This book of Joshua is a very,
very good book, got a lot in it, a lot in it. I think it's
one of the, to me, one of those books that a person kind of like
Proverbs ought to read it fairly regularly because it tells about
God's great power and faithfulness. But I'm going to read these first
11 verses. 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, Moses' minister, saying," You know,
he was a servant, he was a minister. And this is the Lord speaking
to Joshua now, "'Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise,
go over this Jordan, thou and all this people unto the land
which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every
place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon that I have
given unto you, as I said unto Moses, from the wilderness and
this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all
the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea, toward the
going down of the sun, shall be your coast. 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. Be strong and of good courage,
for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the
land which thou sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be
thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do
according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee.
Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou
mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the
law shall not depart out of thy mouth. that thou shalt meditate
therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according
to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy
way prosperous, and then shalt thou have good success. Have
not I commanded thee, Be strong and of a good courage, be not
afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with
thee, with us wherever thou goest. Then Joshua commanded the officers
of the people, Pass through the host, and command the people,
saying, Prepare your victuals, for within three days ye shall
pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which
the Lord your God giveth you to possess it." Joshua. Here's Joshua. It starts out. What we call the historical books,
given the history of Israel, the history of all that God done
for until the time it comes to the second book of Kings when
they're divided into two different kingdoms. But Joshua is the author
of this book. And him and Caleb, you remember
that Caleb, him and Caleb was the only two that came out of
Egypt that were allowed to enter into the promised land. The only
two. And they were promised to go
in there. And they were the only two that survived 40 years in
the wilderness. of those who first originally
came out of Egypt. All the rest of them. They perished
in the wilderness because of their rebellion against God.
And you remember when Moses died, then God raised up Joshua to
take his place. And Joshua is a book of conquest.
Conquest. Here he's going in to conquer
this country. Conquer all this land. Conquer
all these enemies. Ain't that what he says? You're
going to go in there and no man's going to be able to stand before
you all the days of your life. You're going to go in and these
people are going to inherit this country. And God told him three
times, be strong and be of good courage. So evidently, he had
some trepidation and fear about him, so God encouraged him. And
Israel's just about to enter into the land of promise, the
Canaan land. And when it closes down, they've
got almost complete possession of it, but there's a few people
left. And God left them in there to try them. And beloved, it's
like a lot of things happen in our life. God leaves a lot of
things in our life to try us. Now, let me give you just a brief
outline of Joshua. Let me just give you a brief
outline. First of all, you have them in chapter one all the way
through chapter five. You have them entering the land.
They go into this land. God promised them this land.
You find them entering the land. And then secondly, you find the
Lord preparing Joshua. All those verses that I read
to you tonight, God's preparing Joshua. And before God ever uses
a man, He prepares him. You know, Moses was 80 years
old before God ever began to use him. He was 40 years old.
And then he went and lived in the backside of the desert for
40 years and tended sheep. And he had, God had to prepare
him on the backside of that desert before he came to be the deliverer.
And God prepares his people that he's going to cause to lead his
people. And he prepared Joshua to be Moses' servant. And he
went through the wilderness. He was an obedient man. He loved
to wait on Moses. And he was the servant of Moses.
And here's a man that's going to go in and going to be a leader,
going to be a captain, and going to send these people into the
land of Canaan, going to be a warrior. And then not only does he prepare
himself, but he prepares Israel. You remember, he says, now you
tell these folks to get their victuals together. You know,
that's where old-timers got the word vittles. They got it from
the scriptures. They couldn't say victuals, so they said vittles.
And that's where it comes from, victuals. Get your food together,
because three days we're going to cross Jordan. So he prepared
them, first of all, he prepared them militarily. He counted all
the people and all the people that was ready to go to war,
and they went across. And they all had to go across
first to get across over there and get ready to go to war. And
he says, we're going to fight. We've got a lot of enemies, and
we're going to have to go in there, and we're going to conquer
them, and God's going to be with us, and God's going to be for
us. And then he prepared them spiritually. And this is the
main thing. Look over here in Joshua chapter
5 with me just a moment. Look how he prepared them spiritually.
He prepared them militarily. The first thing they done when
they went in was, you know, the walls of Jericho. They took the
biggest city, toughest city to take. That's the first thing
they had to do was take Jericho. So they had to be prepared militarily.
Then they had to be prepared spiritually. Look what he said
here. in chapter 5 and verse 2. At that time, the war set under
Joshua. Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise
again the children of Israel this second time. And Joshua
made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the
hill of the four skins. And this is the cause why Joshua
did circumcise them. All the people that came out
of Egypt that were males, 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. 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. Now what did they not
obey? God said, go down and take that
land. And these two of them said, we can take it. God will go before
us. Ten of them said, we can't go.
Everybody afraid. They're giants down there. And
because of that, they went around in the same circle for 40 years
until they all died just because they wouldn't do what God promised
that He would give them. They would not believe the promise
that God made them. And then he says in verse 7, And their children whom he raised
up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised, but they were uncircumcised. God won't use a man that's not
clean, that hasn't been entered into the covenant, because they
had not circumcised him. And it came to pass when they
had done circumcising all the people that they had voted their
places into camp, so they were whole. And the Lord said unto
Joshua, This day have I rolled away the report of Egypt from
off you, wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto
this day." That means the rolling rolled off of Egypt. And the
children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover
on the fourteenth day of the month, that evening, in the plains
of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn
of the land on the morrow after the Passover, unleavened cake
and parched corn in the selfsame day. Now listen to this, And
the manna ceased, on the bar after they had eaten of the old
corn. Neither had the children of Israel manna any more, but
they did eat of the fruit of the land of Cana that year."
First year they went in, God already had food prepared for
them. Now listen, it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho
that they lifted up his lies and looked, and listen to what
happens now. "'And behold, there stood a man over against him
with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went unto him and said,
Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?' 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? And the captain of the Lord's
host said unto Joshua, Loose your shoe off your foot, for
the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so."
So the first thing that had to happen, these folks had to be
prepared spiritually. They got to get ready to go,
and they got to do what God says. So they enter the land, the Lord
prepares Joshua, Joshua prepares Israel, and then they take the
land. You know, in chapter 6 all the way through chapter 12, they
go in there and they actually begin to take the land. They
go after battle, after battle, after battle, after battle. The
first thing to do is take Jericho. And then they fight in the north,
they fight in the east, they fight in the west, they fight
in the south, they fight in... And they take the whole Israel.
They go to parts of times, and they go, and they take the Kenzi,
and take it a little bit at a time. And then there come a time that
they divide the land. All the twelve tribes of Israel
had a lot that was going to be their inheritance. Well, all
the twelve tribes of Israel, they had an allotment. Manasseh
and Ephraim had some, Dan over here, Judah over there, Benjamin
over here, and they had all these places. It was allotted to them.
The only tribe that did not have an inheritance was the tribe
of Levi, because they were to be in all the cities, and they,
the Scripture says that they were the Lord's inheritance that
Christ would prepare for them. And they gave out all the enlostment
and all the inheritance and all the land. And then, beloved,
they come not only to divide the land, but they come to keeping
the land. And Joshua tells them how to keep the land, and he
gives two messages to them in chapter 23 and chapter 24. And then we have the conclusion.
But let me give you several major themes, major themes of the book
of Joshua. The first thing is, it tells
us, the book of Joshua does, the faithfulness of God to His
promises. Abraham, and that's why He named
him, called him the father of many nations. Abraham, God made
promise to Abraham, He says, you know, your people, your people,
your kindred, your flesh will go down into a strange land and
be a stranger down there for 400 years, and I'll go down with
a high arm and I'll bring them out, and I'll lead them into
a land that I prepared for them a land flowing with milk and
honey." And beloved, sure enough, 435 years later, God went down
and got them, brought them up out of Egypt, crossed the Red
Sea with them, and He promised that they're going to go into
this promised land, going into the land of Canaan. And Abraham
spent his life looking for a city whose builder and maker is God.
And so here God promised God promised centuries before Joshua
was ever born, centuries before Joshua ever came forth, that
he would give the land of Canaan to Abraham's descendants. And
that promise looked like it was never going to be fulfilled.
So they went down to spy out the land, and they came back
carrying that pole full of grapes of Eshcol with them. And all
those fellas started to stand, oh no, no, we can't, them fellas
are giants, we can't win. So because of that, they wandered
around for 40 years. But look what he says over here
in Joshua 21. But God's promise is going to
be fulfilled, and there ain't nothing that anybody can say,
nothing that anybody can do that will stop that from happening.
I don't care how disobedient Israel was. I don't care how
much they murdered. God made a promise, and God's
going to keep His promises. And no matter how much our flesh
is involved, how much we fail, how many times we mess up in
this world, God's promise to His Son will never fail. And
He says, and He told Joshua, He says, I'll not fail you, and
I'll not forsake you. And look what happens here in
Joshua 21, verse 45. All God's promise can never be
defeated or thwarted by wickedness of anybody. Thou fail not aught. of any good thing which the Lord
hath spoken unto the house of Israel, all came to pass." Guess
what else? I always, I sign a lot of letters
with different verses of scriptures, but I use that one there about
as much as I do any. When I sign a letter, Joshua
21, 45, everything, all good things that the Lord hath promised
have come to pass, and not all have passed. Has God failed you
in your life? This is the promises that God
made for Joshua ever even existing. And so he gave the promise. And
then the second, not only was he faithful to his promises,
but he promised to judge the Canaanite nations for their wickedness. God said, I'm going to destroy
them, not because you're righteous, told Israel, not because you're
good, not because there's a lot of you, but I'm going to destroy
them because of their wickedness, because of their idolatry. And
he just had them defeated and disposed them and destroyed.
King after seven nations is what he destroyed for Israel to get
into that land of Canaan. And they were defeated because
their wickedness. You know, God told Abraham, he
said, when he sent his people down into Egypt, he says that
the cup of iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And he says,
when that cup gets full, I'll judge them. And here he comes
in and he judges them, and God's justice is manifest in punishing
men for their idolatry and their wickedness. And I tell you, beloved,
that's one reason why the judgment of God's on our nation. There's
so much idolatry, so much wickedness. And just because God ain't just
killing people by the drugs, that don't mean that judgment's
not on us. I mean, Pontius ever where you look, and that's what
he told them, he says, because of this wickedness of these people,
because of their gods, because of their idols, because of their
works of their own hands, they think that their gods is able
to save them. He said, I'm going to let them
know that I'm the God of Israel, and they're going to go down.
And God in justice judged them. And I'll tell you, beloved, I
don't know what's going to happen to this country, but I know one
thing, we don't deserve any better than what we got. Now, I hope
things change. But all you've got to do is just
look around you. Just look around you. Look at
the wickedness. Look at the idolatry. My goodness
alive, you know, it's either sports stars, singing stars,
or movie stars, or political stars. And everybody's worshiping
one or the other. How many people do you know that
trust the Lord Jesus Christ in Him alone? How many people do
you know that acknowledges God to be God and no other God in
this world? How many people do you know will
acknowledge that God is sovereign and He's the first cause of everything
in this world? How many people do you know that
acknowledge that there is but one way to approach God, that's
through Jesus Christ? Only one person can forgive sins,
that's Jesus Christ. Only one person makes you acceptable
to God, Jesus Christ. One righteousness, Jesus Christ.
How many people you know don't even talk like that? But a sinister can die with a
drug overdose, and people by the millions flock and talk about
what a fine person she was. And she's gone to heaven to be
with Jesus, and we're all going to go be with her one of these
days. If that's not the grossest ideology, it's no such thing. And then all these fellas went
over there to roll, got their little red rolls and their little
red caps. That makes them better and bigger
than any of the rest of us. Because they got a red beanie
cap now. Went from wearing black to red. They put on these red
hats. And now they're somebody, the
rest of us just nobody's. And when they walk in, here's
my hand, kiss my ring, give them some hocus pocus. I'll tell you
what, you think that this, that's what we're facing. That's why we're in the state
we're in right now, because of these idolaters, just like these
people right here. And here's the second thing,
not only is God faithful, But oh, the sovereign, we see here
in the book of Joshua, the sovereign power and majesty of God. Oh,
such sovereign power and majesty. You remember when they crossed
Jordan? The last time that Cody Gruber was here, he preached
on Israel crossing Jordan and brought a wonderful message on
it. And you remember, oh God, miraculously, this was at the
time of the flood. This was the time when Jordan
was at its highest level. spring, the time of the floods,
and God caused Jordan to just part ways, and they walked through
the Jordan on dry ground. And as quick as the priest started
in there with the ark, just as quick as they set their foot
in the ground and dazed that water, that water started drying
up just like that, and the rest of them followed through. And
all he owed Jordan at flood time, the people cost over on dry land
as their fathers did when they owed the Red Sea. And then when
they got on the other side, they set up 12 stones. 12 stones. And you know why they set up
12 stones? Let me show you here in chapter 4 and verse 9. Chapter 4 and verse 9. They set up twelve stones, oh,
the sovereign power and majesty of God caused them to cross the
Red Sea, miraculously opened the river Jordan. And Joshua
set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where
the feet of the priests which bear the ark of the covenant
stood, and they are there unto this day." Right out in the middle
of the water. Now look down here in verse 20. And those twelve stones that
they took out of Jordan did Joshua pitch and yield out. And he spake
unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall
ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these
stones? What's the reason these twelve
stones stand up here? Then you shall let your children
know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For
the Lord your God dried up the waters before you. And that's
what God told all His people. When you go through the waters,
they won't overflow you. When you go through the fire,
it won't burn you. And watch what he says now. And
you tell them that he dried up before you until you were passed
over, as the Lord did dry up the Red Sea, and that all the
people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it
is mighty that you might fear the Lord God forever. That's
why. twelve stones, the twelve tribes
of Israel. God brought us over here, all
of us. And then the second great of
the power and majesty of God is when the walls of Jericho
came to name it. Jericho was this great, powerful
city. Great high walls all around it.
And they said, do you know how God destroyed Jericho? He says,
now I'll tell you what you do. You go around there and march
around it. Once a day, Do that for seven days. And on the seventh
day, go seven times, have the trumpets, the Levites blow the
trumpets and give a shout. And when they done that on the
seventh day, them walls just fell down. They didn't fire a shot, never
drew a bow, never pulled out a sword. Oh, they marched around
there for seven days, and then seven times on the seventh day,
and they gave a shout, and Jericho, the walls come tumbling down.
There was an old song years and years ago, when the walls of
Jericho come tumbling down. And, oh, beloved, that's what
happened. That God, this shows you the power of God, the majesty
of God. He's going to show His people
that if I'll be for you, who can be against you? You think
these people are powerful? You think they're entrenched?
I'm God, and these people cannot stand before you. And then, oh,
there was something. Look over here in chapter 10.
This is one of the most amazing things, and this accounts probably
for why we have the leap year like we do this year. We gain
a day every so many years. But here in Joshua Chapter 10,
verse 12, and here's another thing of God's sovereignty and
majesty. He calls the Son to stand still. Look at chapter
10, verse 12. This came Joshua to the Lord
in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children
of Israel. And he said in the sight of Israel,
Stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of
Agelon? And the sun stood still, and
the moon stayed, until the people had abused themselves upon their
enemies. Is this not written in the book
of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the
midst of heaven, and hasted to not go down about a whole day.
And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the
Lord hearkened unto the voice of the man, for the Lord fought
for Israel." Sun stood still for almost, when you talk about
a day, you're talking about a 24-hour day. God made that sun stay up
for 24 hours. Do you know how many days in
a 24-hour day? So you're talking about two whole
days. Two whole days that that sun
stood still while they avenged their enemy. You know what happened? The earth
had stopped rotating. That's what had to happen. God
made the earth stand still. Because the earth is hit and
roll. You know, the sun's always where
it's at. It's the earth that moves. And so God had to make
the earth stand still. So that sun stayed in the same
place and the moon stayed in the same place. And you know
what? His son is the same today, yesterday,
and forever. That's why we're not worried
so much about the world. And then let me tell you the
third thing. Oh, there's such importance in obedience to God's
Word. Oh my, obey God's Word. And how
many times did children of Israel and the Lord's people not obey
God's Word? And oh, God showed His sovereignty
in crossing Jordan, collapsing the walls of Jericho, and God
gave detailed instructions for Israel to follow. And every time
they did, he would bless them, and when they didn't, oh my goodness,
it was awful at what happened. And he told Joshua, he says,
you do what I tell you. You go and no man will stand
before you. And then you think, you think
about this, of the terrible, terrible consequences of failing
to obey God's Word. You look at Achan. What happened
to all Israel just because of one man's sin? God said, well,
you go in and you take A out. He said, don't you take nothing
out of that. Don't you take nothing. And here's Achan, he gets him
a big wedge of gold, gets him a whole bunch of clothes, and
he takes him to these tents in Heisen. And he destroyed his
own family. No man lives under the sins of
himself, he sins under others. It always affects him. And oh,
powerful to know when a person fails to obey God. It's painful
and powerful what God does when a man sins like he did. But you'll
find so many places where God says, you know, obey my word. And we want to obey his word.
As far as I know, by God's grace, we want to do what the Lord says.
And then there's the grace of God's Satan and God's sovereignty
and majesty. When you look through the book
of Joshua, you see it's also a book about God's blessed grace.
And oh, God's grace shines all the way through it. The fact
that Israel was able to take a land, take this land, was due
to the grace of God. How many times, we read this
in Deuteronomy, he said, don't you lift up, he lifts it up in
your heart. Because you know you're going to take this land
because you think you're good or you're righteous. Don't you
be lifted up in your heart. I'm not taking this ground. I'm
not going to destroy this land because you're right, but because
they're wicked. And he said, everything you get, it'll be
because I gave it to you. He said, I'll destroy you enemies.
I'll go before you. So they took the land due to
the grace of God. Israel had no mind in taking
it. God gave them the land. He gave it to him. Look over
here in Joshua 23 and verse 9. I'll show you what I'm talking
about. Joshua 23 and verse 9. God gave him this land. You know, I know that he went
before and he gave it to him. Look what he says here. It wasn't
their might, but rather God giving it to them. He said, "...for
the Lord hath driven out from before you great nations as strong."
He didn't say, boy, y'all was strong, mighty warriors, good
fighters, strong, obeyed me perfectly. That's not what he said. The
Lord hath driven out before you great nations as strong. But
as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto
this day. One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord
your God," listen to it, it is He, He it is that findeth for
you as He hath promised you. Ain't you grateful that He still
lives for us? That's why He says, you know,
He says, you know, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith
the Lord. And then I tell you another place that the grace
of God is so evident. And that's the story of A. Rahab
the hearted. Remember when Jericho was going to fall and Rahab said,
I've heard about God. I've heard about what He did.
I heard about how He brought you out of Egypt. And when you
all these spies in there to spy out the country. And Rahab said,
will you save me and my family? Because you're going to take
this place. There's no doubt about it. True
God is going to take this place. And I fear Him. And would you
save me? And they said, yes, we will.
But you put a scarlet line out your window. Scarlet line. And you stay in your house. Don't you be no place else but
in your house. It says, when we take that place,
we'll spare you and your family. And the Scripture tells us that
God saved Rahab, the harder than her whole family, and that scarlet
red. How are we going to know that she's one of them? We're
going to have that scarlet thread because of that blood. that flows
throughout the scriptures. And beloved, God gave mercy even
among the most wicked of Canaanites. You know who He saved? The heart
of her family. That shows you what God will
do. And let me quickly, I'll hurry up here, let me see, let
me give you a couple of spiritual lessons. First of all, like I
told you, that the Lord He's faithful to his promises. God's
faithful to his promises. He said, I'll never leave you
and I'll never forsake you. Never. I'll never, no, never,
no, never leave you or forsake you. We may not know our name. We may get to the place we won't
know our name. We may get to the place we're sitting in a
wheelchair and people have to feed us and wear diapers and
everything else, but it won't make any difference. The Lord
knows them that are His. We may not know, but he said,
I'll never leave you, and I'll never forsake you. And I'm thankful
that God's made that promise, and I believe that promise, don't
you? And oh, then God's faithfulness in giving them the land of Canaan,
and that's because He promised them that He would. And yet they
knew that if He gave them the land of promise, then He also
made a promise that in Abraham's seed there would be a Messiah
coming. So he made Abraham the father
of many nations, and if God was able to give them this country
and give them this land, that he would also in due time fulfill
the promise that through Abraham would come a Messiah, come a
Savior, come a Redeemer to save his people Israel, spiritual
Israel. And so then I'll tell you something
else. These people that Joshua took and conquered this country,
he was their leader. They probably didn't realize
that he himself was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ in so many
ways. And you know how he was the first
way? By his very name. You know what Joshua means? Jehovah's
Savior. In the New Testament, it's Jesus.
And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sin. He's Jehovah's Salvation, and
Joshua is the one that God used to take them in. And secondly,
as Joshua succeeded Moses, and he was the one who went in and
won the victory over those nations and those enemies, so our Lord
Jesus Christ succeeded the Mosaic law and all the law, and because
of that, he won the victory that could not be reached. Moses couldn't
take them into the promised land. Law cannot take you into the
promised land. The law can't take you into a place of rest.
The law can't take you into the promised land. But Joshua, who
succeeded Moses, that law was dead, Moses was dead, now he,
as Savior, is going to take us into the promised land. And going
to defeat all of our enemies. And that's why it says the law
was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. The law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And as
Joshua was the captain or commander of Israel, so the Lord Jesus
Christ is the captain of salvation. Though He was made perfect through
sufferings, the captain of our salvation, that He might bring
many sons unto glory. He took many sons in there. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
our captain. He always leads His people, and
they're always victorious. 1 Corinthians 2.14 says this. He says, We shall always, always,
God calls us always to triumph in Christ Jesus. People out here
preaching all the time, Boy, you need to get the victory.
You can get the victory. You know, you need to have the
victory. You can come overcome. You know, God will give you the
victory. Christ got the victory for us. And God said, He said
He always calls us to triumph in Christ Jesus. Huh? We've done it. Victory in Jesus. Already got it. Oh my, not coming
on. That's why He says nothing shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ.
And then as Joshua, he defeated all of Israel's enemy and gave
Israel rest in the land. Our Lord Jesus Christ has defeated
all of our enemies, all of our enemies. He defeated the strongman
armed and took down all of his defenses and has given his people
spiritual rest. And we'll surely have rest in
the world to come. Now look with me in Hebrews chapter
4. Let me show you what I'm talking
about. Hebrews chapter 4, and then I'll be done. You know, Joshua gave them people rest. God gave his, and Joshua, look
what it says down here in verse 8. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse
8. For it says if Jesus, and in
the margin it says Joshua, for if Joshua or Jesus had given
them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another
day? If he had given them rest, why would he have spoken of another
day? Therefore thou remaineth the rest to the people of God. That word rest means the keeping
of a Sabbath. For he that is entered into his
rest, He hath also ceased from his own works, as God did for
him." God ceased from his works because they were done. That
first day was a Sabbath, the rest, and, beloved, because of
what Christ done, He's our Sabbath, and we rest in Him, and we cease. You know the way you rest? It's
ceasing from your own works. God ceased from His, we cease
from ours, and we repose ourselves in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
God, throughout the Old Testament, He was manifesting His blessed
Son all the way through it. And His Son had to come from
a nation. So He made Abraham the father
of many nations. That nation was Israel. And then
Joshua gave Israel a land, and this land was where Christ was
going to be born in Israel. Not only was he going to be born
there, but he was going to minister there. He was going to die there
on the cross, and he was going to rise again in this land that
Joshua just took and just conquered. So that's a pretty good little
book to study and look at. I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed
that. I hope that will be a blessing
to you.