Lessons From Jericho

Traditionally, in the Church of God, we recognize two great deliverances of God's people that have occurred on or around this last day of Unleavened Bread. The first being the deliverance of the people of Israel through the Red Sea. You recall that after Israel went out from before Pharaoh's presence, they journeyed up to Faihirah. They camped there before the sea.

And it was there that Pharaoh decided he would try to destroy Israel once again.

Of course, brethren, we know the story. We know that God's power was great.

God's power was supreme, and he opened the sea before Israel. And by his might and by his hand, he led his people across on dry ground. And as those armies of Pharaoh pursued them, God brought the waters back in on that army, and they were destroyed in the midst of the sea.

Now, an estimation of the distance traveled and the time allotted, we may well have brought Israel to that point on or around the last day of Unleavened Bread.

Now, the second great deliverance we generally recognize as having occurred on or around the last day of Unleavened Bread occurred 40 years later as the children of Israel entered the Promised Land. I am of course referring to the miraculous intervention of God on Israel's behalf at the Battle of Jericho. It was there that God, again, through his might and power, destroyed an obstacle that confronted his people.

This afternoon, I'd like to examine the biblical account of the Battle of Jericho. I'd like to take a look at what the Scripture says so we can just be refreshed again of what took place historically. And I'd also like to take some time and look at spiritual lessons that we can take from this occurrence and apply into our spiritual lives today. The title of my message this afternoon is Lessons from Jericho Leveling the Walls of Sin. I think it's something important for us to consider on this last day of Unleavened Bread. So, to begin with, rather than this afternoon, we need to lay the groundwork that led up to the point of the Battle of Jericho. We need to understand exactly why it was that Israel even found themselves in a position that they would be warring with the people of Canaan. You know, why God brought them into the position and had them drive out the people of the land. You know, you might just ask the question, why couldn't they just go into Canaan and find a nice little spot and live in peace with their neighbors and, you know, just be a good example in that way. Well, we find the answer to that in Deuteronomy the seventh chapter, so I would like to start there this afternoon. If you turn with me, please, over to Deuteronomy chapter 7 in verse 1. You see some instructions from God as to how Israel is going to be dealing with the people of Canaan. Deuteronomy chapter 7, beginning in verse 1, it says, When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites, the Gertishites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Parazites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, or show mercy to them, nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, or take their daughter to your son, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods. And so the anger of the Lord who will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. Verse 5, But thus you shall deal with them. You shall destroy their altars, break down their sacred pillars, cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. And jumping down to verse 16, here again, and God says, And you shall destroy all the peoples whom the Lord your God delivers over to you. Your eyes shall not have pity on them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

So the people of Canaan, they were pagan peoples with pagan gods and pagan practices. And the greatest threat to Israel was that if they let them remain intact in the land, they would be a snare to them. They could turn them away from serving the only true God. Their children intermarried with them. They could be pulled away to idolatrous worship and practices. And so God said, When I lead you into that land, you need to wipe it clean. And I'll set you up as a model nation for the world to see. Now, the Battle of Jericho was the first campaign to remove sin from the land of Canaan. And it was sin that was going to have to be removed if God's people were going to go in and take complete possession of the land and dwell there in peace and safety and worship God as He had instructed. So let's begin the story over in the book of Joshua. If you turn over, please, to Joshua 1. Joshua chapter 1, and we're going to begin in verse 1. It says, After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, who came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses's assistant, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, the children of Israel. And every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as 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 territory. Verse 5, No man shall 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 leave you nor forsake you. So we see in the opening verses of the book of Joshua that Joshua was charged with the job of leading Israel into the Promised Land. Moses, who had been God's faithful servant, the one who had helped to lead the children out of Israel, the one that had led them as they wandered 40 years around the wilderness, Moses had died. And now Joshua, again, he's commissioned to go forward as a leader, to bring the children of Israel into the Promised Land. Now Joshua, as you remember, was an individual of a different perspective than most of the other Israelites of this generation. Joshua trusted God. He looked to God in faith. Joshua understood and trusted that God had the power and the strength and the ability to fulfill and to do all those things that he had promised on Israel's behalf. Now, as we know the story, unfortunately, most of the rest of that generation didn't have that same faith in God. They didn't share the same perspective as Joshua did. They somehow thought that, you know, when they got a glimpse at the Promised Land with the giants and the massive cities and the armies of the people, they thought that somehow life back in Egypt was preferable to going forward and possessing the Promised Land. So we know the story as a result. Those individuals, 20 years and older, died in the wilderness. I think it's a rather remarkable example for us to think about because God did bring Israel physically out of physical Egypt, but those individuals very much died as slaves of Egypt in the wilderness. God brought them out of sin and brought them out of that culture, but Israel just couldn't let Egypt go. So we now come to the point 40 years after the Exodus that that generation of Israel, the next one, the next generation who had grown up in the wilderness, are getting ready now to walk in and begin their first campaign to take possession of the Promised Land. Again, Joshua is going to be leading them by God's direction.

We jump forward now to Joshua, the second chapter, in verse 1. Joshua chapter 2 in verse 1. It says, Now Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, especially Jericho. So they went and they came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and they lodged there. So again, in anticipation of entering the land, Joshua sends the spies out. He wants them to go out and do a survey of the land. He wants them to pay special attention to Jericho. You know, they're checking out the fortifications of the land. They're checking out basically the scene. He's trying to see what Israel is going to face as they come into the Promised Land. Now Jericho was a gateway city to the land of Canaan. Most archaeologists have recognized that Jericho is one of the oldest, if not oldest, cities in the world. It was actually a modern-day city, Jericho, in that region. But again, you know, there's been various cities of Jericho down through time, but Jericho, as it was established as at-site, they believe that is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, cities in the world. It was located a short distance north from where the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah had been established. And basically what the spies found is that they entered Jericho, they found a very well-fortified city. Jericho had been built up on a tell. And what a tell is is an elevated mound of dirt, basically, upon which many of the ancient cultures would build their cities. And if the city was built on a tell, it meant that that city could be much better fortified, it could be much better protected from outside threats. And that was the case with Jericho.

Now, archaeological excavations of recent times have revealed that the tell of Jericho was surrounded by a sloping earthen embankment that had a stone retaining wall at its base. And it's been probably about the last hundred years that there's been multiple excavations at the Jericho site, and we've been able to start to piece together what that ancient city looked like. And, amazingly, when it's interpreted correctly, it actually matches the biblical record. We imagine that. But, anyway, Jericho had this retaining wall which surrounded the base of the tell, and basically its purpose was to kind of hold that earth bank in place and keep that mound in place and from shifting. This retaining wall also formed the base on which another wall was built. So, basically, the retaining wall was 12 to 15 feet high, and it formed the base on which a mud brick wall 6 feet thick and 20 to 26 feet high stood. So, putting the two together, the total height was approximately 40 feet. So, if you can imagine, if you walk up to the city and just look up and you face this looming wall of 40 feet high surrounding the city, this formed the outer wall of Jericho. Now, again, Jericho was very well fortified, and it actually had a double wall defensive system. So, there was an inner wall as well, and the inner wall stood at the top of the earthen embankment. So, basically, what you had was you had the city sitting on the level at top. You had the dirt which sloped down to the lower retaining wall that had the other wall sitting on the outer wall sitting on top of it. That was 40 feet high. You come up to the top of the earthen embankment to the level on top. There was an inner wall as well. That was the lower base part of that wall, stood 46 feet above the grade of the plane on the outside of the lower wall. So, you can just imagine and you can understand why in Deuteronomy 1.28, the spies that had gone into Canaan described it as walled up to heaven. They said these cities, you know, they can't be conquered and then walled up to heaven. Now, obviously, with such a system in place, you know, no army was going to breach that city, not by any physical or human means. And that's probably a good indication as to why Jericho had existed for so long, even up to that point. Now, the total footprint of Jericho was approximately nine acres in size. Six acres were contained securely within inside the inner wall with three more sloping acres contained between the inner and the outer walls. And it's interesting they found that those three acres, kind of an outside ring between the inner and the outer wall, contained what they believed to be the overflow of the city and it contained what they believed to be some of the lower class citizens who built their structures in that location. And what they found is they excavated in certain areas of Jericho is that individuals actually built their houses incorporating that outer wall. You know, incorporating that outer wall into their structure. So it would, in a sense, be a third wall and we would build three other walls up against this outer wall, incorporating it into your structure. Now, upon entering the city of Jericho, the Rahab was sought out by the two spies. They came across Rahab. She was a local prostitute. And obviously, I don't believe it was a coincidence that that God directed them to Rahab's door. God obviously had them go there for important reasons, which we'll come to see. And what we're going to find out and see is that Rahab herself had a different perspective compared to most of the other citizens of Jericho.

Now, some of the commentaries have suggested that Rahab was a temple prostitute. And that certainly could have been the case. A temple prostitute in that culture wouldn't have been viewed as dishonorable of an occupation as perhaps just a normal prostitute. In many of the pagan cultures, many of these worship ceremonies and temple practices, a prostitution was just a regular part of the religious practices. So Rahab may very well have been a temple prostitute, but as we understand, even in the eyes of God, that certainly was a sin.

Now, it also appears that Rahab may have ran some sort of tavern or inn from her home.

And scripture would indicate that. And it would have made it a logical place for the spies to actually kind of take in the surroundings of Jericho to mingle and visit with people. It would have been a logical place for them to gather information as to fortifications and going on to the city of Jericho. So basically, it wasn't like they came in the town and they immediately sought out the local prostitute, but rather God led them there by direction and by design. Continuing on in Joshua chapter 2 and verse 2, it says, And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country. So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring out the men who have come to you who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country. Then the woman took the two men and hid them, and she said, Yes. The men came to me, but I do not know where they were from. And it happened that the gate was shut, and when it was dark that the men went out, and where the men went, I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them. But she had brought them, verse 6, up to the roof, and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof. So sometimes the question comes up here, is it okay to lie if it's for a good cause? You know, if you're put in a situation, when Rahab was here, you're protecting God's people, was it okay for her to lie? And again, that question comes up, because people can look at Hebrews 11. They could see Rahab listed there as a hero of faith. They say, okay, she was a faithful individual, but here she lied.

Well, the answer is no, it's not okay, under any circumstance, to lie. What we need to understand about Rahab is that she had faith in God at this point. She had heard about God delivering Israel out of Egypt and bringing them through the Red Sea. She heard about God blessing Egypt in their conquest on the other side of the Jordan. And so, she recognized God as the all-powerful true God of the universe. So, in that sense, she did have faith, but we need to understand that she lacked the practical understanding, and she lacked the education as to how that faith was to be properly applied. So, Rahab lied. She shouldn't have lied, but she did. I think later she probably learned the lesson that God can protect his people when it's his will to do so without our trying to step in and do something we shouldn't. Continuing on in verse 7, it says, Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan, to the fords, and as soon as those who had pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. So, before they laid down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are faint-hearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, shy on the nog, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted. Neither did there remain any more courage than anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.

So, again, Rahab is expressing the fact that people of the land were afraid. Again, they've seen the miracles that God had done on the Israel's behalf, and, frankly, they're cowering in fear because they know that they're getting ready to be on the receiving end of that power. Rahab, though, was different. She had developed a faith and a trust in God even before the spies came into her house. And as a result of that faith, she protected them, she housed the spies, even at the risk of her own life. Verse 12 says, Now therefore I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also show kindness to my father's house and give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. So the man answered her, Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours, and it shall be when the Lord has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you. So they've struck an agreement here with Rahab for her deliverance. Verse 15, Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built on the city wall, and she dwelt on the wall.

So again, it appears Rahab's house was probably one of these houses that was built against the outer wall of the city of Jericho, and the window was literally through the wall. She was able to let the spies down outside the wall. Verse 16, And she said to them, Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, and to the pursuers have returned. Afterward, you may go your way. Then the man said to her, We will be blameless of this oath of yours, which you have made us swear, unless when we come into the land you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window, through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household into your own home. So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house and to the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in your house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. So again, the spies go out, they instruct Rahab to put the scarlet cord out, and the scarlet cord is a type of blood that was painted on the door post of that first passover in Egypt. As the eternal passed over and spared the lives of those who were under that blood, in the same way Israel would pass over the house of Rahab when they saw the scarlet cord.

Verse 20.

I'm sorry. Let's go to chapter 3. We're going to... Sometimes you lose your place where you even left off. Now let's start out at verse 20. If I'm in there, we'll catch back up to it. Verse 20. And if you tell this business of ours, we'll be free from your oath, which you made us swear. And then she said, according to your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed, and she bound the scarlet cord in the window. Then they departed and went to the mountain, and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but did not find them. So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over, and they came to Joshua, the son of none, and told them all that had fallen down. And they said to Joshua, truly the Lord has delivered all this land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are faint-hearted because of us.

You know, so essentially as spies came back, they delivered this report, and they tell Joshua, let's go for it. God's with us. He's given us the city. Chapter 3, verse 1, it says, Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Acacia Grove, and came to the Jordan, and he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. So it was that after three days that the officers went through the camp, and they commanded the people, saying, When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priest and the Levite bearing it, and you shall set out from your place, and go after it.

Verse 14, So it was when the people set out from their camps across over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped into the edge of the water, for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest, that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zerkan. So the waters that went down into the sea of Araba and the salt sea failed, and they were cut off, and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel crossed over on dry ground till all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan. Let's jump down to chapter 4 and in verse 10. It says, so the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until evening, until everything was finished, that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all the Moses had commanded Joshua, and the people hastened and crossed over. Then it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over, that the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. And the men of Reuben and the men of Gad and half the tribe of Benathah crossed over, armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. About 40,000 prepared for war crossed over before the Lord for battle to the plains of Jericho.

On that day the Lord magnified Joshua and the sight of all Israel, and they feared him as they had feared Moses all the days of his life. Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony to come up from the Jordan. Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, come up from the Jordan. And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the coming and the Lord had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the souls of the priest's feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and flowed over all the banks as before. Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month in the Camping Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. So again, I can only imagine, rather than thinking about what the Canaanites would have been imagining, as maybe they have a good vantage point to view what's going on here, and witnessing how the water stopped and Israel walks across the Jordan, and then the water resumes behind them. Again, I'm sure they were quaking in fear, just imagining they're going to be on the receiving end of that power.

Now verse 19 mentioned that the people of Israel came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. And so that gives us kind of a time marker as to the timeline of these events that are going to occur. The tenth day is just a few days before the spring holy days. It's the day that the people were to put up the land for the Passover. Now, as we come into Joshua chapter 5, what we find is that God instructs Joshua to circumcise all the males of Israel, because during the years of the wilderness wandering, these individuals had been born, and they hadn't been circumcised. And so now they're coming into the land, and it's only appropriate that they would bear that sign of the covenant, the sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham. So the children are circumcised. We jump now to Joshua chapter 5 and verse 10.

Resume the story here. Joshua 5 verse 10, it says, So the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. And they ate the produce of the land on that day after the Passover on leavened bread and parched grain on the very same day. Now the man of cease on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. So we come through the Passover to the first day of unleavened bread. The manna ceases, and as we'll see next, Joshua is about to receive an important message, apparently on this first day of unleavened bread. Let's look at verse 13. So then it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold a man stood opposite him with a sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries? So we said, No, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have come now. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant? Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take your sandal off your foot, for the place which you stand is holy ground. And Joshua did so.

So obviously we can understand this wasn't an ordinary angel. Joshua fell down and worshipped this angel, and this angel of the army of God was willing to accept that worship. So this was in fact Jesus Christ, the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ here, speaking with Joshua and preparing them to go into Jericho. Joshua chapter 6 verse 1. It says, Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel. None went in and none came out. And so when it says Jericho was securely shut up, again basically you had the gates were closed, all the defensive measures were in place, and Jericho had the ability to simply lock itself down and remain that way for quite some time.

It's actually well prepared for a siege. Jericho had a spring which actually welled up in the city of Jericho from which they could get fresh water to last them for quite a while. This was the time of the spring harvest and many of the crops had been gathered in and brought in. And so Jericho literally had the ability to lock themselves down and out wait in the army that would come and park themselves outside their door. And that's kind of interesting as archaeologists have excavated the Jericho site. They've found many bins and basins and storerooms of grain and various things that were contained within the city at the time of its destruction.

Now again, as I said, the city could remain shut up for many months. It could out wait in the armies that were surrounding it. But fortunately, God had a plan to bring Jericho down, but it wouldn't take months. It would take seven days, and these apparently coincide with the seven days and eleven bread. Joshua chapter 6 and verse 6, it says, So Joshua, the son of Nun, called the priests and said to them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ramsorns before the ark of the Lord. And he said to the people, Proceed, and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the ark of the Lord. And so it was when Joshua had spoken to the people that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ramsorns before the Lord advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant, and the Lord followed them.

Said the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. Now Joshua commanded the people, saying, You shall not shout nor make any noise with your voice, nor shall any word proceed out of your mouth until the day I say to you, shout, and then you shall shout. Verse 11, So he in the ark of the Lord had circled the city, going around it once, and then they came into the camp and lodged in the camp.

And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. The seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ramsorns before the ark of the Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets, and the armed men went before them, and the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to camp.

So they did six days. So again, basically what's happening is what appears to be these first six days of 11 bread, they're going out, they're marching and circling the city one time. You have the the priests and the armed men and the people of Israel following in silence.

They would circle once, come back into the camp, and they did this again each of the six days of 11 bread until the seventh day. Verse 15, chapter 6 says, but it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner.

On that day, only they marched around the city seven times. And the seventh time it was, so when the priests blew the trumpets and Joshua said to the people, shout, for the Lord has given you the city.

Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. Verse 18, and you, by all means, keep yourselves from the accursed things, lest you become accursed, when you take the take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it.

But all the silver and the gold and the vessels of bronze and iron are consecrated to the Lord, and they shall come into the treasury of the Lord. So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets, and it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down flat.

Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. So obviously, brethren, God provided a great miracle here on behalf of his people. And it's always interesting as you read the account of these things, because people like to scientifically explain what God did. And there are times where I think we could look and say, okay, God perhaps caused an earthquake in the right place at the right time and made the walls of Jericho fall. That could certainly be the case. Scientists generally study it and say, oh, there was no miraculous event here.

There was an earthquake, and the wall fell down. Or there was no miraculous event at the river Jericho. There was an earthquake upstream, and a bunch of boulders fell in place, and it took a while for the water to reroute itself and get back on course, and no miracle there. So we need to understand that what God does are significant miracles. We can't have a question of those things. God here has provided a great deliverance for his people.

Now it says that the wall fell down flat, and the people went up into the city. And again, the archeological findings actually agree with this. The walls by design actually should have fallen into a heap and continued to protect the city, because what they found, they were actually reinforced from the outside.

And so again, if the walls crumbled in an earthquake, they should have fallen, formed this heap that would still be somewhat of a blockade to any invading army. But what we found is that the walls defied the laws of gravity, and they fell outward, and they fell flat, and they formed a ramp up and over the lower retaining wall, and then up the bank and into the city, provided a way that Israel could basically go unobstructed, and as the scripture says, they went up into the city.

Verse 21 says, Then they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey with the edge of the sword. But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, go into the harlot's house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has as you swore to her. And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all their relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. Now another interesting finding at the Jericho side is that they found there's actually a short section of the outer wall on the north end of the city that didn't fall in the same manner as the rest of the walls, and it was actually preserved to over a height of eight feet. And what they've determined is that there were actually structures built against that section of the wall. It's interesting to speculate on, but it's very possible that could have been the location where Rahab and her family were holed up. Verse 24, it says, But they burned the city, and all that was in it was fire. Only the silver and gold and the vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot and her father's household and all that she had. So she dwells in the land of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. So Rahab, again, she was a woman of faith. And of course, over time, as she lived with Israel, and she became to understand more fully the instructions of God, obviously her faith grew. And Rahab became a prominent individual in Israel's history. Rahab went on to marry a man by the name of Solomon of the tribe of Judah. She had a son by the name of Boaz, as you recognize it. Boaz married Ruth. From that line came King David, eventually Jesus Christ.

Here from this woman of faith who had played a major role in God's deliverance of Israel.

Verse 26 says, Then Joshua charged them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord, who raises up and builds this city Jericho. He shall lay its foundations with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates. And it's interesting to note that that curse of Joshua is actually fulfilled in 1 Kings 16.

Verse 34, when a man by the name of Hael actually rebuilt Jericho at the cost of his firstborn and his youngest son. Verse 27 says, So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout all the country.

You know, brethren, I think the fall of Jericho is a remarkable story to consider.

Certainly on this last day of Unleavened Bread, I think it's a remarkable story for us to look at and see what lessons there are that we can learn from these events that happened during these days on Unleavened Bread. What lessons can we draw out of those and apply in our lives today? So for the remainder of the message, I'd like to take a look at three lessons that we can learn and apply from the destruction of Jericho.

Lesson number one.

Jericho is a reminder to us that with God's help, we can overcome the strongholds of sin in our lives. God's help, we can overcome the strongholds of sin in our lives. As I mentioned earlier, Jericho is considered one of the oldest cities in the world. Again, it existed long before the Israelites came to see it. And so in that sense, it'd become a well-fortified city.

Jericho was not a righteous city by any means, and that's why God had Israel deal with them.

Jericho represented sin. It represented sin that had become fortified in the Promised Land, sin that would have to be removed if God's people were going to go in and take complete possession of the land. Jericho was walled up sin. It was fortified sin. Again, it was entrenched and established, and within that scene, unmovable by human hands and by human standards. Again, after all, it's been there so long, it has literally become a stronghold.

What about us, brethren? What about sin in our lives? Is there a particular sin within us, or a particular issue we've been dealing with or struggle we've been trying to overcome that existed for so long that it's become established and entrenched in our lives?

Do we struggle with the same thing year after year as we come up to the Passover in the days of 11 bread? Do we examine ourselves and say, you know, this was here last year and year before and the year before? Do we struggle with things that we say, that's too big? You know, it's been here too long. There's no way I can overcome that. You know, sometimes in our mind, we look at these things and we say, I'm going to go over here, I'm going to tackle this little thing. It's much more manageable and this is just going to have to remain for a while until I can find the ability to deal with it. Well, I just look at the example in the book of Joshua here and say that God didn't let Israel bypass Jericho. Jericho was probably one of the most well-fortified cities of Canaan because it was, again, a gateway city, but God had Israel face it head-on and with God's help, they were able to overcome it and destroy it. I'm sure we all understand that personally. Sin that's left unchecked in our lives, sin that we haven't confronted as we should, can become fortified. It can become walled up in our lives. It can be something that becomes so well-established that it seems unconquerable. In that sense, sin can become a stronghold within us if we allow it.

I'd like to encourage us not to. Brethren, we have to understand that the example here is that we have to tear those strongholds down. We have to destroy all evidence, all practice of sin that exists within our lives. But we know, and as we heard on the message on the first day of 11 bread, that the battle is the Lord's in so many ways, and we can't do it on our own. We need to help in the power and the strength of God to overcome sin completely in our lives. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 10 chapter because it shows us how God actually aids us in this battle against these spiritual strongholds that we face in our lives. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, we're going to begin in verse 3.

2 Corinthians 10 verse 3 says, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. So the battles in our lives aren't going to be fought with tanks, with guns, with bombs, with various implements of the flesh, with fleshly implements of war. We can't do it on our own again. These battle is going to be fought with the strength and power of God working in us and through us.

Verse 4 says, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God, for pulling down strongholds, for casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. So again, it says our spiritual weapons that God provides us with are for the pulling down of strongholds. Therefore, the breaking down of those defenses that have become walled up in our life, the sin that's been entrenched for so long that it's built those walls and those defenses, it seems that we can't overcome it, we can't conquer it. God gives us spiritual weapons for pulling down strongholds. Now, if you're struggling with a particular issue and you recognize that you're dealing with the same thing year after year, we need to ask God to give us the specific spiritual weapon we need in order to defeat a specific problem. You know, sometimes we try to attack things in a way that seems right and proper to us, but maybe if we just yield ourselves to God and seek His help in His intervention, then there's a better way. Again, God working in us leads to the accomplishment of the eradication of sin. And once you've been able to isolate that sin, once you have the power to tear it down in your life, you need to go after it without mercy, much in the same way as Israel was to go into Jericho without mercy and utterly destroy the sin that was there. Again, if we seek the power of God through faith and we do our part, again, God gives us our part to do. This isn't just sit back and let God do it. We have to yield to Him and submit to Him and cry out to Him to help us. But if we do our part, He's going to give us what we need to overcome and be victorious against the walls of sin. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10.

It says, in season 6 verse 10, it says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. And then it goes through and talks about putting on the on the armor of God and using those implements of armor that God gives us in order to withstand Satan and with order to overcome sin. But it says, we're to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. And that's because of God and His strength and His power working in us that helps us and allows us to overcome the sin that's become fortified in our lives. You know, when Israel walked around Jericho for seven days, they got a good look at that city. And they got a good look at the fortifications, at the walls, at the gates, at all those things that have been built in place to keep invaders out. And they knew that the victory wasn't going to come by the power of their own hand. They knew that victory was only going to take place by faith in the power of God. In fact, that God would exercise through them the ability to accomplish what He'd given them to do. Israel had faith in God and the victory was theirs. Let's go to Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11, we were here this morning.

Hebrews 11, verse 30.

It says, by faith the wall to Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.

You know, it doesn't say by strength of hand of the Israelites that the walls fell down. It doesn't say by the battering rams and the axons that the gates were overcome. It says by faith, by faith and trust in God, that He can give them the power, and that He would perform His miracles on their behalf to overcome that city.

Verse 31, it says, by faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace. And so again, it wasn't because Rahab's house was so well constructed and so well built that it happened to stand up to the shaking of the walls when everyone else's houses fell down in ruins. No, it was by God's hand, God's design, and it was by faith and trust in Him that that deliverance came about. And again, it's a deliverance that only God can work out. He worked it out in Israel's life. He can work it out in our lives today.

Rather than in our lives, the stronghold of sin can only be pulled down if we include God in the process. If we try to do it on our own, unfortunately we're going to fall short. The carnal mind is enmity against God, and so what we understand is it's God's nature, it's God's power, it's God's spirit glowing in us and working with us. It gives us the power and the ability to overcome sin. Again, the lesson of Jericho is that with God's help, we can tear down those strongholds in our life. And again, if we allow Him to work in us, we will be victorious over the walls of sin.

Now, point number two, lesson number two, the fall of Jericho, is that God expects the destruction of sin in our lives to be nothing less than complete eradication. Nothing less than complete nothing less than complete eradication. In the account of Jericho, God told Israel to totally destroy the city and all that were in it. They weren't to leave one man alive, one woman, one child. They would destroy all the livestock, the sheep, the cattle, anything running around. They were destroyed all by the edge of the sword. Only Rahab and all that was worked with her were to survive, and again, that was because of her faithfulness in God. Israelites were to burn the city with fire. They weren't to touch any of the accursed things or anything else to that matter, except those things that were dedicated to God.

Again, if Israel is going to take possession of the Promised Land, they couldn't just run around Jericho. They had to meet it head-on. If Israel is going to take possession of the Promised Land without that problem, resurfacing again in their life, Jericho had to be destroyed completely. In our lives today, God requires us to carry out the same level of destruction against sin that reigns in our lives. Let's go to Colossians 3, verse 1. Colossians 3, verse 1 says, If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Verse 4, When Christ who is our life appears, and you also appear with Him in glory. Therefore, and notice the terminology here, therefore put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you also once walked when you lived in them. So again, it says we're to put to death those earthly sins and those things that exist in our life. I believe the original King James says that we're to mortify them. So it doesn't mean we're just to kind of whack them back a little bit. It doesn't mean we're just to wound them, or just take them out temporarily, or sweep them under the carpet. It means we're to destroy them completely in our lives. Rather than the battle against sin is a kill or be killed battle. The wages of sin is death. And unless we can overcome sin and have the blood of Jesus Christ applied in our life, death is the end which we'll face.

Now sin you don't kill will kill you. And I think that's the lesson we get from the wages of sin is death. Thankfully God in His mercy allows the blood of Jesus Christ to be applied so that when we repent, when we have forgiveness, then that thing can be washed clean. But if we don't overcome the sin, if we can't seem to address the sin, ultimately that sin within us will be mortal. Verse 8, it says, But now you must also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. It says you need to put them off. Get rid of them completely.

Put them out of your life. Verse 9, Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. So when you're to put something off, you're to replace it with something. Remember, on my history teacher at Ambassador College, you still always say, Nature abhors a vacuum. And the fact is, you remove something, you have to put something in its place.

If we remove and put off the old man and the carnal nature and the sins of its flesh, we need to replace it by putting on Jesus Christ and the nature of God, and take in the Holy Spirit of God working in us and through us.

Again, God expects the destruction of sin in our lives to be nothing less than complete eradication. And isn't that what we're symbolizing as we go through these days of unleavened bread? We're symbolizing living unleavened lives. We're symbolizing the fact that we've come out of sin and eradicated it completely. We should have learned this lesson as we were running up to the days of unleavened bread, and we're deleavening our homes and our cars and our personal spaces.

We didn't keep a little leavening back, a little yeast or a loaf of bread in case of an emergency.

The lesson we learned is that we put it out completely. And as we walk through these days, we're living unleavened lives before God. Again, that's something that's supposed to apply in our lives both physically and spiritually. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 5.

1 Corinthians 5 here, Paul's rebuking the Corinthians for their tolerance of open sin and their midst. In fact, they were proud of the fact that they were a tolerant people. And here again, the timing appears to be the days of unleavened bread, and we can bring that out from the terminology that we find here. 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 6. Paul says, Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? So again, it just takes a little tiny speck of yeast in that dough to start working its action, and it will spread like an affection to the whole lump of dough. Make the whole dough leaven. Even just a little bit of leavening leavens the whole lump. Verse 7 says, Therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened, for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So again, the old leaven has to be purged out. It has to be completely eradicated from our lives, if we're going to live unleavened before God. And again, the only way that completely happens is with God's mercy extending the blood of Jesus Christ to us, so that we can have those sins washed clean upon repentance, and we can live unleavened before Him. And brethren, we can never come to the point where we think just a little bit of leaven in our life is okay. You know, just a little bit of sin can be tolerated. You know, after all, if it's not that big of a sin, how big of a deal could it really be? But again, the wages of sin is death. Again, sin is a battle in which we have to kill or be killed. And just as we got ready for the days of the leavened bread and we put that leavening out of our midst, we have to do that spiritually in our lives on a daily basis. Again, our goal is complete eradication of sin. Nothing less will do. Lesson number three in the Battle of Jericho.

Lesson number three is when God's people come out of the bondage of sin, He expects us not to return to it again. When God's people come out of the bondage of sin, He expects us not to return again.

When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He brought him out of the pagan practices, pagan culture, idolatry. He attempted to clean them up and now was bringing them into the promised land, and He desired that they wouldn't walk right back into the same situation again.

God had Israel, and His intent was that Israel would wipe out the inhabitants of the land before them that God delivered to their hands so that they could be established in essentially an unleavened country, live unleavened lives before God. Again, that environment had to be destroyed because, as we read earlier, it would be a snare to the people of God. Well, in our lives today, God's called us out of bondage of sin, hasn't He? He's called us out of this world, which is spiritual Egypt. He's called us out of the ways of this world. He has, by His mercy, established us on the path to the kingdom of God. Once God has done that, we can never afford to turn aside to the bondage of sin again. Again, that's a lesson that we're seeing from the destruction of Jericho. When God brings us out of sin, He desires we don't walk right back into it again.

These days, on 11 bread remind us that not only are we become unleavened spiritually, but we're also constantly on guard against partaking in the leaven.

I think we all understand how this process works. All during the days of unleavened bread, we're consciously eating the unleavened bread, but what happens when you go to the store and you're looking for something for dinner? Well, you pick up the label and you read it. It's our leavening in this. During these days, it's a reminder to us that not only do we partake in the unleavened, but we are to actively resist the leaven, not go back into that process.

Again, we look to God to help give us the strength in order to do these things.

Living unleavened life spiritually is ultimately what He wants us to do all the time.

Now, leading up to the days of unleavened bread, I kind of had an interesting situation I ran into, because on the, I guess, Passover Day, as we're preparing to go to tonight to be observed, we finished cleaning the house, we got the rest of the leavening bagged up, and I took it in the truck out to the dump, threw all the leavening out, and I thought, great, it's all clean, it's all clear, it's gone, and I remembered at that point that we just used our last vacuum cleaner bag. I just threw that out, so I said, okay, great, I'm going to go get some vacuum bags, put it in there, we'll go to dinner, and we're set. So I went to Walmart, picked up vacuum cleaner bags, I got home, took them out of the package, I'm putting this thing in, and these words catch the corner of my eye, and it says, baking soda fresh. And in my haste to go find the right style, the right, for the right brand of vacuum cleaner, I wasn't paying attention to the packaging, and I'd grab Arm & Hammer baking soda fresh vacuum cleaner bags. So I come walking out into the kitchen, where Darla was preparing things from dinner, and I said, look what I just got, and she said, ah, you know, get it out, get this out of here. So that's what I did, I took it actually, just enough time to run it back to the store. But the point is, we had just put it all out, and here I was bringing it back into our house again. Well, we got to be careful of that process in our spiritual house. When we put leaven out, brethren, we can't be bringing it right back in the door. Tabitha had a play date this week with one of her friends from school, and her mom comes over and says, oh, I thought the girls would enjoy the these little goldfish crackers, that they enjoy playing with, you know, eating so much when they're playing. And so Darla had to stop and explain to her, you know, the day's 11 bread and what we were doing, and she says, oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, she stepped out on the porch, just kind of holding these things outside of our house.

Again, it's a process that we have to run through, not to bring leaven back in again. I hired a new employee this week, and we were out doing the rounds, and he started on Monday, and right about Wednesday, he asked me, don't you eat bread? You know, I'm eating these, you know, rolled up things, tortillas, something, with flat, with peanut butter and jelly in it, you know, you have to be careful not to bite one end and have it squirt out the other and drop all over your pants. And so he's watching me do this for two or three days, and eventually his question is, don't you eat bread? And so I explained to him what the days of 11 bread were, and he showed up to work one day with his lunch, and he didn't have a lunchbox with him. He said, can I put my sandwiches in your cooler? I said, I don't think that's going to work out so well. But again, we've all gone through this, all through the process that these days were resisting bringing the leavening back into our lives. And that's a lesson we're supposed to learn spiritually, that once God led us out of the bondage of sin, we're not to walk right back in it or let it back in our lives. 1 Peter chapter 1.

1 Peter chapter 1 verse 13.

It says, Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lust, as in your ignorance.

So we had those things that we once did when we were ignorant to the ways of God, when we didn't know any better. And God called us out of that. He said, don't be conformed back to those things. God delivered you from spiritual Egypt, brethren. Don't walk right back into it. Again, it's the message that we should be getting all through these days of 11 bread that we've just walked through. Verse 15, it says, But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy. So again, to avoid backsliding into the world, we need to exercise holy righteous conduct. We need to exercise and put into ourselves the nature in the mind of Jesus Christ. And that's how we resist the leaven and we resist the sin. Jesus Christ was tempted in all ways, and yet he was without sin, because he had that perfect, holy, righteous character. And that's what we need to establish in our lives today.

Romans 13, verse 14 tells us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. In other words, as we grow to become like Jesus Christ and take on his nature, don't provide yourself with opportunities to sin. Don't fall right back into sin. Don't put yourself in the situation where sin is knocking at the door trying to come in. In order to avoid these things completely, if we're to remain unleavened before God. Brethren, if something causes you to stumble and sin, you need to get rid of it. If the internet causes you to breach God's moral standard, shut it off. If the first drink leads to the second, to the third, to the fourth, to the fifth, don't pick up the first. We need to be constantly and actively resisting those things which can be a stumbling block to us. Just like the people of the land could be a stumbling block to God's people, Israel, when he was trying to instruct them on his ways, they had to remove it and put it out completely. We have to remove those stumbling blocks in our lives as well. God has called us out of this world, and the consequences of wandering back into sin is quite dire.

2 Peter chapter 2, it's across the page.

2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 20.

It says, for what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? That's 1 Peter, which has a good application for another day.

2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 20. It says, For if, after they escape the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord, the Savior, Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, a dog returns to his own vomit, and a sow having washed to her wallowing in the mire. Again, it would have been better not to have been called out of this world than to know God's way and return to the ways of the world again. Again, brethren, these days on the leavened bread represent living sin-free lives. And not only do we take in that unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, we could be resisting the leavened all around us on a daily basis. Again, hopefully for us these days have been a vivid reminder that when God calls us out of the bondage of sin, he expects us not to return again. And certainly that is a lesson that we can learn from that example of Jericho.

Brethren, when the sun goes down tonight, the days on the leavened bread will be over for this year. But the days of living unleavened lives will not be. It's not a process that we just walk through seven days. It's a process that could be instilled in us 24-7, 365 days a year. As we go forward on our journey to enter into that spiritual promised land, let's remember the example of Jericho. Let's also remember to apply those spiritual lessons that lead to the leveling of the walls of sin in our lives today.