“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit” Romans 15:13
This lesson begins after Israel’s victory over one of Canaan’s strongest cities at Jericho. A battle where God once again displayed His love for Israel. Joshua looks to the next battle before them. A battle nothing like Jericho as they look at the town of Ai without concern; they don’t even send all their men.
Joshua 7:2-4: 2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. 3 When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.” 4 So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai,
The simple battle fought in human strength and in the midst of disobedience can have only one outcome. Complete failure. God has repeatedly taught them that the success in the land is based on obedience in the land. Joshua finds himself totally confused and not understanding and questions why God failed them. God reveals to Joshua what had happened.
In the midst of experiencing complete success, Achan, one of the spiritual leaders of Israel decides to help himself to some of the spoils of Jericho. He steals silver, gold, and of all things a ‘beautiful’ robe from Babylon. Spoils of war, emphasized by Joshua as being completely dedicated for destruction as an offering to the Lord before the battle of Jericho began (Joshua 6:18). Notice once again the symbolism of Babylon and eternal punishment is contrasted with God’s offer of life for us. This robe, dedicated for destruction, is coveted by Achan and leads to his death, as God offers a white robe of righteousness to all who believe and are obedient to His instruction. Once the sin is dealt with Ai is soundly defeated as God goes with them into battle once again.
In chapter 23 of the book of Joshua, Joshua gives his farewell speech to Israel. Israel under his leadership had been successful in the conquest of the Promised Land. Joshua was a leader who trained under Moses, he was a commander of the Lord’s army, he was witness to the interaction between God and Moses both at Sinai when God gave Moses His Law, and in the tent of meeting when Moses met with God. He was a man of faith who trusted in the sovereign power of God to conquer the Promised Land, he had to endure 40 years in the desert because of those less faithful. The Spirit of God was with him in his leadership as evidenced by his success in the battles fought. In his closing address, Joshua reminds the people of everything God has done in bringing them out of slavery into the land. He encourages them to remain obedient and faithful as there is still work to be done in the conquering of the land. He warns them that failure to completely destroy the nations of Canaan will result in them “quickly vanishing from the good land He has given you”. (Joshua 23:12-16)
How quickly the loss of a Spirit-filled leader destroys the path of a nation. After Joshua dies, Israel experiences the cyclical effects of “everyone doing what they saw right in their own eyes” as described in the book of Judges (Judges 17:6, 18:1, 19:1 and 21:25). They became a nation that did not acknowledge the Lord, and did not remember the things the Lord had done for them. They became evil, corrupt, serving other gods and abandoning the Lord. God, in His patience, rose up judges in the land as leaders who were given the Spirit of God to bring the nation back from their wickedness. But when the judge died, they once again returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before. We once again see the downward spiral of mankind when left to man’s own desires.
Israel recognizes that their nation with a common leader would give them unity in leadership and they demand a king from their last judge, Samuel. They desire a king so they may be “like all the other nations”. In this, they fail to recognize God as their King. God emphasizes this as being a rejection of His leadership of His Holy People as being set apart from “all the other nations”.
1 Samuel 8:6-7: 6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.
Also, this rejection of His leadership was not a surprise to God, as we see in the instructions given to Moses.
Deuteronomy 17:14-20: 14 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” 15 be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. 16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” 17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. 18 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20 and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.
God predicts this path for Israel. In this passage He provides insight to the Godly characteristics of a king; a king who establishes leadership centered on the Word and Promises of God; a king meditating on Scripture always, with no corruption of power.
Israel elects its first king, Saul. Saul is the first of 3 kings under the united kingdom of Israel, with David being its second and David’s son Solomon the third. When David takes the throne (a king described by God as a man after God’s own heart), he has a passion for building a temple in which to place the Ark of the Covenant (1 Kings 8:15-17). God however forbids him to do so as David was a warrior who has shed blood of others (a form of spiritual uncleanliness). Instead God provides incredible promises to David. God promises that David’s son Solomon will build the temple David wanted to build, but more importantly He promises offspring with the throne of the kingdom lasting forever, God being his Father and the King being His Son. Specifically pointing forward to the Kingship of Christ in David’s line with a Kingship lasting forever…. a Kingship of the Son of God.
As promised, King Solomon builds the temple in Jerusalem and God demonstrates complete approval in His dramatic occupation of the Most Holy Place in it (2 Chronicles 5:12-14).
12 All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. 13 The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang:
“He is good;
his love endures forever.”
Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, 14 and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.
This seems like it should be the conclusion of the story with God dwelling in His majestic Temple in Jerusalem, the Holy and promised city occupied by the descendants of Abraham, the unified nation of Israel. Unfortunately there is still an aspect of the kingdom missing. We know this to be true because of the outcome of the kings of Israel. After Solomon’s reign, the kingdom splits, the unified nation of Israel becomes two nations, Israel and Judah. The kings of these now divided nations over time are corrupted by the wickedness left in the land. The wickedness God specifically commanded them to conquer. As promised in Joshua’s farewell address, the punishment of this failure is removal from the land, God’s people are exiled to…(you could probably guess by now)…Babylon. (See attached Timeline)
While in exile, the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34) announces that God will establish a ‘new covenant’ with His people, a covenant pointing forward to Jesus Christ. This new covenant would no longer be ‘external’ to the worshipers, but now would be written on their hearts (33). The defect of the old covenant was that the power of God was external and lacked the power to enable the kings (and people) to do what it commands. The new covenant would be internalized by believers through the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:3-4). A power made possible only through the sacrifice, death and resurrection of Christ. Jesus specifically related this covenant prophesied by Jeremiah to himself at the last supper with disciples as the cup of Christ is the cup of the ‘new covenant’. Please, in your study also read through Hebrews 8 and 9 where this passage from Jeremiah is quoted and the author contrasts the old and new covenants and the superiority of the new one.
We have before us a new covenant established in the blood of Christ. Where the people of Israel lacked the leadership to conquer the corruption of the land, we have a new King. A King establishes in our hearts both His Law, and the power to obey the Law. We have the gift of the Spirit of God within us. As David wanted to build the temple of God, his descendant on an eternal throne builds the temple….a temple within us, a temple occupied by the Spirit of God himself.
On this side of death there is peace in this land of promise, peace coming through obedience, obedience to the promised King from the line of David. Obedience made possible not by our own effort but only through the power of His Spirit. A Spirit given freely to those with faith in the promise, faith in the completed work of Christ. A King within us. Hallelujah! The King is here!
Now the story is complete….Since the fall of man we find ourselves naked before a Holy God where the long journey back to the Garden begins.
- A journey back to the presence of a Holy God.
- A presence where only righteousness dwells.
- Righteousness accomplished through faith.
- Faith in God’s promises to the children of Abraham.
- Children of Abraham adopted by God.
- Adoption through belief in the shed blood of the Passover Lamb.
- Blood that washes our filthy robe of sin clean, making it white as snow.
- This white robe of covering of our nakedness before a Holy God,
- Our nakedness and shame of sin is now covered with a robe of righteousness.
- Righteousness that once again gives us access into the garden
- A garden where the tree of life flourishes
- A tree we eat of and live for eternity
- An eternity in the Holy presence of God worthy of all our praise.
One Story, One Plan, One Savior. A story perfect throughout eternity. Praise God!