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I am excited to start this study. I’m looking forward to being in the book of Joshua because it is such a great book. It’s an exciting book. And that’s because the book of Joshua is all about kingdom domination.
The people of God are moving into the promised land. They are a nation that is advancing God’s kingdom. This was a holy war; a conquest for God’s rule and reign. In these battles they were going to be fighting they were establishing the banner of God over this territory.
And I think that this is important to realize because we are involved in that same battle today. We may be living a couple thousand years later; we may not be fighting with bow and arrows, but we are still doing this same work. We are involved in the domination of the Kingdom of God. We are to be seeking first the kingdom, advancing the kingdom, and doing our part to further the rule and reign of God in our region of the world.
But the question that faces us is the same question that faced Joshua in his day: How can the kingdom advance? How can it go forward? What hope do we have of seeing its success.
I often think that morale is pretty low when it comes to the kingdom work today. I mean look at us. We’re not even meeting face to face. We’re stuck online. What a dismal thing, right?
What of Kingdom domination then? It may look about as possible as it did in Joshua’s day. This book opens with the death of Moses. That would have been a huge blow to morale. But that’s why this passage is so great.
The Lord rouses his people to become kingdom dominators. The Lord wants us to know that God’s kingdom can advance. And he rouses us to be kingdom dominators by creating hope.
He gives them hope by telling them that things really have not changed. Sure, Moses may be dead, but God’s plan is still moving forward. We may be switching out leaders, but most everything else has not really changed at all.
As a matter of fact, this chapter goes to extensive lengths to detail the continuity of the game plan. I count at least 6 things that are the same. There’s hope because there is so much that that has not changed. And along with these 6, I may say that we have one difference that will be of help too. But let’s start with the continuity.
We have hope to be Kingdom dominators because (number 1) God’s promises have not changed.
I. God’s promises have not changed
This passage opens with a reminder that God has promised to give his people the land. You cannot miss how the Lord emphasizes this. In verse 2 he says, “Arise, go over this Jordan, you and this people into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.”
You know where that comes from? That’s the promise that was given to the Israelites about 500 years ago. It was the same promise that God gave to Abraham. God told Abraham, walk over the land. Everywhere your foot steps, that will be the land I give to you.
But he adds in verse 3 that this was the same promise that was not just given to Abraham, but it was the same promise that was given to Moses. God has been at this for a long time. He’s still working out his promises. And it’s the same promise that Moses had. That’s your promise Joshua. That’s your promise Israelites who may have been living 500 years after that. And that same promise belongs to the Israelites 1000 years after that. And that’s our promise too. God is still working out the intricacies of his promise.
Moses may be dead, Abraham may be dead, Joshua may be dead, but God’s promises live on. They are alive and well.
And that will be the main theme of this book, by the way. At the end of this book Joshua will say to the people, “Not one of God’s promises have fallen to the ground.” They are tried and true. And you can bank your life upon them.
Don’t think that just because your circumstances have changed that God is not faithful or that God is not active. Jesus said to us in the great commission, “Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit.
You know what that command was? It was a command that grows out of this promise. The great commission is all about kingdom domination. Jesus expects you to be kingdom dominators because God’s promise of domination has not yet expired.
Which leads us to the next point. I want you to see that not only have the promises not changed, but God’s goal has not changed.
II. God’s goal has not changed.
Now, this is tied up very tightly with what I just mentioned about God’s promises, but I wanted to give it special recognition. I wanted to highlight it because it applies to us in a very special way.
Look at verse 4. It says, “From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.”
What is God doing here? He’s spelling out all the territory that the Israelites were supposed to inherit. It goes back to that map with the yellow sliver that I showed you earlier. Their terrain was to go from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea (the Great Sea). It was to extend from Egypt all the way up to the Euphrates River.
Now the Euphrates River at its closest point is about 350 miles from Jerusalem. What God outlines here is a huge plot of territory. And what is interesting is that Israel never really came to possess this whole of it.
Now, we do read that in 2 Kings that David and Solomon came to have some rule over this northern territory. But it was more like a vassal state than actual possession of the land. They received tribute from the people who lived in these lands, but no Jews ever really lived there. They never populated the land. What’s more, they lost control of that land pretty quickly. They did not have possession of it for very long. The boarders shrank back down to the Sea of Galilee pretty quickly.
So what I want you to see is that Israelites were always looking over the fence. They were always thinking, “That out there is supposed to be God’s land. God promised us that that would be ours.”
And what I want us to understand is that this is an indication of the larger goal of God. God’s plan was not just that his people would have possession of a small strip of land. His real goal was world domination.
These boarders are just God’s way of saying, “I’m going to give it all to you!” Any Jew standing on that riverbed with Joshua would have thought, “That’s more than we could ever really occupy.” And that’s really the point. God has a larger plan. He desires that the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord just like the waters cover the sea.
This was not just kingdom domination, but world domination. It’s the domination that Christ will have when he comes back and takes the throne. He’s going to rule over the whole entire world.
And that’s where you and I come in. God’s greater goal is being accomplished through us today. We are the ones extending the boarders of the kingdom to the furthest reaches of the world. As we live and worship and study and serve, we are being a part of the greater aim of God to bring the promises to Joshua to fruition.
As God speaks to Joshua, he speaks also directly to us about our role in the conquest.
And that brings us to our third point. As we become kingdom dominators, we should not forget that God’s commitment has not changed.
III. God’s commitment has not changed
In our passage we read a couple times the words, “I will be with you.” In verse 5 the Lord says I’ll be with you just like I was with Moses. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Then down in verse 9 he says, “do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Here is a stellar promise. What an encouragement that had to be for Joshua and the people of Israel. They had the pillar of cloud and fire all through the wilderness. They knew that Moses was meeting with God face to face. They all knew they were good to go as long as Moses was around because God was obviously with Moses.
Now God was reiterating his commitment to Joshua and to the Israelites going forward on this next phase of the advancement of his kingdom.
And what is Joshua hearing here? Is it not this: with God all things are possible?
That’s the same message we’re to hear. God is with us. God does not forsake his people. God does not renege and turn away from those who are his.
We know this from our last series of messages in John. We may even know it better than Joshua. God is with us and the Lord Jesus abides in us. So we can be assured that we are well equipped for the task at hand. There’s no despairing or needing to be concerned or overwhelmed. It’s not just us, God’s on the job as well and he is delighted to have us be a part of his great work.
God’s promises are the same, God’s goal is the same. God’s commitment is the same. And you’ll notice that God’s requirements have not changed either.
IV. God’s requirements have not changed
In verses 7 and 8 the Lord tells Joshua to stay focused on the law. And as he reiterates how important faithful obedience is, he reminds them that these were the very same principles that have been in place since this journey began. Do all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. And you cannot read verses 7-8 and not be reminded of the book of Deuteronomy where Moses told the people to be careful to do all that the Lord your God had commanded you.
The Lord is stressing that the game plan has not changed. Your obedience is the prime objective. You are to take the law which Moses gave and you love it, cherish it, meditate upon it, and live by it.
You might be tempted to say, “Well, we are not killing off a bunch of Canaanites. I’m not really involved in the whole kingdom domination thing. I don’t have anything to do with swords and spears and genocide.” So you could get the idea that this really doesn’t apply to you.
You couldn’t be farther from the truth though. How is the kingdom brought in? It’s through this right here. It is through the faithful obedience of God’s people. It’s is by us being careful to do all that God commands us to do. Joshua’s success was not in his military prowess, it was dependent upon their willingness to bring God’s word to bear on their lives. That’s why the book of Judges is such a disaster. In the book of Judges, people fell into idolatry and neglected the word of God. And that’s why they it all came unraveled socially, economically, and militarily for them.
You may not be charging into battle with a shield, but every day you battle against the unseen powers and rulers of the kingdom of darkness. You have opportunity to bring God’s kingdom as you work and rise out of bed.
God’s word tells us to be diligent, honest, faithful, courteous and kind. As you do that in your workplace, you’re bringing God’s rule to bear on your work. You’re subduing and ruling as a kingdom dominator. As you teach your kids to fear God and walk in his ways, you are bringing God’s kingdom to bear on their lives.
Some of you likely may even be put on the spot where you are challenged to conform to the world’s principles… to cheat a little here, to lie a little there, to overlook a little, and sidestep a little and bend a little.
That’s exactly what happened in the book of Judges. God wasn’t first in their lives. The Law of God did not have a priority in their lives. And things spiraled downward when that happened.
Why is the book of Joshua have such a victorious tone to it? Much of it is because the people were faithful to God and devoted themselves to the book of the law. They were bringing truth to bear on their lives and living in light of that truth on a daily basis.
Let’s move on to the 5th point. Closely linked to this idea of the requirements is the strategy. When it comes to kingdom domination, it’s important to understand that God’s tactics have not changed either.
V. God’s strategy has not changed
Down in verses 10-18 Joshua calls the people to rise up and get ready to move forward. And most of that section is spent addressing the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh.
Now remember where those tribes were from our map. These tribes were given land on the eastern side of the Jordan. The Israelites were getting ready to move into the Western region across the Jordan. And Joshua is telling them that they cannot sit on their keisters and leave the fighting to the other tribes. They have to come fight too.
The point is unity. That’s what God wanted. As a matter of fact, in the book of Numbers and the book of Deuteronomy Moses makes these tribes promise that they’ll go to war even after he passes on.
So you see, that was Moses’ strategy. And the strategy has not changed. All God’s people must fight together and remain united as they bring forth God’s dominion.
And as much as things change, things stay the same. That’s still the same strategy God uses today. God desires that his people be united in the fight. If there is infighting or if some peel off and make themselves into a little monastery, the kingdom’s advancement will likely suffer. It will be a lot more difficult to bring God’s rule to bear on every aspect of society.
How do we get solid Christian government and law? It’s by Christians working together. How do we feed the hungry and do ministries of mercy? It’s through a united effort to use all the combined gifts and graces of God’s people in a community. How can we get solid educational institutions going and keep them going?
I think you get the picture. You know that one of the primary images of the church in the New Testament is a body. That’s to emphasize this point right here. It’s to remind us that we must all work together. God’s strategy is (and always has been) that his people stand together to take action against the dark forces of the world.
There’s one last similarity that we should see in our text. It’s God’s desire.
VI. God’s desire is the same
Look down at verses 13 and 15. In both of these verses it mentions the “rest” that God’s people were to enjoy. Verse 13 points out that Moses had talked about this rest too. He prophetically announced that the Lord would bring all the land into their possession and he would give his people rest.
This theme of rest runs through the pages of Scripture. In the book of Judges, the people keep getting conqured by forieng invaders. And the Scripture tells us that when a deliverer would come, they would have rest for 40 years, or 60 years, once I think they got 80 years of rest. But all in all, it was very limited.
Then Psalm 95 talks about how God got angry with the people of Israel. And the Lord says, “I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest.”
And then the book of Hebrews picks up on that and says, “If Joshua had given them rest the Lord would not have had to speak about another day of rest to come. So there remains a Sabbath rest to come.” Heb. 4:8-9
What is the author of Hebrews saying? He’s saying that God desires that we enter into that final and ultimate rest. God’s desire is that we will participate in that final, end times rest that he is bringing by virtue of the full consummation of his kingdom.
So if we look at this text, we find that there is so much that has not changed. Even though thousands of years have passed, God is still the operating on the basis of the same principles as he was when Israel stood on the banks of the Jordan river. That’s why we can be kingdom dominators. We have a good deal that should give us hope when it comes to advancing God’s rule over this world.
But I might say that there has been one change; a change for the better. There’s one thing that is different today which gives us a distinct advantage over the Israelites of old. It’s that we have a better leader.
Conclusion: The one difference
The one difference is that we have one that is greater than Moses. We have the ultimate Joshua. We have Jesus Christ as our covenant mediator. No matter how good Moses was, he wasn’t able to bring the people into the promised land. No matter how courageous and strong Joshua was, the people didn’t gain that rest.
Jesus is the true victor. He’s the warrior who was able to defeat all his and our enemies. And he defeats the one enemy that Joshua could hold water against: death. That’s the one thing about this book. This book begins with the death of Moses and it ends with the death of Joshua and Eleazar, the high priest. No matter all the victories that were won, death still has the victory in the book of Joshua.
But not so with Christ. By his resurrection Jesus defeated the powers of the grave. He proved himself a greater warrior than Joshua. And he lives forevermore in heaven, from whence he is bringing in his kingdom. The gates of hell shall not prevail. Christ will have the victory.
And because of the gospel, we have great hope for our cause in this world.
The people of God are moving into the promised land. They are a nation that is advancing God’s kingdom. This was a holy war; a conquest for God’s rule and reign. In these battles they were going to be fighting they were establishing the banner of God over this territory.
And I think that this is important to realize because we are involved in that same battle today. We may be living a couple thousand years later; we may not be fighting with bow and arrows, but we are still doing this same work. We are involved in the domination of the Kingdom of God. We are to be seeking first the kingdom, advancing the kingdom, and doing our part to further the rule and reign of God in our region of the world.
But the question that faces us is the same question that faced Joshua in his day: How can the kingdom advance? How can it go forward? What hope do we have of seeing its success.
I often think that morale is pretty low when it comes to the kingdom work today. I mean look at us. We’re not even meeting face to face. We’re stuck online. What a dismal thing, right?
What of Kingdom domination then? It may look about as possible as it did in Joshua’s day. This book opens with the death of Moses. That would have been a huge blow to morale. But that’s why this passage is so great.
The Lord rouses his people to become kingdom dominators. The Lord wants us to know that God’s kingdom can advance. And he rouses us to be kingdom dominators by creating hope.
He gives them hope by telling them that things really have not changed. Sure, Moses may be dead, but God’s plan is still moving forward. We may be switching out leaders, but most everything else has not really changed at all.
As a matter of fact, this chapter goes to extensive lengths to detail the continuity of the game plan. I count at least 6 things that are the same. There’s hope because there is so much that that has not changed. And along with these 6, I may say that we have one difference that will be of help too. But let’s start with the continuity.
We have hope to be Kingdom dominators because (number 1) God’s promises have not changed.
I. God’s promises have not changed
This passage opens with a reminder that God has promised to give his people the land. You cannot miss how the Lord emphasizes this. In verse 2 he says, “Arise, go over this Jordan, you and this people into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.”
You know where that comes from? That’s the promise that was given to the Israelites about 500 years ago. It was the same promise that God gave to Abraham. God told Abraham, walk over the land. Everywhere your foot steps, that will be the land I give to you.
But he adds in verse 3 that this was the same promise that was not just given to Abraham, but it was the same promise that was given to Moses. God has been at this for a long time. He’s still working out his promises. And it’s the same promise that Moses had. That’s your promise Joshua. That’s your promise Israelites who may have been living 500 years after that. And that same promise belongs to the Israelites 1000 years after that. And that’s our promise too. God is still working out the intricacies of his promise.
Moses may be dead, Abraham may be dead, Joshua may be dead, but God’s promises live on. They are alive and well.
And that will be the main theme of this book, by the way. At the end of this book Joshua will say to the people, “Not one of God’s promises have fallen to the ground.” They are tried and true. And you can bank your life upon them.
Don’t think that just because your circumstances have changed that God is not faithful or that God is not active. Jesus said to us in the great commission, “Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit.
You know what that command was? It was a command that grows out of this promise. The great commission is all about kingdom domination. Jesus expects you to be kingdom dominators because God’s promise of domination has not yet expired.
Which leads us to the next point. I want you to see that not only have the promises not changed, but God’s goal has not changed.
II. God’s goal has not changed.
Now, this is tied up very tightly with what I just mentioned about God’s promises, but I wanted to give it special recognition. I wanted to highlight it because it applies to us in a very special way.
Look at verse 4. It says, “From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.”
What is God doing here? He’s spelling out all the territory that the Israelites were supposed to inherit. It goes back to that map with the yellow sliver that I showed you earlier. Their terrain was to go from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea (the Great Sea). It was to extend from Egypt all the way up to the Euphrates River.
Now the Euphrates River at its closest point is about 350 miles from Jerusalem. What God outlines here is a huge plot of territory. And what is interesting is that Israel never really came to possess this whole of it.
Now, we do read that in 2 Kings that David and Solomon came to have some rule over this northern territory. But it was more like a vassal state than actual possession of the land. They received tribute from the people who lived in these lands, but no Jews ever really lived there. They never populated the land. What’s more, they lost control of that land pretty quickly. They did not have possession of it for very long. The boarders shrank back down to the Sea of Galilee pretty quickly.
So what I want you to see is that Israelites were always looking over the fence. They were always thinking, “That out there is supposed to be God’s land. God promised us that that would be ours.”
And what I want us to understand is that this is an indication of the larger goal of God. God’s plan was not just that his people would have possession of a small strip of land. His real goal was world domination.
These boarders are just God’s way of saying, “I’m going to give it all to you!” Any Jew standing on that riverbed with Joshua would have thought, “That’s more than we could ever really occupy.” And that’s really the point. God has a larger plan. He desires that the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord just like the waters cover the sea.
This was not just kingdom domination, but world domination. It’s the domination that Christ will have when he comes back and takes the throne. He’s going to rule over the whole entire world.
And that’s where you and I come in. God’s greater goal is being accomplished through us today. We are the ones extending the boarders of the kingdom to the furthest reaches of the world. As we live and worship and study and serve, we are being a part of the greater aim of God to bring the promises to Joshua to fruition.
As God speaks to Joshua, he speaks also directly to us about our role in the conquest.
And that brings us to our third point. As we become kingdom dominators, we should not forget that God’s commitment has not changed.
III. God’s commitment has not changed
In our passage we read a couple times the words, “I will be with you.” In verse 5 the Lord says I’ll be with you just like I was with Moses. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Then down in verse 9 he says, “do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Here is a stellar promise. What an encouragement that had to be for Joshua and the people of Israel. They had the pillar of cloud and fire all through the wilderness. They knew that Moses was meeting with God face to face. They all knew they were good to go as long as Moses was around because God was obviously with Moses.
Now God was reiterating his commitment to Joshua and to the Israelites going forward on this next phase of the advancement of his kingdom.
And what is Joshua hearing here? Is it not this: with God all things are possible?
That’s the same message we’re to hear. God is with us. God does not forsake his people. God does not renege and turn away from those who are his.
We know this from our last series of messages in John. We may even know it better than Joshua. God is with us and the Lord Jesus abides in us. So we can be assured that we are well equipped for the task at hand. There’s no despairing or needing to be concerned or overwhelmed. It’s not just us, God’s on the job as well and he is delighted to have us be a part of his great work.
God’s promises are the same, God’s goal is the same. God’s commitment is the same. And you’ll notice that God’s requirements have not changed either.
IV. God’s requirements have not changed
In verses 7 and 8 the Lord tells Joshua to stay focused on the law. And as he reiterates how important faithful obedience is, he reminds them that these were the very same principles that have been in place since this journey began. Do all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. And you cannot read verses 7-8 and not be reminded of the book of Deuteronomy where Moses told the people to be careful to do all that the Lord your God had commanded you.
The Lord is stressing that the game plan has not changed. Your obedience is the prime objective. You are to take the law which Moses gave and you love it, cherish it, meditate upon it, and live by it.
You might be tempted to say, “Well, we are not killing off a bunch of Canaanites. I’m not really involved in the whole kingdom domination thing. I don’t have anything to do with swords and spears and genocide.” So you could get the idea that this really doesn’t apply to you.
You couldn’t be farther from the truth though. How is the kingdom brought in? It’s through this right here. It is through the faithful obedience of God’s people. It’s is by us being careful to do all that God commands us to do. Joshua’s success was not in his military prowess, it was dependent upon their willingness to bring God’s word to bear on their lives. That’s why the book of Judges is such a disaster. In the book of Judges, people fell into idolatry and neglected the word of God. And that’s why they it all came unraveled socially, economically, and militarily for them.
You may not be charging into battle with a shield, but every day you battle against the unseen powers and rulers of the kingdom of darkness. You have opportunity to bring God’s kingdom as you work and rise out of bed.
God’s word tells us to be diligent, honest, faithful, courteous and kind. As you do that in your workplace, you’re bringing God’s rule to bear on your work. You’re subduing and ruling as a kingdom dominator. As you teach your kids to fear God and walk in his ways, you are bringing God’s kingdom to bear on their lives.
Some of you likely may even be put on the spot where you are challenged to conform to the world’s principles… to cheat a little here, to lie a little there, to overlook a little, and sidestep a little and bend a little.
That’s exactly what happened in the book of Judges. God wasn’t first in their lives. The Law of God did not have a priority in their lives. And things spiraled downward when that happened.
Why is the book of Joshua have such a victorious tone to it? Much of it is because the people were faithful to God and devoted themselves to the book of the law. They were bringing truth to bear on their lives and living in light of that truth on a daily basis.
Let’s move on to the 5th point. Closely linked to this idea of the requirements is the strategy. When it comes to kingdom domination, it’s important to understand that God’s tactics have not changed either.
V. God’s strategy has not changed
Down in verses 10-18 Joshua calls the people to rise up and get ready to move forward. And most of that section is spent addressing the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh.
Now remember where those tribes were from our map. These tribes were given land on the eastern side of the Jordan. The Israelites were getting ready to move into the Western region across the Jordan. And Joshua is telling them that they cannot sit on their keisters and leave the fighting to the other tribes. They have to come fight too.
The point is unity. That’s what God wanted. As a matter of fact, in the book of Numbers and the book of Deuteronomy Moses makes these tribes promise that they’ll go to war even after he passes on.
So you see, that was Moses’ strategy. And the strategy has not changed. All God’s people must fight together and remain united as they bring forth God’s dominion.
And as much as things change, things stay the same. That’s still the same strategy God uses today. God desires that his people be united in the fight. If there is infighting or if some peel off and make themselves into a little monastery, the kingdom’s advancement will likely suffer. It will be a lot more difficult to bring God’s rule to bear on every aspect of society.
How do we get solid Christian government and law? It’s by Christians working together. How do we feed the hungry and do ministries of mercy? It’s through a united effort to use all the combined gifts and graces of God’s people in a community. How can we get solid educational institutions going and keep them going?
I think you get the picture. You know that one of the primary images of the church in the New Testament is a body. That’s to emphasize this point right here. It’s to remind us that we must all work together. God’s strategy is (and always has been) that his people stand together to take action against the dark forces of the world.
There’s one last similarity that we should see in our text. It’s God’s desire.
VI. God’s desire is the same
Look down at verses 13 and 15. In both of these verses it mentions the “rest” that God’s people were to enjoy. Verse 13 points out that Moses had talked about this rest too. He prophetically announced that the Lord would bring all the land into their possession and he would give his people rest.
This theme of rest runs through the pages of Scripture. In the book of Judges, the people keep getting conqured by forieng invaders. And the Scripture tells us that when a deliverer would come, they would have rest for 40 years, or 60 years, once I think they got 80 years of rest. But all in all, it was very limited.
Then Psalm 95 talks about how God got angry with the people of Israel. And the Lord says, “I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest.”
And then the book of Hebrews picks up on that and says, “If Joshua had given them rest the Lord would not have had to speak about another day of rest to come. So there remains a Sabbath rest to come.” Heb. 4:8-9
What is the author of Hebrews saying? He’s saying that God desires that we enter into that final and ultimate rest. God’s desire is that we will participate in that final, end times rest that he is bringing by virtue of the full consummation of his kingdom.
So if we look at this text, we find that there is so much that has not changed. Even though thousands of years have passed, God is still the operating on the basis of the same principles as he was when Israel stood on the banks of the Jordan river. That’s why we can be kingdom dominators. We have a good deal that should give us hope when it comes to advancing God’s rule over this world.
But I might say that there has been one change; a change for the better. There’s one thing that is different today which gives us a distinct advantage over the Israelites of old. It’s that we have a better leader.
Conclusion: The one difference
The one difference is that we have one that is greater than Moses. We have the ultimate Joshua. We have Jesus Christ as our covenant mediator. No matter how good Moses was, he wasn’t able to bring the people into the promised land. No matter how courageous and strong Joshua was, the people didn’t gain that rest.
Jesus is the true victor. He’s the warrior who was able to defeat all his and our enemies. And he defeats the one enemy that Joshua could hold water against: death. That’s the one thing about this book. This book begins with the death of Moses and it ends with the death of Joshua and Eleazar, the high priest. No matter all the victories that were won, death still has the victory in the book of Joshua.
But not so with Christ. By his resurrection Jesus defeated the powers of the grave. He proved himself a greater warrior than Joshua. And he lives forevermore in heaven, from whence he is bringing in his kingdom. The gates of hell shall not prevail. Christ will have the victory.
And because of the gospel, we have great hope for our cause in this world.