Remember
When all the people had crossed the Jordan,
the Lord said to Joshua, “Now
choose twelve men, one from each tribe. Tell them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place where the
priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them
up at the place where you will camp tonight.’” (Joshua 4:1-3)
For a book about
conquests, Joshua’s pretty skimpy on military details. What weapons did
Joshua's army use? How many officers did his army have? How many men made up
each battalion? Did Joshua have an elite force? If so, what training did he
require? The answer to these and so many other questions? We don't know. We
don't know because the emphasis of Joshua is not on a physical battle but a
spiritual one. The real conflict wasn't with the Canaanites or the Amorites; it
was with Satan and his demons. Canaan was the choicest real estate on earth. It
connected Africa with Europe. It accessed the Mediterranean Sea. It was marked
by fertile fields and valleys. Most important, the land was God's gift to
Israel. Nearly seven centuries earlier God had told Abram, "To your
descendants I will give this land." (Gen. 12:7) God set this property
apart for his people, and his people apart to be a blessing for the world. God
promised Abram, "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make
your name great; and you shall be a blessing." (v. 2)
The Hebrews were
the couriers of God's covenant to a galaxy of people. Israel was the parchment
on which God's redemption story would be written. The city of Jerusalem. The
town of Bethlehem. The sacrifices of the temple. The prophecies of the
prophets. All on this land. The Redeemer would be born here, walk here and live
his life here. He would soak this dirt with his blood and shake this ground
with his resurrection. The book of Joshua isn't about claiming real estate for
a dislocated nation; it’s about preserving a stage for God's redemption plan.
Satan's counterstrategy was clear: contaminate the Promised Land and preempt
the promised Child. Destroy God's people and destroy God's work. Joshua's
battle, then, was a spiritual one. And so is ours. (Eph. 6:12-16)
The idea of an
actual devil strikes many people as being odd and outdated. The popular trend
of our day is to blame problems on genetics, governments and environments. Yet
the Bible presents a real and present foe of our faith. His name is Satan. Some
call him the devil. Others call him Beelzebub, Belial, the tempter, the evil
one, the accuser, the prince of demons, or the ruler of this world. Whatever
name you choose, he is the enemy, and he is real. He is not the cute and
harmless character of the cartoons. He’s not an imaginary, dark counterpart to
the Easter Bunny. He is the invisible yet forceful fallen angel called Lucifer,
who desired the high place only God could occupy. He rebelled and disobeyed and
wants you and me to do the same. (1 Peter 5:8)
Anyone who’s dared
to draw near to God has felt Satan's attack. Want to read his rap sheet?
"Satan . . . incited David." (1 Chron. 21:1) "Satan has asked .
. . to sift you [Simon] like wheat." (Luke 22:31) "The devil . . .
persuaded Judas Iscariot . . . to turn against Jesus." (John 13:2)
"This woman . . . Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years."
(Luke 13:16) He has "blinded the minds of those who don't believe. As a
result, they don't see the light of the Good News." (2 Cor. 4:4) "He
rules the world, and his spirit has power over everyone who doesn't obey
God." (Eph. 2:2)
Satan incites,
sifts, persuades, binds, blinds and rules. He has one objective: "to
steal, and to kill, and to destroy." (John 10:10) He's ticked off at you.
All this talk about Promised Land living has him in a foul mood. Your
wilderness days did not trouble him. But now you are stepping into your
Promised Land life. Daring to walk in faith, not fear; leaning on grace, not
guilt; hearing God's voice more, the devil's voice less. Consequently, Satan's
got you in his sights. You are in enemy territory. Joshua was, too.
For the first
time in nearly five centuries, Hebrews were camping in Canaan. This was the
moment they’d been waiting for. How many times had they gazed across the Jordan
at that lush land? Some of them, like Joshua and Caleb, had been waiting for
forty years. When God opened the waters of the Jordan River, they didn't wait
to be asked twice. "All told, about forty thousand armed soldiers crossed
over before GOD to the plains of Jericho, ready for battle." (Josh. 4:13)
They hurried across the Jordan and had God not stopped them, they would’ve run
straight to Jericho. But God did stop them. They weren't quite ready. It's as
if he wanted to give them one more word.
He brought the
invasion to a halt, and by virtue of two commands he prepared the Hebrews for
the Promised Land. “When all the people had crossed the
Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Now
choose twelve men, one from each tribe. Tell them, “Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests
are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at
the place where you will camp tonight.”’” (Josh. 4:1-3) Joshua
commanded a dozen men, one from each tribe, to return to the riverbed. From the
very area where the priests had stood, the men dislodged twelve rocks. As the
people watched and the waters resumed their flow, Joshua stacked the stones.
When the twelfth rock was securely placed on the top spot, he turned to his people
and urged, “In the future your children will ask, ‘What do
these stones mean?’ Then
you can tell them, ‘This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry
ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the river right before your eyes.”
(vv. 21-23)
The secret of
survival in enemy territory? Remember. Remember what God has done. Record his
accomplishments in your memoirs. Capture this crossing in your memory. Before
you look forward to Jericho, look backward to Jordan and what God accomplished
there. Satan has no recourse to your testimony. Your best weapon against his
attacks is a good memory. Create a trophy room in your heart. Each time you
experience a victory, place a memory on the shelf. Before you face a challenge,
take a quick tour of God's accomplishments. Look at all the paychecks he has
provided, all the blessings he has given, all the prayers he has answered.
Imitate the shepherd boy David. Before he fought Goliath, the giant, he
remembered how God had helped him kill a lion and a bear. (1 Sam. 17:34-36) He
faced his future by revisiting the past. Don't go to Jericho until you've
remembered Jordan.
"Okay,
okay," I'm imagining an impatient soldier saying. "The stones are
stacked, and the moment is memorialized. Can we attack now?" Not quite.
God had one more instruction for the Hebrews before sending them into battle: remember
whose you are. “At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise this second
generation of Israelites. (Josh. 5:2) Six hundred years earlier God had
inaugurated the practice of male circumcision, but during the wilderness
wanderings the Hebrews let this practice lapse. It's not hard to see why. With
hearts hardened the people ignored the instructions. And they might have been
tempted to ignore them again.
The act would
leave the men convalescing for weeks. Their wives and children would be
unprotected. Enemy nations were watching their every move. Shouldn't the men
remain at maximum strength so they could fight? Yet God was not concerned with
their numbers, skills or muscles. He wanted them to remember whose they were.
Specifically, he "rolled away the reproach of Egypt." (Josh. 5:9) The
"reproach of Egypt" was the humiliation of slavery that had made them
subject to insult and disgrace from other nations. It was time to reclaim their
birthright as God's chosen people. Circumcision, then, was also a symbolic
separation from the past. The act declared a new identity. "You are no
longer who you were. You are mine." No longer slaves but free. No longer
in bondage but liberated. God's message to the Hebrews? Remember whose you are.
God's message to
us? Remember whose you are. In a sense, all believers have been circumcised.
This may be news to you. "When you came to Christ, he set you free from
your evil desires, not by a bodily operation of circumcision but by a spiritual
operation, the baptism of your souls." (Col. 2:11) Christ cut away the old
life. He severed from you the power of sin and death. The old temptations,
lusts and longings? He detached you from their power when you gave your heart
to Christ. It cannot be stated too often or too clearly. You are not the person
you used to be. So get acquainted with your new self. "Consider yourselves
to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God." (Rom. 6:11)
When the devil
draws near, stand against him. "What are you doing here? I am dead to
you!" Give him no quarter. Don't take his lies. Don't stand for his
accusations. Don't cower at his attacks. When he dredges up your past mistakes,
tell him whose you are. He has no recourse to this truth. He knows who you are.
He just hopes that you don't, or that you’ll forget. So prove to him that you
know and remember. Tell him: "I’ve been bought with a price. I belong to
God." (1 Cor. 6:20) "I have not been given a spirit of fear but of
power, love, and a sound mind." (2 Tim. 1:7) "I cannot be separated
from the love of God." (Rom. 8:35) "I can do all things through
Christ who strengthens me." (Phil. 4:13)
Promised Land
people think like this. They walk with a reverent swagger. They live out of
their inheritance. They show the devil the new name on their spiritual
passport. They are spiritually circumcised. I know that term sounds terribly
awkward and indelicate. But it’s a biblical concept. You are a new creation.
"God's Spirit, who is in you, is greater than the devil, who is in the
world." (1 John 4:4) The secret of survival in enemy territory? Remember.
Remember what God has done. Remember whose you are. The Hebrews did what God
commanded – and God protected them.
Don't face Satan
by facing Satan. Face Satan by facing God. Don't obsess yourself with the
devil. Don't give Satan the time of day. Glance at the devil and gaze at
Christ. Yes, it’s a war out there. But the war’s already won. "God
stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross, he
won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless." (Col.
2:15) Remember what God has done. Face the future by remembering the past.
Remember whose you are. You are not who you used to be. You are God's child.
Then, and only then, will you be ready to face your Jericho.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Randy
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