God Who Raises Up Joshua

2“Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go across this Jordan, you, and all these people, to the land which I am giving to them, even to the children of Israel. 3I have given you every place that the sole of your foot will tread on, as I told Moses. 4From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border. 5No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you. 6“Be strong and courageous; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded you. Don’t turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. 9Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed, for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go.”

Jesus told his disciples that when he went to God the Holy Spirit would come, and that when he had gone to the Kingdom of God and prepared a place, he would come back into the world to take them. The promise that the Holy Spirit would come has been fulfilled, just as he said. But the promise of his return is a special blessing that we can receive only if we live by faith until that word comes to pass.

God promised Abraham that if he left his country, his relatives, and his father’s house and went to the land God would show him, God would make him a great nation, make his name great, and make him a source of blessing. The promise to make Abraham a source of blessing spoke of God’s plan to establish a nation called Israel through Abraham’s faith and obedience. But if the children who receive the promise do not live by the word, it will take longer for God’s plan to be accomplished, and those children will not receive the blessings he has prepared.

Suppose a mother tells her child, who is heading out the door, to come home early because she will cook a good supper. In that promise a good supper is already on the table. But if the child hears her and still does not come home, doubting that she will really feed them, or thinking it more fun to eat with others, the child cannot sit down to the meal she has so carefully laid. The promise before us now is a heavenly blessing that can be received only by believing, and so it cannot be seen with the eyes. Scripture records many such blessings received by faith, and we see that people of faith actually received and enjoyed them. Because the salvation we receive is likewise received by faith, if we do not doubt but trust God wholeheartedly, we will be able to receive it as a gift.

Have you ever seen heaven with your own eyes? How do you believe that the Holy Spirit is with you? How do you believe that the Lord who will return is now at the right hand of the throne as Judge, as the Christ, as High Priest, as King of kings? How do you believe that only those whose names are written in the book of life can enter heaven? How do you believe that what you say and do now is being written in the books opened before the Lord and will one day be the grounds of judgment? All of these are blessings you can enjoy only if you truly believe. Like those who held fast to their faith to the end, you too can receive them only by living out your faith.

Romans 10:17

17So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

As the verse says, faith comes only by hearing the word of Christ. So to know Christ, we must hear the word, read it, and pray. Scripture records truthfully how every promise of God came to pass, and it records without concealment even the sins people have committed. The Old Testament records that Jesus would come the first time, and the New Testament records the Jesus who came as promised. Of the prophecies in Scripture, only the return of Jesus as the world’s Judge has not yet been fulfilled, and that too will come to pass in God’s time. Whether we believe this Bible or not is in the end our own choice, and what awaits us after death will differ according to that choice.

Joshua 1:3

3I have given you every place that the sole of your foot will tread on, as I told Moses.

God told Joshua that now, in Moses’ place, if he led this people across the Jordan, they would receive and enjoy all the blessings God had promised. Then, in verse 3, ‘as I told Moses’; in verse 5, ‘As I was with Moses’; in verse 7, ‘the law, which Moses my servant commanded you’… and so on: God kept calling Moses by name, making known to Joshua how much he loved Moses. Reading this passage, I wondered whether Joshua truly understood the depth of God’s love. The reason I wondered is that while God loved Moses deeply, he was also saying, in a roundabout way, that he now loved Joshua as much as he had loved Moses.

Joshua did not lead Israel from the beginning but took up the calling Moses left. Though Moses had died and was gone, God’s plan was going on unbroken. God had Moses lead the people as far as the entrance to Canaan, and he made Joshua the one to carry out the calling of entering it. So that Joshua would not forget this, God spoke of ‘Moses my servant’ every time he spoke, and helped Joshua stay watchful.

Understanding God’s will, Joshua told the people to remember the word that Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded them. What he meant was that God had appointed him Israel’s leader just as he had appointed Moses, and that since he was carrying on the work of God that Moses had done, he had become leader as Moses’ successor. By linking Moses and himself just as God had done, he opened a way for the people to trust and depend on him as they had trusted and depended on Moses.

Hearing Joshua, the people declared that just as they had listened to Moses in all things, so they would listen to him. By setting Moses before Joshua, God caused Joshua to take up Moses’ authority as a matter of course. And by saying that he would fulfill through Joshua the promise he had made to Moses, God promised to be Joshua’s God.

Canaan was held at that time by foreign peoples with chariots of iron. Even so, only if weak Israel found the courage to cross the Jordan would they find out whether the promise that the land had already been given was true. Joshua and Israel now faced a very hard situation: trusting only in God’s word, they had to cross the Jordan and enter Canaan. And to enter Canaan they first had to cross the swift-flowing Jordan, which was no easy matter for Joshua either.

In the same way, we have already received the Kingdom of God as a promise. But to know that the promise is true, we must cross over well, without being swept away by the world’s current, which runs as fast as the Jordan. So if we, who have no strength of our own, are to cross this rough world safely, we need to hold fast to God’s word.

The first generation, who came out with Moses, all died in the wilderness because of their unbelief. Now Joshua had to lead into Canaan the frail people born in the wilderness, who had never seen God’s signs and wonders, and that may well have been even harder. That is why God told Joshua that unless he was all the more strong and courageous, he could not fulfill his calling. The generation born in the wilderness had not lived through the ten plagues or seen God’s miracles, so taking them into battle against the Anakim was asking too much from the very start.

Joshua 1:5-6

5No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you. 6“Be strong and courageous; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

Until now Joshua had acted on Moses’ orders and won every battle. But now he bore the responsibility of leading the people alone, and the weighty duty of accomplishing God’s will as well. Standing between God and the people, Joshua must now go forward trusting in the promise alone. God had promised that no man would be able to stand before him all the days of his life, and had told him not to worry, for he would be with him as he had been with Moses and would not forsake him. Only by believing that word could Joshua win the battles and keep Israel safe. It is easy to understand how afraid Joshua must have been, now that Moses was gone and this grave calling had fallen to him.

But because Joshua had seen Moses live by faith and had met the God who answered Moses’ prayers, he could take courage. Joshua therefore pressed on by faith along a single road. Even if he made plans to win a battle, he knew that it is God who answers those plans, and knowing this, he set aside all reasoning of his own.

Faith without doubt is precious in just this way. However hard we try, if doubt lies at the bottom, faith will never grow, and we cannot receive God’s answer. Take children who drink unpurified water: they fall ill often. The way to cure them is to keep them from drinking dirty water, because as long as they keep drinking it, no medicine, however good, can heal them. Someone who doubts God’s work and promises is like a person drinking dirty water. Even when God wants to answer, the dirty water they keep drinking keeps them from experiencing his work.

Look at Joshua, who succeeded Moses: he never once disobeyed God’s word or the words of Moses. Like Timothy, who followed the apostle Paul’s faith just as it was, Joshua believed the word of God that Moses passed on to him and lived it out.

Exodus 17:8-9

8Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God’s rod in my hand.”

When the people of Israel had crossed the Red Sea and came to Rephidim, Amalek attacked Israel as it tried to pass through Amalek’s territory. Under that attack, Moses put Joshua at the head of the army and won a great victory.

This is the first time Joshua appears in Scripture. That Moses set Joshua at the head of the army against a nation as strong as Amalek shows that Moses already trusted him. His obedience, without a word of complaint, when Moses ordered him to fight Amalek suggests that Joshua had always kept himself ready. On the battlefield he was valiant, and before God he was pure. The fact that Moses prayed all day with the help of Aaron and Hur tells us the battle with Amalek must have been fierce. Joshua fought at the risk of his life on Moses’ orders, Moses prayed all day long, and together they won a great victory.

For God’s word to be fulfilled, then, there must be a Moses who prays, and there must also be a Joshua who fights in person on the battlefield at the risk of his life. God said he had already given Canaan. But I hope you will remember that the people of Israel could see that promise only through battles in which they staked their lives. The way to victory is for the saints, made one body around Christ our head, to work together. God gives the promise and helps us, but for the promise to become reality there must be believers who throw their whole lives into the battle.

Numbers 14:6

6Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.

To learn the state of Canaan, Moses chose one man from each of the twelve tribes and sent twelve spies into the land. Of the twelve who came back from surveying it, ten reported that, because the people there were tall, descendants of the Nephilim, the Israelites were as insignificant as grasshoppers beside them, and that if they crossed over they would all die. When the people heard that they might die, they grumbled against God and Moses and wept all night.

Though the people had received God’s grace and witnessed the miracles that brought them all the way to Canaan, they did not believe the promise, and Joshua and Caleb began to rebuke them. The two men declared, “The land we passed through to spy out is, just as God said, an exceedingly good land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” And to the doubting people they boldly proclaimed, “Don’t rebel against Yahweh, and don’t fear the people of the land. They are bread for us, and Yahweh is always with us.”

Even though God had helped Israel this far, and Moses, who had risked his life to lead them here, stood before them, the people threw away their faith. The same people who had obeyed God and Moses while miracles were being shown now cried out against God and Moses the moment hardship seemed near. Just as the people, beside themselves, were about to stone Joshua and Caleb, the glory of God appeared at the Tent of Meeting. God came down himself to protect Joshua and Caleb, who had held fast to their faith to the end. God is the one who acts in person like this to protect people of faith. So we must be careful: words and deeds that plot against or oppose a person of faith are, in fact, taking on God himself.

Of the twelve spies, the ten and the two saw things differently. The two believed God’s promise and trusted in his work more than in their own strength and ability. The ten saw a worldly power they could never overcome by their own ability. Because they differed in whom they set at the center, their judgments differed too. Joshua and Caleb declared that God’s promise would surely be fulfilled, but the people believed the ten, thinking that the many must be right. This is how the world works: it takes the side with the greater numbers to be the truth, and strives to stand with those who own the most.

But the Kingdom of God is not a place where things are judged and decided by numbers, for it is God who created heaven and earth, the Messiah has accomplished the work of salvation, and the Holy Spirit is at work for the salvation of all humanity. God was listening as Joshua and Caleb urged the people that, since God had promised, they would certainly defeat the Anakim if only they entered Canaan. So when the people tried to kill the two men, God came down.

Joshua was skilled in war, but he was always a man of prayer. He went up Mount Sinai with Moses to receive the law, and he was at Moses’ side when Moses, in his fury over the golden calf, burned it. When God’s anger blazed and Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to plead for forgiveness, and even after Moses had finished praying and gone back to the camp, Joshua stayed behind in the Tent and prayed. His whole life was centered on God and filled with faith.

Joshua, living by faith in this way, caught Moses’ eye, and God raised up Joshua, who had humbly kept faith, to be a spiritual leader. Yet Joshua did not push himself forward to catch Moses’ eye, nor did he try to put himself above the people. God saw Joshua simply obeying, without fuss, in the place given him, and Moses saw it too. God’s work is something that people like Joshua, who give their best, are able to take up.

Why, then, did God tell Joshua once again to be strong and courageous, when Joshua was already fulfilling his calling with unchanging faith? Why did he promise Joshua, who obeyed not only God’s word but Moses’ words as well, that if he kept the law and did not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, God would give him good success wherever he went?

It was not because Joshua was weak that God told him to be courageous. God already knew that Joshua would do his will, and he was conveying his heart to Joshua: if Joshua went on being an example to the people, God would keep on helping him. Joshua had been promised every place the sole of his foot would tread, and he believed that God keeps his promises. His confidence rested on the faith that, though they had not yet entered Canaan and he could not yet see the victory with his eyes, whatever God has granted is as good as received.

What kind of faith do you have? God is showing you his promises and their fulfillment plainly, through the Holy Spirit, through Scripture, and through many brothers and sisters who set an example of faith. Are you nonetheless doubting and complaining because you do not yet have it in hand? If you see others in the church enjoying the blessings they received from God by faith, yet complain because you have not received them yourself, you will never receive the blessing prepared for you.

The Anakim Joshua saw in Canaan were certainly fearsome. But Joshua believed that what God had promised would come to pass, so the fullness of his faith outweighed his fear. He knew that God’s power is greater than his own, and that God’s plan, not his own, would be accomplished, and so he did not complain at all. If you face a problem and someone far more capable than you promises to solve it, you will not raise objections. But if you cannot trust them even though they are able to solve it, the problem cannot be solved. In the same way, Joshua’s faith in Almighty God left no room for doubt or fear.

What do you fear most right now? God has promised to be the Lord of your life, your shield and your fortress. Why, then, are you still not handing over to him the burden of your suffering? Only with faith like Joshua’s can we receive the blessing. Only when you first stand tall like Joshua will the people of the world who are watching you listen to the gospel you share. Faith without doubt is like clear water you can see to the very bottom. Faith that sees God’s grace, believes it, and walks the way of truth has no falsehood in it, and always shows itself in a holy life.

God promised Joshua that if he was strong and courageous, God would give him the land he had promised, and that if he kept all the law Moses commanded him and did not turn to the right hand or to the left, God would give him good success wherever he went. That promise is one God gives to you today as well. Your faith will shape your life. Your faith will draw God’s attention, and he will build a strong hedge of protection around you and cause you to dwell in peace.

May you always obey every word as Joshua did, and enjoy the blessings of heaven as people precious to God. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.