The Commander of the LORD's Army (Joshua Chapters 4 & 5)

So this evening, we're gonna be looking at two chapters, Joshua four, and then chapter five. So several things are gonna come up. The most significant, I think has to be chapter five, where Joshua encounters the commander of the Lord's army.

I would identify this as a Christophany, which is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ in the Old Testament. We've talked about this a few times over the past, what, two years, the difference between a Theophany and a Christophany.

Does anyone remember the difference? A Theophany, I think the burning bush would be a Theophany. That's a physical manifestation of God because no man was seen in the burning bush. But here, Joshua is going to encounter the Lord and it's a man, so it has to be Christ.

So when it's a man, it's a Christophany. When it's not a man and someone encounters God, that would be a Theophany. So a little more on that later on. So let's listen along to Joshua chapter four, and then we'll go over that chapter and then just do an overview of chapter five.

So Joshua chapter four.

And it came to pass when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua.

Take for yourselves 12 men from the people, one man from every tribe, and command them saying, take for yourselves 12 stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priest's feet stood firm.

You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.

Then Joshua called the 12 men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe. And Joshua said to them, cross over.

Before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan. And each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, what do these stones mean to you?

Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.

And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up 12 stones from the midst of the Jordan as the Lord had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.

Then Joshua set up 12 stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood. And they are there to this day. So the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua.

And the people hurried and crossed over. Then it came to pass when all the people had completely crossed over, that the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. And the men of Reuben, the men of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them.

About 40 ,000 prepared for war crossed over before the Lord for battle to the plains of Jericho. On that day, the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel. And they feared him, as they had feared Moses all the days of his life.

Then the Lord spoke to Joshua.

Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony to come up from the Jordan.

Joshua therefore commanded the priests,.

Come up from the Jordan.

And it came to pass when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priest's feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before.

Now the people came up from the Jordan on the 10th day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those 12 stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.

Then he spoke to the children of Israel.

When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, what are these stones? Then you shall let your children know, saying, Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over.

As the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.

So chapter four finishes up the story from last time where remember the Lord worked this miracle and stopping up the Jordan River that allows the children of Israel to cross on dry land. So this miracle, what does it do?

It exalts Joshua in the sight of all the people where now he is the unquestionable leader of the nation. Was he that before? I mean, yes, he has been designated, but when something like this happens, this will never forget, the people will never forget this moment.

So this really elevates him. So chapter four covers this. Now let's turn to chapter 27 of Numbers for a moment because this ties in, I think, with something in verse one. So as you're turning to Numbers 27, let me just read verse one.

It says, and it came to pass when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan that the Lord spoke to Joshua. And then it gives him the instructions regarding the memorial stones. So I wanna just take a second and look at how did God speak to Joshua?

We touched on this two weeks ago, how there's multitudes of people in the world today that claim that God speaks to them. How did God do it here in this chapter? But first, just to comment on the memorial stones, what was the purpose of them?

What's another term that you could use? Remembrance. Okay, remembrance. What were they? What do we have that's Monuments. Right, yeah, it acted as something like a monument. So it's a site that when the people see it, or when the children of Israel pass by it, it'll bring back the memory of what happened all those years ago.

So the Israelites can use this monument to teach their children and following generations to remind them and to teach them what the Lord has done. So it was a teaching tool.

Yeah, Larry. I think the proper word is ebenezer, which means a stone of remembrance. Erected an ebenezer, and so that's why. I like that verse in Come Thou Fount that refers to, here I lay my ebenezer, and my stone of remembrance.

You know, what Christ has done.

Right, that's the original Come Thou Fount. Yeah, yeah, I know. Verse two. It's not like that in ours yet. I haven't gone through and changed them. Yeah, why did they take that out? Because nobody knows what that means.

But you should teach people what I mean. That's the whole point of it, to teach them, and then now we're forgetting what ebenezer means. So thank you, thank you for that. Okay, so it says the Lord spoke to Joshua.

What does that mean, the Lord spoke to Joshua? Was this some inner impression that he had, or he just had a feeling that God was trying to tell him something? How did God speak to him? Well, we touched on this, I think it was two weeks ago, where the people say, God spoke to me.

Who's heard that? Somebody said, God spoke to me. Who said it? I mean, I probably have said that a long time. I try to be careful about that kind of thing. So this is God literally speaking to Joshua.

Now, when God spoke to Moses, how did he do it? Remember, it explains it. In a cloud of faith. Right, God was in the cloud, but he spoke to Moses face to face. So when Moses spoke to God, it was like God was there in the room and they were having a conversation.

Now, that might have happened to Joshua at times. I'm not saying it didn't, but we see here in Numbers 27, how God communicated with him. Look at verse 18. Numbers 27, verse 18 says, and the Lord said to Moses, take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him and set him before Eliezer the priest and before all the congregation and inaugurate him in their sight.

And you shall give some of your authority to him that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. He shall stand before Eliezer the priest who shall inquire before the Lord for him.

For who? For Joshua. By the judgment of the Urim. So this is one of the objects in the priest's breastplate. At his word, they shall go out and at his word, they shall come in, he and all the children of Israel with him, all the congregation.

So generally speaking, when the Lord wants to send a message to Joshua, he doesn't do it face-to-face like he did with Moses. He does it through the high priest. So starting at this point, there is developing sort of a separation between, if I can put it this way, between the political leader and the religious leader.

Because Joshua is the leader of the nation, right? But you could argue the high priest is the leader of the religion as far as the duties and the tabernacle. So you're starting to see this separation because throughout the Old Testament, you could have priests that were prophets, but a priest could not be what?

King. And a king could not be a priest. So there's this division. And I think that's starting right here. So God will speak to Joshua, but he will do it through the high priest. And the high priest, even he isn't hearing God's voice directly face-to-face.

He's hearing from God using the Urim and the Thummim, which we don't even really know what those things were. And we don't know how any of that works. But if you ever wondered, is Joshua just walking along the road and hearing a voice from heaven?

No, that's not how it works. That's one of the things you should ask.

When you go stand before God. That'd be a question.

Yeah, well, it would be a question. Now, if you wanna hear from God today, I know you've heard this before, but no, I'm not gonna say what you think I'm gonna say. So I'm trying to read his mind. But we don't have the Urim and the Thummim.

We have this. So we have an object we can open up and hear from. And obviously not everything written in this book is directly applicable for us, but it is for us. Okay, any questions on that? All right.

Well, let's turn back to Joshua chapter four. And it's just so we know how this is working, or at least have some idea. And in Numbers 27, we saw how Moses did pass on some of his authority to Joshua.

So Joshua has already, to some degree, been exalted in the nation, in the sight of all the people. But when he crossed over the Jordan and this miracle took place, remember the water stood up like a heap?

So it's like a wall of water, very similar to the Red Sea crossing. So now this is being used to exalt Joshua so that nobody would have any question that yes, he is God's man. God has chosen him, and the miracle was the proof.

Okay, look at verse 14. It says, on that day, the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel. And they feared him as they had feared Moses all the days of his life. It's one thing for Moses to affirm Joshua.

It's another thing for God to affirm Joshua through the working of signs and wonders. And that's the purpose of miracles. That's the purpose of signs and wonders, to authenticate God's word, to authenticate revelation, and to authenticate the one giving it.

Okay, so as of this moment, Joshua is, without a doubt, the leader of the people. When was Moses made the unquestionable leader? If you remember from the Exodus series, when did God exalt Moses in this way?

Sort of already mentioned it. It was at the Red Sea, right? Okay, so God did this to Joshua using water at the Jordan River. Moses, he was the leader early on in the book of Exodus, but it wasn't until the parting of the Red Sea that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 that the people were baptized into Moses.

So Moses was made the leader, without a doubt, at the Red Sea. And you can see the similarities between the Jordan and the, right? It's the Red Sea being parted, the Jordan being parted, or at least stopped up.

And I was thinking about this. Okay, both include water. Both set these men apart as the unquestionable leader of God's people. Is there something else similar, another event, another man who was proven to be Paul, okay?

But with water. Did God use water for another man to do something like this? Okay, very good, yes. Yes, exactly. So I don't think it should come as any surprise that when Jesus began his public ministry, when his office was authenticated, water was involved because at the baptism of Jesus, God's voice was heard from heaven.

This is my beloved son in whom I am well-pleased. But with Jesus, the waters didn't part. What parted? Heaven. Right, heaven itself was parted. And then the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove.

So I don't know. These are just some interesting parallels between Moses, Joshua, the water, and then in the New Testament, Christ and the water, but then the heavens part. And obviously Moses and Joshua were types of Christ.

Okay, now before we move on to the next chapter, just one thing about these memorial stones. Why was it necessary? Joshua says in verse seven, look at verse seven, these stones shall be a memorial to the children of Israel forever.

Okay, Matthew Henry writes this about Joshua 4, one through nine. He says, the works of the Lord are so worthy of remembrance in the heart of man, so prone to forget them that various methods are needful to refresh our memories for the glory of God, for our advantage, and for our children.

So memorials and monuments are important. They're necessary so that people don't forget. I mean, we've seen this in our country for the past, well, I guess it was more last year or the year before that there was a time where just every week you were hearing about people tearing down monuments.

Well, whether you think that's a good idea or not, and I suspect most of you probably don't, the purpose of the monument is so that you'll remember your history. So if you're trying to erase your history, or if you're trying to establish a new nation or a new form of government or something like that, that's when you would tear these things down.

But God says they are to remain there. I wonder, I don't think any of them are still there today. Does anyone know? Just a thought that came to mind. I doubt, certainly these stones were easy to pick up and easy to move, so these wouldn't be there.

But yeah, I'm sure they were, when Israel was conquered, these sites were pretty well known to their enemies. I'm sure their enemies destroyed them. So I think it's pretty sad when people in our own country would destroy them, but that's another topic.

All right, as far as memorials go, we talked about this a little bit too. Do we have any memorials? What do we have? The cross, okay. There's another, okay, the Bible, you're saying, okay. What do we have that is specifically something that we do, something tangible that we can hold and eat and drink?

That's a clue, that's a memorial. Okay, yeah, communion, right? The Lord's Supper is a memorial, or at least that's the view we take, the memorial view of the Lord's Supper. Jesus says, do this in what?

Do we have that? That's not what we have on our communion table. It says, I am the bread of life, but a lot of communion tables, it'll say in remembrance of me. So even a church, let's see, because we know that as time goes on, more and more churches are not preaching the gospel.

So let's say you have a church that gets more into self-help and motivational speaking, and it's all about you and your purpose and being fulfilled, and Christ and the gospel really isn't preached much at all.

If churches like that at least still, and that's bad, by the way, but if a church like that still at least observes the Lord's Supper in a proper way, at least the gospel is there in the communion service, because you read through Jesus talking about his death, burial, and resurrection.

So at the very least, if a church is observing communion, there's a memorial there for the death and resurrection of Christ. So we can at least be glad that's happening. All right, any questions or comments before we move to chapter five?

And I would just add that the Lord's Supper is something that is very important. We're gonna be celebrating it in two weeks, or it's gonna be October 9th, I guess, is when we're gonna celebrate it. Gonna do it one week later than normal, but I know it's a tendency for evangelicals to kind of look at it as, well, it's symbolic, and maybe we don't put the proper value on it that we should.

The Lord's Supper is very important. It's one of two ordinances that Christ gave. It's really, it's an ordinance, so it's something that Christ ordained and commanded that we do. So we should have a very high view of the Lord's Supper.

Circumcision, Passover, and the End of Manna

All right, let's look at chapter five, starting in verse one. Just as the memorial stones were important for the children of Israel, it would have been sin to disregard them or to ignore them when God said, remember.

It would be sin, I believe, to view the Lord's Supper as, whatever, it's just symbolic anyway, so that's not good. All right, chapter five, verse one begins. So it was when all the kings of the Amorites who are on the west side of the Jordan and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their hearts melted.

And there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel. Put that into your own words. What does it mean that their hearts melted? What? Fearful? Okay, yeah, they're terrified. And it says there's no spirit in them.

They do not want to battle with the Israelites. In their minds, they've already lost. Like, we have no chance against these people. So Israel, they're now in the land. They're ready to go. Everybody is afraid of them.

This is the perfect moment for them to strike, is it not? And yet, God gives them a very difficult test. At this moment, he tells them, okay, circumcise all your men. Can you believe that? From a human perspective, this is the worst possible situation.

This normally would be the worst advice because if all the men age 40 and under now have to go through circumcision, they're sitting ducks. I don't know how long that would take. Several days at the very least, if not a week or two, that they're immobile.

They can't do anything. If anyone attacks them, now it's a guarantee that Israel is going to lose. But that's impossible. Why? Right, yeah, God's in control. God is telling them to do this. So you can see that this is a serious test of faith, isn't it?

So the Lord tells Joshua that this second generation, they need to be circumcised. Now, why weren't they circumcised? Shouldn't they have been circumcised already? Why weren't they? Well, because the prior generation lacked faith.

The prior generation was really a godless generation. That's why they died in the wilderness because they were stiff-necked and they didn't do what God told them to do. So they were supposed to circumcise their children and they didn't do it.

So now you have this generation of men growing and now this has to be done. So what the Lord wants, he wants them to start out on the right foot. They're in the land. This is like a fresh start, a new generation.

He wants them, guys, you're gonna do it right. So he wants them to keep the covenant that God made with Abraham, something that fell into, well, they weren't doing it. The last generation obviously failed.

Look at verses eight through 12 of chapter five. So it was when they had finished circumcising all the people that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. Then the Lord said to Joshua, this day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.

Therefore, the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. One translation puts it this way. Today, I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt. So from the time they were in Egypt through the wilderness wanderings, Israel, they just weren't doing the right thing again and again.

One test after another, they fail, they would fail. But now this generation has faith in God. And you know they have faith in God because they submitted to circumcision. So what about this statement? Today, I've rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt.

If you think about it, it's really one generation in between where they went from slaves to now they're a conquering army. There's really no other explanation for that than God's power. So through their faith and through God's power, this nation was transformed in one generation.

I don't know about you, but that gives me great hope. And I don't know what's gonna happen in the future. The Lord's return could be closer than any of us think. But you tend to fall into the mindset and you look around and this is the state of things and you say, ah, it could never change.

It could never turn around. But can it? Well, of course, because it has before. So don't ever get too pessimistic. It's hard not to sometimes, but we know that God can do anything. Amen? Amen. All right.

Verse 10 says, "'Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain on the very same day.".

And notice what happens next. As soon as they enter into the land, verse 12 says that the manna ceased. So the manna is also called what? The bread from heaven, right? Angel food. So one of the names of God in the Old Testament, one of the compound names of God is Jehovah Jireh.

I think most modern translations, they don't actually include the name Jehovah Jireh, but it's the Lord will provide. That's what that means. So for 40 years, even though they were disobedient, the Lord provided for them by feeding them with the bread from heaven.

But as soon as they enter into the land, it stops. Well, now what are they gonna do? All their food that God has been feeding them, it's not there. Now what?

Eat of the land. It's already, they came in at harvest time. Right. It's all there waiting for them.

Yeah, now, I mean, if they, of course they got sick of the manna. Now they have a land that the Lord says is flowing with milk and honey, right? Which is clearly a reference to the land's fertility. So now God has provided above and beyond, you know, they complain.

Remember when they were complaining about going back to Egypt? We want our leeks and our onions. Now they're gonna have all of that times 10. They're gonna have the produce of the land. Okay, now for the main event, Joshua 5, 13.

This is, I think this is one of my favorite chapters in the book, certainly, if not in the entire Old Testament. I just love this encounter. It says, 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 a sword drawn in his hand.

So this could have been a frightening sight. And Joshua went to him and said to him, are you for us or for our adversaries? And he says, no. I love that response. No, but as the commander of the Lord or the army of the Lord, I have now come.

So who is this? It doesn't tell us specifically, but the man identifies himself as the commander of the army of the Lord. It says, Joshua fell on his face to the earth and he worshiped him. Now we know this is the pre-incarnate Christ for one simple reason, because the commander accepted the worship.

You might be inclined to think, well, you know, it could be an angel. It could be the Archangel Michael. It could be, well, it can't be an angel because when John in the book of Revelation bowed down at the feet of an angel, you remember what the angel said, get up, don't worship me.

Worship who? Worship God. So this man receives Joshua's worship. Therefore, the commander of the army of the Lord must be the pre-incarnate Christ. Does everybody agree with that? I mean, I guess if you have another theory on it, I'm willing to hear.

Well, it says it in the last verse.

Okay. We haven't got there yet. Okay, read it. Read it for us. It says, the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take your sandal off your foot, just like God said to Moses at the burning bush for the place where you stand is holy.

Okay.

Yeah, I mean, I agree that this is the pre-incarnate Christ. Of course, you never know. There's always somebody out there who has a different view. I've never encountered someone who does, but there's always someone.

Jim, you had something?

A number of years ago, I preached a sermon on this here at this church. And one of the things I discovered was that the commentaries, they actually attributed this individual as Michael. Which commentary?

Well, this was years ago. Hey, let's bring in this commentary. Let's burn it. No, I'm just kidding.

But, you know, in doing the research for the message, that's what I saw. But I mean, it's plain to me just what it says here, that it was none other than Christ.

Well, okay, in fairness, it doesn't explicitly say it was Christ. I mean, we understand that it is.

It doesn't say take off your shoes because you're standing on holy ground. Yeah, I agree.

I agree, totally. But you probably are aware of this, that the Jehovah's Witnesses, since we have already mentioned the name Jehovah, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus, before he was born at Bethlehem, he was the Archangel Michael.

Now, to us, I mean, that's, no, we don't believe that. It's interesting. There are some Protestant groups that are Orthodox where you do find that belief. I don't see how that works. But it definitely doesn't say it's Michael.

So I'm 100 convinced it's the pre-incarnate Christ. And, you know, this has happened before. This isn't the first time the pre-incarnate Christ has shown up. We're in Joshua now. We've already seen this happen once.

You remember when we went through the book of Genesis? Christ visited Abraham. So in Genesis 18, Christ and two angels visited Abraham, and he revealed his plan to destroy Sodom. And you remember Abraham intercedes, he presents it as that he's talking with the Lord.

And the two angels go on to Sodom, and then they meet Lot, and the Sodomites come and try to, we know that story. But in this conversation between Abraham and the Lord, they kind of negotiate, well, will you spare the city if there's 50 righteous, 45, 40, and he kind of works them down.

Okay, I'll spare the city if there's just 10 righteous and couldn't find 10. And then Genesis 19 verse 24 says that the Lord rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven.

So you had the Lord here on earth talking to Abraham, and he, the Lord, rained down fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven. So you have the Lord in heaven and the Lord on earth talking to Abraham.

How's that even possible? Well, the Trinity makes that possible. So the Lord Jesus on earth, why did he rain down fire and brimstone? Because the pre-incarnate Christ is the commander of the Lord's heavenly army.

So back in Genesis 18, 19, Christ was launching a divine military assault, if you will, on the city of Sodom. Because when people today think of Jesus, they think of the Jesus, the meek and mild Jesus.

And Jesus at times was meek and mild, that's true. But they think of the meek and mild Jesus who would never hurt a flea. Isn't that the Jesus that most people say they believe in or say they worship?

Or I describe it this way, the hippie Jesus, who is peace, man. And he's just cool with whatever you wanna do. Can you do that again? No. Someone could take the clip, I guess, online later, but yeah, please don't do that.

I mean, that's one-sided at best. And I don't think it's even accurate because Christ here in scripture, here in Joshua, he has not just a sword, he has a drawn sword in his hand. He's a military man, if you will.

So well, that's just the Old Testament. Jesus isn't like that anymore, okay? Revelation chapter 19, when he returns at the second advent, what does he have? He has a sword, but this time it's what? It's coming out of his mouth.

Revelation 19, verse 15 says, "'With it, he should strike the nations, "'and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. "'And he himself treads the winepress of the fierceness "'and wrath of Almighty God.'".

So we've already read that the surrounding nations in Joshua, they feared the Lord. Did they have good reason to fear the Lord? Yeah, the Lord was there. On earth, and they didn't even know it with the sword in his hand.

Do the nations of the world today fear the Lord? No, they should.

They do, in a way. They're so afraid to even have a Bible in their country.

Yeah, they're trying to, the terms whistling past the graveyard. I mean, they're trying to do everything they can to set themselves at ease. They don't wanna think about it. Psalm chapter two says that the rulers of this world, they should kiss the son, lest he be angry.

Talks about his wrath when it's kindled, even just a little. You've heard of the term, the Lord of hosts, right? Or the heavenly host. You know what that means? The Lord of hosts means the Lord of armies.

The heavenly hosts, that's the angelic army. And Jesus is their commander. So in conclusion, this is why Christ appeared in Joshua chapter five, not to stand with Joshua. And this is the mindset a lot of people have.

God is on my side or God is on our side. We're America, God is on our side. No, no, that's not it at all. We need to make sure we're on his side. A person as an individual or a nation as a whole, you need to make sure you are on his, he's not on your side, you need to get on his.

Are you with us or our adversaries? What's the answer? No. No, you're looking at it all wrong. So this isn't the Lord siding with Israel. It's Israel, now that they actually have faith, they are siding with the Lord.

So are you siding with the Lord? I'll close with verse 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.