This is Monday evening, November 10, 1975, in Richmond, Virginia. Ministry is being given through Stephen Kong.
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a Man over against him with His sword drawn in His hand.
And Joshua went unto Him, and said unto Him, Art Thou for us, or for our adversaries?
And He said, Nay; but as Prince of the host of the Lord am I now come.
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto Him, What saith my Lord unto His servant?
And the Prince of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Put off thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.
And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor.
And ye shall compass the city, all the men of war, going about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
And it shall be, that, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him.
And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.
And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the Lord.
And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early at the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.
And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city.
And the city shall be devoted, even it and all that is therein, unto the Lord: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest, when ye have devoted it, ye take of the devoted thing, and make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it.
But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are holy unto the Lord: they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.
So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with 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 took the city.
Quite long ago, we began to fellowship on the book of Joshua. By crossing the River Jordan, the children of Israel came into the promised land at last.
Spiritually speaking, in our identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, we are delivered from the life of the desert—that is, the life in the flesh—and come into the promised land, which is the life in Christ.
Now, of course, some things happened which we will not go into in detail this evening. One thing is that the whole nation was circumcised at Gilgal. The second thing was that, after they arrived in the land, they began to eat the old corn of the land, and the manna stopped. The third thing, of course, we read in the very beginning: the Lord came into their midst to be the Captain of the army of the Lord.
The children of Israel were now in the promised land. To be in the promised land was to possess their possession. But before they could possess their possession, they had to enter into warfare, because the promised land was not unoccupied.
The promised land was occupied by seven tribes—not only very wicked, but very strong. In order to possess their possession, they had first to dispossess all their enemies. There would be warfare involved before they could actually possess their possession.
So you find that in the book of Joshua, the first part is occupied completely with warfare. It is only when you come to the second part of Joshua that it has to do with the partitioning of the land, the dividing of the land.
But we must remember that war is not the end. War is a means to an end. The end is to possess the land. Yet in order to possess the land, because the enemies were there, there would be warfare.
So, dear brothers and sisters, in our life in Christ there is spiritual warfare involved. But we must remember that spiritual warfare is not an end in itself. It is inevitable if we want to possess Christ in all that He is. We shall be involved in spiritual conflict; that is something we cannot avoid.
Yet, on the other hand, this is not our aim. This is not our end. Our end is to possess Christ.
You know, sometimes people can be so war-conscious. They feel they are involved in warfare, and they see the enemy everywhere, and they are fighting day and night. They are only conscious of warfare, and that can be very damaging and very unhealthy.
We should be conscious of Christ. We should be conscious of possessing Christ. This is our aim; this is our end. Because we want to arrive at that end, we are involved in warfare. I think this is something that we need always to remember.
The children of Israel had to enter into warfare. Joshua, being the leader of the children of Israel, no doubt felt a burden upon him. The first city that stood in their way was the city of Jericho.
Now, the city of Jericho was a very big city with very high walls. So Joshua, being the leader, no doubt went out to survey the city. He went out to see the city. He went out to plan the strategy of taking that city.
But while he was planning the strategy of taking that city, a Man appeared to him with a drawn sword. Naturally, Joshua went to Him and said, “Now, are You for us or against us?”
Because in war there is no such thing as neutrality. Even though people say, “We will be neutral,” we know there is no such thing as neutrality. Especially in this matter of spiritual warfare, there is no neutrality. You are either for or against.
So Joshua went to that Man and said, “Are You for us, or are You against us?” But he got the surprise of his life, because that Man said, “No.” He was neither for Joshua nor against Joshua, yet He was not neutral. He said, “I am come to be the Captain of the army of the Lord.”
Joshua thought that he was the captain of the army of the Lord. Joshua saw that he had the whole burden of the war upon his shoulders. Joshua thought that he had to plan the strategy; it was his battle.
So before he entered into that battle, the Lord reminded him that the battle is the Lord’s. The burden is upon the shoulder of the Son of God, and He is the Captain of the army of the Lord.
When we are led, as it were, into that heavenly realm—and we know Canaan is that heavenly realm—in the heavenlies God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. We are in Christ Jesus, and we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. In other words, the whole land is before us.
Yet in the same heavenly places, there are principalities, authorities, powers of darkness, and evil spirits of the air. Just as in the promised land there were the seven tribes, so as we enter into the heavenly realm, on the one hand we are to receive the blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus; yet, on the other hand, we are confronted with principalities, authorities, powers of darkness, and evil spirits of the air.
Spiritual conflict.
But in our innocence, when we meet spiritual conflict, or when we enter into that realm of spiritual conflict, we oftentimes think that we have to fight it out. We always think that the burden is upon our shoulders, and we plan how to overcome our enemies, not knowing that our enemy is too clever and too strong for us.
It is not the will of the Lord that we should enter into spiritual conflict with that kind of attitude. If we enter into spiritual conflict with that kind of attitude, we will be defeated without doubt. We will be damaged. We will be hurt. You will find that many among God’s people are hurt because of a lack of knowledge.
Even though it seems as if we are involved in spiritual conflict, dear brothers and sisters, we must remember that the battle is not ours. The battle is the Lord’s.
We must remember that it is the Lord who leads us into battle. He is the Captain of the army of the Lord. It is the Lord who plans the strategy of all the battles. He takes upon Himself that responsibility.
Two thousand years ago, there on Calvary’s cross, our Captain dealt a fatal blow to our enemies. There He spoiled the principalities and authorities. There He made a public show of His enemies. There He proclaimed His victory.
So, in other words, dear brothers and sisters, before we enter into spiritual conflict, we need to know that our Lord Jesus is the Captain, and He has already won the decisive battle. On Calvary’s cross, the head of the serpent has been crushed.
Today, as we enter into spiritual conflict, we are in the train of His triumph. That is all there is to it.
First of all, you find that the Lord came and said, “I am the Captain of the host of the Lord.” Immediately Joshua prostrated himself before Him and worshiped Him. What a relief!
You know, sometimes we take too much responsibility. We need to be responsible, no doubt. Some people are just irresponsible. But for those who are serious, we tend to be overly responsible. We tend to feel that everything is upon us, and if we do not do it, then the whole world will collapse.
There is no such thing. The government is upon His shoulder. The battle is the Lord’s. Oh, what a relief!
Joshua said, “What should I do? What do You want me to do? You are the Lord. What do You want me to do?” The Lord said, “Remove your shoes. You are standing on holy ground.”
In other words, in this matter of spiritual conflict, we are to stand in the position of a bondslave. We are just to follow orders, that is all. We are just to follow the Lord. That is all there is to it. The battle is the Lord’s.
Now, of course, the division of chapters is arbitrary, because in the original manuscripts there was no division of chapters. So Joshua 6 follows closely upon Joshua 5. Joshua 6:1 is a parenthetical verse, because the Holy Spirit wants to show us the condition of the city of Jericho at that moment.
The condition of the city of Jericho at that moment was that the people were so afraid that they closed all the gates, and they had the valiant men guarding the wall. Humanly speaking, it was impossible to take that city—impregnable, well guarded, all shut up.
But after Joshua had removed his shoes, the Lord began to reveal His strategy. The strategy of the Lord in taking the city of Jericho was most unusual. Never was a battle fought in that way.
The Lord said, “Now you, the whole army of the children of Israel, are to surround that city once a day, following the ark of the covenant, with seven priests blowing the rams’ horns as you encircle the city. On the seventh day, you shall encircle the city seven times; and at the last blast, the priests shall blow a long blast. Then you all shall shout, and the wall shall fall.”
Now, that was the strategy of the battle over Jericho. Before we go into the whole matter of how the Lord led the people to take that city, I think we should make a little application first.
You know, Jericho—the very word Jericho means fragrance. Is that a surprise? Jericho means fragrance.
Do you remember there is a fragrance which is of the Lord? Turn to 2 Corinthians 2:14.
But thanks be unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savor of His knowledge in every place.
There is a fragrance which we carry with us wherever we go, and that fragrance is the knowledge of Christ. Our knowledge of Christ is a fragrance in our lives.
A fragrance is something which, in a sense, you cannot help. If the fragrance is there, it continually diffuses. Unconsciously it spreads. It cannot be hidden.
You put some perfume on you, and when you walk around, you carry that odor, you carry that fragrance around, and it just diffuses. You cannot help it. It cannot be hidden.
Now, that is the case with believers. Where does that fragrance come from? From the knowledge of Christ. The true knowledge of God gives a fragrance—a heavenly fragrance.
If you know the Lord, wherever you go, you do not need to speak. Now, I do not mean to say that you should not speak. Sometimes we should speak. But even though you have not spoken, your very presence will give people a kind of sense that there is something different, there is something heavenly.
It is your knowledge of Christ that is such a fragrance, and you cannot help it. You cannot hide it. It just diffuses.
This kind of fragrance, to those who are saved, is life; and to those who are perishing, it is unto death. It is a powerful thing. It is the most powerful perfume in this world.
But do you know, dear brothers and sisters, there is another kind of fragrance that comes from Jericho? It is a counterfeit. Instead of being the knowledge of Christ, it is that which stands against the knowledge of Christ.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 10:4–5.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds;
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Now, what is Jericho? Jericho is a stronghold. It is a stronghold, a city.
What are these strongholds? Reasonings—every high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God.
You know, dear brothers and sisters, in this world there are reasonings, human reasonings. There are high things that lift themselves up against the knowledge of God—all kinds of things that oppose the knowledge of God, that profess to be knowledge, profess to have a kind of fragrance, and yet are against the knowledge of God.
They are like strongholds standing in the way of knowing Christ. What is possessing Christ? Possessing Christ is knowing Christ.
Paul said, “To know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed unto His death.” You find that to know Christ—not mentally, but experientially; to know Christ in life; to know Christ in your spirit—that is possessing Christ.
That is the real knowledge of Christ, and it emits a kind of fragrance in your life. But here you find knowledge so-called, wisdom so-called, reasonings so-called, philosophies so-called, and all these high things so-called that stand in the way of our knowing Christ. They hinder us from possessing Christ.
These strongholds are in the promised land, in the heavenlies.
Let us illustrate it.
Paul wrote the first letter to the Corinthians. Now, these Corinthians were believers. They were not only believers, but they were not behind anybody in gifts, in knowledge, in all kinds of things.
Yet the enemy raised a stronghold among them. What was that stronghold? The stronghold was the carnal mind.
The carnal mind of the Corinthian believers was a stronghold raised by the enemy so that they could not enter into the full knowledge of God. They remained as babes after many years because they were carnally minded.
They thought they knew. They thought highly of themselves. They boasted of their knowledge. And you know what happened? They divided into parties.
Why did they divide into parties? Because they thought they knew. They knew so well. Some said they knew Paul, some said they knew Apollos, some said they knew Cephas, and some said they knew Christ. They thought they knew, and knew better than anybody else, and that was why they were divided.
They professed that they had knowledge; therefore, there was no love.
Some of them thought that to go to the temple of idols and eat meat offered to idols was nothing, because idols were nothing, and things offered to nothing were nothing. So they felt free to go into the temple to have their social life there, because social life in those days was in the temple.
They wanted the social life so much that they went into the temple and freely took all this meat offered to idols. They did not have love for those who were weak. They stumbled the weak brothers.
They professed that they knew, and the result was that they could go to court against each other. They thought they knew, and the result was that they doubted resurrection, because resurrection was beyond human reasoning.
You see, their carnal-mindedness was the stronghold raised by the enemy so that they could not possess their possession. They could not.
Dear brothers and sisters, if we allow the enemy to build a carnal mind in us, we will be defeated. We will be kept from knowing Christ, from possessing Christ.
It might be the carnal mind, or it might be prejudice. How the enemy will build up a stronghold in the form of prejudice! How Christians can be prejudiced. We can be prejudiced against the truth. We can be prejudiced against certain people to such an extent that we will never be free to enter into the fullness that is in Christ.
Or the enemy can build up strongholds in our emotions. In our soul, he can build a kind of stronghold in our emotions. He tries to direct our emotions in some direction, to some area, toward some persons or certain things.
It is inordinate emotion. Because our emotions are wrapped wrongly, we can never love the Lord as we should.
Or he can raise a stronghold in our will, giving us a very stubborn will—an iron will. Well, we need to have a strong will for the Lord, to will the will of the Lord; that is true. But an iron will that will never bend can sometimes be a stronghold of the enemy.
The enemy is able to raise a stronghold. He does not need to come out in the open and fight. He can hide behind the wall and hinder us from entering into the fullness of Christ.
Read the letter to the Galatians. You will find another kind of stronghold there. It is just the opposite of the Corinthian believers.
The Corinthian believers did not want to grow up. They were very happy to be babies, because being babies, you can do many things. How many Christians just like to be babies! You can do things grown-up people cannot do. People will laugh at you if you do, but if you are a baby, it is all right. People even praise you: “Look how clever you are.”
But the problem with the Galatian believers was just the opposite. They wanted so much to grow up. They were saved. They believed in the Lord Jesus. They received the Holy Spirit. They were saved, but they were so anxious for full maturity, for perfection. “Oh, how can we be instantly spiritual?” That was their problem.
Because they wanted to be instantly spiritual, Satan came and built a stronghold. He said, “You may be spiritual if only you are circumcised, if only you keep a few rules and regulations, if only you keep a few days and seasons, if only you do not touch certain things and do not eat certain things.”
“Then you are spiritual—immediately, instantly spiritual.” And how these Galatian believers fell into that trap of the enemy! Here you find the stronghold built up.
Paul had to say that he had to travail for them again, as if they had to be born again—of course not, but as if. “Oh, how I travail, that Christ may be formed in you.” By falling into such a trap, Christ could not be formed in them. Christ was in them, but He could not be formed in them.
You know, it takes the formation of Christ in us for us to express Christ.
What was the trouble with the believers in Colossae? Here you find the enemy built up some strongholds in Colossae, and it was all different. The enemy is a great architect. Here you find he built another kind of stronghold.
The stronghold was Gnosticism—philosophy so-called. All these fanciful, abstract, imaginative, speculative things give you a kind of feeling that you are in the know. Very few people know, but you know. You know.
The result was that they were led away from Christ.
Well, probably you say, “With the church in Philippi, the enemy certainly could not build any stronghold.” He did.
The church in Philippi was a model church. From the very beginning, they were of one mind with Paul in advancing the gospel. Their hearts were knit with Paul. Even though Paul was in prison, they sent men there to supply his needs.
The church in Philippi was a model church, and yet you find the enemy was trying to do something. “You are spiritual, are you? All right, I can make you spiritually proud.”
How he got hold of two spiritual sisters! These spiritual sisters were at rivalry with each other. They were all spiritual, but who was the most spiritual? The rivalry between these two sisters cast a shadow over the whole church. They lost the joy of the Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters, you find the enemy is so subtle. He does not need to come out and fight you in the open with a fork, with a tail, and with horns, and so forth. He does not need to do that.
He just builds some stronghold in your soul realm, and he can withstand you from possessing Christ. That is Jericho. It takes discernment to know that it is a different smell.
Jericho stood in the way of the children of Israel in their possessing their possession, and the Lord Himself planned the strategy. What was the strategy? Most unusual, most unusual.
Jericho was taken not because the children of Israel fought against it. It was because the ark of the covenant surrounded it.
The ark of the covenant represents the presence of the Lord. So when the priests bore the ark of the covenant and marched in front, it signified that the presence of the Lord was demonstrated. The Lord was present.
When they bore the ark and walked around the city, seven priests blew the rams’ horns. What the priests blew were not silver trumpets, as we find in the book of Numbers.
In the book of Numbers, God ordered them to make two silver trumpets. Silver trumpets in Scripture stand for prophetic ministry. But here you find it is a ram’s horn. They blew the ram’s horn.
When did they blow the ram’s horn? If you read Leviticus 23 and Leviticus 25, you find that they blew the ram’s horn on the first day of the seventh month. They also blew the horn in the year of Jubilee.
Spiritually, what does this mean? Here they are going around, and seven priests are blowing the horns, declaring what the ark is.
They are declaring to the principalities and authorities. They are declaring to the valiant men of Jericho standing there and looking down upon them. They are declaring to them what the ark is.
During that whole period, the army of the children of Israel walked silently, without a whisper. They were not allowed to talk. They were not allowed even to whisper. They walked in complete silence.
All that could be heard was the blowing of the horns, the blasting of the horns, and the marching of the army. This must have unnerved the enemy. They looked down and said, “What is that?”
Dear brothers and sisters, in spiritual warfare, basically the battle is fought by the Lord.
We know that the taking of Jericho and the taking of Ai—these two battles—form the basis of all the battles that were to follow. The basic principles of spiritual warfare are all involved in these two battles.
In the first battle, the Lord desires to show us one thing: in spiritual warfare, it is the Lord who fights, not us. It is the ark of the covenant. It is the presence of the Lord. The Lord Himself does the fighting.
The people did not talk. You know, sometimes we talk too much, and our talking dissipates spiritual energy. See, walking in silence.
Can you walk in silence without really being engaged in anything? Will not your mind wander, with nothing to do and not even allowed to talk? Oh, no.
All the time they were silent, they were listening to the blasting of the horns. In other words, they were taking in what was being declared, because priests represent priestly function.
We as priests should exercise our priestly function and just declare to our enemy what our Lord is and what He has done. That is all that is involved.
When we are faced with enemies, brothers and sisters, all we need to do is bring the presence of the Lord upon our enemy and declare to our enemy who our Lord is and what He has done on Calvary’s cross. That finishes the enemy.
During the whole time, the children of Israel walked in silence. I believe it represents prayer—the prayer of faith.
They walked in silence. Can you walk in silence without really being engaged in anything? Will not your mind wander, with nothing to do and not even allowed to talk? Oh, no.
All the time they were silent, they were listening to the blasting of the horns. In other words, they were taking into themselves all that the ark was to them. After seven days of taking in, something was accumulated.
Dear brothers and sisters, the walls of Jericho fell flat by faith. In Hebrews 11, we are told, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been compassed about for seven days.”
Now, how does faith come? When we face our enemy, or when we are faced with a problem—some people are really prejudiced, some people’s minds are carnally minded, or there are such strongholds either in ourselves or in other people—what are we going to do?
Will you try to fight? Do not fight with flesh and blood. We are not fighting with flesh and blood. How are you going to be powerful before God to the overthrowing of strongholds? You need faith.
But how does faith come? You cannot manufacture faith. Oh, there are lots of counterfeit faiths today. You try to hypnotize yourself and say, “I believe, I believe. Yes, I do.” But you do not.
Where does faith come from? Faith comes from listening in your spirit to what the Lord is and what He has accomplished on Calvary’s cross.
Our Lord Jesus is the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Faith does not come from within. Faith comes from looking off unto Jesus.
You find that the children of Israel, as they surrounded the city, were not inactive. They were not just marching with their eyes closed as if they were sleeping, passively. No. When they were marching, yes, they were in complete silence, but they were attentively listening to the blasting of the horn until faith began to swell up within them.
Dear brothers and sisters, there is a time of silence. There is a time of silence. But, of course, there is a time of shouting too.
Here you find that they surrounded the city, and on the seventh day they went around seven times. At the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets with a long blast, and the children of Israel shouted with a great shout. That is the shout of faith.
If you shout too early, it will not work. You know, sometimes we shout too early. That is no use. There is a time to shout, after that faith is really bubbling within you. Then you can shout.
But one more thing: in circling around the city in silence, their prayer is ascending to the Lord. But in shouting, they shout against the wall.
You do not shout to God. God is not deaf. Do not shout to Him. You do not need to shout; He knows. You shout to the walls.
That is what you find in Mark 11. The Lord said, “Have faith in God.” You remember that incident: our Lord Jesus was going into Jerusalem, and He saw a fig tree full of leaves. He went there and could not find any fruit, so He cursed that tree.
The next day, when they passed by, Peter noticed it and said, “Lord, You cursed that tree yesterday, and now it is all withered.” The Lord said, “Have faith in God.” To be more exact, it means, “Have the faith of God.”
What is the faith of God? The Lord said:
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it.
Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.
This is what some people call executive prayer, or authoritative prayer. Scripture does not use that term, but there is a time of silence, listening to the Lord; and then, when that comes to a consummation, you turn and speak to the matter, or speak to the wall.
Just as Joshua later spoke to the sun and to the moon, saying, “Stand still.” That is faith.
That is how the city of Jericho was taken. Oh, dear brothers and sisters, the power is not in their silence, nor in their shouting. The power is in the ark of the covenant. It is the Lord. It is the Lord who does the fighting.
The children of Israel simply went in in the triumph of the Lord. How was the city taken? The wall fell flat, and the children of Israel just went straight in. They did not need to turn around.
The city of Jericho was considered a big city at that time. But do you remember how many men there were in the army of the children of Israel? Over six hundred thousand. Six hundred thousand men encircled the city. They must have met from end to end, making a complete circle.
The city was completely encircled. There was no gap. So when the wall fell, everyone went straight in, and the enemy had nowhere to escape—no gap.
That shows us, in spiritual warfare, how it takes the whole church to encircle together.
You know, today, because God’s people are so divided, even when sometimes the wall falls, it leaves so many gaps for the enemy to slip away, because the city is not completely encircled.
How God’s people should be together, so that when the wall falls, we may all go in and leave the enemy with no escape forever.
But before they entered into the city, God gave a command: the whole city must be destroyed. Not only the people, but everything must be burned. The children of Israel were not to take anything. The whole city was devoted to destruction.
Only gold, silver, iron, and copper that could go through fire and be refined were to enter into the treasury of the Lord. The children of Israel got nothing—got nothing.
Dear brothers and sisters, here is a principle for us. Basically, in spiritual warfare, anything that belongs to the enemy is devoted to destruction. We are not to take anything.
We are not to take anything, but the Lord will have His spoil. The spoils that the Lord will have are things that can go through fire, that can be refined, that belong to the Lord.
So in spiritual warfare, you find that there will be spoils, no doubt, but the spoils are the Lord’s. Do not think that because we have gone into such trouble, therefore we should have something.
Later on, in the city of Ai, yes; but not basically. Basically, it is for the Lord. The battle is fought for the Lord, that the Lord may gain something out of the enemy’s hand—things that can be refined.
They will go into the treasury of the Lord for the Lord to use. Now, that is spiritual warfare.
You know, the greatest spoil they got that day was not gold and silver. It was Rahab. That was the greatest spoil of that battle. God got a Rahab.
Now, who was Rahab? Rahab was not only a woman in the city of Jericho devoted to destruction; she was the lowest of all the people in Jericho. Why? She was a harlot.
She was the one who had the least possibility of anything. Certainly she was the first one who should have been destroyed. Yet see what grace could do.
Somehow, by the grace of God, it touched her heart. She was willing to disown her own city. She was willing to stand with the children of Israel.
God rescued her—not only her, but her whole household: her father and mother, brothers and sisters, and relatives, whoever came into her house.
Furthermore, David came from her, and even our Lord came out of her. What a trophy! What a spoil for the Lord!
That was the greatest spoil in that battle of Jericho. So, dear brothers and sisters, in this battle over Jericho, it lays, as it were, a foundation. It gives us the basic principles that govern spiritual warfare.
Thank God, it is not in vain. Even though you may not get anything, the Lord gets a lot—gets a lot. It is for the glory of the Lord.
Oh, heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee for the victory that our Lord Jesus has won on Calvary’s cross. It is decisive. It cannot be reversed.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee for that victory, that we can go from victory to victory. How we praise and thank Thee: we have no fear, because He who is in us is greater than he that is in the world.
How we praise and thank Thee that it is Thou who leadest us into the battle, and Thou dost plan the strategy. Oh, we just need to follow in the train of Thy victory.
How we praise and thank Thee, O Lord. We ask Thee that these principles may be livingly applied by Thy Spirit in our lives together, that we may dispossess our enemy and possess Thee in a full way.
And to Thee be the spoil and the glory forever and ever. Amen.