Joshua 5:13-15
13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he
lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword
drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "Are You for us
or for our adversaries?"
14 So He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of
the LORD I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and
worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?"
15 Then the Commander of the LORD'S army said to Joshua,
"Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is
holy." And Joshua did so..
Before we can by faith experience and enjoy the victory
that we are promised for our spiritual journey we need to remember that we have
a covenant God Who always keeps His promises. We must also be reminded that
despite what happens in our lives that God loves us and proved it with the
death of His Son on the cross! Joshua now needed to be assured of the LORD’s
presence as he faced the reality of his first major battle at Jericho.
As we look at these verses in Joshua 5, the people of
Israel have miraculously crossed the Jordan River, they have circumcised the
men, and they have observed the Passover. Now Joshua is facing the reality of
his first major obstacle between the people and the land of promised rest!
Probably sometime in the middle of the night Joshua goes up to the walls of the
city of Jericho and is no doubt wondering and thinking how he can lead his army
to conquer it.
The Christian life is not a bed of roses with everything
handed to us and we simply lead a life of ease! Jesus promised us that in this
world we would have tribulation (John 16:33). Paul taught us that we are like soldiers,
and we must be equipped to fight our battles. We cannot simply ignore the
realities of life and try to live in an imaginary bubble of forever happiness.
Life is hard and tough! We can’t sweep our problems and difficult issues under
the rug and hope they go away. We must face and by God’s grace deal with them!
Joshua gets alone, faces the Jericho in his way, and is probably
overcome with the reality of the impossibility of dealing with it! But my
friend, that is when God shows up!!!! The Commander of the LORD’s armies is
none other than Jesus Himself! You can only imagine Joshua’s surprise! He asked
the Man with the drawn sword who shows up out of nowhere, “Whose side are
you on?” and he gets a strange answer. “No, but as Commander of
the army of the LORD I have now come."
Jesus is basically saying to Joshua as He says to us, “I
didn’t come to take sides, I came to take over!” And Joshua fell to his face at His feet and worshipped.
If we are to successfully deal with the problems, issues, and obstacles in our
lives we must let Jesus take charge of our lives and accept His Lordship over
us! We must first recognize Who He really is as Joshua did and humble ourselves
in worship and adoration!
Then Joshua asked, "What does my Lord say to His
servant?" This reminds me of the experience of Saul on the Damascus
Road when Jesus shows up in a blast of light putting him on his face on the
ground (Acts 9:1-6). And Saul, asked, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”
True worship will always lead to obedience to the Lord in
our daily walk! Joshua was reminded that he was second in command. Every father
and mother, pastor, and Christian leader is second in command to the Lord Jesus
Christ; and when we forget this fact, we start to move toward defeat and
failure. The Lord came to Joshua that day, not just to help but to lead. "Without
Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
It is my prayer that the Holy Spirit will open our eyes
today to the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and submit to His Lordship over
us!
God bless!
