Jesus, Creator, Savior, Lord, King #3: Jesus, Captain of The Lord’s Host Joshua 5:13-6:15

 

Jesus, Creator, Savior, Lord, King #3: Jesus, Captain of The Lord’s Host

Text: Joshua 5:13-6:15

Introduction:

The encampment of Israel at Gilgal

This is one of the most significant times in the life of the nation Israel. During the roughly ten days that they are encamped at Gilgal on the side of Jordan which God hah promised them, Israel does several things that’s marks them as God people sanctified for victory in the promised land.

1st they renewed the Covenant in the Promised Land Joshua 5:7-9 And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way. 8 And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole. 9 And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal (rolled away) unto this day.

2nd they kept the Passover in the Promised Land 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.

3rd they ate the Produce of the Promised Land. Joshua 5:11-12 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.

All these events prepared the nation of Israel for the task of conquering the land of Canaan. Now they stand at the entrance to a large valley that leads into the land but before they can enter the land they must conquer Jericho, the fortress city which controls all southern highway into the land of promise. Jericho sets at the entrance to this valley and the city of Ai sits at the top of this valley. Both must be conquered.

Israel has renewed the mark of the covenant, they are Jehovah’s chosen people, they have celebrated the Passover, they are Jehovah’s delivered people and they have eaten the fruit of Canaan, they are Jehovah’s trusting people, but they are not ready. One thing they still need and that is the command of Jehovah. That command will come through Joshua and we move from the large focus of the nation Israel to the very narrow focus upon Joshua the leader of Israel.

Jesus’s Place, Commander of the Lord’s Army - 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?  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?  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.

Joshua Submits

Recognition of The Lord’s Place. Joshua, who had been Moses’ war leader, no faces an overwhelming task was in the conquest of an entire land and can’t begin until the formidable city of Jericho has been razed to the ground.

Here in vs 13, Joshua has come out of the camp to look over the city and try and devise a plan to overcome its defenses, when suddenly a man appears with a sword drawn in his hand. This was no vision, nor dream. The One now before Joshua stands in the full form and appearance of a man, with a sword unsheathed confronting Joshua.

Joshua’s reaction show this for he challenges the man, “Are you for us or for our adversaries? Are you an ally or an enemy? The response from the warrior is not the answer Joshua was looking for. “Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.”  Joshua’s challenge is returned with a greater challenge, No Joshua, its not a question of whose side I am on, but of who I am. I stand as the captain of the LORD’s host, the army of heaven.

This word translated captain in the Hebrew is śar;  it denotes a head person (of any rank or class): here it is captain, chief, general, governor, keeper, lord, master, prince, ruler, steward.
In the AV - prince 208, captain 130, chief 33, ruler 33, governor 6, keeper 3, principal 2, general 1, lords 1, misc 4;

The man before Joshua is declaring Himself as the Commander of Jehovah’s Army. And Joshua understands immediately what is happening and who this is.

Reverence of the Lord’s Person Joshua “fell on his face to the earth and did worship” This was no mere man, this was no random angel, we know this because the only One in all the universe worthy of worship by the people of God is God. The man who appeared to Joshua as a warrior ready for battle that day was God the Son. Ironically, or perhaps providentially, His name given by an angel in the New Testament would be the same as the man who is bowing before him now. Joshua the commander of the army of Israel’s is bowing before Jesus, whose name in Hebrew is Joshua, or Yeshua, the commander of the army of Jehovah. Joshua the son of Nun worships at the feet of Jesus, the Son of God.

Response to the Lord’s Command The first thing The Captain of the LORD’s host told Joshua to do was to “take off your shoes for the place where you stand is holy.” The same thing that was told to Moses at the burning bush when he stood in the presence of God the Son. The fact that Jesus stood on that ground had sanctified it, had purified it, had made it holy and Joshua’s should not be insulated nor unaffected by that holiness. Therefore he must take off his shoes for they were separating him from the Lord’s sanctification of that place.

This was also true of Moses of course but also later of the priests who served in the Tabernacle and the Temple. “Take off your shoes and stand directly on God’s Holy Ground.” .

Our Submission

In our many battles of life, we will face our own unconquerable Cities of Jericho. It is important that we see in Joshua’s meeting Jesus the steps that must precede our victory through Our Captain Christ.

Let’s call these,  The 3 R's of Battle Preparation

First there is Recognition - Do we recognize the Lord when He comes into our life? Do we know the One who has the power, the wisdom and the plan to give us victory?

All of us sooner or later will face the Captain of the Lord’s Host. And that sword He held toward Joshua as Captain, is the same sword He will wield when He returns to this earth as King, and it is also the same sword of the He points towards us and states, I am the Captain, Lord and King. Choose which side you will stand on!

Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Second there must be Reverence – Just as Joshua when we realize that it is God we are dealing with, then we better submit ourselves to Him.

We need to surrender, right there and then, we should cry out, “Lord what would your servant do?”

We experience the Lord standing before our lives,  here in the Bible, there by the bedside of a dying loved one, there in an utter catastrophe that upends our life. When that happens we will hear Him challenge us in His holiness and righteous, and reaching out to us in His love and power.

When it happens then if we are wise then will, like Joshua of old, will bow before our Captain, Commander and King Jesus. Worship Him who is Holy and righteous, pure and perfect, savior and Lord.

Then there will be our Response - And when we have bowed before Him and submitted our life with all its sin and failure to him. When we have surrendered our way and will then we experience the Lord In some way unique to us and our situation, we will hear “Loose thy shoe from off thy foot. Strip away the trappings of this world and know holiness.”

Psalms 46:10-11 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Illustration: Don’t be like the Hebrews at Mt. Sinai but be like Moses

Don’t be like the Hebrews at the foot of Mt. Sinai who only want to be close enough to the mountain to hear the power and see the effects of God but be like Moses who ascended the heights, heard the very voice of God and then asked to see glory of God. He wanted to experience that holiness that can only come when we come into the presence of God and submit ourselves to Him.

Our peek into the meeting of Joshau with the Lord ends here, but we know that it went on because the Lord told Joshua how He must fight that battle of Jericho according to His plan and purpose that victory would be Israel’s.

Jesus’s Plan, Commander of the Battle -  Joshua 6:10-14

 And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout. So the ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.  And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.  And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.  And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.

Joshua Follows the Lord’s Plan

In chapter 6:1-5 The Lord gave Joshua His plans for  victory over Jericho. then in VSS.. 10-14, that we read, he relates these plans to the Army of Israel. They had to march exactly six days around the city one time and to remain completely silent, even while the enemy upon the wall ridiculed and hurled insults at the utter foolishness of the Hebrew army.

But then on the seventh day it would be very different, the Lord told Joshua in us. 4-5, "but on the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout." When that day came Joshua told the Army, when the time comes, when you hear those trumpets blow, “Then you shall shout!” they would shout like they had never shouted before because on the seventh day, those unbreakable, unassailable, undefeatable walls of Jericho would collapse at their feet and they would walk into the city on a road paved with the same stones from that unbreakable wall.

All that was necessary was for them to wait on the Lord, to follow exactly his plan. To ignore or change the plan would be to disobey and that disobedience would mean failure instead of victory.

We Must Obey The Man With The Plan

Israel had to wait in obedience to the Captain’s plan.  And one of the most difficult aspects of obedience oftentimes is learning to wait, to have faith in God’s plan and in God’s timing.

Let me share this about waiting for God’s plan to bring victory. Keep in mind that waiting on the Lord never means inactivity. Waiting for Lord, means waiting for His victory, whether it is in the next hour, next day or next age, God will bring victory. But while we wait we are meant to obey and serve. Israel didn’t wait in the camp for the walls to fall, they got out there and marched, they obeyed the plan of their Captain.

So, with us, God intends us to be actively involved in serving our Lord, reading His word that we might know more of his plan, praying that we might draw closer to him and working according to the commission He has left us as His church. Yes we wait, but the wait is for the promised victory,  it is never about inaction but about doing His will until we see victory.

Isn’t this what one of our most quoted OT scriptures tells us in  Isaiah 40:31? They that wait upon the lord will renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not grow weary they shall walk and not faint.

That is the victory that follows waiting in strength, flying in faith, running in righteousness and walking in unweariness.

So we wait, sometime we wait in sickness, sometimes we wait in emptiness, sometimes we wait wondering how long until we will see victory but if we faithfully wait, we will see the walls come tumbling down and we will walk on a highway paved by the overthrow of this world’s sin, defeat, fatigue and fear.

Wait because the walls will come down.

Knowing the Victory is Ours

There is a story of a University of Glasgow professor named MacDonald who, along with a Scottish chaplain, had to bail out of an airplane behind German lines. They were caught and put in a prison camp. MacDonald was put in the American barracks and the chaplain was housed with the British.

Every day the two men would meet at the fence for just a moment and exchange a greeting in Gaelic a language the Germans could not understand. Nor did the guards know that the Americans had put together a little homemade radio and were able to get news from the outside. Every day, MacDonald would take a headline or two to the fence and share it with the chaplain in the ancient Gaelic tongue.

One day, news came over the little radio that Germany had surrendered. The War was over, the Allies had won the victory. MacDonald took the news to his friend, then stood and watched him disappear into the British barracks. A moment later, a roar of celebration came from the barracks.

Suddenly, life in that camp was transformed. Men were walking around singing and shouting, waving at the guards, laughing at the dogs. Finally, the German guards heard the news three nights later, and they fled into the dark, leaving the gates unlocked. The next morning, Brits and Americans walked out as free men. But they had already been free men, three day early for they knew victory was theirs, the enemy was defeated. They only had to wait to see it happen in their lives.

If Christ is our Captain, if we have submitted and surrendered to His will, then we have only to wait until we see the victory in our own battles of our life.  The battles with money, won, the battle with sin, won, the battle protecting our family, won!   We need to act like these POWs, we may be in the enemy’s camp but we know, victory is coming.

 Jesus’ Power, Commander of the Victory - Joshua 6:15-16

 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.  And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city.

Joshua Glorifies

On that final day, that final parade, that final blast of the trumpet, Joshua shouts to the people, “Now, Shout! For the Jehovah has given you Jericho.”

Joshua knew from Rahab but Jehovah had prepared the enemies hearts. It was Jehovah who had protected the spies. It was Jehovah who planned the attack. It was Jehovah who paved the way into Jericho. He turned the impassible walls into easy avenues and the people of God walked into Jericho and there they claimed God’s victory.

Who Will We Glorify?

Who will you praise and glorify for the victories and blessing God has planned for you?

Too many times, we miss those blessing, those victories because we don’t follow the Lord’s plans. We march around our Jerichos but quit before the 7th day, or shout when we are to be silent or forget to blow the trumpets, and way too many times we just refuse to march at all.

The victory that is promised to us by God is lost. Satan comes and snatches it away from us because we don't wait, we don’t act, we don’t live and we don’t fight as our Lord has commanded.

Sometimes we miss the victory because we are not willing to give God the glory.

We only want God to open the Gates of Jericho so you can finish the battle. Only want God to give you a hand over the wall but then let you take it from there. Our pride prevents us from finding His victory.  

We must be brutally honest. Jesus Christ will not be a member of our supporting staff. He is the Captain who leads the charge and plants the flag. We follow him to victory or we lose the battle.

Will Jesus Be Victorious In Our Lives?

There are many “Jerichos” with high and impenetrable walls that need to fall in our lives. There are old sinful habits and new sins that tempt us each day. There are broken relationship and bitter spirits that need to be healed. Our negative, complaining attitudes towards others and sometimes toward everything around us needs to be conquered. Always ur hope for tomorrow and our faith for eternity needs to be strengthened and reinforced. We need victory in our lives.

But if we are not able to count victories in the battles of our life, we need to ask why. Has God been defeated, is Jesus still in the grave, is this world never to see Him returning as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

As Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

No the lack of victory in our life is not because of the almighty, it is because of us. We need to take stock of our relationship and especially of our submission to Him. Quit trying to fight without fully knowing and surrendering to the Captain of the Lord’s Host.

It is time to trust Him, trust His power, trust his plan and then see His victory in you.

Psalms 20:7-8 Some trust in horses and some in chariots but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.

Hold the fort for I am coming.

A battle takes place at Atoma Pass a fort being held by Gen. Corse of the Union army was under attack by the Confederate Gen. Hood. Hood called for the fort to surrender and Corse refused. The battle continued and the union defenders watched their comrades die. Yet the defenders held on. Then someone called out from the wall that a signal could be seen on the hill some distance from the fort. He read the message sent by flags, "Hold the fort for I am coming." General Sherman was marching to relieve the faithful defenders.

Ho, my comrades, see the signal waving in the sky! Reinforcements now appearing, Victory is nigh.

See the mighty host advancing, Satan leading on, Mighty men around us falling, Courage almost gone.

See the glorious banner waving. Hear the trumpet blow. In our Leader's name we triumph Over every foe.

Fierce and long the battle rages, but our help is near. Onward comes our great Commander Cheer, my comrades, cheer.

Hold the fort for I am coming, Jesus signals still, Wave the answer back to heaven, By They grace we will.

Conclusion:

Who is your Captain today?  Have you stood like Joshua facing the challenges of life and heard the voice of Jesus?  Have you spoken to Him?  Have you bowed before Him?

Victory could begin right now with your response to His challenge. Will you stand behind the sword of your Savior following Him to victory or will you draw your own in defiance? Will you stand in judgement, or will you surrender at His feet and experience the victory only Jesus can bring?