Jericho
Taken
“By
faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven
days.”
– Hebrews 11:30
John Brown wrote, “Faith, persevering faith, enabled Joshua and the Israelites to do what otherwise they could not have done, and by doing so, to obtain what otherwise they could not have obtained.”
Israel’s Captain was her God (Joshua 5:13-15). That man
Joshua saw with “his sword drawn in his hand…the Captain of the host of the Lord,” was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of
Israel, the Captain of our salvation (Heb. 2:10). Christ is the great “I Am.” Jehovah himself, who had commissioned Moses, stood before
Joshua, assuring him of success in the work he was sent to perform. This is God
our Savior, the covenant keeping God who promised to Abraham the land of
Canaan.
God’s ways are not our ways. His ways are never our
ways. God never does things the way we would do them; and we would never do
things the way God would have them done if he did not compel us to walk in his
way and follow him (Isa. 58:5).
Moses was preserved in the ark of bulrushes. No mere
man would ever have thought of such a method of saving a helpless boy from the
king’s slaughter. David was chosen above his brothers and all the men of Israel
as Israel’s king, though his own father considered him an impossible choice.
The giant, Goliath, was slain by a shepherd boy’s sling. Elijah was fed by a
raven. The Lord Jesus, the King of Israel, was born in a stable and laid in a
manger. He put Joseph in prison and cast Daniel in the den of lions to raise
them to their respective positions of usefulness for his people. God’s ways
always stain the pride of man. In all things, our God teaches us to trust him
and not ourselves, to lean upon his omnipotent arm and never upon the arm of
the flesh. Our God is totally independent of all natural means, and superior to
all “laws of nature.”
The
children of Israel had a distinct and specific commission from the Lord. It was
clear and unmistakable. The Lord God told them to take Jericho (Josh. 6:1-
2
5).
These herdsmen were required and responsible to conquer a city with nothing but
the word of God for their weapon. But they had the power of God and the promise
of God to accompany his word.
We, too, are engaged in a warfare. The believer’s life
is a constant warfare, a warfare waged in hostile enemy territory (Rom.
7:14-23; Gal. 5:17-26). Formidable enemies, great difficulties, and powerful
oppositions are encountered in the warfare of faith. We are constantly at war
in this world with the world, the flesh, and the devil. The warfare is real.
The struggle is difficult. But Christ our God, the Captain of our salvation
goes “conquering and to conquer,” assuring us of triumph at last.
We cannot take possession of our promised inheritance except we conquer the enemy. But conquer we have, conquer we do, and conquer we shall. Christ conquered the enemy for us (John 12:32; Rom. 8:39; Col. 2:13-15). And the Lord God gives us grace, day by day, to prevail over our enemies (2 Cor. 12:9). “We are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Rom. 8:37).
God’s elect shall prevail at last over all our foes (Rom. 16:20; Gal. 2:20-21; Phil. 4:13; 2 Tim. 1:12; Rev. 3:5; 20:6). We each have our swelling rivers to cross, impregnable walls to pass through, and mighty enemies to conquer in this warfare. But whatever our difficulties are, our God has put them before us. They are placed in our path on purpose by the hand of our unerring, all-wise, ever good and faithful God. And our God will cause us to trample them beneath our feet (Gal. 2:20-21; Phil. 4:13; 2 Tim. 1:12). Satan’s strongholds cannot stand before a people who believe God. The very gates of hell shall fall before us (Matt. 16:18). So let us ever follow our Savior, obeying his voice, doing his will, fearing no evil.
A Question
With
such promises of grace and glory, with such assurances of victory, one question
must be faced and answered honestly. – Why does it appear in this day that the
church of God is so impotent? Why is it that we do not see God’s mighty arm
stretched out and his glory revealed in our day? Is his arm shortened that it
cannot save? – No! The problem is not with our God, but with us. The problem is
altogether with us. We do not see Jericho’s walls fall before us and the
enemies of our God conquered for one of two (if not both) reasons. The first is
our shameful, sinful failure to believe God (John 11:40; Matt. 13:58; Isa.
48:17-19).
The other is disobedience. David could not bring the ark of God up to Jerusalem because he sought not the Lord after the due order (1 Chron. 15:13). God will be served in the way he prescribes. His work will be done in his way. “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit!” God’s work will be performed in a way that honors him.
I cannot help wandering what the Lord God might do in our day, if we simply believed him and obeyed him. Let us go forth doing God’s work in his way, and dependent upon his power.