Joshua

Joshua Chapter 23 

• Joshua 23:1 And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.

Except for Enoch and Elijah who did not die a natural death, at least not yet, every one of us will leave our bodies in what we call death before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Through Enoch and Elijah we see a vision of a mini rapture; someone who did not see death. Whether they are the two witnesses who come and are killed by the Anti-Christ during the tribulation in the latter days, we do not know. Since they were taken to Heaven without dying first, they probably were still in their natural bodies at least until Jesus was resurrected. Jesus has to be the first to be raised from the dead with a body that can never die again.

Ever since the fall of Adam, the natural man dies when their time on earth has come to a close. This is why I believe God had the bible written. It is written to tell us of the way God has provided for us to obtain eternal life. Our natural bodies may die but we have a hope of a resurrection of the body one day. Our soul and spirit goes to be with God or we go to await judgment in Hades.

God sent Jesus to die in our place and for our sins so that we who turn from sins and turn to Him for forgiveness and salvation can escape the future final judgment and the Lake of Fire but instead have life eternal with the Lord. Now Joshua is ready to depart and go to a place of comfort called Abraham's bosom to wait for the time of Christ when he will go to heaven after Christ's resurrection to abide until the rest of God's faithful believers in Christ are also redeemed or resurrected. (We all that the rapture).

• Joshua 23:2 And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age:
• 3 And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you.
• 4 Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward.
• 5 And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.

If Israel had of stayed faithful to the Lord from this day forward, they would have never lost their land. Joshua was ready to leave and others would serve in his place. After a while unfaithful leaders took over and caused Israel to be judged of God. Yet God did not utterly forsake them but used that nation to bring forth a Messiah to save all who would believe from their sins.

At this time in history though, they had rest and the promise that God would be with them.

• Joshua 23:6 Be ye therefore 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;
• 7 That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:
• 8 But cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day.

This was very important. I can't stress this enough. Idolatry, real idolatry, serving strange gods, using images in worship, false religions and anything that is not from the real spirit of God is an insult to our creator. It is forbidden in both the Old Testament and in the New. It is wrong. We have ignored the warning of idolatry substituting the comment that anything that comes between us and the Lord is idolatry. While that may have an element of truth, that can easily get us sidetracked off the warning of using images, statues, icons and other methods to entice people to worship.

We are to worship in spirit and in truth by faith. We don't have to bow to an image or see something to pray to when we worship God. All false religions systems both with and without the use of images have a demonic spirit that accompanies it which fools people into believing what they feel is the presence of God. If you’re bowing to an image, I can guarantee it is not God you are worshipping. The bible says it’s not.

• Deuteronomy 32:16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
• 17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

Over and over again we see in both Old and New Testaments that God warns against the deception of idolatry.

• 1Corinthians 10:19 What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?
  20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.

Paul also warns that idols are associated with devils not God.

• Revelation 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
• 21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

We return to the words of Joshua:

• Joshua 23:9 For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.
• 10 One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.

So true. When Israel is right with God and God’s presence dwell with them, no nation on earth no matter how great can possibly defeat them.

• Joshua 23:11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.
• 12 Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:

If we love God, we should never marry someone who doesn’t love God or live for God. Israel was forbidden to marry outside of their faith. We know of the story of Ruth the woman from Moab, but in Ruth’s case when she left her land to follow Naomi she said that her God would be the same God as Naomi. She became a believer.

In the case of Rahab the harlot, it was similar. Rabab believed God sent Israel to destroy Jericho and her faith saved her whole family from destruction. She became a believer and could marry into the nation of Israel.

• Joshua 23:13 Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.

Israel right now is surrounded by enemies that hate them. One day they will return to God and receive His Messiah their ancestors rejected over 2000 years ago but for now their enemies are thorns in their sides just as the bible said it would be.

• Joshua 23:14 And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.
• 15 Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
• 16 When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.

Israel's biggest sin was forsaking the real God who delivered them from Egypt and went and served other gods and idols they learned of from the nations they once had driven out. It's similar to a person who is saved from sin and receives Jesus Christ as Lord and then goes back into the same sin they were saved from. Israel did the same thing many times. In the latter days after much tribulation they will finally return to God as a nation and it will be everlasting peace from then on but for now they constantly have trouble. 

• Zechariah 13:1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
• 2 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.

That fountain is the precious blood of Jesus the Messiah or Christ that was to come to be a sacrifice for sins.

• Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
• 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

What a beautiful promise that through this perfect way of salvation God makes for all who will believe and receive Jesus Christ, will have their sins forgiven and never remembered against them.

• Matthew 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
• 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
• 22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
• 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

The savior is here already and calls us to believe in Him for be saved from sin and have everlasting life.

• 1 John 1:9 says if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us of sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It doesn't get any better than that. DC

Joshua Chapter 24