Joshua Chapters Five & Six
G.S.Munro, Panania-Milperra Anglican Church, May 28th, 2000.
From http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gsmunro/resource.htm

Questions like:
Why does God judge people? Why does he allow them to sin in the first place? How could he instruct the Israelites to slaughter every living thing in Jericho? That's a hard question and one that requires faith in God to ask, let alone to accept the answer to it.

Why does God show favouritism? Why did He choose the Israelites and not the Canaanites who lived in Jericho? Why did Rahab and her family survive while other more respectable people in Jericho died? But as well as these hard questions, the story also gives us some answers, and some solid examples of faith and action. The New Testament looks back at this story and encourages us to follow the example of Joshua and Rahab and the people of Israel. The New Testament sees it in terms of faith working through righteous actions.

I want us to think about two places in the New Testament that interpret and apply the story of Jericho. The first is Hebrews chapter 11 and the second is James chapter 2.

Hebrews 11:
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.
31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

This passage gives us some clues that help us with the hard questions, as well as giving us an example to follow. First, it tells us that it was by faith the walls of Jericho fell.

The story of Jericho's destruction is an example of trust in God. You must act on your faith or it is not faith at all. The Israelites had to give up the normal technology and tactics of siege warfare and do something that seemed like a complete waste of time and energy, namely marching around the city 13 times blowing trumpets. They weren't even allowed to give a war cry, let alone shoot an arrow. To do this showed that they trusted God's promise to give them victory over their enemy instead of trusting in their own ability or strength.

Similarly, Rahab's actions in giving up her own natural allegiance to her people for the sake of faith in the God of her enemies, because she recognised Him as the True God, showed that she was willing to risk death to be counted among His people. It says, " By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient." Her faith was shown in her actions, because she welcomed the spies.

By contrast, notice what it says about those who were killed, those whom God judged. It calls them "those who were disobedient." Those whom God judged and killed that day were Canaanites. God had promised their land to Abraham and his descendants, way back in Genesis chapter 12 to 17, because of the great evil and unbelief of the Canaanites. In fact he waited patiently for 400 years, giving them time to repent, time to turn away from their worship of idols and their disgusting religious practices, which included things like child sacrifice. But they did not repent.

Now you may say, "well what opportunity did they have to repent? How could they obey God if they didn't know about him? After all, God spoke to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to the children of Israel. Well, as a matter of fact, the Canaanites did have access to God. First of all, as Romans chapter one tells us, all people are without excuse, because the Creator God may be perceived by the wonder and glory of what he has made. Psalm 8 declares that the heavens speak forth his glory, and their witness goes throughout all the earth without words. But the Canaanites had more than that. Read the second half of Genesis and you will see that they did have access to the spoken truth about the one true God. First of all, there is that mysterious character called Melchizedek, the king of Salem, who we are told was priest of the Most High God. So in the midst of the land, there had been at least one king who worshipped the true God. Second, Abraham himself spent much of his life living in various parts of Canaan, including the coastal areas that are mentioned at the beginning of chapter 5, and so did his offspring. The Canaanites did have opportunity to see the lives and worship of those who knew the true God. But they rejected that and continued to worship false and evil gods.

The beginning of chapter 5 of Joshua recalls all of this, because we read in verse 2 of the re-circumcision of Israel. By that act they were consciously proclaiming that they believed the promise given to Abraham that he would take the land from the Canaanites and give it to them (cf Gen 15:13-18; 17:1-14). We must not underestimate the sinfulness of Canaan. They worshipped evil god of their own imagination and even sacrificed their own children to them. God gave them time to repent but they would not. But we must also not underestimate the sinfulness of our own generation, our own world.

Our world is like Jericho. Acts 4:12 says that God calls on all people everywhere to repent and believe the gospel, because he has set a day when he will judge the world through his Son Jesus Christ, who died for sins and was raised to life. We, who have faith in Jesus and are trusting in God's promises, are like those Israelites marching around the city. To the world's eyes, being a Christian is foolishness and weakness. They think that all the worldly values they live by are so rock solid. But in the end, we will see the walls of this evil world come tumbling down. The bible says that in the end, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. But for now, we are doing the foolish thing, marching around the city, blowing the trumpet of the gospel.

And, in another way, we are like Rahab the Harlot, inside the city, obeying God by staying within the boundaries he had set - in her case the four walls of her house. That took a lot of faith and courage too. Imagine how they felt, probably huddled together in a corner, as the whole city crumbled and burned around them. Like Rahab, we are in the midst of the city that is marked for destruction, and it takes faith to believe that God will deliver us out of the judgement that is coming upon our world.

It must have been very hard for Rahab to give up her allegiance to her own people. But she knew she must, if she was to have God and be his friend and submit to His will. And God asks no less of us, too. Out friends, our peers, even our own family sometimes, will be deadly opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we will have to choose between allegiance to them and putting our trust in Jesus. Jesus actually said, ''Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; " (Matt 10:37). Many who have become Christians over the centuries have been rejected by their own people, who have seen it as treason. Even today, if a Nepali Hindu converts to Christ, they are put in jail, because it is treason to the Hindu Kingdom of Nepal to reject Hinduism. For a Muslim from places that are under Islamic law, such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Arabia, to convert to Christ sometimes means death at the hands of their own people for the same reason. It was the same for Rahab in our story. Faith in God of necessity meant rejecting her own people because they were against God.

Now as well as being an example of just trusting God, and salvation through faith alone, the New Testament sees the story of Rahab as an example of the righteous actions that come from faith. This is hinted at in the Hebrews passage, where it says, "By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient." That implies that she was obedient, and it tells us that she obeyed God by her action of welcoming the spies. The apostle James makes this even more explicit in James chapter 2. This is what he says, James 2:20:

20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ''Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

We are saved, not because of our own righteousness. That is clear, from both these passages, because they point out that Rahab was a prostitute. She wasn't a morally pure woman. James says, "wasn't EVEN Rahab the prostitute considered righteous…" by her act of faith in sheltering the spies. Now hang on a minute, aren't we saved by faith alone? Isn't that what Paul says in Romans 4? That Abrham was saved by his faith and not by works? Yes, that is true. But it is not true that you can have faith in Christ and produce no righteous actions from that faith. The greatest theologian in the history of the Christian church since St Paul, was (in my opinion) a man named John Calvin. He said this, "We are saved by faith alone. But the faith that saves is never alone." That is, true saving faith will always be accompanied by actions that show your faith to be real and not merely an intellectual belief.

Look at the Israelites. They could have said, "yeah, sure we believe God can give us Jericho without even a fight," and then proceeded either to sit down and do nothing, or to get the siege engines ready and start throwing rocks and arrows and javelins at the walls. Either of those actions - doing nothing, or trusting in their own power to save them, would have shown that they didn't really believe God at all when he told them to march around the city and the walls would fall down.

Look at Rahab - what if she had said, "well, yes I believe that Yahweh, the God of the Israelites, is the only true God. I believe he is powerful and will destroy my people for their wickedness. I believe if I turn to him he will save me and my family." But if she then turned around and gave up the spies to the king of Jericho, or if she didn't do as the spies told her, and tried to escape from the city instead of staying in the house, then her actions would have shown that her faith was not real. That's what James means when he says that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone. What kind of faith is yours? Is it just an academic belief, or a vague hope that God will save you in the end, or does it actually come out in the way you live your life? Does it produce works of righteousness? If your life is no different from those who do not believe in Jesus, then perhaps it is not real faith that you have. That's a scary thought. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead, says the Word of God. Is yours a living faith? If it is, people will be able to see it.

Finally, consider how the story of Rahab the prostitute is a story of mercy and rehabilitation. Rahab started out at the bottom of the heap, as a prostitute, one of the most powerless, degraded professions you can be. But she finished up as a princess in Israel, and her name even appears in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, in Matthew chapter one. Who would have thought that anyone in Jericho, that immoral and idol-worshipping place, could be saved? But God took her from her idolatry and immorality and raised her to new life. Her sins were forgiven, and she became one of God's people.

Such a fairy tale ending can be the finale to your life too. And it could be what God has in store for your friends, or even your enemies - so never write anybody off as hopeless. While there is life, while a person has breath, they have opportunity to repent, to turn back to God, and he will have mercy on them. And God even allows you to be part of that process, by living as a witness to the truth of the gospel, and telling others about Jesus. He is like that scarlet cord that Rahab hung out of her window as a sign to the Israelites that this was the house to be saved from destruction. The blood of Jesus does that for us. When we have faith in him, God sees his blood shed for us, and turns away from destroying us as we deserve. Instead, he mercifully gives us eternal life.

So that's the story of Jericho and of Rahab the Prostitute, who became Rahab the Princess. But it's more than a great plot for a movie. It's a great pattern of what it means to put your faith and trust in God, and of the destruction that is coming to our disobedient world. Have you put your trust in God, like Joshua and the Israelites? Or like Rahab and her family? Where will you be when the walls come tumbling down?

G.S.Munro, Panania-Milperra Anglican Church, May 21, 2000.
From http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gsmunro/resource.htm