When students start a new
semester, they think about how to cope with it first and make certain plans to
execute in order to succeed in classes. When people get a new job, they think
about how to manage it probably for the bright future down the road. New born
Christians are as well thinking about how to live worthy of calling in Christ
in order to please the Lord of salvation. Joshua and the people of Israel stood
the same position where they began a new life in the land of promise after
crossing the Jordan River. God knew what Joshua needed to be prepared and
equipped for the life ahead in the new land where there were the hostile and formidable
enemies waiting for the bloody fight. This short passage lays out the essential
nature of life in Christ Jesus. It’s a completely different dimension of life
because the life in Canaan represents the resurrection life through the death
in the Lord Christ Jesus.
“Now when Joshua was near Jericho,
he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his
hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’ ‘Neither,’
he replied, ‘but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.’ Then
Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ‘What message
does my Lord have for his servant?’ The commander of the Lord’s army replied, ‘Take
off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did
so.” (Joshua 5:13-15)
Before fighting against the city
of Jericho, an invincible fortress, Joshua was in want to find out how to
attack the city. Right at the moment of need, the Lord God met and gave him
what he really needed to know and fully equipped him. First of all, he was instructed
by commander of the army of the Lord that it’s God’s war, not Joshua’s. This
remarkable encounter with a man standing in front of Joshua with a drawn sword
in his hand shows how the Spirit of the Lord leads and guides the people of his
own after they have joined into the kingdom of God. Joshua asked, “Are you for
us or for our enemies?” He eagerly wanted to know whose side the strange man was.
But the man replied, “Neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have
now come.” Joshua thought that he could determine the side either for him or
for his enemy. But it’s not true. The Lord determines whether he put some to
his side and others to the enemy’s. It’s because the salvation of mankind is
solely coming from the Lord God. Prophet Isaiah prophesied the remarkable statement
for all humanity.
“As the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your
thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)
The chief commander of the army
of the Lord is God himself. He came to visit Joshua to assure and change him
that the Lord was the commander of this war against the Canaanites. Joshua
prostrated to the ground in awe and paid honor and respect to the Lord. Then,
he asked the man, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” The
commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place
where you are standing is holy.” Joshua did so. It exactly reminds of Moses
when he went up to a mountain where the angel of the Lord appeared to him in
flames of fire from within a bush (Exodus 3:2).
When Joshua was occupied with
the thought of who were his friends or enemies, God directed him to think that
the place he was standing was holy. It is significant for us to understand that
the nature of Christian’s warfare truly belongs to God. It is God’s holy
warfare. Apostle Paul admonishes the saints in Ephesus to be strong in the Lord
and in his mighty power by putting on the full armor of God, so that they can
take their stand against the devil’s cunning and crafty schemes.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord
and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take
your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh
and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers
of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
realms.” (Ephesians 6:10-12)
It lays out the essential
structure of our life in Christ Jesus. It’s fundamentally fighting the holy
war. The enemy is not our neighbors and other people but the devil who holds
the fortress of darkness and evil. Where we’re standing in the midst of enemies
is the holy place in the sight of God whose throne is heaven and the earth is
his footstool. What is the reason God would destroy the Canaanites? It’s not
for the sake of the Israelites but his name’s sake. God promised Abraham that
he would bring his descendants back from Egypt in the fourth generation for the
sin of the Amorites had not yet reached its full measure (Genesis 15:16). So,
this is God’s judgement upon the peoples and nations for their sin when the due
time comes. Joshua and his people were called to be God’s instruments to be
part of God’s plan. So are the Christians called in this age. The sin will be
judged by the hand of God as prophesied by the Law and the Prophets.
The first thing taught by our
Lord Jesus we shall pray is “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” That
is what Christians are called for. It’s not our name be hallowed but his name
in any circumstance, whether in home, work place, business deal, classroom,
interview, vacation, or anything else. Apostle Paul urges us to live a life
worthy of the calling we have received. What is it? It is, “Be completely
humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” (Ephesians
4:1-2) It’s because God’s name shall be honored and glorified in every aspect
of our lives. Essentially our life in Christ Jesus is a spiritual battle
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly realms. Humility and patience like our Lord Jesus demonstrated
on the cross is the only way to defeat the evil powers of this age.
That’s the essential nature of
the new life in Christ. Our Lord Jesus demonstrated exactly the life we shall
follow now and forevermore. That is the obedience to the Father, the Lord of
glory. Though he was God who is the Judge of all, he did not condemn the fallen
race but offered his body on a cross, shedding his blood for the redemption of
sinners.
“’I have much to say in judgment
of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I
tell the world.’ They did not understand that he was telling them about his
Father. So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will
know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the
Father has taught me.’” (John 8:26-28)
Apostle Peter wrote in his
letter to the saints about the Lord’s enduring love and sacrifice for the sin
of the world in order to make the believers in him righteous and holy.
“When they hurled their insults
at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he
entrusted himself to him who judges justly. ‘He himself bore our sins’ in his
body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by
his wounds you have been healed.’ For ‘you were like sheep going astray,’ but
now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter
2:23-25)
Prayer: Thank you Father for
teaching us the essential nature of the new life in Christ and fully preparing and
equipping us to fight the good fight, participating the holy war of God
Almighty. May your name be hallowed in all circumstance. In Christ’s name. Amen.
March 14, 2016
© 2015-2016 David
Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.
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