The Text
New Ground, No Moses, No Manna
Good evening, dear saints. I'd like to invite you to open in your copy of God's Word and join me in the book of Joshua. Joshua, and we will speed right on ahead to chapter 5. As we were singing our hymn at the beginning of service — and when my task on earth is done, when by the grave the victory won, Eden death's cold wave I will not flee, since God through Jordan leadeth me — it is the Lord's nature to lead his people into places they themselves have not yet been, and to teach them in ways only our sovereign God can do, to depend on him in the midst of the circumstances of this world and this life.
And the lessons that are learned by the previous generation, though they may have been learned and learned well, it doesn't excuse us or dismiss us from the very real reality that for each one of us we must learn those lessons for ourselves. And each one of us will be made to learn the lesson to seek him, to follow him, to follow his leading, to know him in communion, and to trust him that he is faithful and he will keep his promises.
As the body of Moses is buried in that valley against the River Jordan, across from Jericho, the Lord himself buried him there. It is thereafter that they are brought into the land. In chapter 1, the Lord confirms his promises to Joshua. In chapter 2, Joshua — who himself was one of the first twelve spies — is now in the position to send out spies of his own. In chapter 3, they cross the Jordan. In chapter 4, they erect a memorial of twelve stones in the midst of the riverbed where the priests bore the Ark of the Covenant and waited, while the Lord, just as he did at the Red Sea, held and dammed up the waters of Jordan that the children of Israel might cross on dry ground.
Chapter 5 begins with circumcision — which the unbelieving generation had neglected for forty years in the wilderness. Now, on the very brink of Jericho, with every soldier of fighting age laying himself up wounded and in recovery, you might picture the men on the wall of Jericho: They are right across the river. And they just... sat down. If there was ever the Lord utilizing, even in the midst of his supernatural sovereignty, psychological warfare, this is surely one place where it is quite evident. Wait until they start marching around the city.
And verse 12 tells us: the manna ceased. If it was a major test of faith to trust God for manna to fall every morning for forty years, what must it have been when it stopped? You've learned that lesson. Now trust me that I will bring you to vineyards you did not plant and fields you did not cultivate. This is a new layer. A new level. And in the midst of all this — no Moses. The nation is looking to Joshua now.
Joshua Lifts His Eyes
And so here is Joshua. The name itself — the same name rendered through the Greek into English as Jesus — means the Lord saves, or Jehovah is salvation. Moses, when he sent him out as a spy, actually elongated his name from Oshea to Joshua, attaching the divine name. And beautifully, it is under that banner, the banner of that name, that the children of Israel enter into the promise.
I don't find it hard to believe that when we see Joshua in verse 13 lifting up his eyes, that means before he lifted them up, he was looking down. Here is the commander of Israel, eyes cast to the ground on the precipice of everything. New ground underfoot. No manna. No Moses. Everything new. Jericho looming. Whatever was going through his mind, the answer is put on full display when he looks up.
And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand.
Not just a man. An armed man. Not just armed — sword drawn, ready for action. And Joshua doesn't hesitate. He goes forward to challenge him. Surely he would have been aware of any military movements. But here is this man, seemingly out of nowhere, sword out and ready. The only question in Joshua's mind: Are you for us or for our adversaries?
And that wonderful answer comes in the King James: Nay. No. I don't represent your interests, Joshua. I don't represent the government of Jericho. As captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. I am the supreme commander over all that belongs to the ranks of angels and heaven and men and nations.
The Christophany: Christ in the Old Testament
Joshua quickly discerns the legitimacy of this claim. As he peers into the eyes of the true commander of Israel, he encounters what would be in the most general sense a theophany — an appearance of the Lord — but in the more specific sense a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This one before whom Joshua falls is no mere angel. When the Apostle John in Revelation fell before an angel, what was the angel's response? See thou do it not; I am thy fellowservant. An angel of the Lord will not anywhere in Scripture receive the worship of men. But not only does this one receive it — he gives a strangely familiar command that belongs to God alone: Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy.
Where have we heard that before? At the burning bush. When Moses' true deliverance of Israel began — not at his failed attempt that ended in the burial of the Egyptian — but when he turned aside in that wilderness and was drawn in to inspect the bush alive and yet burning, and there the command came: Remove thy sandals from off thy feet, for the ground whereon thou standest is holy ground. There Moses was introduced to the God of the fathers, the great I AM that I AM, and from there he was sent forth. Now Joshua will stand in that same holy ground.
Isn't it beautiful to see Christ in the Old Testament? The Lord Jesus would later say: Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.
All over the text, he is there. Sometimes it is vivid prophecy — exact details of his birth, ministry, death. Sometimes there are evident types and shadows. Even in the earlier chapters of Joshua, consider Rahab and the spies: the scarlet thread hung out of her window, lifted up between heaven and earth — a blood-red token of promise, a penitent soul from among the pagans looking to messengers of another world for hope. And the spies hide for three days in the rocks before returning to Joshua with the assurance that deliverance will come. A three-day wait. A scarlet emblem of hope lifted up. The forgiven penitent, a Gentile, brought into the children of God. Behold the picture of your Christ — saving deliverance right there.
And now here: the captain of the host of the Lord. And where is Joshua? Right where he ought to be. Right where we all ought to be.
What Saith My Lord unto His Servant?
Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship. And out of his mouth comes exactly what should beat upon the heart of all those who have truly been approached and undone by this same figure. What saith my Lord unto his servant?
Oh Lord, what is your will? What do you have to say? Here am I, Lord — what do you want from me? What would please you? What would honor you? Where would you have me go? What would you have me say? What is your command? I am thy servant. Not my will, but thy will be done.
And the command: Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. The true and divine Joshua has appeared. And the earthly Joshua is on his face before him.
Joshua who is a type and a shadow, a figure of Jesus who brings us into the promises, is here looking into the fulfillment — not even so much a type, but something that rises to the level of a picture-prophecy: that God would come to earth as a man, and that he would be the captain of the host of the Lord, the conqueror who would bring us into the victories and the promises fulfilled of God.
You Must Learn to Commune with God Yourself
Now here is the great application that flows from this text. Joshua for years had watched Moses pray. For years he had beheld and witnessed the results of Moses' prayers. He had a world-class education in intercessory prayer — a forty-year degree. He was Moses' right-hand man. He was there by his side, keeping his arms lifted up. He saw the results. Deep impressions were left that Joshua could never forget.
But that was not enough. Joshua must learn for himself what it means to commune with the living God. He had to wear out his own path to the throne of grace. He had to know for himself who his God is — the nature of his attributes, the promises he has said he will answer. He had to know how to approach him, and how to reciprocate.
And dear children, every man, every woman, every child of God must learn for themselves what it is and what it means to commune with the unseen Christ. You don't inherit your parents' prayer life. You don't inherit the prayer life of the ministers who poured into you. You don't inherit the prayer life of your mentors. You could be benefited by it, taught by it, moved by it — but you need communion with God himself.
You need to know what it means to cultivate a relationship with him in secret. To turn the Scriptures into prayers. To plead for promises. To not cease until he answers. To have your faith stretched and grown under the furnace of real experience, where you are taught to trust him and to take him at his word and not be moved by the lies of this age — but to be so caught in the assurance that what he says must definitely come to pass, that when the nights are hard, when the tragedies are real, when the tears flow, when you bury that loved one, when you are brought to the end of what your flesh is able to do — you know how to go to him. You know how to plead. You know how to lay hold of the hem of that garment and draw strength and virtue from him.
At some point each of us experimentally must be brought low enough and made to cry: What saith my Lord unto his servant? Does that cry ever come from your heart? Oh God, here am I — what would you have me to do?
Fathers — the life and success of your family will rest upon the real communing connection that you as that leader have with God. Mothers — do you cry for your children at night, not just in emotion, but in communion with God? We will see a revival in our day. It won't come by some great strategy of the flesh. It will come by a people who know their God — who know him and who know how to prevail in prayer with him — who are not relying on somebody else's prayer life, but know how to get to him.
Even in the days of Babylon, he said he would allow himself to be found in prayer. What greater hope need you than that? That crimson thread — that emblem of assurance — is there. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
What is your Christianity? Is it relying upon someone else's knowing God? That won't help you. You need to know him as he is. Therefore seek him while he is to be found.
Closing Prayer
Father, Lord, we need you. Each one of us need you. Of ourselves we can do nothing. All our strategies, all our brilliant ideas — they are nothing. But Lord, let a man, let a woman, let a child take hold of the hem of your garment and plead with you — Lord, that soul will be a great enemy to the kingdom of darkness and a great blessing to the children of light. Let even one of these little ones take hold of you and know what it means to grab hold of the horns of the altar and pull heaven down in their bedroom. Lord, the terrors of hell will shake at the force of that — because it is not the earthly Joshua that the enemy fears, Lord. It is the captain of angel armies whose garment we lay hold upon. That is the source of our strength and our power.
Lord, we have loved ones that aren't saved — they need to be saved. We have family members that are wounded and hurting and going through great tragedies — they need the nearness that comes only from communing with you. Lord, please come and wake us up and give us a spiritual hungering and a spiritual thirsting that will move us. For you said: Draw nigh unto me and I will draw nigh unto you. Help us, Lord, afresh to believe that that is true. In Christ's name, amen.
Brethren, we have heard from the Lord. Let us hear and apply it to our lives.