Joshua chapter 5. The name of the message is The
Captain. The Captain. Tonight's passage is a wonderful
portion of Scripture. A wonderful portion of Scripture.
We'll see in the latter part of this chapter a pre-incarnate
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is called a Christophany.
A Christophany. And a Christophany is a manifestation
of the pre-incarnate Christ, who we know is the Logos of God,
right? The Word. The Logos of God in
John chapter 1 verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, the Logos
of God, and He was with God and He was God. And later on we see
in John chapter 1 that the Word, the Logos, became flesh and dwelt
among us. So it is He who is God and it
is He who reveals God to us. We'll look at the context of
the whole chapter before looking at our text which is found in
verse 13 and 15. Now verses 1 to 9 we have the
new generation circumcised and we may gather from the context
that none remained uncircumcised but those who were born after,
those who had rebelled and refused to heed Joshua and Caleb's word
about taking the land. Turn, if you would, to Numbers
32 and verse C, that all those who refused, all the men above
20, were consumed in the wilderness. So the ones who are being circumcised
are being told to be circumcised. Several commentators were bringing
out that this is the new generation, the new generation. Numbers 32
verses 10 to 13, the scripture declares this, and the Lord's
anger was kindled the same time he swear saying, surely none
of the men that came up out of Egypt from 20 years old and upward
shall see the land which I swear unto Abraham, unto Isaac and
unto Jacob. because they have not wholly
followed Me, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Chesonite, and
Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord."
Remember they said, let's just go and take the land. And the Lord's anger was kindled
against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty
years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight
of the Lord was consumed. Calvin brings this forth. He
says, for it is said that the sons whom God substituted for
them were circumcised by Joshua. And it appears that a new people
were then created to supply the place of the perverse rebels,
he says. Those we just read of in Numbers
32. So let's look at our text with
that in mind. Scripture declares this in Joshua 5, starting in
verse 1. And it came to pass when all
the king of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward,
and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard
that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before
the children of Israel until they were passed over, that their
heart melted. That their heart melted. Neither
was their spirit in them anymore because of the children of Israel.
At that time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make these sharp knives
and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time. So
he's speaking of those who haven't been circumcised. Those who have
been born in the wilderness. And of course it's the men. It's
the men, and think of this too, and there will be a reference
to this later, they're the soldiers. They're the soldiers. And circumcision
was a very painful thing for when you were older. So keep
that in mind though, because that's going to tie right in
as well. At that time the Lord said to Joshua, make these sharp
knives and circumcise again the children of Israel the second
time. And Joshua made him sharp knives and circumcised the children
of Israel at the hill of the Sforskins. And this is the cause
why Joshua did circumcise. All the people that came out
of Egypt that were males, even all the men of war, died in the
wilderness. We saw that in Numbers 32, right? We just looked at
that. We just looked at that. Even all the men of war died
in the wilderness, by the way, after they came out of Egypt.
Now all the people that came out were circumcised, but all
the people that were born in the wilderness, by the way, as
they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised.
Now remember, the Passover was to be partaken by those who were
circumcised, right? So that's the importance. We're
gonna see that later on in the text that they have the first
Passover in Canaan, in the land of Canaan. For the children of
Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the
people that were men of war which came out of Egypt were consumed,
because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord, unto whom the Lord
sware that he would not show them the land which the Lord
sware unto their fathers, that he would give us a land that
floweth with milk and honey. And their children, whom he raised
up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised,
because they had not circumcised them by the way. They didn't
circumcise them when they were in the wilderness. And there's
something interesting about that, too. We'll look at that in a
few seconds. And it came to pass, when they
had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their
places in the camp till they were whole. So they abode until
they were healed up. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you.
And remember, we who are born again are circumcised in the
heart by the Holy Spirit. And we partake of the Passover
who is Christ and the Passover pictured Christ. And the Lord
said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of
Egypt from off you. Wherefore, the name of the place
is called Gilgal until this day. So let us think on this, God
tells Joshua that the new generation is to be circumcised after they've
crossed the Jordan, after they crossed the Jordan. Well, they're
hemmed up by their enemies. Well, they're hemmed up by their
enemies. Now, it would have been safer for them to perform the
rite before they crossed the Jordan, but God didn't tell them
to do that. It would have been safer for
them to perform the rite in the land of Bashan. They had peace
because they had overthrown all their enemies. But God in his providence has
them perform it after they cross over the Jordan and they dwell
in the land of their enemies. This shows us his providential
protection. This shows us his providential
protection and his control, his control over his people. Because
in the state of circumcision, they'd be weakened soldiers. They'd be weakened. They could
have easily been overtaken. But let us always remember this. It's the Lord who protects us.
He takes care of us. And he protects us. Think of
this, we could be easily overtaken by sin. We could be easily overtaken
by things that occur in our lives, but the Lord keeps us and protects
us. It's marvelous. So he providentially
protected Israel while they were healing in that state. So he goes before us, and now
we're going to look at the next portion. We'll see here the first
Passover in Canaan, verses 10 to 12. And the children of Israel
encamped in Gigal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day
of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat
of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the Passover,
unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow
after they had eaten of the old corn of the land. Neither had
the children of Israel manna any more. But they did eat of
the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. So the Lord's people
are here observed, are here observing the Passover, which we know from
our studies, the Passover is a type and picture of Christ.
And they observe the Passover, which signifies their deliverance
from Egypt, right? Their deliverance from bondage.
Their deliverance from the land of Egypt, which is a picture
of the world. And we know that it's by the
hand of the Lord himself that they were delivered. They had
no other way. They couldn't deliver themselves. They couldn't deliver
themselves. And let us not miss the connection
between circumcision and the Passover, because only those
who the Holy Ghost has circumcised in our hearts, only those, only
those, those born-again believers, only they are prepared by God
to partake of the Passover, which is Christ. Christ our Passover. We can't muster faith up in Christ. We can't come to Christ on our
own. He must draw us. He must save us. We must be born
again. Let's note this first thing here.
The fact of divine presence. Let's look at our three verses
now, where we'll find our text. And we'll note here the first
portion, the fact of divine presence. Look at this. And it came to
pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and
looked. Two verbs. He lifted up his eyes and he
looked. And behold, there stood a man over against him with his
sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him and
said unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? So Joshua sees this man before
him with his sword drawn. He's a man of war, he's a soldier,
he's a man of war. And it's not a vision because
he's a man. And he sees him with his sword drawn. And he said,
nay, but as the captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to
the earth and did worship and said unto him, what saith my
Lord unto his servants? And the captain of the Lord's
host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for
the place wherein thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. He did so. Now the Lord had divided
the Jordan. Turn, if you would, over to one
chapter over. Joshua 4, verses 18 and 19. The
Lord had supernaturally divided the Jordan that his people might
pass through on dry land. Look in verse 18 and 19, and
it came to pass when the priests that bear the ark of the covenant
of the Lord were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the
soles of the priests' feet were lifted up into dry land, that
the waters of Jordan returned unto their place and flowed over
his banks as they did before. The water parted, and they walked
across on dry land, and when they were done, it went all right
back where it was supposed to be. It's a miracle. And we saw
at the beginning of this chapter, right? Look at verse 1. And it came
to pass when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the
side of the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites,
which were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the
waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until
they were passed over, every one of them. Every one of them. Every one of them passed over
on dry land. that their heart melted, neither
was there any spirit in them anymore because of the children
of Israel. So this miracle. Greatly dispirited
the Canaanites, they were greatly the enemies of Israel were greatly
dispirited. It took the wind out of their
sails. And it prepared a way for an
easy triumph for the invading Israelites. Now we would think
in our minds, right, militarily, that the Lord would just have
them go right in, right? Just go right in, they're already
afraid, they're already dispirited, go right, naturally, that's what
we would think. But God's ways are not our ways.
And his thoughts are not our thoughts. Because we would see
an advantage to strike a blow, a heavy blow at the enemy. Well,
he's discouraged. But our great God has the children
of Israel pitch their tents in Gigal and tarry there for a season.
This shows us, beloved, that God is in no hurry. He's not
in any hurry at all. His purposes can be accomplished
without haste. and in His perfect timing. It's His perfect timing. Though
He would have us redeem the times because our days are evil, yet
He who dwells in eternity can wait. And by His wisdom, He orders
or He delays. He orders or He delays. And we
know that from prayer, don't we? Sometimes He says yes, and
sometimes He says no, and sometimes we just wait. He orders and delays
all according to His divine will and His purpose. Why? Why does
He do that? That His power may be manifest,
beloved. That His power may be manifest.
See, if they went running right in there, they might have thought,
we did this on our own strength. He makes them wait. He makes
them wait. Young preacher came to this older
preacher one time and said, I think I'm called to preach. I really,
I just think I just really want to get going and really want
to preach. And the old preacher said, wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Just take your
time. Wait on the Lord. God will do what he wills in
his time. And it's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. So he made him tarry. He made
him tarry, that his power might be manifest. And think of this
for us. How does that practically come
down to us? Well, it teaches us that we're
just to rest in Christ. Amen. To rest in Him. To wait on the Lord. John Claude
and I were talking about that and how the teachings of Scripture,
how can they, how do they apply to us that way? And that's how
it is. We just wait. We wait on our great King. Knowing
that His will will be accomplished. Now, there's sometimes we do
things, right, as we felt led, but we wait on His providence
at work. We wait on His providence, His
care, and what peace this can bring to we who believe. It teaches
us to rest and repose in God's sovereignty, in His sovereign
will, even when we don't understand what's happening, which is most
of the time. Really? It is for me. I have to learn to wait. But
think of this. I was pondering this today. We
always see the wisdom of God when we look back on those circumstances,
don't we? We always do. It's incredible. We look back at how God has brought
us through whatever situation we were in. By his sovereign
decrees and his sovereign will, He brings us through these various
situations, and for we who are believers, it brings us great
peace to see what He's done. And knowing what He's done before
for us, we can have confidence that He'll carry us to the end.
He'll keep us, beloved. He'll keep us. And He declares in Scripture,
Or in Hebrews, the scriptures declare, here never leave us
nor forsake us. And has he ever? Think of it,
beloved, you who are the beloved of God. Has he ever, has he ever
forsaken you? Never, any brother, never. It's
wonderful. It's wonderful. Let's consider
verse 13 and note the word, the note, the word and, which connects
us to what we have read thus far in the chapter. Pink says,
God will honor those who honor him and Joshua has done so in
the circumcision of his people. He's obeyed God and by the observing
of the Passover. It says, and it came to pass
when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked
and behold there stood a man over against him with his sword
drawn in his hand And Joshua went unto him and said, Art thou
for us, or for our adversaries? Now turn, if you would, to Exodus
chapter 13. Exodus chapter 13. Now let us
remember this. That it is God himself, the Lord
God himself, who has delivered us from our sins, right? Christ
has delivered we who believe from all our sins. by the shedding
of his precious blood on Calvary's cross. We who could never save
ourselves have been saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. And remember
also that the world is a picture of Egypt. And it is he, it is
Christ in him, it is God in him alone. And Christ is God, it's
him alone who protects us through our journey through the wilderness
of this world. And it's a wilderness. And He
protects us just as He did Israel. Look at this, being a pillar
of fire at night and a pillar of cloud by the day. Exodus 13
verses 21 and 22. And the Lord went before them
by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way, and by
night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, to go by day
and night. He took not away the pillar of
the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, before the
people." So here's the fact of his divine presence with them. And we see in this verse in 13
again, we see in verse 13 the fact of his divine presence.
And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted
up his eyes and looked and behold, there stood a man over against
him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went on to him and
said, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? What a picture
we have here before us. of our Lord. He's the one who
fights our battles. It is he who goes before us,
just like he did with the Israelites. And it is he alone who is the
captain of the Lord's host. He is the one who leads us. Turn,
if you would, to Exodus 23. God told Israel that he would
send an angel before them to keep them and bring them into
the place which he had prepared. And this is Christ. Again, we
see that our God will save us. He will deliver us in here, keep
us. And what a great comfort this can bring us as we sojourn
through this world every day. Because there's new things every
day that affect us, isn't there? But our God, He's unchanging,
beloved. The same God who protected us
yesterday and years ago, even before we were saved, is the
same God who protects us right now. And the same God who will
take us home one day. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever, beloved. Yesterday, today, and forever.
Exodus 23, verses 20 to 23. Behold, I send an angel before
thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place
which I have prepared. Beware of him and obey his voice. Provoke him not, for he will
not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him. But if
thou shall indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak, then
I will be an enemy unto thine enemies. and an adversary unto thy adversaries. For mine angel shall go before
thee, and bring thee into the Amorites, and the Hittites, and
the Perzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jezebites,
and I will cut them off. It says there, for mine angel
shall go before thee. And it came to pass when Joshua
was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and behold, and looked
and behold, there stood a man over against him. There he is. Now, let us ponder this. Joshua
was a great general. But we will see later in our
text. We will see him bow his knee. before this man, as this
man reveals who he is, who he is. Several commentators have
brought out how men are impatient, but here we see that nothing
will happen until the Lord's timing, and the victory will
be won by Him. He gets all the glory. He gets
all the preeminence. It all goes to Him. Now we see here Joshua perhaps
in prayer or meditation, perhaps scouting the enemy on his own,
perhaps observing the city and considering ways of attack, and
we see him lifting up his eyes and looking, he sees a man. He
sees a man standing over against him with his sword drawn, a man
of war. Joshua, he's a man of courage. He's a man of courage and he
asks, art thou for us or for our adversaries? He has no idea whose presence he is in. And it shouldn't surprise us,
because remember our two brothers on the road to a maze. They did not know that it was
he who spoke to them. That he who spoke to them was
the Lord. Until he revealed himself, right?
And when he revealed himself, all their hearts burned within
them. And we will see this man reveal who he is. And beloved,
it is no other than the Lord Jesus Christ. A Christophany
of Christ. A pre-incarnate appearance of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Joshua's response was a natural
response to a man with a sword drawn and standing before him.
He's a soldier. He's a soldier. And we see here
Joshua's concern expressed as well as his courage. He says,
aren't thou for us or for our adversaries? No one from the army of Israel
should have been there. evidently no orders had been
given for anyone to leave the camp. So this stranger who suddenly
appeared, who was the stranger who suddenly appeared out of
nowhere? Joshua must have thought, well, since he's not one of ours,
he could be the enemy. Or perhaps someone who's come
to help us who I don't know about. And we see the challenge in the
question shows Joshua recognized that this man was a stranger,
that he was no Israelite. And he did not know whose side
he was on. But he knew that he was a man
of war. He had a sword drawn before him. And let us always remember, as
we looked at earlier, that the battles we face And the foes
we face are against our Savior. Are against
our Savior. And against His work. We often
see them as personally attacking us. When people come at us about
what we believe. But, beloved, it's our great
King they're against. It's our great king. We often
personalize it when people are against us about our faith, but
if we're standing for the cause of Christ, then it's him who
they're against. It's him. And they're against
us also because we're his servants. He's the head and we're the body.
But it's because of him. Now we see the man, the soldier,
who stands before Joshua will reveal himself and in doing so
we will understand from this portion here the Lord's position
in the midst of his people. Look at verse 14, and he said,
Nay, but as the captain of the host of the Lord, I am now come. And Joshua fell on his face to
the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my
Lord unto thy servants? So let us note what our Lord
says to Joshua, nay, but as the captain of the host of the Lord
am I now come. Joshua has just discovered that
this person was more than just a mere man. Turn over to Joshua chapter one.
And we're looking a couple chapters here at just various verses.
Places where the Lord had spoken to Joshua. Look at Joshua 1. And we'll just
focus on the portion where it says the Lord said unto Joshua. Joshua 1. Now after the death
of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the
Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun. And then look at Joshua
3. And then put your finger in Joshua
4. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
Joshua 3, 7, and then Joshua 4, 1, and it came to pass, when
all the people were clean, passed over Jordan, that the Lord spake
unto Joshua, saying. So we see the Lord speaking to
Joshua. And then look at Joshua 4, 15. And the Lord spake unto
Joshua, saying. Okay. Now he had spoken to Joshua,
right? But he had made no visible appearance
to him. And remember, all that God has
to say to us, he says through Christ. So when it says the Lord spake,
that's Christ speaking to when when Moses was speaking to the
Lord at the burning bush, that was Christ. So here now. The one who appears is a man
of war. He said, nay, but as a captain
of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his
face to the earth and did worship and said unto him, what sayeth
my Lord unto his servant? He now has a visible manifestation. The Lord has has manifested himself
to his servant. And the one who appears again
is a man of war with a sword drawn, and he's ready to do battle. He's ready to do battle. He reveals
to Joshua who He is, and it is none other than the captain of
our salvation, the rock of our refuge, our Savior and our King,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And here we see a pre-incarnate
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is the angel which
was promised to Israel, which we saw in Exodus 23, 23. And it is said that He will go
before them, for my angel shall go before thee. and bring thee into the Amorites,
and the Hittites, and the Perzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites,
and the Jezebites, and I will cut them off. Now here's something for us to
observe. Pink brings this out, A.W. Pink. And he said, observe
how well God suits the revelation of himself unto his saints according
to their circumstances. To Abraham he appeared as a traveler.
To Moses at the backside of a desert in a bush. And here to Joshua
at the beginning of his campaign is a man of war. And think of this, they just
celebrated the Passover. The Passover which prefigured
Christ as the Lamb slain. Joshua 5.11 says this, and they
did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the
Passover, unleavened cakes and parched corn in the south same
day. Beloved, think of this. He appears with a sword drawn
in his hand. He appears as the lion of the
tribe of Judah. He's a man of war. One commentator said, Jesus comes
to this holy war. Joshua sees a man clad in armor,
equipped for war. And I ask you, beloved, can we
not see our Savior? Our Savior? Can the eyes of faith
not see the same? There stands our great Savior,
the captain of the Lord's host. Commander over all. God over all. Blessed forever. Yet a man, beloved of God. And
our Savior is God incarnate in the flesh, isn't He? He's bone
of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He's fully God and fully
man. And where is our Savior? He's
in the midst of the church, beloved. He walks among the golden lampstands
and His promise to His people is this, Lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the world. Always. Turn, if you would, to
Daniel 435 and remember this and then put your finger in Matthew
26, Daniel 435 and then put your finger in Matthew 26. Now, think
of this. That the host spoken of in here.
The captain of the Lord's host. Is an army of angels. And Daniel
spoke of he who does all things according to his will in the
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, Daniel
4.35. It says this, and all the inhabitants of the earth are
reputed as nothing. And he do it according to his will in the
army of heaven. This is the captain, the Lord's
host who's appearing to Joshua. That means he's the commander
of all. and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay His hand." No one can stay God's
hand. No one can say to Him, what doest
Thou? And then turn, if you would,
to Matthew 26. Matthew 26, verses 52 and 53. Remember what
our Lord told Peter when He had drawn the sword to strike one
of the men who had come to take Christ away. Look at this in
Matthew 26 verses 52 and 53. What power our Savior has. What he has at his command. Then said Jesus unto him, put
up again thy sword into his place. For all they that take the sword
shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot pray
to my father and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions
of angels. 72,000 angels. Turn, if you would, to 2 Kings,
chapter 2. Do you know, again, one legion
consists of 6,000 men or above sometimes. By 12, that equals
72,000. And when you consider that one
angel killed 104 score and 5,000 in one night, 12 legions of angels would absolutely devastate the
world. Second Kings 19.34 and 35, for
I will defend the city to save it for mine own sake and for
my servant David's sake. And it came to pass that night
that the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of
the Assyrians in 104 score and 5,000. And when they arose early
in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. Now think of this. Here's Joshua. I don't know if he was surveying
the city. If he's a good general, which
he was, he was probably surveying the situation. And he sees this
great walled city. What a relief it must have been
for Joshua. He might have perhaps thought
that he was the captain, but now the responsibility is taken
from him. It's taken from him. He was to
be the lieutenant. But the king himself would marshal
his host to battle. Beloved, I'm called the pastor
here. But there's a greater one who I serve and a greater one
who you serve. And he is our captain. He is
our leader. And our leadership is found in
him. This is his church. This is his work. and we are his people. He alone
is the commander-in-chief, and the preacher's responsibilities
are heavy, but he gives strength and grace. Yet we have one leader. The church, the body, all the
universal body has one leader. One commander for the Lord's
army. Joshua was a great general, but here before us is one far
greater than him. One far greater than all the
types and shadows. Here before Joshua is the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Christophany, pre-incarnate appearance of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, He must receive
all the preeminence. We looked at that in Colossians, didn't
we? He must receive all the preeminence. We must never tolerate in the
church universal, in the church universal, any great man or supposed
great man to dominate over us. We must have no one to be our
Lord and Master except the Lord Jesus Christ. Him. We have one Lord, one Master,
one Captain. Christ is the great Field Marshal.
He's the Captain of our salvation. And if you are a member of the
Church of God, If you're a believer, it is Him who we serve together. We serve Christ. We serve Him. Look at Joshua 5.14 again, and
he said, Nay, but as the captain of the host of the Lord am I
now come. Oh, I love that. And Joshua fell
on his face to the earth and did worship and said unto him,
What saith my Lord unto his servant? Note what it says in our text
here, "...And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did
worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servants? Joshua has revealed to him, and
he discovers that this man before him is far more than a mere man,
and he prostrates himself before him, and he humbly seeks his
will." Turn, if you would, to Revelation 19. Revelation 19. Now this visitor, if this visitor
had only been an angel, he would have rebuked Joshua, right? If
he had just been an angel, he would have rebuked Joshua and
said, don't worship me. That's how we know it's the Lord. Look at Revelation 19 verses
9 and 10. We see this in the scriptures.
And he saith unto me, Write, blessed are they which are called
unto the marriage supper of the land. And he saith unto me, These
are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship
him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not. For I am thy
fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And then turn over to Revelation
22, verses 8 and 9. We see it again. Revelation 22, verses 8 and 9.
And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And when I had
heard them and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of
the angel, which showed me these things. Then saith he to me,
see thou do it not. The angel didn't want to be worshiped.
There's only one we worship, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ
and him alone. It says, for I am my fellow servant. and of thy brethren, the prophets,
and of them which keep the sayings of this book." Worship God. Worship
Him. And notice though in our text
here, notice in our text, in verse 14, And he said, Nay, but as the captain
of the host of the Lord am I now come, and Joshua fell on his
face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith
my Lord unto his servant? The person in our text accepted
the worship. Evidence in his deed. He accepted the worship. So before
we saw the angels saying, no, no, no, no, don't worship me. But this man accepted the worship. Joshua has a special visit from
his Lord to show that he was the one who would go before them.
It was the sign and token that complete victory should be Israel's,
a guarantee that success should be guaranteed or should be granted.
Their warfare as this man over against him with a sword drawn
in his hand had not come to be an idle spectator. He didn't
come to just be a spectator of the conflict. But no, he was
to command and direct every movement of their battles. And he came
as the captain of the hosts of the Lord, at the head of the
angelic hierarchy. Stands the angel of the Lord,
the captain of our salvation. Hebrews 2.10 says this, for it
became him for whom all things and by whom all things and bringing
many sons into glory to make make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings. And let us know just in case
we we wonder well Look and turn over to Joshua chapter 6. And
remember, there's no chapter breaks like we have now. So chapter
6 is a continuation of chapter 5, right? And look who's identified
in chapter 2, or verse 2, I'm sorry. Now Jericho was straightly
shut up, because of the children of Israel. None went out, and
none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof,
and the mighty man of valor. He gave him all into his hands. And ye shall come past the city,
all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt
thou do six days. So now let us lastly consider
the reverence and the worship which is due the Lord, in which
His people give Him. Verse 15, And the captain of
the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot,
for the place wherein thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. Here
is further proof in this verse that the one speaking to Joshua
was infinitely higher above the highest celestial creature. He's
God. He's infinitely higher than any
man or creature. For in this man's very presence,
the ground is holy ground. Think of this, we saw in Isaiah
6, the angels cover their face, don't they? They cover their
face in the presence of God and they cry, holy, holy, holy is
the Lord of hosts. And Isaiah proclaimed this when
he saw the Lord's glory, and this is he who appears before
Joshua. And the same token of reverence
which was demanded of Joshua was demanded of Moses. Turn,
if you would, to Exodus 3.4. And I'll read Joshua 5.15 again
while you're turning there. And the captain of the Lord's
host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for
the place wherein thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. Same token of reverence was demanded
of Moses. by the God of Abraham, and the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob at the burning bush. Exodus
3 verses 4 to 6, And when the Lord saw that he turned aside
to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and
said, Moses, Moses, and he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw
not nigh thither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for
the place wherein thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God
of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob. And Moses hid his face for he
was afraid to look upon God. And let us remember, this is the one who became flesh
and dwelt among us. This is the one who went to Calvary's
cross. to purchase our eternal souls,
shedding His own precious blood for the redemption of our souls. And let us make note of this
in Exodus 3.5, Moses is told to take off his shoes from his
feet. And here in our text in Joshua
5.15, Joshua is also told to take off
his shoes because the ground that they stand on his holy ground. They're in the presence of the
King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And did you know that removing
the sandals was a sign of servanthood and a sign of respect and submission? And Joshua's a great general,
but he bows before his people. And note the same thing was said
to Moses, again, that was said to Joshua, which applied a further
assurance. I like this, this commentator
bought this out. It's applied a further assurance
of God's promise to His servant Joshua over in Joshua 1.5. Look
what it says in Joshua 1.5. It says this, There shall not any man be able
to stand before Thee, all the days of thy life, as I was with
Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. What comforting words for God's
people. I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. That's encouragement for us,
isn't it? That's encouragement for us. Who could stand before the captain
of the Lord's host? And think of that. What enemies
could stand before the captain of the Lord's host? None. None. Absolutely none. And what was there for Israel
to fear under such a leader? What is there for us to fear
under such a leader? What a God. What a Savior. And note how the Spirit again
brings before us Joshua's obedience to the command. What does he
do? And Joshua did so. Oh my. He did so. My goodness. What a Savior. He's Jesus Christ.