Promise fulfilled

We know that life is created, grows older and then dies. The truth of this inevitable fact is probably the most feared thing in our universe today. Even the stars that populate our galaxies, as they swirl around a single point in space are born, grow older and then burn out. All human beings at some point in their childhood become aware that their bodies will grow older and ultimately die. I wonder if all life, in all of its forms, is self aware. I feel a bit like a small child asking his Eternal Father “Will my spirit continue to be self aware even after my physical body ceases to function?”

As we continue our march through the book of Joshua and his conquest of Canaan, we have to stop and look at what many of us remember from Sunday school as Joshua’s longest day.  Now, nobody knows exactly what happened that day as far as the sun, moon and earth’s motions go but what we do know is that God gave Joshua the victory! I have to admit that even as an ordained minister from time to time I can question my faith. Questions about God, His creation, miracles and the milestones He has helped me overcome can surface and cause me to stumble. Don’t worry if you question your faith from time to time even Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples doubted that He returned from death.

It’s in these times of doubt, when I have learned to wait on God for reassurance, as He takes me by the hand and walks with me through my doubt. Never is He critical of my lack of faith but gently nudges me on, step by step, through my darkest journeys. Our memories are often so short as we fail to remember the times in our lives when God choreographs some situation to answer our life requests. Moment by moment as God reminds me who He is, I begin to remember His greatness and how He created everything I see around me. Even the smallest revealed details of design point to the fingerprints of our Creator. And while I might stumble a bit, when I think about the earth slowing down its rotation or meteorites falling on Israel’s enemies with pinpoint accuracy, I still come back to face the inevitable fact that “With God all things are possible”

Back in the book of Genesis 15:1-21  we revisit the covenant or contract God announced to Abraham. In verse 7 we read “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it”. Abraham goes on to ask the Lord “How will I know that I will inherit it?” to which God makes this elaborate covenant with Him which includes the shedding of blood through animal sacrifice. Remember back to the garden of Eden and the tunics of skin God provided for Adam and Eve. It’s the idea that our sin will cost us something.

Then in Genesis 17:5-8 God lays out the prophecy that Joshua fulfills as he completely and utterly conquers Canaan “I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I will give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

It might seem unfair to the inhabitants of Canaan that God would promise this land to the Israelites and then command Joshua to utterly destroy every man woman and child until you study their religious practices that included child sacrifice and their worship of the sun, moon and stars. God was introducing Himself to the world and laying the groundwork for the great work of salvation through His Son.

It’s not for us to know and understand the infinite workings of all mighty God, after all He is the Potter and we are the clay. However, it is possible to know that He delivers on His promises. In the book of John 14:1-6 Jesus lovingly reassures his disciples as well as all of us “Let not your hearts be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

 

Somewhere in time

Can you remember a single moment in your life that you wished would never end? You might have been with your best friend, a spouse or maybe you were alone somewhere but where ever it was you did not want time to stop. I have had several moments in my life where the sun seemed to stand still and the universal clock stopped ticking. In this euphoria, while basking in the warmth of the sun, I have experienced real peace. It was as if time no longer existed and that the sun in all of its glory just stopped and stood still in the center of the sky offering me a second of eternity.

Can you describe a place you have never been to? An island perhaps complete with coarse coral sand crunching under your feet or a warm tropical breeze as it moves palm fronds around. Theologians have had trouble describing this concept about the afterlife or heaven to others in a meaningful way.  The apostle John tried to describe a vision of heaven to us as he described heavenly things in the book of Revelation 5:6-10. For me I have reasoned in my own mind that there is another place after this physical life passes away. I believe certain euphoric feelings we have in this life, where we wish a single moment will never end, is what we will experience when we pass on into the presence of God.

My wife and I love to watch movies about time travel like “Somewhere in time” or “The time traveler’s wife” and in each one there are those moments where time seems to be more accessible and fluid than how we think of it now, as being more ridged and fixed. Now, I can’t remember anything before I was born except a very early memory of being on a large island surrounded by water, wet sand beneath my feet and a cool breeze blowing through my hair. Do you dream about a similar place or nexus, a place outside this dimension where we will live in the presence of an almighty, all loving God? The bible teaches us that when we finally arrive there we won’t need the sun to stand still that the glory of God provides all the light we will need!

So as Joshua needs more daylight to complete the great slaughter of their enemies he prays for the sun to be halted in its path and the moon to stop where it stood (Joshua 10:12-15). Now for us reading these passages today about 1200 to 1350 years before Christ was born, it seems surrealistic to think that God would not only approve the slaughter of every man, woman and child but He orchestrated it. Then ponder the thought about the earth having to stop revolving for the sun and moon to stand still and you quickly get into the realm of faith. Can any of us call fire down from heaven, demolish fortresses with horns blowing or stop the earth from turning?

All of us if we had that kind of power would wield it against our brothers and sisters without giving it a second thought to the consequences. But on the other hand If we look at Jesus, who had the power to do all these things and more, how He lived and loved and how many people hated Him to the point of wanting to kill Him.  They despised and plotted against Him, the God that created them, who created everything we see around us, allowed Himself to be led like a lamb to the slaughter.  Greater love has no man that would lay down his life for his friends.  Jesus went willingly to His crucifixion, suffering a grueling, barbaric and slow death on a Roman torture device.

“And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: "’You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.’"

 

 

 

 

Miracles

Do you believe in miracles? As you read your bible you will find many stories that defy the physical laws of the universe that we have come to trust. The sun comes up every day, we get older each year that slips by and the Internal Revenue Service will get their fair share of our paychecks. But seriously, many people have trouble believing in God or trusting in the bible because of the miracles described within its pages. But as for me, I see miracles in everyday life; the beautiful shape of an orchid, the majesty of a sun rise or the awesome birth of a child. I don’t need God to part the Red Sea or cause the walls of Jericho to come tumbling down to believe in a supernatural Creator when the proof is all around me. 

In chapter six of Joshua, God explains to Joshua how He is going to deliver the fortified city of Jericho into the Israelite’s hands. But as the game plan is chalked out on the black board, Joshua begins to wonder when his part in the attack comes into play?  

“You want me to what?” Joshua exclaims. “March around the city for six days? And just how exactly will that work?” Joshua continues putting his sandals back on and sits down on the ground before the Lord.   

You know, there were many times in my own life where I have felt the Lord nudging me to go to the left and I go to the right. He might put a thought into my heart to pray for my enemy when all I really want to do is thump them over the head with a large stick. God’s ways are not our ways and He seems to have an arsenal of unlimited resources including patience. As a husband, when my wife presents me with a problem, I already have a solution in my head and clumsily blurt out the answer when all my wife really wanted to do was sit down and  discuss the problem together.  God is like my wife in that way, where sometimes all He really wants us to do is to talk to Him and fellowship with Him. Oh yea, remember Dean, it’s all about the relationship, stupid! 

So as Joshua sits there listening to the Lord, visions of storming the city walls with wooden ladders and archers at the ready are running through his head. But God had a very different plan; For what is impossible for men is not impossible for a omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God.  So as the text explains on the seventh day after the seventh trip around the city wall perimeter the trumpets were sounded and Joshua commanded the people to shout “For the Lord has given you the city!”. 

Remember back several weeks ago when  we discussed how Rahab  demonstrated great faith in the One True and Living God of Israel by hiding the Israelite spies who had arrived in Jericho to gather intelligence for the pending attack. Now, the only people spared in the attack were Rahab and her family who were living inside her house. She was instructed to tie a scarlet cord in her window, and then when the Israelite army attacked she would be protected. 

 Interesting, God thought it was important to mention the fact that Rahab’s occupation was that of a prostitute. You see, it does not matter what we have done in this life as God can forgive anyone, anything and the fact is that our salvation is not dependent upon what we do but what God has already done through the sacrifice of His own Son. Rahab put her trust and faith into God by tying a scarlet cord in her window. And all who remained in her house would be saved from the destruction that ensued outside in the city  walls of Jericho.  

So what will it take for you to believe in miracles? Do you need to meet an angel face to face or maybe mysteriously hit the lottery? While it’s true God can do all these things and much, much more, He only sends help when we ask according to His will. God is not a genie in a bottle who through magically conjures up possessions for us to lust over. God loves us too much to cripple us like that but rather will assist us through situations only as we surrender to His will.  

If we take the time to think and look closely at the world around us we will see a miraculous creation that was created perfectly for us to thrive in. God’s crowning achievement was not in the miracles of parting the Red Sea or bringing down the walls of Jericho but rather in the offering of His One and Only son Jesus. 

God's Commander

The Israelites have now entered the Promised Land as promised to Abraham by God Himself. They have crossed over the Jordan River two million strong and are positioned to take Jericho. We can only imagine that Joshua had more than a few moments of weakness and doubt as he observed the walled city of Jericho from their camp. In the first chapter of the book of Joshua God reminds him “Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” God’s plan was always to reveal Himself to the entire world through the Israelites; He would always go before them and would fight their battles much in the same way He goes before us and fights our battles.

As Joshua looks out upon this huge sprawling Israelite camp, he must have felt more than just a bit of apprehension for the pending attack on Jericho. Jericho was a walled city that was well fortified and manned to withstand any army the area could produce. In the solitude and proximity of his own campsite the pressure Joshua must have naturally felt would have been overwhelming.  “And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood opposite him with sword drawn in His hand.” Joshua 5:13. Joshua asks the man if He is on our side or the adversary’s side. “So He said, ‘No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.’” What happens next is one of those moments that God inspired to help us understand the majesty and personality of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.

“And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped, and said to Him, ‘What does my Lord say to His servant?’” What a scene this must have been where the head military leader of Israel, the general of the entire Israelite army prostrates himself on the ground in worship. Usually when we encounter an angelic visitation in the bible we always see the angel firmly informing the man or woman not to worship them. That they are only the messenger and to worship the One who sent them, the One True and Living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

With retreat back across the Jordan River now impossible and Joshua preoccupied with the coming battle, we watch as his heart quickens and asks this heavenly visitor “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” His reply must have been both comforting and chilling at the same time as he begins to discover the identity and majesty of his guest. “The commander of the Lord’s army replied ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.” Joshua 5:15.

Moses also had a similar confrontation with God back in Median as he was tending his father-in-laws sheep. At that time God chose to speak to His servant from a burning bush. As a quick aside, have you ever wondered why God commands these two men to remove their sandals and stand barefooted on the earth before Him? Well, we don’t know for sure, but could it be that God does not want anything to separate us from a relationship with Him. Even the thin layer of a leather sandal’s sole is too much isolation between us and a loving God.  Indeed God desires us to come to Him simply and commune or sup with Him. To always desire a solid and uninterrupted connection to the infinite love He has for His creation.

A friend of mine wrote these words in a worship song most of us have sung at church “Come just as you are…feel the Spirit’s call.”  This well might be the most profound sentence ever penned by  mortal man. Where Jesus Himself stands at the door of the church and knocks to be let in. He stands just outside of every human heart beckoning every soul to let him in. What a gracious God we worship! What a Savior to behold who was willing to be falsely accused, mocked, beaten and crucified by the very ones He created in the first place. Son of God…Son of man, a gentleman who stands so capable of redeeming every human heart but patiently waits for permission to enter into a loving relationship with you.

So what decision will you make? “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15