I know, and I'll be found. I know, and in death know, this
mortal life also. Thank you. All right, back to Joshua chapter
six now. This is the last message in this
series on Joshua as a type of Christ. It is certainly not the
least. Joshua's conquest of Jericho
may be the greatest of these types. We're just going to skim the
surface. We don't have time. Time will not allow us to go
through this This one chapter alone deserves many messages,
but we're going to go on. When I began to consider this
story, I immediately thought of a book
written by John Bunyan entitled Holy War. And that's a book that I highly,
highly recommend. I cannot say enough about that
book. I recommend that even maybe more
highly than Pilgrim's Progress itself. And I began reading that
book and could not put it down. And the parallels are just perfect. And I'm going to use a great
deal of it tonight. I'm going to read some of it.
You'll have to give the reading your undivided attention.
It's in Bunyan's old English language, but I know you'll get
a blessing out of it if the Lord gives you attentive minds. And
I'll be doing this not out of laziness, but because it just could not
be improved upon. The things he says could not
be improved upon. And I will use a few of my own
observations. Jericho, the city of Jericho,
in this story will represent several things, but chiefly it
will represent the old man. It will represent the city of
Adam, Bunyan entitled this place, the town of Mansoul. Remember
that, the town of Mansoul, which Christ comes to conquer. And
it also represents, Jericho represents the world, which though made
by the Lord and devoted to him, all things were made by him and
for him. The world was made by him and
for him, yet it shall be destroyed. Yet a few in it will be saved
to live with him. Jericho was a city that was known
as the City of Palm Trees. Evidently, it was a very beautiful
town. It was built on a river. Now, pay close attention. The city of Jericho was built
on a river amongst many palm trees, which, as you know, were
evergreens. And it was once a beautiful and
prosperous place, but now it has become notoriously wicked
and evil. And this is the picture of mankind,
or as Bunyan calls it, Mansoul, created in the image of God himself,
created by God himself, placed in a garden by a river. Once
a beautiful creation, man, soul, created by God, alive unto God,
but man, like Jericho, though once beautiful and alive and
now fallen into sin and corruption, made by God for God's glory and
belonging to God. Belonging to God, like Jericho. Belonged to Joshua. He's going
to take what was his, take it back. And this town of man's
soul belonged to God, and God determined to save some out of
it. And he's going to have to do it this way. He's not to kill,
yet make a lot. He will save, yet he will destroy. He will tear down, yet he will
build up in doing it. All right, let's look at Joshua
chapter 6. And as I said, we would not be
able to touch on every single verse for very long. Joshua 6,
verse 1. Now, Jericho was straightly shut
up because of the children of Israel. None went out, and none
came in. It was shut up now. Jericho was
once a city of free trade. If you'll read, I went back through
Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy and
all that, where it speaks of Jericho, and it was a city of
free trade and passage to all. It went all through it, the plains
of Jericho. Someone said that this was one
of the plains that Lot wanted to abide in, the plains of Jericho. But now it's shut up fast against
Joshua and the Israelites. They didn't want Joshua in there,
nor the Israelites. They shut the door. And there
were walls around this city now, and bulwarks, and gates, and
closed, closed gates. They didn't want Joshua in there.
Well, Bunyan's book, now listen carefully, Bunyan's book, he
speaks in that book of a walled city called Mansoul. with gates
to this city. There were gates, entrances to
this city. Are you with me? You're going
to miss it now if you don't stay with me. Hang on these words. Bunyan wrote of this town of
Mansoul in which there were gates that allowed entrance into the
city. There were five gates which represented
the census, but two gates I want to mention. There was the Ear
Gate and the Eye Gate, the ways to get into this town, this city,
Mansoul. The Ear Gate and the Eye Gate. Well, there was an enemy of God
Almighty and an enemy of the town of Mansoul, though he made
himself out to be a friend to Mansoul. The enemy of God and
the enemy of man, his name was Diabolus, a diabolical fellow,
Diabolus. And he came to this town of Mansoul
wanting it for himself, having been kicked out of the presence
of the great king himself, and wanting to destroy the king something
that belonged to the king, wanting to get back at him. He saw this
town of Mansoul, which the king loved, and determined to have
it for himself, to mar the king's creation. And so he came to this
town of Mansoul, and the thing that he approached first was
the ear gate. And he talked with subtleties
and with lies and with guile and with deceit, and he talked
to the people through the ear gate. And he appealed to them
with lovely sights at the eye gate. Thus to the eye. He appealed to them at the eye
gate. There were two citizens in this
town of Mansoul. Two leading citizens in this
town of Mansoul. One whose name, who was the mayor
of the town. The mayor of the town. And he
represents, he represents the understanding. The mayor of the
town was understanding. Are you getting the picture now?
This represents man and his innocence in Adam. who was created in the
image of God in righteousness, and that which ruled him was
his understanding. All right? The mayor of that
town, Mr. Understanding. There was also
another leading citizen called the Recorder, which represented
the conscience. And this Mr. Recorder constantly
spoke to the people of this town and kept them in line. Diabolus talked to Mansoul through
the ear gate, and he talked them into opening that ear gate to
him. They thought, we have nothing to fear from him. He means us
only good. And he appealed to them how the
king, under whose reign they were, was not being fair to them.
That they were really in bondage to him. And how that if he comes
in now, he'll set them free to do as they will. And so the people just let down
the irrigate to him. And he came in. And the first
thing he did upon coming to that town was to take the mayor, who
represented the understanding, and put him in a dark room. Put him in a dark room. Scripture
talks about our understanding being darkened. The second thing he did was he
took the reporter, the man who was always speaking to warn the
people and keep them in line, and he couldn't silence him. The fellow was always prating
and always just talking to the people and warning them and troubling
them. And what he did was he made the
people, or he made out the mystery recorder to be as mad. He told
the people, he's just crazy. He's insane. Don't pay any attention
to him. The conscience. Don't pay attention
to him. He's mad. So the evil one came
in and set up his residence in the castle in the center of town.
set up his residence there, and he commanded them, shut the gates
now, and don't open them to anybody, especially the king's messengers. Shut them up. Don't listen to
anybody. That's what it says here. Jericho
was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel. None
went out and none came in. And you turn over to 2 Timothy
chapter 2. Second Timothy, Chapter 2, as I read to you from Isaiah,
Chapter 6, listen carefully as I read this. You turn to Second Timothy 2,
all right? Second Timothy 2. Now, this is
what it says in Isaiah, Chapter 6. He said, Go and tell this
people. This is what the king said to
his servant. You go and tell this people,
Hear ye indeed, but understand not. See ye indeed, but perceive
not. He said, Make the heart of this
people fat, make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and convert and be healed. Then said I, Lord,
how long? He said, Until the city be wasted
without an abode for him, and the houses without man, that
the land be utterly desolate. And the Lord hath removed men
far away, and there be a great forsaken in the midst of the
land. But yet in it shall be a tent, a remnant will be saved." If you pay attention to that. 2 Timothy 2, listen to this now,
2 Timothy 2, verse 26, and he says, The servant of the Lord
must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, verse 26, that
they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who
are taken captive by him at his will. Come on in, come on in,
whom the God of this world hath blinded their So that's a perfect picture,
isn't it? Perfect. Bunyan didn't miss it one bit. Back to the text now. And Joshua
said, Men and women by nature are all held captive by Satan. He has blinded their minds. The
scripture says they've turned away their ears from the truth.
And someone's going to have to conquer it. Someone's going to have to conquer.
A stronger than he is going to have to come. A stronger than
he is going to have to come to save them. Now, listen to this
as I read a portion of this book, all right? Listen carefully.
When the town of Mansoul was captured at the first. Like the fall of man, the fall
of Adam in the garden. Listen to this. When it was first
captured, what sorrow and grief of spirit there was among all
sorts to think that the famous man's
soul was now taken. And surely heaven itself and
the angels and all must have been perplexed when Adam fell. God's creation, it was marred
as it was with sin. Only the king and his son foresaw
all of this long before it happened. Yea, and sufficiently provided
for the relief of mankind, though they told not anybody thereof. Yet, because they would share
in the condoling of the misery of Mansoul, they also did bewail
the losing of Mansoul, and the king said it grieved him at his
heart. And you may be sure that his
son was not a wimp behind him in grieving. Thus gave they conviction
to all about them that they had love and compassion for the famous
town of Mansoul. Well, when the king and his son
were retired into a private chamber, there they consulted with one
another what they had designed long before. To wit, that Mansoul should in
time be suffered to be lost, so as certainly it should be
recovered again. Recovered, I say, in such a way
that both the king and his son would get themselves eternal
fame and glory thereby, as they would never have gotten before
Mansoul was taken." Thank you, Mr. Bunyan. Now, look
at verse 2 in the text here. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
See, I have given unto thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof,
and the mighty men of Valorinx, they are yours. And the scripture
said, God hath made Christ both Lord over all, Lord over all,
Lord and King, and given all into his hand, and given the
souls of his elect into the hands of his Son, to conquer and to
save And in a covenant with his son, in a covenant with the King
of glory, listen to this, listen to what he said. The son of Shaddai,
or the son of the King, I say, having stricken hands with his
father, promised that he would be his servant to recover Mansoul
again. And he stood by the father's
resolution, nor would he repent of the same. And the purpose
of which, the agreement was this. to wit, that at a certain time,
prefixed by the father and his son, the king's son would take
a journey into the country of universe. And there, in a way
of justice and equity, by making amends for the follies of Mansoul,
he would lay a foundation for perfect deliverance from Diabolus
and from his tyranny, and save him. Here is the announcement
that the king made to all the inhabitants in his kingdom. Here
is the announcement, "'That all men know we are concerned that
the Son of the great King is engaged by covenant to his Father
to bring his Mansoul to him again. Yea, and to put Mansoul, too,
through the power of his matchless love, into a far better and more
happy condition than it was before he was taken by the enemy.'"
And these papers, this announcement was published in several places,
and when this matter was published This purpose of the king and
his son, when at first it was mentioned, oh, how the high lords
and chief captains and noble princes of the place were taken
with this business, that's all they had to talk about from that
day forward. Which things they desired to look into. This purpose of the great king
to recover Mansoul. Look at verse 3. The Lord told Joshua, Now you
shall compass the city. You shall compass the city. Turn
over to Psalm 142. Psalm 142. You've got to look at this, or
at least jot the reference down. The Lord said, Joshua, compass
the city. You men of war, go round about
the city. Compass it. Look at Psalm 142,
verse 7. This is what David prayed, this
is what the sinner prayed, "'Bring my soul out of prison, that I
may praise thy name. The righteous shall compass me
about, and thou shalt deal bountifully with me.'" Joshua compassed the
city, walked around about that city. So Christ the righteous
came to his own, he came to his own. It was his own, but his
own received him not. Shut up. And we were these inhabitants
of Jericho. We were in, like Rahab, in the
midst of this city. Shut up to him. And he came to his own, his own
received him, and we did esteem him. snitten and stricken of
God. We despised and rejected him. The people of Jericho didn't
want Joshua in. We were children of wrath, even
as others. But we belonged to him. Like all the inhabitants
of Jericho, especially Rahab, belonged to Joshua. And he's
going to have what was his own. They're not their own. They're
bought with a price. And he's going to have them for
his own. And we, like these people, belong
to the King's Son, chosen by God, for God, given to Christ. Given to Christ is the heir of
all things. Bought by Christ's blood, this
is the price that he paid for our redemption. The purchased
price of our soul was the blood of God's Son. And then he was
sent by God with express command to conquer, save, and bring home
what's mine, because what's mine is thine, and thine is mine.
It's ours, this is ours. That sinner is mine. So Christ
paid for the souls of his people by the sacrifice of himself,
blood, the blood of God's Son, the blood of God. Feed the Church
of God, which he purchased with his own blood. Emmanuel, God
with the blood. Now, that's how he purchased
the town. Now, this story we're looking
at is how he comes to conquer. He paid for the souls of all
of his people when he went to Calvary's tree. He paid for their
souls, and this is where he comes in to conquer what seems to be
unconquerable. Add back to the text. Look at
verse 4. And it says the seven priests shall bear before the
ark seven trumpets of ram's horns. The ark and the trumpets. Now
compass the city and blow these trumpets. That's it. That's how the walls are going
to fall. Blow it on a trumpet, following an ark. What does all
this represent? Well, the ark has always represented
the gospel, always. That ark of the covenant is a
picture of Christ, a picture of the gospel. And in that ark,
like in the gospel in Christ himself, are the unsearchable
riches that are overlaid with gold. The mercy seat, which is
Christ, the gospel speaks of. Which things the angel desired
to look into, you know, the cherubs that hung over the ark, the mercy
seat. And in it is the law of God,
the law of God, and the pot of manna, Christ's bread, and the
budding rod of Aaron, Christ who bore fruit unto the Father.
That ark represents Christ and his gospel. And the trumpets,
it goes before it and behind it, are merely the heralds of
it that prepare the way of the ark that is coming, to prepare
the way. The ark is the gospel. And the
trumpets are the heralds of it. And what this represents is the
gospel and those that preach it, or the preaching of the gospel.
That's how the walls are going to fall. That's how Christ conquers
his people. That's how he comes in and sets
up residence in what was before shut to him. That's how he opens.
But until he opens, no man can open. And what he opens, no man
can shut it out. But it's shut, you see. It's
shut to him. Look at verse 5. As your come
to pass, when they make a long blast with a ram's horn. Ram's
horn, of all things. That's a male sheep, mind you.
A ram's horn, a male sacrifice. Had to kill a ram to get the
horn, didn't he? To blow the trumpet by. Wouldn't
have had a horn if it hadn't killed a lamb. A ram's horn. That message, that sound, shall
go through the ram's horn. That clear note that is to be
sounded is sounded upon this sacrifice. No other horn will do. And I
bet you it's key as fish here. And it says, read on, verse 5,
They blow with a long blast with a ram's horn. When you hear the
sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great
shout, and the wall of the city shall fall down flat." Not one
stone left standing on it. And the people shall ascend up
as a man, straight before Him. I love the shalls in the scripture,
and here it says, it shall fall down. Joshua says, of certainty,
when you blow this trumpet, when they blow this trumpet, these
walls are coming down. Now, we hope, we wish, we hope
if this city, the inhabitants of Guadalupe are coming down,
shall. And the scripture says, when
God announced the coming of his son, he said, call his name Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sin. He said it long before that,
in Isaiah 42, he said, Behold my servant. Here's the sound
of the trumpet, which got it. It's a long blast. It goes way
back to the garden when God starts sounding this trumpet on this
ram's horn. Long blast. And it'll be blasting
throughout eternity. You'll never see the sound of
this trumpet. We'll never see It will only
grow sweeter than that. But God began to sound this trumpet
in the beginning. He said, He shall not fail, nor
be discouraged, till he hath set judgment in the earth. Sound
the trumpet. Those before and those after,
sound the trumpet. But before or after, the ark
that comes, the ark that came, sound the trumpet. The walls
will come down. Verse 7, and he said unto the
people, Pass on, compass the city, that him that is armed
pass on before the ark of the Lord. That represents the Holy
Spirit sent by God to make the way for the ark to come. Unless an armed man comes and
prepares the way, the ark won't go in. That represents the Holy
Spirit. Verse 9, skip down there, "...the
armed men went before the priest that blew with the trumpet, and
the reward came out to the army." The priest is going on and blowing
with the trumpet, and all through this is going on and on continually,
and all they're doing is blowing his trumpet. Don't you know the
people of this city were You know, they're going on and on
and on, blowing this trumpet, and they've got anything else
to do out there? Don't you all have another instrument to play?
Is there another tune? Is that it? It's not doing any good. Right? It's on and on and on and on
this winter, all the time. And it says here, these priests
and these armed men and the re-reward. blowing the trumpets, and all
this represents all of the things that God sends to prepare to
bring the gospel to conquer us. And if we could look back over
our lives, we'd see the power, the honor, the glory, the ways,
the means of God Almighty sending his armed men, his angels, doing
his bidding to prepare the way and bring us to the point where
we shall, where we hear the trumpet sound. Verse 10, And Joshua had commanded
the people, saying, Now you shall not shout or make any noise with
your voice. Don't let your voice be heard
here now. He said, You shall sound as trumpet. Don't y'all say anything. Don't
add anything to it. Just the trumpet. That's all
we want to hear. That's what he said. Not a word. Until the day I bid you shout,
then you can shout. But until that day, The only
thing that needs to be heard is the trumpet, and you know
what that represents. Nothing needs to be heard. We're
not to add anything to the gospel, not our words, not our opinion,
not man's thoughts, which are not God's thoughts, not man's
ways. gimmicks or methods or tricks
or whatever, just sound the trumpet. This is the power of God. Just
sound the trumpet. Just preach the gospel. He said,
if I be lifted up, they'll follow that hell. Just sound the trumpet. Just sound the clear note of
Christ and Him crucified. Don't add anything to it. Don't
try to embellish it. Just the Lord playing at the
trumpet, give an uncertain sound, how shall they prepare for battle? Play it loud and clear. Just
kill it. Make it plain. Watch the walls
fall. Watch him break down that middle
wall of partition. Watch it come down. All right,
read on. So, verses 11 through 15. We're
going to read these. The article of the Lord encompassed
the city, came into the camp, lodged in the camp. That's where
it is here. We're in the the camp, Christ's camp, and here
the Ark is, and we're sounding the trumpet. And it just blew
continually. This line, this trumpet, just
kept going day in and day out, day in and day out. And they
kept hearing it many times, but it didn't seem to have any effect
on the people. Some of us came in here, and
we heard the sound. under the sound, under a certain
sound, under the sound of Christ crucified for years, yet I didn't
hear anything. That was no sweet sound to me. I didn't hear a thing. My ears
were stopped. The gates were barred. The eye
gate and the ear gate. I didn't see any glory in Christ.
I didn't hear His voice until the day He said, take the
walls down and shout. This is the day. This is the
day. Look at verse 16. "...came to
pass at the seventh time, when the priest blew the trumpet justly
saying unto the people, Shout!" The Lord had given you the city.
Shout! It's time to shout. Here comes
the time to shout. It's the time for a still, small
voice, and it's time to shout! And Scripture says, we're going
to shout, and it tells his messenger. Much as I like civil and, you
know, preaching, it's not real offensive. There's times when
a man has to get, Scripture says, get up on the rooftop and say
it with a loud voice, Behold, your God, all flesh is grass. The shout of a king amongst us.
Here comes a king of glory. Open the gates. How could you
not shout? How could you not? He had no
feelings at all. He said, Shout, the Lord hath
given you the city, the city is yours, verse 17. And Rahab
is mine. The city shall be a curse, so
that it is devoted to the Lord, even it, and all that are therein
to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live. Everything in it
is a curse but Rahab. and all that are with her in
the house, because she believed the word, and she feared the
God of Joshua. And she entertained, and the
servants of Joshua abode with her. Save Rahab. Save Rahab. She's mine. So the people shouted when the
priest blew with the trumpet, and it came to pass, just like
Joshua said. When the people heard the sound
of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout that
the wall fell down flat. It fell down flat. And so the
people went up into the city. There is no wall partition between
us now. God has removed it. God, that
great barrier, that gulf that was fixed between us and God,
that wall called our sin, which was over our head, David said,
Christ has removed it from us. It's torn down. The veil, like
the veil of the temple, was ramped from top to bottom, and now we
have access and we go into the city, the city of God, into the city. But he said the
city was to be destroyed. Verse 21. The city was to be
destroyed, but there was one woman in it that was to live,
Elizabeth Joshua. Now, we're a further back to
Bunyan. Just a couple more minutes. It
hasn't been long. Remember when I said that Diabolus came to
the ear gate? of the town of Mansoul. He came
to the air gate with guile and with lies and deceit and trickery. He talked them into opening the
air gate to him and let him in. And it said that when he did
come in, that he went into the town, Diablos. The first thing
he did, as I said, was he silenced the understanding, or he darkened
the understanding. And then he tried to make the
conscience appear to be mad. And he went into the middle of
town and set up residence there in the palace. And there he reigned
and ruled, and the one he put in charge of that town was a
fellow called Will Be Will, Mr. Will Be Will, Free Will. And that fellow, he wouldn't
listen to anybody or anything. And the king's son who came,
Emmanuel, God with us, who came to conquer the town of Mansoul
later, whom the king sent. who came to conquer. He came
up to the gates, and Mr. Wilby Will said, Don't anybody
listen to him. Don't listen. Don't open the
gates. Whatever you do, don't open the
gates. But Emmanuel said, I'm coming
in. And he ordered the rider and
rams to break down the gates. He didn't talk them into it.
They wouldn't open. He said, Break them down. And
he marched right on in. Marched right on in. It says here, "...the town was
utterly destroyed, all was in it, both man and woman, young
and old, ox and sheep, and ass with the edge of the sword."
Now, this is a picture of man being crucified with Christ,
the old man being killed. I died. Paul said, when the commandment
came, I died. When Christ came, I was crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Verses
22 and 23, the young men that were spies went in and brought
out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brethren and
all that she had, and they brought out all her kindred without the
camp. And we've been brought unto Christ
without the camp. And they burnt the city with
fire, and all that was there in it, except silver and gold
and vessels of brass and iron. That's what the Corinthians said,
that wood, hay, and stubble will be burnt up, not gold, silver,
and precious stone, that which pertaineth to cry. But the town
was utterly destroyed, and Rahab was brought outside. She was
brought outside the camp. Verse 25, down to there. Joshua
saved Rahab, the harlot, alive in her father's household, and
all that she had. Was she dwelling in Israel even
unto this day? Why? This is written like she's
still living with Joshua in Israel. She is. She is. With that better than Joshua.
With the Savior. She is. In Israel. Yes, the new
Israel. Spirit Israel. The true Israel.
She's living under this day because Joshua saved her. That old harlot. That sinner. You know, years
later, this town was rebuilt by a friend of Ahab, that wicked
king. You'll see this in a moment.
The town of Jericho was rebuilt, and a man came back into that
town one day. Emmanuel walked back into that
town again, and this time he saved two people. There were
two people in that town he saved, just passing through. He must
need to go through Jericho. There was an old blind man by
the wayside named Bartimaeus. He saved him. Then as he was
walking through the middle of town, there was a fellow up a
tree, on purpose. And he said, You come down, you're
one of mine, you come with me, and I'm going to destroy this
place later. Come on. You're going to be saved. So
he came back through, Emmanuel, saved two people this time. Two
people. All right, let's wind this up.
Verse 26. at that time, saying, He warned them, saying, Cursed
be the man before the Lord that riseth up, and buildeth this
city Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof
in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up
the gates thereof." I believe this is a type of, like I said,
this represents man And how that God, when God first created man,
created his perfect image, but it was marred, and Christ came,
and it had to be destroyed. Man had to be killed. He had
to rebuild. That's what Emmanuel in Bunyan's
book said. He said, oh, Diabolus said, well,
let's just leave it like it is, and you can rule. He said, no,
I'm going to tear her down to the ground and build it again.
And that's what Christ did. He kills this old man, this body
of death, and creates a new creature, and all things become brand new
in Christ Jesus. And he said, now if any man endeavors
to build up this city again himself, he's going to be accursed. He
won't be accepted. You see what that represents?
Self-righteousness. Self-righteousness. That old
man, this body, these dead works have been cursed by God, cursed
by God. And any man tries to build on
any other foundation than that which is life, which is Christ
Jesus, he'll be accursed, and his son will be accursed if he
doesn't have his son's son. That's what he's saying. Lastly,
verse 27, the Lord was with Joshua. And his fame was noise throughout
all the country. And Bunyan said that when Emmanuel
came into that town of Mansoul to recover that town, he came
through that town and he restored the mayor, understand, he restored
the recorder and And the ones he saved, he came
into this town, he saved the town, and the ones he saved,
and he drove out all his enemies, and the ones he saved loved him
so much and admired him so much. The scripture says, or the book
says, they admired his countenance, they admired his They loved the
way he talked. He came into the town, bidding
the people a good day. And they loved his walk. And
it says that they loved his walk so much that when he came through
the middle of town, it says that he walked through town and the
people got in behind him. And they loved the way he walked
so much that they tried and they endeavored to walk in his footstep,
just where he walked. They liked the way he walked.
They got in behind him and followed him. And Emmanuel, the first
thing he did was he went straight to that castle, to that palace,
where he bound that giant, Diabolus, the one who held them captive,
and he led captivity captive through the street, most to the
cheer of the people, through the street. After doing so and
banishing him to outer darkness, Emmanuel came back and sat down
on the throne in the palace of that city where he lived ever
after, reigning and ruling in peace and love in the town of
Mansoul. And the rest of the story, we'll
hear some day, won't we? All right, stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for this glorious, glorious book and story, the book of Joshua,
that you have preserved for us to read. And more importantly,
you've opened our understanding of it, given us a glimpse into,
we've looked, as it were, into the ark itself. The lid of the
ark has been opened for us to see the Shekinah glory, that
we've gone into the Holy of Holies. with the glory of God, where
God meets between the chair and over the mercy seat, and we beheld
his glory, the glory of God, the only begotten Son of God
himself, our Immanuel, our conquering King. He who came down here,
was made flesh and dwelt among us, shed his own precious blood
to purchase our souls and who crushed the serpent's head and
then led captivity captive, and who sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high, where we are seated together with him
now and someday will live with him forever. Our captain, the
captain of our salvation, Immanuel. And we look forward to that day
when we shall be with him forevermore. And we say, hasten the day, O
Lord, when he comes again. to receive us unto himself. Thank
you, Lord, for men such as John Bunyan and others who were your
messengers and heralds and who blew this trumpet so certainly,
so loudly and so plainly, that a generation of sinners, who
are later called a generation of the righteous, might hear
that trumpet, that gospel sound, and be brought to Christ, be
captured by him. O Lord, we thank you for your
word, and we ask that you would cause it to profit us now. Let not the fowls of the air,
the thorns and the cares of this life remove it from us, we pray. Met together in his name, for
his glory and honor, amen.