Joshua 5:2 At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.
Joshua 5:10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.
Joshua 5:11 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. :12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
Joshua 5:15 And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
Chapter five is the is the chapter before their conquest of their first victory in Jericho. I see four things that Prepared Israel for their Conquest of ,not only Jericho, but all of Canaan.
(Click on the points to view the devotion from that day.)
Joshua 5:2 At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.
Joshua 5:2 At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.
Joshua 5:11 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. :12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
4. Conversation
Joshua 5:13 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? :14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? :15 And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
We've come to the end of chapter five and this chapter ends in one of the most memorable parts of the Book of Joshua. There has been speculation as to whether or not this was an angel or Jesus himself. I'm of the persuasion that this is Jesus himself, you see this phenomenon throughout the OT where Jesus shows up before earthly appearance in the virgin womb of Mary. The technical term for this Christophany, this further proves the divinity of Jesus and his eternal nature. Jesus we know was here before the book of Matthew because of these appearances. The determining factor for me is that This Captain of the Lords host here receives worship, which you will find in other instances when men would fall down to worship an angel they would refuse and correct the human.
So Jesus shows up to have a conversation with Joshua, notice though this isn't the first time God has spoken to Joshua in this chapter He spoke to him 2 other times once in verse 2 and once in verse 9 but this was the first time Joshua had spoken to Him face to face. I believe thic conversation took place because of where Joshua was "And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho," This conversation was of the utmost importance because they had gone as far as they could go and were facing the battle of there lives. Jesus showed up here with instruction and assurance of victory so lang as they were obediant. Could he have spoken to Joshua like he did inn vs.2 and vs.9? Sure but this manifestation of His presence was to overwhelmingly assure and embolden Joshua for this upcoming battle. Consider verse 2, God was telling Joshua to do something He had experience in. Come now to Verse 13 God was telling Joshua to do something He had no idea how to do. Lets put ourselves in Joshua's shoes for a moment. Your leading a entire nation of tent builders into battle, I don't know about you but I would be a bit apprehensive about how that battle was going to go But when he looks up He sees Jesus, and not the meek and mild Jesus we see in the gospels but the captain of the Lords host with sword drawn in hand. Like the Jesus we see in the Book of Revelation. Joshua needed special instruction and special assurance that fighting against the walled city of Jericho wasn't going to end in total defeat. Sure he had promises, sure he knew this land was promised to them, that's why they were there but when it come time for the rubber to meet the road He was going to need special instruction and grace to march toward Jericho with courage and assurance.
Now for a moment let's apply this to our lives and the conquest of our Canaan as Christians. God speaks to us threw His Word in the day and time that we live. I am of the understanding that the apostolic gifts that we see in the book of acts has ceased and God now reveals His self to people through His word, Prophecies has ceased, Apostolic gifts have ceased and God has now given us a more sure word of Prophecy( The Bible). With that being said, I do believe people still have personal experiences with God. Yes God has spoken to us through His Word and His Word is the final authority, especially concerning our experiences. When I was saved it was by the preaching of the Gospel but there was a experience. I felt a peace like never before, my fear of hell was gone and I had a sudden urge to share the gospel. Now that experience didn't save me but it gave me assurance that I had been saved. The point I want to make today is this, That God will still give us personal experiences, when He sees fit and when He knows we need it most. For the most part God spoke to Joshua the same way throughout this book,but this one time God really showed up and gave him encouragement and instruction because of what he was facing. Our day to day life won't be filled with these miraculous encounters with God. Day to day we will see Him in His Word and we will talk to Him in prayer and the Christians life will lived with that day to day relationship with God through His word and through prayer. Then there comes times when your back is against the wall and you have nothing to do but trust on Him and many times in my life God has proven himself to me through miraculous means. I'm talking about God giving you personal experiences, not to save you or for you to build a doctrine on or to place more importance on that experience than on His Word but to build your faith in His word and to see the Bible illustrated through your life. Have you ever prayed for something big and God answered it in a miraculous way? Has God ever placed a burden on your heart to do something you were not capable of doing and then He made a way? Those personal experiences are not to become the foundation of our faith but they are meant to strengthen our trust in the foundation of our faith, The Word of God.
I wish I had time to tell you of how God has provided for me and all the things that I've seen him do first hand but it would take to long. I believed he done those things for those men in the Bible but when he showed up in my life and done those things for me it gave me assurance that He would provide for me like He did for them. I can now compare my life to those lives i read about in the Bible and say that not only do I believe God can do these things but no I know first hand that He can and will do these things.
We'll conclude with this. Our day to day walk with God won't be like the miracle we read about today. It will be more like the other two instances we read about in vs. 2 and vs. 9. Notice Joshua was so unused to tis type of communication from God that he didn't even know who it was that was speaking to him, every other time God spoke to him in a way that he didn't wonder or questioned he simple obeyed. When God does a practical miracle in our life it's to strengthen us for whats ahead and to build our faith.
I Serve a God Who Can!!
Onward Christian Soldier!!
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