Joshua (or Yeshua) comes from the Hebrew word, yeho-shua. Jehovah yasha, literally meaning, God saves. God saves. Our Deliverer. God delivers His people [altho definitely not like Dominos, FexEx]. A Rescuer, Savior. Savior is Who He is. It’s what He does. Guaranteed.
In the Old Testament, Joshua the person shows up out of nowhere in the middle of Exodus, right after THE Exodus. God thru Moses has delivered His people from their slavery in Egypt. Pharoah, the plagues, the Red Sea, ~2 million of said people, who are now journeying through the [wilderness], with the Lord at their head, to the mountain of God, where they will receive His divine commands. Along the way, we see how God's people are learning crucial lessons of trust - they run out of food, and water —> until now their very survival depends entirely on the gracious provision of God. Just before they finally arrive to Mount Sinai, they’re attacked, totally unprovoked, by the people of Amalek. If you recall, Amalek was Esau’s grandson, Gen 36.12 - so these are cousins...!
Amalek. The root in the Hebrew means, toil, or anguish, or trouble. And these sons of “trouble” earn the distinction of being the first of the Gentiles to trouble the delivered nation of Israel, out to destroy God’s people [Num. 24:20b “Amalek was the first of the nations, but his end shall be destruction.”][cf Deut. 25:18 …(Amalek) met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God.]. Trouble makers. Making trouble, opposing God’s people and God's purposes. And seemingly out of nowhere, comes a deliverer. God’s deliverance [Ex. 17:13 - Deliverance comes from the Lord - which also gives us a perfect picture of prayer…].
Let's do a quick survey of this deliverer Joshua:
Ex 17.10 Joshua did as Moses told him…
Ex 24.13 Moses arose with Joshua his servant…
Ex 33.11 his servant Joshua son of Nun, a young man [lad], would not depart from the tent (of meeting).
Num 11.28 Joshua, the attendant [servant] of Moses from his youth
Num. 13:16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; but Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.
[So we see that Joshua is Faithful. A Servant. Responsible. Is it any wonder that Joshua is at the top of the list of the ones Moses trusts to go spy out the land?]
Num 14.6 Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes.
Num 14.7-8 …”the land is an exceedingly good land…the Lord WILL bring us into this land…”
Num 27.18 Take Joshua, a man in whom is the Spirit.
Num 32.12 Joshua…followed the Lord fully.
And now let's observe God’s promises TO Joshua:
Deut 1.38 Joshua…he will enter…he WILL cause Israel to inherit it.
Deut 3.21 “Joshua, your eyes have seen all that the Lord has done to these two kings; so the Lord WILL do to ALL the kingdoms into which you are about to cross.”
Deut 3.28 Joshua will go across at the head of this people, and he WILL give them the land as an inheritance.
Deut 31.3 God WILL cross ahead of you; He will destroy the nations, and you will dispossess them…just as the Lord has spoken.
31.7 Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to give to them, and you WILL give it to them as an inheritance.
31.23 Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I WILL BE WITH YOU.
This is HUGE - the God of wonders, the great I AM, of seas-parting and manna-providing and mountains-shaking and dead-raising and plague-sending, Who NOBODY could approach, Who had only been relating to Moses to this point, says, I will be with YOU, Joshua. But what makes this last promise even more significant, is that it comes right on the heels of another promise: “For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they WILL turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant." (Deuteronomy 31.20) God’s people WILL turn their hearts away from the Lord. The people He chose and delivered were going to turn away - and God knew it far in advance. Why? People turn away. That’s what WE do.
The Lord knows what the people were disposed to do, even before they did it, and He STILL brings them into the promised land! That shows us not only their own utter weakness but more importantly the strength of His love for them. Thanks be to God that HE is Yeshua, the God Who saves - the God Who promises to save us - from ourselves: Rom. 7:21-25 Here is the law I find working in me. When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. Deep inside me I find joy in God’s law. But I see another law working in the parts of my body. It fights against the law of my mind. It makes me a prisoner of the law of sin. That law controls the parts of my body. What a terrible failure I am! Who will save me from this sin that brings death to my body? I give thanks to God. He will do it through Jesus Christ our Lord. Deliverance comes from Joshua.
Interestingly, Joshua is never mentioned in the [Faith HOF, Heb 11]. Not once. Talk about being snubbed! There IS a mention of Jericho - and the walls did what? There's a mention of Rahab the prostitute who lived in Jericho, but NO mention of the one person who as much as anything personifies the promise of God. Joshua’s life stands as a monument to the truth that God is a promise-Maker AND a promise-Keeper. And of course that’s the most important part of a promise, keeping it. That's the definition of promise: [prä-məs - word of guarantee about a future action or event]. And we’re wired for “kept promises”, aren't we? Have you ever experienced the feel-good sensation of a backed-up lifetime guarantee? [LLBean, Osprey/Jansport, Eddie Bauer, Craftsman, Cutco]. Anyone can make a “promise” - but tragically, life is full of broken ones.
And yet, God’s promises ARE guaranteed. Take it to the bank! [2Cor. 1:20 For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes.] And as we will see, over and over and over again, God makes promises to Joshua - and He follows thru.
Sometimes, God beckons us with a promise, an amazing promise. Yet what we see on the horizon is a whole lotta nothing. Uncertainty. Even foolishness. Y-you want me to do what? Say what? Go where? [Heb. 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.].
That’s how it is with the first promise we see in play with Joshua. [The Land of Promise]. [Num 13.1-2 Then the LORD spoke to Moses saying, “Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.”] Go, check it out. Joshua, you and your 11 buddies. Leaders of Israel. “Spy out”, explore the land which I AM GOING TO GIVE TO THE SONS OF ISRAEL. God makes them a promise. And they take a look.
Num 13.27 [read it] - The land is great - God’s promised blessings are real, and they are spectacular! “Nevertheless…” [13.28] Invariably, it seems we bust out a “nevertheless…” A “why not”. What’s your latest? The Hebrew word means “end”. Like, “in the end”. This maybe looks GREAT, but in the end, that’s the end. The end of our trust. God’s promises never fail; in the end it’s our failure to trust.
Num 14.1 - the people despair of God’s promise, disregard God’s Word, and disbelieve. They grumble [2] and want new leaders [4]. 14:9 - Caleb/Joshua: “Do not fear, the Lord is with us, do not fear!” And the nevertheless-ers want to kill them [14.10]! The doubters.
Look at how their doubts anger the Lord [14.11-12]. Moses again intercedes for the people [14.17-19]. And the Lord spares in the short term, but this is where we get the wilderness wanderings. 40 years in the desert - it drops right here - 14.22-23, 30. They were right there, on the cusp of the Promised Land, of entering in to all that God had for them, and they busted out a nevertheless. All that God has for them gets sidetracked by doubt and fear. And in the end every adult over the age of 20 will die in the wilderness. In the end, missing out on God’s Promise. Except for Caleb. And Joshua. The promise of God.
When it comes to promises, sadly some of us can feel like this person: "I DON’T BELIEVE in promises; I am doubly hurt by broken ones. I am hurt first by the trust betrayed. I am hurt again for being dumb enough to have believed a promise in the first place. Right now, I’m living on the spike of a broken promise. I feel like faded duckcloth stretched over tent poles and jammed at all four corners into the ground, beaten by the wind, peed on by dogs that pass in the night."
But Joshua - he held to God’s promise. And he not only entered in to the promised land, he delivered the people into God’s land of promise as well. He literally helped to save them. As we will see in this study, Joshua/Yeshua becomes the promise of God - Who saves. [Jn 3.16]
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