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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memorial stones

The sight of the nation of Israel camped on the east side of the Jordan River, numbering two million strong, must have been an awesome sight to behold. It would have naturally sown fear into the hearts of the inhabitants of Canaan as they watched this horde of men, women, children and their livestock cross over the Jordan River on dry ground. God was preparing to exalt Joshua in the sight of all Israel as he instructs him to command a man from each of the twelve tribes to take up a large stone from the middle of the Jordan River and shoulder it across to the other side.

The Lord wanted this to be a sign in the years to come, a road marker, a reminder and a memorial stone.  “That this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ Then you shall answer that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”  Joshua 4:6,7.

Let’s take a minute to use this passage as our own memorial stone or marker reminding us how God, years before, had parted the great waters of the Red Sea allowing the Israelites to escape capture and drowning Pharaoh’s army in its wake.  And if you go back just days before that event, God instituted the first Passover celebration; where all Israelites were to sacrifice a lamb and smear the blood on their door posts and lintel. This feast too was to be another reminder of God’s mighty provisions, and also as a prophetic  sign for what He would ultimately do when His own Son would become The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Exodus 12:1-14. The bible is so wonderfully written and divinely put together as we shall see once again in this great section of scripture.

God was instructing the Israelites to pick up twelve stones out of the river in order to assemble a memorial on the other side. Then, in years to come as they passed by this memorial, their children would ask them what were these stones piled for? God knew how quickly we forget Him and the wonderful miracles He performs in our lives. These stones would stand as a reminder and a monumental opportunity to teach about the goodness of God. What a priceless opportunity to be able to teach another generation about the sovereignty of God and how He is always there for us even as we wade through the very cold, deep rivers that can flood our lives from time to time.

Try to imagine a river sixty feet across and ten to fifteen feet deep that has been miraculously dammed up some seventeen miles away at the city of Adam. The crossing of such a large gathering of people just by itself would be quite a sight, but add onto it the miracle of the water being held back until the last Israelite crossed over. One interesting fact is that God inspired Joshua to include the date of this monumental river crossing in the text Joshua 4:19, “On the tenth day of the first month”.  Remember back to the first Passover when God instructed them to take a lamb into their homes on the tenth day of the first month. They were celebrating the Passover as God held back the waters of the Jordan in much the same way He held back the mighty waters of the Red Sea and guided the Israelites safely through the sea on dry land.

Many Rabbis in Israel today say that “coincidence” is not a kosher word and for me there are just too many overlapping similarities in both Old and New Testaments to be  coincidence. The Old Testament is a perfectly prophetic descriptive picture of the coming Messiah. God both designed these events and foretold them to us to strengthen our faith. Then, as He sees opportunity, He encourages the men to build a pile of memorial stones to teach future generations about His marvelous plan for our salvation. This plan is so perfect that it stands the test of time, beckoning us to remember our own monuments in life when God saves us and breaks us away from our sin that holds us in perpetual bondage. So, I am encouraging you to set up twelve memorial stones in your own life and when your children ask you what they are for, you can answer that almighty God loves you so much and has set in motion a marvelous plan of redemption that He established before the foundations of the world were laid.