Okay, this evening now we're
gonna take a look at Joshua 22. Joshua 22 is a little bit of
a long chapter, and I'm not gonna go back over and read each verse
again as we look through this, but the thing that caught my
attention here was, of course, the story, and then this altar
found in verse 34. The children of Reuben and the
children of Gad called the altar Ed. Ed, for it shall be a witness. And that's what the word actually
means. Ed means a witness between us,
between us, that the Lord is God. So the title of the message
will be they called the altar Ed. Ed. Now we have an altar. Christ is that altar. And that
altar also could be considered the altar called Aed. Aed. You sure about that? I think
I can make good on it. Aed means an altar of witness.
Their altar they constructed, that is Reuben and Gad and Manasseh,
constructed was like pattern, was in the like pattern as the
altar that was in the tabernacle at Shiloh. But it was not made,
as they say repeatedly, it was not made for an altar of blood
sacrifice, burnt offerings and peace offerings. But rather it
was an altar of remembrance, an altar of witness, an altar
of connection between the three tribes on the east side of Jordan,
And the nine other tribes are on the west side of Jordan. They
considered it as a bridge or a connecting link. So in future
generations, no one would forget that there is a connection. There
is connection between those people. Now, there is only one altar
of sacrifice that is acceptable unto the Lord our God, right? We read about it in Hebrews 13,
10, where the writer says, we have an altar. And it's Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. The one altar is
the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now we don't have
an altar. A lot of churches, they have
what they call an altar call, where folks go forward and they
bow at the bench and they call that the altar call. Scriptures
know nothing about such practice. Remember I told you before, as
we study the Old Testament and that Levitical law, the altar
always sets the sacrifice apart unto God. And in that day, it
was an altar erected at Shiloh in the tabernacle and that altar
for burnt offerings and peace offerings was a type and picture
of a substitute, a ram or a lamb dying in the stead of the people
and shedding his blood, burning his body, shedding his blood
for an atonement, atonement for sin. Now in our gospel day, the
altar is our blessed Savior. It is the altar of His deity
that sets His blood sacrifice apart. It's just not some miracle
worker from Nazareth who came to Jerusalem and died. It just
wasn't a Jewish man, a mere Jewish man. This one who died on Calvary's
tree is the appointed sacrifice of the Lamb of God. The Lord
Jesus Christ is God our Savior. The altar of His deity sets the
blood sacrifice apart. It's who He is that gives power
and weight to what He did. Christ is our altar, Christ is
our sacrifice, Christ is our Passover lamb, Christ is our
priest who brought not the typical blood of bulls and goats but
his own blood, and the Lord Jesus Christ is a God to whom his sacrifice
was offered. You see, there's just one altar.
There's just one gospel. Now, you remember this statement
I've given to you before. Someone said, and I don't know
where this originated. I've heard my pastor use this
statement many times, but I don't think it originated with him.
But the saying goes, the Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed his humanity
on the altar of his deity. Does that sound familiar? He
sacrificed his humanity on the altar of his deity. Now remember
I said the altar sets the sacrifice apart. It's who he is that makes
his sacrifice powerful, perpetual, and acceptable to God. For instance,
in Acts 20, where it says that we're to feed the church of God,
which he purchased with his own blood. Whose blood was shed there? The God-man mediator. You see,
man alone cannot satisfy, God alone cannot suffer and die,
but he who is God and man in one blessed person did both for
his church, right? He suffered and he satisfied. He both suffered and satisfied
as our substitute. Brother Henry used to always
say, learn two words and you've learned the gospel, substitution
and satisfaction. Christ satisfied the law of God
for us. And this indeed is what Paul
calls the great mystery. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Now, so there's just one altar,
just one altar of sacrifice. Now this story sets forth for
us many, many good things to be considered and studied and
meditated upon and I would encourage you to go back over and read
it and meditate upon it. But I want to consider just a
few things here in the time that we have. In verses 1 down through
verse 8, Joshua called the children of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh,
and give this army of 40,000 soldiers an honorable discharge
and told them to go home to their children, their wives, their
families. They had been fighting this battle in the land of Canaan
for about seven years. The war was over. I think about
my father's generation and all those World War II that World
War II generation, they call that the great generation. When
the war was over and the battle was over and those soldiers,
they received an honorable discharge and they were told to go home. They were told to go back to
their families. That's what's happening here. That's what's
happening here. Joshua, he instructed them He
blessed them and he told them to share the victory and the
spoils of the battle with their family. He instructed them, verse
5, take diligent heed to the commandment of the law, which
Moses, the servant of the Lord, charged you to love the Lord
your God, to walk in all of his ways, to keep his commandment,
to cleave unto him, to serve him with all your heart. So Joshua
blessed them and sent them unto their tents. And then he told
them, he said, you return, verse 8, with much riches, under your
tents with very much cattle, with silver, with gold, with
brass and iron, very much raiment, and you divide the spoil. You
share what you've been blessed with. You share it with your
brethren. You share it with your family.
Now, I got this thought from someone else. This didn't originate
with me. What can we take away from this
as the Lord's people? If you use that in a type in
a picture of our Christian warfare as believers, when our warfare
is over in this life and our Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ,
instructs us and blesses us and sends us home to glory, We will
then, indeed, be blessed to go home. But until then, we must
stay and fight the good fight of faith until we are discharged. And when he discharges us, honorable
discharge, he sends us home. The Lord prayed that in John
17, you remember? Verse 24, Father, I will that
all that you've given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory. And that's what happened. And
when our Joshua blesses us to go home, we'll leave here instructed
by the Lord Jesus Christ, all those who have heard and learned
of the Father, they come to him. We go home to our eternal home,
blessed in Christ with all spiritual blessings, and we go home enriched
from the spoils of the victories that the Lord Jesus Christ has
won for us. I thought that was a pretty good
thought, so I thought I'd share it with you. Now, the second
thing I want us to see When they went home, that is the children
of Reuben and Gad and Manasseh, when they went home as they were
told by Joshua, they did something else in verse 9 and 10 which
caused them trouble from the rest of Israel. They built this
great altar by the river Jordan close to where they had crossed
over before and where they had gathered those twelve stones
as a memorial. Now I don't know exactly how
this came about. You can kind of read through
this carefully and kind of get the idea. Joshua said nothing
to them. He didn't say, now you go home
and when you cross the river you build an altar. He didn't
say anything like that, did he? They added to the word of their
Joshua and it brought trouble. It caused them heartache and
almost broke out in a civil war. Somebody probably thought in
their zeal and their zeal thought this was a good idea. Let's just
build this altar as a bridge to keep up the fellowship and
memory and communion with the rest of the tribe of Israel.
And that's what it says in verse 24, 25 and verse 26. Although their motive seemed
innocent and what they thought they were doing was right, The
rest of the family of Israel, when they heard about it, they
thought it was in competition to the only altar that was erected
there in the tabernacle at Shiloh. Now, and they were ready to go
to war about it. Verse 12 says, they gathered
themselves together at Shiloh to go up to war against them. They were ready to break out
in a battle against their own brothers over this issue of this
altar. Now again, another gospel lesson
for us. What would you think it would
be? Let us always follow the word
of the Lord, never adding anything to it. The altar of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ is all we need. Let us preach the gospel. That's what Paul charged Timothy,
I charge you to preach the gospel. Let us always preach the gospel,
nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. but the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, lest we be cursed of God and suffer
the judgment and wrath of God. Phileas and the men, when they
came and they saw this altar, they said, you're in rebellion
against God and you're going to suffer the wrath and judgment
of God. And we know that there is just
one gospel. Paul said, though we or an angel
from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which
we have preached, let him be damned. You see, Christ is our
only altar, sin offering, peace offering before God. Let us not
add to the word of the Lord. Now, people get in big trouble
when they think they're smarter than God and try to add or subtract
from the word of the Lord. The third thing I would have
us to know in verse 11 and verse 12, the children of Israel heard
say, behold the children of Reuben and Gad and Manasseh, they built
an altar over against the land of Canaan in the borders of Jordan
at the passage of Israel. And when the children of Israel
heard it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered
themselves together at Siloam to go up to war against them. I mean, they were ready to fight.
They were fighting mad, weren't they? They were fighting mad. Israel and their zeal for God
were ready to go to war over this other altar of witness. They were so jealous of the way
of worship around the altar of God at Shiloh, so to them, to
introduce any other altar, to them it must have been an altar
of idolatry, or at least an altar that would lead to idolatry. Let us likewise be very jealous
over the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let it never be in competition
with any other thing or person. Let us never compromise the gospel
for the sake of getting along with someone. God is still jealous
of His glory. If you look over at chapter 24,
verse 19, 2419 Joshua said unto the people you
cannot serve you cannot serve the Lord For he is a holy God. He is a jealous God He will not
forgive your transgression Nor your sin if you forsake the Lord
and serve strange God Then he will turn and do you hurt and
consume you after that you have after that he had done you good
So there's a warning, God is jealous. God is jealous. The apostle put it this way in
2 Corinthians 11. He said, I'm jealous over you
with the godly jealousy for I espoused you to one husband that I may
present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. God's people are zealous
and jealous over his glory. He said, my glory I will not
give to another. God rightly deserves all the
honor and glory in the salvation of his people. And his church
are jealous, believers are jealous for his glory. They want him
to have all the honor and glory, don't they? That's the song of
the redeemed throughout eternity, worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive all honor, glory, and blessing both now and forever.
Well, when Israel heard about this altar of witness, verse
13 down through verse 20, this man by the name of Phinehas,
he was the son of Eleazar the priest, and he led this ten princes
of each tribe over across Jordan to inquire of what Reuben and
Gad, what they were doing. Now, when they heard what was
going on, they wanted to investigate and hear what was going on. Just not hearsay. They wanted
to find out and see for themselves. Always a good thing to get the
whole story before you come to a conclusion, is it not? Always good to get the whole
story, both sides of the story, before you come to a conclusion
on the matter and start a war. How many wars have been started
that way or fusses and feuds in families over not hearing
the whole story or considering the whole story? Now notice carefully
when they come, verse 16, thus sayeth the whole congregation
of the Lord, what trespass is this that you have committed
against God, the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following
the Lord, in that you have builted an altar that you might rebel
this day against the Lord? Now they charge them with rebellion
and sin against God. Now that's what makes sin so
terrible. is that it is against the Lord,
against the Lord. What is this but rebellion against
the Lord to have another altar? They were thinking that they
were worshipping another God. We know that there is just one
gospel and one way, neither is there salvation in any other.
To come some other way than God's way is nothing but Rebellion
against the Lord is it not the Lord that I am the way I am the
truth no man come to the father But by and through me there is
a way that seems right under man, but the end thereof is a
way of death proverb 14 verse 12 Phineas in his charge against him he reminds
them in verse 17 verse 18 and verse 20 he reminds them of their
past history when they had gone off into idolatry and the judgment
that fell upon them. Is the iniquity of Beor too little
for us from which you are from which we are not cleansed unto
this day, although there was a plague in the congregation
of the Lord, but that ye must turn away this day from following
the Lord, verse 18, and it will be, seeing that you rebelled
today against the Lord, that tomorrow he will be wroth with
the whole congregation of Israel, verse 20, did not Achan the son
of Zeriah, committed trespass in the accursed thing, and the
wrath fell on the congregation of Israel, and that man perished
not alone in his iniquity." See, he's saying that your sin is
not only going to affect you, but us. You're going to bring
the wrath of God upon us. Now, this iniquity that's mentioned
there in verse 17 at Peor is when Israel went after idols. Numbers 25, it involved Balaam
and Balak, remember? And the Lord killed, over them
going after these strange idols, the Lord killed 24,000 Israelites. Phineas the priest
was one of the men in that day who executed the idolaters. He
knows what to do with false altars and idols, that is to root it
out immediately and destroy them. And then in verse 20, that iniquity
there in Peor happened while they were wandering those 40
years in the wilderness. And then verse 20, the sin of
Achan, that happened when they crossed over Jordan and conquered
Jericho. And Achan took that accursed
thing, remember? In Joshua chapter 7. And Achan
and Israel suffered for the act of rebellion. And Achan, his
family, all of his livestock and everything were destroyed.
God is going to deal with idolatry. The lesson for us here is this.
What is the lesson here for us? What would you think it would
be? God will punish sin. He has to. You know why? He's holy. He's holy. He must
because he's holy. Even when he finds sin that he
laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary, what happened? It
pleased the Lord to bruise him in our room and in our stead.
You see the wages of sin is death. The guilty must die. God must punish sin completely
and totally and forever either in you in eternal condemnation
or in our substitute the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why hell
is eternal. No satisfaction. No satisfaction. So the lesson for us here is
that God will punish sin, but the wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. God made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. But I see something in verse
19 that's interesting here. They talk about past idolatry
and rebellion and judgment in verse 17 and 18, down verse 20,
of a recent act of rebellion against God and Achan. But notice
verse 19, I want you to notice here the graciousness in their
heart. Notwithstanding, if the land
of your possession be unclean, that is, if that land over there
on the east side of Jordan is not good enough for you, and
you think it's unclean, then pass you over unto the land of
the possession of the Lord, wherein the Lord's tabernacle dwelleth,
and take possession among us." They opened up their home, they
said, well, you come and live with us. But rebel not against
the Lord, No, rebel against us in building you an altar beside
the altar of the Lord our God. That was a gracious invitation,
was it not? Don't rebel against the Lord,
you come back and live with us. And we'll go to Shiloh and we'll
use that tabernacle of the Lord. a generous offer to share their
land with them. They were willing to give them
land on the other side of Jordan so they could worship at Shiloh
and not set up another altar in rebellion. They were gracious,
weren't they? The Lord had been gracious to
them and in turn an open hand, an open heart. You see the grace
of God begets and produces grace in us. God has been gracious
and merciful to us. Let us therefore show grace and
mercy to others. Let us forgive one another and
love one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven
us. Now, so what are they going to
say? In verse 21 all the way down
to verse 29 is their answer to the charges against them. They're
charged with idolatry and rebellion. But notice the children of Israel,
verse 21, they answered the heads of the thousands of Israel and
they said, the Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he knows,
he knows. And he shall know, he knoweth
and he shall know if it be rebellion or if it or if in transgression
against the Lord, save us not this day." If that's what we're
doing, if we're rebelling against the Lord, He knows. He knows
and we must answer that we have built us an altar to turn to
the following Lord or to offer thereon burnt offerings and meat
offerings or peace offerings thereon. Let the Lord Himself
require of us. We're going to answer unto the
Lord. And if we not rather done it
for fear of this thing, and that language is a little bit difficult,
saying, in time to come your children might speak unto our
children saying, what have you to do with the Lord God of Israel? For the Lord hath made Jordan
a border between us and you, the children of Reuben and Gad,
"...and you have no part in the Lord, so shall your children
make our children cease from fearing the Lord." They thought
they were doing the right thing. Therefore it said, "...we let
us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering,
nor for sacrifice, but that it may be a witness between us and
you and our generation after us." Verse 27. that we might
do the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings,
with our sacrifices and peace offerings, that your children
may not say to our children, now here's the whole thing, that
your children may not say to our children in time to come,
you have no part in the Lord. That was their concern. They
were concerned with that their children would leave from following
the Lord. That's what they did. God forbid
that we should rebel against the Lord and turn this day from
following the Lord to build an altar for burnt offerings and
meat offerings. Sacrifice is beside the altar
of the Lord our God that is before the tabernacle. Now a couple
things here. They built this altar as an altar
of witness not an altar of sacrifice. Notice in verse 22 The Lord God
of Gods, the Lord God of Gods, they were in reverence before
the Lord. They showed great reverence unto
the God of God, the Lord, Jehovah. He is God of Gods. They showed
great reverence. You remember in Psalm 111, He
sent redemption unto His people. He commanded His covenant forever.
Holy and reverent is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. It's a healthy and right thing
to have an awesome fear of the Lord. And it's a reverential
fear of God. The Lord, He is God of gods. And He knows. He knows. Known unto God are all of his
works from the beginning. They appeal to the absolute sovereignty
of God, the sovereign God who knows all things. God does know. They reverence his name and they
recognize and own it that God knows. He knows all things. He
knows our hearts. You remember what the Lord told
Samuel? when he went down to the house
of Jesse to anoint a king, look not on his countenance, nor the
height of his stature, because I've refused him for the Lord,
talking about David's older brother, I've refused him for the Lord
seeth not as man seeth, for the Lord, for man looketh on the
outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. This is
a God with whom we have to do. with whom we have to do. It's
not an option. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. All things are naked and open.
That's why they appeal. They reverence God and they acknowledge
God knows everything. He's not only almighty, but he
knows all things. This altar was to be an altar
of witness, they say, as a testimony, as a remembrance of the God of
Israel, and a connection with the tabernacle, the priesthood,
and the altar of the sacrifice at Shiloh. And that our fellowship
and communion with the other nine tribes left our children
forget our roots, wherever, where we come from. You know, it's
important that they were considering that your children may not say
to our children in time to come, you have no part in the Lord.
Now that'd be a terrible thing not to have any part in the Lord.
We are to bring our children up in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord in the gospel. We read Sunday, When Paul writes
to young Timothy, thou from a child hath known the Holy Scripture,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. Notice verse
29, God forbid, God forbid, does that sound familiar? We read
that many times in the New Testament. God forbid that we should glory,
save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. God forbid that
we should sin against the Lord to make an altar to sacrifice. You see they only had one eye,
they had only one eye to the one altar, to the one sacrifice,
that was their hope. Tabernacle, altar at Shiloh,
that was their hope. Not this altar of witness. Their
hope was in that altar of sacrifice at Shiloh. They were looking
to that sacrifice. We know from reading the record
of scripture Every sacrifice those priests brought on the
day of atonement look forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ who is a sinner's only atonement for sin. Faith has
a single eye to Christ and Him crucified. He earned His love,
not that we love God, but that He loved us. And he sent his
son to be the sacrifice for our sin. All through the book of
Hebrews, the Lord Jesus Christ is set forth as the better priest,
as the better covenant, as the better sacrifice. The Lord Jesus
Christ did not bring the typical sacrifice of the blood of bulls
and goats, but he obtained for us eternal redemption with his
own blood. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Well,
that was their defense. What's the conclusion? The story
has a happy ending, has a happy ending. And when Phinehas the
priest and the princes, verse 30, and the congregation and the
heads of thousands of Israel which were with him heard the
words, Reuben, Gad, Manasseh, it pleased them. Oh, they were
so happy, it pleased them. And Phinehas, the son of Eliezer
the priest, said, this day we perceive the Lord is among us
because you have not committed this trespass against the Lord.
Boy, it's a happy day. You've not sinned against the
Lord. You've not gone into idolatry. Verse 32, Phinehas the son of
Eleazar the priest and the princes returned from the children of
Reuben, Gad out of the land of Gilead back to the land of Canaan
and brought Israel The word of the Lord, again, and the thing
pleased the children of Israel. The priest was happy, the ten
princes were happy, all Israel was pleased then, the children
of Israel. And the children of Israel blessed
God. And David said, bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me. And did not intend to go
up against him in battle to destroy the land wherein the children
of Reuben and Gad dwelt. And the children of Reuben and
the children of Gad called the altar Ed. I like that. For it shall be a witness between
us that the Lord is God. Enneas returned with a good word
toward Israel, and they worshiped the Lord. War is averted and
prevented, and fellowship is restored. You know what else
I find most interesting? I thought, I kept reading and
reading and reading, I wonder if Joshua was going to send back
word, tell them to destroy this altar. No, he didn't do that. He didn't
do that. They were not instructed to demolish
the altar of witness, but it remained as a reminder of a true
altar of sacrifice in the tabernacle at Shiloh. Maybe they had a good
idea after all. Now, here's a closing thought
for us. We too have a constant altar
of witness. We have a witness. We have an
altar named Ed. within our hearts, and that is
the abiding presence of God the Holy Spirit. Now you remember,
you can turn and read this if you want to with me, Romans 8.
Romans 8. We have an abiding witness within
us. We have our own altar of Ed within
us. Romans 8, you remember this scripture?
You've not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, verse
15, but you've received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba,
we cry Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children
and heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we
suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together with
Him. You see, our Lord said, when
He, the Holy Spirit, has come, He'll take the things of Christ
and show them unto you. Remember in John 16? Howbeit, when He, the Spirit
of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall
not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that He shall
speak, and He will show you things to come. He'll glorify Me, He
shall receive of mine and show it unto you." The Holy Spirit
constantly bears witness in our spirit and in our heart that
in salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ is everything. That's our altar of witness within
us. Christ in you, that is the hope
of glory. Isn't that a good story?