This is a recording of my message on Joshua for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group.
Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along.
INTRO:
Who here has ever ridden the train? It’s fun, its novel. Fun fact - I had a dream that we did a JH trip on a train 2 weeks ago.
Are trains easily or quickly stopped? No
That’s why railroad crossings are so dangerous. If you wanted to get on a moving train, would you try to swing on like a cool cowboy or would you try to stand on the tracks and push against the train for it to stop.
The thing about the train is you can get either get on or get out of the way and the train will keep doing it’s thing either way.
HUB:
Joshua (like all of scripture) points to Yahweh as the center of history and see everyone else like shakespeare said “as merely players”.
God is the train in this analogy. He’s doing what he’s doing and Israel and now us - can participate or get out of the way the easy or the hard way.
Joshua 5:13-15
What Yahweh is doing. Work with him or against him.
SPOKE: For Yahweh (BibleProject)
What is the central focus of Joshua?
I see in Joshua, an invitation to participate. It is an invitation to play on the winning team or fight against YAHWEH.
In the words of Drake, Joshua is all about “God’s Plan” not joshua or anyone else.
SPOKE: For Yahweh
Explanation/Exhortation/Exaltation:
Joshua 24:14-15
Joshua has been faithful to Yahweh through the whole book of Joshua. Yes, he makes some mistakes but the book repeats “and Joshua did as Yahweh said”.
And here, Joshua is calling the people to choose. Are you gonna be for or against Yahweh?
He wants to give you rest in the promised land. Will you receive it with obedience?
The second example of someone who was for Yahweh is surprisingly a non-Israelite.
Joshua takes over as the New Moses - he calls the people to the law, he sends spies, he leads them through waters on dry ground. And the spies come across this woman named Rahab.
Joshua 2:8-14
Has anyone ever sat and watched the waves at the beach for a while? I spent a few hours alone with God at the beach last week and just watched the waves for some of that time. Waves are crazy. They just keep waving even when no one waves back… but seriously they are just a constant force. And I think surfing is so cool cause you’re looking at the waves and just harnessing that momentum, you don’t choose where the waves go. You just ride em.
Same thing here in Joshua. God has been working since the fall to restore a place for his people to be with him and no matter who opposed him he’ll just keep working and people can work with him or against him. And Joshua says I’m gonna work with God. Rahab says I don’t want to be hit by this tsunami, I’m gonna work with God. But some people will fight against the waves
QUESTIONS?
The ability of the Lord to save the “outsider” (Rahab), and the danger of the “insider” falling away (Achan; see chs. 2 and 7).
SPOKE: Against Yahweh
Explanation/Exhortation/Exaltation:
Obviously all of the the kings and nations that opposed Yahweh and served idols, and sacrificed their kids and fought Israel were against Yahweh.
But that is more obvious. What about Israelites?
Joshua 6:15-18, 7:1
Achan
Despite clear instructions on how to follow Yahweh and the clear promise of blessing from Yahweh - not like he was holding out all of the good stuff.
And these things in Jericho were supposed to be destroyed not in the sense of thrown away so you can't use them anymore because they're needless. No, they were supposed to be destroyed in the sense of utterly completely destroyed because they were dangerous. God wanted his people to be free from being influenced by the corrupt, debauched practices of the people who lived in the land. - Dever
But instead of trusting Yahweh he saw what was good and what he wanted and he took it.
Who does that remind us of?
Achan could have snowboarded down the nice gentle slope of God’s will towards possessing land and home in the promised land and abundance. But it’s like he saw sign that said short cut and despite the warnings above it that said “dangerous cliff” he took the shortcut and that was the end of Achan.
Just to be real with you guys for a second this is very real stuff. I have seen people that seemed so far from God and didn’t look like a “good christian person” come to faith in Jesus and be used by him. And I have seen people whose parents parents were Christians who slowly drifted away cause of their choices and that’s really sad.
Conclusion/Exaltation:
Gospel of Grace
Joshua is all about God’s rest for the people. Resting them in the promised land.
Joshua points us to a day when Jesus promises a new heavens and a new earth. It points us to that future day.
So as God gave Israel in Joshua 24:13, he says, he gives Israel land on which you did
not toil cities, you did not build and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olives
groves that you did not plant. Right. So Jesus, he too, has gone ahead of us. He is preparing that place for us even now, a place that we have not build, gardens that we have not tended.
9:14 the elders make a peace treaty with Gibeonites without consulting God. they make a decision based on their own wisdom. Jesus on the other hand never made a decision without being in line with God’s wisdom. He prays in the garden “not my will but yours be done”.
We are called to pray and do that same thing in the Lord’s prayer. No choice is so simple or clear as to not require prayer!
But more importantly it points us to our savior.
Jesus will obey, where Israel here is already failing. When tempted by sin, Jesus doesn't make peace with it. Even though the israelites made peace with sinful nations.
You know, that paradise that we lost, that Israel lost, Jesus would win back by His
own sinless life.
He is that better Caleb who would not just serve God wholeheartedly, but would serve Him perfectly.
He is the great high priest of the safe house from Joshua 20, right? That great high priest who has shed his own blood life for life so that we who are guilty might be freed.
He alone has lived heaven on earth for us. He alone has paved the way.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
Joshua 23:12-13 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.
You realize that those whips on the back, the thorns on the brow, that's the curse that Jesus bore. That's the curse He bore for all of those who would turn from their sin, who would trust in Him.
That is how Joshua points us to Jesus.
QUESTIONS?
Let’s pray!
Small group Questions:
High and Low of the Week?
What stuck out from the message & video? (Respond to, Affirm, and Develop Observations)
Do you think it is harder for you to believe that an outsider can be invited in or that an insider can drift from God?
Does your life look more like Rahab or Achan?
What points to Jesus in Joshua?
Prayer Requests?
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