Turn with me please to Joshua
chapter 5, the book of Joshua chapter 5. It's good to be with
you again this morning. We've had a great week visiting
the Grovers down in Mexico. It's always good to be with the
Lord's people. We've shared some fellowship in some strange places
in the last week. Certainly as far as I'm concerned,
it was all a big new experience for us. But it's good to meet
the Lord's people wherever they are. And we've seen a few here. We've seen hundreds there. And
it was a joy to be with those Mexican brothers and sisters.
And it's a pleasure to be with you as well this morning. We're
going to read together in Joshua chapter 5, in the last few verses
of the chapter from verse 13. 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 unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he
said, Nay, but as 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 captain of the lord's host said unto
joshua loose thy shoe from off thy foot for the place whereon
thou standest is holy and joshua did so amen and may god bless
to us this public reading of his word the children of israel
had just crossed the river jordan they were preparing to face the
city of Jericho. The Lord had told them that this
was the land which he would give them to possess. Moses was dead. Joshua was the new leader of
the people. God had many times spoken to
him. personally and through Moses. The word of the Lord had come
repeatedly to Joshua and there is no question but that Joshua
was a man who trusted the Lord and was ready to be obedient
to the Lord. He knew what his task was. He
knew that he had the responsibility of leadership for these people,
the people of God, the children of Israel. He knew that it was
his task, having crossed the Jordan, now to face the city
of Jericho. And it appears that Joshua took
the opportunity, as all good soldiers will, as all good generals
will, to go and survey the land. He wanted to know what was happening
in the city of Jericho. No doubt he would look at the
walls and he would wonder how they were about to be breached.
He would think about the accesses into the city and he would wonder
about those gates, whether they might be the weakest point. He
would think about how he would set his soldiers in array, how
he might go for a frontal attack and then have others in the wings
ready to follow up. He was a man who was about the
business of following the word of the Lord. He had been commanded
that he should enter the city and he should utterly destroy
it. And there, as he looked upon
Jericho, we're told that he was by Jericho, so he'd gone perhaps
even alone. And there he sat, there he looked
at this city, wondering how he would take it. And we're told
that he lifted up his eyes and looked. I don't know why his
eyes were down. Perhaps he was meditating. Perhaps
he was praying. Perhaps he was thinking about
how the Lord might deliver this city into the hands of his people. But it's always a good thing
to lift up our eyes. If you lift up your eyes, then
you're not looking at yourself. If we lift up our eyes when we
come to worship, then it ought to take our hearts and our minds
and concentrate them upon the Lord. We would see Jesus. And so we lift up our eyes to
see our Savior. Here Joshua lifted up his eyes. He looked and behold, there stood
a man over against him. with his sword drawn in his hand. I think this is really quite
interesting. Joshua was a leader of men. He was a captain of the Lord's
hosts himself. He was a soldier. And here is
someone right on his shoulder with his sword drawn and Joshua
didn't even know that he was there. What a situation for a
soldier to find himself in. Here is a man with his sword
drawn, standing right behind him, and he hadn't even seen
him. I'm not sure where Joshua's bodyguards
were. I imagine he had some. But here
was a personal encounter with a man whom he did not know. And this man has his sword drawn. This is a really, a very scary
situation for Joshua. He does not know who this man
is, but he knows that he has come to him aggressively. He has come with his sword drawn.
He wasn't coming in peace. You would not look upon a man
with a loaded gun in his hand and imagine that he was there
to do you no harm. Immediately, he must have been
on edge. And I think that it's interesting
to see the reaction of Joshua in this situation. For as he
sees this man with his sword drawn, we find that his first
reaction is to go to him. This shows a certain amount of
boldness on the part of Joshua, perhaps reflecting that he was
indeed a leader of men. He knew that this situation was
one that called for bravery, one that called for courage,
and he faced this man. He directed his gaze towards
him and he asks him a question. Are thou for us or for our adversaries? Who are you here for? Are you
a friend or are you a foe? Are you for the people of God
or are you against us this day as we go to battle with Jericho
and the Canaanites and the people of this land? Act thou for us
or for our adversaries? I don't doubt but that Joshua
believed that he was about to fight this man if this man should
say that he was an adversary. And with his sword already drawn,
the advantage certainly lay with his opponent. Joshua exhibited,
in my view here, a great degree of courage and bravery. He had
the promises of God. He knew that the Lord had promised
that he would take him into the land at the head of the army. He had faith that he would overcome
in this situation and yet he had to face it face on. He had to stare this man down. He had to engage with this potential
enemy and he had to deal with it there personally himself. Then we find that the man speaks
and suddenly there is a change in the situation. Suddenly Joshua
is aware of who this man is. The man speaks and he says, nay,
but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. Here is the captain of the Lord's
host. In the Old Testament, we find
that there are repeated occasions when an angel of the Lord, or
indeed the Lord himself, we call that a theophany. It means that
the Lord Jesus Christ has taken on a pre-incarnation form The
incarnation was when the Lord came as a child in the manger,
but there were times in the Old Testament when the second person
of the Godhead, our Lord Jesus Christ, took upon himself the
frame of a man and came here. This man didn't shine like an
angel. He didn't have lightning bolts
passing around him. He was simply recognized as a
man by Joshua. And yet we find, if we read down
into chapter 6, that most certainly this is the Lord Jehovah. This is our Lord Jesus Christ. And we see in verse 2 of chapter
6 that he speaks and he says, So there is no doubt that this
is the Lord Jesus Christ that we are speaking about here. And he says he identifies himself
as the captain, or if you have a margin you'll see that that
is a reference to the prince. He is the captain or the prince
of the host of the Lord. And I am now come. Joshua's reaction was very appropriate. He recognized that he was dealing
here with God himself. He recognized that this one who
stood before him was God speaking to him. God come. and he fell
on his face to the earth and did worship. What a very appropriate
response to those who come face to face with God. Spiritually
speaking, with the eye of faith, we come into the presence of
God. And we ought not to come in casually. We ought not to
come in flippantly or frivolously. We ought to remember that in
the presence of God we are in the presence of our Creator.
We are in the presence of the Holy One. We are in the presence
of the One who fills eternity and in His majesty He holds and
sustains all things. It behoves us to be solemn. It
behoves us to be serious about our dealings with the Lord. And
when we come into His presence, let it be that we do so to worship
Him. Let it be that we do so to acknowledge
His glory and our own unworthiness in His presence. He fell upon
His face to the earth and He did worship. And He said, He says to the man, to the Lord,
saith unto him, what saith my Lord unto his servant? And once again we see that Joshua
here teaches us that we should be ready to hear the word of
the Lord. We come in preparation this morning.
We're about to hear the gospel preached to us in a few minutes.
We're about to come to the worship of God. Let us do so with an
anticipation. Let us do so asking the Lord,
what is it? that you would have me here.
What is the word for me this morning? What is it that I need
to know that will better prepare me for the challenges of tomorrow,
for the tasks that fall to me, for the service that is required
of me? Speak to me, Lord. Speak to me
through thy word. Speak to me through the preaching.
Speak to me through the ministry of the gospel. Prepare me for
the challenges of the day that I must face. And so Joshua asks
for the help of the Lord. Give me thy word, what will you
have me to know? And the captain of the Lord's
host said unto Joshua, verse 15, Loose thy shoe from off thy
foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua
did so. I suspect that Joshua was well
aware of the parallel that was taking place here. Had not his
leader and mentor Moses experienced much the same? The words are
almost identical. Moses there at the burning bush
had met the Lord God who identified himself as the great I Am. They're commissioning Moses to
go and deliver the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt
or as the leader of the children of Israel at that time. There
are parallels here. And I think that we can take
these few verses and we can draw some of those parallels with
the story of Moses at the burning bush. And we can see that there
is a message here of the way in which God speaks to his people
yet today. As we come to consider the word,
as we come under the sound of the gospel, as we look to the
Lord, recognizing him as our friend, we can see that there
is something here for us today. When the Lord came to Moses and
the Lord came to Joshua, there was a similarity. He came to
reveal his identity and his nature. When we look at this passage
here, we can see that there is a glory about the way in which
this man, this Lord, reveals himself. He speaks of himself
as captain of the host of the Lord. He comes with a drawn sword. This is one to be feared. This is one to be acknowledged. This is one to be honored. And
of course when Moses encountered the Lord there, and as Joshua
did here, there is this recognition that in the presence of the Lord,
we are in the presence of holiness. Ministry of God to his people
is a ministry of grace. He speaks to us by his grace. He brings us to a knowledge of
himself by his grace. And here he reveals himself glorious
and holy to Joshua by grace. Why was it that Joshua was not
immediately slain? He was a sinner before a holy
God, and yet in mercy and in grace, the Lord preserved and
upheld his servant here. And so the Lord reveals himself. He comes into an individual's
life. He comes to those who he is calling
out of sin. And firstly, he reveals himself
in his true character and his nature. He is the Majestic One,
He is the Holy One, and we cannot go before God, we cannot approach
unto Him, except we recognize that He is firstly, holy, glorious,
and all-powerful. Then there is another parallel
here also. Joshua had to humble himself. The Lord revealed himself and
Joshua humbled himself. His first reaction was to fall
upon his face. He wanted to know what the word
of the Lord was to him. Again, there are parallels in
the way we see the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to Saul, Paul,
as he became in the conversion of the Apostle. There is a revelation,
who art thou Lord? fell upon his face and he worshipped
the Lord. So Joshua worshipped the Lord
in humility, in humbleness, recognising the glory of God, he prostrated
himself, went onto his knees, went onto his face and worshipped
the Lord, eager to hear what the Lord's word was. Then there
is this third picture that we have and that is the message
that the Lord gives. There is an announcement that
there is going to be the deliverance of his people. This picture that
we have of Joshua as the leader, Joshua as the man, given this
commission to lead the children of Israel into the land of Canaan
and possess it, is a picture which parallels the believer's
life. As we go through our Christian
experience, the history of the Old Testament Jews teaches us
much about the way the Lord deals with his people. The Lord said
to Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon
thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. I wondered,
why does he take his shoe off? What's the purpose of taking
off the shoe? When we think of taking off shoes
these days in worship, our minds are perhaps drawn to the Muslims
who take their shoes off and place them behind them as they
bow down to their God. or perhaps to the Roman Catholics
and the pilgrims who take their shoes off and walk up mountainsides
in their bare feet in order to do some sort of penance or show
that they are genuine and sincere in their desire to worship God. But I don't think that at all
is what taking the shoes off is about. When you take your
shoes off, you're in no position to do very much. It speaks of
poverty. Who are the people that have
no shoes but those who are the poorest of the poor? Who are
those in an army that would want to go into battle without wearing
any shoes? Anybody who's been in the military
or in any conflict will know that one of the soldier's most
important pieces of wear and equipment is his shoes. He needs
good boots in order to go into battle. Here, Joshua was having
his shoes taken off. took off his shoes and he spoke
thereby of a man who was ready to wait upon the Lord. He wasn't
any more thinking about how he was going to set his army, how
he was going to attack Jericho, how he was going to deliver this
city. He was barefoot. He was prostrate. He was humbled before God. He
had set aside the fact that he was a military man, that he was
prepared for battle, and he acknowledged the presence of God. It speaks
to us, I think, of the way in which the Lord comes to his people.
And he will not have us go forward in our own strength. He will
not have us present our own riches before Him. We must be impoverished
of all self-righteousness. We must be stripped of all self-defence. We cannot go before God and stand
before Him in our own strength. We have to acknowledge His glory,
our unworthiness, and in confession for our sin, go to Him seeking
His grace and His mercy. What will you have me to do?
What will you say to your servant? Joshua was obedient to the call
of the Lord. The Lord had come to Joshua to
reveal something very important. He wasn't going to ask Joshua
to attack this city. There would be other cities,
there would be other battles, but as far as this one was concerned,
the Lord was going to prove. He had said he would deliver
this land and this people into the hand of his own people, the
children of Israel. This he would do. Jericho was
to be the great picture of the deliverance of this land into
his people's possession. That great city with its fortified
walls would not take a month or a year or a decade to fall
under siege tactics to the children of Israel. It would be gone in
a week. and the Lord would do it himself. That's a lovely thought. When
we come to this picture here, let us see that it is an announcement
by God of the deliverance of his people. That's what he had
said to Moses, that he was going to bring his people out of Egypt. That's what he says here to Joshua. that He has come to deliver His
people. He has come to bring them into
this land and give it to them as a possession. This was good
news indeed. We're told that the children
of Israel were already armed. They had already crossed the
Jordan. They were setting themselves in preparation. The Reubenites,
the Gadites, they were at the head of the army. The people
were massed ready to go into battle. Battle is never a good
thing. Sometimes it is necessary, it
is never good. There would have been casualties,
there would have been loss, there would have been hardship, there
would have been sadness and sorrowing. That's the nature of war. The
Lord delivered this city into the hands of the children of
Israel and not one of the Lord's people were hurt or harmed in
the destruction of that city. So it is a picture of the grace
of God towards his people. He will deliver them in his time,
in his way. Certainly there are battles to
be fought and we have to engage with the world. We have to engage
with the devil. We have to face down temptation. We draw upon the nature, the
succor and comfort of the Lord as we face those battles. But
the great battle of deliverance is won. The Lord has destroyed
the enemy. He is already fleeing before
the people of God. And here we find the good news
of the gospel. I've often wondered what the
children of Israel thought when Joshua went back to them and
said, put your swords in your sheath and start to get your
trumpets out. We're going for a walk. and walked
them round that city. I'm sure the people in Jericho
must have mocked them from the city walls. And I'm sure the
children of Israel themselves must have wondered whether Joshua
really had got the proper strategy for this battle. But all of these
things were in the hand of God. And it is an encouragement to
us to go back to the Word of God and see how He has delivered
His people in the past. Draw those parallels and see
the applications and lessons that He has for us today. and
how it is that the salvation which he has secured for his
people down through the years is yet the salvation which we
enjoy, that the Lord has fought the battle. This one who stands
with his sword drawn, this one who requires of Joshua the worship
that is due to him, this one who says to him, take your shoe
off Joshua, this battle is mine, is the one that we have today.
who is taking us as his people. If we come by faith to receive
the great works that he has done, then we will receive these blessings
and enjoy the salvation. And as we come and see him this
morning as the great God, the glorious one, the one whom we
worship, He speaks to us of the salvation which is found in Christ,
the one who has taken his sword, the one who has laid down our
enemies, the one who has brought his people into the possession
of all of the blessings he has for us. We rejoice in the Lord
this morning and we go before him to worship him for all that
he has accomplished. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us, prepare our hearts and our minds to worship him this
day. and to come ready to hear his
word and obediently follow him. Amen.