Day 85: Joshua 12-15

Welcome to 5-Minute Bible, your daily guide for your daily reading. Today's March the 26th and we'll be looking at Joshua 12 -15. Now today's reading marks a clear turning point in the book of Joshua.

The major battles have been fought now, the land has been mostly subdued, and now the focus begins to shift from conquest to inheritance. And Joshua 12 -15 shows us that God's promises are not only won on the battlefield, but they also must be received, walked in, and lived out by faith.

What was once being fought for is now being distributed in victory. And Joshua 12 opens by looking backward. It presents a long list of the kings that were defeated by Israel, both east and west of the Jordan.

And at first, it can feel somewhat repetitive, but it's meant to be read as a testimony of the victory of God. Every name represents a real enemy, a real battle, a real victory that was given to this people by God, and the list is not there for filler.

It is a record of fulfilled promises. From that backwards glance, Joshua 13 then turns the reader forward again, and the land is now ready to be divided. And yet, we're told something very surprising.

Much of it still remains unconquered. And God commands Joshua to begin assigning inheritance anyway, and the message in that is clear. The promise is certain. God has gotten them this far, and even if its full possession is going to unfold over time, they still need to be obedient today.

And the principle becomes personal in Joshua 14 through the man Caleb. Now, 85 years old, he steps forward with the same faith and vigor that he had decades earlier, and he doesn't ask for any easy portion of the land.

He actually asked for the hill country, which is the place where the giants are still living. And he does this because his confidence has not weakened in age, and he's understood the point. You don't win victories by your strength or power, you win them by the power of God.

He trusts that the God who sustained him through the Red Sea, through the Jordan River, past Jericho and Ai, will be the one who sustains him in the hill countries again. And in that way, Joshua 15 begins by detailing the inheritance of Judah.

The boundaries are drawn, and the cities are enlisted, and what was once a distant promise is now being drawn on a map, measured, divvied out, and received. So as you read today, I want you to ask the following question.

What does it look like to step fully into what God has already promised you? And Joshua 12 through 15 shows us that God's promises must not only be believed, but they must be remembered, received, and pursued with faithfulness.

And the central pattern in these chapters is this promise fulfilled, but yet still unfolding. Joshua 12 proves that God has done exactly what he said he was going to do. The victories are real, and they're visible, and they're undeniable.

And yet Joshua 13 reminds us that more remains. The people are still going to have to trust God moving forward. The land has been given, but it's not been fully possessed. So there's quite a bit of faith and trust that's going to be required.

And that tension is not a contradiction. It's actually the rhythm of how God works, and it's how he works in our lives today as well, because God establishes something decisively, and yet he calls his people to walk it out progressively.

Faith does not end when the promise is secured. It continues as the promise is being delivered. And Caleb embodies this perfectly. Decades have passed since the original promise, and yet his faith is not thinned.

He doesn't drift towards comfort or sitting on his laurels. He presses on toward the challenge. He does not ask for safety. He asks for the hill country, and we could learn a lot from Caleb today. Now these chapters also clearly point to Jesus Christ because the defeated kings represent more than military victories.

They anticipate the greater triumph of the greater Joshua, who's going to bring every enemy under his feet, not only earthly opposition, but it is also true he will, but also the enemies of sin, death, and all the principalities and powers of darkness, even crushing the serpents' head.

And this distribution of the land also points forward to Jesus because just as Israel receives a physical inheritance, the New Testament tells believers that we're going to receive not only an eternal reward, but also we're going to inherit the earth.

Like Israel, the inheritance comes after a period of long conquest. The promise was given 2000 years ago, and yet the church has been continually moving forward ever since. We've been given the world in Christ because all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to him, and yet we've not fully occupied it.

So in a sense, we are still in the time of Joshua, but not the former, the latter and greater Joshua, and we will continue to be there until this world has been completely subdued for Christ. Also Caleb's enduring faith provides a living picture of what the Christian life is supposed to look like because faith is not a momentary response, it's a lifelong pursuit.

The same trust that begins the journey has got to be what carries it forward until the promise is fully realized. So as you read Joshua 12 through 15 today, I want you to notice how the story slows down.

The battles are fading, but the work isn't finished. The land has been given, but it still must be taken hold of, and all of that points forward to our lives today as well. And then tomorrow we're going to continue watching how the inheritance unfolds and how each tribe is going to respond to what God has placed within their hands.

But with that, read your Bible carefully, devotionally, and joyfully, and may the Lord use his word to sanctify you completely, and we will continue our journey tomorrow.

God bless you.