The Spiritual Significance of the Holy Days, Part 5B

Trumpets

[Study Aired September 12, 2025]

Lev 23:23  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 23:24  Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
Lev 23:25  Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Num 29:1  And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you.
Num 29:2  And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year without blemish:
Num 29:3  And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals for a bullock, and two tenth deals for a ram,
Num 29:4  And one tenth deal for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs:
Num 29:5  And one kid of the goats for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you:
Num 29:6  Beside the burnt offering of the month, and his meat offering, and the daily burnt offering, and his meat offering, and their drink offerings, according unto their manner, for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD.

We paused our last study to come back to the story of the conquest of Jericho by marching around it with seven priests blowing seven trumpets for seven days. Jericho was conquered, and Israel was in a figure resting while that conquest took place by the hands of our Lord.

Jos 6:1  Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.
Jos 6:2  And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
Jos 6:3  And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
Jos 6:4  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.

Heb 4:3  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

The battle of Jericho as well as all of Israel’s battles were “finished from the foundation of the world.” That is why the Lord spoke to Joshua as if the battle had already been won:

Jos 6:2  And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.

‘Have given’ is in the Hebrew Qal stem which equates to the Greek aorist tense. Both are defined as verbs which have no regard to tense. What that means is that ‘I have given’ is an is, was, and will be statement. All of Israel’s battles, whether they won or lost, were all “finished from the foundation of the world.” The same can be said for anything that has been done, is being done, or will be done in the history of mankind. For this reason we are plainly told this about God’s perspective on the lives of all men of all time:

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.  (ASV)

These words are written ‘for our admonition’:

1Co 10:11  Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. (ASV)

We are told that circumcision signifies “the putting off of the flesh.”

Col 2:11  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

Israel had been circumcised at Gilgal just a few weeks before the conquest of Jericho. Circumcision signifies that the day of judgment “begins at the house of God”, and that judgment has been “begin[ning] at the house of God” since that kingdom was first established within us. Judgment is accomplished in all men “each in his own order” (1Co 15:23). The seven priests with the seven trumpets circling Jericho demonstrate, and the festival of trumpets itself signifies, that in time God’s trumpet judgments will include “all [who are] in Adam.” That judgment has been, is being, and will always be administered by the “seven priests” who are also called the seven angels of the seven churches, which angels we are also told blow the seven trumpets. It is the book of Joshua which shows us the seven trumpets are blown by seven priests, and it is the book of Revelation which shows us that the seven angels of the seven churches signify those who keep the sayings of the prophecy of the book of Revelation. The entire prophecy is addressed “to the angel of the [seven] churches.”

Rev 1:4  John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

Rev 2:1  Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus [Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea] write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

The book of Revelation, and indeed all scripture, is addressed “to the seven churches”, and is also addressed to “the angel” of every church. If we want to know who the seven priests who are blowing the seven trumpets as Israel marches around Jericho, if we want to know who they signify, then we must first know who the seven angels of the seven churches signify. So who do those seven angels signify? “One of the angels” tells us who they all signify:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

The “second witness” to this Truth is found in:

Rev 22:8  And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9  Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

This book is addressed to the seven churches and to the seven angels of the seven churches. It is they are are commanded to “read, hear, and keep… the things written therein.”

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

That is who the seven priests of Joshua 6 signify. It is each of us who are admonished that we will be blessed if we “read, hear, and keep the things which are written therein.”

The seventh trumpet consists of ‘seven vials’ which “fill up the wrath of God” (Rev 15:1and 6). The Canaanites and the giants in the land of Canaan signify our weaknesses and our passions and our rebellious carnal mind. The destruction of the walls of Jericho on the seventh day of blowing of trumpets signifies the wrath of God being poured out upon the kingdom of our rebellious old man, the man of sin, the beast within every man.

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Rev 15:6  And the seven angels [you and I and our fellow servants, the seven angels to the seven churches] came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.

The fact that these seven angels “came out of the temple” proves that they are the seven priests which the seven priests of Joshua 6 prefigure and foreshadow. Only the priests were permitted to enter into the temple. Anyone who was not a son of Aaron, anyone who was not a priest was to die, and the priest who let them in was to die also:

Num 18:2  And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.
Num 18:3  And they [the Levites who are not the sons of Aaron] shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.

It is these same seven angels who pour out the seven vials of the wrath of God which are essential to “consume [the man of sin] with the spirit of [their] mouth, and destroy [him] with the brightness of His coming.”

Jos 6:13 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 armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.

2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked [the first man Adam, the beast, the man of sin within all of us] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: [“At the last trump”]

Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.

Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

Rev 21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

Who are these seven angels? Here is “one of” the seven angel’s own answer to that question:

Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him [the angel of Rev 17:1]. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Rev 22:8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

This angel tells us that he signifies the very churches and angels to whom this whole prophecy is addressed… “I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book.”

It is through the blowing of the seven trumpets by the seven priests that Jericho’s walls, typifying the walls and fortifications of the kingdom of the beast within us, are destroyed. As we showed earlier it all “begins at the house of God.”

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

“Begin at the house of God” does not mean that the judgment which “must begin at the house of God” is the one and only judgment mentioned in scripture. This judgment which “begins at the house of God” is the first of the Lord’s judgments. This first judgment prepares those who are being judged first “in this present time” to “have part in the first resurrection”, which Christ refers to as “the resurrection to life”:

The resurrection

John 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto life [Rev 20:6]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Rev 20:11].

The judgment of this present time is just the beginning, and it begins within His own “house”, His firstfruits, His “body, which is His church.” This is how Paul describes this judgment which “begins at the house of God.”

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

This verse, Colossians 1:24, reveals a great truth which many who have been deceived by the false doctrine of a “substitutionary atonement death of Christ”, will and do consider to be blasphemy. Nevertheless, Paul very clearly states that his own sufferings are for “[Christ’s] body’s sake, which is the church.” He even states that this suffering in his body is “the afflictions of Christ in my body… which are behind [Greek: lacking] of the afflictions of Christ”. It is all a work of God and not of us, but it is being done through us “for His body’s sake, which is the church” as we will discuss in our next study if the Lord wills.

The next holy day is the day of atonement, only nine days after the feast of trumpets. The day of atonement is followed five days later by the feast of tabernacles and the last great day, which we will get to in the following study, Lord willing. Every holy day reveals the order in which the Lord is working to save all of His creatures.

Before we begin our study of the day of atonement, I want to briefly review what we have so far learned through the holy days, about the plan of God to save all men of all time:

Review

The revelation of that plan begins with the Passover.

Indeed Christ was offered on the day of the Passover. Rest assured the priests and the Pharisees did not plan it that way. They were as blind to what they were doing as you and I were to the fact that we are the beast. As such we also are partakers in the crucifixion of our Lord, and we also must be “crucified with Christ” and with him we must bear the sins of the Lord’s people:

1Pe 2:24  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
1Pe 2:25  For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

The priests and the Pharisees had no clue that it would be “through our offences” that Christ would be delivered up to be crucified, and that it would be  through our justification that He would be resurrected from the dead:

Rom 4:25 Who was delivered for [Greek: dia – through] our offences, and was raised again for [Greek: dia – through] our justification.

Romans 4:25 is an integral part of being called in Christ “before the world began”:

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

While Peter, typifying all of His apostles, went out and wept bitterly for denying Christ when He most needed them most, they and we still must endure seven sevens of the work of God in our lives while we are being matured for the day of Pentecost, “on the morrow after the seventh sabbath.” Only then, “When the day of Pentecost was fully come” can the holy spirit come to us and enter into our hearts and form and found the church of Christ and the kingdom of God within us.

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Luk 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

Act 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Act 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Act 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Pentecost is the day after which we are finally willing to die with Christ because the spirit of God has changed our hearts, and we now become Christ’s firstfruits, “endued with power from on high… and not of ourselves” (Luk 24:49, Eph 2:8-10).

Lev 23:15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
Lev 23:16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
Lev 23:17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

If we are Christ’s, then we are “”Firstfruits unto the Lord… a kind of firstfruits” because this feast typifies those who are in that blessed and holy first resurrection as Christ’s firstfruits. So the feast of Pentecost is also called “the feast of your firstfruits.” The meal offering of Pentecost is “baken with leaven” because we, unlike the head of His body, are not without sin and are therefore “baken with leaven.”

Exo 23:14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. [The number ‘three’ signifies the process of the Lord’s judgment of mankind:

The Number Three

Exo 23:15 Thou shalt keep [1] the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
Exo 23:16 And [2] the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and [3] the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
Exo 23:17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

While our Lord was a sin offering “who knew no sin”, the same cannot be said for His firstfruits, who, in Him, become a trespass offering which Christ fulfills only through “them that are Christ’s.” That is how we can be “chief of sinners” and also “fill up in our bodies what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ.” Because Christ fulfills the trespass offering only through us, the Pentecost offering is the only offering offered to God with leaven:

Lev 23:17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

2Co 5:21 For the man who knew no sin was made sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him (ACV)

We become the righteousness of God in Him, and He becomes the trespass offering through us… “baken with leaven.” “In Him” we offer our lives as the scapegoat (Lev 16:8-26) and the second bird (Lev 14), as a living sacrifice, “for His body’s sake, which is the church.”

Col 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church; (ASV)

1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Pentecost is the second festival season, and it signifies the third step we all must experience in the Lord’s plan. Pentecost is the summer wheat harvest, which comes fifty days after the Spring barley harvest. Pentecost is the only holy day in the Summer season. The last four steps in the process of the salvation of all men are all in the third season of the Lord’s plan for the salvation of all men of all time. These last four steps are all in “the seventh month”, and they begin with the festival of trumpets on the first day of the seventh month which we are concluding with this study.

Before that goal of God being in all His sons is accomplished, we are told that “the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death”. Add the following verse to all we have learned about the plan God for the salvation of all mankind of all time which He is revealing to us through these holy  days:

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption [flesh and blood] inherit incorruption.

Our first father, Adam, and “the first man Adam” in all of us (1Co 15:45), has demonstrated that flesh and blood are not fit to be in the incorruptible kingdom of God, simply because flesh and blood are dying corruption which can never become immortal. We are very clearly told that death must be destroyed before God can be all in all. If that is the case and if flesh is dying in every generation of mankind, how is it even possible for death to ever be destroyed since little ‘flesh and blood, corruptible, Adams’ are being born every day by the millions?

The answer to this dilemma is solved for us in the story of Samson in Judges 14:

Jdg 14:1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. [This story signifies God’s elect lusting after the doctrines of Babylon]
Jdg 14:2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
Jdg 14:3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
Jdg 14:4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines [signifying all flesh and blood, (Rev 13:16)] had dominion over Israel.

The Philistines were a very religious people whose God was named Dagon. These Philistines are the Biblical type of all who are in the land of promise but they are there without the benefit of circumcision, and they are more than willing to put the teachings of their god, Dagon, ahead of the doctrines of Christ. They see their preeminence over God’s elect as proof that their God is the true God just as the Jews of Christ’s day, and the Christians of today feel toward the Lord’s ‘scattered flock.’

Jdg 16:23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.

Dagon typifies the god of modern day ‘Babylon the great’  who is none other than the “great Red Dragon” who empowers the beast within all men:

Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

The entire story of Samson is a type of God’s elect whose service to God is first in the strength of our own flesh as we are married to the doctrines of Babylon, and to the modern day ‘leaven of the Pharisee and Sadducees’. This self-righteous iniquity in time brings us to our wits’ end as this story of Samson demonstrates. Only then are we finally made aware that we are blind as a bat and totally useless to God or mankind in a life of our own making while living in and among the doctrines of the enemy. Samson in his death typifies God’s elect who are more than willing to die to everything in this life to gain Christ:

Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, [the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees] but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Physically blind Samson is the type of this same mind. Here are Samson’s own words after he, in type, is finally given spiritual vision:

Jdg 16:30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

Dying “with the Philistines” is the dying of our flesh to our old man, and just as Samson delivered his people through his death, so we are delivered from our own sinful flesh through our dying daily to the power of our flesh over the new man who is being born within us as we “die daily.”

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

This is the fruit of Pentecost which introduces the church era which leads up to the day of the blowing of trumpets in our lives.

Christ’s doctrine and His own example demonstrate for us that life comes only through death:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

It is only “through death”, the death of our old man, that our new man can be born. So it is for all men of all time, and so it is with death itself. Until death itself is destroyed, there will be no victory over death. As long as little Adams are being born, death cannot be destroyed, and that is the real reason for putting “the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan” in prison for a thousand years, just to release him again for “a little season” afterward.

Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Why, after placing Satan in prison for a thousand years, would a loving heavenly Father release him upon an unsuspecting world? The answer is that God is seeking an occasion against the Philistines of that time. When Satan is loosed upon the world after it has been ruled with a rod of iron for a thousand years, mankind’s carnal mind will be ripe for the deception Satan is sent to bring upon all nations at that time. After being ruled with a rod of iron for a thousand years, mankind will be convinced by Satan that he is capable of overcoming the saints of the “blessed and holy first resurrection”, who have been their rulers for the past one thousand years. We are told that Satan is given to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth to “encompass the camp of the saints”, and at that very moment, just like the fall of Jericho and just like the sudden destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, fire will come down from God out of heaven and will destroy all flesh of all men “in the four quarters of the earth” so that it can truthfully be said that death is destroyed, and there will be no one left on this earth who can beget another rebellious carnal-minded Adam in a vessel of clay.

That is why it is right after being told that fire comes down from God out of heaven, that we then immediately read of “a great white throne” revealed to us for the first time. This great white throne is also revealed at the same time as we learn for the first time of “the lake of fire”:

Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. [Notice what happens immediately after the destruction of all flesh]
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [a thousand years earlier] was cast into the lake of fire.

“The second death… is… the lake of fire”. When the second group of mankind experiences the death of their carnal mind that is the death of death, and it is “through [this] death” that life is given to all men of all time.

The four months from Pentecost to Trumpets signify this age of grace, when God is preparing a few faithful elect out of the many called multitudes who come to Him. Judas was an elect who did not leave Christ when the multitudes left Him.

Joh 6:64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
Joh 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
Joh 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Joh 6:67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Joh 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

Christ knew who would betray Him, and yet “the twelve”, which included Judas, remained faithful even after “many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.” Still Judas was found not to have a proper wedding garment, and he was predestined to be God’s rejected elect who, like God’s anointed, King Saul, sought to kill God’s faithful elect, signified by King David. Both King Saul and Judas were the Lord’s anointed, but neither was faithful to the end. Being called and being elect are not enough to be given a wedding garment and to be in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection.”

Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Those who are with Christ in the armies of heaven will have one more necessary qualification, and that qualification is to be faithful to the end:

Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful [“to the end”].

As the apostle Paul said of the Hebrews (Heb 6:9)… “I am persuaded better things of [us].”

Next week, Lord willing, we will begin our study of the day of atonement, and we will begin to see the blessings of being in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”, and in time we will see what is the function of those blessed and holy  few who “endure [and are] faithful… to the end”.

Here is a taste of what is in store for all who are given that blessed calling:

Isa 49:6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

The next step in the Lord’s plan for us is signified by the day of Atonement, a day of fasting and afflicting our souls demonstrating that we realize the need to have our sins covered and be at one with our Lord.

Lev 23:26  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 23:27  Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
Lev 23:28  And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.
Lev 23:29  For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
Lev 23:30  And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
Lev 23:31  Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
Lev 23:32  It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

[Here is the link to the next study in this series.

[Study Aired June 3, 2023]

Chapter 12 and 13 of Joshua is mostly dedicated to the registery of the names of the kings defeated by Israel at the hands of the Lord and their geographical locations. As seen in the preceding studies, it spiritually acknowledged our sins by the meaning of each King and his city’s name. This methodical documentation in subsequent chapters included establishing the Promised Land’s boundaries.

Israel’s geographical tracking confirmed that ‘trouble comes out of the South’ for the evil kings and their cities since Mt. Sinai is far to the south of the Promised Land and Israel’s jubilant push northward.

The conquering of Jericho, immediately north of the Dead Sea, established the Lord’s power and might, mostly Eastward of the Jordan and Jerusalem just a little further West, the heart of the Promised Land. 

From Israel’s position in the south, she moved north, mostly on the west of the Jordan, toward Mt. Hermon in the far north, killing every man, woman, child, and every breathing thing, confirming that our enemies are troubles coming from the South.

Isa 30:6 The burden of the beasts of the South: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying Serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

That verse denotes the Lord’s people coming with their burdens of sin from the south eventually to Christ, where with much anguish, we rout our Promised Land, the Temple of God, from our self-righteousness. Joshua is the ‘young lion’ and Moses the ‘old lion’, a secondary representation of the two armies (Son 6:13) of the Old and New Covenant. Christ is the viper and the fiery Serpent whom we mirror as we gain our Lord’s riches on the “young asses” depicted as a ‘young Israel’ under Joshua’s rule.

Indeed, all the peoples conquered thus far in the Promised Land had nothing of physical value to profit Israel except where the Lord chose to keep items for Israel’s benefit, even if it were a couple of Gebonites. If it were possible, the Lord’s people likewise have nothing of the physical or spiritual value of this Babylonian system worthy of carrying forward into the Kingdom.

Chapters 12 and 13 document the kings and their lands defeated by Israel. Moses didn’t lead Israel in their campaign, as the heading of chapter 12 suggests, since he wasn’t permitted to go into the Promised Land with the children of Israel.  However, he directed what was to come before his death (Deu 3:13-29).

These conquests are the first of very many for Israel to secure the entire Promised Land. Israel’s shoddiness at precisely following all that the Lord commanded and culminating in not being detailed in the taking of Jericho and the subsequent horrific stoning of Achan and his seemingly innocent family made Israel sit up and take the Lord seriously, at least for a few short years.

Every king of his city and its inhabitants – man, woman, child and beast, everything that had breath – was utterly destroyed, and the city set on fire, except very occasionally where the Lord specified items for Israel’s use. Such are our sinful cities within utterly burnt with the Lord’s fire.

Why did the Lord, through Joshua, curse Jericho that it should never be rebuilt and not the other cities of Canaan? 

Jos 6:26 And Joshua charged them at that time, saying, Cursed before Jehovah is the man who rises up and builds this city of Jericho. He shall lay the foundation of it in his first-born, and in his youngest son he shall set up the gates of it.

A detailed understanding of that curse is in this link:  https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-book-of-joshua-part-7-fame-and-fear-of-the-sword-wielded-by-the-elect-of-god-will-go-globally-joshua-618-27/

Jericho, being the first city (“one”) of the Promised Land to be erased, represents the entirety of Canaan’s cities and people. It represents our mind and body before being dragged to Christ. Except where the Lord chose not, everything in this polluted land is cursed from Jericho north to Mt. Hermon and turning south through Jerusalem to the land of the Amalekites bordering Egypt.

Even though the Lord, for the most part, didn’t verbally curse every city in Canaan, Jericho represented the entire land cursed, and so are we while in Babylon. Noah’s son, Ham, represents the entire land. You will remember that Ham, Canaan’s father, ridiculed his father’s nakedness by attempting to entice his brothers to join his ‘party spirit’ to dishonour their father’s headship.Gen 9:25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan. He shall be a servant of servants to his brothers.

Satan is our first father, and we share his curse as his symbolised progeny.

Gen 3:14 And Jehovah God said to the serpent, Because you have done this [Deceived Adam and Eve] you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every animal of the field. You shall go upon your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

Ham cursed Noah and subsequently and unwittingly cursed all the land of Canaan with its kings and people before Israel’s entry.

Lev 20:9 And any man who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be on him.

As such, the entire land of Canaan was cursed in the duality of Joshua’s curse on Jericho and Ham’s impropriety towards his father.

Shortly we will see the meanings of the names of the kings, the people and the land, and our biblical knowledge will remind us that many hundreds of years later, low and behold, these very same people show up! What spiritually does this tell us?

As seen in Joshua Part 7, the ‘dig’ in the mound called a “tel” of Jericho reveals many attempts to rebuild this city today. Each dig’s project manager probably remained ignorant of the curse on his children; nonetheless, each rebuild failed with no doubt much family sorrow.

These peoples of Canaan, along with their cities, arose from their ashes to trouble Israel until Israel became almost indistinguishable from them!

Isa 1:21 How has the faithful city become a harlot? It was full of judgment;  righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.

What spiritually does this tell us? God deliberately let Israel be slothful in routing their land to show His Body that we are sin! Sin is like thorny blackberry briars. We dig them out, burn them, even poison them, and still a root of bitterness springs up succulent and full of vigor amid the ashes. While we are flesh and blood, our field’s cities, kings, men, women, children, and beasts will sucker back up  (sprout from roots remaining in the soil) afresh to alarm our inward land; this requires vigilance to watch for that arrogant little weed.

Just as Jericho was rebuilt several times in history, as the ‘tel’ indicates, we mostly unwittingly rebuild on the debris of our past sins and have a ‘blackberry root’ sucker up to curse us.

We are not to be slothful with sin and worse, raise Jericho or any remnants of those yet-to-be-conquered cities back to life. However, lamentably, that is precisely what we tend to do following the bloody death of that city.

Hab 2:12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!

Soon we will see in detail the meaning of the names of the kings, cities and lands and how they relate to our vigilance against sin. After years of having someone daily say that we need to be rid of all the giants, kings, cities, men, women, children and beasts, we could yawn inwardly for its now rudimentary understanding. If a sluggish spirit resides within, and we rebuild our city upon the daily death (blood) of sin, we shall not prosper and are effectively cursed for its breath. Faith comes from frequently hearing the word of God.

Jos 7:13 Up! Sanctify the people and say, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow. For thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, A cursed thing [Achan’s sin] is in the midst of you, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the cursed thing from among you.

Ecc 1:13 (CLV) I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

2Pe 2:9 The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust for a day of judgment, to be punished, 
2Pe 2:10 and especially those who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness [we are inherently unclean by default], and despise dominion. They are darers, self-pleasing; not trembling at glories, speaking evil. 
2Pe 2:11 Where angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reproaching accusation against them before the Lord. 
2Pe 2:12 But these, as unreasoning natural brute animals having been born for capture and corruption, speak evil of the things that they do not understand. And they will utterly perish in their own corruption, 
2Pe 2:13 being about to receive the wages of unrighteousness, deeming indulgence as pleasure in the daytime, and reveling in spots and blemishes, feasting along with you in their deceits, 
2Pe 2:14 having eyes full of adultery and never ceasing from sin, alluring unstable souls, having a heart exercised with covetousness. They are cursed children 
2Pe 2:15 who have forsaken the right way and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,

Joshua was told to kill the kings and their related cities, which he mostly did, except for the God-given laxity for believing the Gibeonite’s deception (Jos 9:1-27). Killing the kings and their cities is killing the trunk of the tree. However, many trees have live roots that sucker up to grow new and more vigorous trees. If we don’t methodically kill our land’s collective ‘beasts’, any remaining will ‘sucker’ back to life and curse future generations. Achan hid a suckering root in the ground beneath his tent. If the Lord hadn’t dealt swiftly with Achan’s sin, similarly to us, he would have presented a substantially rooted tree of sin to further curse our spiritual development.

Following Israel’s routing of their land of the heathen cities and their peoples, no doubt a sprinkling of countryside dwellers escaped the massacre. Subsequently, when Israel settled the land much later after fully taking Canaan, those ‘roots’ suckered to establish more evil ‘beasts of the field’, and as we know, Israel did take on their ways.

Jericho served as an unstated example not to rebuild any destroyed city and its people. God cursed Jericho to never be rebuilt, but the rest of the totally destroyed cities in the Promised Land, he didn’t curse! Hence, each name of the kings and their cities have significant meaning since root remnants of their peoples retained breath and suckered back their evil nature to curse Israel.

In the exposition following these verses in chapters 12 and 13 are the meanings of every king, people, and city’s names for our spiritual consideration is what’s spiritually important. In that capacity, I won’t belabour the mundanity of re-reading the names or each tribe’s geographical inheritance nor the meaning of those names; the process is just too tedious. However, and only for this occasion, at the very end of the study, I’ve included those meanings for your leisurely consumption. Yet: 

2Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, that if anyone would not work, neither should he eat.

Below I’ve included links to maps for Israel’s path north on the West of the Jordan and back south to below Jerusalem. That pictorial provides a far better ‘mind map’ than visualising geographically the names that don’t mean anything without personal study.

Here is a map of the kings, cities and their people to be conquered by Israel:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.j9nez5_PvmRAsgpRgEkt3QHaKs%26pid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=6e9cfb07db7321285e568fcb38c26cbd384461aea1ed24c656bc2c87af3e3007&ipo=images

Following is a link to a map of Israel’s journey north and back to the south. Notice that Jerusalem is central to the land. Also, the yet-to-be “treacherous Judah” is in the south, next to the Dead (Salt) Sea and indicative of her stubbornness in rightly dividing truth from the oracles of God

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8HtU_O0mpFQ/V1y-38RRMqI/AAAAAAAAB2o/_W2sbxXE-Cg5SjhE2k5NQmMxlBj5ovpZQCLcB/s1600/MAP05_BorderPromisedLand.jpg

Following is a map showing each tribe’s inheritance:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.tNBRkckaDZ-

The Book of Joshua – Part 6: ‘The Irony of the Moon Standing Upon a Moon’ for its Destruction – Joshua 6:1-17

[Study Aired March 25, 2023]

In the last study, we reviewed Israel crossing the Jordan and erecting two memorials for the house of Israel’s presence and for any who enquired. One was on the west bank of the Jordan, and the other was in the midst of the Jordan.

The relatively small, yet strongly walled, city of Jericho now confronts Israel’s growing strength through miracle empowerment. As with Israel, our successes, trials and sufferings teach us humility and deep respect for our Lord. A
miraculous win over our small trials likewise empowers us to forge ahead and, disappointedly, can cause us to be puffed up with a sense of having arrived at a full understanding.

For now, Israel is taking baby steps at confronting her enemies and learning the vital principle of trusting in her Lord’s strength to fight her battles. Her physical battles are our daily spiritual battles.

Jos 6:1 Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.
Jos 6:2 And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
Jos 6:3 And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
Jos 6:4  And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram’s horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
Jos 6:5 And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s 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.
Jos 6:6 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.
Jos 6:7 And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the LORD.
Jos 6:8 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 them.
Jos 6:9 And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
Jos 6:10  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 I bid you shout; then shall ye shout.
Jos 6:11  So the ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.
Jos 6:12  And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.
Jos 6:1  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 armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
Jos 6:14 And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.
Jos 6:15 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.
Jos 6:16 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.
Jos 6:17 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.

The Body of Christ is well versed, knowing that in Joseph’s dream, his ten brothers represented the stars, the coming nation of Israel, and the sun represented Issac, their father, and the moon, Rebecca, their mother.

Gen 37:8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
Gen 37:9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
Gen 37:10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to theeto the earth?

In the preceding studies in Joshua, we saw that the meaning of Jericho means “Moon”. How ironic that the developing Woman, the church in the wilderness represented as the ‘Moon’, will stand upon the ‘bowed down’ walls and city of Jericho, the figurative mother ‘Moon’ and one of the heathen nations for whom Israel became a lover.

Jos 6:1 Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.

Today, the rejected anointed Moon of Babylonian Christianity is “shut up” and darkens the word of God anytime we ingest her spirit of a different Jesus. Her iniquities are sealed for judgment at the time of her end on the eighth day; she is the negative of the Lord’s little flock who likewise is shut up where nobody other than those the Lord chooses can go out or come in to gain the Lord’s truths (Mar 4:11-12).

Israel, being the Woman, is clothed in the sun of the milk of the word and, standing on the symbolic Moon of Jericho and soon her heathen sisters, is given the power and strength of her Lord to lay flat the strong man’s walls that without the Lord’s miracles, would strike fear in her heart. (Rev 12:1-6, Mar 3:27, Mat 12:29). Ultimately, she becomes a strong man in harmony with her Lord with her enemies under her feet.

Psa 19:1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse proclaims His handiwork.
Psa 19:2 Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
Psa 19:3 There is no speech nor are there words; their voice is not heard.
Psa 19:4 Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, [The Bride is the Tabernacle of the Lord, the Son]
Psa 19:5 and he comes forth as a bridegroom from his canopy; he rejoices as a strong man to run a race.

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

The Woman with the Moon under her feet becomes equal in Christ, the strong man, in rulership, not headship, as Joseph was made equal in rulership under Pharaoh’s headship (Genesis 41). So is the Bride of Christ being made to rule all of Egypt within and rout her enemies, starting with the Moon of Jericho, a small representation of the developing Great Whore of lying wonders.

Jos 6:2 And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
Jos 6:3 And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
Jos 6:4 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.

By our Lord’s power and might alone, we are given to rule over Satan and his demons symbolised as the King of Jericho and his mighty men of valour (Eph 6:12, Jam 4:7, Luk 10:17).

Luk 10:17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
Luk 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Luk 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luk 10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

The significance of Israel’s men of war, once each day marching behind the Priests carrying the Ark of the Lord for six days, represents our flesh (666) for six thousand years torturously living our ways. Even though our trials and heartaches are of the Lord, and we flip-flop between loving and rejecting him, the arduous process, as it will be for Israel, is to teach us to trust in God. Knowing the end of the saga from personal experience, the Body of Christ knows that we are doomed to fail in our battles unless the Lord is going before us on every occasion.

Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

The number 7 mentioned three times is significant since it represents completion, especially judgment. The Lord’s Elect alone is the first, as symbolised by Israel, to work six days depending upon their Lord, and not knowing how He will perform His miracles of conversion for Him to give them possession of Him on the seventh day depicted as Jericho’s fall, the small beginnings of many larger deaths within.

To the Amorites inhabiting Jericho (Jos 5:1), their initial intrigue must have turned into derision for this parade of ‘fools’ marching around their walls each day, and then contempt with underlying foreboding when the memory of Israel’s previous accomplishments come to mind. It mirrors the Body of Christ’s experiences with our brothers and sisters in Babylon as they deride our Christ-given understanding when they all parrot, ‘We are already saved, Christ did it all on the cross, and we don’t have to lift a finger.’

Psa 44:13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
Psa 44:14 Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.
Psa 44:15 My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
Psa 44:16 For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.

Jos 6:5 And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s 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.

Individually, we are watchmen upon the wall of our city, the New Jerusalem within. Hearing the sound of the trumpet in us and behind us reminds us to call on the Lord to deliver us from our insidious trials and others we see approaching. If we deliberately reject the still, small voice behind us (in our minds), our blood will be upon our heads since we know the Lord’s will and don’t live it.

The people of Jericho represent the world who will see and tremble at Christ’s Christs ruling with the “great shout” of the rod of iron in the One Thousand-Year reign. The people will tremble, and their stubborn walls of self-righteousness will fall flat. Yet, they are not given to repent and appease Israel (the Christs) before they come to rule the world’s city within on the Seventh Day.

In fact, all the people of Jericho with the exception of Rahab and her family, who represent the Elect, the faithful city that too was a harlot, die, as does all flesh die at the end of the One Thousand-Year reign.

Eze 33:4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
Eze 33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
Eze 33:6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.

Mar 3:29 but whoever may speak evil in regard to the Holy Spirit hath not forgiveness—to the age, but is in danger of age-during judgment; (YLT)

Jos 6:6 And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark of Jehovah.
Jos 6:7 And he said to the people, Pass on, and go around the city. And let him who is armed pass on in front of the ark of Jehovah.
Jos 6:8 And it happened when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven rams’ horns passed on before Jehovah and blew the rams; horns. And the ark of the covenant of Jehovah followed them.
Jos 6:9 And the armed men went before the priests who blew with the rams’ horns. And the gathering [H622 – “rereward” gathering; company] army came after the ark, as the priests were going on and blowing with the rams’ horns.

Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

That understanding of Romans 8:31 is a foundational rock impacting everything we do in becoming as He is. Plain and simple, if Christ is for us, who can be against us? The vital element identifies the Ark, Christ, as the hidden-in-plain-sight weapon for the entire procession to march around Jericho.

Neither the Israelites nor we should be concerned about how our Lord will demonstrate His power over our enemies as we learn to not be timid when facing difficult trials.

Psa 18:2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Psa 75:10 All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

A beast’s horns signify and identify the strength (H7161) of his power.

While most rams’ horns, as opposed to an ox’s, are not deadly in a fight, they still signify strength, and since the Priests are using the seven horns as instruments for sound, their sound announces the coming destruction of Babylon within, and beginning with the Lord’s Passover.

The order of the procession marching around Jericho is this:
Verse 7, first, armed Israelites go before all. Secondly, the seven priests bearing the seven ram’s horns; thirdly, the Ark of the Covenant of God, Verse 8, and bringing up the rear in fourth place is a representative of the whole (Number 4), or camp of Israel named as “rereward” (KJV) H622 – meaning, gathering; company.

For the Body of Christ’s spiritual understanding, we must be armed with all the vital tools of Christ to fight our enemy, having total trust in the Lord to win the battle. We most certainly pick up our spiritual sword of Christ by his word as we strike our enemies within and without anyone enquiring to receive that sword. As such, we all spiritually perish by His sword that ironically gives life.

Mat 26:51 And, behold, one [Peter] of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, and he struck a servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.
Mat 26:52 Then Jesus said to him, Put up your sword again into its place; for all who take the sword shall perish with a sword.
Mat 26:53 Do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels?
Mat 26:54 But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?
Mat 26:55 In that hour Jesus said to the crowds, Have you come out in order to take Me with swords and clubs, as against a thief? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not lay hands on Me.
Mat 26:56 But all this happened that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples fled, forsaking Him.

The Elect of God is those named “let him who is armed” pass on in front of the Ark of God. We know that many Christians claim the Lord’s name and are armed, yet, unwittingly, by a “different Jesus”.

Seven Priests who spiritually go before Israel (Babylonian Christianity within and without) blow the trumpet of war. That is precisely what the Body of Christ has been doing since His death on the cross to all who are given eyes that see and ears that hear those trumpets.

Next comes the armed people of Israel who “pass on” and encompass the city.

The spiritual order of the physical procession is this:
1. Since Christ’s death, the spiritually armed Christians who hold the word of God unrighteously have born the cross in the heat of the day.
2. The Seven Priests bearing the Seven Rams’ horns were originally part of the body of Israel but sanctified to primarily blow the horns within and not to their brethren; they represent Christ’s Church today. Their brothers and sisters in Babylonian Christianity do not hear neither can they receive their testimony.
3. Thirdly, the Christs bearing Christ, the Ark of the Covenant, are of Israel, but much later, and following Israel becoming a harlot, they come out of her to
remain as the Lord’s chosen few to be his Heavenly Jerusalem above, his Bride.
4. Following behind is harlot Christianity and the mighty mixed multitude of the entire world together in the Resurrection to Judgement, commonly known as the Second Resurrection.

One thing we always noticed in the WCG as we headed off into the night to do the traditions of men at Passover was the incredible sight of a beautiful full moon. Again, how ironic that Israel, who came out of Egypt on a full moon, is now destroying the little city-moon of Jericho. Israel is effectively destroying a part of the Whore (Moon) that Israel is to become since the Canaanites are within and were never entirely routed from her land.

Jos 6:10 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 I bid you shout; then shall ye shout.
Jos 6:11 So the ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.
Jos 6:12 And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.
Jos 6:13 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 armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
Jos 6:14 And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.

Today for the Lord’s Church, his people, for the symbolic six days (correspondingly six thousand years for the world of humanity) armed with seven rams’ horns, blow their sound within as they work with the Ark of the Lord in their midst to kill their enemies within. During this time, the Lord’s little flock does not proselyte by raising their voice to instruct anyone other than those whom the Lord drags to his Body. His Church alone hears the sound of the ram’s horn within to avoid Satan’s devices.

The six days precede the Sabbath on the Seventh-day and herald the beginning of the Lord’s Feasts that outline the plan of God for the salvation of all mankind, as seen in the book of Leviticus 23.

The Lord’s people encompass their enemies within for six days while hearing their Lord’s warning horn reminding them that the battle is the Lord’s for the coming destruction of their enemies. Marching around the cities “once” daily is required once the enemy is identified, and then its battle is handed to the Lord.

Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment,
Heb 9:28 so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And to those who look for Him He shall appear the second time without sin to salvation.
Heb 10:1 For the Law which has a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, appearing year by year with the same sacrifices, which they offer continually, they are never able to perfect those drawing near.
Heb 10:2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because the worshipers, when they had been once for all purged, would have had no more conscience of sin.
Heb 10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again of sins every year.
Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

Once we have identified our sins, we aim not to repeat them with impunity. However, our Lord knows our frailty and that repeating them is exactly what we will do. Yet, we need a good conscience, with our entire hearts to die daily until the Lord destroys those tenacious sins, each day until the Seventh Day when we receive the fullness of our redemption in Christ. The process is to patiently possess Christ within us, knowing that our Lord will forgive seventy times seven the same sin as we forgive our brothers.

Pro 24:16 for a just one falls seven times, and rises up again; but the wicked shall fall into evil.

1Pe 3:15 but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason of the hope in you, with meekness and fear;
1Pe 3:16 having a good conscience, that while they speak against you as evildoers they may be shamed, those falsely accusing your good behavior in Christ.

The Elect of God alone get up early to prepare their household spiritual food. It is given to them to die daily, having marched around their cities once each day while remaining in the Babylonian Israel camp.

Joh 17:14 I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15 I do not pray for You to take them out of the world, but for You to keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through Your truth. Your Word is truth.
Joh 17:18 As You have sent Me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.
Joh 17:19 And I sanctify Myself for their sakes, so that they also might be sanctified in truth.

Jos 6:15 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.

It is on the Seventh Day, the Old Covenant’s Sabbath, that to us is Christ, that our work is completed in the meaning of the number seven ~ completion, especially for judgment. The Seventh Day represents His Elect, the Bride of Christ, marrying her Lord having had all her sins of the previous six days judged and forgiven.

Jer 29:10 For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.
Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. [The ages of the ages. The thousand years and the lake of fire/ second death]

Jos 6:16 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.
Jos 6:17 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.

The Israelites are having a lesson in faith and trust in God for their salvation by His strong hands while under the works of the law. That foundational physical lesson to be learned by the Israelites is for our spiritual understanding that is wonderfully easy when we learn to acknowledge our sins and trust in our Lord to do His marvellous life-changing works within.

Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Gal 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
Gal 3:12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Gal 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

The Body of Christ shouts within and audibly with each other daily as we joyfully bear our Lord aloft by His word for the King He is. She was once Rabab, the harlot, and she and her household were saved ahead of her brethren.

Jer 31:6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.
Jer 31:7 For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.

1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Each of us was hidden by our spiritual Rahab in Christ as we diligently searched the word of God daily, judging the Jericho moon within. Having found Jericho brazenly naked and a precursor to Babylon, we were protected and hidden by Rahab, a type of the Lord’s Church who, by His faith, makes for us a way of escape from the world (Revelation 18).

Col 3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.
Col 3:2 Be mindful of things above, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3 For you died, and your life has been hidden with Christ in God.
Col 3:4 When Christ our Life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Col 3:5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness (which is idolatry),
Col 3:6 on account of which things’ sake the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience,
Col 3:7 among whom you also once walked, when you lived in these.
Col 3:8 But now also put off all these things: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, shameful speech out of your mouth.
Col 3:9 Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his deeds
Col 3:10 and having put on the new, having been renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

Sadly, and for our benefit, Israel is only beginning to be the Lord’s first wife who became a harlot, out of whom came His Elect, the Bride. She becomes the final and glorious ‘Moon’ standing on the remnants of herself represented by Jericho. Jericho is the diminutive prototype of the coming massively larger ‘Moon’ of Babylon, the mother of harlots, the great prostitute.

Rev 12:1 And there appeared a great sign in the heavens, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head.

Rev 17:1 And one of the seven angels who had the seven vials came and talked with me, saying to me, Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot sitting on many waters,
Rev 17:2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and became drunk with the wine of her fornication, those inhabiting the earth.
Rev 17:3 And he carried me away into a desert by the Spirit. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, filled with names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet. And she was gilded with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.
Rev 17:5 And on her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

What an astonishing adventure the Lord has given His Elect, beginning with a small win over little Jericho as He gently ramps up our trials for a staggeringly beautiful end.

Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace,

The Book of Joshua – Part 4, Jos 4:1-24 Israel Crosses the Jordan

[Study Aired March 11, 2023]

Concluding the last study, the Priests who represent the Elect of God were the first to touch the word of God with their feet in the Jordan River of His word. It was a momentous event in Israel and, ultimately, for the world.

Today, the spiritual Priests of God already had their feet in the spiritual Jordan upon Christ’s death. They, as the Lord’s Elect, have been routing their land of their enemies for two thousand years.

The entire nation of Israel, including the mixed multitude representing everyone’s eventual salvation in their own order, entered the physical Promised Land. Following everyone’s safe exit from the Jordan, the heaped-up water turbulently cascaded the dead works of Israel’s slothfulness from Egypt to Shittim into the Sea of Salt, through the land where their forebearers, Sodom and Gomorrah, were consumed in a physical lake of fire.

Jos 4:1 And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying, 
Jos 4:2 Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, 
Jos 4:3 And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night. 
Jos 4:4 Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man: 
Jos 4:5  And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the Ark of the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel: 
Jos 4:6 That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? 
Jos 4:7 Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. 
Jos 4:8 And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the LORD spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. 
Jos 4:9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the Ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day. 
Jos 4:10 For the priests which bare the Ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until every thing was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over. 
Jos 4:11 And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the Ark of the LORD passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people. 
Jos 4:12 And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spake unto them: 
Jos 4:13 About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the LORD unto battle, to the plains of Jericho. 
Jos 4:14 On that day the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life. 
Jos 4:15 And the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying, 
Jos 4:16 Command the priests that bear the Ark of the testimony, that they come up out of Jordan. 
Jos 4:17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up out of Jordan. 
Jos 4:18 And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the Ark of the covenant of the LORD were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before. 
Jos 4:19 And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho. 
Jos 4:20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. 
Jos 4:21 And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? 
Jos 4:22 Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. 
Jos 4:23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over: 
Jos 4:24 That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever. 

Jos 4:1 And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying, 

Notice that the spirit deemed it necessary to state that Israel “cleaned passed over the Jordan” since it effectively means that the entire world of humanity will ultimately be saved (1Co 15:32). All of Israel, including the mixed multitude, went into the Promised Land, just as the entire world will go into the purifying nature of the Lake of Fire.

Jos 4:2 Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, 
Jos 4:3 And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night. 

The twelve tribes of Israel represent the foundations (12 = foundation, which is Christ) of our Lord’s first wife, whose foundations are unwittingly being set up to be rejected for her coming God-given whoredoms. At a much later date, she is the field into which the coming harvest of first fruits will be dragged to go before the main harvest of souls, the entirety of Israel and humanity numbered as the sand of the sea. The Lord lays the foundation for His anointed rejected wife and His anointed elected wife. The latter lively stones of the foundation are spiritually cut out of Christ’s body by His hands, just as Eve was physically taken out of Adam’s body (Gen 2:23, 1Co 11:8-9).

1Co 3:9 For of God we are fellow-workers, a field of God, and you are a building of God.
1Co 3:10 According to the grace of God which is given to me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let every man be careful how he builds on it.
1Co 3:11 For any other foundation can no one lay than the one being laid, who is Jesus Christ.

1Co 3:16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

The Body of Christ is the priests bearing Christ, our Babylonian brothers and sisters having collected 12 stones from around our feet, representing the eternal foundation of Christ, and Him the chief cornerstone. The spirit of God eventually dwells in every seed of man conceived, represented by all twelve stones and testifying that all will be made alive in Christ.

There appears to be an unaccounted loss of time from when the stones are elected from around the feet of the Priest and taken to where Israel lodged and their unaccounted-for being returned to be erected in the “midst” of the Jordan. The stones are evidently left unstructured where the Israelites lodged for an unspecified time. All this time, the spring water from the Jordan must have been heaping up into a mighty dam, perhaps kilometres wide, since in verse 9, “Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.”

Jos 4:4 Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man: 
Jos 4:5 And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the Ark of the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel: 
Jos 4:6 That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?

The twelve physical tribes of the nation of Israel shouldered in the figurative heat of the day the “natural that [would eventually] point to the spiritual”, symbolised by the memorial of the twelve stones. The people of Israel were to be the model and sign to the rest of the world as an example of how to submit to the Lord physically, that by His design, graphically show the world the consequences of how futile it is to build one’s Temple within without the Lord’s spirit. Of course, the spiritual meaning of the stones also represents that salvation is the burden of the remnant spiritual Jews, carried upon their shoulders by the power and might of Christ.

Isa 11:10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse [King David to Christ], which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek [eventually the entire world]: and his rest shall be glorious.
Isa 11:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
Isa 11:12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Isa 11:13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. [Because the spiritual Jews will rule]
Isa 11:14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
Isa 11:15 And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. 

The entire world’s religious systems shall be smitten, as was the Jordan, to make way for the Bride of Christ to rule with Him in the one-thousand year reign with the rod of iron, and then peacefully forever.

Isa 11:16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

Christ’s Christs are the final Temple of God dragged from every nation and built upon Him, the heavenly Jerusalem above. How? Before Christ, the physical nation of Israel was depicted as Jews since the Priesthood was from the physical tribe of Judah and Levi, which we know could never bring salvation. Nonetheless, the entire twelve tribes were Christ’s first wife and were holy for that age, even though the memory of Korah’s rebellion and, later, Uzzah would be a painful reminder that only the Priests could ‘touch’ the Ark.

Joh 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

Exo 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. 

Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well:

Joh 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision [living spiritually] is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Rev 22:16 I Jesus have sent my angel [His Bride, the Body of Christ] to testify these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

From those examples, we see that the twelve stones are the foundational memorial of physical Israel’s glory, pointing to the yet unseen spiritual glory of the immovable memorial, Christ.

Jos 4:7 Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. 

Maybe for several hundred years, Israel’s children enquired about the physical twelve stones erected amid the Jordan. While they were taken out of the Jordan, they apparently were returned and constructed amid the Jordan. That action breaks all the laws of physics since when the massive pile of water resumes thunderously on its way to the Salt Sea (Dead Sea), the erected memorial, but for a miracle, would have been washed hundreds of metres, if not kilometres, downstream and destroyed.

The river Jordan represents the world of humanity, particularly Babylonian Christianity, with its false doctrines and whoredoms, whose waters have no strength against Israel’s God. That mighty flood of falsehoods could never sweep away the puny twelve stones piled amid the Jordan as it rushed down past the infamous cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah. Neither could it “cut off” the word of God before the resurrection or destroy the living water of the word of God in the latter days even while held unrighteously in blindness by the same woman from Mount Sinai.

Jos 4:7 Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. 

The meaning of “for ever” is a foundational doctrine in the Body of Christ, knowing that ‘forever’ either means age-lasting or literally eternally lasting. The maturing Christ will know that these physical stones have not lasted “forever”, yet they signify Christ as lasting eternally.

Rev 12:14 And to the woman [Babylonian Christianity] were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
Rev 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The new nation of Israel in the flesh was the precursor memorial that points to the spiritual holy remnant, Christ’s wife, with everything in scripture being done for her and through her in Christ. Together, they are the “memorial” “forever” that eventually brings the world to salvation.

Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Heb 8:11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Heb 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

The Bride of Christ is the twelve stones that remain a memorial to this day, and forever. For the moment, the Dragon continuously makes war as a flood until the First Resurrection when Christ and his Christs cut off the flood of lies.

Jos 4:8 And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the LORD spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. 

Israel passed over the Jordan and laid the stones down where they camped; yet, scripture doesn’t account for the apparent returning of the stones to the midst of the Jordan where the feet of the priests who bore the Ark stood. Therefore, the water was held back for an unspecified time, making quite a “heap” of dammed water. No spring flood of lies can wash away the word of God.

Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

Jos 4:9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.(KJV)
Jos 4:10 Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until the people had completed everything the LORD had commanded Joshua to tell them, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried across, (BSB)

The theme that the physical precedes the spiritual is a massive spiritual truth, and its presence continues to etch our spiritual minds with the above three verses.

The feet of the Bride of Christ have touched the mountain of the Lord, and Him the Ark and the Covenant with Him as they are being saved “unto this day”.

“Everything” is being finished as the Lord commanded us as we are passing over our Jordan heaped up to our right. The Elect of God bears Christ through the one-thousand years until all Gog and Magog hurry across through the consuming fire into the Lake of Fire.

Jos 4:11 And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the LORD passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people. 
Jos 4:12 And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spake unto them: 
Jos 4:13 About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the LORD unto battle, to the plains of Jericho. 

As seen, the corresponding ‘passing over’ from the one thousand years and the death of all flesh is with the Priests in the presence of the people into the Lake of Fire.

The tribe of Reuben, who is the eldest son of Jacob by Leah, and Gad, the seventh son of Jacob by Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, and Manasseh is the eldest son of Joseph. Reuben and Gad represent the entirety of Israel in becoming the rejected wife from Mt Sinai, while Manasseh, even though full of harlotry, represents the Elect of God, who eventually comes out of Egypt, Sodom, and Assyria, representing collective Babylon.

The Lord, depicted as Moses, addressed His little Church to be ready for war, whereby the sword would never depart our flesh for the whole (number 4) of our time before the First Resurrection. Remember that Jericho means “moon”, and the plains of Jericho will represent the lies of the ‘moon’, the Great Whore of Babylonian Christianity, whom we learn to rightly divide by the sword of truth.

Jos 4:14 On that day the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life. 
Jos 4:15 And the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying, 
Jos 4:16 Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of Jordan. 
Jos 4:17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up out of Jordan. 
Jos 4:18 And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before. 

Unlike Israel’s physical fearing of Joshua and Moses, the Bride of Christ’s fear has matured and has become a delighted fear where they diligently look for the children of lies within all the days of their lives.

It ends with them being the first to “come up out of the Jordan” to receive no more death at the First Resurrection. They have born the Ark in Christ amid tribulations as the world is returned to the deep darkness, depicted as the waters of the Jordan returning to their place, as it did at the Red Sea and Noah’s time, and now the one thousand years.

First, the physical comes before the spiritual, as Israel only begins their wars in the “tenth day of the first month”.

Jos 4:19 And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho. 

The tenth day of the first month represents Passover, and evidently, again, Israel passed over the Jordan.

Exo 12:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
Exo 12:2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. 
Exo 12:3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:

Just as Jericho means “moon”, the month of Abib, or Nisan (H2320 – the new moon; to make anew; rebuild), is the beginning of the new moon that, ironically for us, remains the old moon of the Woman in the wilderness. As we know, the Lord’s Church and His anointed rejected church know He is their Passover, yet, we distinguish that only one holds the truth in righteousness.

Eph 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
Eph 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 
Eph 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Eph 4:7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Eph 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

Jos 4:20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. 
Jos 4:21 And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? 
Jos 4:22 Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. 

As we know, Israel was in the process of coming out of a physical “deep” to dry land in light of the Law, only to unwittingly remain in utter darkness until Christ. Even then, the Moon still reigned in her half-light of truth.

Jos 4:23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over: 
Jos 4:24 That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever. 

Our sisters and brothers in Babylon will soon become increasingly peeved about His Elect, as did Joseph’s brothers, for his God-given preeminence, since the Elect cheerfully “fear the Lord forever”. However, until the end of the one thousand years, they, like Solomon looking questioningly at the enigma of the Shulamite, will see those who rule over them, yet not entirely “know what mean these stones” until the Resurrection to Judgment, where the rest of humanity will have a forced wait ‘forever’ into that resurrection for His graciousness.

Isa 30:18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
Isa 30:19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
Isa 30:20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
Isa 30:21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

The Book of Joshua – Part 2: Rahab Hides the Spies – Jos 2:1-24 (MKJV)

[Study Aired February 25, 2023]

In Part 1 of the study into the book of Joshua, we saw Joshua established as the Lord’s fearless leader over Israel. The most patient and humble man (Num 12:3), Moses, suffered and contended with Israel’s endless complaints. He never thought it easier to dwell in the corner of a rooftop than with this brawling woman. Upon coming down from the mount with the commandments of the Lord and seeing the Israelites wild partying around their golden calf, Moses said, “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” (Exo 32:32)

Under Joshua, young Israel crossed the Jordan River with the initial arousal of a righteous bride in the flush of building her house upon the foundation of her God.

Pro 14:1 Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

The Lord’s young carnal bride is the same woman that died in the wilderness, starting afresh, doomed to repeat her elder half’s sins. For the Elect of God, coming out of Egypt reflects the fact Babylon doesn’t magically make our lusts disappear. Learning how to rout the giants from our land is a painfully slow learning process, duplicated from our predecessor’s experiences.

Israel, under Joshua, has a honeymoon phase of successes that, after his death, transforms into a seesaw of pouting resistance and, in word only, her agreement with her Lord. With tears from chastisement and a double mind, she maintains her pleasures of the flesh.

First, a series of miraculous wins over her enemies that to this day empower her pride.

Jos 2:1 And Joshua the son of Nun [phonetically – noon] sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go look over the land, even Jericho. And they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab. And they stayed there. 
Jos 2:2 And the king of Jericho was told about it, saying, Behold, men from the sons of Israel came in here tonight, to search out the country. 
Jos 2:3 And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring out the men that have come to you, those who have entered into your house. For they have come to search out all the country.
Jos 2:4 And the woman took the two men and hid them. And she said, Two men came to me, but I did not know from where they came. 
Jos 2:5 And it happened when it was dark, at the time of shutting the gate, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Go after them quickly, for you shall overtake them. 
Jos 2:6 But she had brought them up on the roof, and had hidden them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order upon the roof. 
Jos 2:7 And the men went after them on the way to Jordan, to the fords. And when they who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. 
Jos 2:8 And before they had laid down, she came up to them on the roof. 
Jos 2:9 And she said to the men, I know that Jehovah has given you the land, and that your terror has fallen on us, and that all those who live in the land faint because of you. 
Jos 2:10 For we have heard how Jehovah dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 
Jos 2:11 And we had heard, and our hearts melted, nor did any more spirit remain in any man, because of you. For Jehovah your God, He is God in Heaven above and in the earth beneath. 
Jos 2:12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear to me by Jehovah, since I have dealt with you in kindness, that you will also deal with kindness to my father’s house. And give me a true token, 
Jos 2:13 and shall save alive my father and my mother, and my brothers and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. 
Jos 2:14 And the men answered her, Our life shall be for yours, if you do not tell our business. And when Jehovah has given us the land, we will deal kindly and truly with you. 
Jos 2:15 Then she let them go down by a cord through the window. For her house was on the town wall, and she lived on the wall. 
Jos 2:16 And she said to them, Get up into the mountain lest the pursuers meet you. And hide yourselves there three days until the pursuers have returned. And afterward you may go your way. 
Jos 2:17 And the men said to her, We will be blameless of this oath to you which you have made us swear.
Jos 2:18 Behold, when we come into the land, you shall set this line of scarlet thread in the window from which you let us down. And you shall bring your father and your mother, and your brothers, and all your father’s household, home to you. 
Jos 2:19 And it shall be, whoever shall go out of the doors of your house, his blood shall be on his head, and we will be blameless. And whoever shall be with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is on him. 
Jos 2:20 And if you tell our business, then we will be free of the oath which you have made us swear to you.
Jos 2:21 And she said, Let it be according to your word. And she sent them away, and they departed. And she set the scarlet line in the window. 
Jos 2:22 And they went and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days until the pursuers had returned. And the pursuers looked for them throughout all the way, but did not find them. 
Jos 2:23 And the two men returned and came down from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun. And they told him all that happened to them.
Jos 2:24 And they said to Joshua, Truly Jehovah has delivered all the land into our hands, for even all those who live in the country faint because of us.

Beginning the Study:

Jos 2:1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, inspect the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

Joshua’s name is rarely referred to simply as Joshua; he is broadly called “Joshua, son of Nun”. The origin of the name “Nun” means 1. (Niphal) continue, to increase, propagate 2. (Hiphil) continue, to increase, propagate. Indeed, during the honeymoon phase of Israel’s entry and conquering the Promised Land, their success after success elated them and their numbers and wealth rapidly increased.

As with Israel in the flesh, the Bride of Christ today has viewed her spiritual land of inheritance, Christ, and by his decree, nothing will subdue her arousal for Him. She has become her Lord’s wife with her harlot sister under her feet as she bathes in the fully encompassing brightness of the sun in Him.

Rev 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed [encompassed] with the sun, [Christ] and the moon [Jews who say they are Jews but do lie] under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

The Woman clothed in the sun came from the lesser light, the moon, who became a harlot still in the wilderness. The Woman clothed in the sun by her husband is one in him as they rule as one in the One Thousand-Year reign with both the moon and the earth under their feet.

Isa 66:1 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

Under Joshua’s leadership, the children of Israel have yet to come into the fullness of her harlotry and become the rejected wife. For now, she is gung-ho, especially when the Lord proves His word by repeatedly going before them to consume their enemies ~ and we know from personal experience following amazing victories that banqueting, dancing, and intemperate merriment is the impulse.

Pro 15:15 All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.

There was a “mixed multitude” who saw the Lord’s work with the Hebrews and who came out with her from Egypt (Exo 12:38). Those people are simply referred to as those “outside the camp”, even though they became part of the nation of Israel effectively grafted in through belief. 

Isa 54:5 For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of armies is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is he who takes up your cause; he will be named the God of all the earth.

Though Israel knows her espousal to her Lord (Exod 19:1-25), she doesn’t know that she will be represented as the “moon”, as the Lord’s first wife, and would naturally be a bit mystified as having children as voluminously as the sand of the sea (Gen 22:17). For now, she will not suffer her historically distant brothers and sisters of the Promised Land to share in her inheritance. Yet, as we know from many years of study, the Lord’s church, His first wife, shares her inheritance and pollutes her land by sharing her husband’s ‘fair jewels’ of truth with her pagan brothers and sisters. The very first conquest of which is Jericho, whose name means H3391 ‘moon’.

Jos 2:2 And the king of Jericho was told about it, saying, Behold, men from the sons of Israel came in here tonight, to search out the country.

The Elect of God today are given by Him the eagerness of the Shulamite, graphically seen in the Song of Solomon, to seek Him with single-minded passion in our Babylonish night when our sisters are asleep to excitedly search out our land within.

Joh 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 
Joh 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

The Elect of God is inspired to enquire that there is more to Christ than their dull-eyed Nicolaitan church leaders can teach, who are ruled by Satan, the king of Jericho. The Elect of God enthusiastically searches their country within, routing it of falsehoods to match the Lord’s spiritual land ~ the Sun of God. (No wonder the Lord’s word spiritually discerned is gobble-de-gook to the world)

Jos 2:3 And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring out the men that have come to you, those who have entered into your house. For they have come to search out all the country.

There is a dual meaning for Rahab: she is both the world and the Bride’s former self. Joshua’s two men (2 = witnesses) are the Bride of Christ before the resurrection to life and are about to save the world in the flesh from utter destruction, yet rule the figurative Rabab and her sisters dwelling safely from war in the One Thousand Year reign.

Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

Joshua’s physical wars and rebuking of the nations afar off with the Lord’s command to “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong” (Joe 3:10) abruptly come to an end at the beginning of the One Thousand Year reign with the rod of iron. The rescuing of greater Zion, the elder sister of Babylonian Christianity, and the mixed multitude of the world begins with the end of that age, in which war, lies, and every other letting of spiritual blood will not be tolerated!

The one thousand-year rule is the beginning and preparation for Rahab being absorbed into Zion and then gradually on the Eighth Day saying, “come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.”

Mic 4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. 
Mic 4:2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 
Mic 4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Much more exciting symbolism surrounding Rahab in subsequent Joshua studies is attributed to her God-given ‘shady-lady’ entrepreneurial dealings, which will be revealed. Without blowing those wonderful disclosures here, the secondary shadow of Rahab is her representing the world being saved from utter destruction at the end of this age. She will live safely with her future sisters of Babylon in the one thousand-years, where figuratively, Joshua’s rulership and implementation of the rod of iron will establish all physical delights and health without one person being converted. Just like Israel in the wilderness under forced rulership of the Lord’s commands did not change their hearts.

Isa 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and [this time] they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 

Jos 6:25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Jos 2:4 And the woman [Rahab] took the two men and hid them. And she said, [to the king of Jericho] Two men came to me, but I did not know from where they came. 

Gentile Christianity has likewise hidden the Lord’s Two Witnesses, His Body, in the walls of that great city (figuratively Jerusalem within) that had become a harlot while the witnesses spied out their inheritance. Neither does Gentile Christianity, let alone the world, know from where they suddenly appeared, especially with their modern surveillance where nothing escapes their knowledge.

Jos 2:5 And it happened when it was dark, at the time of shutting the gate, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Go after them quickly, for you shall overtake them. 

The spiritual shutting of the gate to the First Resurrection will likewise happen when the Beast powers turn on the Moon and utterly consume her with fire. The outlawing of Christianity is already stirring for that Great City called Sodom, Egypt and Babylon and her imminent destruction. Speaking the word of God will be an indictable act where new people attempting to know Christ will grope in the dark and be unable to find the “two men” no matter how eagerly they are pursued to gain knowledge or to kill.

The one thousand-year rulership under the rod of iron is the Seventh Day, where Christ and His Christs perform no heart-changing work. The gates of understanding are shut; thus, no man can come in or out.

Neh 13:17 Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? 
Neh 13:18 Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath. 
Neh 13:19 And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.

On the Eighth Day, the walls of Jericho, Babylon and Egypt are flattened; the gates are effectively opened, and everyone symbolically dies in the Lake of Fire, the resurrection to judgment, and are spiritually circumcised on the Eighth Day.

Lev 12:3 And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 

Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. 

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

At the end of the Seventh Day, Gog and Magog, surrounding the camp of the Elect of God, will not “overtake them”. 

The earth, represented by Rahab, helped the Lord’s servants. She kept them above herself in the heavens of the rooftop under flax so that if it caught fire, no smell of smoke would be on their clothes, nor would the fire hurt them, for they have learned to be comfortable in the fire. They are not in Jericho to warn that city but to bring forth judgment.

Jos 2:6 But she had brought them up on the roof, and had hidden them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order upon the roof. 

Part of the reason for hiding the spies under the flax “laid in order” was to cause their pursuers to see the orderly pile of flax as having not been disturbed, which would give away their hiding place. God gives a distinct order in proclaiming the truth and church operations in the Body of Christ, whereas chaos reigns in Gentile Christianity.

The Wife of Christ is given white robes made of linen, and we know linen is cloth woven from flax. In its raw “natural” symbolism, the spies hiding under the flax are the precursor for their much later successors being clothed in spiritual linen.

The Lord loves order. The Shulamite’s teeth (The Bride of Christ’s perfect consumption of truth) are twins and perfectly set in her beauty.

Act 21:24 taking these, be purified with them, and be at expense on them, that they may shave the head. And all shall know that all what they have been told about you is nothing, but you yourself walk orderly, keeping the Law.

1Co 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order. 

1Co 15:22 for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruit; afterward those of Christ at His coming.

Rev 19:7 Let us rejoice and let us exult, and we will give glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb came, and His wife prepared herself.
Rev 19:8 And it was given to her that she be clothed in fine linen, pure and bright; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.

Jos 2:7 And the men went after them on the way to Jordan, to the fords. And when they who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. 

Mat 12:15 But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all; 
Mat 12:16 And charged them [Rahab] that they should not make him known:
Mat 12:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
Mat 12:18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
Mat 12:19 He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
Mat 12:20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.
Mat 12:21 And in his name shall the Gentiles [eventually] trust.

Jos 2:8 And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof; 
Jos 2:9 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

Psa 2:8 Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations for Your inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. 
Psa 2:9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. 

Jos 2:10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 
Jos 2:11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

The forthcoming sacking of Jericho at the Lord’s hands, typified by most of the biblical cities of the Promised Land and their demise, represents the ultimate end-time destruction of Babylon.

Isa 13:4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.
Isa 13:5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. 
Isa 13:6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 
Isa 13:7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:
Isa 13:8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
Isa 13:9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Jos 2:12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token: 
Jos 2:13 And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.

Rahab’s request of the two spies to remember to save her and her family is reflected in Joseph saving his father Jacob’s house during the famine. Joseph’s “token” H226 means a sign, signal, distinguishing mark, and remembrance. A “true token” is a faithful and reliable signal. Benjamin was effectively a token for the reliable bringing forth of Jacob’s household to Egypt and their salvation in the coming famine. 

Likewise, when the death angel passed through Egypt and slew all the firstborn, a faithful and reliable signal, a token of blood, was placed on the lintel over the door so that death passed over the Hebrew’s homes. 

The origin of the word “blood” (H1826) means to be silent, to be still. Rahab assured the spies that she would be silent if the city’s guards questioned her about the spy’s whereabouts. When Israel came to crush Jericho, the spies saw Rahab’s “scarlet” sign of concealed and dual meaning (red being a harlot’s sign) hanging in the window of her home in the walls of Jericho. The invading army of Israel would effectively “pass over” destroying her home and thus saving her life. 

Exo 12:12  For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 
Exo 12:13  And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

Jos 2:14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. 
Jos 2:15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. 

Just as the Shulamite represents the New Heavenly Jerusalem, with her embedded towers symbolising her breasts, Rahab is pictured as a type of Old Jerusalem. She lives upon the walls of her city, Jericho, where her breasts were bruised by her many suitors, just as the Saints of the Lord had their breasts bruised by our many suitors in Babylonian Christianity, represented by Oholah and Oholibah. The Body of Christ came out of and is the daughter of “one mother”, Babylon the Great, though she is represented as two; Old Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem above.

Eze 23:1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 
Eze 23:2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:
Eze 23:3 And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity. 
Eze 23:4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah. 
Eze 23:5 And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours.

Progressively and with increasing astonishment, we shall see that Rahab represents the woman we once were.

Jos 2:16 And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way. 
Jos 2:17 And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.
Jos 2:18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee. 
Jos 2:19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.

Verses 16-19 reveal to us that we are forewarned of the coming destruction of our old man within. The only way to survive is to flee to the mount of the Lord.

Psa 11:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?

“Three days”, mentioned 63 times in scripture, is powerfully significant in that it means a process for the completion of judgment; and for the Elect of God, particularly its spiritual completion. We flee to and wait on the mountains of our Lord for our perfection for three symbolic days for the destruction of our flesh until the hoped resurrection to life, just as Christ did at His death. Afterward, we will “go your [our] way” with Him to rule with the iron rod on the Seventh Day.

Christ is our “scarlet thread” by the blood of His death upon the cross. We figuratively escape our pursuers by that sturdy rope from Jericho’s walls as we flee Babylon and are in the three-day process of being saved on the mount of our Lord (Isa 2:1-5)

The words of Moses were powerfully in the minds of the two spies; they warned Rahab that she had better be true to her oath. Otherwise, she would perish with the rest of Jericho since the two spies were dedicated to keeping their side of the oath.

Num 30:2 If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

For God’s people today, however,

Jas 5:12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

If it is our Lord’s will, we, too, will be saved from the coming destruction of Babylon both within and, hopefully, physically.

When destruction comes to Jericho, the two spies require Rahab’s entire household to be in her house to be protected by the sign of the scarlet thread. The scarlet “thread” is a cord strong enough to at least hold the weight of one man; however, viewed from a distance, it would appear as a thread. The fact that Rahab’s home was the only structure left following the destruction of the entire walls of Jericho was outstanding in its own right. Rahab’s home would have thus become a tower, not too figuratively dissimilar to the Shulamite’s two breasts pictured as towers embedded in the walls of Jerusalem, the city she represented (Son 8:10). Rahab’s symbolic one breast, the seat of her emotions, represents unity, and Rahab’s faith in what the Lord of Israel was doing in that nation, unified her identity with them. Rahab’s faith through belief by her works justified her salvation from the coming demolition. For the Church today, that unity is the Lord singularly focused on the apple of His eye, His Bride, with one chain around her neck, likewise identifying her being saved by the scarlet blood of the cross. (Zec 2:8. Son 4:9)

Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Jas 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Jas 2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Jas 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
Jas 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Jas 2:25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
Jas 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Heb 11:31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

Having gone into Jericho, the spies can symbolise them coming out the window of the city’s womb of Jericho, the “moon” (church) on a scarlet thread, symbolic of Israel, the firstborn; yet, at this point, the coming unwitting rejected wife of God.

Likewise, the Church of the firstborn is coming out of Babylon’s womb on the scarlet thread of Christ’s blood to be killed daily inside Jerusalem. Jericho, Tyre, Ethiopia, Babylon, and Old Jerusalem are one and the same, and they being the elder, serve the younger New Heavenly Jerusalem above who, like Christ, walk in truth today and tomorrow in the death of the old man.

Luk 13:31 The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying to Him, Go out and depart from here, for Herod will kill you.
Luk 13:32 And He said to them, You go and tell that fox, Behold, today and tomorrow, I cast out demons and I complete cures, and the third day I will be finished.
Luk 13:33 Yet I must walk today and tomorrow and the day following. For it cannot be that a prophet perish outside of Jerusalem.
Luk 13:34 Jerusalem! Jerusalem! the one killing the prophets, and stoning those having been sent to her; how often I desired to gather your children in the way a hen gathers her brood under the wings, and you did not desire it. 
Luk 13:35 Behold, your house is left to you desolate. And truly I say to you, You will not see Me until it come when you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

Jos 2:20 And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.

The Elect of God doesn’t go around today forcing their God-given truths on Jericho. Today is not Jericho’s time to begin salvation. Noah’s and Rahab’s households symbolise the latter times “little flock” who go before their brothers and sisters of Jericho and Babylon, who are Gog and Magog, the entire world (Eze 38. Rev 20:7-10)

Jos 2:21 And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

The scarlet thread in Rahab, the harlot’s window, is significant with its connection to Rahab effectively putting forth her hand from the window’s womb of Jericho, and Zarah, the son born to Judah upon his adulterous affair with his daughter-in-law, putting forth his hand from Tamar’s womb unwittingly masquerading as the firstborn of the twins (reminiscent of Jacob grabbing Esau’s heel). In fact, Pharez was born last, sustaining the principle of the elder, Zarah, serving Pharez, the younger and that each man will be saved in his own order by the spiritually younger one.

Gen 38:30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah. H2226 – ‘a son of Reuel and grandson of Esau, one of the dukes of the Edomites’ Origin H2225 – ‘dawning, shining, rising’. The rising heavenly Jerusalem adorned for her husband (Rev 21:2)

1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Christ is descended from Pharez and represents the Bride of Christ saved in the order the Lord ordained before her elder harlot sister Israel in the wilderness that is Old Jerusalem and Babylon are saved. 

Tremendous hope is generated for the weak of the world Lord’s Church today and their sins, as seen from Christ’s lineage coming through two harlots, Rahab and Judah’s miserably adulterous affair with Tamar, as seen in Matthew 1:1-17. The Body of Christ fully knows they have symbolically been Rahab and Tamar and have been adulterous Judah in the flesh and are now spiritual Judah.

Gen 38:24 And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.

The sceptre began with Abraham and ended with Christ through a long and torturous birth bringing forth the man-child, Christ.

Gen 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Jos 2:22 And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not. 

Similarly, the Gentile Christian church today, as we once did, searches for the Lord’s truth and finds it not.

Luk 8:10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others [Babylonian brothers and sisters of the rejected church] in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

Jos 2:23 So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them:
Jos 2:24 And they said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.

The terror striking the inhabitants of Jericho is a similar dread in today’s world as they increasingly become aware that all is not well, reflected in the glaring putridness within. The world will tremble at the coming of the Lord and again at the resurrection to judgment.

Joe 2:1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
Joe 2:2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. 
Joe 2:3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

“He that believeth shall not make haste”

Part 2

January 26, 2020

While the walls of Jericho was a great victory for Israel and was delivered by the hands of the Lord, the next defeat at Ai is a great reminder to us that the Lord is not forgetful in His promises.

In our previous study, we saw that the people were warned not to take of the accursed thing which in turn makes the camp of Israel a curse.

Though chapter 7 does not have hand mentioned anywhere in it, it is a continuation of the previous chapter 6 in telling of the result of Israel disobeying the Lord.

It is right after being told that the Lord would give the city of Jericho to Israel that they are warned against the thing they would inevitably do in the city.

Jos 6:16  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.
Jos 6:17  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.
Jos 6:18  And ye, in 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 a curse, and trouble it.
Jos 6:19  But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.
Jos 7:1  But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.

Chapter 7 starts off with the children of Israel disobeying the Lord. If you’re like me, and I know you are because we are apart of the same body of Christ, then you may see the it was Achan, not the whole of Israel that took of the accursed thing. Yet, the anger of the Lord is kindled against the children of Israel.

What then can we take away from this lesson?

Well, the word “Achan” means trouble or troubler.

H5912

‛âkân

aw-kawn’

From an unused root meaning to trouble; troublesome; Akan, an Israelite: – Achan. Compare H5917.

Total KJV occurrences: 6 

H5912

‛âkân

BDB Definition:

Achan = “troubler”

1) a Judaite who violated God’s specific ban on taking any loot from the captured city of Jericho and was stoned to death along with his family for this violation

Part of Speech: noun proper masculine

A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from an unused root meaning to trouble

So, trouble has committed a great sin against the Lord and the anger of the Lord is kindled against Israel, but why the whole of Israel?

The answer of course lies in other parts of scripture which helps us learn about the mind of the Lord.

Our first set of clues can be found in Deuteronomy 21.

Deu 21:1  If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him:
Deu 21:2  Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:
Deu 21:3  And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke;
Deu 21:4  And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer’s neck there in the valley:
Deu 21:5  And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried:
Deu 21:6  And all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley:
Deu 21:7  And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
Deu 21:8  Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel’s charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them.
Deu 21:9  So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

It may not pop out to you right away how this is connected, but this story in Deuteronomy 21 shows tells us that there is a murder that happens that no one saw. However, what is seen is the RESULT of the sin, the dead person found slain in the field.

When this sin is found out, it is to be dealt with appropriately. In this case the elders are called together and a heifer is to be slain as a sacrifice to the Lord to say that the hands of Israel are washed of the innocent blood of the slain person in the field.

Though the killer is not known, the result of the sin is known. So, in this case if the elders and the people do not take action to show everyone that is slaying and murder is NOT acceptable in society, then they are guilty of the murder themselves.

Let’s look at another example of this in the New Testament.

1Co 5:1  It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
1Co 5:2  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
1Co 5:3  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
1Co 5:4  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Co 5:5  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
1Co 5:6  Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
1Co 5:7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
1Co 5:8  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The body of Christ is the same as the children of Israel were in the Old Testament. The groups of people were seen as one unit.

Therefore, Paul is admonishing the Corinthians that they are leavened. He is telling them that they are NOT with Christ because a little leaven leavens the whole lump, and Christ is unleavened bread. Christ is Truth and Truth is not leavened.

So, connecting this concept to the children of Israel and the city of Jericho, Achan indeed had committed a great sin against the Lord, and the children of Israel must do something about it.

However, the children of Israel did not yet know that something had happened to kindle the anger of the Lord, but then comes verse 2 .

Jos 7:2  And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai.
Jos 7:3  And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few.
Jos 7:4  So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.
Jos 7:5  And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.
Jos 7:6  And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.

Notice, by the estimation of the men sent by Jericho to view the country of Ai, the people of Ai were “but few”. This gave them confidence that only 3000 men needed to be sent.

It was by divine inspiration that the Lord caused these men to tell Joshua to “make not all the people to labour” because the Lord knew there was going to be a defeat on the part of Israel.

There were only 36 men slain, and you can easily see that 3 x 10 + 6 = 36. This is the process of the flesh in all of mankind.

We get puffed up because our flesh gets confident in itself. Yet, there is unknown sin dwelling in our members just as Achan was dwelling in the camp of Israel.

We certainly should be confident in the Lord, but we never want to misplace that confidence by placing it in the flesh. That is a losing battle every time.

The men sent by Joshua certainly were confident, and why wouldn’t they be? “They” had just defeated Jericho. However, it wasn’t they that did it, but it was ALL of the LORD!

The first verse in Joshua 7 tells us that a “covert coverup” was committed in Israel, except it doesn’t say that in English.

Jos 7:1  But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.

Jos 7:1  But the childrenH1121 of IsraelH3478 committedH4603 a trespassH4604 in the accursed thing:H2764 for Achan,H5912 the sonH1121 of Carmi,H3756 the sonH1121 of Zabdi,H2067 the sonH1121 of Zerah,H2226 of the tribeH4294 of Judah,H3063 tookH3947 ofH4480 the accursed thing:H2764 and the angerH639 of the LORDH3068 was kindledH2734 against the childrenH1121 of Israel.H3478

H4603

mâ‛al

maw-al’

A primitive root; properly to cover up; used only figuratively to act covertly, that is, treacherously: – transgress, (commit, do a) tresspass (-ing).

Total KJV occurrences: 36

After having these men lose to Ai, Joshua knew something was up.

Jos 7:7  And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!
Jos 7:8  O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!
Jos 7:9  For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?

In Joshua’s defense, he is doing what he knows he should be doing, and in doing so he did not sin against the Lord.

He is going to the Lord to inquire about this defeat that makes it appear that Israel is weak and by extension the Lord is weak in the eyes of the enemies of the Lord.

The Lord calls Joshua out and calls him to ACTION.

Jos 7:10  And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?
Jos 7:11  Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.
Jos 7:12  Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.
Jos 7:13  Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.
Jos 7:14  In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man.
Jos 7:15  And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.

Do you think the Lord is serious about the accursed thing being in the camp of Israel? I believe these verses shows emphatically that the Lord is deathly serious.

The Lord tells Joshua that Israel has sinned, but we in our carnal understanding see that only Achan sinned.

From the perspective of the Lord, we are one with Him and He is one with us. When we sin against Him, He purges from His body that part which is DISEASED.

This is how He expects the church of the Living God to be as well. When there is sin made know to the body, it must be made known and dealt with.

Obviously, there is judgment which must take place in order to confirm the disease, the sin, just like bringing examples of leprosy to the priests to show that there was a growth “in the house”.

Lev 13:3  And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean.

Lev 13:51  And he shall look on the plague on the seventh day: if the plague be spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in a skin, or in any work that is made of skin; the plague is a fretting leprosy; it is unclean.
Lev 13:52  He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire.

Lev 14:54  This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and scall,
Lev 14:55  And for the leprosy of a garment, and of a house,
Lev 14:56  And for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot:
Lev 14:57  To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy.

The Lord tells us to be serious when it comes to the accursed thing, sin, leaven, unclean things and leprosy because in type and shadow they all represent the same thing. This things must all be put to the fire whether physically or spiritually.

The ultimate lesson from this story in Joshua is one that many a church has failed to do. We, as the body of Christ, must purge from ourselves, the sin that is judged sin, when the time comes to do so.

Once judgement has taken place, action is required. Here is how Joshua acts this out for us in example.

Jos 7:16  So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken:
Jos 7:17  And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken:
Jos 7:18  And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
Jos 7:19  And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.
Jos 7:20  And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:
Jos 7:21  When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
Jos 7:22  So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.
Jos 7:23  And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD.
Jos 7:24  And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.
Jos 7:25  And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
Jos 7:26  And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.

It may seem harsh from our earthly perspective that the Lord had Israel deal with Achan and his whole family in the way that we just read, but the Lord wants us to know how serious He is about His judgment of sin and the accursed thing.

As the title of this study goes, the Lord would not have believers be hasty, but when a sin is revealed it must be put to the fire immediately so that the entire church of the living God remains whole with the Lord.

Isa 28:16  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

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Awesome Hands – Part 163

“He that believeth shall not make haste”

January 6, 2020

The story of Jericho and the walls falling is probably one of the more well-known stories in the bible. It isn’t quite up there with the parting of the Red Sea, David and Goliath or baby Jesus being born, but it is still one of the more recognizable stories to the average Christian.

We now find ourselves looking at this story in the Awesome Hands series. Some of you may have heard similar details as what will be presented here today, while other details may be new. However, rest assured that if you do not see yourselves on both sides of the Jericho wall, then you have missed the point of the story.

The verses we will be covering today are found in chapter 6 of Joshua.

Jos 6:1  Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.

The first verses set the tone for us by letting us know how one side of the battle is thinking and behaving. “Jericho” was “shut up” so that no one was entering or exiting. Let there be no mistaking that Jericho and the inhabitants knew exactly why Israel was here.

The people of Jericho hid behind their man-made walls, walls made with hands, with a defying spirit that knew they could wait out the invaders and besiegers of their city.

At the time, Jericho was one of the strongest fortresses of Canaan, and this city would have been needed in order for Israel to gain somewhere to fall back to when venturing into the rest of the promised land.

Yes, indeed, Jericho knew they were going to be attacked, but they were confident that they could and would prevail.

Jos 6:2  And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.

On the side of Israel, Joshua was just told that the Lord has given Jericho into his hand; not that Jericho would be given at some later date, but that it was already a done deal.

This is very important to understanding how it is the Lord still works with us to this very day.

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Mal 3:7  Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

The Lord tells Joshua that He has given Jericho into the hand of Joshua, and all that needs to be done is trust in the Lord.

The trust in the Lord comes from doing the commandments of the Lord as it pertains to how to ultimately achieve the victory over Jericho.

Jos 6:3  And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
Jos 6:4  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.
Jos 6:5  And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's 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.

These instructions were short and sweet; at least in how they are recorded in the history of the scripture. Compass the city once a day for six days with the men of war, the priests blowing trumpets, with the ark of the covenant, and then go back to camp.

On the 7^th day, compass the city seven times, have the priests make a long sound on the trumpets, wait for Joshua to give the command to shout, then shout and the wall will fall down.

With any good story, you have a good side and a bad side, a good guy and a bad guy. In this story, we indeed have the “good side” representing the people of God doing God’s will, and the “bad side” representing the inhabitants of Jericho also doing God’s will but not knowing this truth.

What we need to realize as the people of God, is that we have been on both sides of the walls of Jericho.

We have been the people of Jericho who stand behind our high and defensible walls, only to see those walls come down without a moment's notice. We have been these same people who trusted in their own strength to get through even the worst of times because we have “prepared” for bad times by building up our strong walls.

Yet, when we have the provider of the home fall ill suddenly, a death in the family that we didn’t see coming, the job go away that had been around for 20 years, an accident in a car that devastates the whole family, etc., we see our own walls of Jericho go down.

Maybe the walls of Jericho are the beliefs that have helped you get through some tough times that suddenly are challenged by the Lord because He presents a verse or two to you that shatters your beliefs in an instant.

Yes, we have all been inhabitants of Jericho. To such as these inhabitants of Jericho, these Israelites must have been looking very foolish marching around the outside of walls while blowing trumpets and then just going back to their camp.

Jos 6:6  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.
Jos 6:7  And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the LORD.
Jos 6:8  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 them.
Jos 6:9  And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
Jos 6:10  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 I bid you shout; then shall ye shout.
Jos 6:11  So the ark of the LORD compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.

Just imagine for a minute the scenario these people were in. Remember, the Israelites were once slaves in Egypt, and they had been moving around the wilderness for 40 years while the Lord caused all those who had disobeyed Him to die during that time. Only Joshua and Caleb of the original group got to go into the promised land.

During this time, they did not suddenly gain an immense ability to conquer lands in warfare. Likewise, Jericho and the people there knew fully well what a high-walled city could do to those that tried to overtake it.

In those days, the city would have had to have been starved out or the invading army would have starved while trying to siege the city. Either way, Jericho’s people knew warfare.

Here are the armies of Israel marching around the walls. They could have attacked them at any time. Any invading army would know that if they retreated, the armies in the city would attack them in their backs as they fled.

Yet, we do not see any arrows flying or any stones being slung. There is almost a smugness that can be felt at what had to be contempt on the part of the inhabitants of Jericho.

I always think it is amazing that David is always seen as some immense underdog when he only had a sling in his possession to fight with.

I read a report once that did the math on how fast a skilled slinger could have slung a stone with the same type of sling David used, and it is equivalent to a .45 caliber pistol. Slings used for war were not what you picture today as someone pulling back a rubber band and projecting a projectile from it.

Slingers were VERY powerful if they were skilled.

Jdg 20:15  And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.
Jdg 20:16  Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.

1Ch 12:1  Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish: and they were among the mighty men, helpers of the war.
1Ch 12:2  They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow, even of Saul's brethren of Benjamin.

So, given that there must have been ranged soldiers on those walls, they still didn’t attack Israel. This tells us that when we are under the protection of the Lord, your Head, not a hair on your head shall perish.

Luk 21:17  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
Luk 21:18  But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
Luk 21:19  In your patience possess ye your souls.

On the side of Israel, they must have been given an immense amount of Faith and patience to continually go out day after day performing this same procession, and we know this because we are told it in sciprture.

Jos 6:12  And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.
Jos 6:13  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 armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
Jos 6:14  And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.

Heb 11:30  By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.

These priests and soldiers must have had faith to continually do something that didn’t produce immediate fruit.

Hab 2:1  I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
Hab 2:2  And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
Hab 2:3  For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
Hab 2:4  Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
Isa 28:16  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

What we should be taking away from this story, among other things, is that the Lord is patient in His deliverance of us to the Faith He has given us. In other words, the Lord’s Word does not come back to Him void and just because it takes time to manifest itself does not mean that it will not manifest itself. Isn’t this what faith is all about?

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Heb 11:14  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
Heb 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

(NIRV) Living by Faith is being sure of what we hope for. It is being certain of what we do not see.

Just because the wall didn’t come down on days one through six does not mean it will not come down.

Yet, the wall will fall when the time is complete.

Jos 6:15  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.
Jos 6:16  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.

For me, this is written in a strange way in that we see in verse 16 that Joshua gives the command to shout, and then he starts a speech in verse 17.

In practical terms, I do not think he says “shout” and then gives these next directions during a big pause and then the people wait for him to finish before they shout.

The scripture sometimes is written in these ways to clarify what exactly is happening, but it is not necessarily in the order in which it is written here.

In verse 17, Joshua is recorded as giving more detailed instructions on the particulars of what will happen when the Israelites raid the city.

Jos 6:17  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.
Jos 6:18  And ye, in 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 a curse, and trouble it.
Jos 6:19  But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.

In Joshua 7, we read why the Israelites are told not to take of the accursed thing. It is like the rest of the sum of the Word. The Lord tells us NOT to do something knowing fully well we are going to do it.

Jos 6:20  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, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
Jos 6:21  And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.

Right about now, the inhabitants of Jericho are seeing the full might of the Lord. Indeed, His Word will not come back to Him void.

Likewise, as Christians, we, too, may be looked down on and made fun of, especially when we adhere to the Truth of the doctrine of the Christ, but we are told not to waver in our Faith.

1Co 1:17  For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
1Co 1:18  For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
1Co 1:19  For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

“For the preaching of the cross is ….. the POWER OF GOD.” What the majority of blind Christians do not see if that the power of the cross includes those who “pick up your cross and follow me”.

Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Your cross is your life nailed to your cross alongside Jesus Christ, and that is the power of God. Yet, it is only in down-payment form that we get to experience the fullness of Christ in this life.

The walls that keep us from fully being slain by Christ will not totally be cast down until we breath our last breath, and even then, we pray to go on to perfection in the first resurrection.

Rest assured though, that just as the Lord promised salvation to Rahab and her household for helping the messengers of Joshua, we, too, are promised that we will be with Christ in the end.

Jos 6:23  And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred,  and left them without the camp of Israel.
Jos 6:24  And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.
Jos 6:25  And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

When all was said and done, Rahab did receive the reward she was promised, just as we will.

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Awesome Hands - part 161: “The mighty hand of the Lord” - Discussion

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Awesome Hands – part 161

“The mighty hand of the Lord”

December 2, 2019

In our previous study we found ourselves seeing ourselves in the story of Rahab and the 2 spies which she helped escape from king Jericho’s men.

In this study, we are going to skip forward a few chapters to Joshua 4. It is here that we finally see the moment the Israelites cross over into the promised land and mark the occasion with stones for a generational memorial.

This marking of the passage through the river Jordan was a command from the Lord via Joshua to the people of Israel.

Jos 4:1  And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,
Jos 4:2  Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,
Jos 4:3  And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night.

Joshua is told to appoint twelve men, one from each tribe, to take a stone from the Jordan where the priests carrying the ark stood, and place those stones in the lodging place.

Jos 4:4  Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man:
Jos 4:5  And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel:
Jos 4:6  That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?
Jos 4:7  Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.

If you are like me, you may be wondering if these stones are still in this place, and the answer is no. It is also an interesting study in and of itself to look into the word “forever” as mentioned here is verse 7, but I will just cover a brief point.

The word used here in English as “forever” is a combination of two words. Those two words are H5704, making the “for” part, and H5769 making the “ever” part.

What is interesting is that H5769, “ever” is the Hebrew word “olam”.

H5769

‛ôlâm    ‛ôlâm

o-lawm', o-lawm'

From H5956; properly concealed, that is, the vanishing point; generally time out of mind (past or future), that is, (practically) eternity; frequentative adverbially (especially with prepositional prefix) always: - always (-s), ancient (time), any more, continuance, eternal, (for, [n-]) ever (-lasting, -more, of old), lasting, long (time), (of) old (time), perpetual, at any time, (beginning of the) world (+ without end). Compare H5331, H5703.

Total KJV occurrences: 438

The root of “olam” is H5976 which means veil, hide or concealed.

H5956

‛âlam

aw-lam'

A primitive root; to veil from sight, that is, conceal (literally or figuratively): -    X any ways, blind, dissembler, hide (self), secret (thing).

Total KJV occurrences: 28

H5956

‛âlam

Total KJV Occurrences: 27

hid, 11

Lev_4:13, Lev_5:3-4 (2), Num_5:13, 1Ki_10:3, 2Ki_4:27, 2Ch_9:2, Job_6:16, Job_28:21, Eze_22:26, Nah_3:11

hide, 8

Lev_20:4, Deu_22:1, Deu_22:3-4 (2), Psa_55:1, Isa_1:15, Isa_58:7, Lam_3:56

hideth, 2

Job_42:3, Pro_28:27

secret, 2

Psa_90:8, Ecc_12:14

blind, 1

1Sa_12:3

dissemblers, 1

Psa_26:3-4 (2)

hidden, 1

Lev_5:2

hidest, 1

Psa_10:1

“And these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever” is just telling us that God veils His purpose for all things, for only His children to discover and remember.

Obviously, this is not exactly what is said in English, but we know that the physical stones are no longer setup as a memorial for the physical Jews to ask their fathers about, so we can conclude that there is another meaning that is hidden within these passages.

The Israelites are going to do as instructed and gather the stones up.

Jos 4:8  And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the LORD spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.
Jos 4:9  And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.
Jos 4:10  For the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until every thing was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over.
Jos 4:11  And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the LORD passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people.

This is one of those miracles that captures the imagination. It had to be a momentous occasion for the people of Israel. Yet, we know the miracles done to, for and around the people of God soon wane in their strength to hold their attention.

This isn’t going to happen right away, but the Lord did want to mark the occasion in His own way, and He did so with stones.

Stones have been used throughout scripture for many reasons whether to erect an altar or to mark an occasion such as we read about here. However, the chief cornerstone always comes to mind when speaking about stones in general.

1Pe 2:4  To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
1Pe 2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
1Pe 2:6  Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
1Pe 2:7  Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
1Pe 2:8  And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

The foundation of needing to cross the river Jordan is truly needed for all Christians. It is spiritual for us of course, but we are living stones which follow after THE Living Stone.

It is the same Greek word mentioned above for the word “living” and “lively”, G2198.

The river Jordan is where John the Baptist preached all around it (Luk 3:3), and it is the river Jordan that Jesus was baptized (Mar 1:9-10).

It is straightway coming out of the Jordan water that the Holy Spirit descended like a dove unto Jesus; therefore, the symbolism of the Jordan and the baptism in it is something that all Christians should recognize.

Just like with the foundation of the church by the 12 disciples, these twelve priests established a “monument of stones” which let everyone know that they themselves had witnessed this event and were letting everyone know this by their actions with the stones.

1Jn 1:1  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

As such and keeping in context of our story in Joshua today, we need to recognize that war is imminent and to be prepared for when we are talking about the Jordan river.

Jos 4:12  And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh,     passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spake unto them:
Jos 4:13  About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the LORD unto   battle, to the plains of Jericho.

Jesus came out of the river and immediately was taken into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. The children of Israel show us this in type and shadow as they enter into the promised land.

What does this mean for us as Christians? Are we not supposed to be ready for war as well?

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

Are we not to be ready to fight?

Jos 10:24  And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them.
Jos 10:25  And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the LORD do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.

1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

2Ti 4:6  For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
2Ti 4:7  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Do we not wrestle?

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Like the children of Israel, when we cross over into the promised land we are not simply going to have it easy-peasy. We are going to have to wage war against the inhabitants.

Only, the enemies we face are within ourselves AND within others. This is what is meant by we shall be hated by all men for His names sake.

Luk 21:14  Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:
Luk 21:15  For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
Luk 21:16  And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
Luk 21:17  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
Luk 21:18  But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
Luk 21:19  In your patience possess ye your souls.

We must be ready to enter into the promised land and lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us so that we can do the will of God.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

In the awesome hands 160 study given on Saturday, I mentioned Faith a lot. The way we make war and run the race for the prize of the makr of the high calling is to keep our focus on Jesus whom we are “looking unto”.

When we faulter and look away from Jesus for just a second, we sink into the sea of humanity of which we have come from.

Mat 14:24  But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
Mat 14:25  And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
Mat 14:26  And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
Mat 14:27  But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
Mat 14:28  And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
Mat 14:29  And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
Mat 14:30  But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
Mat 14:31  And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
Mat 14:32  And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

If we want the wind to cease, we must “come into the ship”, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a storm happening. It just means the tossing to and frow doesn’t affect is and cause us to go off course.

Jos 4:14  On that day the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.
Jos 4:15  And the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,
Jos 4:16  Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of Jordan.
Jos 4:17  Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up out of Jordan.
Jos 4:18  And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before.

Isn’t it amazing that when we listen to the voice of the Lord, the water takes its perfect course? It is the wind the stirs up or hold back the water.

It was the wind that was contrary to the waves that caused the waves to go to and fro and knock the ship around. It was the Lord who contained the waters of the Jordan in their place until the time was right for the waters to “return to their place”.

It is always the Lord who controls the wind and the water, so what are we concerned about that causes us to fear others when we should be fearing the Lord?

Jos 4:19  And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.
Jos 4:20  And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.
Jos 4:21  And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?
Jos 4:22  Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.
Jos 4:23  For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:
Jos 4:24  That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.

Notice the message is still the same for us today. “When your children shall ask their fathers in the time to come, saying, What mean these stones?”, it is then that we say it is the Lord who dried up the waters of the Jordan before you ….. that all the people of the earth might know the mighty hand of the Lord! 

We are constantly to remind ourselves, and the children of God, that He is in control of everything. He controls the earth, the water, and the wind. He controls it all.

That is to say, He controls everything we are made of both physically and spiritually. We are made of earth and water and His spirit, His wind, and we are in a good mighty hand.