The writer to the Hebrews tells
us that after the children of Israel marched around the city
of Jericho for seven days, on the seventh day, the walls fell
flat after they shouted. And he tells us that this was
an act of faith. And this is right after the children
of Israel had entered into the promised land. You'll remember
that God parted the River Jordan so that they marched in, millions
of them, I suppose. And Jericho was the two miles
from the place where they entered in. It was the first walled city
they had come across. Now, 40 years before, They had
sent spies into the land of Canaan for 40 days. You can read about
it in Numbers 13 and Numbers 14. And the spies come back with
this report of the promised land. They said it's everything he
said it was. It's a land that flows with milk
and honey. And they even brought back a
huge cluster of grapes to show how plentiful this land was. But they said in Numbers chapter
13 verse 28, nevertheless, the people be strong that dwell in
the land and the cities are walled and very great. And the first city they saw was
the city of Jericho. And archaeologists, if you can
trust that sort of thing, said that in a dig that the wall was
some 35 to 40 feet high. Now, can you imagine how imposing
that must have been? This is from here to here, 14
feet. So it's over twice that. And
can you imagine how imposing that wall must have been? But
because of their unbelief, I mean, God brought them to be part of
the Red Sea, brought them out of Egypt. And yet they're afraid
to enter the promised land because of what will happen to them.
Well, the Lord said, because you did not believe me for the
40, for every day you spent in the land, you're going to spend
a year in the wilderness. And they spent 40 years in the
wilderness marching back and forth. And now the 40 years have
expired and they are entering in to the promise land. Now, perhaps you remember the
story of the two spies that Joshua sent. They hid in the harlot
Rahab's house in Jericho. And she hid them and she received
them and protected them and sent them out. And because of that,
they were spared. And the Lord tells us that Rahab's
actions were a picture of faith. Now, this story begins in chapter
five, verse one. Joshua chapter 5, Joshua chapter
5, verse 1. And it came to pass when all
the kings 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, neither was there spirit in them anymore because
of the children of Israel." Now, can you imagine how terrifying
this was to these people? Probably a couple of million
people. And God supernaturally made the waters divide, just
like he did in the Red Sea, and they come in and camp right there
as soon as they cross the river. Verse 2, at that time, the Lord
said unto 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
foreskins. You see, during that 40 year period, they didn't circumcise
their kids. And now that they're back in
the land, this begins once again. 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, 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,
then they had not circumcised. For the children of Israel walked
40 years in the wilderness to the people that were men of war,
which came out of Egypt were consumed because they obeyed
not the voice of the Lord. Now you remember, everybody that was over 20 that
walked through the Red Sea died in the wilderness. and did not
come into the promised land because they didn't believe God. But
all the people that were under 20 and the people that were born
during this wilderness journey entered the land. The middle of verse six, they
obeyed not the voice of the Lord and to whom the Lord swear that
he would not show them the land, which the Lord swear unto their
fathers. that he would give us, a land that flowed 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. 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. 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. And to this day, and the children
of Israel encamped at Gilgal and kept the Passover on the
14th 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 parts corn in the selfsame
day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they'd eaten
of the old corn of the land. Neither had the children of Israel
manna anymore, but they did eat the fruit of the land of Canaan
that year. They had experienced manna for
40 years. No more. They're in the promised
land. Verse 13. And it came to pass
when Joshua was by Jericho, I think he was by himself at this time.
And he knew that the Lord told him to take Jericho. He knew
that's what he was supposed to do. And he looked at this walled
city, 35, 40 feet high, and Jericho had a spring within it. He could
not cut off the water. And the time of harvest had already
been, it was filled with grain. So he didn't know what to do. Uh, we can't starve them. We
can't cut off their water supply. We can't get over this wall.
What are we going to do? And I'm sure he was thinking,
what are we going to do? God told us to take it, but I
don't know what to do. Maybe he was troubled at this
time. I think he was by himself. 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? Now at
this time, Joshua did not know who this man was, but he must've
been some kind of imposing figure because he looked at him and
he knew whoever side he's on, that side's gonna win. He saw
something in him, but he didn't yet know he was the Lord, but
he saw this one with his, He, so he comes up with this question,
verse 13. And he, he said, and he marked
out for us or for our adversaries. Verse 14. And he said, neither, neither, neither. But as the captain of
the host of the Lord, am I now come? I don't take sides. I'm the Lord. Don't you love
the power of that? I don't take sides. I've come
as the captain of the prince of the Lord of hosts. This is
the one that God exalted as prince and savior. He doesn't take side. He's the Lord. Why would he take
sides? He's in absolute, complete control. Whose side are you on? Neither. I'm the captain of the host of
the Lord. I'm the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't take sides. Our question is not, is he on
my side? But am I on his side? That's
the issue. And this is supposedly a true
story. I guess it is. Somebody came
up to Abraham Lincoln during the civil war and they said,
do you think the Lord's on our side or the other side? He said,
I don't know, but I hope we're on his side. Now that is what
is going on here. I hope we're on his side. Whose side are you on? Neither.
I'm the captain of the Lord of hosts. Now at this time, Joshua
knows who he is. And Joshua, look at in verse
14, and Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship. Now this is what everyone who
sees him does. They hit the dirt, they fall
on their face, and they worship. If I ever see who he is, I know
that he is the object of divine worship. That's what he did. He hit the dirt and fell on his
face, and look what he said. What saith my Lord unto his servant? Now, if I ever see who he is,
I understand that what I have to say to him is of really no
importance. What's important is what he has
to say to me. What saith my Lord to his servant? I want to know what you have
to say. It's kind of like Paul on the road to Damascus after
he found out who the Lord was when he said, who art thou Lord?
He said, I'm Jesus whom thou persecuted. Lord, what would
you have me do? We don't tell him what to do. I hope this is the way we come
to the Word of God, not to prove what we believe. Well, look,
this is in the script. I can prove what I believe from this
scripture and that scripture. You can prove anything you want
from the scriptures. That's not the way to approach the scriptures.
What saith the Lord to his servant? I hope that's my attitude toward
the Word of God. What saith the Lord? to his servant. And look at the Lord's reply,
verse 15. And the captain of the Lord's
host said unto Joshua, same thing he said to Moses. Loose thy shoe
from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And there's a reason to tell
you, I'm here. Remember when the Lord appeared
to Moses? Moses sees that side of the bush
that burnt and could not be consumed. And maybe he didn't, he saw a
bush on fire, he thought maybe lightning struck it, and two
hours later it's still burning. I don't know how long he watched
that bush, but it was not consumed. And the scripture says he went
to see this great sight, and the Lord spake to him from that
bush. I love to think of what that
bush tells us. That bush didn't need the wood
of the, The fire didn't need the wood
of that bush, the energy that that bush, that wood provided
to keep burning. This lets us know of the independence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has no needs. He's independent God. You think
about how needy you and I are. He has no needs because he's
independent God. He didn't need that wood for
the fire to keep going. And that bush could not be consumed.
The Lord Jesus Christ is perfect humanity. He consumed the wrath. Wrath
didn't consume him. He utterly consumed the wrath
of God. And the Lord speaks from that
bush. And what's he tell Moses? Take your shoes off your feet,
the place you're standing is holy ground. And I'm sure that
Joshua at this time is trembling in fear. He knows he's in the
very presence of the God of glory and he hits the dirt. Verse one, chapter six, now Jericho, was straightly shut
up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none
came in. The gates had been closed. And
I'm sure they felt protected at this time. They had water,
they had plenty of food, they had 35, 40 foot high walls to
keep people out. I'm sure they felt pretty secure.
What are they gonna do with us? I mean, the walls of the city
were in fact very great and very high. And the Lord said unto
Joshua, verse two, and I believe this is when he was speaking
with the man with the drawn sword. That's the man who's speaking
to him at this time, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said unto
Joshua, see, I will give you Jericho. Didn't say that, does
it? See, I have given. unto thy hand, Jericho, and the
king thereof, and the mighty men of valor. Not I will give,
but I have given, and that's spoken in the perfect tense and
already completed action. Already done. The victory has
already been accomplished. Now, when Christ wills something, It's done. It's completed. Even if it hadn't been done yet,
it's already completed. Before it happens, there are
no contingencies because it's already done. I love that scripture,
the lamb that will be slain. The lamb having been slain from
the foundation of the world, already completed. Now Hebrews chapter 10, turn
with me there. Hebrews chapter 10, verse nine. Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God." That's quoted from Psalm 40. This is the Lord
Jesus speaking upon his incarnation. Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God. He taketh away the first, the
first covenant of works that he may establish the second by
the which will We are sanctified through the body of Jesus Christ
once for all. That's true of every believer
because of God's will through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ, everybody he died for, every believer is sanctified
once for all. This is nothing that grows or
becomes increases. It's a complete perfect sanctification
by the will of God. Does Romans 8, 29 through 31
say anything less? Listen to this. Whom he did foreknow,
them he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Whom he called, them he also
justified. Whom he justified, them he also
glorified. Already done. What should we
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Even our glorification is spoken
of as having already taken place. Child of God, stop worrying. Your salvation has already been
accomplished. It's done. When he said it is
finished, It was finished, wasn't it? Near, so near to God, nearer
I cannot be. For in the person of His dear
Son, I'm as near to God as He. Dear, so dear to God. Dearer
I cannot be in the person of His dear Son, I'm as dear to
God as He. Now this is a completed... He
didn't say I will give you the city. He said, I have given you
the city. All that you're ever going to
have, you already have through Christ. That's faith. Verse three, he says, and you
shall Compass the city, all ye men of war. Go round about the
city once. This shalt thou do six days,
and the seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets
of ram's horns. And the seventh day you shall
compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with
the trumpets. And it shall come to pass that when they make a
long blast with the ram's horn, And 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, and the people shall
ascend up every man before him." Now here, he gives the instructions
as to what they're going to do. How the city is to be defeated.
For six days in a row, the armies of Israel would march around
the city one time. They would have with them the
Ark of the Covenant. And the priest would be before
the Ark of the Covenant with seven, seven priests with ram's
horn. You know, when I was a kid, we
actually had a ram's horn. I don't know where it came from, but
you could blow into that and the sound it would make, but
they would blow into these ram's horn. They didn't say anything,
but they would march around the city six days and they had the
Ark of the Covenant. Now the Ark of the Covenant.
Oh, what a glorious, type of the Lord Jesus Christ made of
gold and wood. The wood, the perfect humanity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gold, the deity of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's fully God. All that God
is, He is because He is God. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. That's why He's able to save
because of who He is. Perfect humanity. The wood represents
his perfect humanity. The two natures of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Two separate natures in one person. Fully God. Perfect deity. Absolute deity. Perfect humanity. What a glorious savior. Now in
that On the inside of that ark, there
were three things. You can read about this in Hebrews. It's also
spoken of in Numbers. There was Aaron's rod that budded. You remember that? Just a staff
that didn't have any roots, didn't have any life, but it budded,
having life. Christ, our life. That's my life
before God. Christ, our life. And there was a pot of manna.
I don't know how it stayed without rotting, but it did, and it was
in there all the time, the pot of manna. Christ, our sustenance. We feed off Him. We eat Him. He's our necessary food. We must have Him. And there was
a copy of the law. Christ, our righteousness, the
one who kept the law. The Ark of the Covenant, the
seven priests, and all they did, there was no talking going on
during this time, just the blowing of the ram's horn. Same note,
representing the preaching of the gospel. And how eerie and
unnerving must this have been for the people in Jericho. Here
they come again. They march around, they look
at the Ark of the Covenant, they look at the priest, the ram's
horn, and they go back. Six days, now I dare say they
probably felt somewhat secure. I mean, we have this big wall,
and we got plenty of water and plenty of food. I don't see how
they're gonna do this, but it must have been eerie to hear
that marching, hear no speech, and then the shrill blast of
that ram's horn. And then they'd go back to the
camp, six days. And then on the seventh day,
there were a march around the city seven times. Seven, the number of perfection.
And they were to blow the ram's horns and then shout. Can you imagine what this shout
must have sounded like? And the walls of the city would
fall flat. this is what's going to happen.
They knew that ahead of time. Now let's go on reading verse
six. And Joshua the son of Nun called
the priests and said unto them, take up the ark of the covenant
and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before
the ark of the Lord. And he said unto the people,
pass on and compass the city and let him that is armed pass
on before the ark of the Lord. And it came to pass when Joshua
had spoken unto the people that the seven priests bearing the
seven trumpets of rams horns passed on before the Lord and
blew with the trumpets and the ark of the covenant of the Lord
followed them. And the armed men went before the priest that
blew with the trumpets and the rearward came after the ark,
the priest going on and blowing with the trumpets. And Joshua
commanded the people saying, you should not shout or make
any noise with your voice. Neither shall any word proceed
out of your mouth until the day I bid you shout, then you shall
shout. So the ark of the Lord compassed
the city going about at once. And they came into the camp and
lodged in the camp and Joshua rose up early in the morning.
And the priests took up the ark of the Lord, and seven priests
bearing seven trumpets of ram's hordes before the ark of the
Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets. And the
armed men went before them, but the rearward came after the ark
of the Lord, the priests going on, blowing with the trumpets.
And the second day they compassed the city once and returned into
the camp. So they did six days. Verse 15, and it came to pass
on the seventh day. They rose early about the dawning
of the day and compassed the city about the same manner seven
times. Only on that day, they compassed
the city seven times, not just one time, but seven. And it came
to pass at the seventh time, when the priest blew with the
trumpets, Joshua said to the people, shout, for the Lord will
give you the city. No. The Lord hath given you the
city. The walls came down. Now in the preaching of the gospel,
that shout. The walls come down. I love what Paul said. The pulling down of strongholds.
casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. Any thought you have that may
be contrary to the obedience of Jesus Christ being your righteousness
before God, get rid of it. It's wrong. Every thought is
to be brought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ
being my personal obedience before God, the righteousness and the
merits of Jesus Christ. Now, they shouted the shout of
victory before the walls were flattened. And that's what faith is. I believe that I stand before God Because
of the work of Christ in my behalf, I believe I stand before God
sinless. Having never sinned. Perfect in the merits of Jesus
Christ. And I can't say it. In my experience, I don't see
it. But I believe it. Isn't that
what faith is? Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Before the walls came down, they
gave the shout of victory. And the walls came down. Now did the sonic boom of the
shout cause the walls to come down? No! God caused the walls to collapse. Question. Would they have come down without
this shout? No. No. But understand this, strictly
speaking, it's not my faith that saves me. I want to say this
carefully, but I want you to understand this. The walls didn't
come down because of the shout, but the walls wouldn't come down
without the shout. Strictly speaking, and may the
Lord enable me to say this the way it ought to be said, my faith
didn't save me. Christ saved me. I believe that. Faith did not stand as my surety
before time began and take full responsibility for my salvation.
Jesus Christ did. He's my surety. My faith didn't
become incarnate and keep God's holy law perfectly in my behalf. Christ did. My faith, let me repeat this. My faith didn't keep the law.
Christ did. My faith was not nailed to a
cross bearing my sins. My faith couldn't do that. It
was Christ who was nailed to the cross as my sin bearing substitute
and put away my sin. My faith didn't do that. Christ
did. My faith didn't satisfy the justice
of God. My faith didn't satisfy God.
Christ did. My faith didn't die. Christ did. My faith was not raised from
the dead. Christ was. My faith isn't in heaven right
now, interceding for me as my representative. Christ is. My faith's not coming back for
me. Christ is. I'm not going to be perfectly
conformed to the image of my faith. I'm going to be perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ. Faith believes that. You believe
that? Before God, do you believe that?
That's what faith is. Faith believes God. Shout the
victory, you've already got it. They shouted, the walls came
down flat. Verse 16, it came to pass at
the seventh time when the priest blew the trumpets, Joshua said
unto the people, shout for the Lord hath given you the city
and the city shall be accursed, even it And all that are therein,
to the Lord, only Rahab the harlot shall live. She and all that
are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that were
sent." That's what we're going to consider next week, Lord willing.
And look what he says. And you, in any wise, keep yourselves
from the accursed thing. lest you make yourselves accursed
when you take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel
a curse and trouble it." Now, what's he talking about there?
Well, if you go on reading into Joshua chapter 7, remember how
Ai defeated them, a very small city overwhelmed them, and it
was because someone had taken the accursed thing. Well, what
is the accursed thing? A Babylonish garment and a wedge
of gold. Covering of the religion of Babylon. You take that accursed thing
and you'll be cursed along with it. But all the silver, verse 19,
but all the silver and the gold and the vessels of brass and
iron are consecrated unto the Lord. They shall come into the
treasure of the Lord. But don't you take that Babylonian
garment. Babylon, false religion, the garment, the covering of
false religion, don't take that. So the people shouted when the
priest blew with the trumpets and it came to pass when the
people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted
with a great shout that the wall fell down flat. So that the people
went up into the city and every man straight before him and they
took the city and they utterly destroyed all that was in the
city. Both man and woman, young and
old, ox and sheep and ass with the edge of the sword. Everything
that was breathing was put to death. Everything. Now, this
has something to do with putting to death the flesh. Put to death any hope of your
flesh doing anything in salvation. That's what it means to put to
death the flesh. You put to death any hope. Destroy,
stab, get rid of any hope that would come for your flesh. If
my fingerprints are on it, I don't want to have anything to do with
it. Put it to death. And that's what is being represented. Verse 22, and Joshua had said
unto the two men that spied out the country, go into the harlot's
house and bring out thence the woman and all that she had as
you swear unto her. And I remember this woman, this
harlot is in the genealogy of the Lord. She was the great grandmother
of King David and the Lord preserved her and spared her. The young men that were spies
went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother
and her brethren and all she had. And they brought out all
her kindred and left them without the camp. And they burnt the
city with fire, and all that was therein, only the silver
and the gold and the vessels of brass and iron, they put into
the treasury of the house of the Lord. And Joshua saved Rahab
the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had.
And she dwelleth in Israel even to this day, because she hid
the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. And Joshua
adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the
Lord that riseth up or buildeth the city of Jericho. He shall
lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest
son shall he set up the gates of it. So the Lord was with Joshua,
and his fame noise throughout all the country. By faith, the
walls came down. Not by their military exploits,
by faith. It wasn't the power of the voice
that brought them down, but faith. May the Lord give you and I this
same faith. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
gospel of your son, how we thank you that salvation is what you
have already accomplished and there's nothing for us to do.
Enable us to shout the shout of the gospel and know that you'll
use it to bring the walls down and cause us to have every thought
to be brought into captivity to the obedience of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Bless this message for your good
and our glory, our good and your glory. In Christ's name we pray.