Joshua 5:13-15
We come this morning to the passage on which our whole message series centers. The nation of Israel has been spiritually prepared for the work ahead of them. They had consecrated themselves, which signified being set apart for the Lord’s work. They had circumcised an entire generation of young men, signifying a restored obedience to the Lord and His covenant promise. They had celebrated the Passover, which signified their belief and trust in the Lord’s salvation and protection. Now, within eye-shot of the most fortified city in Canaan, Jericho, they await the command to go.
There is one final piece, one final moment, a meeting between Joshua and the Lord to remind Joshua of the reality of the battle that is looming.
Read Joshua 5:13-15
Big Idea: We are called to join with the Lord in the battle for His glory.
Joshua, being the military leader that he is, decides to walk down to Jericho, most likely to start crafting a battle plan. How fortified is the city? What are some of the vulnerabilities? Are there any vulnerabilities? Now, most likely Joshua would have already seen Jericho on his secret expedition under the leadership of Moses, but this was different. Before, Joshua was bringing back details about the land. Now, Joshua is on the verge of battle, and Jericho is where it all begins.
As he’s walking around, this warrior figure shows up with his sword drawn. Joshua approaches him and asks a very important question: “Who’s side are you on?” The answer to this question is, as previously mentioned, the heartbeat of this message series. We’ll get to the answer in a few minutes, but I first want us to understand who it is that Joshua is talking to.
The Commander of the Lord’s Army
There isn’t much debate over who this figure is, but let’s get there together. If we only saw that the title was given, but did not see Joshua’s response, it could be cause for some debate. The commander of the army of the Lord could have maybe been Michael the Archangel, who we see in other Old Testament passages to be a warrior angel who leads in spiritual battles. In Daniel 12:1 we see him described as “the great prince who protects your people.”
So we must look beyond the title, and look at other clues. First, we see that when Joshua fell on his face in worship, the figure did not stop him. This is really important for us. In the book of Revelation, as John is travelling through heaven, he comes to the end of his journey and falls on his face in worship of the angel who had been revealing everything to him. Here’s what it says in Revelation 22:8-9: “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
The angels are in submission to Christ. They dare not be worshiped, lest they end up like Satan himself, who demanded to be worshiped and was cast out of heaven.
Another thing that we see in our passage this morning is the response from the figure, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” Does this sound familiar? Back in Exodus chapter 3, when the Lord appeared to Moses in a burning bush, these were the exact words that He spoke! “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground…And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:5-6).”
We take all of these context clues together, and add them up, and it becomes apparent that the figure standing before Joshua is the 2nd person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ. Joshua is on his face before Jesus! This is what we call a “Christophony,” or a manifestation or appearance of Christ before the incarnation. And if it’s hard to believe, then let us be reminded that this isn’t the first time, nor the last that Jesus appeared to people in the Old Testament in His pre-incarnate form:
Adam and Eve hear the Lord walking in the Garden of Eden
Jacob wrestles with the Lord
Moses spoke to the Lord face to face, “as a man speaks to his friend.”
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were in the furnace when a 4th person “like the Son of Man” appeared to protect them
We know according to Scripture that no one can look on the face of the Lord and live. And we also know from Paul in the New Testament that Christ is the “image of the invisible God,” so it is my belief that when we see a theophany in the Old Testament in which a physical body is present, it is in fact a Christophony, an appearance of Jesus Christ Himself.
Alright, so now that we know that Joshua is on His face before the Lord, let’s talk briefly about the timing of it all. We notice in our passage that the Lord says, “Now I have come.” Now. Why now?
The Timing
The short answer to this question is because the Lord’s timing is perfect. 500 years prior, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, and in that covenant the Lord promised land. But, the land would not come until “the iniquity of the Amorites was complete (Genesis 15:16).” This isn’t given a timetable initially, but we now know that the wickedness of the Amorites had reached its climax.
We see in Scripture, and evidence from archeological work, that the Amorites engaged in wicked religious practices, from abusive sexual practices to gruesome forms of child sacrifice. Apart from that, sexual immorality ran rampant, violence and corruption had become the norm, and the time of God’s judgment had come. This is why the Lord, in Joshua 5, says “NOW, I have come.” The wickedness of the Amorites, as well as the Canaanites had reached its full measure, and the destruction of the nations that had been foretold had come.
The Reality of the Battle
I want us to focus on the initial answer from the Lord to Joshua. When Joshua asks Him what side He is on, the Lord says “neither.” Wait a minute. If He wasn’t fighting for the Canaanites, and He wasn’t fighting for the Israelites, who was He fighting for? The simple answer is that He was fighting a battle that could not be seen, one that revolved around His glory and holiness, that had been trampled on by an idolatrous people. This is very quickly going to get into universal truths about the enemy that lead us into application for us today, but before that, there’s a passage that I think would prove helpful for us here. Turn over to 2nd Kings chapter 6. Read 2nd Kings 6:8-18.
There is a battle being waged that we cannot see. There are spiritual forces at play that we cannot detect. This is why Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” The battle that wages is not one of flesh and blood, but one of good versus evil. And the one leading the forces of darkness is cunning, he is active, and he wants nothing more than the destruction of God’s people.
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) Satan is not sitting back twiddling his ugly thumbs. He’s actively pursuing people to destroy! He’s coming after the Church. He’s coming after our marriages. He’s coming after our children.
This is as true now as it was for Joshua. The battle that Joshua fought was not a battle for the nation of Israel, but was a battle for the glory of the Lord. The Canaanites had rejected Him for too long. They had an evil polytheistic religion, and it was time that He took back His rightful place as the One True God, the only One who deserved to be worshiped. So as Joshua led that army onto the battlefield, it wasn’t for the glory of that nation, it was for the glory and the mighty name of the Lord!
This is what we must understand this morning. Satan wants nothing more than to seek, kill and destroy. He wants to convince us that all truth is relative, and there is no absolute truth. He wants to convince us that there are many ways to get to heaven. He wants to convince us that idolizing money, or relationships, is acceptable. He wants to convince us that it’s ok to fall out of love. He wants to convince us that pursuing pleasure should be our top priority. He wants to convince us that we can be whoever we want to be, even if it is outside of God’s design. He wants to convince us that our desires are more important than the Lords. He whispers lies contrary to what the Lord has already said about us. “You are not enough. You will never be enough. It’s ok, just try it this one time. It’s ok, no one will ever find out about it.” This is what he has been doing from the very beginning!
And so the battle that we fight is for the glory of the Lord. The battle that we fight is a battle against the darkness that envelopes this world. The battle we fight for our kids is so that they will grow to believe what God says about them, not what culture tells them to do or be. The battle we fight for our marriage is so that the Lord would be honored and made known in and through us, not letting our selfishness and pride win.
I love the lyrics of the Phil Wickham song, “Battle Belongs”:
So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees, With my hands lifted high, Oh, God, the battle belongs to You. And every fear I lay at Your feet, I'll sing through the night, Oh God, the battle belongs to You. Almighty fortress, You go before us, Nothing can stand against the power of our God. You shine in the shadow, You win every battle, Nothing can stand against the power of our God.
Final Thoughts
Big Idea: We are called to join with the Lord in the battle for His glory.
As Joshua is now on the cusp of battle, he is reminded by the Lord that the battle being fought is for the Lord’s namesake, for His glory. This is what we must understand this morning. When we said yes to Jesus, and received that gift of salvation, we became children of God, but not only that, we became soldiers, joining with the Lord in His battle against the enemy.
Contextually, as we have been approaching this book from the standpoint of taking spiritual ground for the Lord, we have to consider what this means for us as a church family.
We’ve talked about this many times before, but the Lord established His church to be His ambassadors for the gospel. Yes, the church exists to glorify God, to gather together in fellowship and worship, but it also exists to be a mouthpiece of the gospel to a world that does not know Jesus. We must be on mission together. We must link arms and move forward together as we lovingly confront the skewed morality of the culture.
