Wake-Up Call: Jericho

So, into the the real world we go.  The desert built our characters by learning to rely utterly on God for our salvation and our walk in Christ.  Prayer, reading the Word, fellowship with others and time spent alone with God, all reflect the new Deuteronomy as we enter our next challenge: going in the Promised Land.  

Not that the desert isn't challenging:  Living each day, with our apportioned daily bread of life itself--will be hard.  Jesus said, 

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt. 6:34)

That's desert life.  I see this desert life enshrined in the prayer model Jesus gave us:

This, then, is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.  

(Matt. 6:9-13)

 

We walk with God everyday, relying on His provision to help us live as He has called us to do in Christ:

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil 1:6)

As the pillar of fire and smoke guided the people in the desert, so too does the Holy Spirit guide us.

But wait!  How do we reconcile these desert-life verses with Ephesians 6:10-18?

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,  and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 

 

Well, we go from wanderers in God's grace to warriors in His power.  We gather God's grace to gathering His power and might for the days ahead.  We exchange the clothes of slaves for the armor of a warrior.  We stood on the shore watching God drown Satan's power over us to now stepping into the river to partner with Him:

 

 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river... And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”

So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them.  Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground. (Joshua 3:7-8, 13-17)

 

The difference between the desert and the Promised Land is we are spectators in one and direct participants in the other.  And because we are priests in Christ, we go into the water first: 

 

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—  you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:

 

'See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.'  (1 Peter 2:4-6)

 

The Promised Land is equally a place of God's grace, provision and guidance.  The difference is we are assigned there to bring Jesus to people who desperately need Him.   

So, in we go.  Through the waters--a baptism archetype--we go in with a promise that is coupled with instructions requiring our obedience:

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.” (Joshua 6:2-5)

The Promised Land is ours already.  We just need to go in and take it.  

The city is ours:  We will go in and bring in the Kingdom of God, to one soul at a time.  

Its king, Satan is vanquished:  Jesus triumphed over sin and death, the greatest weapons that Satan wields against us.

Its fighting men are no match for those who walk in Christ: We know that our battle is not the flesh, but the minions of Satan who try to harass us and overwhelm us with their supposed superior power.  

The conquering strategy is no different from this conquest of Jericho to our daily battle:  Jesus goes before us, His covenant promise of His presence and forgiveness sustains us and we shout of God's mercy to reclaim His prodigal people from sin and death.  

Let's see what the Promised Land has for us, now that the walls have come down.  We don't grab our lawn chairs, and hide in our churches and follow leaders who promise us that all will be well.  

My Bible tells me to armor up...to follow Christ alone... and know that evil doesn't give way easily, whether in our world or in us.  

But God is faithful. 

That's what faces us today.