Lessons of Faith from Joshua

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Moses led the children of Israel for 40 years. Yet, he did not see them settled in the Promised Land. That became the responsibility of a NEW LEADER. A leader whose name is Joshua,

Who was Joshua?

Joshua was born when Israel were slaves in Egypt.
He was the eldest son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim.
His parent seemed to believe in the true God, naming their first born Hoshea (salvation). Moses later changed his name to Joshua (God is my salvation) Numbers 13:16.

Joshua witnessed the plagues of Egypt when God delivered the Israelites with a mighty hand.
He walked through the Red Sea on dry ground with the other Israelites.

We first see him mentioned in scripture Exodus 17:8-13, already in a leading position as the military leader, just two months after leaving Egypt. He led the Israelites in their first battle, driving back the Amalekites that were attacking Israel at Rephidim.
Scriptures are silent as to where Joshua learned how to organize, lead, and fight with an army. But it seems he spent a lot of time learning from Moses. (Num. 11:38)

We see him in close association with Moses at Sinai. (Ex. 24:13)Several times he accompanied Moses part way up that mountain as Moses climbed to meet God. Joshua would wait up there for Moses, who would go a little further to meet God, until he started coming down again. And they would walk down together.
Joshua reacted like a soldier, when the noise from the camp reached them as they were descending the mountain, after Moses received the ten commandments.
There's war in the camp, Joshua exclaims! (Ex. 32:17)

Joshua as one of the twelve spies sent by Moses to scout the land of Canaan, shows the man's faith. Along with Caleb, son of Jephunneh, Joshua brought back a positive report, encouraging the Israelites to trust in God's promise and take possession of the land (Numbers 14:6-9). He talked faith in spite of the fact the other ten spies gave very discouraging and negative reports.

Because of the lack of faith originating with the ten spies and spreading throughout the Israelite camp, Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness where the adult generation died. But Joshua and Caleb were promised they would yet enter the promised land.

The book of Joshua begins it's historical story when Israel once again stood at the edge of the promised land.

The lesson mentions the book of Joshua can be divided into four major parts.

1. Move forward, cross over. 1:1 to 5:12
2. Conquer 5:13 - 12:24
3. Dividing the inheritance 13:1 to 21:45
4. Serve 22:1 to 24:33

MOVE FORWARD

It was with great anxiety and self-distrust that Joshua had looked forward to the work before him; but his fears were removed by the assurance of God, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Joshua 1:6 "Be strong and of good courage.... I promised to give this land to their fathers.
Joshua 1:7 "Be strong and very courageous... do not turn aside to the right or left that you may prosper.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of good courage... for the Lord thy God is with You.
Joshua 1:18 "Only be strong and of good courage ... whoever rebels will not live.


The Israelites were still camped on the east side of Jordan, which presented the first barrier to the occupation of Canaan. "Arise," had been the first message of God to Joshua, "cross over this Jordan, you, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them." (Joshua 1:2)
At this point no instruction was given as to how they were to make the passage. Joshua knew, however, that whatever God commanded, He would make a way for His people to perform.
In full faith and trust in God's guidance, this new leader at once began his arrangements for an advance.

The history of Joshua leading Israel into the promised land, has much symbolic value to the church of today.

The conquest of Canaan, in a large way, represents the victorious Christian life.
Egypt, represents the land of bondage -- the bondage of sin.
The wilderness represents wandering, realizing something has taken place to free us, but not moving on, just wandering about with no real zeal or purpose.

The conquest of Canaan is a life of faith, trusting Jesus Christ to lead us from victory to victory (1 John 5:4-5)

In Egypt they were in bondage, sin was all around, they had to serve sin. It was a miserable life!
Once they crossed the Red Sea, Egypt was behind them. They had experienced deliverance from Egypt, yet they still looked back, sometimes with strange longing to go back, instead of forward.

Once at the borders of the promised land, they saw new enemies before them.
We often think that once we experience deliverance that is all that is to salvation. But the Bible is clear that salvation is not a once and for all victory that ends forever all our spiritual challenges and problems.

The Israelites had to move forward in faith, and, with God's power and strength on their side, they had to be strong and courageous to conquer..

A victorious Christian life is a series of conflicts. In Christ, and clothed with the armor of God, we can withstand the assaults of Satan.

As we think of our lives since our baptism what do we see? Have we been wandering in the wilderness, complaining, grumbling, wishing we were back in Egypt, though still traveling with the church group. Or
are we conquering, having victories against the enemy of sinful habits and temptations. Are we looking forward to the final victory and settling in that grand inheritance in which there is no more death, tears, pain, sickness nor death.

LESSON TWO

GRACE
Second Chance

Two approaches to enter Canaan.

First Approach	Second Approach
Took place twenty-four months after leaving Egypt.	Took place almost 40 years after leaving Egypt.
Had spent 11 months and 5 days at Mt. Sinai, receiving God's commandments, statues and instructions	Moses gave his farewell address, recounting their history, God's leading, God's law and statues, God's covenant promises, pronounced the blessings a to be placed upon mount Gerizim, and the curses upon mount Ebal.
Grave apostasy at Sinai with golden calf. Many died. But Israel was restored by grace and God continued to lead them to the promised land.	Grave apostasy in Shittim, when at the instigation of Balaam, Moabite women lured many into debauchery and idol worship. Again many died, but by grace repentant Israel was restored and God continued to lead them.
In Kadesh, standing at the boarder of Canaan in anticipation to enter the land, Moses sent 12 spies into the land for a 40 day survey of conditions in Canaan.	Once again, at Shittim (Acacia Grove) standing at the boarder of Canaan in anticipation to enter the land, Joshua sent two spies to check out Jericho and surrounding area. They were gone about a week.
Ten of the 12 spies brought back reports of doubt . Saying it was too hard to conquer the land. The people started doubting and actually said they wished they had never left Egypt or had died in the wilderness. Two of the 12 (Caleb and Joshua) spoke faith and trust that God would give them the land.	This time the two spies brought back encouraging reports, God would give Israel the victory.
Israel was sent back into the wilderness to wander. It would be 40 years, after all the adult generation died, that Israel would again stand on the edge of the promised land. Only the two who had brought back reports of faith, would still be alive 40 years later, and would finally be able to enter	By faith Israel marched forward across the Jordan on dry ground, to conquer and victory.

While there was a clear "second chance", for Israel to cross over by faith and claim the reward God had promised, yet we do experience many more than just two chances. God patiently brings us around again and again, encouraging us to step forward and gain the victory over whatever is holding us back from completely following Him.

"We will be brought over the ground again and tested on the very points where we had failed before. Thus the Lord did for the children of Israel; thus He has done with His people in all ages. He will prove them where they have formerly failed; He will try them, and if they fail under the trial the second time, He will bring them around to the same test again." {5T 623.1}

Christ came to seek and save that which is lost. Every person is very precious to Him and so He patiently brings them to the same point again, giving them a second, or third, or fourth chance to learn. Yet it's important not to postpone our response. "What if that soul is finally lost? If he refuses to learn in the school of Christ, clinging to the things of Egypt, and fails to reach the promised land?

Points in the lesson of Rahab and Jericho

Who was Rahab?
A citizen of Jericho, in a culture of iniquity and sinful practices.
She seems to be a person of some influence. With a place of her own where guests can be accommodated. She is believed by the soldiers, not bullied.
Rahab lived in a society where prostitution was heavily interwoven with pagan idolatry; and is identified in Jericho as a "harlot".


Her case shows God's love for all and His desire to save
God's path is open for sinners to experience God's mercy, reminding us not to think of anyone as irredeemable lost in the eyes of God.

Total repositioning of allegiance
Rahab spiritually repositioned herself with the will of God the moment she realized that "gods" of Jericho could not resist the power of God. Do we also realized that the devil is a defeated foe and make a strategic spiritual shift like Rahab.

The Holy Spirit was active:
Rahab seems to sense that God would be willing to save her despite her history and heritage. She understood something about God's character. She believes this to the extent she was willing to take action for God's cause, and against the culture that had held her.

Coincidence of Divine Guidance?
It was not coincidence that, among all the people of Jericho, the spies encountered Rahab; it was a divine appointment.


Justified by works or faith?
James 2:25 KJV "Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent [them] out another way?
James is making the point that God's gift of grace and faith produces actions which show that grace and faith have been activated within the person Just like downloading a program from the internet is of no use unless it is activated, so faith not activated is dead,
Hebrews 11:31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

The red cord
All in the "house" with the red cord were saved. Compare this with Passover during Egypt's tenth plague.
"Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:13,

Family
Rahab's negotiations included her father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all that they had, clearly indicating the prominence, respect, and influence she had within her family (Joshua 2:12-13)
Rahab had to take the initiative to bring her entire family to her home and tie the scarlet cord from her window.

People, Like Rahab, Are Watching
Rahab already knew quite a bit about the God of Israel. She said, "We have heard how the Lord dried up the Red Sea for you and as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted" (Joshua 2:10?11). Rahab never had bible studies, she had not talked to the Israelites before, but she had heard of their God. All Jericho had heard. It was what she heard that convinced her that the God of Israel was the true God, and was able to save.
In the same way, people today are hearing about us -- about those who claim to follow Christ. What do they see and hear?

Redeemed and Accepted
She was redeemed from pagan prostitution, and transitioned into a Hebrew faith-keeper.
Joshua 6:25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
Matt. 1:1,5,6 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ,... 1:5 And Salmon (of the tribe of Judah) begat Booz of Rahab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; And Jesse begat David the king....

Was grace shown to the Canaanites?
The book of Joshua is full of commands and stories to wipe out the Canaanites. Did they experience grace?

1. Witnesses lived among them
Over 430 years earlier, God sent a man who worshipped Him, into the land of the Canaanites. Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob dwelt in the land a witness for the God of heaven.
Everywhere he stayed Abraham built an altar and "called upon the name of the Lord",
(see Gen. 12:7; 13:4,18



2. Four hundred Thirty Years of Mercy
God promised Abraham the land was to belong to his descendants, BUT they could not take possession for another 430 years. Because God was still working on the hearts of the Canaanites, their probation was not yet over.
Genesis 15:13 "And God said to Abram, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that does not belong to them...., four hundred years;... in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites [Canaanites] is not yet full."

3. There were some that did believe!
Rahab, hearing the reports of God's powerful leading turned from her lifestyle and became a follower of God!
Her testimony " Joshua 2:10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt;...for the LORD your God, he [is] God in heaven above, and in earth beneath."

And the Gibeonites , a strong nation in Canaan, who also heard and though following a rather wilily plan, they eventually turned and became followers of the true God. Joshua 9:9 And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the LORD thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt,"
Though they came about it in a questionable way, still they believed and submitted to the conditions Joshua and the elders decreed becoming wood cutters and water carriers for God's temple, they accepted the God of Israel. We see them along with Israel over the years. (See Nehemiah 7)

So God worked with the Canaanites, giving them a lengthy probation in which they could respond to the evidence and turn to the true God.
Even in the "last hour" of probation, we see people snatched out of the coming destruction.

So it will be in the end of the world. The world will have filled it's cup of iniquity. Though God's mercy lingers long, there comes a time when probation closes, and the rejecters' destruction will be sure. But God's people will be delivered. And there will be people, who upon seeing the contrast between the true devotion to the God of Heaven and earth, and the corruption of the systems serving other "gods", they cast themselves upon God's mercy and turn.

Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, [As] I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die,

LESSON THREE
MEMORIALS OF GRACE

The Ark of the Covenant

One of the greatest memorials and representatives of God's law, grace and presence is the ark of the covenant.
That sacred ark represented Jehovah in the midst of His people.
It was treated with reverence and full awareness of it's holiness, for it was the place where Jehovah, Himself, revealed His glory in visible splendor of the Shekinah light.
Within the ark was the law of God, written by His own finger.
Above the law was the mercy seat upon which the blood of the sacrificial animal was sprinkled.
The law of God, enshrined within the ark, was the great rule of righteousness and judgment, but it pronounced death upon the transgressor. All are transgressors, but above the law was the mercy seat, by virtue of the atonement, pardon was granted to the repentant sinner.
Above the mercy seat was the glory of God! It is only through the High Priest (Jesus is the great High Priest) presenting the blood of the atonement (Christ is the passover lamb, slain once and for all) that we can partake of God's forgiveness, and have a living relationship with Him.
The ark was the manifestations of an invisible King in Israel. The people were not allowed to look at the ark, it was covered when ever it was moved. No human eyes would see the grand and indescribable splendor of the shekinah glory.
"The sacred ark, covered by the mercy seat, and containing the holy law of God, was symbolical of Jehovah Himself. It was the power of the Israelites to conquer in battle. Before it idols were thrown down, and for rashly looking into it thousands perished. Never in our world has the Lord given such open manifestations of His supremacy as when He alone was the acknowledged king of Israel." {FLB 194.3}

However, even though a sacred, holy item, the ark itself was not God.
It was God's presence alone that was the glory and power.

CROSSING JORDAN

Joshua 3:15-16 And as the priests that carried the ark reached the Jordan, and their feet of those who bare the ark were dipped into the water at the river's edge...that the waters which flowed down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city ... and the people passed over right against Jericho.

Then, while the people of Israel all crossed on dry ground, those priests baring the ark stood in the middle of Jordan till everyone was across, (vs. 3:17) signifying it was God that held back the rivers of Jordan.

Later, as they prepared to take Jericho, again we see the ark of the covenant being carried by the priests as the people marched around that city, seven days. Again signifying it was God that would give them the victory. They trusted and followed God and His commands. God was with them.


IN LATER THE YEARS HAVING THE ARK DID NOT HELP THEM, WHY?

Years later, we read in 1 Samuel 4, that Israel was being sorely "smitten" in battle with the Philistines. The suggestion was made: "Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it comes among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies." 1 Samuel 4:3
The Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What is the meaning of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp. And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! ,,.Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of their mighty God? It is the God that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues.

But having the ark with them did not help the Israelites in this event. Indeed it was a terrible lose, thousands were smitten and the ark was taken by the Philistines. Why?

The ark was not a "magic box" with power in and of itself. It was God's power and presence which it represented that was the power. The people were trusting in the box, not in the power of their God. They had entered battle without consulting God. The Lord had given no command or permission that the ark should come into the army. It was carried into the camp by the sons of Eli, who, though they served as priests, were corrupt.

Though they had the ark and thought that was enough, they were not praying and following God, they were not following His commands, thus God was not with them.
However, God did not forsake the emblem that represented His presence, as was manifested in events that happened after the ark was captured by the Philistines. It was made very evident to the Philistines that though they had defeated the Israelites in that battle, they had not defeated the God of Israel. It is God that is the power, and the glory, and the holiness. The things that represent Him are to be treated as holy with reverence, but we must always also look beyond the things, and know it is God that is the only One Who saves and sustains and is worthy to receive honor, obedience and praise.

LESSON THREE
MEMORIALS OF GRACE

Importance of remembering

Israel had an experience! An experience of tremendous evidence that God was with them and leading them.
Approaching the Jordan River which blocked their entrance into the promised land, they moved forward as if it wasn't there. It was spring, the river was in full raging flow. There was no way, now, for anyone to wade through. Especially not for a large company of children, women, carts, wagons, animals, etc. etc.
The priests carrying the ark of the covenant don't stop at the banks of the river, but continue walking into water. That raging flow of water starts backing up, further and further till there is a WALL of water several miles above stream, and the Israelites walked across into the promised land on dry ground!
The priests with the ark stood in the middle of that "dry" riverbed, till everyone and their belongings were across.
Joshua sends 12 strong men to the middle of the riverbed, ordering each to bring back one large stone. Once twelve stones were on the bank, the priests with the ark also exit the riverbed, and that wall of water comes rushing down, flowing as it did before. No sign that anything unusual had happened -- EXCEPT the Israelites were now on the other side, and a pile of stones from the bottom of the riverbed now lay on it's banks. (See Joshua 3:9-4:18)

TWELVE STONES
Those stones were set up so Israel would remember --
Borrowing words from Clifford Goldstein's book, "Adventist Journey" -- They [in this case, Israel] had an experience! A heavy life changing experience, dramatic, yes! But it was still only an experience and over time the memory of experiences fade, they wash out, they go from 3-D full color to ethereal shadows with tinged edges.

Memorials are for us to remember, to bring those experiences fresh back into our minds.

Joshua 4:20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.
4:21 And he spoke unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What do these stones mean?
4:22 Then you shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.
4:23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until all were passed over, just like the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up before us, until we had all gone over:
4:24 That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.