Good morning. If you would turn in your Bibles to the end of Joshua chapter five, we’re going to look at two verses in chapter five and then move into chapter six and just kind of a review. We’ve looked at how Rahab was justified by faith. We looked at a Christophany, which we’ll look at again here this morning, and we saw that the Israelites went all in in faith and crossed the Jordan, and we saw how the things that the Lord instituted for us to remember back to who Jesus is and what He’s done. And today’s sermon title is a “Striking Display Of Grace – Salvation Through Judgment” and again, did not say “from” judgment. It is “through” judgment. In other words, we have a front row seat to God judging His enemies, and so we’re going to begin Joshua 5:13-14 and again let me also make this pre-statement. I know you think you know the story of Jericho. We’ve read it in children’s Bibles. You probably have seen a cartoon or two. We need to let the story grow up. Let’s read all of the words to understand what is happening, so “Joshua was by Jericho. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man.” This man is in fact Jesus Christ, a Christophany. We had a sermon on this. I’m not going to go back, but the pre-incarnate Christ who appeared to Joshua in human form, not human nature, and so Jesus was standing before him “With a drawn sword in his hand.” Obviously, He is a divine warrior. “And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, ‘Are you for us or for our adversaries?’” Obviously, Joshua didn’t know who He was yet. “And He (that’s Jesus) said, ‘No, but I am commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.’” In other words, it’s not as if Jesus is for the Israelites, nor is He for Joshua’s enemies. It’s the opposite. Actually, the question should be: Are you lining up behind Jesus? Are you lining up in front of Jesus to resist Him? “And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to Him, ‘What does my Lord say to His servant?’” If you want to talk about the battle of Jericho, here it is. Think about that. This is Joshua humbling himself before the King of Kings and the Lords of Lords. We we’ve often referred to this. It’s the will at war. You have two options. First is pride. Second is humility. Joshua chose humility. He bowed himself to the Lord. And what comes with humility? Grace.
Now let’s look at the people. There’s a summary statement in the book of Hebrews 11:30, and it says this: “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.” Now it doesn’t mention who this is, but obviously that’s the people. The people by faith. Now is faith the hero? Again, this is not faith in faith. The key is obviously who or what the people put their faith in. And remember, we’ve already seen Jesus is on the scene. He has a drawn sword in His hand. He is ready to execute justice. He’s going to give them a battle plan. He, in fact is the one who’s giving them the promise they can depend on. The people, on the other hand, what’s their part? They believed. They believed again with empty hands. They simply received that which Jesus was giving. So, Joshua 6:1-4, “Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel, none went out and none came in.” Let me say these two things can be true at once, you can be very afraid of God’s judgment and never repent and believe. Those seem contradictory. Jericho. They knew what was coming their way. How do we know? We read that when we looked at the story of Rahab. They were fearful. They knew what was coming, and instead of running out towards God, beating their chests and say, “I humble myself. Have mercy on me.” What did they do? They locked the doors, if you will. They boarded up everything. They depended upon their fighting men. Oh, ladies, gentlemen, boys, and girls. Oh, here’s a bit-a bit of a tip, if God is coming against you, run and repent. Just do it. Run and repent. You can’t stop Him. You can’t defeat Him. You cannot hide from Him. We see this though in Jericho, and if you will remember, by faith that was the war of the will of the people. Did they in pride say, “You know what? We’ll do it ourselves.” No, they did it by faith. In other words, they humbled themselves underneath Jesus. Here is the people of Jericho, if you will, the will at war. What did they do? Did they humble themselves in humility? No, they actually in pride. Yes, they were in fear, but in pride they locked their doors and say, “You’re not coming in here.” Verse two, “And the Lord said (again, this is Jesus to Joshua) ‘See, I have given Jericho into your hand.’” There’s the promise, “I have given Jericho into your hand.” Who gave Jericho? Jesus did. And notice this is past tense. He did not say, “I will give.” He says, “I have given.” Why? Because with God, it’s a done deal. This is His plan, masterfully designed. He has given Jericho. Notice into your hand, Joshua’s hand. He is in fact the leader, and that includes its “King and its mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city. All the men of war going around the city once. Thus you shall do for six days.” Interesting. That’s a very unique battle plan, is it not? Joshua 6:4, “Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram’s horn before the Lord. On the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priest shall blow the trumpets.” Again, we’re still in the midst of Jesus telling Joshua what the battle plan is, and here is the key: the ark of the covenant of the Lord, representing what? The very presence of Yahweh in the camp. And I think you would notice there is a preponderance of the number seven, seven priests, seven trumpets, seventh day, and on that seventh day, seven times. Is there importance in the number seven? Yeah, there is. We see it throughout Scripture that seven points to completeness. We saw it about two weeks ago, where in the Sabbath rest six full days of work and then rest, similar to the full span of Jesus’s work of redemption, and then He rested. And also remember, last week we had Passover. What follows of that, of course, is the seven days of unleavened bread, where they are to rid all evil. And so, what we see here is Jesus fulfilling this, and we also see the trumpets were used to number one signal similar to what God did on Sinai, signal that God was speaking, and we see it even announcing Jubilee, where there is salvation, where there is liberty, but there’s also judgment at the same time. You can see that in Isaiah 62.
Joshua 6:5-21, “And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn when you hear the sound of the trumpet. Then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up every one straight before him.” And so, you have the city of Jericho, and it wasn’t what we know, a large city, but it had a very formative wall. In fact, they say it’s a double wall. And what the people were to do, they were to march around it. And on the seventh day, the seventh time around, when the walls came down, if you notice, here’s what they do: they just go straight in, straight in, to do what God told them to do. Verse six, “So Joshua.” Okay. So, we just finished what Jesus told Joshua. At least what was recorded for us. We’re going to see more details in a moment. And what did Joshua do? Did Joshua say, “You know what, Jesus, I got a better plan.” Or, “You know what? Your plan’s okay. Let me add a few things.” No, what we see here is the faith of Joshua. He does exactly what Jesus commands. In fact, he meticulously carries it out. Notice, he “Called the priests and said to them, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant (again, the center,) and let the seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram’s horns before the ark of the Lord.’ And he said to the people, ‘Go forward, march around the city, and let the armed men pass before the ark of the Lord.’ And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram’s horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets with the ark of the covenant following them.” And so, what we see here is a marching order. Notice, Jesus commands who? Joshua. Joshua believes, he obeys, and he commands the people. Verse nine, “The armed men were walking before the priests.” So, we see our battle order, armed men first, who were blowing the trumpets. That’s the priests. That’s group number two. There was “a rear guard”. Group number four “was walking after the ark”. The priests carrying the ark, “while the trumpets blew continually”. “But Joshua commanded the people (again, per Jesus), ‘You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.’” Verse 11, “So he caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city, going about it once, and they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.” Tension is building. They went around the ark. They didn’t see anything, but still, by faith, notice verse 12, “Joshua rose early in the morning, (and they began again) and the priests took the ark of the Lord.” And what did they do? “And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram’s horn before the ark of the Lord walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually.” And the second day they marched around the city. Once returned to the camp, there’s day two. They did this for six days, days one through six. Now we arrive at the seventh day. “On the seventh day, they rose early.” Notice the people by faith. “They rose early, and at the dawn of the day they marched (there they go) around the city. Notice in the same manner. How many times? Seven times. It was on that day they marched around the city seven times. It was only on that day.” In other words, their obedience coming from their faith was immediate. You didn’t see them hesitate. It was thorough. They actually did exactly what Jesus told them to do, and it was with the proper attitude. You don’t hear any griping or complaining, just the way you and I obey Jesus each and every day. Verse 16, “And at the seventh time, when the priest had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, ‘Shout, for the Lord has given you the city.’” We already heard that. That’s the promise, and if you will, we’re left at a cliffhanger, because Joshua now is going to reiterate much of what he said already. At the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout for (who?) the Lord has given you the city,” He’s the hero.
Verse 17, “And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction.” So, I want to stop just for a moment here. Notice the city and all that is within it shall be devoted. I’m going to circle these two words: “devoted destruction” because this is actually the translation of a word, herem. That’s the Hebrew word, which is a very rich and full word. It indeed means “devoted”, but it oftentimes and typically means this: it’s accursed. In other words, it’s devoted to destruction. Devoted to destruction, and this is why this works because it’s devoted to the Lord. This is the Lord’s doing. Again, this is judgment. This is God, Jesus Himself, Commander of the host of Yahweh, with a drawn sword, executing justice on an entire city. The city is His, if you will. It is a sacrifice to His justice. This is in fact the Lord’s battle. It’s the Lord’s battle. I get it. You in your head, you might be thinking “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho.” Yeah, I get paid to sing, but you know what? It’s not technically Joshua’s battle. It was Joshua to submit. It’s the Lord’s battle. It’s the Lord’s battle. And notice in the midst of this judgment, what comes next? “Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are in her house shall live.” There it is. This is salvation of who Rahab through judgment. She had a front row seat. How do we know her house was in the wall? They didn’t rescue her before they attacked. They circled. The walls came tumbling down. They went in, and she was rescued through judgment. Again, I’m emphasizing these words why because it’s very important for you to understand your salvation. And you say, “Well, how how’s that even possible?” Again, God is God; He can do whatever He wants. This is a striking display of grace. Verse 18, “But you keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction.” Again, I’m going to highlight some things. There’s that word again, herem, a form of it. “Lest, when you have devoted them.” There’s the same word. “You take any of the devoted things.” Again, form of the same word. “And make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction.” A form of the same word. Understand what Joshua is saying here. He’s saying this: that this whole city is devoted to the Lord, devoted for what? Destruction. But if you take one thing that is the Lord’s. Guess what? Heads up, you will bring destruction on the whole nation. Again, what God says is mine is His. It’s not yours. Did we not learn that in First Fruits? Again, different but same. When God says it’s mine, guess what? It’s His. It’s not yours. Verse 19, “But all the silver and gold and every vessel of bronze and iron and are holy to the Lord. They shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” And so, all of the people, we’re going to see what happens to them. The city is destroyed. The indestructible material, the metals they go through fire. We see this elsewhere, and then they’re put into the treasury of the Lord. Why? It’s His. Verse 20, “So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown.” And this is back to live action. “And as soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet. The people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.” Remember again, His part, Yahweh, is He’s executing justice. He brings the wall down and He says, “This the city’s mine, but I’ve given it to you to capture.” Let’s see what that looks like. “Then they (that’s the Israelites) devoted all the city to destruction, all of it, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys with the edge of the sword.” Please look at that closely. I know it’s on the screen. Reread it. Look at that. We don’t want to gloss over that like they do in children’s books. Wouldn’t that be interesting that they include that as part of the children’s story of the Battle of Jericho, folks? This is why we read the whole Bible. You want to read every verse. We need to let this sink in. Don’t try to sanitize it. There are dead bodies everywhere, men and women, old and young. Is this awful? Depends on where you’re coming from. Think about this: the Israelites were actually delivered through this judgment. They were delivered through it. They had a front row seat, if you will, a front row seat because every person that they killed, they should have been saying “That could be me. That should have been me. That should have been my wife. That should have been my kids. That should have been my house. That should have been my community.” Notice what’s happening here. When you see the severity of God’s judgment and then His wrath, it highlights the grace and mercy that is yours in Christ Jesus. It’s one thing to say, “Oh.” Believe in Jesus died for my sins. It’s another thing when you actually realize what He went through to save you from your sins and to save you from exactly what you deserved. Did the Jericho citizens deserve this? They did. Israel deserved it as well.
And so, what are we going to do? I know there are people who are right now who are making, if you will, judgments against God. Please be careful, because the 3c’s of interpretation is context, context, context. Let’s read some verses in context. In other words, let’s read the whole Word of God. We’re going to begin in Genesis 15:16, this is the words of God to Abraham, and He’s speaking of His offspring (plural) “And they shall come back here (where’s here? to the promised land) for the iniquity of Amorites is not yet complete.” Notice this: the iniquity of the Amorites. The Amorites is in fact the citizens of Jericho-they are underneath, if you will, the umbrella of God’s long suffering. Did they deserve to die at that moment? They did, but He gave them close to 500 years. This is God manifesting His perfections. God could have wiped them out, but He said, “This there is a line. They’re going to go to that line and no further.” And then it’s done. It’s done. Jericho had a sin problem, and so the conquest is not some, if you will, evil form of aggression by the Israelites. This is God fighting His own battle. This is God pouring out His wrath. It’s temporal, yes. It’s limited, and it’s through secondary means. Who’s the secondary means? It’s the Israelites. And again, remember, you’re not God. You’re not God. There is one God, and you’re not Him. Let’s let the Word of God tell us what’s happening. So, I’m going to go to Leviticus 18:3, and I’m going to read quickly some verses that describe the citizens of Jericho, and it really it’s represented all of the residents of Canaan, and so this is again the Lord speaking to Moses, and He says, Leviticus 18:6, “You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you came from, where you lived, and you shall not do in the land of Canaan, where you’re going, to which I’m bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes.” And so, what we see in the rest of chapter 18 is what the Canaanites actually did. Note, Leviticus 18:20-25, “None of you shall approach any of your close relatives to uncover their nakedness. I am the Lord. You shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her. You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech so profane the name of your God, I am the Lord. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. You shall not lie with any animal so make yourself unclean. Neither shall any woman give herself to any animal to lie with it. It is perversion. Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things. (Notice) For by these the nations I am driving out before you.” Who’s driving them out? Jesus with the drawn sword. Why? We just read the list. These aren’t your kind of normal go with the flow people. There is no such thing. You’re either submitted to God or you are at enmity with God. These are people that hate God. Verse 25, “And the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited it out its inhabitant.” Let me ask you a few questions: Is God sovereign? Yes or no? Did God create the Canaanites? Yes or no? Did He, with common grace, give them air, food, rain, the land to live on? And He actually gave them the law. Now they didn’t have the law that the Jews had, but they had natural law. They knew what was right and what was wrong, and they shook their fists at God and say, “I hate You. I will not submit.” Does God have a right then to judge that which He created? Does He have a right to punish those who hate Him and have sinned against Him? Absolutely. Please remember, Israel was no different.
And if I could have a blank slide, here’s the problem with people: they always begin with man. And then they begin to look at God and say, “Well, how could a loving God do this? Blah blah blah blah blah.” You know what? What they’re saying is, “I think I know some things. I’m pretty smart. Yes, I may be a finite creature. Yes, my heart is deceitful. Yes, I’m a liar. Yes, I’m prideful. Yes, I hate God. But I’m going to stand in judgment of God.” Yeah, that’s worthy to be mocked. Nope, we start with God. He is holy. He is righteous. He is just. He executed judgment on man. And He saved a group of people through that judgment.
Joshua 6:21-25, “Then they devoted all the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, donkeys, with the edge of the sword.” And what we’re going to see, this is a type, a type of what? A type of the judgment that Jesus Himself underwent, and a type of the judgment that He will execute at the end, but even in the midst of that judgment, notice verse 22, “But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, ‘Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.’ So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and our father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her.” Notice again salvation from judgment? No, through judgment. She was there in the city. Verse 24, “And they burned the city with fire and everything in it. Only the silver and gold and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.” Again, this is God executing His justice. Notice verse 25, “But Rahab the prostitute, and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive.” Pointing to of course the greater Joshua, Jesus Himself, who saves us.
So, we’re going to stop there in our narrative, and you’ve seen this slide a few times:
Joshua 5-6 Narrative
Historically True
Masterfully designed by God
Embedded with Meaning
Type and Shadows
How does this apply in light of the person and work of Jesus?
This narrative, of course, is historically true, and it’s designed by God masterfully. Why? Because there is meaning in this. There are types and shadows, yes. And the question then we now have to ask: How does this apply in light of the person and work of Jesus Christ? Now, notice in light of you must first go here before you can go here. And the problem with many people is they like to go here first, and so they’ll say things like this: “Well, you just need to have enough faith to conquer your obstacles.” Or they’ll say, you know what? “Everyone has a Jericho in your life.” They’re skipping how this applies in light of the person and work of Jesus. So, I’m going to make a foundational statement, and this is true throughout Scripture, and particularly true here. And it is this: the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in salvation through judgment. First of all, it’s the glory of God. In other words, the glory of God. It’s Him revealing Himself. He’s manifesting His perfections. He’s manifesting that, in fact, He’s a holy God. That He’s a righteous God. He’s the God of justice and a God of wrath. And He’s manifesting that He is trustworthy. That He Himself is faithful to the covenant. That He is merciful and gracious. And so, what we see are these types in the Old Testament again and again and again, and they’re all pointing to Jesus Christ? We saw this last week in the Passover and circumcision. Same thing, salvation through judgment, all pointing to Jesus Christ. We see here in the battle is a type pointing to Jesus Christ, and so the big idea is that the people who experience salvation, they do so through God’s judgment, as God judges His enemies; they have a front row seat. They’re not separate from it. If you are experiencing salvation, it is because God is judging His enemies.
Let’s trace this through the Old Testament, Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and in her offspring.” Again, this is Yahweh speaking and judging Satan. And notice her offspring; “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” This is an ongoing battle. And again, there is salvation through the seed. Through what judgment? Through judgment. Let’s talk about the flood. I’m jumping ahead to the New Testament good summary in 1 Peter 3:20b, “… when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight persons, (notice) were brought safely.” What do you think? Salvation through water. Salvation through judgment. What did that water do? It drowned every other person who was God’s enemy, who said to God, “I hate You.” Exodus 6:6, again, this is Yahweh speaking to Moses, “Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord. (He’s revealing Himself.) I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you (sounds like salvation, does it not?) with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment.’” Again, Israel was in the midst of Egypt. Here comes the plagues, and so we know from Jude 5, Jesus is executing judgment on who? Egypt, and out of these plagues on Egypt, Israel had a front row seat. Did they not? They saw it, and they were saved out of it. Exodus 12:12, the tenth plague. Notice, we went through this last week. “I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all of the firstborn in the land of Egypt. (The first representing the whole, this is the justice of God) Both man and beast, and all the gods of Egypt.” This is an all-encompassing battle. Jesus is revealing Himself as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and so the reality of judgment highlights the preciousness of the grace and mercy that Jesus extends to those He saves. You understand the mercy and grace, how? Because you see the judgment. This again is a type.
Let’s look at the salvation of individual believers. Romans 4:5, “And to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly.” That is everyone, by the way, every single person, and in particular, the context here is talking about Abraham, what do we deserve? We deserve to be in Jericho, to be underneath judgment, to be accursed, to suffer the wrath of God. But there are those who are ungodly that He, in fact, saves. “His faith is counted as righteousness.” Romans 3:23-26, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood.” Notice, “Redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation,” there is salvation. This is judgment. When Jesus was on the cross, we read last week, He made Him who knew no sin to be what? Sin. The Father’s response then what curse? He cursed the Son. The Son became a curse. Why? That’s our sin. We that that’s Him being devoted to what? Destruction. There is judgment, yes. And what happens then? The full wrath of God is poured out, and Jesus satisfies all of it. You were saved, but you were saved through judgment. You have a front row seat to that. How? Well, first and foremost, you’re reading it, but because you yourself were saved by Jesus, He is our federal head. We with Him. He died for us. He died as us. Jesus is both the agent of salvation and He’s the object of judgment. Salvation through judgment. Verse 25 again, “Whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith.” That’s all we do. We come with empty hands and we say this. I believe that all of the judgment, hence then the wrath that I deserve, went on the Son. This was to show God’s righteousness, “Because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins.” That’s Old Testament saints, including Abraham. “It was to show His righteousness (Him manifesting His perfections) at the present time, so that He might be just and a justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” You see, we believe that God’s justice was in fact met in Jesus Christ, and having satisfied His justice, we see God manifesting His perfection. Now we see He can, if you will, justly justify the ungodly. This is God showing the full range. Well, He can’t show us the full range, but He’s showing us a range of His perfections, His holiness, His righteousness, and His justice. And I know there are some people in here who say, “Yeah, I don’t like that. I don’t like that. I sure like grace and mercy, but don’t show me God’s righteousness. Don’t show me His holiness. Don’t show me His wrath.” You actually don’t understand grace and mercy unless you understand the first. You don’t. You think you do. You don’t. You’re making it up. You’re making it up. But you know what? This just wasn’t a human affair. Notice Colossians 2:15, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Him.” This is our King. This is our King leading in battle, and so what we see in Jericho is simply a type. It’s a type, and what is it pointing to? It’s pointing to Jesus Christ, who He is and what He’s done on the cross. And for us today, what do we do? We look back how in faith to see who He is and what He’s done, salvation through judgment. And what are we doing? We’re looking towards the future. Why? Because everything’s not done yet. The consummation is coming.
Notice in Revelation 19:11-21. This is a great day when all will be made right. When salvation of God’s people will come through what the triumph of our King. Notice, “Then I saw heaven open and behold a white horse, and the one sitting on it. (This is Jesus) is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.” This is the commander of the host of Yahweh with a drawn sword that we saw in Joshua chapter five. He is going to execute justice. He is going to be triumphant. He is waging war against the world system. Now I know some of you read the news and you’re like, “I’m ready. I need a drink and I’ve got to go sleep because this is bad news. Yes, this is what Jesus is going to come and correct. Verse 12: “His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a name written that no one knows but Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God.” Now you might think, “Well, that’s Jesus’s own blood.” No, it’s not. He shed His blood on Calvary. He then applied it in heaven. This is the blood of those He has come to execute. Again, don’t look away. Please don’t look away. We need to see this, this brings an understanding of how righteous and holy, and that sin is far worse than you think it is. The sin in other people is far worse than you think it is. Guess what I’m going to say next? The sin inside of you when you sin is far worse than you think it is, you are sinning against a holy God. Thank You, Jesus. Verse 14, “And the armies of heaven, (I wonder where we are) arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, we’re following Him.” If you had a map to where you are, there you are, right there. There’s the X. What are we doing? We’re following Him. We have white and pure robes. Why? His righteousness. We are part of what? His army. We are coming on white horses, symbols of triumph. What a striking display this is. Verse 15, “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with (which to do what?) strike down the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” He’s establishing His earthly kingdom, and we are there. We are there, front row to the execution of justice through judgment. “On His robe and on His thigh is a name written, King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun with a loud voice. He called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, ‘Come, gather for the great supper of God, (I wonder what that supper is) to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and the riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.’” Guys, I’m not trying to sensationalize this. This is the Word of God. We need to look at this. Please understand, this is what happened in type to Jericho. This is what’s coming. It is very possible for you to fear this and still not repent. Please run to Jesus, pound your chest, and say this: “Have mercy on me, Jesus. Have mercy on me.” And if you’ve already been saved, what do you do? You pound your chest. “Thank You, Jesus, for the mercy You’ve showed me. I repent of my sin today.” This is the proper response, and this is why we read the whole Bible. By the way, don’t pick and choose your verses. “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered to make war against Him who was sitting on the horse and against His army. (There we are) And the beast was captured, and with its false prophet who, in its presence, had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image.” Oh yeah, we see echoes of this. How? Because the spirit of the Antichrist now is what? World domination. Do we not see that people want to dominate the world, but they want to do it for evil and for their own benefit? “These two were thrown into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.” See, Jesus is in fact King of the universe. “And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds gorged with their flesh.” You see, the redeemed will praise Jesus. Why? Because He has saved them. They will know. “Yep, I deserve that. But Jesus took that for me.” Salvation through judgment. So, in light of that, how do we apply this? This is where it gets really cheesy when people say, “You have a Jericho in your life. This is what you need to do march around it for a while. And we all go out to our car that’s not running right, and you march around it.” Folks, that is so cheesy. In light of Jesus Christ, who Himself is our salvation, He Himself was the object of the wrath for us. In light of that, what should we do? It’s this: come empty-handed and believe Him. That’s all you can do. Come empty-handed. Notice, Galatians 2:20, “I’ve been crucified with Christ. (There’s salvation through judgment.) It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. (We saw that last week with spiritual circumcision) And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith. (In who? Faith in faith? Faith in the Son of God) who loved me and gave Himself for me.” There is a battle today, and it’s in your will.
KEYWORDS
Joshua, Jericho, Christophany, Grace, Divine Grace, Salvation Through Judgment, Faith, Humility, Trumpet, Ark Of The Covenant, Seven, Rahab, Canaanites, Judgment, Gospel, Devoted Destruction, Herem, Wrath, Secondary Means, Judge, Wall, Propitiation, Bible Church, Non-Denominational Church, Church Texas, Grayson County Texas
Speaker
Jeff Wideman