Joshua 5:13-15
“And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, ‘Are You for us or for our adversaries?’ 14 So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, ‘What does my Lord say to His servant?’15 Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.”
I have been away recovering from hip replacement surgery. I had been suffering for 6 years, and especially in the last 6 or 7 months, I have been in pain all day and even at night. The recovery will also have its pain involved, but in time, that pain will diminish and go away. I had become accustomed to the pain of a busted hip and learned to manage it. But if I wanted to stop being limited by the pain in my hip, then I needed to endure the surgery. There would be pain to heal, or I could stay with the pain to be limited.
The Christian life is much like this; we all have things in our life that we have become accustomed to, but to make changes, there has to be a bit of pain. Too many of us do not want to do the pain of change, and as such, we don’t make any changes in this life.
As we continue our journey, seeing Jesus in the Old Testament, we are now out of the wilderness and in the Promised Land. Moses and Aaron are dead, and Joshua is the new leader. They are stationed outside of Jericho, and God is about to give Joshua very strange instructions. Joshua has an encounter with Jesus here just outside of Jericho. Joshua looked up and sees a man; he goes to Him and asks Him, ‘Are You for us or for our adversaries?’ Jesus answers him, and we can see some amazing things and learn things about Jesus.
Like Moses, Joshua needed to have his ‘Jesus’ encounter. Joshua needed to have his faith in God for himself. He could not rely on Moses’ relationship with God. All too often, our children and even those in our churches rely on the relationship with God through their parents or leaders. Too many have not had their own encounters with God. Well, Joshua was about to begin his own journey as the leader, and he needed to have an encounter with Jesus.
Jesus’ answer to Joshua is that He is the Commander of the Army of the Lord. We can go to Revelation 19:11 and read there as Jesus comes from heaven and leads the army of the Lord. He is coming to kill those who are in the process of attacking Israel. So, we can logically come to the conclusion that the Commander of the Army of the Lord is Jesus. We see that He has his sword drawn.
When we go back to Revelation 19:17-21,
“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, ‘Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.’
And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.”
We see here that Jesus kills a lot of people, millions in fact, and when we see the prophecy from Ezekiel 39: 12-14, we see there are so many dead that it takes 7 months to bury the dead.
“For seven months the house of Israel shall be burying them so that they may cleanse the land. Indeed, all the people of the land shall bury them. And it shall be their renown on the day that I shall be glorified, says the Lord God. They shall separate men who continually pass through the land to bury the passengers, even those who remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it. After the end of seven months, they shall search.”
Too many modern churches have taken the 33 or so years that Jesus lived on Earth as a Man, and they form the entire person of Jesus. This has led to a feminization of the Lord; in too many cases, He has been stripped of his manliness. This ‘meek Jesus’ that many churches promote has led to a lack of strong men in the local churches.
Jesus is a Man’s man. He is a warrior, a dangerous soldier who carries a sword. Yes, he becomes the meek and lowly Saviour and died for us. But this was a ‘blip’ in the existence of Jesus. He, the God, Jesus, the Second One of the God-Head, is the Commander, the General, the Chief Warrior of Heaven.
There has been a deliberate effort to feminize Christian men and to make Biblical, mental and physical strength a curse as opposed to a blessing. We, in the power of the Holy Spirit, need to find the balance between being meek, lowly and humble, yet being strong defenders of the Word, the local church that Jesus died for, and our families.
In Exodus 3, God tells Moses to take off his shoes because the place where Jesus is standing is Holy Ground. And so, Joshua, like Moses, takes off his shoes. Please notice that this Commander of the Army of the Lord allows Joshua to worship Him. ‘Regular’ angels will not allow this; true angels of the Lord will immediately stop you if you try to worship them (see Revelation 22:9).
Joshua immediately asked, “What does my Lord say to His Servant?” Jesus is to be obeyed; we should want to know what He wants us to do. In our case, we have the written and preserved scriptures to help us to know what God wants us to do. But the point is that once we see our Lord, the Commander, High and Lifted up, like what we see here and in Isaiah 6, our first response should be what do you want me to do? Obedience is the highest form of worship.
Well, Jesus, the Commander, was about to tell Joshua how to defeat Jericho. The instructions would sound like gibberish to a man of war: walk around the city 6 times and be quiet, then on the seventh day, walk around 7 times and shout. Not only was it weird, but it violated the Sabbath day; the army would be marching on the seventh day and fighting in the seventh day. But if the Man he was talking to was truly God, truly the Commander, then His instructions needed to be obeyed. This victory would set the tone for the next 5 years of war to take the Promised Land. Obedience was not negotiable.
By the way, manly men are obedient to the Lord. So, be strong, stand up, our God is a Man of War, according to Exodus 15:3. He expects His men to be strong, courageous, obedient, biblically literate, and faithful; these are the traits of strong men. He wants all of us to be obedient; this is the true form of worship. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario
The post Jesus Is the Story of the Whole Bible: Part 11 :: By Sean Gooding appeared first on Rapture Ready.
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