Summary:

Adonizek feared the Gibeonites joined Israel to make them-selves strong enough to attack him. And Gibeon was already a “great” and “mighty” nation (v.2), so strong the king of the country of Gibeon felt safe living there, making it a “royal” city (v.2). So he invited other kings to help him attack Gibeon (v.3,4), and Gibeon asked Israel for help (v.5,6).

Joshua honored the league that he made with Gibeon, and even marched “all night” to get there (v.7-9). He “discomfited” those Canaanites (v.10), which means to scatter (II Sam. 22:14-16), but to scatter people after you’ve conquered them. When the survivors tried to escape, God sent hailstones that killed more of them than the Jews did (Josh.10:11).

The battles the Jews fought here to possess the Promised Land were types of the battles that future Jews will fight after Armageddon to possess the kingdom. After defeating “the Assyrian” (i.e., Antichrist) for them, God will once again use hail to scatter their enemies (Isa.30:27-32; Rev.16:16,21).

God helped Joshua in this type of that by stopping the sun and moon so he could finish smiting the Canaanites (Josh.10: 12,13). He either stopped the earth’s rotation, or else slowed the sun’s movement to match the earth’s rotation. Like all other stars, the sun moves in a “circuit” in heaven around the north star (Ps.19:4-6). So the north star is either heaven, or heaven hides from our telescopes right behind it. We know heaven is north (Ps.48:1-3; Isa.14:13,14). The moon revolves around the earth, so perhaps God made its rotation match earth’s. It says that the sun “stood still” because God used the language of accommodation, accommodating His words to the limited understanding of men back then. Even today, however, the weatherman predicts the time of “sunrise.”

God stopped the sun so the Jews could get be “avenged” on their enemies (v.13). God was not a bully beating up on men here. He was just taking vengeance on men who bullied His people in Israel. We know those future Jews will also be avenging their fellow Jews whom the beast will kill, for we hear them praying for it (Rev.6:8-10). “The book of Jasher” (Josh.10:13) isn’t in the Bible, but the Bible mentions other noncanonical books (Num.21:14; IIChron.29:29). But we can be sure we have all the books that God wrote by comparing Isaiah’s 66 chapters to the 66 books of the Bible.

God turned back the sun for Hezekiah as a sign He’d keep His word, and not to hearken to Hezekiah’s voice, so it’s true there was no day like that (v.14). But there will be again after Armageddon (Zech.14:1-7). God will stop the sun again so future Jews can tear through Antichrist’s armies after the Lord defeats him (Micah 5:2,5,8). Then the nations will be “confounded” by the “might” of the Jews (Micah 7:14-16).

God finally let the sun go down so the Jews could go home and rest (Josh.10:15-18). But then Joshua heard those 5 cowardly kings were hiding in a cave, so he ordered a stone rolled over it. Men were often buried that way (cf.Jo.11:38), so they were symbolically wishing for death. Joshua made them wait for death though, as he pursued their armies (10:18-24). Putting their feet on the necks of those kings was symbolic of Malachi 4:1-3 and Psalm 47:1-3, but that too will just be vengeance (cf.Rev.47:1-3). Future Jews will be on the run from the beast, as David was from Saul (Ps.18). God never discomfited David’s enemies with hail or lightning (v.6,13,14), and David never put his feet on his enemy’s neck (v.40,42); he was speaking of future Jews.

Joshua hung those 5 kings on trees (Josh10:25-27) to curse them (Deut.21:23). Christ was hung on one (IPet.2:24) because He was cursed for us (Gal.3:13). If you reject His sacrifice, you have to be cursed, as we see pictured with these kings. If you reject His sacrifice, you have to become your own sacrifice to pay for your sins at the Lord’s coming (Zep.1:7; Isa.34:6; Jer.46:1,10), then in hell (Mark 9:47-49).

A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: “Joshua Honors The Peace Treaty” Joshua 10:1-27

Summary:

Upon hearing of Israel’s conquest of Jericho and Ai, some of Canaan’s kings sought to fight them (v.1,2), but the Gibeonites tried to fool them into thinking they didn’t live in Canaan (v.3-6). “Clouted” means patched in a makeshift way, as you would have to do while on a journey. This shows that copies of the Bible had been circulated, for they knew the Jews were gunning for them (Num.33:52,53), but they also knew the Jews were told to spare nations that didn’t live in Israel (Deut.20:10-17).

Once the Jews examined their moldy bread (9:14), they made a league with the Gibeonites without asking counsel of God (v.15), choosing to walk “by sight” of that moldy bread, rather than by faith in God’s Word (Rom.10:17 cf. IICor.5: 7). This is a type of how future Jews won’t ask God’s counsel when they go about doing the mop-up battles after Armageddon, and will be deceived by some nation.

Those future Jews will be filled with the Spirit and caused to do God’s will (Ezek.36:27) in such a way they can’t sin (Acts 2:4; IJo.3:9), but they can still make mistakes, like the oversight of Acts 6:1. That’s a type of how saved men in the kingdom will also be sinless, but capable of mistakes— mistakes that will lead to disputes that will require “judging,” so God will give them 12 judges (Mt.19:28).

Those future Jews will have the gifts of the Spirit, so you’d think some Jew with the gift of prophecy would detect it when that future nation tries to fool them (cf. John 4: 16-19). But God ceased giving the gift of prophecy once the Bible was complete (ICor.13:8-10), and won’t start it up again in the Tribulation, for they’ll still have completed Bibles. Joshua instructed his people to honor the league they’d been tricked into making (Josh.9:20), for if they didn’t, they’d be “trucebreakers” (IITim.3:5). The “wrath” that Joshua wanted to avoid (Josh.9:20) was God’s wrath, that later fell on Saul for not honoring the league (IISam.21:1-6).

But the Gibeonites didn’t get away with this subterfuge completely, for Joshua made them Israel’s servants (Joh.9:21). That sounds like a good compromise, but God didn’t allow for compromises like that (Ex.23:31-33). The “snare” there was the trap of falling into worshipping idols themselves (Num.33:55). Of course, Joshua’s Jews were just reaping what they sowed (Gal.6:7). You see, the Gibeonites were Hivites (Josh.11:19), and the Jews deceived the Hivites 300 years earlier (Genesis 34).

So what became of the Gibeonites? Well, just because the Jews couldn’t drive them out of the land doesn’t mean God couldn’t. They were “of the remnant of the Amorites” (IISam.21:1), and God drove them out of the Promised Land with hornets (Josh.24:12).

But now we have another problem. The battles Joshua fought to possess the Promised Land were types of battles that future Jews will fight to possess the kingdom. But conniving your way into getting to stay in the Promised Land back then was one thing. Conniving your way into staying in Israel for the kingdom is another. Will that really happen?

The answer is yes, and no. They’ll get to stay, but they won’t get to stay long. After all those future mop-up battles are done, that deceiving nation will be one of the ones that will have to stand before the Lord in Matthew 25:31-46, where nations that cursed Israel will be cursed to everlasting fire, and deceiving Israel is just another way of cursing her.

The Gibeonite curse was a fate worse than death. Hewing wood for the countless animals the Jews sacrificed on their “altar” (Josh.9:22-27), and drawing water for their 12,000 gallon laver and their many baptisms would have them wishing for death, as men will do in hell, but sadly, in vain.

A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: “The Treaty With The Gibeonites” Joshua 9:1-27

Summary:

The battles that the Jews fought in Joshua are types of some mop-up battles that saved Jews will fight after the battle of Armageddon. They will begin when, at the “end” of Antichrist’s career, tidings out of the east and north will trouble him (Dan.11:44,45). The tidings out of the north will come from Babylon, where he will hear that the 10 kings who had earlier aligned themselves with him have burned his church and religious system, Babylon the Great (Rev.17: 12,16). The tidings out of the east will be the troubling news he’ll hear that an angel dried up a river to open the path for some armies to reach him at Armageddon (Rev.16:12-16).

One of those kings will likely be the king of Syria. The beast himself will bean Assyrian (Ezek.31:3-9), so news that the Jews in his home country have turned on him will trouble him greatly. The other king will likely be the king of Egypt. Egypt is not east of Israel where the beast will be sitting in the temple at that time, but God will let the beast conquer Egypt (Isa.19:4; Dan.11:42) to make them believe on Him, and it will work (Isa.19:18-22). Then Egypt will team up with Syria (v.23) to launch a counterattack against the beast.

So the battles that the Jews wage here in Joshua will be types of the mop-up battles that saved Jews in Egypt and Syria will wage after Armageddon. The Rock of Ages will break the kingdoms of men to pieces at Armageddon (Dan.2:34,35), but “the wind” will blow them away afterward, and Isaiah identifies the wind as “men of Israel” (Isa.41:14-16). These battles in Joshua seem to take 75 days, the same amount of time the future mop-up battles will take (Dan.12:12).

The battle the Jews lost at Ai will be mirrored in the future when some Jew who isn’t a true Jew, i.e., a saved Jew (Rev. 2:9;3:9) will bring idolatry into the camp of future Israel and curse them to lose a battle. But he’ll be caught and eliminated the way Achan was, and the Jews will win the rematch.

The Jews burned Ai as God commanded (Josh.8:8cf.Deut. 13:12-16). The people were slain to help exterminate that demonic race of giants, but the king was singled out for a slower, less merciful punishment (Joshua 8:23,27-29) be-cause the leaders of a nation are more culpable for the idola-try found in a nation. This is a type of how the hottest places in hell are not reserved for Hitler or serial killers, who can only take physical life, but for the leaders of false religion, who rob men of eternal life.

Abraham built an altar when God gave him the Promised Land (Gen.12:7,8), and Joshua built another one on the same spot to reclaim it (Josh.8:30). The altar was built with uncarved stones (v.31) as God commanded (Ex.20:25). This symbolized how the work of men’s hands pollutes the blood on the altar, just as human works pollute Christ’s sacrifice.

Joshua wrote the law of Moses on the stones of the altar (Josh.8:32), just as God commanded (Deut.27:1-5). Deuteronomy 27:9-13 instructed Joshua to put 6 of Israel’s tribal leaders on one mountain outside Ai, and 6 on the other, which Joshua interpreted to mean with their people (Josh.9:33). “Ebal” cursed, because the name means stone mountain, and represented the stone tablets of the law God gave Moses on the mountain that cursed the Jews because they couldn’t keep it. But “Gerizim” blessed, because that name means a cutting off. Add it all up, and it explains how saved Jews will be able to enter the kingdom. They’ll have to keep the law to enter it, just as the Jews in Joshua had to pass between the blessings and cursings of the law to enter the Promised Land. But if their foreskins are cut off, then God will be able to circumcise their hearts (Deut.30:6) by the cutting off of Christ from the land of the living (Isa.53:8).

The reading of every word of the law (Josh.8:34,35) would have taken 14 hours, but it shows the respect they had for the Word of God through Moses—the same respect we should have for the Word of God to us through the apostle Paul!

A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: “The Ambush of Ai” Joshua 8:1-35

Summary:

The people of Jericho worshipped idols, so God was “angry” when Achan took one of their cursed things (7:1cf.6:16-18). He got angry at all Israel because He’d warned all Israel about this in advance (Deut.7:25,26). But Joshua didn’t know the whole camp was cursed, so he began to plan the at-tack on the next city that needed to be conquered (Josh.7:2).

The spies he sent to Ai thought only a few thousand men would be needed to conquer that city, because they knew God promised that a few of them would chase thousands of their enemies if they obeyed God (Lev.26:3-8). But, like Joshua, they didn’t know Achan hadn’t obeyed God, so their recommendation failed (Josh.7:4), and Israel’s enemies chased them (cf.Lev.26:15,17). Sadly, 36 Jewish soldiers paid for Achan’s sin with their lives (Joshua 7:5).

When the Jews lost the battle, their hearts melted, just as the hearts of the Canaanites melted when they were afraid of the Jews (Josh.2:10,11). Sin always causes fear. When the Lord bore your sins on the cross, He feared the unseen demonic “bulls” that surrounded Him (Ps.22:12-16). Sin will make you fearful as well (Pr.28:1).

“Environ” (Josh.7:6-9) means to surround, the way the environment surrounds us. Joshua knew that his environment was about to get a whole lot more hostile once the Canaanites heard that the Jews fell before tiny Ai.

Joshua reminded God that if Israel’s name were cut off from the earth, it would hurt His name (v.9). He’d promised Canaan to the Jews, and if they died out, He’d get a name for being a God who didn’t keep His word. God also promised to show His power in freeing Israel from Pharaoh, so He saved them for His name’s sake (Ps.106:7), despite their rebellion against Him. Despite their current rebellion, He will save them in the kingdom for His name’s sake (Ezek.36:22-28).

Achan had also stolen (Josh.7:10,11) from God. God said the silver and gold was His (Josh.6:19), and Achan took some and “dissembled,” or covered it up, and acted like a hypocrite who hadn’t stolen from God. These sins cursed all Israel (Josh.7:12,13) so God told Joshua to have them sanctify themselves by washing their clothes (cf.Ex.19:10-14). They had to be clean to execute God’s judgment on Achan, just as any saint should be clean to serve God (cf. IICor.7:1). We’re clean (ICor.6:11), but should cleanse our-selves outwardly, as symbolized by this washing of clothes.

Achan was caught by God’s method of taking each tribe and family by lot (Josh.7:14,15 cf. ISam.14:42,43 cf. Pr.16:33). To find out God’s “disposing” today however, we must be filled with His Word, as Paul was, and do our own disposing as he did (Acts 18:27). If we are, we’ll know we can eat idolatrous meat that was cursed for the Jews (ICor.10:27,28).

Achan’s “folly” (Josh.7:15) was idolatry, spiritual fornication (Deut.22:21), a sin symbolized in his family tree. He was the descendent of Judah by fornication (Josh.7:1cf. Gen.38:11-30). His grandfather’s brother was in the line of Christ (Mt.1:1-3), but he’s mentioned in Matthew 1 because he’s an ancestor of Antichrist. Achan was a type of Antichrist, who will also introduce spiritual fornication to Israel (Rev.17:1-5), i.e., idolatry (13:14,15).

Babylon (Joshua 7:19-21) was the source of all idolatry, so that garment was cursed. God wasn’t being mean in executing Achan’s family (Josh.7:22-25). Achan had cursed them, so they had to pay the price. If they didn’t, all Israel would have had to pay the price, for his sin cursed them as well. Why stone them and burn them? Achan was guilty of idolatry, which was punishable by stoning (Deut.17:2-5), and spiritual fornication, which was punishable by fire for Jews who were destined to be the world’s priests (Lev.21:9). Future Babylon will likewise be stoned and burned for her idolatrous spiritual fornication (Rev.16:19-21; 18:2,8).

A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: “The Trespass of Israel” Joshua 7:1-26

Summary:

Joshua could see that the city of Jericho was heavily locked down (v.1), but God asked him to look at the fear that caused them to lock it down and “see” it as already conquered (v.2). When Joshua and Caleb had seen that fear earlier, they told Moses, “Their defence is departed from them” (Num.14:9). God wanted Joshua to see Jericho as completely defenseless!

God’s plan to bring down Jericho’s wall with a “trump” (Josh.6:3-5) would have reminded Joshua of God’s promise in Numbers 10:9. Telling Joshua to walk around the city 7 times on the 7^th day (Josh.6:4) wouldn’t have broken the sab-bath. Most Jews thought walking was work, so they said you could only walk 1-2 miles on the sabbath (cf.Acts 1:12). We know it wasn’t, for the Lord told the man He healed to walk and carry his bed (John 5:8,9). The Jews here were actually resting from the work of conquering Jericho, letting God do it instead!

God hadn’t said anything about “armed” men (Josh.6:6,7) but these men were the tribes who volunteered to lead the charge against Canaan (Josh.1:12-14;4:12,13).

Joshua only told the Jews what they needed to know for that day only, but they obeyed and left the rest to God—and so should you!

Joshua didn’t want them to let anything proceed out of their mouths (Josh.6:8-10) because they’d probably talk about how they would conquer the city if they were in charge, and then they’d have to back it up by doing it (Num.30:2). Joshua wanted them to think about the words that just proceeded out of God’s mouth instead (Deut.8:3), and so should you!

God told the Jews to “shout” because God had given them the city before it happened. That’s because the Jews knew God calls things which be not as though they were (Rom.4: 17), like when He called Abraham a father before he was one (v.18-21). That explains why God says you are already glorified” (Rom.8:29,30), and you already “have” an eternal house in heaven (IICor.5:1), even though God plans to change your present body and make it eternal (Phil.3:20,21).

Rahab was blessed because she tried to help the Jews obtain their land (Gen.12:3; Num.24:5,9), but the people of Jericho were “cursed” (6:17) because they built a fortress to keep Israel out. Their belongings were also cursed (Josh.6:18).

It wasn’t wrong for God to tell the Jews to pillage the city and take their possessions (6:19) because He owns all the world’s gold and possessions (Pr.24:1,2; Hag.2:7,8).

Rahab and her family were spared, but Gentiles were treated like lepers (Josh.6:20-23cf.Lev.13:45,46), even if they believed on God (Acts10:26,28). That didn’t change until God revealed the mystery to Paul, “that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs” with the Jews, i.e., equal heirs (cf.Zech.13:6,7).

Jericho had to be burned because it was a type of Antichrist’s Babylon (Josh.6:24cf.Rev.17:16). Babylon is the city the beast will set up to try to keep God from establishing His kingdom in Israel, just as Jericho was built to try to keep Israel from establishing this type of God’skingdom in Israel.

“Jericho” means city of palm trees (Deut.34:3;IIChron.28: 15), and palms were associated with the kingdom (Mark 11:7-10). God taught those Jews to make that association with the feast of tabernacles. That last feast on Israel’s calendar year was joyful (Lev.23:33,34,40), a type of the last thing God will ever do, establish a joyful kingdom.

Remember how God predicted Babylon would fall and never rise (Jer.51:64)? God said Jericho should never be rebuilt (Josh.6:25,26). A man tried, but it cost him dearly, just as Joshua said it would (I Kings 16:29-34).

A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: “Joshua Brings Down The Wall” Joshua 6:1-27

Summary:

The Jews needed circumcising (v.2) because they’d stopped it in the wilderness. God led them with a pillar (Ex.13:21), and sometimes moved them suddenly, “at night” (Num.9:17, 21), and newly circumcised boys shouldn’t be moved.

But God waited until after He parted the Jordan to do it, because the “Amorites” (Josh.5:1) were the giant sons of the fallen angels (Gen.6:1-4 cf. Amos 2:9). 40 years earlier they were afraid of the Jews when they heard God parted the Red Sea for them (Josh.2:10,11), but most of that fear had worn off. So God parted the Jordan for them so the giants would not attack them when they were “sore” (Gen.34:24,25).

There will be another circumcision of Jews. Once the beast starts persecuting Jews, they’ll head for the hills (Mt.24: 15,16) where they’ll be on the run, once again making it impossible to circumcise their sons, lest they subject them to sudden moves. But God will part the Red Sea and Jordan again to strike fear into Antichrist’s army so they won’t attack them before God uses them to beat him (Ps.149:5-9).

The foreskins of 600,000 men (Num.26:51) would create a twenty foot high “hill” (Josh.5:3), a type of ahill Christ will create at Armageddon. We see another type of this when David created one to get his bride, the king’s daughter (I Sam.18:17-26). The Lord will create one to get His bride, the King’s daughter (Rev.21:9), a hill of “flesh” the birds will eat (Rev.19:17,18) as their bodies are burned (IIThes.1:8).

“Gilgal” (Josh.5:9) means “roll,” and “reproach” means shame (Ps.69:7). The “reproach of Egypt” was the shame of idolatry (Ez.20:6-8). When the Jews left Egypt, God told them to leave behind their gods, gods they’d fallen into worshipping, but they didn’t. They combined the worship of God with idolatry (Am.5:25,26), and claimed to be sacrificing to God when they were sacrificing to them (Acts 7:42).

But God rolled that idolatry away at Gilgal. When “roll” is used as a verb, it usually refers to rolling a stone (Gen.29:3,8, 10; Josh.10:18; ISam.14:33; Pr.26:27; Mt.27:60). The Jews had a stone they shouldn’t roll away, and one they should (Deut.32:3,4,5,15,17,31,36,37). Saved Jews worshipped the Rock of God; unsaved Jews worshipped the rock of God plus idols. That’s the “stone” that was rolled away at Gilgal.

How did circumcision roll it away? When Abram had a son that God didn’t ask for in Genesis 16, God told him to circumcise the member that produced it in Genesis 17. So circumcision means death to what the flesh can produce. And in the wilderness, the Jews produced a false Judaistic mixture of the worship of God and idols. Circumcision rolled that rock away. They fell back into idolatry, but this is a type of the kingdom, where idolatry will be rolled away forever.

Eating “the old corn” of the land was the beginning of the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 6:10,11. They ate corn they hadn’t planted, and soon they’d live in the city of Jericho that they hadn’t built. This is a type of entering the kingdom, when the same will be true then (Ps.37:9-11;Pr.13:22). That’s why the Lord said the meek would “inherit” the earth (Mt.5:5). When they ate that corn, the manna stopped (Josh.5:12), a type of how the manna that will come down in the Tribulation (Micah 7:14,15) will stop in the kingdom.

This commander of God’s host (Josh.5:13-15) had to have been Christ, for He accepted Joshua’s “worship” (Rev. 22:8,9). Michael was the commander of His angelic host (Rev.12:7). He took his shoes off because this was a type of the renewal of the kingdom in Gilgal (I Sam.11:14; Acts1:6).

God told the Jews to circumcised their hearts (Deut.10:16) and kill all the sinful works of their flesh. They couldn’t, so He promised to (Deut.30:5,6), and will in the kingdom (IJo.3:9;5:18). But in God’s eyes, we have that now (Col.2: 11) by the circumcision of Christ, i.e., His death (Isa.53:7).

A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: “The 2nd Circumcision of Israel” Joshua 5:1-15

Summary:

These two and a half tribes (v.12,13) raised cattle, so they asked Moses if they could live on the cattle-country side of the Jordan, instead of the side God wanted Israel to live on. Joshua reminded them that they promised to lead the charge across the river to attack Canaan’s giants (Josh.1:12-15).

These tribes already had “rest” (1:12-15) from their enemies (cf.Deut.12:10), for the Jews killed all the giants east of Jordan. But they couldn’t “enjoy” their rest (Josh.1:15) until they helped the other tribes get their rest from the giants west of the river. That makes those two and a half tribes types of the Old Testament saints who are resting in death, in “peace” from their enemies(Isa.57:1,2), but won’t be allowed to enjoy that rest until they rise from the dead and lead Israel’s charge against her enemies at Armageddon, as pictured here.

The Jews were freed of their enemies in Egypt, but they wouldn’t be completely free of their enemies until they crossed Jordan and defeated those enemies. Kind of like how we were freed from our sins when we believed, but we won’t be completely free of them until the Rapture. But Joshua 4 isn’t a type of that. There are no types of the dispensation of grace, which was “hid in God” and not in the types (Eph.3:1-8,9). But there’s a parallel here to the Rapture, the culmination of our salvation (Rom.13:11), because salvation is something we have in common with Israel. Just as Canaan’s giants tried to keep the Jews from inheriting their land, at the Rapture we’ll have to rise to meet the Lord in the air governed by Satan’s host (Eph.2:2), who will try to keep us from our inheritance. “The dead in Christ shall rise first” into the air to lead the charge against them (IThes.4:16). “Michael” (v.16) the archangel (Jude 1:9) is the commander of God’s armies (cf.Rev.12:7-9), and trumps (IThes.4:16) are associated with battle (Num.10:9).

God magnified Joshua when He parted the Jordan for him,

as He magnified Moses when He parted the Red Sea for him, typifying how God magnified the law of Moses 1500 years, then magnified Christ. The Jews followed Moses, but didn’t fulfill the type and follow Christ when the wind and waves obeyed Him (Ex.14:21cf.Mt.8:26). They will someday!

The priests holding back that flooded river had to be told to leave (Josh.4:15-17) because they loved holding back its wrath, a type of how the Lord loved holding back God’s wrath on our sins on the cross. Psalm 40:5 predicted He’d “delight” in offering His body for our sins (Heb.10:5-7). The priests could have left at any time, but didn’t (cf.Mt.26:53).

The salvation of the Jews began when they left Egypt the 10^th day of the first month (Ex.12:2,3), and ended the same day 40 years later (Josh.4:19). Since the passover lamb was a type of Christ, He’s the beginning and end of salvation for Jews (Heb.12:2;Rev.1:8,17) and us (ICor.5:7). He began our salvation when we believed, and will finish it at the Rapture.

Later, some men of these two and a half tribes swam the flooded Jordan “to make David king…with a perfect heart” (IChron.12:8,15,38), a type of how the Old Testament saints will lead future Jews across Jordan (Isa.1:15) to defeat the beast and make Christ king in the kingdom (Ezek.36:24-26).

We know these 12 stones were types of Israel’s 12 tribes, because in writing to them, Peter called them “lively stones” (IPet.2:5). Those memorial stones had the law written on them (Deut.27:2), and so will those future Jews (Jer.31:33).

John baptized in Bethabara (John 1:28), i.e., “place of the ford,” where the Jews crossed Jordan (Josh.2:7). So he said God could make true children of Abraham (Mt.3:9) out of those stones, the ones with the law on them. Also, the stones the Lord said would cry out (Luke 19:35-40) might have been those stones with the law written on them, for the law had been crying out about Christ for 1500 years in the types.

A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: “40,000 Armed and Dangerous” Joshua 4:12-24

In Chapter 3, God parted the Jordan River so the Jews could cross it to enter the Promised Land. God instructed that Israel’s priests lead them across, carrying the ark of the coven-ant, the presence of God in the Old Testament. They stopped in the middle of the river, holding back the wrath of that raging overflowing river (Josh.3:15), a type of how Christ held back God’s wrath on our sins when He died for them.

But now that they have crossed over, God tells Joshua to have 12 men go back to the middle of the river and pick up 12 stones to leave on the shore where they were camped (4:1-3) as a “memorial” (v.7) of their deliverance. Those 12 men were types of the 12 apostles, making their memorial a type of the Lord ’s Supper, which was done “in remembrance” of the Lord’s death, burial and resurrection (Luke 22:14-19).

There’s something we can learn about the Lord’s Supper from this type. It wasn’t the stones that held back the river’s wrath, they were just memorials of God who held it back. And the bread and cup don’t save us from our sins, they are just memorials of Christ who saves us from our sins.

Joshua 4:6,7 shows God didn’t just want the Jews to remember what He did for them that day. He wanted their children’s children to remember it as well, even though they hadn’t seen the deliverance. That’s a type of how the Lord’s Supper memorial will help Tribulation Jews remember the Lord who delivered them, “whom having not seen,” they will love (I Peter 1:6-8). The way that Tribulation Jews will get through their trials and temptations will be by remembering the Lord. It helps us get through our trials and temptations as well. Any difficulty you have in life can melt away if you put it in perspective by remembering you’re sure you are going to heaven because Christ delivered you from God’s wrath. And one of the things that helps us remember

Him and what He did for us is the Lord’s Supper.

Next, Joshua took 12 stones from the middle of the river and made a memorial there, where the priests’ feet stood. They were types of Christ (Heb.3:1). Israel’s priests offered animal sacrifices, but Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice (Heb.10:11,12). Priests could never sit down because people kept sinning, and bringing them animals to sacrifice to pay for their sins. But after Christ ascended into heaven, He sat down at God’s right hand to prove His work was finished. Joshua 4:10 says Joshua parked those memorial stones where the priests stood “until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua.” The work of the priests that day was a type of the finished work of Christ (cf. John 19: 30). He finished all the work needed to pay for our sins.

When Israel’s high priest offered sacrifices, he wore an ephod that had “stones of memorial” on it, bearing the names of Israel’s 12 tribes (Ex.28:1-12). That symbolized how—as far as anyone knew—Christ was only supposed to die for Jews (Isa.53:5,8; Mt.1:21; 20:28). The apostle Paul revealed the mystery that He would die for Gentiles too (ITim.2:5,6).

The Jews “hasted” to cross the river (Josh.4:10) because a raging river is a fearsome thing. But drowning wasn’t the only thing they feared, as we see when 40,000 armed Jews led the crossing (Josh.4:12,13). They were anticipating the battle they’d encounter from the demonic giants who dwelt in Canaan, who did not want them to inherit their land. As we saw in our study of Chapter 1, those two and a half tribes were types of Old Testament saints who will rise from the dead to lead the charge against Antichrist and his armies at Armageddon, so saved Jews can enter the kingdom.

Did you ever wonder why God didn’t tell Moses to put a stone memorial in the midst of the Red Sea after they crossed it? It’s because God’s enemies “sank into the bottom as a stone” (Ex.15:4,5; Neh.9:11). They always sink to rise no more (Jer.51:63,64; Rev.18:21), so there was no stone memorial on the shore to commemorate their resurrection either!

A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: “The 12 Memorial Stones” Joshua 4:1-13

Summary:

God was about to part the Jordan for the people of Israel, and “hereby” they could know He’d defeat the giants for them as well. Their fathers saw Him part the Red Sea, but the Jews were like us and needed constant reminders of God’s love and care for them. We find those reminders in Romans 5:8!

But how could Joshua say God would “without fail” conquer the giants, when He usually said, “If you obey, I’ll conquer your enemies”? It was because going into Canaan was a type of going into the kingdom, when God will “cause” His people to obey Him (Ezek.36:27), like He did at Pentecost (Acts 2:4) when they couldn’t sin (IJo.3:9). That’s how God will without fail give them the kingdom, by making them obey Him, so He could bless them with the kingdom. And that’s how Joshua could say God wouldn’t fail to give them the land despite the giants in this type of entering the kingdom.

Last week we saw that the ark was a type of Christ. So when it leads the Jews across Jordan into Canaan, that typifies how Christ will lead the Jews across it again into the kingdom (Isa.11:15,16). It doesn’t say Christ will lead them, but we know He will by this type. Some things can only be known by the types. Only the type of Noah said Christ would rise from the dead “on the third day” (Mt.12:40cf.ICor.15:3,4).

Just as the parting of Jordan assured the Jews that God would conquer the giants, it will assure Tribulation Jews that God will conquer Antichrist and his armies at Armageddon (Isa. 50:2). But verse 2 is the Father talking to His Son on the cross (Isa.50:3 cf. Mt.27:35,45; Isa.50:6 cf. Mt.27:63,64). So Isaiah 50:2 is God assuring Christ He’d deliver Him from the unseen demons that surrounded Him on the cross (Ps.22: 12,16) by raising Him from the dead. Since He did, that will encourage Tribulation Jews that He’ll deliver them as well.

The ark represented the Lord, so the 12 men of Joshua 3:12

represented His apostles, who will rise from the dead to help Him lead Israel across the Jordan. The priests’ feet were resting (3:13), but their arms were working, holding the ark. That symbolizes how salvation worked when it was by faith plus works like bringing a sacrifice, etc. If men did the work of baptism, they could rest in the assurance they were saved (Acts 2:38; Heb.10:22). In the Tribulation, if saints work to feed those who can’t buy food without the mark, they can rest in the knowledge they’re saved (IJo.3:17-19).

The Jews treasured the ark, but will forget it (Jer.3:16) when the One the ark typified sits on Jerusalem’s throne (v.17). Christians today should forget the type of baptism now that we have the cleansing in Christ it typified, and the type of the sabbath now that we have the rest in Christ it typified.

The Jordan stood in in flood stage (Josh.3:15), a type of the Antichrist (Isa.59:19), who will also stand in Israel’s way be-fore Christ returns (v.20). The “standard” God will raise against him will be the battle flag of the saints (Num.10:9,14, 18 cf. Ps.149,6,7,9), who won’t fear the beast (Is.43:1,2).

The “harvest” (Josh.3:15) typifies the harvest of unsaved men at Armageddon (Joel3:9-13cf.Rev.14:14-20). That harvesting of lost people into the fire of hell will be followed by the harvest of saved people into the “barn” of the kingdom (Mt.13:24-30). The Lord said the world was ripe for this 2,000 years ago (John 4:34,35) when He looked around and saw saved Jews ready to believe, and even more unsaved Jews and Gentiles ready to be harvested into the fires of hell.

The priests carrying the ark stopped in the middle of Jordan (Josh.3:17), holding back the wrath of that raging overflowing river. That’s a type of something Job could only wish for, a “daysman” who could stand between him and God and mediate their differences (Job 9:33). That makes the ark they carried a type of Christ, who stood between us and God, holding back His wrath on our sins by dying for our sins.

A video of this sermon is available on YouTube: “The crossing of the Jordan” Joshua 3:9-17

Summary:

“Shittim” (v.1) is where the Jews married pagan women one year earlier (Num.25:1). God had warned them that if they did that, they’d start worshipping pagan gods and He would curse them (Deut.7:1-4). So why’d they do it in Shittim? It was because the king of Moab hired a false prophet named Balaam to curse Israel, but he said he couldn’t (Num.23:1-20). But he really wanted his money, so he taught them to curse themselves by marrying those Moabites. They fell for it (Deut.25:1-3). “Baal” was the false god that pagan nations like Moab worshipped, and Baal was another name for the devil (cf.Mt.12:24). And when those daughters of Moab got the Jews to worship Baal, God cursed them (Deut.25:3,5,9).

It was all Balaam’s doing (Num.31:15), a type of the Tribulation (Rev.2:14). There will be more false prophets in that day leading Jews to worship the devil and his christ, right before Israel enters the kingdom. We see that pictured in Numbers 25 when the Jews did it before entering Canaan.

The number three (Josh. 3:2) is the number of resurrection, since Christ rose on the third day, and there’s going to be a resurrection of Old Testament saints right before the kingdom, something we see typified when the Jews entered the Promised Land after three days.

In that day, the Lord will lead Israel across the Jordan again, into the kingdom (Isa.11:15). So the Jews will be led into the Promised Land here in Joshua by something that represents the Lord, the ark (Josh.3:3). The ark was a box with the law inside (Deut.10:1,2). It had cherubim on top with their wings stretched toward one another, and a mercy seat between (Ex.25:21,22). God sat on it (Ps.99:1), so it was the presence of God, making it a type of Christ, the presence of God in the New Testament. The wood was a type of His humanity (Ex.25:10), the gold of His deity. It had the law inside, as Christ had the law in Him (Ps.40:7,8cf.Heb.10:7).

The Jews were told to follow the ark across the river, but not get too close, so they could know where they were going (Josh.3:4). To lead 2 million people, you have to be ahead of them. That’s a picture of how the 12 had a hard time following the Lord because they were too close to Him (John 14:7-9). It’s hard to believe a man is God if you see Him get tired, hungry, etc. That kept them from knowing the way to the Father (John 14:4-6), just as being too close to the ark would have kept the Jews from knowing the way into the Promised Land. The only other time the Bible mentions “two thousand cubits” (Josh.3:3) is when the Jews were told to stay that far from these ark-bearing Levites (Num.35:1-5).

“Sanctify” here (Josh.3:5) means the same as it did when the Jews came out of Egypt. Then, it meant they had to wash their clothes (Ex.19:10) before entering Canaan. He told them to wash them when they came out of Egypt because He’d just told them they were to be a kingdom of priests (v.6). In the kingdom, Jews will be God’s priests to the world, so they had to wash their bodies (Ex.29:1,4) and their clothes (Num.8:5-7). And the Jews should have gone straight into Canaan after they left Egypt (Deut.1:2) but sinned, so they had to wander 40 years. But now that they are about to enter Canaan, they must wash their clothes again.

“Magnify” (Josh.3:7) means to make larger, as with a magnifying glass. Joshua was Moses’ assistant, but God magnified him by parting the Jordan for him. That’s a type of how the Lord was His father Joseph’s carpenter’s assistant, but God magnified Him at the Jordan (Mark 1:9-11).

The priests were told to “stand still” in the Jordan (Josh.3:8) as the Jews were told to “stand still” before crossing the Red Sea (Ex.14:13,16,21). Moses was also a type of Christ, because that’s how God saves us through Him. That is, Moses did all the work of saving the Jews at the Red Sea; they were just to stand still and watch. Just like Christ did all the work in saving us—we just stand still and believe it!