Joshua is an exciting book in many ways, particularly from a Jewish perspective, since it describes God fulfilling one of His promises to Abraham and his descendants. Following many years in Egypt, some as enslaved people, and 40 years of wilderness wanderings, God finally allowed the Israelites to cross the Jordan River and claim the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership.
For the children of Israel, it was a time of victory and joy. However, for the inhabitants of the Promised Land, it was a time of judgment. For over four hundred years, these people had lived in rebellion against God, resorted to worshipping idols, and sacrificed children.
It’s not as if they hadn’t had time to change. When God first made his promises to Abraham prior to his descendants living in Egypt, God spoke about the evil of the Canaanites, saying their sins had not yet reached their full (Genesis 15:16). The Canaanites had had several hundred years to repent but instead had reached a point where the only proper response for their level of sinfulness was judgment through the dispossession of their land and military defeat.
For you, who are God’s people today, you have not been ordered to conquer through violence. But that does not mean you are not part of an advancing campaign. God’s kingdom is advancing worldwide and bringing people into submission to Christ by means of love, truth and righteousness. Nevertheless, even though Christians are not physically at war, you still face significant risks. You are at risk persecution, rejection and, in some circumstances, death.
Additionally, you are at risk of falling prey to spiritual forces that seek to tempt you with evil, discourage you, and ultimately cause you to abandon your faith. Yet despite these dangers, as a Christian, you can stand firm in your faith and continue to advance the kingdom of God if you continue to embrace and practice the principles taught throughout the Bible. One of the Biblical books that can provide you with helpful principles as you battle spiritually is the book of Joshua.
So, what can you learn from the book of Joshua to help you stay victorious in the good fight of faith?
1. You need to be courageous.
Sometimes, it is easier to run with the crowd and not stand out. However, that is not what God has called Christians to do. Christians are to be light and salt in this world, which means being willing to be different – sometimes radically so. It also means being ready to reach out to people with the gospel message and saying no to people who invite us to participate in worldliness, sin and excessive and uncontrolled activities. It also means being immovable in your faith and standards when community groups and governments impose their agendas on you and threaten you to conformity. All of this takes courage.
In the book of Joshua, you find that the Israelites were about to face many enemies and temptations in crossing over to the Promised Land. Instead of being intimidated by the number of enemies and the struggle to conquer the Promised Land, God commanded Joshua in chapter 1:6-7 to “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers.”. Be strong and very courageous”. God also repeats this command in Joshua 1:18 saying, “…be strong and courageous!”
As many have pointed out, courage is not necessary the complete absence of fear. However, it is the ability to be valiant and continue forward often despite your fears. Unfortunately, when it comes to your Christian walk, there will be times when fear will tempt you to hide your faith and compromise your standards. However, you must resist. You must continue to be strong and courageous despite what you may face. You must continue to live openly about your faith and boldly live according to God’s standards
2. You need to meditate on God’s will.
There seems to be a significant difference between reading God’s word and meditation. Not that a general reading of God’s word has no value; It does. A broad reading of scripture gives you a good overview and a sense of the various contexts. However, at some point, to deepen your faith and obedience, you need to go beyond general readings and learn to meditate on scripture. Many Psalms speak of meditating on scripture and describe its spiritual benefits. For example, take a look at Psalm 1. In this Psalm, you read that the person who mediates on the scriptures regularly is like a well-planted tree positioned amidst all the resources it needs to grow strong and bear fruit at the right time.
But what is Biblical meditation? How does this differ from other forms of meditation taught by various religions and communities? Biblical meditation is the process of deeply thinking about a passage of scripture, pondering its meaning and contemplating how to apply it to your life. It is a repeated process that often involves probing a text with questions and considering possible answers. Instead of emptying your mind or reducing your thinking, which is common with many ancient and modern kinds of meditation, Biblical meditation involves filling your mind with scripture and mulling over it. When you meditate on scripture, you let God’s word assimilate into the core of being until it permanently becomes a part of who you are.
In Joshua 1:8, God tells Joshua, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you be prosperous and successful.”
One of the keys to Joshua’s success in his leadership of Israel was spending time studying and thinking about God and His will every day. Doing so allowed God’s word to guide him every step of the way. So likewise, in your efforts to carry out God’s will as Christians and to advance the kingdom of Christ, you must find time to meditate on God’s word daily. Only when it resides deep within you, will you be able to live faithfully in difficult times and stand up for God when appropriate.
3. You need to demonstrate your faith.
A lack of faith in God’s abilities kept the children of Israel out of the Promised Land for forty years. But under the leadership of Joshua, the children of Israel would demonstrate great faith as they conquered the land of Canaan. One thing that is clear is that true faith moves people to act. At the beginning of Israel’s campaign, you read in Joshua 3 that the children of Israel were on the eastern bank of the Jordan River. Preventing them from crossing was the fact that it was the time of year for flooding (Joshua 3:15). Yet despite this, God commands the Priests who carried the ark of the covenant to go and stand in the Jordan River. As soon as they touched the water’s edge, the water stopped flowing, allowing the children of Israel to cross over.
It is common during floods for rivers to widen significantly as their banks are breached, and the rapid flow of water to trigger dangerous conditions and carry all kinds of objects along with it. I imagine anyone receiving a command to stand in a flooded river would be a bit scared. Yet that is what God wanted the Priests to do while carrying the ark of the covenant.
Interestingly, it wasn’t till the Priests put their faith into action and touched the water with their feet that we see God act. You see, God often requires you to demonstrate your faith before He acts (In the New Testament, Baptism is where people demonstrate their faith in the gospel message and receive salvation). So, no matter how much the Priests believed in God, it wasn’t till they showed their faith that God responded powerfully.
Another example of the children of Israel acting in faith is found in Joshua chapter 5. This chapter describes the children of Israel coming to Jericho, a walled city. To take this city, the children of Israel needed to get past the wall. So rather than attempting to scale the wall, God tells the children of Israel to walk around the city each day for six days. On the seventh day, they were to walk around the city seven times with the Priests blowing trumpets. When they heard the long blast of the trumpets, everyone was to shout. When they did, God caused the walls of Jericho to fall, allowing Israel to conquer the city. Notice it wasn’t simply believing in God that caused the walls to come down. They didn’t stay back at camp, reminding themselves of their faith in God. No, they were willing to demonstrate their faith in God through obedience.
From that moment on, Israel conquered the Promised Land with many acts of faith. Yet, despite these examples of faith, Joshua’s faith and faithfulness till death are the most notable to me. So many people throughout history have walked by faith and experienced the greatness of God, only to abandon Him in their later years. Yet Joshua and the other leaders kept their faith in God and continued to serve Him until their death.
Like Joshua and the children of Israel, to stay victorious for Christ you need to continue to demonstrate faith by being obedient.
4. You need to take sin seriously.
Sin and its consequences don’t just affect the person sinning. It impacts other people and can affect entire communities. In Joshua chapter 7, the Israelites faced their first defeat in the Promised Land. This defeat was the result of one man’s sin. Achan disobeyed God by keeping some of victory spoils and hiding them in his tent. This sin caused the whole of Israel to suffer. To publicly make the person responsible known, God made every tribe, clan, and family present themselves before Him. Through this process, God revealed that Achan was responsible for Israel’s defeat and the loss of God’s protection.
As a result, Achan and his family were stoned, and the bodies and everything he owned were burned. Of course, when you read this passage, the severity of the punishment is frightening. Yet as each tribe presented itself before God, there was ample time for Achan to come forward and confess. Perhaps God might have been gracious towards him had he done so. However, he didn’t and being a crucial point in the history of Israel, he was punished. Achan’s death was an example to all that sin is serious and must be taken seriously. A similar circumstance happened in the church’s early history where Ananias and his wife lied to the apostle Peter and, consequently, the Holy Spirit (Acts 5). As a result, both Ananias and Sapphira lost their lives and became a warning to the church throughout all generations not to take God’s kindness for granted.
For you who are Christians today, it’s easy to think that just because Christians are under grace, you don’t need to be as careful about sinning as those in the past. However, such thinking is immature and dangerous. Grace allows you to be in a saved position, but that doesn’t mean the consequences of sin can’t still impact you or infect you to the point that you fall from grace. As Paul says to the Corinthians, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall”.
5. You need to claim God’s blessings and enjoy them.
The book of Joshua, from chapters 12 to 19, describes the divisions and allotments of land for each tribe and family. This land was their inheritance and the fulfilment of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was their God-given right to claim their allotted land and enjoy it.
After gathering and addressing the Israelites one more time in chapter 24, Joshua dismisses the children of Israel to return to their inheritance to dwell in it and enjoy the blessing of it.
God has provided Christians with so many blessings in Christ. All of these are provided for your benefit and for you to enjoy them thoroughly. Therefore, claim every blessing God has given you in Christ, and enjoy them, offering praise and thanksgiving to God.
6. By being willing to stand with God alone.
One of the most familiar passages in the book of Joshua is chapter 24:14-15. This passage is part of Joshua’s final speech to the children of Israel as they settle fully in the Promised Land. Joshua says, “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the River and in Egypt and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
By this time in history, Joshua had proven that he could be strong and courageous. He knew who God was and what God could do, and he had reached a point in his life where he was unwilling to serve any other god. He was prepared to do this, even if every other Israelite turned their back on the one true God.
Even though Joshua spoke these words to the children of Israel, they are still relevant to you who are Christians. It is common for Christians to feel pulled by the tide of this world towards sin and to worship and serve the gods of this modern age. These gods include humanistic philosophies, false ideologies, lust, greed, hate and selfishness. So, you have to choose every day. Will we serve these things, or will we choose God? But, of course, in choosing God, you may have to stand alone, just as Joshua and his family were prepared to do.
Conclusion:
So, what can you learn from the book of Joshua to help you stay victorious in the good fight of faith:
1. You need to be courageous.
2. You need to meditate on God’s will.
3. You need to demonstrate your faith.
4. You need to take sin seriously.
5. You need to claim God’s blessings and enjoy them.
6. You need to be prepared to stand with God alone.
