Just Before Jericho
. . .
"The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan." (Joshua 5:12)
So often, when I
have read children's versions of the battle of Jericho, I
have had this mental image in my mind of the children of
Israel crossing over the Jordan, setting up camp for the
night in the planes of Jericho, and setting out
immediately the next day to begin their daily march around
the famous city that was to become the first fruit of
God's gift of the land of Canaan to them. But if you
read through Joshua 5 carefully, you see that it didn't
quite happen that way. First of all, they stopped
and every man in the entire nation was circumcised (Joshua
5:2). Of course, this would have rendered the army
totally helpless for a few days, and they remained just
where they were until they were healed (Joshua 5:8).
After the circumcision, God proclaimed that the
"reproach of Egypt" was now "rolled away".
Surely now they will
march for Jericho, you say. But no. Next they
celebrated the Passover (vs. 10). Then they ate of
the fruit of the land and the manna stopped (vs. 11,12).
Only after all of this, does Joshua receive the orders to
march on Jericho (see Joshua 5:13-15, 6:1-5)
Why? Why do
all of these things have to happen before the people can
receive the first fruit of their rest? I believe
that one reason is to give us a clever picture of what
happens when a sinner gives their heart to the Lord!
Let's take a look!
The people of Israel
were sorely oppressed in Egypt, then they wandered in the
wilderness for 40 years before they were allowed to enter
into their land. Is this not what the unsaved world
is doing? Some in severe bondages, and all wandering
in a wilderness of sin and oppression?
Next, the people are
miraculously brought across a flooding Jordan River on dry
ground, into the promised land, into their promised rest
from sin, oppression, and bondage. Does not God also
promise that when we call upon the name of the Lord, we
will receive our rest? When we call upon the name of
the Lord, we are rescued from our lives of sin and
oppression. We are set from from our bondages.
We enter into our "rest" in Jesus, our promised land (See
Heb. 3,4).
But any Christian
will tell you that once they've given their hearts to
Jesus, they still have problems! They are still
tormented by various temptations and bondages, to which
they are often not strong enough to overcome.
Remember that the land of Canaan was also still possessed
by wicked nations that Israel was to defeat and cast out!
But before they could begin their work, God instructed
them to be circumcised. Paul tells us that we, too,
are circumcised! Col 2:11-12: "In him you
were also circumcised, in the putting off
of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision
done by the hands of men but with the circumcision
done by Christ, having been buried with him in
baptism and raised with him through your faith in the
power of God, who raised him from the dead." Friends,
before we can begin to take over our promised land, we,
too, must be circumcised! And this happens when we
are baptized and raised with Him through faith in the
Power of God! So just like Israel had to stop and be
circumcised, when we accept Jesus into our hearts, our
hearts are circumcised!
But the story
doesn't stop here. The Bible says that after Israel
was circumcised, the "reproach of Egypt" was "rolled
away". What does this mean to us? When we
accept Christ into our lives, our hearts become
circumcised, and the reproach of our old sinful lives are
"rolled away"! Gone! Seen by God as if they
never existed! "Therefore, there is now
no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit
of life set me free from the law of sin
and death." (Rom 8:1-2)! That's the good news,
my friends!
Next, the people
then celebrated the Passover. They celebrated
because of what God had done for them in leading them out
of Egypt, out of the wilderness, over the Jordan and into
the promised land! Isn't this what we should do,
too? God has completely freed us from the oppression
of sin, circumcised our hearts of our old sinful natures,
brought us into our promised rest. Wouldn't the next
appropriate thing for us to do be to celebrate? To
praise Him? To let the world know what a wonderful
Savior we have? And there isn't anything that God
values more than our time with Him, more than having a
friendship/relationship with each of His children!
Next, we are told
the people "ate some of the produce of the land:
unleavened bread and roasted grain." (Joshua 5:11)
My friends, when we have learned to trust God, to have a
friendship/relationship with Him, we, too, begin to reap
the benefits of our "rest in Jesus"! Then is when we
begin to experience just how rich and full a life centered
on Christ can be!
Only after all of
this does the battle of Jericho appear. The people
of Israel march around Jericho and the walls of the city
fall down. Just like that! And the walls of
our old sinful lives, the temptations, the sorrows, the
bondages, they, too, will come tumbling down, just like
the walls of Jericho. But only after we've allowed
God to circumcise our hearts, to remove the reproach
of our lives of sin, only after we've developed a
friendship/relationship with God and have learned to eat
of the fruit of our lives in Christ. Once these
things are in place, then we can begin to understand that
the problems we've brought with us out of our sinful pasts
are as harmless to us as the walls of Jericho were to
the people of Israel!
Have you "crossed
the Jordan" my friends? If not, why not do so today!
Click here (http://answers2prayer.org/saviours_call.html)
If you have already
accepted Jesus into your heart, then start working on that
friendship/relationship with Him so that you can start
enjoying the blessings of your rest in Jesus! The
blessings which include freedom from bondage, deliverance
from temptation and evil!
Love in Christ,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart,
Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets (
www.sermonillustrator.org/minisermons/ ), Answers2Prayer Ministries,
www.Answers2Prayer.org ,