A word to the nation, choose whom you will follow
Joshua 24:1-13
“I have chosen you”
I. Intro
II. Vs. 1-4 I took
III. Vs. 5-10 I brought
IV. Vs. 11-13 I sent
Intro
Joshua, (now 110) was not a pastor, preacher or priest he was a soldier and administrator. But at the end of his life he looked ahead to what the nation would face after his departure and he need to communicate to the nation the necessity of maintaining a relationship with God based upon what God had done for them not what they had for God. To do this Joshua by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit becomes a Bible teacher. Several years ago a committee was formed to define Biblical Exposition, not an easy task when one considers that Biblical Exposition involves two things:
- Communicating the meaning of a particular portion of scripture.
- Doing so in such away that the hearer learns the truths in such away that they desire to apply the teaching to their heart.
This is what Joshua was being called to do on the eve of his graduation into the presence of the Lord to a nation that would be left behind. He needed to preach in such a way as someone said “As a dying man to dying men!” He begins his sermon in the first 13 verses by reminding the people of what God had done for them from the beginning up to this very moment. And it follows a threefold outline with regards to what God had done through three specific time frames:
- Vs. 1-4 Abraham to Jacob the central idea is that God TOOK Abraham and Esau out of idolatry into the formation of the people of God.
- Vs. 5-10 Second, God BROUGHT a nation out of bondage and into the border of the land of promise.
- Vs. 11-13 Finally God SENT them into the land of promise and gave them all that He had promised Abraham.
Vs. 1-4 I took
Vs. 1-2 These words of Joshua are unusual in as much as they are framed with the words in verse 2 “Thus says the Lord God of Israel” which makes this a prophetic word not just Joshua’s closing remarks. Yet when one reads these words you will find that what is recorded is not predictive at all instead it looks back at God’s faithfulness. The “river” here is the river Euphrates where Abraham dwelt with his family in the land of Ur. It was here amongst those who were worshipping idols that God came to Abraham to start a new nation to be comprised of those who worship the true and living God.
It has been said that the definition of humility is twofold:
- Knowing who you are
- Knowing who God is
So Joshua starts with reminding the nation just who they are by reminding them about there beginnings recalling that Abraham and his family was a bunch of idolaters according to Gen. 11:27-12:9. In Stephens’ final words before being stoned he said in Acts 7:2 that “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran”. It wasn’t Abraham who sought after God it was God who reached out to Abraham. In other words Stephen said to those ready to kill him “Your pride in your national identity was an act of grace by a loving God.” In Deut. 7:7 Moses reminded the nation that, “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples”. Then Jesus said in John 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you..”
What Joshua communicated was a warning not to begin to think of God’s victories as man’s achievements. Oh dear ones let us hear the preacher Joshua with regards to this least we begin to think that some how God’s victories were our achievements. Listen to Paul’s questions to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 4:7 where he asks a threefold question, “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” David prayed this prayer upon the completion of gathering the necessary supplies for the future building of the temple in 1 Chron. 29:14, as the funds came in from the Lord working on the hearts of the nation David thanked God saying, “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You.”
They were also to recall where they would have been if not for God. I’m afraid that we are under the mistaken opinion that when God chooses a person that He does so by human methods looking for someone head and shoulders above the rest, someone worth saving but that is not the case. You see if God looked for someone, anyone worth saving then he would find none. Paul declared this to the Romans in chapter 3:10-12, 23 saying, “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one…..For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Consider the comparison of Saul and David where are told in 1 Samuel 9:2 with regards to Saul that “There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.” Then in 1 Samuel 16:7 the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Amazing as this may seem three generations from Abraham Rachael Jacob’s favorite wife took her father’s house idols and hid them on their departure. My point is that the people of God were still struggling with idols according to verse 14 the temptation to go back to them was still quite strong. Saints let us realize today that when we:
- Start thinking that God’s victories were our achievements
- Start thinking that God chooses us based upon our qualities instead of His
Than we have already begun the slide into idolatry and what we are worshipping is ourselves. Oh dear ones God’s choice of you wasn’t based upon your value, talents, accomplishments, no His chose has everything to do with Him and nothing to do with you. Those, which we would not think of as valuable, God shows that He values them enough to sacrifice His only Son for them. This truth alone ought to be enough to keep us humble and broken before the Lord and each other but it doesn’t. No, we have to add something on to the phrase to distinguish us from the rest of the believers don’t we? “Why I’m a good Christian”, we say in our defense don’t we? Are there degrees of being a Christian? Do you have to achieve merit badges, tithe a certain amount, and read the bible through certain amount of times to be considered a “good Christian”?
Vs. 5-10 I brought
Vs. 5-7 Let’s get the story straight Joseph’s brothers shipped him off to the Egypt out of jealousy but God’s plan was to send him there to be a blessing to his father and brothers. Isn’t God amazing? Oh it gets even more amazing as the very people God used to save God’s people 400 years later enslaved then. So then we see that God raised up a man named Moses who should have been killed as a child but was raised up as an Egyptian out of Egypt for 40 years only to return at 80 years later to deliver his kindred out of the bondage of the Egyptians. And in all of this we read that long before any of it happened God told Abraham in Genesis 15:13-14 saying, “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” Amazing as this all sounds Egypt’s persecution only served to bring God’s blessing multiplication as when they came into Egypt there were only 70 in the family of God upon their departure there were millions. But God not only used Moses to deliver His people He also used him to judge Egypt who were drown in the Red Sea. It was the Lord who saved them, it was the Lord who blessed them and that is what Joshua tells them.
Hey saints it’s good for you and I to recall our former bondage and how the Lord has delivered us from the things of this world. There was a skeptic who once asked and old fellow if he believed the miracle of the partying of the Red Sea, and the Old fellow said “Sure do!” To this the young man began to quote many learned men who claimed it was impossible. The old man listened carefully to all the young man had to say and finally the young man proudly asked, “So what do you have to say to that”? “Well”, he said, “I’m not a learned man like you but I figured that if God could cause me to part with my Black Velvet that I drank for 50 years that partying a little old Red Sea was no big thing!”
Vs. 8-10 Joshua takes up the journey on the other side of the Red Sea with God’s faithfulness in the wilderness. You may recall that God’s design was for the nation to enter into the land of promise right away and not wait 40 years but the nation struggled with trusting in God’s goodness and promises’ so the Lord sent them out for another lap in the wilderness until that generation died. Yet even in this when Balak king of the Moabites hired Balaam to curse the nation all God allowed was a blessing.
Oh dear ones are you getting the picture yet? Our lives are filled with our failures and struggles where we fail to appropriate God’s love for us and because of this we wonder in the wilderness of life with out experiencing His bountiful blessings. And even in this God patiently waits for our flesh to die off all the while preserving us and pronouncing His intended blessings upon us. God always know just the right amount of pressure to apply in our lives to draw us into His arms of grace doesn’t He? Saints, I rather think that is how God views His work in us, it’s not that He doesn’t know our faults as He is all knowing but it is that not even our failures can thwart His plans and purposes. In that great prophecy in Jeremiah 31 concerning the New Covenant in verse 34 the Lord promises “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” How wonderful it is that in Christ our Lord chooses to no longer to remember our sin and failure!
Vs. 11-13 I sent
Vs. 11-13 Finally Joshua brings up what the Lord did while for them while they were in the land of promise. The same God who baptized them into the Red Sea also Baptized them into the Jordan.
Oh saints don’t miss this as far to many children of God settle for the baptizing that separated them from the world but miss out on the baptism of the Spirit that brings them into the fullness of the blessings of God. No one enters the land of promise and the victorious Christian life apart from the baptism of the Holy Spirit and just as it was then it is now a “step of faith” into deep waters but rest assured the waters will pill up and you will walk across on dry land. Oh there were battles against mighty fortress and powerful enemies that set themselves against the advancement but Joshua recalls, “I delivered them into you hand”. There were victories and defeats champions and compromises but God never gave up on those folks.
And the point of all of this reminiscing? Verse13 “I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.” Simply put God wanted them to realize that everything they now possessed was not based upon what they had done but rather it was based solely upon what God had done. Each of us in the end will not look upon our lives seeing our accomplishments we will look back and view God’s. God who has done so much, with so little and has given us everything and would have given us more had we only trusted Him and entered in.
16 times we read what “God did” on behalf of this ragtag group of people that came from one man Abraham to the nation that now was dwelling in the land promised to Abraham and his descendants. Friends every life in Christ and to some degree even those lives that are apart from a relationship with God will stand as a monument to what God has done for us. Every single talent, gift and blessing came from the hand of God. Any and every accomplishment and direction is from His hand. Clearly all of His creation will one day stand before Him and say in praise, “God did” and I can’t wait to see the things that He did that I wasn’t aware that He was doing! For instance notice here the variety of things that God did, “He took, He gave, He sent, He plagued, He brought, He destroyed, He would not listen, and He delivered”. Now think of your life and you will see that He too took and gave, sent and plagued, brought and destroyed, would not listen and delivered, and praise His name that He did just those things when He did.
I love to go on the tour of homes where you get to walk through these million dollar mansions that are more works of art than they are homes to live in. And as I walk though them amazed that someone actually lives in these palaces there is always a moment where I realize that God has blessed someone with incredible wealth to build such a place and most likely the person is completely unaware that it was God who has done so. But you know what? It didn’t stop God from blessing them, I mean He did it with out asking permission but you never hear anyone complain about that. Or how about all those beautiful days He gives us where the weather is just perfect and you are out in it enjoying the beauty that He has placed you into, do you ever chime in and say, “Lord, uh, excuse me a moment but You didn’t ask my permission to give such a wonderful day so could you please just remove it?” My point? Well James says it best in James 1:17 that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” Beloved, our problem lies in not seeing that every thing that God sends our way is in some way a “good and perfect gift”. Not buying it? Listen to Jesus words in Matthew 7:11 where he said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” Our Father only knows how to give good and perfect gifts. Still struggling with this? Here the words of Joseph, who’s brothers sold him into slavery to the Egyptians in Genesis 50:20 where Joseph declared an amazing truth with regards to his brothers action towards him when he said, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” Dear ones every cloud has a silver lining in Christ even those things that break our heart and bring tears that only stop because we run out of water in the end we will see landed us right where our Lord wanted, in His loving arms. “But why did He have to send it the way He did”, you ask? Well, if there had been an easier way, a shorter more pleasant path, rest assured saints His gift would have been delivered by that rout but your stubborn heart wouldn’t allow it. So because God so loves you and wants to give you His best, He had to send His “Good and perfect” gift by a more painful path. So how about praying, “Lord allow me to see that everything you send me is a good and perfect gift from you and please Lord soften my heart so that I’ll receive it from you hand of love and not have to be driven into your arms.”
Joshua 24:14-33
“As for me and my house”
I. Intro
II. Vs. 14-18 A daily devotion
III. Vs. 19-28 A Stone will speak
IV. Vs. 29-33 Actions that speak louder than words
Intro
Of all the battles Joshua fought and all the enemies he defeated I can tell you that if you could ask him which of them was the most difficult he would tell you without hesitation the idols in his own heart and life. Friends our greatest enemy, the one that we battle every day for supremacy in our hearts is our own flesh that still covets and longs for the idols of this world. We like Joshua stand now at the gates of this once great nation that was built upon a simple yet profound devotion that was so emblazoned upon the hearts of the people that it was printed upon our currency “IN GOD WE TRUST”. For 233 years we the people of this land have heard and watched our God do wonders during seasons where all the elements of the world stood up to appose us. Now we wonder why before our eyes we see the dismantling of our nation and the answer is simple; we who are called by His name have failed to live out our devotion and we have each turned aside and served the gods of the enemies we have defeated. So let us start here and now and rise up to say “I will put away the gods my fathers served”. Let us with devotion come before our Gracious God and say with all our hearts and beings as Joshua did before his country men “As for me and my house we shall serve the Lord!”
Vs. 14-18 A daily devotion
Vs. 14-15 The “Therefore” of verse 14 is Joshua’s response to what the Lord had out lined in the previous 13 verse. The two things that the nation needed to remember to ensure that they stayed in the land of promise:
- God’s victories were not man’s achievements: This wasn’t a payment or reward based upon our work.
- God’s choosing had everything to do with His character and nothing to do with theirs: This wasn’t rewarded based upon God seeing something worthy in God’s people to bless them.
No, it was pure and simply an act of unmerited favor (GRACE), in which they just simply received from God what they didn’t earn or deserve. “Fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord!” “Since the Lord has done great and good things solely because of who He is, reverence Him”, Joshua says.
Saints one of the leading causes in the body of Christ for an attitude of entitlement instead of a sense of indebtedness is that we some how believe we have earned His blessings. Paul told the believers in Rome in Romans 4:4 “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.” I’m afraid that far too often we believers view ourselves as consumers. And what we give of our time, talent and treasure is a payment purchasing blessings from God and if they don’t measure up to our expectation we begin to feel that God owes us! In this kind of relationship it is an employee employer type of thing instead of a loving Father who has lavished His love upon us because He is good. Oh dear ones what we need is to get back to the sense of awe and wonder that David expressed in Psalm 8: 3-5 where he asks, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.” We ponder the words of Genesis 1:27 where we are told that “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
So they were to reverence God but they were also to consider themselves servants by choice towards Him. The story is told of an educated African who was being sold into slavery in Atlanta during the time when England had already outlawed slavery. As the bidding got higher it became apparent that the African was going to be purchased by a wealthy Englishmen which angered the African. Sure enough when the gavel pounded and the auctioneer’s word said “SOLD” the African was thrown at the Englishmen’s feet in shackles. Incensed at the injustice of this the African couldn’t take it and even though he knew he could be beaten or put to death he looked up from the ground at his new owner and said, “How dare you purchase me here to enslave me when you can not do so in your own country!” To which the Englishmen lifted up his purchased slave to his feet and said, “Good sir I have not bought you to enslave you, I have bought you to set you free!” With tears streaming down his face the African replied, “Than sir I shall serve you all my life!” Dear ones that is what we are, we have been purchased by the Father through the blood of the Son not be enslaved by Him but to be set free by him! Free from sin, free from the bondage to the things of this world, free from the penalty and power of our former life, free to live in His love! Ah but what response shall we have in light of this revelation? I can not speak for you but I can for myself, “Than Master I shall serve you all my life!”
Lost in the English translation is the true meaning of Joshua’s statement to the nation when he declared in verse 15 “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve….” The verb tense that Joshua employs here does not mean a “once for all decision” but rather a call for a continuous action, something that the nation would have to do continually choosing this day and the next and the next and the next and so on! “Hey saints I have chosen to follow the Lord, I’m choosing to follow the Lord now and I’m going to continue to chose to the follow the Lord to the very end”; how about you? Have you realized that our calling by God requires a continual daily commitment in response, one where we constantly affirm our past choice by making a present one?
Oh but they were not to just serve Him they were to do so in “sincerity and in truth”. The words here speak of “entire stability” in other words with out wavering. The truest test of our service towards the Lord will not be found during difficult season of hardship and personal conflict as during those times we find nothing else to cling to but the hem of His garment. Ah but will we be unwavering in our commitment towards the Lord during times of ease when the allurement of the world is calling our name relentlessly? Our faithfulness to the Lord is always greater during hardship than it is during a time of prosperity and blessing. Interesting that most of us out our vows during the wedding ceremony promised to be faithful towards our spouse during sickness and health, good times and bad times. I found that I have a greater struggle being faithful to love my wife as Christ loves the church during health and good times than I do during sickness and bad times. This makes Joshua’ words of serving the Lord during their time of blessing all the more important.
Finally we have insight from Joshua’s words as he says, “put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord”. Here is what this statement tells us, these folks were already compromising with worshiping the things that the world worshipped. They weren’t walking their talk as they had in their homes that God had given them the multi breasted god Ashteroth the god of sexuality, they had in their homes the god of Mammon the god of money. Oh how patient our heavenly Father is with us as we come before Him proclaiming our complete devotion to Him and then go back to our homes and play with the idols that the world worships. Do you not hear His words to you and me this day, “put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side”? Friends our inability to serve the Lord has more to do with not putting away the gods of our past than we would like to admit.
Notice carefully that Joshua commands them to choose not whether or not they serve but rather who they will serve. Friends we will either serve the gods of this world or we will serve the Lord God. It was this very thought that inspired Bob Dylan’s 1979 hit “You gotta serve somebody”. Hey saints we all are responsible for the choice of whom we are going to serve but also notice that Joshua also says, “My house” and as such was acting as the priest of his home and taking responsibility for the direction of what it is they will serve. Joshua in this charge mentions four options for the people with regards to whom they worship:
- Vs.14-15: The God’s which your fathers served on the other side of the river: That would have been in the land of Ur where Abraham was from. The Babylonian gods Anshar the god of the whole sky, Kishar the god of the whole earth and their offspring. Interesting that what Abraham and his forefathers worshipped was nature and so Joshua says chose if you want to go back and worship nature again.
- Vs. 14 The gods which their fathers had worshipped in Egypt: These were very different gods that the nature gods as they inhabited people such as Pharaoh and were used largely describe human characteristics. So here Joshua reverences worshiping man as did the Egyptians.
- Vs. 15 The gods of the Amorites in whose land they now possessed: The Amorites depicted their gods with human passions and pleasures. So Joshua tells them you can chose to worship your fleshly passions like the Amorites.
- Vs. 14-14 The Lord the true and living God: He is not in nature as He created everything, He is not a man as the fifth LDS President Lorenzo Snow in June of 1840 declared, “As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become”, He created man. And He is not enslaved to our passion and pleasures.
In Paul’s statement to the church in Rome in Romans 1:22-23 he declares the outcome of those who do not glorify god will “became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man–and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” What is interesting to note is we can see this exact progression in the American auto industry. When cars were first manufactured they were given the names of those who started building them, Henry Ford, Wallace and William Dodge, Louis and Joseph Chevrolet, Walter Chrysler; Ah, the image of corruptible man. Then from there the names changed to Hawk, Falcon, Firebird, and Thunderbird. Then that changed into four footed things like Ram, Mustang, Impala, and Cougar. So we see the progression into birds and four-footed animals. Now finally into creepy things, bugs, spiders, stingray, gremlin.
Friends there is no neutrality in our life towards the Lord, no half way commitment we are either all in or we are all out. Here Joshua tells them that they may think that they are all in but the fact that they still were serving the gods of this world ought to have been an indicator that they weren’t where they ought to be. Joshua’s call was not to become religious it was rather to drop that all together and go after their relationship. All of us need to continually evaluate our decision to follow Jesus to see if we are walking our talk or only giving lip service to it.
Vs. 16-18 Joshua knew that all this talk about following the Lord was nothing more than (pardon the pun) idle conversation. They claimed that they weren’t going to serve other god’s but back at home on the bookshelves, hanging on the wall, in the cupboard were idols. Did you notice that the nation makes their commitment based upon what the Lord had done for them in the past? As wonderful recognition as this is it fall far short of a motivation for continual service. Here’s why, it places our commitment to God upon our recognition of God’s faithfulness meeting our expectations. Simply put the determining factor to our obedience is now based upon our comprehension of His working in our lives rather than His stated nature and character. Many a life has become derailed simply because at some point we began to believe that God was no longer working in our best interest. A great caser in point is this very section of scripture as you will recall in verse 14 Joshua tells them to put away the gods their forefathers served, then they proclaim in verses 16-18 that would never forsake the Lord who has done so much for them, only to hear Joshua again reiterate that they can not serve the Lord because they are still involved in serving the gods of the world. These folks were not able to see that they were proclaiming loyalty because of God’s grace all the while serving the pleasures of the world.
Dear ones, God doesn’t want idle chatter from us He wants our devoted hearts. I’ve been married almost 30 years and I know my wife’s response to me dating other women, “Even if I said that I loved her most, my favorite.” No she wants a devoted heart from me and so too does our Lord as He has a devoted heart towards you. Guard your hearts from idols friends and I’m not talking about statues in you homes I’m talking about the things that stir your passions, consume your time and attention as you can only have one person on the throne of your heart.
Vs. 19-28 A Stone will speak
Vs. 19-28 It is interesting to note that Moses appointed a successor according to the word of the Lord but Joshua wasn’t told to do so. Instead the Leaders of the nation were to function in this capacity. Yet with that said these men failed in their devotion to the Lord and nation went astray eventually worshipping the gods of the nations they had defeated. “Fellows”, Joshua says, “You can not serve two masters”. There are far too many times in my life where I’ve played church like a little child plays house and it is this that Joshua warns the nation against. So Joshua warns them and tells them the consequences of partial obedience and they respond by “We will serve the Lord”. Then there was this ceremony sealed with the commitment in a book over seen by a “large stone”. Why a large stone? Hey you remember the scene in Luke 19 where Jesus entered Jerusalem and the crowds cried out Hosanna and the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd saying, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” Then we are told that Jesus answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” So Joshua’s words come full circle as a testimony against those who tried silence those who wanted to serve the Lord and Jesus says those stones will be talking as a witness that you all promised to serve the Lord.
Back in Exodus 19:8 prior to the reading of the law the nation declared “All that the Lord has spoken we will do” then only 40 days later they were dancing in front of the golden calf. I have found in my life that a verbal decision is always easier that a daily devotion! And as much as my heart may mean what I say with regards to my commitment like Peter I may say to Jesus, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” (Matthew 26:33) If my commitment is based upon my anything I soon will be denying Him. Folk’s, rededication to the Lord is a wonderful thing that I try to practice daily a time where I go before the Lord and confess that I’ve fallen from walking as near as He wants me too. You may be thinking, “I thought rededication to the Lord should only happen after you have fallen away from Him”. Yep, I today already I’ve fallen away from his love some many times I’ve lost count so I keep practicing what the apostle John spoke of in 1 John 1:9 where we are told “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So that is my daily dose of rededication.
Joshua tells them if you are truly serious about following the Lord you are going to have to get rid of your idols. Saints what we really are is what we are privately where no ones knows or sees that is who you really are. So let me ask again have you put away those idols that you have stashed in the dark places of your heart where no one can see them?
Vs. 29-33 Actions that speak louder than words
Vs. 29-31 Hey folks what a godly influence of Joshua who we are told that as long as he remained alive he had a preserving nature upon the nation as we are told that they served the Lord all the days of Joshua. He was buried on the broader of his inheritance in a city that means “portion” on the mount called Ephraim which means “double portion” on the north side of the hill that means “earthquake”. Hey folks I believe that Joshua would have had it no other way. Buried on the boarder of his inheritance because it was a sign to the nation to keep going forward in the promises of the Lord and it spoke of the fact that as far as he was concerned he had gone after “every spiritual blessing”. In a city that means “portion” on a mount that means “double portion” on a hill that means earthquake. Hum, the city you will recall was one that his kinsmen no doubt thought was worthless just a portion but Joshua saw it as a “double portion” and he was going to one day bust out of this double portion and into the very presence of the Lord who so blessed him.
All of our life is made up of many events, so how do you view them? Are you excited about the portion the Lord has allotted to you? Oh dear ones Joshua saw what other would call a fault line as a double portion of blessings and spent his life going after more of the Lord, so how about you?
Vs. 32-33 There is an epilogue to this story here and it doesn’t deal with Joshua but it does deal with a promise made to Joseph back in Genesis 50:25 where Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” So for 450 years they carried Joseph’s around with them until they finally laid them to rest in the placed purchased by Jacob all those years ago. Friends there are many promises that may seem to be unfilled but rest assured one day we will see that God never broke a single promise and that the enjoyment of them did not lie in our physical apprehension of them but in our apprehension of them by faith. We are also told that Eleazar the High priest died and was replaced by his son Phinehas and with him another link to God work through that generation. Some day my friends we too shall pass the torch to a new generation and what they have seen of the greatness of God in our lives will be what they will use to press further into the inheritance and promises of God.
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