Jesus in All the Bible, Joshua

Doug Batchelor: One of the most important topics in scripture is the subject of family. From Genesis to Revelation, family is explained and magnified as being both a blessing and a necessity. There is a heavenly family above the Father, the Son, Holy Spirit, and all the angels; and there are families on the earth in every nation, tongue, tribe, and people. And there's also such a thing as a church family, a collection of people coming together for one specific purpose, to worship God. It's that unity in the assembly, which is of particular importance to God. In Ephesians chapter 4, Paul urges us to, "Keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." If you think about it, this is what composes a home: people uniting to form a family, creating a home.

Friends, Jesus is wanting to adopt you. He's inviting you to join His family. He draws everyone unto Him through Calvary with the intention to unite His people on earth and prepare them for that journey to the heavenly home. It's my hope that today's program will bring you closer to Jesus and inspire you with a desire to be part of His family. And don't forget, stay tuned for a very important free offer at the end of this presentation.

Doug: How many of you know who is the first person to circumnavigate the globe? Surprised you didn't I? Who is the first person to circumnavigate the globe? Noah. I don't know what route he took, but that's a good, clever answer. Yeah, I didn't expect that. We don't know. I don't think he had a sail or a motor, he may have, but that would have been quite a bit of floating. But--all right, someone said Magellan. Correct, but not correct. It was Magellan's party that was the first to circumnavigate the globe. In 1519, five ships with 270 men embarked--they were going to the Spice Islands and they understood at that point that the world was round and they thought it'd be a lot quicker to come back around the back way. Magellan is the one who named the Pacific Ocean, but it wasn't that Pacific, they found out later, and--as well as Tierra Del Fuego and other things.

But Magellan himself did not make it all the way around the world. He got into some little dispute in the Philippines and was killed in a skirmish. The one who actually made it from start to finish, out of the 270 men that started, only 18 finished. Out of the five ships, only one came limping back full of worms and leaking. The men who did--finally get back they looked like POW refugees. They had suffered from scurvy, and war, and starvation, but they were very wealthy because they did manage to bring back a shipload of spices that were worth as much as gold. But the one who made it was actually his navigator, Juan Sebastian Elcano.

Now, when you think about Moses leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land, you realize Moses didn't make it. Moses led them most of the way and he led them out, but he did not lead them in. The one who saw all of the wonders in Egypt and lived all the way through the settlement into the Promised Land was not Moses, it was Joshua. And Joshua is going to be our subject this morning. He is, you might say, a neglected hero in the Bible.

For one thing, you probably already know this, I've said it many times, Joshua's name--if you weren't looking for, how is Joshua like Christ? Well, his name is the same. The name Joshua is--we're used to saying the more Hebrew like pronunciation, more literally we believe it's Yeshua. And, you know, in English we say Joshua. Anyway, so he has the same name. That name is found--Joshua is found 222 times in the Bible. And the word Joshua and Jesus means, Jehovah is Savior. You remember when the angel said to Mary, "You will call His name Jesus for He will save His people from their sins." Notice that not, "In their sins," you can come to Him in your sins, but He wants to save you, "From your sins." Amen? And He is the great successor of Moses and the leader of Israel.

Now, many of us know this story where Moses, before they enter the Promised Land, he picks 12 individuals and you don't get the whole story until you go to Deuteronomy, Moses repeats it. In Deuteronomy, Moses says, the people came to him and said, "Send spies. We haven't had anybody been in the Promised Land since Joseph left and since Jacob left. We don't know what's going on. Things have changed in the last 200 years. So, we need to send spies." And every tribe sort of selected one--someone and Moses approved these selections and they sent these spies out.

But what happened is they picked some spies that didn't have much faith. And as they saw the obstacles, the big walls of Jericho, and the giants in Hebron, and all the war-like people that were up in the north, and they had the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and--I always like to say the termites, and the gigabytes, and all these bites up there and they got scared and they came back and they said, "Oh, yeah. The land is flowing with milk and honey." Two of them carried back a cluster of grapes so big, it took two men to carry one cluster of grapes. And if the cluster was that big, imagine how big each grape was. They're like plums. And they said, "The land to which you sent us to spy is a beautiful land and here's the fruit of it." That's because Caleb and Joshua were the first ones there.

But then, the other ten men showed up and they gave the majority report said, "Oh, it's a land that eats up the inhabitants. They got the giants that live up there in Hebron, and they got the walls of Jericho, and they've got all these warlike nations, and how can we ever do it?" And the people got discouraged and they said, "Oh, why'd the Lord bring us out here?" And everybody wanted to go back and quit, but not Joshua and Caleb. They gave a faithful report. Says, "Now the glory of the Lord appeared in the Tabernacle before all the children of Israel and scared the people." You read in Numbers 14 a curse was placed on all the unfaithful spies and the whole generation that did not believe. They were supposed to go into the Promised Land after Mount Sinai, but because there they believed the negative report--don't let me rush past this.

Okay. I'll--since you insist, I'll stop. They said, the unfaithful spies, "We are not able." Joshua and Caleb said, "We are able." They were all church members. Ten of those leaders said, "We are not able to overcome the enemy." Two of them said, "We are." That is still the way it is today. People do not believe we are able to be overcomers. They'll talk about the grace of Jesus, but Jesus's name means He will save His people from their sins. We are able to get the victory over the enemy. Do not give all the glory to the devil and how he makes you fall. Give the glory to God. He is able to give you victory over whatever you're struggling against. "Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world."

So, we still have people believing the majority report. "Oh, we're not able. We're just going to keep on sinning. We'll just sin a little less than other people." God wants you to have victory in your life. Now, don't misunderstand. I'm not teaching perfection in that aspect, but I hear too many people really making excuses for sin and glorifying the power of the enemy, and we don't spend enough time saying, "God can get us into the Promised Land."

Did the children of Israel have battles going into the Promised Land? They did, and you'll have battles. But did they take possession? Yes, they did. And we can make it, friends. Amen? Well, they had to wander 40 years. But you read here in Numbers 14:30 they all died off. "Except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua, the son of Nun. All the rest," He said, "you will not enter the land that I swear I would make you dwell in." But Joshua Caleb would enter it. So, here, when they came out of Egypt, there was the death of the lamb.

Now, before they enter the Promised Land, there was the death of Moses. Deuteronomy 34. "Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as all the Lord commanded him." He was spirit filled. What does the word anointed or Christ mean? To be anointed with the Holy Spirit. Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost, the Bible tells us. Joshua is anointed with the Holy Spirit so he's Christ-like in that respect. So, Joshua's commissioned, he becomes a new leader and it's his job to lead them into the Promised Land. Now, you know what Joshua does, he does the same thing Moses did 40 years earlier. He's going to send out spies, but he doesn't send 12. He sends two.

How did Jesus send people out? Two by two. He sends these two spies, or two messengers, from Joshua and he hand picks them. They're not voted. They are selected based on their courage and faith. They go and they cross the Jordan River, and when you first read this, and this is in the book of Joshua chapter 2. Now, to get through Joshua, I'm going to have to tell you, I'll read you a couple of select verses, but there's a lot of material.

When you get into Joshua chapter 2, it says they came and they stayed at the house of Rahab the harlot. And when people first read that, they think, that doesn't look like they're on church ministry. Like, why did they do that? But they wanted to go where they knew that, first of all, nobody's going to ask questions. They want to know where there's a lot of information of what's happening. Rahab operated an inn on the wall and they had a quick way of escape if they needed to. And that's where they could find out--get the intelligence on what's going on in the city. Rahab recognizes that they're Israelites and when the king comes, because he's heard word that some young men are asking questions, and they have a Hebrew accent, he wants to arrest them.

She puts her life on the line to protect them and they make a covenant with her. They say, "Okay, because you've done this, it'll be our life for your life." That's the gospel in a nutshell. Jesus said, "My life for your life." They said, "But here's the deal. Take this red rope that you're going to use to let us down the window, hang it in your window so when we come, when Joshua comes, Joshua's coming, we don't know the day or the hour, but Joshua's coming and he's going to take possession of this land. Everyone in the house with you with a red rope will be saved."

It's interesting, at the beginning of the 40 years, when they left Egypt, everyone in the house with the red blood, all the Jews, were spared, all the first born were spared. Now, 40 years later, it's a house with Gentiles and they must have a symbol of the blood, which is the red rope. So, she makes this covenant with them. And Joshua sends these two messengers--who are the two messengers Joshua sent to you and me? The Word of God, the law and the prophets. These are the two witnesses in Revelation chapter 11. The Bible tells us the Ten Commandments are written on two tables of stone. It is a sword with how many edges? Is a double-edged sword. The Bible says, "In the mouth of two or three witnesses let everything be established."

The Bible is often bifurcated into the New and the Old Testament. It's like you've got, you know, two eyes to see, and two ears to hear, and two nostrils to smell fine dinner. And the Lord only gave us one mouth for a good reason. Gets us into most trouble, right? But, so, it's a symbol for the Word of God. These two messengers sent from Joshua, she receives the messengers, the Bible says, and they are saved as a result of that. And she--everyone in her house is saved. So, they make that covenant.

Now, some time goes by, Rahab is inviting people into her house in the meantime. God now gives Joshua some very interesting instructions. He says, "It is now time for you to cross over." He says, "I want you to break camp. All the soldiers are to muster. Everyone is to get the Tabernacle together," all the priests would assemble that, "and I want you to get in order." They had traveled so many times, they had this down to--like clockwork. For 40 years they had been breaking camp and pitching camp, and breaking camp and pitching camp. And they start their procession, very clean, orderly parade, and the priests go out in the front. And contrary to most of the pictures you see, it shows four guys holding the ark. Bible says the poles of the ark were very long. That's because they had three men on each pole, 12 priests carrying the ark. And they went out in front of the children of Israel and they came to the Jordan and Joshua said, "God told us to cross over."

Well, it's springtime and it's flooding. Now, when they first left Egypt, God had to part the Red Sea before they stepped out. Now He wonders, have you learned anything? And so, the priests put their feet in the water, you'll often hear that expression, don't be afraid to put your feet in the water. God does things when you step out in faith. And they put their feet in the water and the waters started to wall up. Now, when they went through the Red Sea, it walled up on both sides. Now, when they go through the Jordan, it walls up just on the side, coming downstream. The rest of it runs off to the Dead Sea and it's like it hit a big piece of glass, like an aquarium wall. And I always like to imagine that there were fish in the river that were watching all this happen and were wondering what's going on. And the priests walk off into the middle.

The Bible says, "The Lord dried the ground," so He creates this, you know, pathway that may be 100 yards wide, because there's, like, 2 million of them. The priests stand there in the middle and all of the nation crosses over. Everybody going from the wilderness to the Promised Land must pass in review of the ark. What is in the ark? The law of God. The Bible says, "We will all be judged by the law of liberty." And then James tells us in the same book that the law of liberty is the Ten Commandments. He names two of the Ten Commandments. It's a law of liberty for those who keep it. But Bible says we are all judged according to our works.

So, they all pass by the ark and when they get to the other side and God--now, I can't help but imagine that the people in Jericho are watching this with great interest. Jericho is not very far away from the Jordan River. They probably saw all the Israelites and all the dust, and they're gathering and they're heading towards the river and they thought, what are they going to do? They're going to drown themselves. Then they saw the river stop and they're coming over. Do you think the people in Jericho were a little nervous by all of this? They knew that the Israelites said, "We're coming back for the land that God gave Abraham." So, God parts the river and they pass through.

The Bible says when we're baptized, we're sort of going from the wilderness into the new experience of the Lord; a death, burial, and a resurrection. So. I really like this next spot. Now, Joshua is getting ready to lead the people as a general against the enemy Canaanites, the Amorites. Here's where Joshua meets Joshua. You read about this here. It says, "It came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho," says, "He lifted up his eyes and he saw this commander," this warlike individual. "And he says, 'Are you with us or you with our enemies?' He said, 'No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have come.'" So, Joshua says, "Are you with us or are you against us?" Didn't Jesus say if you're not with me, you're against me? It's almost the same phrase. And He said, "Take your shoes off your feet."

Now, some people say, "Well, this was Michael the archangel." Are we supposed to worship angels? No. And John tried to worship an angel. The angel said, "Don't do that, stop it." We do not worship angels. We only worship God. Can you say amen? Does it tell us in Hebrews that the angels worship Jesus? Yeah. So when people tell you Jesus isn't God, the Bible says, "Thou shalt worship the Lord God and Him only shall you serve." We are commanded to worship Jesus. Jesus is God. People are always trying to undermine that very important truth.

Sometimes the Old Testament has these Christophanies where Christ appears to His people in His pre-incarnation state. He appeared to Abraham. Amen? Abraham called Him Lord. He's the Lord. He's the one who wrestled with Jacob. Jacob said, "I've seen God." And Manoah and his wife, they said, "We've seen the Lord, we're going to die." So, Christ would sometimes appear in the Old Testament and here He appears to Joshua who's going to be leading armies and He appears as the leader of God's army. This is the one who fought with His angels against the dragon in heaven and He won. Michael, Christ. I'm not saying that Michael, that Jesus, is an angel. I'm saying, Michael is another title for Christ. Sometimes he's--appears in the Old Testament in that category. And so, he falls down, he worships Him. At the beginning when God first calls Moses, does God appear to him and say, "Take your shoes off your feet"? Now, does he appear also to Joshua and say, "Take your shoes off your feet"?

There was a great deliverance that was about to happen through Moses, and now there's a great deliverance about to happen through Joshua. This small nation, comparatively small nation, is going to conquer these entrenched warlike people. It's going to require a miracle. So, now Joshua, after this encounter, He said, "I'm going to give you victory. Here's the battle plan. No general has ever done this before. I want you to get the whole army and I want you to march them up to the walls of Jericho. Don't say a word. Just march," boom, boom, boom, "and I want you to have seven priests with seven trumpets out in front with the ark and the priests are to continually blow the trumpets." Their puckers must have been sore at the end of that day. "They’re to blow on these ram horn trumpets. And then when you come up to the wall of the city, before you get within firing range, I want you to make a right turn and then I want you to make a complete circuit around the city of Jericho."

How many times did they march around the city? Thirteen times. I love that because it always tricks people. They went around the city one time for six days, then seven times on the seventh day. And so, then Joshua gives the signal and he says, "Shout." They all stop and they shout. And those men have been resting their voices, waiting to shout. You got 600,000 men shout. I love to hear a good male choir with, you know, like, 80 men and, you know, it just resonates. And they shouted and those walls that everyone thought was impenetrable, they fell down flat. They all fell in except one little section of wall because it says Rahab's house was in the wall. It's got a window with a red rope and a lot of very anxious people in that hotel. It's interesting what that house had been used for before. You know what a bordello is? Hope you don't know too much about it. Now it's a church and those people that were living in a city of destruction are all going to be saved because they're in Rahab's house.

Now, let me make this really clear. Joshua sent messengers, the messengers received. God has sent His Word, we receive it in our upper room. That's where she hid the messengers. There'll be a shout when Jesus comes, the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout. And the trump of God--will there be a trumpet when Jesus comes? And the Bible says that there is a great earthquake when Jesus comes. Read there in Revelation under the seventh plague. And it says the city of Jericho was burnt with fire, it was given to destruction. That's where "Pilgrim's Progress" gets the idea that Christian is fleeing from a city of destruction. It would all be burnt with fire. Peter said, "The present heavens and earth are kept in store awaiting the judgment of that great day. The elements will melt with fervent heat, the earth and the works therein shall be burned up."

The story of Rahab and what happened there is--it's a symbol of what's coming, friends. Joshua is coming, the trumpets are going to blow, there's going to be a shout, there's going to be a trumpet, there's going to be a resurrection, there's going to be an earthquake, there's going to be a fire. Can you see the story of the Second Coming in that story? And everybody is destroyed in Jericho except, the Bible says, Rahab and her house are adopted into the family. She becomes a mother in Israel and an ancestor of your Savior. Amen. What an amazing story.

You know, Rahab in the Bible is compared to salvation by faith and she's compared to salvation by works. James says she's an example of works. Hebrews says she's an example of faith. And you find her in chapter 1 of the New Testament as well. Interesting. Well, we're not done with Joshua. Then Joshua has his greatest battle. You know, he makes--he forgives the Gibeonites because they make a covenant with them that angers all the other nations. The Bible says all the other nations gather against Joshua like the sand on the seashore and Joshua has to bring Israel. He says, "Do not be afraid of them." God says, "I'm going to give you the victory."

All the nations finally come into this one massive battle against Joshua and Joshua prays during that battle and the sun stands still, he has power over the elements, and the moon stands still. Joshua prays and the river stops walking. You know what the disciples said about Jesus? Even the elements obey him. Jesus is seen in the story of Joshua. It's so amazing, if you think about it. One of my favorite characters from history is a guy named Patrick Gass. Patrick Gass knew George Washington, he knew Thomas Jefferson. He was invited to go on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He was a soldier and he was an expert carpenter from Scottish background. Went all the way from the East Coast to the Pacific Ocean, one of the first people to see it, came back, continued living, outlived Jefferson and Washington. He knew Daniel Boone. He lived on and he knew Davy Crockett, knew Abraham Lincoln.

When he was in his nineties, he offered to fight in the civil war. Fought in the War of 1812, lost an eye. Married a gal at about 65, outlived her, had several children. Can you imagine one person having that much history wrapped up in their life, to see all of that in one lifetime? Think about Joshua. To live as a slave in Egypt, to see all those plagues, to live through that wilderness experience, see all those miracles, the provision of God to see the miracles of victory and going all the way into the Promised Land. Few people had that experience to know so much. The only one I know who knows all is Jesus, amen?

Doug: Are you familiar with the prophetic signs of Christ's return and just how close we really are to the most extraordinary cosmic event in history? Will we be suddenly and secretly raptured as millions are left behind? Or will Jesus's return be as loud and bright as lightning from sky to sky? Well, there might be a million different theories out there, but there's only one Bible truth and Jesus promises, "If we seek, we will find." That's why Amazing Facts wants you to have the rock solid facts on this subject with our newest Bible resource. It's called, "The Day of the Lord." This colorful, fully illustrated magazine contains every fascinating fact you need to know about the when, where, and how of Jesus's soon return. To get your free copy, call the phone number on the screen and ask for offer number 825 or visit the web address. And after you read this incredible resource, be sure and share it with a friend.

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