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When Joshua had inquired, “What saith my Lord unto His servant?” the Lord replied telling him, “Loose thy shoe from off they foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.” The first thing Joshua had to learn was to acknowledge the Lord’s absolute authority as the Captain of His host, and then the holiness that became His presence. This we must ever remember, for if we are to be used of the Lord there cannot be any lightness as to sin. In a practical way there cannot be any progress in the things of God, in victory in our Christian life, it we are careless in our walk. May the Lord help each one of us who seek to serve Him to remember these things, so that we may “serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” Hebrews 12:2828Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: (Hebrews 12:28).
God had waited in patience over Jericho and the other cities of Canaan, but at last their wickedness had risen to such heights that He could not delay any longer—He must judge. Judgment is God’s “strange work” (Isaiah 28:2121For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. (Isaiah 28:21)) and He always warns and gives space to repent, but when iniquity comes to the full, then He judges, and how solemn and awful are His judgments. (See Revelation 18:5, 65For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 6Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. (Revelation 18:5‑6)). Oh how patiently God has waited with Christendom two thousand years— but it will not always be so. The day of grace is fast coming to a close, and just as the people of Jericho heard that Israel had crossed the Jordan, and saw them pitch their tents outside the city before the judgement fell, so we see a great deal taking place in the world today that shows us the day of judgment is near for Christendom.
The people of Jericho decided to shut the gates of their great city to keep the judgment out, and so with the world today. As trouble increases daily, they build larger warships and better airplanes, and increase their armies; but it is all of no avail, for “God ... .hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world to righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He has raised Him from the dead.” Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31). Judgment is coming, just as God has warned, and the only way of escape is through accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, through taking shelter under His blood, just as Rehab and all their house were safe because of the scarlet line in her window. Dear reader, how is it with you? Are you safe in Christ, or are you still outside, exposed to God’s righteous judgement? Why not flee for refuge to Christ today?
God then told Joshua that He had delivered Jericho and all its mighty men into his hand. It was not through Israel’s mighty army that they were victorious, however, but because “salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:99But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. (Jonah 2:9)). It is a lesson we are all slow to learn, that God alone can remove difficulties or give success. All our efforts are useless apart from Him, but when He comes in, “the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.” Isaiah 40:44Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: (Isaiah 40:4). How often our efforts to serve the Lord prove useless because we have sought to go forward in our own strength instead of waiting upon the Lord, while on the other hand only a word or a little act of kindness done in communion with Him, has been the means of much blessing. As another has said, “Little is much if God is in it.”
ML 02/15/1953