The Ark of the Covenant: Around Jericho Part Iii — Roy Hession

The Captain of the Lord’s Host Appears to Joshua

I want us to turn this morning to the next incident in the history of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the Earth. We're going to turn to Joshua chapter 6, 13. We've seen the Ark in the midst of Jordan, standing there till all the people had passed clean over Jordan into Canaan.

And now they're in Canaan, and the real business begins. We're going to begin at chapter 6, verse 13. And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, there stood a man over against him, with his sword drawn in his hand.

And Joshua went unto him and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay, neither. But as captain of the host of the Lord, fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said, What saith my Lord unto his servant?

And the captain of the host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot. For the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. Now Jericho was straightly shut up, because of the children of Israel.

None went out, and none came in. Said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of Anna. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once.

Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear the ark, and seven priests shall bear before the ark, seven trumpets of rams' horns. And the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times.

And the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the rams' horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city shall fall down flat.

And the people shall ascend up, every man straight before him. And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord.

And he said unto the people, Compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the Lord. And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns, passed on before the Lord, and blew with the trumpets.

And the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed. It went before the priests, and the rearward came after the ark. The priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets. And Joshua had commanded the people saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day that I bid you shout, and ye shall.

The ark of the Lord, compass the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns, before the ark of the Lord, went on continually, and blew with the trumpets.

And the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them, and the rearward came, and blowing with the trumpets. And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did, and it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times.

Only on that day they compassed the city seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time. When the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city, and the city shall be accursed, even it.

And all that are therein to the Lord, only Rahab the harlot shall live. She and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And ye, and any wise, keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel accursed.

All the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron are consecrated unto the Lord, and they shall come into the treasury of the Lord. So the people shouted, when the priests blew with the trumpets. And it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat.

So that the people went up into the city, utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep, and ass with the edge of the sword. But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she had, as she sware unto her.

And the young men that were spies, went in and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren. She really packed the house that night. She knew it was the only place of safety. And all that she had, and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel.

And they burnt the city with fire. Only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and iron, they put into the treasury. And she dwelleth in Israel, even unto this day, because she hid the messages, which Joshua said to spy out Jericho.

Faith in the Ark and the One It Represents

And so this morning, we come to the next incident. We've seen the Ark itself being brought into the tabernacle of the glory of the Lord Philemon. And we've seen the Ark in Jordan, and the people passing on dry ground.

Now we see the Ark of the Covenant encompassing Jericho, and accomplishing its thought. The emphasis of the story seems to me, not so much on the Ark itself, by itself, accomplishing the downfall of the city.

But the emphasis seems to be on the faith of the people in the Ark. Which was utterly necessary, if the walls of Jericho were to fall down flat. Hebrews 11, the commentary there is, by faith, the walls of Jericho fell down, after they'd encompassed the city seven days.

The emphasis there in Hebrews is on by faith. Yes it was the Ark, or that which the Ark symbolized, but it was their faith in the Ark, or their faith in the One. Whom the Ark represented, which, as you read the story, that is the emphasis, it wasn't just the Ark.

Something pretty foolish it seemed, but they had to do it, without which the thing wouldn't have happened. A foolish thing, that this passage has much to teach us, about faith in Jesus. In earth we must see who he is, because it's very easy to have a Jesus as little more than another Moses to you.

The one who tells you what's right and what's wrong, blesses you when you do the right, but cannot but censure you when you do the wrong. And as you so often do the wrong, from that sort of Jesus you don't get much more than censure.

But that isn't our Jesus, the law has come by Moses, condemned a lot of us. Grace and truth has come by Jesus Christ, and it's in that Jesus I trust. For his grace and power are such none can ever ask too much.

Faith in grace, terribly important, and this is what this story has to teach us. All right then, the end of the story. The people have come over Jordan, stands this great imposing city of Jericho. It's a good climate down there, I've been there, and it was a great fort, with great walls.

It was the existence of such cities, like this, that had caused their fathers 40 years before to panic and refuse to enter, and prefer rather to go back to Egypt, because of which God disciplined them by not letting them go in, and imposing that 40 years of discipline wandering in the desert.

When those spies of old came back 40 years before, they said, the people are taller and greater than we, and their cities are great. As in one of the cities they saw was Jericho, wall up to heaven, utterly impregnable.

And the mere sight of those cities was enough to make them turn their tail. And that city is still there. It hasn't changed, that city is still there. Now we've come over Jordan, some of us, in varying ways and degrees.

To find the power of the blood of Jesus, to bring us out of the wilderness, into a good land, into a new experience of Jesus, we've been through. It may be yet to go through, but right in our face, now we've come over, is our particular Jericho.

It'll differ for everybody, it may be the situation at home. Satan seems to be entrenched, and blocking your spiritual progress. It may be the prospect that now you've come over Jordan, there are some things you may have to put right in your life, some things that might have to be surrendered, some things you might have to put right with other people, and my, that's a daunting prospect.

There may be various personal besetments, victories. Difficulties, I can't begin to mention them, because they will vary with everybody, but you know. Caused you in the past, to hesitate about going forward.

It has been these sort of difficulties, which we knew there, which have caused us to do, what Israel did, turn back from our promised land. Which we felt we couldn't. Into a new place with Jesus. Until we've proved resistance actually, but we'll call it a battle.

Rahab’s Testimony and the Encouragement of Faith

Before the battle, important incidents that took place. In the previous chapter, or the chapter before the previous one, we're told of how this great city, they managed to get in when the doors were open, citizens of Jericho, to see how things were.

Hospitality in the house, enviable reputation, and maybe they thought, this is the sort of woman we can get to talk. Talk she did. We looked closely at them and realised they were not citizens of Jericho, and when it came, they did begin to talk.

And she said, I know, I've given you the land. Teresa, and not only me, we all of us do. Conceded defeat. She said, yes, they did themselves. It was the biggest encounter. The purpose of letting the spies go, not for them to spy up the land, but to hear this mighty word of encouragement.

And the escape back to Joshua said, boys, delivered the city into our hearts. All they needed. For you to tackle, him to do so. He invariably gives us some such incident, just to encourage. He said he looked through the Bible, and he couldn't find that God could do anything, to deal with our discouragement, and to, in him, and, First Epistle of John.

This is the victory that overcometh the world. Yes, even before you met. And this is what God wanted to do for Israel. They could have had. She was justified by faith. To meet Rahab in heaven. And by the way, she's one of the.

She's in the family line of the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you know that? You look at the family tree of Jesus Christ. She married an Israelite. And she was in that line from whom Christ. He was young in leadership.

Joshua Learns That the Lord Is the True Captain

And that city, he had to confess, look mighty strong, how in the world were they going to. City that stood in their way. Could one say, biting his nails? I don't know. Suddenly he saw a man standing. In front of him, in the field outside, where he was walking.

With his sword drawn. Are you on our side? Their side. And the answer was neither. I'm not on your side. And I'm not on their side. But you, Joshua, are on my side. Through the Lord. Up to now, Joshua, you thought you were captain.

You were wrong. I am. And you thought that your resources, many consisted in this army of yours, which you are feeling is so inadequate. I'm captain and back of me are the hosts of Jehovah, infinitely stronger than your.

And he realized this was none other than the appearance of Jehovah. Actually, Bible students think it was an appearance of Jesus himself. Because there are these strange appearances in the Old Testament, which are thought to be appearances of the Eternal Son, even before his incarnation.

On Earth. And Joshua fell on his face before the Lord. And said, what's it my Lord? To his servant. This is how leadership, leaders are made. They're men like. It's a servant. In the place of leaders.

In his psyche. They've got a leader. They've met him. What a lovely title. For the Lord Jesus. Captain of the Lord. You know he knows how to make himself known to you in that way. Just when you need that sort of vision.

When you were so worried. When you didn't know what to do. When you were really the captain of the situation as you thought. And you felt inadequate. When your resources seemed to be so pathetically inadequate.

And then Jesus comes. Are you on my side or their side Lord? You are neither. You, you, you. Are on my side. And not only captain of the situation. But an infinite lack of me. More than adequate with a thing that is making you despair.

And we're to do what Joshua did. We're to virtually surrender up the captaincy. Which we thought was in our hands. It's a wonderful, wonderful delight to give it to us. He was so worried about all the many problems.

Such a huge work. He was involved in. His health wasn't good. Carriage in Regent's Park with Mrs. Spurgeon by his side. When suddenly he gave a great laugh. And he kicked his heels up in the air as he sat there.

He said what's this? Oh he said I've been so worried. I was a fish in a pond as I thought. And I was really worried whether there was going to be enough water for me. And I just realized I'd been swimming in the Atlantic Ocean.

The sort of vision he had. And Jesus he saw was the captain. And that of the house of the Lord. And I think this is very important. Joshua falling on his face before the Lord. That's much more important for us.

You fall on your face before the Lord. You see where you've been the captain. Where you've been assuming responsibility. Walking by sight and not by faith. Acknowledge it to be wrong and fall on your face before the Lord.

God will see to those walls of Jericho. He knows how to make them fall if he can get us. And Joshua said what says my Lord to his servant? What did he say? Well he said take your shoes off. This is holy ground.

We've got to realize we're dealing with a holy Lord that cannot tolerate sin. Well that's alright. We know what to do about sin now don't we? There's a fountain open for it. Alright then. And then in chapter 6 we hear what else the Lord said to him.

Verse 2. Chapter 6 verse 2. Said unto Joshua see I have given into thine hand Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty man. Not I will give it to you. Given into thine hand. Grace for us in a past ten.

Purpose already accomplished. Victory that's been won. That you sow in a past ten. That great victory or sin and death and woe that needs no second fight and leaves no second. Things come to pass. And be like Abraham.

Things staggered. He looked at his own body. The deadness of Sarah's womb. And gave glory to perform. How he sees things. He wants you to see them too. Again I say. He's not a bit bothered about that Jericho.

Nor is he a bit really bothered about the one who's taking advantage of the situation behind it. And you've got to deal with that one behind it. We'll see in a moment. He's already met and mastered. Be located back home.

Not I have given it into your hand. The victory. And then he went on to tell him a second thing. The means by which this was going to pass. Or shall I put it this way. By means of which. With gated priest wear.

They had it on their shoulders on those days. There would be seven priests before. Going before. Blowing with ram's horns. And before those priests. And armed men behind. And they would walk round and encompass that great city.

Once. And then come back into camp. The next day they would do it again. Nothing more than that. What in the world is that going to do. To bring down those walls. They said that's what you've got to do.

He didn't want them to do something rather stunning. Otherwise they might think it was a stunning thing they did. That accomplished the victory. And very often the cooperation needed on your part is very feeble.

Not in itself likely to do anything. But if God says that's what you've got to do. You do it. You'll see what sort of cooperation that is in a moment. And then on the seventh day they went round seven times.

And then at the seventh time there was an extra long blast on the ram's horns. When the walls were still standing. And he did. Someone has said, was it Carl Barth. That God says to us act as if I act.

And you will find. In that case the acting was shouting. The simple means. That have to sometimes accompany faith. Looking into it in more detail. May I point out the fact. That this incident differed from the previous one.

The ark went alone into Jordan. There are to be two. So here. It is meant to symbolize for us. That the Lord. In the midst of us. Is mighty. Not only Christ. Mighty. The hope of God. In you but the. It also means Christ in us too.

And you do it in the midst of us and through us. Sing the city. With the ark in the midst of them. Seven days. And on the seventh day. The victory. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. In prayer. You turn to Colossians 2. 14 and 15.

Colossians 2. 14 and 15. Now this verse. Verse 15. And as it reads the authorized. Verses. And power. Concordance. Whether that Greek word is used. It is translated. We must use that word here. And I think it means.

Having put off from himself. The principalities and power. When the Satan had provoked. Israel. The clamor for the crucifixion of the son of God. And they put him on the cross. Satan and his principalities and powers thought they got him.

Satan is not omniscient. I think it's quite a wrong. Interpretation which I've sometimes heard. That when Satan offered Jesus or the kings of the world. If he would fall down. It was to get him to avoid the cross.

Redemption. Satan doesn't know all that. He just saw this one. Who was a challenging. Three days of joy in hell. Jesus had said. It's ransom price. For the release of all Satan's captives. So much so that the third day.

God rose him from the dead. The blood was enough. The grave he arose. With a mighty. The principalities. They saw that what they thought was victory. Was defeat for them. He made us. The principalities of.

And one thing. In it's margins. Says in it. That is the cross. In that which looked like. Like defeat. For Jesus Christ. The cross. Was actually. Like weakness and defeat. He won the mead and crown. Our foes.

And treading them down for himself. His death he might destroy. Bring to nothing. Him that had the power of death. Speaks of the whole business. Of victory. Put us in an accused. And who is at the back.

Depresses so. Compulsive city. With the art. So to speak. We are caught. Together. We talk too much about the devil. And people being possessed. And so on. We're paying the devil a compliment. The more you acknowledge him.

The more you have to beat him. I went to see Jimmy Carter. I was a friend of his. If they didn't know I was available. I wouldn't go through a whole lot of officials. They're so to speak under my feet.

Because they're under his. Who has already given you the city. Already given the victory. Think of doing it. For seven days in a row. Two reasons. Why this was God's way for them. To make it quite clear.

It wasn't their comforting the city that was doing it. So many times. And nothing happens. All the victory. All the glory. And that's the reason why sometimes. All you do is so simple. All so simple. Happen immediately.

Is to show. It's not this wonderful praying on your part. I think it's quite good. When a man thinks he's got a gift. Of something or other. And it doesn't work. Demons are a gift of healing. Very good.

But it doesn't work. Let's see that comforting the city. To be what it is. Nothing in itself. And it's got to be clear. That when things happen. It's Jehovah. And not us. And the second reason. Why I think they had to do this.

Continual compassing. Was to test. And to develop. Would they quit? They went round the first day. Joshua. You can go play and tape. And then come back again. Relax again. Believe that this was the way.

Took some believing. That God wasn't playing. Tricks on us. Testing of faith. Listen. To change the metaphor. You can't score runs. Unless you're being bold against it. You've got to be. I've been so helped.

Especially when. One has to little know. What a pathetic person. The evangelist is. That person eyes. Waiting. Even when the walls. Are still. Something more. Do it before I tell you. And it was. This was the crucial.

Thing for them. For what he says has happened. He says it has. Twenty. Things. So I've ever. Ye desire. Standard version. Has. But the 1881. Revised version. Which I have in my. Bible. But makes it even more.

Well you better thank him for them. If you have. The way it is. There was no sign of any. Wobbling in the walls. But they looked. Off to the promise of God. And they shouted. For the Lord. And there is a place.

Not only for. Asserting the victory of faith. And going on doing so. In holy conference. Not merely pleading. But when. The Lord says. Now you can go further. And everything. If so. Telling me to. Thank him he's.

Answered my prayer. But all I would say this is. Much better for you to do. Too much shouting. Than too little. In the Lord. And. To the Lord. And the Old Testament. Saints. They. They acted as if these things were a fact.

Before they became fact. And they only did become fact. Because they acted. As if they were. Before they saw it. We've really got to get into this ground. Not this distant. Doubt. We see. We wrestle. Not against.

Principalities and power. Not against human beings. But of power. When Jesus. Has won the victory. In certain spheres. It's. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. See this work out. In the sphere. Word of God. As if God's Word is going.

To return to him. Void. Jesus. Is not the one sent. Down from Heaven. By whom. We are to preach it. And years ago. God taught of us. A bunch of us. My early years. Young life campaign. This secret. Yes the word.

The most extraordinary prayer. Lord thank. You. For the souls you have saved among us. They wear. Awesome. In that work. We seek. That was where we do. Jesus a trap. But it works in other spheres too.

Praising God Before the Walls Fall

Interpret these things to you, don't try it out of formula to you. ...believed and shouted at you, that the city's been given to you. It doesn't immediately turn out that way. May I remind you, it is said of the saints of faith in Hebrews 11, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, God having provided some better thing for you.

You aren't the first one. I say, nonetheless, you can do a lot. It's far better to do much praising, and asserting, and expecting, and thanking Him, than too little. He loves you for it. Because of some better thing, maybe.

You did it because you set your faith in Jesus, you touch Him. Some better thing. But so often it is that very thing, this is the whole... Last week, a brother came up to me, he said, When you took that TED campaign years ago in Nottingham, did you stay in the house of Tom Hughes?

Yes, I said, I remember it did. Tory about you, you often chuckle so. He said, someone came to the house to ask to see you. They said, it didn't sound pretty quiet. Questions were going on from that room.

I've been to get the big tip, I love a lot of praying. Every campaign was a crisis for me. I was in despair there, at which end corner I cried and cried. Yes, there were some strife, but not always so, brother.

My most exuberant times in prayer were in faith. When I was doing some shouting, for the Lord had given me the city I'd been through. In despair, then I'd seen Jesus at His feet. He'd given me the promise.

Yes, but I literally did though. Of course, sometimes it might have been a bit loud. I don't know, because I don't pray. I can't pray quietly. Now I'm a little more respectable. I murmur my prayers. But I tell you, the battle was so fierce.

And I was in such despair when I'd gotten the victory, when I saw Jesus. Well, I did praise the Lord. And you know, those old walls came down right, left, and center. But the real battle was not in the tent preaching.

It was in my bedroom. May God make the application to you and your circumstances, which is, Christian work isn't the only joke, but it is for some of us. Wouldn't it be lovely if some man preached the word, or some woman, goes back strong in faith, expecting to win, as that hymn says, without a blow?

Although it's going to be without a blow, I want to tell you, it's not going to be without this sort of faith in one degree or another. As it's been done! Current situation. Just two more thoughts. Every man went up straight before him into that city.

Entering the Victory and Confronting Sin

And did they do real business? You almost catch your breath. Men! They had in her family the presence of the God. And if they hadn't fully exploited what God had given them, the rest of the nations wouldn't have seen how great was their God.

And there's some situations which God delivers into our hand. We've not only got to enter in and praise when the city, the walls fall down flat. Certain situations you need to exploit, especially when there are moral issues involved.

And be absolutely uncompromising with your sin. With all the things that have happened. Whatever it may be! With that enemy. What Achan did. Take the glory for yourself. The other thought. It rather looked at first sight as if there was Jericho right in front of them.

It was. And they couldn't go further into the canyon until Jericho had fallen to them. And I imagine that really was the situation. But I can conceive it possible. For them to have found a way to bypass Jericho and go on to something else.

Returning to Prayer Instead of Making Resolutions

Dear sisters and the Lord were away from one another and they wrote the same thing. One said, both said in fact, God has convicted me that I haven't been spending time in prayer as I should. And the one said, as a result, I'm getting up an hour earlier every day.

It was out of that conviction. The other said, the Lord has shown me I've been neglecting the place of prayer. And I've repented. And I'm resting about it. You see, Isaiah 35 says, in returning and rest you shall be saved.

Not in returning and resolving. You're back on the old ground again. Deeply repent. And rest in the Lord to work it out. And so it may be your first thing to do is not to make promises about what you're going to do about that Jericho.

If there's a Jericho you've neglected to be confident in Jesus about. And you've quit the ground of faith. Return to it. Don't make too many resolutions. Promises are made to be broken. Even in the Christian life.

He knows how to put into you what he wants out of you when you've repented. And the real thing comes as a result of his working in your heart. But it is important to see if there are, if there is a Jericho.

That you've skirted round. You know, when we talk about, take messages like this. We've got to trust the Holy Spirit to make his individual application. To each one. For our circumstances, our situations differ.

But the principles we've seen of the ark of the covenant of the Lord of the earth. Having overcome the enemy. And the need of our faith in him. To come to the city. Jesus. But not without this extraordinary, simple cooperation on our part.

Amen.