here in Genesis chapter one, we have the creation spoken about. Genesis chapter two is a restatement of the same events, taking place with a slightly different point of view and a bit more detail.

In Genesis chapter one, we have the creation account, and in Genesis chapter two, we see the same creation from a different perspective. However, in addition to the creation in Genesis chapter one, we move from creation to a command in Genesis chapter two, verse 15. The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden, you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die."

At the beginning of the book of Genesis, in chapter one, we have creation. In chapter two, the beginning verses again recount the creation from a slightly different perspective. In Genesis chapter two, verses 15 through 17, we move from creation to the command. God gives humanity a command: they may freely eat of all the trees in the garden except for one. They shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

If you have been around the story of Genesis or the story of the Bible, you know what is coming in the next chapter. In Genesis chapter three, God forms the female, Eve, and joins man and woman together as husband and wife. Then, in Genesis chapter three, we see the two of them tempted by the serpent, who we think of as the devil, the enemy, the one who opposes God. He tempts man and woman to eat of the very thing that God had said they shall not eat: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He tells them that if they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then they will be like God.

Knowing good and evil, when they saw that it was good for food and that it was good-looking, this fruit was desirable to make one wise. They took and ate of it, and as a result, their eyes were opened. They knew that they were naked, and they were separated from God, divided from one another. This is what we refer to as the Fall. Corruption entered the world through one man's sin, and death through sin, spreading to all humanity.

So, the question arises: why is there malevolence, evil, and suffering in the world? Whether it is natural evils stemming from the fallenness of creation or malevolent evil through individuals doing wicked things, for the Christian, we trace it all the way back to Genesis chapter 3. Corruption came in through the Fall.

We have Creation in chapter one, and in the beginning of chapter two, we have the command in chapter 2, verses 15-17. Now, we see corruption by the Fall, as sin enters and brings devastation to Creation. All of creation is under the curse and the stain of sin. However, in this very chapter, as we confront this corruption, we also find a little light shining in the darkness of hope.

In Genesis chapter 3, beginning at verse 15, we are given a promise that hints at a coming redemptive plan from God. It may not seem apparent when you first read it, but God is speaking to the serpent here. In Genesis chapter 3, verse 14, God says to the serpent, the one who tempted Adam and Eve to sin and brought about corruption in the Fall, "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all the beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat the dust all the days of your life."

In verse 15, God continues, "I will put enmity between you, the serpent, and the woman, and between your seed, what will come from you, and her seed. He shall crush or bruise your head, serpent."

Shall crush or bruise his heel. A lot of Christian theologians, scholars, and Bible teachers, myself included, see this as the initial, if you will, kind of promotion of God's redemptive plan. Sometimes people refer to this as the Proto-Evangelion, which means the First Gospel. "Proto" means beginning or first, and "Evangelion" is the Greek word for gospel or good news. So, people see this as the initial point at which the gospel is spoken of.

We have Creation in Genesis chapters one and two, and we have a commandment given in chapter two. We have corruption, leading to the fall, in chapter three. Here in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, we find the first inkling, if you will, of God speaking about His redemptive plan. As we see the unfolding of God's redemptive plan in the Book of Genesis, we find that it involves a people who are the descendants of an individual named Abram, or later on, Abraham.

The redemptive plan of God involves a people and a place—a land that God is going to promise to Abraham and his descendants. We find that story as we continue on down in Genesis chapter 12. If we skip down to Genesis chapter 12, verse 1, it says, "Now the Lord had said to Abram, 'Get out of your country and from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great.' Note this; this is key: 'You, Abraham, or Abram, shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you, or through you, all of the families of the earth shall be blessed.'"

We refer to this passage in Genesis chapter 12 as the call of Abram or the call of Abraham. This is where God calls out to an individual because, if you remember back in Genesis 3, verse 15, God promised that there would come a male child who would descend from a woman and crush the work of Satan, the serpent. Now, God is identifying a family, a person. He calls out one named Abram and says, "I want you to follow me, and if you follow me by faith, then I am going to do this spectacular work."

Through you, there will be a blessing for all peoples. This is God's redemptive plan; this is what we would call the redemptive history of God. Here in this passage, it goes all the way back to Genesis. It goes back to Adam and Eve, to Abram and others, but these are the key people of the story. In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed because God is calling a people to come forth from this man, Abram.

So, He calls Abram and then establishes a covenant with this believer. He is the father of our faith. We read in the New Testament that Abraham is the father of all those who believe. He trusted God and followed Him by faith, faithfully, even though he stumbles from time to time. If you're reading through Genesis, you've seen this. He stumbles, as we all do, but he follows God by faith.

God establishes a covenant with Abram in Genesis chapter 12. He establishes a covenant with him again in Genesis chapter 15. Reading from verse 18 in Genesis chapter 15, we find this: "On the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, 'To your descendants...'" Remember, I said that there would be a people and a place. Here’s the people: "To your descendants, I have given this place, this land, from the river of Egypt to the Great River, the river Euphrates—the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Gergeshites, and the Jebusites. I'm giving you their land."

So, God says to Abraham, "I have called you, a single person, and to your descendants, your people, I’m going to give this place." Why is God doing this? Why is He calling a person and the people that will descend from him to this place? It goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 3, verse 15. God is bringing about His redemptive plan; He is working His redemptive work for all peoples. "In you, Abram, all the peoples of the earth shall be blessed."

This whole thing involves a people; it involves a place—a place that we begin to call the Promised Land. From Genesis chapter 12 to the end of the book of Genesis in chapter 50, you have this story that now focuses on Abram, or Abraham, and his descendants. God has selected a people and a place to bring about this redemptive plan that would be a blessing for all peoples. Abraham and his descendants...

The people of the Covenant are those who will receive the Promised Land. But why? What is all of this about? As I've said, God has a redemptive plan that is much bigger than just saving Abraham and his family. This plan is for all peoples, in all places, at all times. Through you, Abraham, all the nations and all the families of the earth will be blessed. The promise to Abraham, found in Genesis chapter 12, states that in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Before God could fulfill His redeeming work for all the families of the earth, He had to redeem first the descendants of Abraham. This brings us to the story in the book of Exodus. We move from Genesis to Exodus; Genesis is the first book of the Bible, while Exodus is the second. The term "Genesis" means the beginning, and in Genesis, we see the beginnings of God's redemptive plan. In Exodus, we witness God's redemptive power as He works His redemptive mission through another individual, Moses.

We have gotten to know Moses in our studies of Deuteronomy quite a bit over the last several years. However, through the book of Exodus, we are introduced to Moses, who will be the one through whom God brings about this redemptive mission and exercises His redemptive power. God's redemptive power is evident in this mission throughout the book of Exodus.

When we finish the book of Genesis, specifically in Genesis chapter 50, Abraham is dead. His descendants, a relatively large family, are now living not in the land that God had promised to Abraham—the land we call the land of Canaan or later the land of Israel—but in Egypt. As I mentioned, Abraham's descendants are a relatively large family in Egypt. However, when we begin the book of Exodus, 400 years have passed, and Abraham's descendants have gone from being a family of about 70 people to a small nation, really a very large group of people. They have grown to hundreds of thousands and are living in and among the Egyptians.

When we come to the Book of Exodus, the children of Abraham, the descendants of Abraham, the children of Israel, are no longer a free people. They are in bondage and are slaves in Egypt after four centuries of being there. They are tormented by Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh is fearful that the descendants of Abraham are so numerous that if they wanted to, they could gain power over Egypt from within. Egypt did not have much concern about external forces because they were surrounded by a desert on all sides and had strong defenses. However, they now face a problem because Pharaoh has this group of people, the Hebrews, who are in his land and number in the hundreds of thousands.

What does Pharaoh do? He gives a command, a decree, to try to deal with these people. In Exodus chapter 1, verse 22, we read, "Pharaoh then commanded all his people, 'You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile, but let every daughter live.'" Why would Pharaoh do this? Why kill only the male children? Why not destroy all of the Hebrew children? He certainly had the power to do that.

What we find is that Pharaoh's aim, his goal, is to absorb the children of Israel, the people of the Hebrews, into the people of Egypt. If he gets rid of all the male children and only the female children remain, those female children will marry Egyptian men, allowing them to be absorbed into Egyptian culture. This is the thinking of Pharaoh: if we just eliminate the male children—those who could fight against us and those who could have more children to continue the Hebrew lineage—then we won't have anyone fighting against us. They will simply be absorbed into our culture.

What is amazing about this wicked thought of Pharaoh is that it reflects a tactic often used by the enemy. The enemy does not set out to obliterate; rather, he wants God's people to be just like everybody else. He seeks to absorb God's people into his culture. This is a significant point, and while it is a topic for another study, I want to emphasize that recognizing this tactic of the enemy, as seen in Pharaoh, is important for understanding how he seeks to influence us.

People of God, into this world, we need to take careful note of the New Testament word from the Apostle Paul: do not be conformed to this world. This is just a passing exhortation; we're not going to get into that today, but just think about that in Romans chapter 12. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Understand that the enemy, thousands of years ago in Egypt, used Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The mindset of Pharaoh is the same mindset that is in the world today. The enemy wants you to be conformed to this world. That's for another day, though.

Anyways, we have this evil plot. Pharaoh prepares to destroy the people of Israel by destroying the male children, and this sets the conditions for Moses to come about. Not just Moses, but what we might even say is the redemption of Moses. This is a key cycle that we're going to see throughout the Old Testament.

This cycle begins at a place of relationship and rightness with God, but then, through human actions—often of unfaithfulness, disobedience, rebellion, and sin—man descends from being in a place of right relationship with God into a place of sinfulness and bondage. In that place of bondage and oppression, the people of God cry out to God because of their oppressors, and God raises up a deliverer to redeem them.

So watch for this cycle. We're going to see it a whole bunch as we go through the remainder of the Old Testament, especially when we get to the Book of Judges. The people of God start out in a place of rightness and relationship with God, but because of their own sinful actions, they end up in bondage. They cry out to God because of their bondage, and God raises up a deliverer to redeem them and bring them back.

This cycle is constant; watch for it. It's everywhere throughout the Old Testament, and it points us towards the New Testament, towards Jesus, the Redeemer, the one who is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham: "In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

God brings order; that's what God does. God is a God of order, and He brings order. We see that time and time again in the Scriptures. Man, in our fallen nature, sows chaos, and boy, have we been seeing the sowing of chaos quite a bit over the last several years.

God brings order, while man sows chaos. He redeems man from his disordered chaos and delivers him back to that order. This is what we would call, and I have referred to it before here at Cross Connection, the meta-narrative of the Bible: creation, fall, then God comes to redeem and ultimately to restore. We see this cycle rinse and repeat all throughout the Scriptures.

In Exodus, the children of Abraham, the descendants of Abraham, are in Egypt and are being oppressed by the wicked Pharaoh, who is trying to destroy the people of Israel, God's people. In Exodus chapter 2, Moses is redeemed and rescued from Pharaoh's evil decree as an infant. Moses's parents fulfill the decree and command of Pharaoh, who said that every male child is to be cast into the river Nile. They follow that command but make Moses safe in a little small boat, a little small ark. By the providential hand of God, Moses is drawn up out of the river, which is interesting because his name, Moses, means "one who is drawn up out of the water."

Moses is drawn from the river by Pharaoh's daughter and ultimately adopted into the household of Pharaoh. He remains there until he is 40 years old. At 40, as a result of sowing chaos, Moses takes an Egyptian's life and ends up wandering as a shepherd in the wilderness of Midian, many hundreds of miles away from the land of Egypt. He spends the next 40 years of his life in the wilderness as a shepherd, which is ironic because Hebrews are originally a group of shepherd people, but the Egyptians hated Hebrews and shepherds. Moses was raised in the household of Pharaoh, and now he ends up as a poor man in the wilderness, shepherding sheep for 40 years until he is 80.

Sometimes we don't think about this, especially if we watch some of the adaptations of this story in film. One of my favorites is the animated film "The Prince of Egypt." When you see Moses meet God, he looks like he is 20; he doesn't look like he is 80. But in reality, the Scriptures tell us he is 80 years old.

At 80 years old, God appears to Moses at what we are told in the book of Exodus is Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai. God appears to him, and maybe you know this story: a flame of fire from the midst of a bush, a burning bush. When Moses turns aside to investigate this strange appearance, we get the call of Moses.

Now remember, we had the call of Abraham back in Genesis chapter 12. Now we have the call of Moses, and all of this is for God's redemptive plan. In Exodus chapter 3, we read about the call of Moses in verse 4. When the Lord saw that Moses turned aside to look at the burning bush, God called to him from the midst of the bush, saying, "Moses, Moses!" He said, "Here I am." Then God said, "Do not draw near to this place; take the sandals off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground."

Moreover, God said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, Abraham's son, and the God of Jacob, Isaac's son." Moses hid his face, for he was terrified to look upon God. The Lord said, "I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good land, a large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites." This is just like God had promised to Abraham hundreds of years ago in Genesis chapter 15, which we looked at a little bit ago.

Now therefore, in verse 9, God says, "Behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come up to me, and I have also seen their oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."

Remember what I said: this is the redemptive drama of God. God called out Abraham so that he would bring about His redemptive mission and plan, not just for the people of Abraham, the descendants of Abraham, but for all of the world. Now we see this cycle continuing as God is narrowing down for a people and a place from which He is going to bring about this redemptive plan.

The next 11 chapters of the book of Exodus, after the call of Moses in Exodus chapter 3, chronicle for us God's redemptive mission to rescue the children of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

From the bondage of Egypt, remember that God called a people to a place to fulfill His redemptive plan to bless all the families of the Earth. This is where that whole story begins to unfold. Moses is sent to the people to get them out of their bondage by God's power through a series of plagues. You can read the book of Exodus and see the ten plagues: the frogs, the death of the cattle, and all these crazy things, including the Nile River being turned into blood.

In these plagues, God is systematically destroying all the things that the people of Egypt worshiped. He is breaking down all the false gods because that is what God does. God is greater than all other things that man might find himself worshiping. When God moves in, He destroys all of those things. So, God is redeeming these people by His power through these series of plagues. He is going to deliver them.

Once the people are out of Egypt, you can continue the story in Exodus chapter 14, where they cross through the Red Sea on dry ground. Now they are leaving Egypt and entering the wilderness. It isn't just a matter of getting the people out of Egypt; rather, we now reach a point where it is a matter of getting Egypt out of the people.

You see, God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt through this redemptive plan, through His power, by Moses, and through these ten plagues. But now, as they get into the wilderness, with Egypt behind them, God needs to try to get Egypt out of the people. Sometimes, it is much easier to get the people out of Egypt than it is to get Egypt out of the people.

What fascinates me about this is how well it pictures what I think is a general principle of life. As we go through this life, we generally find ourselves in one of three places: enslaved in bondage, in a place like Egypt; wandering aimlessly in a wilderness, as we find with the children of Israel in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers; or at rest in the land of promise.

God's aim is to redeem and rescue us from bondage, to guide and deliver us through the wilderness, and to bring us into a life of promise.

Victory and rest in His Promised Land of blessing. At this point, I have a simple question for you: Where do you find yourself today—enslaved, wandering, or at rest? It's a question to really think about. Enslaved, wandering, or at rest? At every stage, we see that God is trying to work something in His redemptive plan. But for today, right now, you are in one of those three places: enslaved in Egypt, wandering in the wilderness, or at rest in God's Promised Land of blessing.

The story goes on. God delivers Israel from their bondage in Egypt. He brings them out of Egypt across the Red Sea and takes them into the wilderness to that same mountain where God had appeared to Moses through the burning bush—Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai. He is doing this to establish His covenant. Remember, He is calling a people to a place to enter into a covenant so that He can fulfill His redemptive plan.

At Mount Sinai, God gives the children of Israel His law. He does this because He is seeking to purify them, to get Egypt out of His people, and to prepare them for the Promised Land. It is at this early point of their time wandering in the wilderness, before they even come to Mount Sinai, that we are introduced to this guy Joshua. That was the question that started me down this whole crazy rabbit hole to get to this point: Who is Joshua?

We read about him back in Deuteronomy chapter 31, but who is this guy Joshua? All of this leads us to the answer. Israel comes through the Red Sea in Exodus chapter 14. The waters of the Red Sea close and cover the pursuing Egyptians. The Egyptians had amassed an army to go after them, and so the children of Israel walk across the Red Sea on dry ground. The Egyptians pursue them, and the waters of the Red Sea close over them, and Israel is delivered. They are delivered from Egypt, but now they are in a very real wilderness. Quickly, they begin to realize that the wilderness is not going to be a walk in the park. At the end of Exodus 14, they cross over.

The children of Israel, after crossing the Red Sea, enter the Wilderness. In Exodus 15, at the beginning of the chapter, they sing a great worship song, praising God for delivering them. However, by the end of Exodus 15, they have not been in the wilderness for long before encountering a significant problem: they are dehydrated and in need of fresh water.

They arrive at a place called Marah, where they find wells of water, but the water is bitter and undrinkable, possibly due to excessive minerals or sulfur. Despite this, God miraculously makes the bitter water sweet, providing for their needs. The picture is clear: the children of Israel are delivered by God's power, redeemed from Egypt, and after crossing the Red Sea, they find themselves in the wilderness, dehydrated and crying out to God. He responds by providing water for them.

As we move to Exodus 16, the plot thickens. The challenge shifts from a lack of water to a lack of food. The Israelites, traveling through the wilderness, do not have enough food to sustain the hundreds of thousands of people in their group. They cry out to God for food, and by the end of Exodus 16, God miraculously provides bread from heaven, known as manna.

This brings us to Exodus 17. The same group of people who lacked water in chapter 15 are now lacking water again. They are on their way to Mount Sinai, preparing to become the people of God and to enter into a covenant with Him. However, they are at risk of dying in the wilderness without water. In Exodus 17, God provides miraculously for the third time, giving them water from a rock.

What is the common denominator in these stories? Israel experiences a lack, and God miraculously provides. Why does He do this? Because He is the Redeemer.

Deliverer, He is the provider. This is exactly what their father Abraham had learned four centuries prior. God calls us out from chaos, from bondage, and He calls us unto the promised land.

In the intervening time from Egypt to the promised land, we wander in a wilderness. It is there in the wilderness where God wants us to get to know Him, to get to know the very one that Abraham called this great word, Jehovah Jireh. This Hebrew name, Jehovah Jireh, when translated, means "the Lord our provider" or "the Lord will provide." That is the lesson that God wanted Abraham to learn in the wilderness, and it is the lesson that He wanted Israel to learn as well. I want to suggest to you that this is the lesson that God wants you to learn as you move from the place of bondage on your way to the place of rest.

You may find yourself in a valley like Rephidim, where there is no water. This is the lesson that God wants us to learn in the wilderness: that He is the provider. Some of you are learning that right now.

In Exodus chapter 15, God provides miraculously water for the children of Israel as they are dehydrated and in need of water. In Exodus chapter 16, He miraculously provides bread from heaven for them as they are hungry and need food. In Exodus chapter 17, at the beginning of the chapter, He provides water for them miraculously a second time. God is the provider, and that is what He wants them to learn in the wilderness: that they can trust in Him, rely on Him, and have faith in Him.

Now, in Exodus chapter 17, it only took me goodness knows how long—30 plus minutes—to get here. If you have your Bible open, look at verse 8. Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, "Choose us some men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow, I will stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand." So Joshua did as Moses said.

Moses said to him, "Fight with Amalek." Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. If you've been around Cross-Connection Church for any length of time, you know that I have a tendency to take a very long path to get to the point. I asked the question, "Who is Joshua?" Now, here for the very first time, out of nowhere seemingly, we are introduced to a new character—really two new characters: one, the people of Amalek, who will show up more throughout the Old Testament; but more importantly, this man Joshua.

At this point, we don't know a lot about Joshua. If you're reading the story, there's just a new guy who appears, and you know nothing about him. However, the first time that someone is mentioned in a story is important. In fact, those who study the Scriptures professionally call this the principle of first mention. This is the first time that Joshua is mentioned, and I want to suggest to you that his name is vitally, critically, and essentially important.

Just a moment ago, I shared with you the Hebrew name Jehovah Jireh, which means "Jehovah" or "the Lord is our provider." Now we are introduced to Joshua, which in Hebrew is Yehoshua, meaning "Jehovah." Just like Jehovah Jireh, God is our provider. Yahushua, or Joshua, means "Jehovah is salvation." When you are in a wilderness without food or water, you need Jehovah Jireh; you need the Lord, our provider. When you are facing an enemy against whom you are powerless to stand, you need Jehovah, our salvation.

So, Moses says to Yahushua, "Joshua, Jehovah is our salvation. Choose for us some men to go out and fight; gather together an army." This is really important. The children of Israel have been slaves for four centuries in Egypt. None of them are soldiers; none of them are battle-hardened individuals. Moses says to Joshua, "Choose for yourself some men to go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow, I am going to stand on the hill over there, on the top of the hill, and I will have the rod of God in my hand." The rod of God was this walking stick or staff that Moses had, and it was critically important.

It is important in the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt. Moses says, "I'm going to have the rod of God in my hands." Joshua does just as Moses tells him to do. Moses and Aaron, who is Moses's brother, along with Hur, a man we don't have a lot of information about, go up on top of the hill. We read this in Exodus chapter 17, verse 11.

So it was, when Moses held up his hand with the rod in it, that Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. However, Moses's hands became heavy, so Aaron and Hur took a stone and put it under him for a place to sit. He sat on it, and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side. His hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

Note this in verse 13: Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. This is a fascinating passage of Scripture; it is one of my favorite passages in the book of Exodus. I have like fifty favorite passages in the book of Exodus for so many reasons. I love the Old Testament stories and enjoy going through the first two-thirds of the Bible in the Old Testament. That is why I have been so excited to come to the Old Testament after spending many years—like a decade—going through the New Testament.

For many reasons, I love the stories of the Old Testament, but one key reason stands out. In the Old Testament, we frequently see what I think is a fascinating relationship and an intertwining of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. There are endless debates within Protestant Christian circles about God's sovereignty and man's responsibility or free will. Is God fully sovereign, and does man have responsibility and free will? My answer to that question is yes. These two things are intertwined.

In the Old Testament, we see this very clearly: God's sovereign power is at work, and it is man's responsibility to take action. In Exodus chapters 15 through 17, I encourage you to read them later and look for this. Israel is without water in chapter 15.

Until they find a spring with bitter waters, they can't drink it. So, God sovereignly directs Moses to cast a tree into the waters, and they are miraculously changed from bitterness to sweetness. We see God's sovereign power and miraculous power at work through the agency of Moses.

In chapter 16, Israel is in want of food; they are lacking sustenance until Moses prays. God gives him a plan and directs him to instruct the children of Israel to wake up early in the morning and go out to glean off the ground this strange, miraculous food substance that would be upon the ground, which the people would call Manna, meaning "What is it?" The people woke up in the morning, and Moses said, "All right, God’s going to give you bread from heaven." They go outside, and there is all this miraculous food on the ground. They ask, "What is it?" and he tells them to pick it up; it is for them to eat. God's miraculous power provides sustenance, but the people had to go out and gather the food. Thus, we see God's sovereign power and the agency of human beings working together, the co-mingling of these two elements.

The same thing occurs in chapter 17. Israel is without water, and God directs Moses to strike the rock with his staff, the rod of God. An abundance of water flows out. God miraculously brings about water through the agency and obedience of Moses.

In this passage, the children of Israel are at a place called Rephidim, facing an enemy they are not prepared for. As I mentioned before, they have been slaves in Egypt for 400 years; they are not battle-ready soldiers. However, in obedience and faith, Joshua, who becomes the very first soldier and general of the Israeli Defense Force, goes out to lead the men of Israel into battle. This is our first introduction to Joshua, who will become the focus of our study.

This is key to understanding Joshua and his ministry. As this general and soldier goes out to lead the men of Israel into battle, Moses and Aaron, Moses's brother, along with a man named Hur, are up on a hill watching the battle. It was so that when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hands, Amalek prevailed. I can imagine Moses, and perhaps you can as well, as he is up on the hill.

Hill, he's watching this battle like you're watching a football game. There they come together, and Joshua is at the front, leading the charge against the Amalekites. They're fighting, and Moses is excited. His hands lift up, and every time he lifts up his hands, the children of Israel are pushing back the Amalekites. Then he lets down his hands, and now the Amalekites start to push the children of Israel back. So he lifts up his hands again. What's going on? He realizes that every time his hands are up with the rod of God in his hand, the children of Israel are victorious.

But have you ever tried to hold your hands up for a very long period of time? Especially if you're holding a stick? Go home and pick up a broomstick and hold it above your head to see how long you can do it. Not very long. Moses's hands became heavy, so Aaron and Hur, who were with him to support him, put a stone under him for a seat. They held up his hands all day long so that the children of Israel could be victorious.

So, who won the victory against Amalek? Was it Joshua, who was fighting in the valley? Could they have won if Joshua wasn't fighting in the valley? I don't know. Was it Joshua who won in the valley? I guess you could say that, but wasn't Moses essential in this whole scenario as well? Apparently, he was. But then where were Aaron and Hur? Weren't they a necessary component of this victory?

So, who won the victory? Who wins this victory against Amalek there in the valley at Rephidim? Look at Exodus 17, verse 14. It provides an interesting answer. Then the Lord said to Moses, after the battle is done, "Write this for a memorial in the book."

Now, this is a key spot. We'll come back to this another time in the future, I'm sure. This is the very first time that we find in Scripture where God says, "I want you to memorialize this in the book." This is key because we have the book of Scripture. Where did it start? I want to suggest that maybe it started right there in Exodus chapter 17.

Now, he says "the book" as if there was already a book, but this is the first time we have it in Scripture. The Lord said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua." Note this: God says, "I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." And Moses built...

An altar was built, and its name was called "The Lord is My Banner." Remember, we have the Lord, my provider; we have the Lord, my salvation; and now we have a new name: the Lord is my banner. For He said in verse 16, "Because the Lord has sworn, the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."

So, who won the victory? Here again, we have the question: who won the victory? In answering that question, we are given this third name that I mentioned. We have Jehovah Jireh, the Lord our provider; we have Yahushua, the Lord our salvation; and we have Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our Banner. Who won the victory in this passage? Ultimately, it was all dependent upon God's divine and sovereign power.

Now, there was an essential place I would suggest for Moses, Aaron, Hur, Joshua, and the army of Israel. We have God's sovereign, mighty power, and we have Joshua, Moses, Aaron, Hur, and the army of Israel joined together, just like we had God's sovereign, mighty power against the people of Egypt to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. The children of Israel had to make the decision to follow God by faith into the wilderness. God's sovereign power works in us to will and to do His good pleasure as we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

All of that to say, let me introduce you to Joshua. He was a former slave in Egypt, rescued by the redemptive power and deliverance of God. We come to discover later on that he was 40 years old when he learned a valuable lesson—a lesson that is going to be core to everything that will happen as we continue to get to know Joshua.

As we move from the book of Deuteronomy into the Book of Joshua, we see the very important lesson that Joshua, at 40 years old, learned after being delivered from bondage in Egypt by the mighty power of God. As he fights a battle against the Amalekites in a valley called Rephidim, he learns that God is my salvation, just like my name means. He learns that God is my provider, and he learns that God is the banner over my life—a lesson also that Joshua's father, Abraham, had learned hundreds of years earlier.

Before, when Abraham encountered enemies in another wilderness, we read about it in Genesis chapter 15. At the beginning of Genesis chapter 15, God reveals to Abraham that He is his provider, that He is his shield, and that He is his salvation. He says, "Do not be afraid, Abraham. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."

This is a lesson that one who would come after Joshua, centuries later, named David, King David of Israel, would learn when he also had to flee into the wilderness from an enemy within his own household. We read of that in Psalm 3, verse 1: "Lord, how they have increased to trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me. Many are they who say of me, 'There is no help for him in God.' But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the one who lifts my head. I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill."

I don't have, like I normally do here on Sunday morning, any blanks for you to fill in on a piece of paper, but I do have some important considerations and some questions for you as we begin to come to the end of this message. As you are beginning to be acquainted with Joshua, where are you at this moment? Not physically necessarily—don't say, "Oh, I'm sitting in my car," or "I'm sitting in my office," or "I'm sitting in my living room." That's not what I'm talking about.

Where are you at this very moment spiritually? Are you bound as a slave in Egypt, which Scripture often lifts up as a type and a picture of the world? Are you wandering in a wilderness aimlessly, or are you living a victorious life in the land of rest? Ultimately, wherever you find yourself today—in bondage in Egypt, walking aimlessly through a wilderness, or experiencing a life of abundance in the Promised Land—these essential truths about God that Joshua began to learn, as we are first introduced to him in Exodus chapter 17, are important for us.

The Lord our God is our salvation. He is our deliverer. He is our provider, Jehovah Jireh, our protector, our sustainer. Have you learned what Joshua learned there in the earliest days of their Exodus from Egypt? God is my salvation.

He is my provider; He is the banner over my life. All I want to do here today is to introduce you to Joshua. His name means "Jehovah is salvation," and his life, as we're going to discover, has a lot to teach us. As we get to know him and delve into the Book of Joshua in the coming weeks, we find that back in Deuteronomy chapter 31, where we left off at the end of November, we receive this word: Joshua is the one who will bring you into the Promised Land.

So, be strong and of good courage. Do not fear nor be afraid of the enemies that stand before you, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you because He is your provider, your salvation, and the banner over your life. Hopefully, you know these things; if not, the more we get to know Joshua, the clearer they will become.

Father God, I pray that you would stir in us a desire to get into Your Word, the Scriptures, and allow Your Word to get into us, transforming us by the renewing of our minds. Help us not to be conformed to this world. The enemy, just like Pharaoh wanted to do with the children of Israel when they were in Egypt, seeks to absorb us into this world. But God, I pray that you would help us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds as we take heart and heed to Your Word. Teach us to walk in Your will and to trust You as our provider, our salvation, and the banner or shield over our lives.

For we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. I believe in life eternal. I believe in the Virgin birth. I believe in the communion of saints and in Your holy church. I believe in the resurrection when Jesus comes again, for I believe in Jesus.

Thanks for joining us for our broadcast today. As we close, we would love to invite you to our services at Cross Connection Church, which are held at 8:30 and 10:30 every Sunday. If you'd like more information about Cross Connection Church, please visit us online at lifeinkconnection.com.

Hey there, Cross Connection! We only have one announcement this morning: we need preschool teachers. If you are able and interested in working with preschoolers, we would love to get you plugged in. It's a great way to get to know the kids, a great way to connect with parents, and a great way to become more involved in your church. For more information, visit lifeinkconnection.com/serve.