Friday, July 22, 2011

Joshua and Blood-Earnestness

I am reading the book of Joshua.  There is no way around it.  Joshua is an intense book, and there is some uncomfortable material in it.  The Israelites have wandered around for forty years because of their disobedience, and they are finally going into the promised land.  God commands them to go in and wipe people out.  Don't just kill the soldiers in battle, wipe out everything that breathes.  Why?

God, why do we have to kill the women and children, too?

I think people who read this and aren't bothered by it either don't have a heart or they don't believe Scripture.  I was bothered by this, and then I was bothered by how often the times are when I have not been bothered.

I read of Achan's sin to take some of the things devoted to destruction when they went to battle at Jericho.  God told them not to do it.  Joshua and the Israelites found Achan out after experiencing defeat in the next battle.  What did they do?  They stoned him, then they burned him.  And not just him, but his whole family!  Let that sink in if you dare.

I draw some pretty basic conclusions from these things that may seem just glaringly obvious to you but useful for me to realize...

1.  It is a grace that anyone is not killed.  Scripture is clear that God is a just God.  Therefore, he is not unjust to take these men, women, and children.  It is grace alone that I have not been stoned and burned.  That is basically what I deserve. 

2.  God's commands are serious.  Too often my obedience and repentance are done when they are convenient to me... when I have time to properly repent.  (A ridiculous thought.)  No one takes God as seriously as they should.

3.  I hope not to overspiritualize in this analogy.  I view Israel's taking possession of the Promised Land like my own Christian walk.  God promised victory and possession of the land.  God promises me that, having been justified, I am on my way to a glorified resurrected body.  God commands that the Israelites take full posession wiping everyone out.  I am commanded to let Christ have full possession of me, crucifying all my sinful tendencies, for my good and for his glory.  Looking at Joshua this way, I receive a new gravity about how seriously I should take this business of dying to myself.  There are no small sins, however harmless they might look.  God did not have the Israelites spare the Canaanite women and children.  Likewise, I can give no harbor even to the smallest bit of sin, else I am harboring the enemy as a traitor of Lord.  The bloodiness of Joshua bids us to come to Christ and to do battle with our sin in blood-earnestness.