Lessons from Jerricho

Thank you, Mr. Hallen. Good morning to all of you. Good morning. Again, it's a pleasure to be here, especially on a bright, sunny morning. It's a little different than the last time Sue and I came down a couple weeks ago when it was snowing like crazy. That was a very efficient taking up the offering. It's funny the difference it makes in different sized congregations. It reminded me, I was discussing with, might have been with Mr. Myers sometime recently about, you know, the Passover service and how it goes. The larger the congregation, the longer. I mentioned, when my grandmother was very old, she was infirm. At some parts of her life, she asked me to keep the Passover there with her at home. I remember talking about how, you know, the ministers, they asked a blessing on the bread and they stand there and break it. Back I remember being in a crowd of 600. It seemed like it took forever. I was keeping it with my grandmother. I took a piece of bread and blessed and I went snap. It was broken. So anyways, speaking of bread, I couldn't help but think before services, I saw Mrs. Prater getting her machine up here and from the back, I said, did she bring a bread maker in here? She's ready for the Days of Unleavened Bread to be over, but it was a little different. So of course, we know the meaning of one of the great meanings of this day is about putting sin out of our lives, removing it. And most times it's a hassle. It's a challenge. It can be difficult, but a lot of the things we have to stop doing don't strike us as impossible. You know, in those cases, we could compare it to getting a loaf of bread out of the house. You can open the cupboard. Oh, there it is. Get it out. You know, we can do that. We can, you know, do things like not steal. You know, sometimes lying is a little tougher. There it's like getting the crumbs out from under the couch. It's difficult, but it can be done. But sometimes we face sins that do seem impossible. You know, that might seem like it's looming before you, like an impregnable fortress of some kind. And I think most of us have felt that way at some time when there's something we're trying to overcome. And as we look at it, we feel small and weak. I'm certain that God knew that. When He challenged us to overcome sin and put it out, He wasn't surprised. And I think that's one of the reasons He gives us examples in His Word to show us how things can be done.

And I think that's also, as Mr. Hoover mentioned, why He trying some of the great events that we read about in His Word to coincide with Holy Days. And it seems like some of the really big ones, the big national ones, tend to match up with these Spring Holy Days. And partly, I made a note, besides helping us to learn those lessons, it also provides subject matter for those who have to get sermons on those. But I want to focus on one of those, and if you'll turn to the book of Joshua, I want to look there. Jewish tradition, and it's a tradition and a belief that I agree with, says that the conquest of the city of Jericho matched up exactly with the days of Unleavened Bread.

Now, there's some room for debate, and I'm not going to engage in that debate, but the Scripture doesn't always tell us which day is which as we go through this, but it tells us enough to know that it was that season of the year.

And it also doesn't contradict that it could have matched up exactly with the Spring Holy Days.

Now, I'm not going to read every word, but of course the first chapter of Joshua reminds us that God had appointed Joshua to be the leader of the nation. It's a role that Moses had filled for many years, and this is a huge responsibility. It included leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land after they'd been wandering for nearly, well, I was going to say nearly 40 years. It's been nearly 40 years since they finished building the Tabernacle, but it had been 40 years since they left Egypt, and here they are. Matter of fact, let me read the first couple of verses. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Eternal spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant. Well, spent many years as Moses' assistant, but not anymore.

God told him, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore, arise. Go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I'm giving to them, the children of Israel. Drop down to verse 5. The no 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 leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous that you may observe and do according to the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Don't turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This 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 it according to all that's written in it. For then you will make your way to prosper it, and you will have good success.

I'm going to stop there. Of course, this was for all the people of Israel. But I imagine what it was like for Joshua. No pressure. We've been building up to this for about 500 years. Now it's time to take the Promised Land. One thing we can say, though, is unlike many times in Israel's history, this seems to be a time when the people were cooperative, obedient. They weren't, you know, moaning and complaining and grumbling the way they did so many of the time.

One of the things that stood out is two and a half of the tribes had already inherited their land, as they conquered the land that was east of the Jordan River. They came to the tribe of Reuben and Gad, and then later half the tribe of Manasseh joined in. And I still think it's kind of amusing because they came to Moses and said, we conquered all this land, and boy, this is good land for cattle. And we have a lot of cattle. You know, how about you let us have this land? And Moses was so sure at first, but he talked to God, and the stipulation was, yes, you can have this land, but you're not going to leave your brethren to go fight and conquer the promised land on their own.

You've got to send your armed men. And Joshua reminds them of that, and we pick it up down in, I believe, verse 12. To the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, Joshua spoke, saying, Remember the word which Moses, the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God is giving you this, giving you rest, and giving you this land. So it goes on to say, Your wives, your little ones, they can remain. He gave them time to go cheap folds in houses and things like that. Somebody said, You've got to go and fight.

And they addressed him in verse 16. They answered Joshua, saying, All that you command us, we'll do.

Wherever you send us, we will go. What a wonderful example. Just as we heeded Moses and all things, so we will heed you. Only the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your command and doesn't heed your words and all that you command, him shall be put to death. Just be strong and of good courage.

Again, this had to be inspiring and helpful to Joshua to hear. He's like, Yes, they are going to listen. You know, because Joshua was following a pretty impressive leader. Moses had been in the job 40 years. He's the one that confronted Pharaoh, who held out the rod and turned the water to blood and commanded the plagues. You know, that God said, Hold out your rod and I'll part the Red Sea and all those things. Now it's on Joshua. He's got to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land.

But it's not going to be easy. As I said, some sins loomed before us. He had a couple of huge obstacles. One is that the Jordan River was flooded at that time. And then, if they got past that, there was Jericho, the major city in that area, built up high with strong walls and locked gates. Now, I brought up a little tool to help. I used to get a little kidding in the Portsmouth congregation because you have a lot of ministers who will bring up, you know, dictionaries and concordances and commentaries. And I tend to bring children's stories and veggie tales.

But I wanted to use this to illustrate some of the way they said some things here.

Actually brought some understanding that I hadn't had before. Here, I can show you. This would be like story time. So, Joshua, the leader of the Israelites, had a big problem. We came to the Promised Land because God told us to, but the big city of Jericho is in our way. From the camp of the Israelites, Joshua looked out at Jericho. The city had strong stone walls, tall gates, locked up tight. This was a big problem, alright? Joshua sighed. If only we knew what to do next.

How much is life like that for us sometimes? Although, as I said, overcoming sin, sometimes we do know what to do. It's a matter of, do we do it? How easy is it to do it?

Now, I want to stick to the story. Now, children's stories tend to leave out some of the details, and so they do with the story that's in chapter 2. Chapter 2 of Joshua tells how he'd sent out a couple of spies to scout out the land, especially Jericho. Now, in verse 1, it says, Joshua the son of Nun sent out two spies from Acacia Grove. Our understanding of the Hebrew is that that could have been translated that he had sent them. So, apparently, the story that we see here in chapter 2 goes back in a little bit of time, and then we'll catch up to where they're going to cross the Jordan. But he sent them there, and it says there in verse 1, they went and they came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged theirs. Rahab is called a prostitute. I've heard some people debate and discuss how the Hebrew might mean something else, but a lot of sources say no one means exactly what it says. Now, you might wonder why are these two Israelite men going to her place? I don't think it was just paying customers. They might not have known her profession, or they're undercover. They might have thought, who's going to look for us here?

You know, this is a good place to hide. Whatever the reason might have been, I think it's likely that God guided them to it, because we're going to see that this Rahab the harlot, she was different, different than everyone else theirs. We see if we start reading in verse 8 of chapter 2.

Now, the there says, as they lay down, this is after she'd hidden them on the roof, because the king soldiers were looking for them. I'm not going to focus on that right now, but I want to focus on what she tells them. She came up to the roof and said to them, I know that the eternal has given you the land. The terror of you has fallen on us, and all the inhabitants of the land are faint-hearted because of you. We've heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when he came out of Egypt. That was 38 and a half years ago. No, wait a minute. Let me back up. That was 40 years ago. Sorry, I keep... And when I'm teaching the Pentateuch class, I'm always backing up between the time after they finished the Tabernacle and started actually marching. But anyways, 40 years ago, and the memory was still strong. People were talking about it.

And 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, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed, as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted. Neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you. For the Lord, because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God. In heaven above and the earth beneath. That's a strong statement of faith. Who knows what other false gods they might have worshipped, but somehow Rahab had the faith to say, this God of the Israelites, He is God. She's referenced in Hebrews 11, verse 31. I won't turn there, but there it's referenced as an act of faith. She's in the faith chapter. Here, I firmly believe that God called and opened her mind to some degree and He gave her this amount of faith. There's no way that she would have come up with it on her own that I can imagine.

And so she was different. And I think God was working with her and He led them there.

So she asked for some help. Verse 12, now therefore I beg you to swear to me by the Lord, since I've shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my Father's house. Give me a true token. Spare my Father, my Mother, my Brothers and my Sisters, and all that they have deliver our lives from death. I mentioned her faith. Think of the contrast. Almost everybody in Jericho had faith in those walls and the gates that were locked. They were trusting those to protect them. Rahab was looking for something she couldn't see. She believed this was God, and she was asking for protection. She seemed to not have much doubt that the city was going to fall. Now, the spies did make a promise, and hopefully they were inspired by God as well. They promised they would spare her and her family. They said, as long as they're in her place, and to help them find it, tie this red cord from the window. I find that to be, in some ways, perhaps an interesting parallel with the Passover, when God told the children of Israel to mark their doorposts and lintels with the blood from the Lamb and then stay inside. You go out, you're going to die, or the firstborn would die. If you stay in the house, you'll be safe. Now, I wonder if the men knew how it was that God planned to give them the city. If they did know, I would think maybe they would have said, go someplace else that's not on the city wall. Because it says in verse 15, she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall. She dwelt on the wall. It's very clear. But whether or not God inspired them to promise protection, we'll see later on, He... In the vernacular, we would say, He backed their play. You know, He supported them in that.

And of course, you know, we're going to come back to that later. But, so remember where we left off with the children's story. So we've got this set up. They met Rahab. Of course, she's sending them away safely. This is go hide in the mountains for three days. And then when they're not looking for you anymore, you can go back. So they do go back and they report to Joshua. I'm sure one of the things they reported is, yeah, those people are scared to death of us. They don't want to fight.

But still, at the end of the children's story, Joshua was saying, if only we knew what to do next.

Well, they're going to get an answer.

And it's just, well, sorry, I'm looking for how much of this I want to read.

Because God would appear to Joshua.

Or the one known as Jesus Christ would. And give him information of what he needed to do next.

Oh, now I know why I'm confused, because God had already talked to his son. Forgive me, I'm looking for the appearance. That comes before the walls fall down. First, they're going to get across the river. In chapter 3 and verse 2, after three days, the officers went through the camp. They commanded the people, saying, When you see the Ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the priests and the Levites bearing it, you'll set out from your place and go after it. But leave a space between you and it, about 2,000 cubits by measure. Don't come near it that you may know the way which you must go. So give it room and see where it goes. You haven't gone this way before.

So Joshua tells the people to sanctify themselves. And that's what happened. Without reading it, I'll just mention that the men were bearing the Ark on their shoulders. Now, one thing that's interesting, we tend to imagine what the Ark might look like. But if you go back to when God gave instructions for dismantling the tabernacle and moving it, the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place was always to be brought and laid over the Ark. So the Ark wasn't seen out and open. It had a veil covering it. They could see the outline and the shape.

But they still knew what that was. And the priest walked out there, and as God promised, they walked out and the water stopped flowing. There were probably some people who were old enough that they remembered seeing what happened at the Red Sea. And now, as they're nearing 40, which would be the maximum age of most people, they see the water stop flowing. Somewhere upstream, it starts piling up, and the rest of the water just runs down the channel and leaves it empty and dry, leaving them a place to walk across. Luckily, it's a pretty wide place.

There's about two and a half to three million of them. To make sure that no one would ever forget this great miracle. God said, I'm going to build a memorial. And actually, from what we understand, if you read the whole account, two memorials. He told him, get a strong able-bodied man, one from each of the tribes, and get a rock as big as you can carry, and put it right in a place where the priests stand. I'm sure he let them step aside. I wouldn't like to have that big rock dropped on my foot. So they do that, and it's going to make this memorial.

And, many times, it's probably sticking up above the water. There's this pile of rocks sticking up. People will look at it and say, what's that? Well, this is to remind us for generations that God worked a great miracle. He stopped a river and made a way for us to go across. Even when the river was at flood stage, I've heard some people discuss how that pile would cause a ripple. Even if you didn't see the rocks protruding, there would be that ripple that it's there. They didn't stop there, though. He said, also, from the bottom of the river, I don't know if the same strong men or others grab a rock and bring up, and you're going to build a heap where we camp.

And I can relate to that, actually. I looked in the mirror this morning, and I got a little cut on my cheek. I've been doing something not exactly building a memorial, but in my backyard, I've been trying to pave some area with flagstones. Basically, I've been using creek rocks, the nice flats, smooth. So, yesterday, I spent part of the day lugging rocks up from the creek, you know, and going through the bushes and such. I'm not the biggest, strongest man in my tribe, so I'm sure I didn't have the biggest rocks, but I can relate to them.

So, they would have this always to know this great Lord God, what He did. There is an obvious parallel with Israel crossing the Red Sea, as I said some 40 years earlier, but there's some interesting differences. We might want to remember that before Israel crossed the Red Sea, leaving Egypt behind, they kept the Passover. They kept the Passover in Egypt, and then it was on the first day of unloving bread that they went out, I like the old King James says, with a high hand, they went out exuberant and happy.

God was freeing them, which symbolizes our being freed from sin. Of course, they'd been released, and that Passover lamb that all the family slayed was symbolic of Jesus Christ's blood, which really does pay for our sins. So, we look back to that event, and we see the clear analogy. So, coming out of Egypt, pictures God's people coming out of a sinful way of life, which is what? The days of unloving bread, picture for us. When it was completed, Israel miraculously passed through the Red Sea.

And as we said, that tradition says that it was on the last day of unloving bread, the day that we're keeping today, that they finished coming out of sin, coming out of Egypt, so to speak.

So, Israel had to go through those actions to picture what we must do.

Now, we want to make the note, though, Israel crossing the Jordan wasn't necessarily a picture of coming out of sin, because it wasn't the days of unloving bread yet. You know, Israel kept the Passover in Egypt, and then left and crossed the Red Sea. Here, we're going to see they'll cross the Jordan, and then enter the Promised Land, and then keep the Passover. But we still have some interesting match-ups with the calendar. If you turn to chapter 4 in verse 19, Joshua 4, 19 says, Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped at Gilgal on the east side of the border. We might remember that tenth day of the month is important for God's Holy Day calendar. It was the day when the Passover lamb was to be set aside. They had to set it aside and keep it there for four days before it would be sacrificed. Now, the reference for that is Exodus 12 in verse 3. And so, here at the start of, you could say, the Holy Day calendar or prelude to it, the Israelites did something pretty exciting. They crossed that Jordan. They witnessed a miracle. But they've got more to do, and it seems like they probably set to work at it right away. In chapter 5, beginning in verse 2, at that time, the eternal said to Joshua, make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.

Now, I should say this is the second time for the nation, not a second time for any individual.

So, it didn't mean a second circumcision, but it goes on to explain. So, Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskin, it's called. So, there were a lot of them. And verse 4 says, this is the reason why Joshua circumcised him. All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way. So, all of them who left Egypt had been circumcised. But it says, all the people who came out had been circumcised, but the people born in the wilderness on the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised.

I've often wondered why. Why didn't they circumcise their boys? And to be honest, it doesn't really tell us. Now, we could speculate perhaps it was part of their rebellion. You know, they had refused to enter the Promised Land and they were punished. And God said, you're going to wander for 40 years. You are afraid that your children would be killed by those giants. Guess what? Those children, they're the ones I'm going to bring in. Now, there's no indication that God forbade them to circumcise. I wonder even if some, perhaps some families were diligent and did do so, but obviously the mass, the majority did not. So, now they do, though. As we see in verse 9, I brought my travel Bible. It doesn't turn to me. Then the Lord said to Joshua, this day I've rolled the reproach of Egypt from you. Therefore, the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day. Removing the foreskin is another symbol of removing sin or it says the reproach of Egypt. You could say, finally, Israel has finished what they started 40 years earlier.

Now, I want to note for Christians, we understand from Paul's teaching that circumcision is no longer that particular symbol. Matter of fact, let's, if you will, we're going to come right back here, but I want to turn to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians 2 will read verses 11 and 12.

Now, I always like to make the point that circumcision, we believe for young men, not young men. No, young babies is a good health measure, and certainly I encourage parents to do that, but I remind them it's not a requirement for having a relationship with God. Instead, we have a new symbol. And Colossians 2 and verse 11 says, in him, speaking of Jesus Christ, you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. We could say also without flint knives. By putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him at baptism. In some ways, it's unfortunate they divided that sentence across to scriptures. Because you notice the comma, this is the way of saying the circumcision of Christ is being buried with baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith, and the working God raised him from the dead. So again, I wanted to point that out that while circumcision is a good health measure, we see a symbol now for Christians is baptism, which I like because not only men are baptized, but women as well. We could reference also Galatians 3.28 that there's neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female. We're all one in Christ Jesus. So we all have the token, the symbol of our covenant. But here, the men still needed to be, and they were. And they're preparing. They did this, and apparently they did it either on the 10th day or immediately after. And the next thing on the schedule comes up on the 14th, which gives me the idea that they had time to circumcise and then to heal. Because from what I understand, when it happens as an adult, there's a little healing process that you want to have a few days. But in verse 10, it says, Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover. On the 14th day of the month at Squylight in the plains of Jericho, they've entered the Promised Land, and they all keep the Passover. As I said, the previous generation kept the Passover and then left Egypt. This generation entered the Promised Land and then kept the Passover. So I said circumcision, as with baptism, signifies repentance. And then Passover represents Jesus Christ's sacrifice, the sacrifice that actually pays for sins. But even though now the Israelites have done these important steps, it's not all done. Repentance is very important. Accepting Christ's sacrifice, being baptized, and then taking the Passover is important. But then we have to continue. And that's where I like doing this story rather than crossing the Red Sea, although that's a very good one. They had to march all those days during what was the days of unleavened bread. But here we see that they had to continue striving. Just as for us, we repent. We accept God's calling, we repent of our sins, we are baptized, but it's not done yet. How many of us when we were young thought, oh, it's going to be great, I'll never sin anymore. And then the first time it happens, you say, oh, it's still an ongoing struggle. And there we see the children of Israel are going to keep the days of unleavened bread in a unique and special way this year. So back here in chapter 5, verse 11, of course, the day after Passover is the first day of unleavened bread. They ate the produce of the land on the day after Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they'd 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.

Apparently after the Passover meal, and I wonder if there's some debate on what exact day it was, because they might have kept the Passover, you know, it seems likely at the beginning of the 14th as we do. And so that next morning was still Passover day. And apparently manna was there, but they also said, hey look, they're standing green. You know, I've been dying for some corn, but they had some of both, and that was the turning point. If my timing is correct, then that sundown began the first day of unleavened bread, and there was no more manna. They were eating, and of course they would know, you know, hopefully they would have the command to realize, okay, don't let this sit and rise. You bake it on leaven, and that's what we eat for the next seven days. But they're still wondering, Jericho is still there. If only we knew what to do.

This is where I got confused in my notes earlier. Something amazing happens at this time. I'm sure Joshua was pondering, and we see here in chapter 5 verse 13, it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho. So he goes out and he looks at it. A lot of scholars think they were camped about a mile away. He lifted up his eyes and behold a man stood opposite him with his thorn drawn in his hand. Here we see something about Jericho. He's no wilting flower. Joshua went up to him. Are you for us or for our adversaries? No. He said, are you for our side or their side? No.

So it's not the answer he was looking for, but he continues, as the commander of the army of the Eternal, I have now come. Joshua fell on his face and worsened. What does my Lord say to my servant? Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take your sandal off your foot. The place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so.

Now, some people believe this was an angel sent by God, but I think we understand more correctly that this was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, the one that John 1 1 calls the Word, because we know angels won't allow people to worship them. There's a couple of cases in the book of Revelation where John is overwhelmed and falls down, and the angel says, don't do that. Get up. I'm a servant, too.

And only God can make up the ground holy where he stands, just like when God appeared to Moses in the burning bushes that take your sandals off. The same appears here with Joshua. So God is letting Joshua have some of the experiences Moses had. And, of course, one thing that seals it also, is as we go into the next chapter, Joshua will present the instructions that he gets from this commander of the army of the Lord as coming from the Lord, from the Eternal. And actually, we'll pick it up there in chapter 6, verse 1. Now, Jericho was to surely shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in. Remember, Rahab said that people were scared.

And the Eternal said to Joshua, see, I've given Jericho into your hand, its king and its mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city. All you men of war. You shall go around the city once.

This you shall do six days. And the seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams, horns before the ark. But the seventh day, march around the city seven times. And the priest shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the rams horn. And when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people will shout with a great shout. Then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him. So, this is the instruction. And this is where I have to confess. One of the reasons I brought this in is because I've read this a bunch of times, and I never, I overlooked something that I think it says here. So, this is Joshua going back talking to his army commanders. Joshua told us then, we must march around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day, we'll march around the city seven times. Then the priest will blow their trumpets and the people will shout. The walls of the city will tumble down. I know it's a strange way to fight a battle, Joshua said, but this is God's battle and will obey God. Now, that part isn't so unusual. Although, I wonder, did Joshua really say, oh, this is a strange thing to do? He might have. But what we saw on the next page, surprisingly, it says, then the priest and the soldiers lined up right away. It hadn't occurred to me before that they did it right then. And Joshua tells him, shush, and then they go and it says, left, right, left, right. They're marching around the city. But the fact that, you know, they did it right then, I don't know, for some reason that struck me as different or odd. But here in chapter 6, verse 6, Joshua the son of none called the priest said to them, take up the ark of the covenant. Let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ramsorns before the ark of the eternal. He said to the people, proceed, march around the city. Let him who was armed advance before the ark of the eternal. Verse 8, so it was when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of the ramsorns before the eternal, advanced. And they blew the trumpets and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. And the armed men who went before the priest who blew the trumpets and the rear guard came after the guard while the priest continued blowing the trumpets.

What an example! God said, do this! Something that's admittedly a little unusual and it seems that they got on their feet right then and set to work. I guess I'm a little more amazed than maybe some people because my natural tendency, and I'm sure Stu will attest to this, is when I'm told I have to do something, I like to think about it a bit. Sometimes I'll cook it in my head and say, we're going to do what? And I'll sit and think about it a day or two or a week.

And sometimes that's a good idea, but a lot of times it's not. But it appears that they got God's instructions and right then that day they went out, which seems to be the first day of unleavened bread. As it is, if they were only about a mile away, even if it's in the afternoon when Joshua gets this instruction and brings it back, they've got plenty of time. They all get together, they march, and again, they do something that seems to be unusual in the history of Israel. They follow God's instructions exactly. They're told, don't talk, be quiet. So all the men of fighting age, they form a column in a head of the ark with the priest blowing the trumpets. There's a rear guard and they march off and they circle the city in silence. Well, almost silence. The men are silent, but there's that eerie sound of the shofar. And I'm sure all of us have heard it. I imagine seven of them, maybe it's kind of like bagpipes, where when I experienced bagpipes in person, I was amazed at how loud they are. And a shofar, it seems, can be like that. And they did it once a day. And we wonder what was their reaction of the people in Jericho. God doesn't tell us here. This shows them laughing. You know, they're looking down, says, the people of Jericho walked from the top of the strong walls of their city and laughed. Silly Israelites! They shouted. That's no way to fight a battle. But this was God's battle and this was God's battle. And marching was what God wanted the Israelites to do. So Joshua and the people marched.

I can imagine I'd probably laugh, too. I mentioned veggie tails. I don't know if many of you are familiar. It's sort of a cartoon with vegetables. I've heard of veggie tails but knew nothing about it until about six years or so ago. It's amazing what having a baby in your house and then a toddler will do. They have a similar illustration. They have the men. Oh, they're not men. They're peas. Up there laughing. They sing this song, keep marching, keep marching around our wall, keep marching, but it ain't gonna fall. And of course, they have these strange French accents.

But how many times do we read something in the Bible that tells us to do something like put away all of 11, get it out of your house, and eat unleavened bread for a week? And we tend to think, well, wait a minute. That doesn't sound right to me. Maybe he means to do this, or maybe we could work it around some other way. Not here. And, you know, they're facing a pretty formidable obstacle. As Christians, we want to be like Joshua and the Israelites and say, if God tells us to do something, even if it seems a little odd, we're gonna do it. Here in chapter 16 of still in chapter, sorry, verse 16, still in chapter 6. Actually, let me back up to verse 15, because it says, it came to pass on the seventh day, which we believe is the seventh day of unleavened bread. They're in for a long day. They rose early about the dawning of the day and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. So, the people of Jericho got used to it. Here they come again, they circle around, and they march back, and we don't know what they're up to. But this time, they circled around, and they circled around again, and again, and again, and all the time, those shofars blaring, but not a word, not a chant. Verse 16, in the seventh time, it happened. When the priest blew the trumpets, now Joshua said to the people, shout, for the eternal has given you the city. And that's what happened.

As I said, the scripture doesn't tell us that this is definitely the last day of unleavened bread, but it seems to me it fits, and there's nothing that would contradict it.

In verse 20, it says, so the people shouted, and when the priest blew the trumpets, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, and the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

And 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.

Now, something it doesn't say which must have been true, that the whole wall fell flat, it probably means except that one small part where Rahab's apartment was, because we saw clearly in chapter 2 that it says her house was in the wall. She let the spies down through the window. Here in verse 22, Joshua 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 her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. So this would have only been possible if God had left at least one small part of the wall standing. And archaeological evidence actually supports that. They've discovered Jericho, and as he nodding heads, some of you have read that there's evidence that the walls were destroyed, but it seems that there's one small section, and they say from what they've been able to determine from their findings that it was probably a poorer area of town, which might be where the red light district was. And so it fits.

This shows that, you know, God will honor his commitments. What he promises to do, he will do if the people follow his will. I can't help but finish the story. Here we've got the people shouting, blasting, and it says, Then they heard a quiet rumble. The rumble grew louder. The strong walls of Jericho began to shake, and the tall lock gates began to rattle. Then suddenly the city walls toppled with a crash and a roar. Because they had obeyed God, Joshua and the Israelites won the battle. They hurried into the city with cheers and shouts, thanking God for the victory. And that's where the story ends for the children. It doesn't say what they're doing with those spears and swords that they're waving around, which is probably just as well. There's some things we want to wait until the kids are a little older to discuss. But it's something that we should be aware of.

And I think it's an important part of the spiritual lesson we can learn from the conquest of Jericho. Because I've been commenting on some lessons as we've gone through, and of course here we're at the end. But there's still, I think, two important lessons that I haven't necessarily discussed. And the biggest and most obvious, I think, fits with the idea of the days of Unleavened Bread. In my introduction, I mentioned while some sins aren't so tough, you know, we can apply some willpower and just stop doing them. Some, as it are like an impregnable fortress, like that city of Jericho. It's there, and it's tall, and it's strong. And overcoming some sins just seems to be a task beyond our abilities. Now we have to overcome sin. We have to change our way of life. We have to stop sinning. We have to adopt God's way. We have to learn and adopt the way of give, the way of love.

Truth is, we cannot do it. We can't do it entirely, not by our own power. And that's an important lesson of the fall of Jericho. You know, Joshua and Israelites, you know, they saw those city walls, they probably looked, as they said, at the walls how thick they must have themed and the gates.

And maybe they started thinking of ways, well, maybe if we lay siege, we could start digging trenches. Maybe, you know, maybe we can invent catapults and things.

But even if they thought it all out, they would have realized, we don't know how to do that stuff. We've got no training. This is a big job. We don't have what it takes. We don't have the tools, the resources, the know-how. And they said they didn't, but God did. And He showed them, very clearly, that He had the power to do things that are impossible for mankind.

He could make it possible for them to do the impossible. And it's sort of like that for us in trying to root sin out of our lives. It's a task that's just beyond our ability. We're trying to do the impossible. But with God, all things are possible. All of us have spins. And Romans 3, verse 23 tells us that. And I like Romans 3, 23 fits with Romans 6, 23. And those are two of the original grandma scriptures. I don't remember if I explained grandma scripture to the term. I started using it in class because my grandmother was the first in our family who was called into the church. And when I was about 10 years old, my sister and I would be there. And she started teaching us certain scriptures that we memorized. And so now that when I talk with the students at ABC, I refer to these as grandma scriptures. There are other scriptures worth memorizing, but the ones that I remember from the time I was 10 hold a special place.

And we understand. We've all sinned. We've all learned the death penalty. The wages of sin is death. We acknowledge that when we are baptized. We remind ourselves again when we take the past over. But we also realize it's not over. There's this ongoing struggle to overcome sin. And we can continue to count on God to do what we couldn't do. To do for us what we couldn't do. We couldn't pay for our sins and still live. That's why Christ was crucified. He lived a life without sin. He was our creator. He paid the penalty so that we wouldn't have to. We'll see that expressed in Romans 5 verse 10. Romans 5-10. I believe I read the scripture when I was last down, but it's a scripture we could read every day and it wouldn't be too much. It says, For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

And that's important because just having my past sins paid for, that's a great thing. But if that's where it stopped, it would leave me as the same person who would just go and sin again.

Who would even want to sin again? But if I'm saved by Christ's life, his new life, that's what can change me into a person who doesn't continue in sin. And that's expressed in Galatians 2 and verse 20. You'll turn over there or just let me read it to you. Galatians 2-20. I mean, this significantly is not a grandma's scripture, but I remember one of my favorite instructors in Ambassador College told us over and over again that this was his favorite scripture, and it stuck in my memory. It says, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

We understand that this doesn't mean, you know, some weird or unusual thing. On that last Passover that Christ kept with his disciples, he started telling them about a comforter he would send. That he said, I'm going to go to my father, but I'm not going to leave you alone. And soon afterwards, of course, the next Holy Day on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit did come, and God dwells in us through that Holy Spirit. And that's what makes the impossible possible. I'll just read Philippians 4. No, actually I'm going to turn there because my notes say Philippians 4.13, and then I'll get scribbled out and it says 3.13. I hate when I do that.

Obviously, that one wasn't a grandma scripture.

No, it's 4.13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Actually, I think I wanted to read 13 and 14 also in chapter 3 verse 13 because it reminds us of how we're continuing the struggle.

Philippians 3.13 says, brethren, I don't count myself to have apprehended. One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, you know, are past sins that are forgiven, reaching forward to the things which are ahead. I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. That's what we want to do. And along the way, we're facing some very difficult battles. If you'll turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, we want to be reminded of that. That we're facing impregnable... That boy, that seemed easier to say when I wrote it down. ...impregnable fortresses, you know, built tall and strong and locked up. So we're fighting a battle, you know, even though our sins have been forgiven. 2 Corinthians 10 beginning in verse 3.

Paul reminds us that it's not a battle with spears and swords and shields. He says, though we walk in the flesh, we're still human, we do not war according to the flesh.

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. That means they're not physical. But they are mighty in God for the pulling down strongholds.

Again, what strongholds? Not a city, not masonry walls and such. But, as he says here, well, he'll say, where are these strongholds? Well, what we have to do in verse 5 says, casting down arguments, every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. There's some of the strongholds we have to overcome are in our own minds, our own thinking. We need to bring every thought captive. And that's where I say it's impossible to do. And for each of us, it might be different. For some, it might be a temper that can get out of control and lead to anger and sin through that. Some people have certain challenges as far as keeping the Sabbath that other people don't. There are so many behaviors that can become addictive. Some things that aren't necessarily harmful or sinful on their own that can be if they're out of hand, like alcohol and other things. There are sexual temptations, especially in this world today, and temptations for lying and stealing. And again, it's what's in our mind. Remember in the Sermon of the Mount when Christ discussed what we call the spirit of the law. He didn't use the term, but he said that to look on a woman to lust after is as bad as committing adultery. He said, if you hate your brother in your heart, you might as well have killed him.

How hard is it to measure up to the standard of Jesus Christ in all these ways?

The answer is, it's impossible. That's how hard it is without God's Holy Spirit.

It's impossible without the mind of Christ, but with God, all things are possible.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I mean, read that off my notes. I wish I'd come up with that, but obviously, you know, I copied it out of Philippians. Whenever we're struggling with a particular problem, a type of sin, sometimes it can help to think about Jericho, as Joshua and the others were looking at that obstacle that was impossible. They didn't have what it took. They didn't have dynamite.

They didn't have helicopters to land them on the other side of the wall.

You know, they couldn't destroy that city, but God could, and God did.

Whatever sin it is that I can't conquer, God can, and God will.

But I don't want to give the impression that, oh, great, God's going to do it for us.

God, I'm going to go take a nap. Call me when it's done.

You know, that's another important lesson about the Battle of Jericho.

God knew he was going to knock down the walls, but he didn't tell the Israelites to just stay at camp and I'll give you a call when it's done. He made them participate in the battle.

He made them get up right now and march and bring the Ark of the Covenant, get some people blowing horns, and they marched for seven days. You know, I believe the seven days of Unleavened Bread.

And again, my personal speculation, I've said this many times, I think one of the reasons that God might have made this festival last seven days is because overcoming sin takes time. You know, it's a process of growing, and I wish it were only seven days, but it's all our life.

Do we have any doubt that God could have toppled the walls on day one? I'm sure he could have.

But he's teaching us, and we can see in the example of the story, that we're in it for the long haul.

We're ongoing all through our life, but ancient Israel had to do more than just march, even.

When the walls fell flat, they still had work to do. And it was a grisly, dirty, dirty, dirty, messy work that we don't like to talk about. And that's why the children's stories leave that part out, which is okay. But we don't want to ignore the fact that they still had their part to do. I don't want to focus on bloodletting and gore. And I don't want to imply that the Amorites and the Hittites and all the otherites were less worthy of God's mercy than we are. God had a plan. He has a plan. They're going to come up in a resurrection, in a world tomorrow, that's going to be a much better world than they could have lived in then. So they weren't destroyed because they were so much more deserving of death or less deserving of mercy.

But God has a plan. He has firstfruits. Of course, looking ahead to the next Holy Day.

And it's worth mentioning, you know, that even after Jericho fell, they hadn't conquered the Promised Land. They would have to go on and keep on fighting. There were more battles. They had to conquer AI and learn their lessons there. They had to muddle through the whole process of being deceived by the people of Gibeah and Gibeah or Gibeon. I didn't look it up. And then learn, okay, God wants us to do things his way and not compromise. And then they had the Southern Battle and then the battle against Hotzor and all these others, which you can tell I don't have them all memorized. But there's something for us to consider. You know, God will do for us the things that are impossible, the things we can't do, but we have to do our part. We have to struggle. We have to overcome. We have to exert ourselves. I want to turn over to Romans chapter 5 in verse 3.

And see, it's not just because God wants to see us tired or wants to stretch things out until he figures out what's happening next. This is for our own good. Romans 5 beginning in verse 3.

It says, I'm speaking a part way through the sentence, we glory in tribulation. Knowing, tribulation produces perseverance. Perseverance, character. Character, hope. So we're building and growing through this. Now, hope doesn't disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us. I think this relates in some ways to the reason that we do have to overcome sin. Again, God could have made it impossible for us to sin, but then we wouldn't have choices. Instead of having children come into his family, he'd have a bunch of trained pets or robots. He wants us to know what sin is, and through the process of experiencing its bad results and fighting against it, to know that we don't want to sin. You know, it's part of that building character, but he wants us to make that choice.

And along the way, as I said, he'll do for us the things we can't do for ourselves, but he wants us to do the things that we can do.

I think one of the scariest things about Christianity is we often don't know which is which. You know, I don't know if I can't overcome something until I try, and sometimes then I know. So we have to take on every single fight. Whatever stronghold, whatever thought that isn't captive to Jesus Christ, we've got to go in and fight that battle. Work to overcome sin, trusting that God will be there for us. As it says in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13.

1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13. There's a reminder that God's miracles are available.

And we're not going to be left high and dry. He wouldn't let the children of Israel march around Jericho, and then nothing happened. And be that way for us. 1 Corinthians 10 13.

I wonder if I meant 2 Corinthians. Oh, no wonder I'm not looking in this chapter. There we go. No temptation is overtaken you, except such as is common to man. But God is faithful. He won't allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. God's not going to give us a war or a tower stronger than we can take. He'll make a way. If Paul had been talking about Jericho, he might have said, God's not going to give you a challenge you can't conquer. If necessary, he'll knock down the walls. But we have to do the marching as Christian soldiers, even when we see the walls standing. God will destroy them, but it doesn't leave us without any battles to fight. Matter of fact, it reminds us in the story, as I said, we read up through the sixth chapter of Joshua, but there's several more chapters, more battles to fight. And then after God had given them the Promised Land, the Israelites had to go on and struggle against the Midianites and the Philistines and the Moabites and the Ammonites at different times. And so do we. We have to continue going on our struggle and fighting. But I think that's appropriate.

We're at the end of the days of Unleavened Bread, and it's easy to think, oh, it's wrapped up. I can get out the bread maker, you know, and have some bread. But we also want to look ahead, you know, to the fight that's not over yet, the things we still have yet to conquer. And the fall of Jericho gives us some concrete demonstration, I think, of all those, several of those principles. As I said, this book says that they came to the Promised Land, but there was a big problem. The big city of Jericho was in their way. They didn't know the solution from the start, but God did. He had a plan right from the beginning. God was always more willing to fight Israel's battles than they were willing to trust Him to do so. Of course, they were unconverted, then they didn't have access to His Spirit the way we do. But sometimes we forget. Maybe I should say it this way. Sometimes I forget. And I get frustrated. It's like, Frank, what are you thinking? You don't have to do this all on your own. God is willing to fight your battles. He's willing to show us how to live and help us. He teaches us the best way. And we have huge challenges.

We have challenges that we can't overcome on our own, but the good news is we don't have to.

He's with us. We have to do our part. Oh, I do have one more scripture. If you want to turn to 1 Corinthians 15, as I said, we have to fight the good fight. We have to endure to the end.

We have to never give up. But I wanted to close with the words of 1 Corinthians 15, verse 57. This is what we have to look forward to in fighting these battles.

It's short but sweet. 1 Corinthians 15, 57 says, Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.