Tag Archives: Jericho

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – After the Victory

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Joshua sent some of his men from Jericho to spy out the town of Ai, east of Bethel, near Beth-aven. When they returned, they told Joshua, “There’s no need for all of us to go up there; it won’t take more than two or three thousand men to attack Ai. Since there are so few of them, don’t make all our people struggle to go up there.”—Joshua 7:2–3
The story of the Israelites’ victory over Jericho is of the greatest stories ever told. But after Jericho came Ai. It was a small city compared to Jericho, which was lying in smoldering ruins. The Israelites apparently thought they could have essentially done this one in their sleep. They didn’t even need the whole Israeli army, they reasoned—just a few thousand. This argument was based on the supposition that Israel had captured Jericho.
But if anything is clear from the story of Jericho’s fall, Israel had very little to do with its defeat. God did it. As the Israelites were willing to humble themselves and do it God’s way, He brought them a great victory. Yet when it came to Ai, they were acting as though they could knock down another city without any effort or apparent dependence on God.
It was God’s plan for the Israelites to go from victory to victory, overtaking their enemies in Canaan. But they had to do God’s will in God’s way. Instead, they faced a crushing defeat at Ai, which was much smaller than Jericho.
Sometimes we are more vulnerable after a time of victory in our lives. We are more vulnerable after God has blessed us. So don’t be surprised the next time you leave church and get attacked spiritually. Don’t be surprised when the Lord has done a great work in your life and then there is a spiritual attack.
After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form a dove. And then He went immediately into the wilderness, where He was tested by the Devil. After the dove came the Devil.
As the Scottish preacher Andrew Bonar once said, “Let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle.”
Share this today:
Sometimes we are more vulnerable after a time of victory in our lives. We are more vulnerable after God has blessed us. So don’t be surprised the next time you leave church and get attacked spiritually.

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – What’s Your Jericho?

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“You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days.” . . . But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner.”—Joshua 6:3, 15

When God commanded the Israelites to march around the city of Jericho, they did it. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Jericho were probably laughing. What a bunch of fools! Look at these guys! Maybe they were throwing things at the Israelites or dumping garbage on them. Who knows? But every day, they would march around the city.

Why did God let them do that? I think one reason is that He was giving the inhabitants of Jericho an opportunity to repent. These people were wicked. They were into every kind of idolatry, perversion, and sin. God had patiently endured the evil of the Canaanites from the time of Abraham to Moses, a period of 400 years. They had plenty of opportunities to repent before Jericho fell. The Canaanites knew the Israelites were coming. Their reputation preceded them.

Another reason I think God told the Israelites to march around the city was so they would see what a formidable obstacle it was and that they couldn’t handle it on their own.

As believers, we have our Jerichos in life, so to speak, problems that loom large and things that we can’t handle on our own. And sometimes the Lord will have us march around them so we will see that we cannot rely on ourselves.

The greatest difficulty for many is to get to the place where they are willing to admit that the whole thing is simply too big for them, where they are willing to say, “I can’t do this on my own.”

Do you have a Jericho right now? Maybe it’s an incurable illness. Maybe it’s an unsolvable problem. Maybe it’s a hopeless marriage. Maybe it’s a prodigal child. As you think about it, you don’t know how you will resolve this conflict. That, in effect, is your Jericho.

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Facing The Impossible

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Read: Joshua 5:13–6:5
Bible in a Year: 2 Samuel 12-13; Luke 16

See! I have given Jericho into your hand. —Joshua 6:2

In 2008, house values were tumbling in the United Kingdom. But 2 weeks after my husband and I put our home of 40 years on the market, a buyer offered us a good price and we agreed to a sale. Soon our builders started work on the house I had inherited, which would be our new home. But a few days before the sale of our old home was finalized, our buyer pulled out. We were devastated. Now we owned two properties—one whose value was tumbling rapidly, and the other a virtual ruin that we could neither sell nor move into. Until we found a new buyer, we had no money to pay the builder. It was an impossible situation.

When Joshua faced Jericho, a fortified city in lockdown, he may have felt as if he was facing an impossible situation (Josh. 5:13–6:27). But then a Man with a drawn sword appeared to him. Some theologians think the Man was Jesus Himself. Joshua anxiously asked if He would be backing the Israelites or their enemies in the forthcoming battle. “‘Neither one,’ he replied. ‘I am the commander of the Lord’s army’” (5:14 nlt). Joshua bowed in worship before he took another step. He still didn’t know how Jericho would be delivered into his hand, but he listened to God and worshiped Him. Then he obeyed the Lord’s instructions and the impossible happened. —Marion Stroud

Dear Lord, often when I am faced with an impossible situation I choose worry rather than trust. Help me to trust You and to remember that nothing is too hard for You.

Nothing is impossible for the Lord.
John MacArthur

John MacArthur – An Unlikely Heroine

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John MacArthur

“By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace” (Heb. 11:31).

Rahab illustrates the depth and breadth of God’s amazing grace.

Our final Old Testament hero of faith is an unlikely addition to the list. Not only was she a prostitute, she also was a Gentile—and a Canaanite at that.

The Canaanites were an idolatrous, barbaric, debauched people, infamous even among pagans for their immorality and cruelty. Yet in the midst of that exceedingly wicked society, Rahab came to faith in the God of Israel.

Joshua 2:9-11 records her confession of faith to the two men Joshua had sent into Jericho as spies: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And when we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath” (emphasis added).

Rahab demonstrated the genuineness of that profession by risking her life to hide the spies from the king of Jericho, who sought to capture them.

Because Rahab lied to protect the spies (vv. 4-5), some people question the validity of her faith. Surely genuine believers wouldn’t lie like that—or would they? Abraham did. Sarah did. Isaac did. Jacob did. But the important thing to understand is that God honored their faith, not their deception.

As with all the heroes of faith before her, Rahab’s faith wasn’t perfect, nor was her knowledge of God’s moral law. But because she trusted God, she was spared during Jericho’s conquest, then given an even greater honor. She became the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth, the great-great-grandmother of David, thereby becoming an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:5).

Suggestions for Prayer; Praise God for receiving even the vilest sinner who turns to Him in faith.

For Further Study; Read all about Rahab in Joshua 2:1-24, 6:22-25, and James 2:25.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – What Will You Do?

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Alistair Begg

Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. Joshua 6:26

If the man who rebuilt Jericho was cursed, how much more does the man who works to restore false religion among us deserve the same. In our fathers’ days the gigantic walls of false religion fell by the power of their faith, the perseverance of their efforts, and the blast of their gospel trumpets; and now there are some who would like to rebuild those false systems upon their old foundations.

Lord, we pray, be pleased to thwart these unrighteous endeavors, and pull down every stone that they build. It should be a serious business with us to be thoroughly purged of every error that tends to foster the spirit of falsehood, and when we have made a clean sweep at home we should seek in every way to oppose its all too rapid spread abroad in the church and in the world.

This we may accomplish only in secret by fervent prayer and in public by faithful witness. We must warn with judicious boldness those who are inclined toward the errors of false religion; we must instruct the young in gospel truth and tell them of the dark doings of falsehood in earlier times. We must assist in spreading the light more thoroughly through the land, for false teachers, like owls, hate daylight.

Are we doing all we can for Jesus and the Gospel? If not, our negligence plays into the hands of the heretics. What are we doing to spread the Bible, which is the antidote to falsehood? Are we sending out good, sound gospel writings? Luther once said, “The devil hates goose quills,” and, no doubt, he has good reason; the writer’s pen blessed by the Holy Spirit has damaged his evil kingdom greatly. If the thousands who read this short word tonight will do all they can to hinder the rebuilding of this accursed Jericho, the Lord’s glory shall spread quickly among the sons of men.

Reader, what can you do? What will you do?

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg. Copyright © 2003, Good News Publishers and used by Truth For Life with written permission.

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The family reading plan for May 29, 2014 * Isaiah 30 * Jude 1

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John MacArthur

John MacArthur – An Unlikely Heroine

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John MacArthur

“By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace” (Heb. 11:31).

Our final Old Testament hero of faith is an unlikely addition to the list. Not only was she a prostitute, she also was a Gentile–and a Canaanite at that.

The Canaanites were an idolatrous, barbaric, debauched people, infamous even among pagans for their immorality and cruelty. Yet in the midst of that exceedingly wicked society, Rahab came to faith in the God of Israel.

Joshua 2:9-11 records her confession of faith to the two men Joshua had sent into Jericho as spies: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And when we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath” (emphasis added).

Rahab demonstrated the genuineness of that profession by risking her life to hide the spies from the king of Jericho, who sought to capture them.

Because Rahab lied to protect the spies (vv. 4-5), some people question the validity of her faith. Surely genuine believers wouldn’t lie like that–or would they? Abraham did. Sarah did. Isaac did. Jacob did. But the important thing to understand is that God honored their faith, not their deception.

As with all the heroes of faith before her, Rahab’s faith wasn’t perfect, nor was her knowledge of God’s moral law. But because she trusted God, she was spared during Jericho’s conquest, then given an even greater honor. She became the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth, the great-great-grandmother of David, thereby becoming an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:5).

Suggestions for Prayer:

Praise God for receiving even the vilest sinner who turns to Him in faith.

For Further Study:

Read all about Rahab in Joshua 2:1-24, 6:22-25, and James 2:25.