Joshua chapter five, let's read
verses 13 through the end. 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. Joshua went up to him and asked,
are you for us or for our enemies? Neither, he replied. But as commander
of the army of the Lord, I have now come. Then Joshua fell face
down 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. Now, we have just finished that
portion where having crossed the Jordan, there were four things
performed or four things that happened in order to prepare
the Jewish people for the battles that lay ahead as they took possession
of the land that the Lord had promised them. First there was
circumcision, then the observance of the Passover feast, the feast
of unleavened bread, and the fact that the manna quit falling
because they were in the promised land and everything they needed
was already there. They did not need some additional
external miracle. according to his promise, had
provided everything they needed right there in the land. Now,
at the beginning of this passage, we find Joshua, the one who has
typically been magnified before the people as he pictured the
Lord Jesus Christ in his exaltation. Now he's alone in meditation
before he leads the people into battle. Now, it is kind of an
assumption that he is alone and in meditation it just says he
was near Jericho and seeing that it would be unlikely that he
was there along with the entire host of Israel, the army of Israel,
that he'd be near to Jericho, that would be unlikely because
that would give them warning that the army's on the way. Rather,
Joshua had gone ahead and he was looking at the city and sizing
up what he should do as he confronts the city. Now, while he's there, there appears
to him a man. It says, he looked up and saw
a man standing in front of him. Now, we don't know how far in
front of him he was, because later it says, Joshua went up
to him. So evidently, this man who stood
in front of him was far enough away that Joshua did not figure
that it was an appropriate distance for a conversation. but there
is a man standing in front of him. Now, as we'll see, this
man is nothing or no one other than our Lord Jesus Christ in
what's called a pre-incarnate appearance. I think it's safe
to say that every time our God has appeared Every time He has
communicated with us, it has been in the person of the Son
of God, or God the Son. It has been the Word. Now, I
don't pretend to understand the Trinity. And the reason I don't
pretend to understand it is it's one of those things that's beyond
understanding. There is Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. And sometimes these persons are
held as distinct from one another, and yet every one of them is
set forward as God. So I'm not going to try to unravel
that. I just know, you know, as John
said, in the beginning was the Word. And it's this Word who
created the worlds. And it's this Word who became
flesh. And it's this word who is called
the voice of the Lord God walking in the Garden of Eden as he came
to confront Adam and Eve about their sin. This is the same one,
we'll see this, this is the same one who appeared to Moses in
the burning bush. It was the one with whom Jacob
wrestled all night long. Now, all of these appearances
of our God, were miraculous in the sense, you know, for instance,
it says, a man appeared to him. Well, I suppose for all intents
and purposes, it was a man, but it's not as though God just suddenly
inhabited the body of some natural born man. He created one for
the moment. Because, you see, God cannot
communicate with us in a way that we'll understand. without
becoming part of this creation. And that's why the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. Every time God spoke to the prophets,
it was our Lord Jesus Christ speaking to them, and that's
who is present here. Now, what this says about Joshua,
this scene, It tells us that he is a man of great courage
and faith. Those two go together. If you
have faith, you have courage. People say, well, you should
live according to your faith. Everybody does. Everybody does. So when someone who claims to
be a believer acts cowardly. Now I'm not talking about just
an individual instance of cowardice. I mean the Apostle Peter obviously
acted cowardly there, denying the Lord three times. I'm talking
about in the general tenor of our lives. If we are cowardly,
if we can be forced into silence, not confessing the name of Christ,
If we can be forced to worship in some church that teaches contrary
to the gospel, if we can be forced to do that in order to avoid
persecution, or in order to obtain the favor of the world, any of
those things, that's cowardice. In the book of Revelation, if
you're reading it in the King James, it will say that the fearful
among other descriptions, they will suffer the judgment of God.
But the word is not simply fearful. Courage is not the absence of
fear. Courage is the willingness to
do what needs to be done in spite of the fear. Cowardice is giving
in to the fear. Now, when people who claim to
be believers show this cowardice, what they're proving is, is they
do not have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Their faith is
in themselves. And of course, they see themselves
as not able to stand against the troubles that the world will
present to them. Therefore, they remove themselves
from those troubles. Now, Joshua, likely by himself,
and giving deep consideration to what lay before him. Now,
this is the kind of army leader you would want. You know, we're
all familiar with the story of General Custer, and at least
the heroic version of the story that we are often told. And what
is not often told is that help was on the way. If he had just
waited, there were more soldiers coming. But General
Custer was a glory-seeking military man, and he felt if he waited
until more arrived, he would not get the glory for the victory.
So he did not give careful consideration to whether or not he could even
win this thing with the 200 and some men he had, something like
that. And he brashly faced the foe unprepared. And the result
was he and all his men perished. And they did so needlessly. You'd
rather have someone like Joshua. Now take note of this. Joshua
had a promise. that the Lord would deliver Jericho
and all the rest of the cities into the hands of the Jews. But
Joshua did not allow that, that truth which he firmly believed,
to make him think, well, then I don't need to prepare for this.
I don't need to give consideration to the best line of attack or
whatever. God's promises And God's fulfillment of those promises
does not ignore means. You know, those who seek first
the kingdom of God are promised that they'll not be without food
and clothing. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and all these things, the things people normally worry
about that they aren't gonna be able to get, said all these
things will be added to you. But does that mean, okay, I'm
seeking first the kingdom of God, so I can quit my job. Or whatever other means, which
would be the normal means of obtaining those things. We don't
quit doing them, we just realize that God will bless whatever
we do to bring about those things He has promised. It's bad enough to practice those
things or to practice this nonchalance or this lack of using the means God provides.
It's bad enough if we do that with regard to natural things. Let me give you an example. God
has promised that, you know, that he that begun a good work
in you will perfect it until the day of Christ. Well, we might
think, well, you know, that I don't even need to think about spiritual
things. I don't need to consider how I live. I don't need to go
to church. I don't need to gather with God's
people and worship. God's promised me I'm gonna make
it in the end. It doesn't matter what I do. Well, here's the thing. If God begins a good work in
you, he will make it matter to you whether or not you make use
of the means that he has designed for your preservation. You know, if the Lord has said,
well, you're sick and normally this sickness would lead to death,
but I'm going to send a person with a medicine, he'll give it
to you. And I guarantee you, you will
not perish. That's my absolute guarantee,
says God. Okay, when the guy comes with the medicine, are
you gonna say, well, God promised me I wouldn't perish. Doesn't matter
whether I take this medicine or not. We always use the means that
God has designed. And our spiritual welfare, while
resting firmly upon the will and power of God, it is mediated
to us normally, through the means he has set up. Do we persevere? Do God's people persevere? Yes,
they do, in a broad sense of that word. They believe until
the end. Why? Well, God upholds them. How? Through the preaching of
his word, through the ministry of the gospel. And to ignore
those things is somewhat indicative that one, well, God hasn't begun
a good work in that person. Else they would seek out the
means of God's grace. Now, notice what Joshua asks as he
faces this man. Now this man is standing in front
of him and obviously facing, you know, they are facing one
another. And this man has a drawn sword in his hand. Not a sword
in the scabbard. This man standing there is obviously
intent on battle. But Joshua doesn't know whose
side he's on. Now to this point, Joshua doesn't
know who this man is. And that should not surprise
us. They didn't know who the Lord Jesus was either. Why should
it be any different in a situation like this? So Joshua asks him. He went up
to him. No lack of courage here. He didn't
run. I would imagine whatever manly
form our Lord took, he looked like a capable warrior. But Joshua
was not going to back up. And so he says, are you for us?
or for our enemies? That's a good question. Just
because he looks like an able soldier, able commander, just
because he has a sword, and not just a sword, but a sword that
has been drawn, that doesn't mean that he is there in behalf
of the Jews or those of Jericho. And so Joshua asks him. Now the answer that is given
to Joshua gives us a clue as to who this is that Joshua is
speaking to. Now, in our translation it says that
the man answered him, neither. Neither. I suppose that that
is a legitimate translation of that word. But in its most basic
sense, all that word means is no. No, it's just an outright negation. Well, what is he negating? For
the way Joshua asked it, he says, are you for us or for our enemies? That would require You know, selecting A or B. Now, neither would say what was
true. Indeed, he wasn't there for either
one of them. But it seems to me that this
word, just because, like I said, it's
just absolute negation, he was doing. Our Lord here in the appearance
he made as a man to Joshua, he's doing much the same thing he
often did when he was here. Our Lord Jesus Christ, people
would ask him questions and he gave them answers that ignored
their question. You see the issue here with this
simple answer of no, The Lord is saying to Joshua, you're asking
the wrong question. He says, as commander of the
army of Jehovah, I have now come. Abraham Lincoln. nearly every
American has a good deal of respect for Abraham Lincoln. And I don't
know how you were taught about him, but when I was taught about
him, there was kind of a mythology about him, that he was a religious
man, a godly man. But what history shows us is
that he was not particularly religious at all until he became
president. And I wonder if that wasn't because,
as president, he was confronted with an issue he couldn't fix.
I think people turn to the Lord when they've got no one else
to turn to. And you know, he had initiated that war with the
South in order to preserve the Union, and it was assumed that
this, in fact, both sides thought it would be a much shorter war
than it was and cost much less. But as is often the case, you
engage in war and you find out the other side's a lot more tenacious
than you thought they were. And that war just kept going
on and on and on and it seemed like it was never gonna come
to a resolution. Hundreds of thousands died. And maybe it was Abraham Lincoln
as he realized, I've gotten into this and I can't
see any way out. And maybe that made him realize,
and he said this in one of his speeches actually, that what
was going on, the Lord was dealing with the nation. And that wasn't gonna stop until
it was the Lord's time to do it. But he said something in
all of this situation. As is typical in politics, people
try to defend their position. by saying the Lord is on our
side. What the Lord says is, I'm not
on anybody's side, but my own. And Abraham Lincoln said, the
question is not, is the Lord on our side, but are we on his
side? Now, I don't know if Abraham
Lincoln was ever a believer in the sense that we use the word.
But he had some reverence of God. He had some understanding
that God is a side unto himself. And he is not one we call upon
to be on our side, as though he's going to come and use his abilities to make our
plans prosper. This is going to sound almost
blasphemous to you, but consider this. God is absolutely useless. You say, what? Well, he's useless in this sense.
Something is useful. We call it useful because you
can take it and use it in order to accomplish something you want
accomplished. God cannot be used. He can be called upon. You can
ask Him for help in time of need. But He's not some tool that you
can pull out when it seems like it's a good idea to you, so that
you can advance your own cause. I've also put it this way, God
serves no purpose. Say, well, God doesn't serve
a purpose. Doesn't he serve the purpose of our salvation? No.
Why? Well, first of all, because God
serves no one and nothing. He is the one who purposes. He is not the one that serves
the purpose of others. He is a purpose unto himself. Now everything you and I do,
there will be some purpose behind it. And what we're doing is meant
to serve that purpose. But God has no purpose that's
separate from Himself. And He certainly is not here
to serve our purpose. And that's what the Lord was
saying to Joshua here, I believe. He said, No! I'm not here for
the people of Jericho. I'm not here for the people of
Israel. I am the supreme commander of
the Lord's army. I serve His purpose. Now, I know
that our Lord, Lord Jesus, is the Lord Jehovah. But whenever
He presented Himself to us, He always handled that mystery of God transcendent,
out there, outside the bounds of time and space, and then God's
presence within time and space. He always, in his manifestations
here, subjected himself to God out there. That's the best way
I can explain it. That's why we read of our Lord
being in subjection to God. Wait a minute, he is God. Yes,
but he's God here in time and space, and God in time and space
is subject to God outside those bounds. So the commander in chief, the
supreme commander of the Lord's army, He's come here not to serve
the purpose of the Jews, not to serve the purpose of the inhabitants
of Jericho. He has come to bring to pass the purpose of God. The Lord Jesus said, I've not
come to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. Joshua's response says, Joshua fell face down to
the ground in reverence and asked him, what message does my Lord
have for his servant? Now, we may not recognize if the Lord
showed up now we probably not recognizing when I mean showed
up if he showed up like this you know some man standing in
front of us we wouldn't recognize him as our Lord he'd have to
tell us not only that by his spirit we would have to be convinced
of it that was the truth when our Lord was here Our Lord Jesus,
nobody knew who he was until God revealed it. The Lord asked his disciples,
who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered him
saying, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And the
Lord looked at Peter and said, flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. He said, you didn't figure that
out on your own. Nothing you have seen about me, Nothing even
that you've heard from me could convince you of that. Why? Because it's a spiritual thing.
It's a spiritual understanding. Rather, he says, that was revealed
to you from heaven. And everybody in this world who
believes that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the Christ, the Son
of the living God, God has revealed that to him. We are under no
obligation to follow any man, unless and until we find out
that man is God. Joshua, he came up, he challenged
this man. And he says, are you with us
or are you with our enemies? And the Lord answered as only
the Lord can, no, wrong question. I am come. That's a weird kind
of way to say things. Our translation says, I have
come. But they added that word, I have
now come. And that gets us closer. But
the meaning is, I am presently here. Not as a commander of the Israelites
or as a commander of the folks of Jericho. I am come as commander of the Lord's army. And once Joshua knew that, he
fell down, he worshipped him, and he said, what message does
my Lord have for his servant? The believer is ready to do whatever
his Lord says to do. He only has to be convinced that
it's this Lord that said it. Now we are under no obligation
to follow any man. Here I am, I'm the pastor of
this congregation. But you're under no obligation
to follow me. The only obligation, I hate to
call it that, but the only obligation you have is to listen to what
I say, compare it to what is written. And if it matches what
is written, then of course you would follow it, because what
is written has come from God. That's why Paul says, follow
me as I follow Christ. Now if Paul had defected from
the faith and he started following someone or something other than
Christ, nobody was under any obligation to follow him. But
once it was determined that this man was God, He said, what message
do you have? Secondly, the response magnifies
the Lord Jesus, magnifies our God, because that kind of submission should
not be given to anyone else. And then thirdly, Joshua's response indicates a
willingness to wait on the Lord. This is the fact of faith. It
waits on the Lord. Joshua did not say, and I like
this, he did not say, okay, what plan of attack do you propose? He didn't suggest anything. He
just said, what message does my Lord have for his servant? If that message had been, you
just sit still for another week. That's what Joshua would have
done. If his message would have been, go back across the Jordan
into the wilderness, it's not time yet. That's what Joshua
would have done. If he'd have said, Joshua, all
by yourself, take Jericho. That's what Joshua would have
done. He was ready to hear whatever God had to tell him. And we should
not expect God to tell us anything until we're ready to hear and
to obey what he says. The question is never, is the
Lord on your side? The question is always, as Moses
said one time, who is on the Lord's side? And we submit all of our plans,
all of our thoughts, all of our wisdom, all of our hopes, we
submit it to Him. This is what I plan to do, Lord,
unless You say something else. And His telling us something
else may be nothing more than in His providential dealings
what we hoped. didn't come to pass. That doesn't
mean that we were unwise in our hope. Doesn't mean that God's
upset with us. It just means that what we hope
for is not what God purposed. And we are ready to submit to
what God purposes. All right, you are dismissed.