Israel is entering the Promised Land! The land God gave to the family of Abraham-Isaac-and-Jacob. 700 yrs later, God is bringing them back to inherit their promise. A family of >2 million people. And as He brings them into the promised land, He is going to great lengths to help them live into the great command: Deut. 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” There’s just one tiny problem: “their” land…is occupied. People are living there - and they have been for centuries. So now Israel has been tasked not only with possessing the land - i.e. dispossessing those who are living there [Deut 7.17] - they have been instructed - by God - to destroy them [Deut 20.16-18].
God cares about Israel. But does He care about these Canaanite "squatters"? Is it fair for God to choose Israel over them? Does God play favorites? Why do some people seem to get better outcomes than others? It’s one of the great questions. Is [life fair]? It’s not the right question [but even asking the question - it points to the fingerprint of God/imago dei in our hearts. We ask questions of fairness and justice, because the God Who made us in His image is preeminently just].
But before Joshua leads the conquest of the Promised Land, God reminds him (and us) of the true nature of the situation. The Lord shows up on the plains of Jericho, and Joshua asks, whose side are You on? Our earthly instincts tell us this is Israel vs Canaan. Mano a mano. Survival of the fittest, right? So, stranger, are you for us, or for our adversaries? Cuz we humans have this warped horizontal view of the situation. We are entirely biased to think it’s all about us. About me. What concerns me. What benefits me. And anyone who stands against me is by definition, my enemy. Us against them. Whose side are You on, Lord? And we assume, hey, I’m a decent person, I believe in God, so surely He’s showing up to help me. But this captain of the Lord’s angel-armies says, nope. You don’t understand. I’m not choosing sides here. This is not ultimately about you. This is about the God of angel armies, the One Who made heaven and earth and all that is in them, and made each of us to know and love Him, to reflect His glory. You need to understand the true worth of My glory, the true nature of My holiness. God is always most concerned about His glory. His breathtaking goodness. He designed each of us to enjoy that and show that off, to prioritize Him in our hearts and lives in all we do. That's the essence of the great command. THIS - all this - is about Him. Don’t miss Joshua’s eved [surrendered servant] moment [vv14 AND 15] - and the first time EVER in the land of promise a place is pronounced as holy. What makes that plain of Jericho holy at this time? God’s presence. And to be sure, nothing unclean can enter (or abide in) God’s holy presence.
Sadly, history is a long history of us falling short of glory. Choosing what we want over what God wants, making it all about me. And we’re born this way. Spiritual brokenness and depravity inherited from our first parents. And ever since, all people everywhere fall short. It shows up over and over in Scripture. The generation of Noah [Gen. 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.]. Sodom and Gomorrah [Gen 18.20 And the LORD said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.][breaking points]. Psa. 14:2-3 The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. We all fall short. Even God’s “chosen people". So the Lord shows up to give Joshua/Israel a reminder of the reality of the situation: Deut. 9:4,6 “Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.” Canaan was certainly guilty. But so was Israel.
There is a kind of compassionate love which struggles to impugn guilt in another. But this mindset is guilty of grossly underestimating 2 things: the white hot blindingly glorious holiness of the Lord, as well as the foul all-pervasive ugliness of our sin. Some of this IS due to the spiritual nature of conversation. We DON'T see God’s true holiness. We read about it, but seeing it face to face is another thing entirely. Joshua gets a glimpse here, and [what does he do]? But we DO see people. And yes, much of the beautiful visage of the Creator still remains on us. The imago dei. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. But our hearts? Truly fallen [Matt. 15:18-19 “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”] Everyone is guilty before the Lord, we all deserve to be punished, separated from Him forever because of our sin. [Is. 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.]. Nobody is clean enough to come into God’s presence - apart from trusting in Him to make a way. That’s what Rahab did. And that’s what God’s doing here with Joshua/Yeshua. He’s making the way for people to be saved. Yeshua - God saves. He is making this nation, these people, and God not only means for them to convey His goodness to all the nations, He’s given them this covenant that will give the world a picture of the way to be saved, forgiven. And not just a picture - the One Who will actually BE the Way for people to be saved will come from this nation. He will bear the same Hebrew name: Yeshua. God saves.
But yes, the same God Who saves is the just holy God Who holds everyone accountable. The promise of justice. He announced it to Moses [Num 14.18] - and this God is the same yesterday today and forever. Both Old and New Testaments show us this thrice-holy God Who loves all people AND hates-hates-hates when they put other things in His place. And God holds everyone accountable for what they know [Rom 1.19-20]. Every one of these godless Canaanites had heard Israel was coming. They had all heard about the God of Israel. They were terrified. Everyone in Jericho knew. And only Rahab turned her heart to the Lord in surrender (at least she is the only one we know of).
We minimize God’s holiness/our guilt, AND we grossly exaggerate the here and now. We miss the true scope of [eternity]. Compared to that infinite line, this life is just a tiny dot. When viewed from the standpoint of eternity, only one thing matters in this life. This brief life is everybody’s [one chance] to get ready for eternity [Heb 9.27]. Everyone gets one chance. The promise of justice. The life “cut short” in Canaan, or Kiev, or Uvalde, is tragic, to be sure, but the true tragedy of life is if that soul did not decide to surrender their heart to their Creator when they had the opportunity. That is the ultimate tragedy. BUT this is also why the imperative of sharing the Good News with all peoples is so imperative [Mk 16.15][2Cor 5.11].
In the end, there are no raw deals. In fact the promise of justice is ALWAYS paired with the promise of forgiveness [Rom 6.23]. The seeming inequities of this life become inconsequential when seen in light of eternity, and the truth about God, Who we can trust to forever be supremely just [Job 13.15]. This life, more than anything else, is about getting ready for forever. Seizing the chance to surrender our hearts to our Creator - Who DOES love us with a forever love, and sent His only Son to pay the penalty for all our sin, so that whoever believes could be forgiven and live forever with Him in Paradise. That place which blows away even the best life money and privilege might buy on this broken planet. The promise of God.
Relevant verses:
Deut 32: 3-4, 40-41 “For I proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.”
‘Indeed, I lift up My hand to heaven, and say, as I live forever, “If I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand takes hold on justice, I will render vengeance on My adversaries, and I will repay those who hate Me.”
Exodus 34.6-7 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; Who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
Heb. 9:27 It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
2Cor. 5:11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men.
Num. 33:50 Then the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, 51 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; 53 and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.
Deut. 20:16 “Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 “But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you, 18 so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the LORD your God.
Rom. 1:19 That which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Job 13:15 “Though He slay me, I will trust in Him.”
Num. 14:18 The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.
Deut 12.31 “You shall not behave thus toward the LORD your God, for every abominable act which the LORD hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.”
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