Will you please turn to the book of Joshua? Joshua 1:1-9.
And it came to pass after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,
Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, to you have I given it, as I spake unto Moses.
From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.
There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee; I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Be strong and of good courage: for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
Only be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses My servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest have good success whithersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate thereon day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Joshua 5:13-15.
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.
Joshua 13:1-6.
Now Joshua was old and well stricken in years. And the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and well stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.
This is the land that yet remaineth: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites; from the Shihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the border of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanites; the five lords of the Philistines, of Gaza, and of Ashdod, and of Ashkelon, and of Gath, and of Ekron; also the Avim;
on the south; all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongeth to the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the border of the Amorites;
and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from Baal-gad under mount Hermon unto the entrance of Hamath;
all the inhabitants of the hill-country from Lebanon unto Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians; them will I drive out from before the children of Israel: only allot thou it unto Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.
Finally, Joshua 23:1-6.
And it came to pass after many days, when the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, and Joshua was old and well stricken in years,
that Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and for their heads, and for their judges and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and well stricken in years:
and ye have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the Lord your God, He it is that hath fought for you.
Behold, I have allotted unto you these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun.
And the Lord your God, He will thrust them out from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the Lord your God spake unto you.
Therefore be ye very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left.
Shall we pray?
Dear heavenly Father, how we do worship Thee. Through Thy beloved Son, we can call Thee our Father, and we know that Thy pleasure is upon us because Thou hast accepted us in Thy Beloved.
Our Father, we do praise and thank Thee that Thou dost speak to us through Thy Word. So we are here. Open our hearts and our ears that we may hear what the Spirit says to the churches. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Our Lord Jesus divides the Old Testament into three parts: Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. By God’s grace, we have gone over the five books of Moses, and this morning we will begin with the Prophets.
You will notice that in the Scripture, the Prophets include both the historical writings and the prophetic writings. Now, why is it so? Because the same Spirit that moved the prophets to write these prophetic writings moved those who wrote the historical writings.
You find that those who wrote the historical books were not just historians. They were moved by the Spirit of God to write history. It is not merely secular history, nor simply a history of the nation of Israel and her economic or political development. That is not the purpose of these historical writings.
These men were moved by God to write the history of the nation of Israel in relation to God. In other words, they chose from the history of that nation only those things related to the development of the kingdom of God upon this earth.
Because of this, these historical books are listed among the Prophets. We are not merely studying the history of a nation on earth, however interesting—or sometimes disappointing—it may be. Through the history of that nation, we see how God’s promise concerning the seed of Abraham is brought into this earth to bring blessing upon all nations. This is behind the writing of these historical books.
The historical writings among the Prophets are Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Esther, Nehemiah, and Ezra. These are historical writings included among the Prophets.
These historical writings cover a long period. They begin with the death of Moses and end about four hundred years before the birth of our Lord Jesus. Roughly, they cover about 1,055 years, if you want to be exact.
This long history can again be divided into three sections:
In this long period of time, we find in the first section what we call theocracy, because God ruled over His people as King. The second section is called monarchy, because during that time the children of Israel had earthly kings. The third section is called dependency, because the nation was under foreign rule.
The book of Joshua is a continuation of the last book of Moses, Deuteronomy. It begins where Deuteronomy ends. In Deuteronomy, we find that Moses passed away; and now, in Joshua, God speaks to Joshua and says, “Rise up. My servant Moses is dead. Now rise up and enter into the land that I promised to the children of Israel.”
So what Moses commenced, Joshua finished. Moses was used by God to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, and now it was the work of Joshua to lead them into Canaan, the promised land.
With Moses, the one thing that probably everybody remembers is crossing the Red Sea. That speaks of deliverance from bondage. With Joshua, probably everybody remembers crossing the Jordan, which is entering into the blessing of God.
Moses and Joshua can be viewed from various angles. Sometimes we say Moses represents law, because he was the lawgiver. And law cannot bring people into the full blessing of God.
It is Joshua who leads the people into the promised land. In contrast with Moses, Joshua represents grace. We are able to enter into the full blessing of Christ by the grace of God.
That is one way to contrast Moses and Joshua. Or you can see that Moses and Joshua are continuous. In other words, what Moses begins, Joshua finishes. So, in one sense, they both represent our Saviour.
Our Saviour not only delivers us out of curse, out of bondage, out of death, and out of the dominion of Satan, setting us free; He is also the One who leads us into the unsearchable riches that are in Christ. This is our Saviour.
You can look at it that way too. But anyway, you find that there is such a continuation there as you begin to read the book of Joshua.
This book is entitled the book of Joshua because, in this book, Joshua is the central figure. According to Jewish tradition—which is correct in this sense—the materials found in the book of Joshua come from Joshua himself.
The book of Joshua can be divided into three parts:
If you can remember this, it will help you in your own study of the book of Joshua.
Again, I want to remind you that what we are doing in the morning is simply to give you a taste of the book of Joshua. I hope that it tastes so sweet to you that you will read this book, meditate upon it, and receive much blessing from it.
It is not merely that we try to give you a general idea, and then you say, “I have got the book of Joshua,” and close the book. That is not our desire.
We want to stir your heart to read the Old Testament, because we find that God’s people do not know the Old Testament—the treasure of the Word of God that is there. So we want to use this time simply to stir up your interest, and hopefully you will begin to read the Old Testament as you have read the New Testament.
Joshua’s name was formerly Hoshea, which means deliverance or salvation. But Moses changed that name into Jehoshua, or Joshua: “the Lord is Saviour.”
He was a young man, born in captivity and bondage, of the tribe of Ephraim. So when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, he was a young man at that time.
The first mention of this young man is found in Exodus 17. You remember that the children of Israel came out of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and then travelled in the wilderness. While they were in the wilderness, the Amalekites attacked them.
So Moses chose Joshua, the young man, to lead the people in fighting against the Amalekites. That was the first mention of Joshua.
Now why, among all the young people—there must have been thousands and thousands of young people among the children of Israel at that time—was Joshua chosen to lead the people into battle? Evidently, Moses must have noticed this young man. There must have been something in him that stood out.
Later on, you find in the Scripture that Joshua had an excellent spirit—another spirit. In other words, the Spirit of God was with him. There was a spirit in him, and this spirit marked him out.
We may call it a fighting spirit. This young man had a fighting spirit. You cannot choose a person who does not have a fighting spirit to go out and fight.
Yet this battle was a very strange battle. Why? Because even though it was a physical battle—the Amalekites came to attack the children of Israel, and Joshua led the children of Israel to fight against them—the outcome of the battle did not depend upon the fighting.
On the contrary, Moses went up to the top of a hill and raised his hands. When his hands were raised, the children of Israel prevailed. But when his hands became weary and he lowered them, the Amalekites prevailed.
Finally, they put a stone under Moses so that he could sit down, and two persons, Aaron and Hur, held up his hands until the Amalekites were completely defeated.
So, on the plain the battle was going on, but on the hill there was another battle going on. These two battles were connected, and it was on the hill that the battle on the plain was won.
Why was it such a strange battle? Because, if you see its spiritual significance, you will find that Amalek represents the flesh.
When God’s people are in the wilderness, the flesh is the greatest enemy. You have come out of Egypt; you are delivered out of curse and out of death. But you are in the wilderness, and you have not yet arrived in the promised land. When you are in that kind of position, what do you find is your greatest enemy? It is your flesh.
As a matter of fact, the whole history in the wilderness is a history of exposing the flesh in the children of Israel as well as in those around them. We have already mentioned in Deuteronomy that those forty years in the wilderness were God’s testing of them. God was bringing out the flesh in them, that they might know that they were fleshly.
So the Amalekites represent the flesh. Brothers and sisters, do we have a fighting spirit against the flesh, or do we give in to the flesh?
There are many believers who are very passive, even neutral. Now, with the flesh you cannot be neutral. You cannot be passive, because if you become passive and neutral, the flesh will rule over you.
It is the will of God that we should have a fighting spirit, that we should fight against the flesh to the very end. You remember God said that this battle would continue until the name of Amalek was completely wiped out from the earth.
It is not just one battle. It goes on until the name of Amalek is completely wiped out from the earth. That is the will of God. So far as the flesh is concerned, there can be no negotiation and no compromise. It is a fight to the very end.
Brothers and sisters, do we have such a fighting spirit in us?
Oh, how you find God’s people yield to their flesh. How we love ourselves! How we cater to the desires of our flesh! How we give in to our flesh! We do not want to see our flesh suffer. We want to satisfy it, gratify it, indulge it, and give everything to it.
It is true that when you give in to your flesh, you may enjoy a little bit so far as your flesh is concerned. But the result is death—spiritual death.
Here you find this young man. He had another spirit in him. He had a fighting spirit within him. He would fight against the flesh to the very end.
But remember: in fighting against the flesh, it is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of God. In other words, no one can fight against himself.
How can you fight against the flesh? It is through the work of our Lord Jesus. There on the hill, the battle was won. Our Lord Jesus, on Calvary’s cross, has won the battle. Our old man was crucified with Christ.
So Paul said:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
Brothers and sisters, let us remember that there is a battle going on within us. It is a battle against the flesh, but it is not fought with our hands, our feet, or our natural strength. We are not able to do that.
It is because our Lord Jesus has taken this old man and crucified it on the cross that, on the basis of that work, we can deliver the flesh unto death. That is how the battle is won.
This young man, Joshua, was an attendant of Moses. Oftentimes, we only think of Moses—what a great man he was—and we tend to forget his attendant.
When Moses went into the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, he was there forty days and forty nights. If you read the Scripture, you will find that while he was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments, the children of Israel were worshipping the golden calf on the plain.
So God said, “Now you go down. The children of Israel have sinned.” Moses came down with the two tablets of stone, upon which the Ten Commandments were inscribed by the hand of God. When he saw what was happening, you remember how he broke the two tablets.
Where was Joshua? Joshua was not on the plain. He was not among the people who worshipped the golden calf, nor was he on the top of the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments. He was somewhere in between.
He went up with Moses. He stayed, probably, in the middle of the mountain, and Moses went on to receive the Ten Commandments. Joshua was there.
Can you imagine a young man for forty days and forty nights, all by himself? Moses had the presence of God with him, but Joshua did not. Nor did he have the people with him. He was all alone there.
Yet this young man, though he was alone in the middle of the mountain, neither having the presence of God as Moses had nor having the children of Israel with him, was able to remain there for forty days and forty nights. In his spirit, he was abiding.
This young man had not only a fighting spirit, but a fighting spirit must be balanced and accompanied by an abiding spirit. Some young men have a fighting spirit, but they do not have an abiding spirit.
If you have only a fighting spirit without an abiding spirit, sooner or later you will fight people who should not be fought. But if you have that abiding spirit, then you have no problem.
Here you find that in this young man’s spirit there was not only a fighting spirit, but there was an abiding spirit. He was able to abide, seeing no one, and yet by faith he was there in communion with God.
Moses came down and broke the two tablets of stone. The people were disciplined. When Moses saw that the camp was defiled, he moved his tent outside the camp and put it some distance away. This was the tent where God would meet with His people.
Every time Moses went to meet with God, he went out from the camp to the tent that was pitched far away from the camp. There God would descend in the pillar of cloud, and God would speak to him, because the camp was defiled.
Moses, being the leader, had to go back into the camp. But the Bible says—in Exodus 33—that Joshua, the young man, remained in the tent and did not depart from it.
In other words, you find how this young man abided. He remained in that tent because that was where God was. He remained there and did not depart from it. He had a life with God.
You remember Moses in Psalm 91:
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
You need to dwell in the secret place of the Most High. That is abiding. Then you will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Then there will be might; there will be power.
Here you find that this young man had that kind of spirit: a fighting spirit against all flesh, and an abiding spirit, abiding in Christ. That is the kind of person Joshua was.
Joshua was one of the twelve spies sent to spy out the land. Only he and Caleb had a different spirit—another spirit, an excellent spirit—and they gave a good report.
The other ten spies gave a very poor report. They all saw the land, and they all came back and said that the land was good. It truly flowed with milk and honey, as God had said.
But the ten spies said, “We see the people. We see giants there. We are like grasshoppers in their sight. We see their cities; the walls reach to heaven. It is a land that swalloweth up its inhabitants. We cannot go in. We will all be devoured and swallowed up.” They gave the bad report.
Joshua and Caleb said, “No. It is a good land, as God has said. And if God is pleased with us, He will give the land to us. These people are our bread. We are well able to possess the land because God is with us.”
In other words, Joshua not only saw the good land; he saw God. Because he saw God, there was faith in him.
Brothers and sisters, what is faith? Faith is not looking at the environment. Faith is not looking at yourself. Faith is not looking at problems. Faith only looks at God.
“Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.” Sometimes you wonder why you have no faith. Sometimes you try to create something, but you find it does not work.
The secret is: look off. Look off from yourself, look off from anybody else, look off from your problems, and look off from circumstances. It does not mean that you do not see or know these things. You know these things, but look off from them and unto Jesus.
When you look at Him, with Him all things are possible. So here you find this is the young man whom God used to bring the children of Israel into the promised land.
You can look at Joshua from different directions. As I have already said, in contrast with Moses, Joshua can represent grace, as Moses represents law.
But in relation to the land, in typology Joshua represents the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit of God who leads us into our possession.
Brothers and sisters, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, He puts His Spirit in us. This Spirit who is put within us is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God.
What is the Spirit of God doing in us? The Spirit of God in us has one thing to do: to lead us into our possession.
The land of Canaan does not represent heaven as such. Sometimes, in hymns or writings, you find the thought that when you cross the river—the icy river—and arrive on the other shore, that is heaven. No, that may be sentimental, but it is not true.
Canaan in Scripture does not represent heaven as we commonly think of it. Canaan represents the unsearchable riches of Christ in the heavenlies. If you still want to use the word heaven, all right—make it the heavenlies.
It is not heaven as such, but it is a heavenly realm. It is in that heavenly realm that you find the unsearchable riches of Christ, the fullness of Christ.
Of course, in the same heavenly places, you find enemies there. But that is not something to be afraid of. We will touch upon that later.
Anyway, the land of Canaan represents the riches of Christ in the heavenlies. God has given His Spirit to us as a pledge, as a down payment. The Spirit of God in us assures us that all the fullness that is in Christ is our possession.
Now we have only tasted a little of our possession. We have tasted the forgiveness of our sins. If you recall when your sins were forgiven, my, how sweet that was!
We have tasted a little of the freshness of eternal life. You begin to feel that you are living; you are no longer dead. You begin to taste a relationship with your heavenly Father. You cry out, “Abba, Father.”
You begin to taste a little of the preciousness of Christ. The very mention of Jesus brings tears to your eyes. You begin to taste something of Him. But the Holy Spirit is there telling you, “These are yours, but it is only a taste.”
That is what the Spirit of God is doing. In Deuteronomy, you have the land described. In Joshua, the land is not merely described; it is to be possessed.
Dear brothers and sisters, the Spirit of God in every one of us is moving us, urging us, beseeching us, working in us, and revealing more of Christ to us. He is drawing us and saying, “Now rise up and go into the land.”
There is much more in Christ that God wants us to possess as our possession. Why delay? Why stay there? Why be so self-contented? Go on. That is the work of the Spirit of God.
Joshua leads the people into the promised land, but Joshua can also represent, in relation to us, the kind of spirit that is one with the Spirit of God. Let me call it the spirit of sonship.
God has not only given us His Spirit; He has renewed our spirit. In our spirit, under the influence and work of His Spirit, there should be manifested a certain spirit in us. This spirit is the spirit of sonship.
In Galatians, it is said that in the fullness of time, Christ came, born of a woman, under the law, that He might deliver us out from under the law, that we might receive sonship.
In other words, not only do we have the Holy Spirit in us, but our spirit, being renewed, is the spirit of sonship. The spirit of sonship simply means this: we want to be raised as sons. We are not satisfied merely to be babies in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, is that kind of spirit in you? Or would you rather remain a baby? There is nothing more comfortable than just being a baby: no responsibility, never needing to think of anybody else, while everybody is thinking of you. You are the centre of the universe.
Many children of God like to be babies. They want to remain babes in the church, and if they are not immediately served, they cry and they kick.
But God has given us the spirit of sonship. The spirit of sonship in us means that we are never satisfied with being babies. We want to grow up. We want to bear responsibility. We want to have fellowship with our Father. We want to be useful to our Father.
Brothers and sisters, the spirit of Joshua is the spirit of sonship, and it is this kind of spirit that inherits the land.
Do we have this kind of spirit in us? Do we desire to grow up? Do we want to possess our possession? Do we want to enter into the riches of Christ?
This is what the church is: the church is the body of Christ, the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all. With this kind of spirit, brothers and sisters, we may enter into and possess the land.
Now go back to the book of Joshua. As you open the book, God speaks to Joshua: “Rise up. Go into the land. I have already given it to you. Put your foot down, and wherever you put your foot, that is yours.”
If you study the wording, you find that this land was actually given to them long ago. God promised Abraham this land, and when God promised it to him, it was already a fact.
With us, there is a time factor: there is a promise, and later it becomes reality. But with God, He is timeless. When He promises, it is done.
God had already given that land to Abraham, but after so many hundreds of years—and even after the children of Israel came out of Egypt, forty years later—God said, “Now go in. Put your foot down, and it is yours.”
Is this not true with us today?
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” That is Ephesians 1:3.
God has blessed. It is not that God is going to bless, or that God will bless. God has blessed. He has blessed us, who are His, with every spiritual blessing you can think of, in Christ Jesus, in the heavenlies. He has blessed us with all these things. In other words, they are ours.
Dear brothers and sisters, God has given His Son to us in full. Everything that is in Him is for us. God says, “He is yours. It is all yours. It is given.”
What He is waiting for is for us to put our foot down, to stand, to claim it, and to take it by faith. Whatever we take by faith is ours.
Three times God said, “Be strong and very courageous.” Do not be afraid. Do not draw back. Be strong and very courageous.
Brothers and sisters, this Joshua spirit in us needs to be encouraged. Be strong and very courageous. Why?
God told Joshua, “Meditate upon the Word. Keep the commandment, and you will be successful and prosperous. Nobody can stand against you.” The Word of God is with us.
And God Himself is with us: “My presence is with you.” Now think of that. We have the promise of God, we have the Word of God, and we have the presence of God with us. Why should we hesitate? Be strong and very courageous.
Of course, the first thing necessary to possess the land is to cross the river Jordan.
I think, brothers and sisters, we all understand this. When the children of Israel came out from Egypt, they had to cross the Red Sea. After they crossed the Red Sea, they were out of Egypt.
Then they had to cross the river Jordan. After they crossed the river Jordan, they were in the promised land. These two waters actually are one. They speak of two sides of one thing: one is out, and the other is in. Yet they are one thing.
If you read the New Testament, you find that they both speak of baptism. What is baptism? Romans 6 says that we were baptized into Christ, into His death.
When the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea, 1 Corinthians 10 says that they were baptized unto Moses. Before that, they belonged to Pharaoh. Now, through baptism, they belonged to Moses.
Brothers and sisters, that is what believers’ baptism means for us. Why should we be baptized? When we are baptized, we are baptized out of Egypt unto Moses—out of the world. We no longer belong to the world; we belong to Christ. We are baptized unto Christ.
Baptism does not mean that you are baptized into a church. No, do not think of that. The Bible never teaches that. You are baptized unto Christ: out of the world, out of Satan, unto Christ.
He has translated us out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love. That is what baptism means on one side. But baptism does not have only one side; there is another side, represented by the river Jordan.
In the river Jordan, we find that we were baptized into His death. When the children of Israel came out of Egypt by crossing the Red Sea, it was with the rod of God. Moses lifted the rod of God and spoke to the water, and the water divided.
But in crossing the river Jordan, it was the ark of God that went first into the river, and then the children of Israel went with the ark through the river. In other words, it is identification: our co-death, co-burial, and co-resurrection with Christ.
Brothers and sisters, this is what baptism is. When we are baptized, we are baptized into Christ, into His death, into His burial, and into His resurrection. That is the reason why, after we are baptized, we can declare, “No longer I; it is Christ Who lives in me.”
They had to cross the river Jordan. After they crossed the river Jordan, not only was Egypt behind them, but the wilderness was behind them also.
After they crossed the river Jordan, in Gilgal they had to have circumcision. In other words, this is the subjective side of the cross.
The objective side of the cross is what Christ has done for us. He died, and in His death we died. He was buried, and in His burial we were buried. He was raised from the dead, and in His resurrection we were raised in Him and with Him.
It is all His doing. We have done nothing.
Then you find the subjective side: the knife, the stone knife, is applied to our flesh and cuts it off. Thus the reproach of Egypt is completely rolled away.
In other words, we are completely new in Christ Jesus, and we begin to possess our possession.
Brothers and sisters, so far as God’s purpose is concerned, the possession is ours—no problem. But so far as our experience is concerned, how can we enter into our possession?
We need to know the working of the cross in our lives, because Jordan speaks of the cross, the death of Christ. As we know the working of the cross in our lives, we enter more into the riches that are in Christ. The cross will cut us off, and the cross will add Christ to us.
After they entered into the promised land, the second thing was the battles. There they found the seven tribes of Canaan.
Let us remember: in the wilderness, the battle is against the flesh. But in the promised land, the battle is against the evil powers of darkness in the heavenlies.
You are not able to fight the evil powers of darkness if the flesh has not been subdued in you. Many believers try to fight the evil powers of darkness. They are very brave, but the flesh within has not been dealt with.
If you have not dealt with your flesh and try to fight against the enemy, you find that you have a fifth columnist within you. The enemy has an ally in you. You will never be able to overcome the enemy.
But if you know how, by the cross, to overcome the flesh, then you are in a position to fight against the evil forces of darkness. The seven tribes of Canaan represent the evil forces of darkness in the heavenlies. They try to stand in the way of our possessing our possession.
But the battle is the Lord’s.
Joshua went to the vicinity of Jericho. As the commander-in-chief, he was planning his strategy for taking that city. As he surveyed the city and tried to plan his strategy, a man stood before him with a drawn sword.
Joshua came to Him and said, “Are You for us or for our enemies? Are You with us or with our enemies?” The man said, “No. I am neither for you nor for your enemies. I have come as captain of the host of the Lord.”
Joshua bowed down and worshipped and said, “Lord, what dost Thou say unto Thy servant?” And the Lord said, “Take off your shoes. You are standing on holy ground.”
In fighting against the seven tribes of Canaan, it is not fought with human power. It is God Who fights for them. It does not depend upon them.
God plans all the strategy and all the plans. God tells them what to do, and all they do is obey and follow. You find that the enemies are defeated. No one can stand before them because the Lord is fighting for them.
That is the way they fight. Joshua’s conquest continued for about seven years, and in seven years he wiped out the enemies.
Spiritually speaking, brothers and sisters, as we are possessing our possession, we find opposition. We find the evil powers of darkness trying to hinder us from possessing Christ, from possessing the riches that are in Christ.
But remember: we have a Captain. His sword is drawn. He has already overcome.
In Colossians 2, it says that He has already despoiled the principalities and powers and made a show of them openly. By the cross, He has crushed the head of the serpent. He has defeated the enemy. In other words, the battle—the war—is already won.
We are engaged in a mopping-up work. We do not really have the battle. All that we are fighting is mopping-up work. The enemy may be hidden in one corner or behind a door, and we are simply trying to flush him out. That is all we do. The victory is already won.
So, in spiritual warfare, it is from victory to victory. It is not fighting for victory.
If we think we are fighting for victory, then we will be defeated. Remember, Satan is much older than we are. He is much wiser than we are, more experienced than we are, more intelligent than we are, and more powerful than we are. You will never be able to beat him.
But thank God, Christ has already overcome. It is from victory to victory. He is leading us. He is doing the battle. He is fighting. He is before us. All we need to do is trust and obey, and do what He wants us to do.
Sometimes it may sound very strange. The children of Israel, with the ark leading them, surrounded the city of Jericho once a day, and on the seventh day, seven times. I wonder whether those in Jericho stood on top of the wall, looked at them, shook their heads, and said, “What are they doing?”
It may sound strange, but the Lord knows what He is doing. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.” It is in the might of the victory of Christ that we fight our battles.
Then, thirdly, after many years—perhaps seven years or so—of battle, God told Joshua, “Divide the land.” Even though not all the land had been conquered, and there was much more land yet to be conquered, God said, “Divide it.”
They divided the land by faith, as if it were already theirs.
Brothers and sisters, we are to inherit Christ, but no one person is big enough to inherit all of Him.
In a sense, the land has to be divided. You will have a portion, I will have a portion, and every one of us will have a portion. Yet we possess together.
You do not take your portion and go away. No, we possess our possession together, because Christ is not divided. What is given to you is for the good of the whole.
Some may inherit the hill country. Some inherit a plain. Some may inherit a valley. Some inherit the seacoast. Some may be able to farm corn; some may have to dig mines. Some may have to hunt; some may have to fish.
But remember, whatever you do, it is all for the glory of God and for the welfare of the whole nation. If you keep it all to yourself, you may have to eat fish all your life and nothing else.
Variety! God loves variety. It is unity in variety, not unity in conformity. It is unity in variety.
Here you find that everyone has a portion. Everyone has to work on that portion and make it produce. Then we can bring our produce to the temple, offer it to God, and enjoy it together.
This is the life that God has ordained for His people.
Dear brothers and sisters, are we enjoying this kind of life? Or are we still wandering in the wilderness? Have we known the cross working in our lives, that we may be delivered from our flesh? Are we beginning to see the glory and riches of the land of Christ?
Have we received our portion, and do we share it with our brothers and sisters? Or do we just keep it to ourselves and walk away?
Oh, brothers and sisters, here you find that this book of Joshua speaks of possessing our possession. Thank God.
The New Testament counterparts of the Old Testament book of Joshua are Ephesians and the book of Acts.
Ephesians 1-3 gives the vision of the land. Ephesians 4-6 concerns possessing that land. The book of Acts shows the battle of the Lord: how the gospel goes forth, conquers, and overcomes.
So may the Lord help us into our possession. Shall we pray?
Dear heavenly Father, oh, how we praise and thank Thee that Thou hast given Thy beloved Son to us as our portion, our possession. What good ground He is!
Oh, we do pray that Thou wilt open our eyes to see the unsearchable riches that are in Christ. Give us a desire to enter in and to possess. Give us Joshua’s spirit, that we may fight against the flesh and abide in Christ.
By Thy Spirit, may we possess our possession. O Lord, we do pray that Thy people may know their possession and share their possession together, that Thou mayest be glorified and Thy body may be built up.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.