Joshua (Program #7) – The Destruction of Jericho

Remember the story of Jericho, for 6 days the children of Israel bearing the ark borne by the priests marched around the fortified city of Jericho.  No doubt as the inhabitants watched from the top of the city wall and sure wondered at the strange behavior of these occupying force.

And then on the 7th day after the priests blew the trumpet and the people shouted and they came about when the people heard the sound of the trumpets that “the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat. And the people went up into the city, each straight ahead, and they captured the city.  And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city with the edge of the sword: both men and women, young and old, and oxen and sheep and donkeys. And Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, Go to the house of the harlot, and bring out from there the woman and all that belongs to her, as you swore to her. And the young men who had been spies went and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all that belonged to her; all her family they brought out and set outside the camp of Israel. And they burned the city with fire and all that was in it;” more…

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Joshua (Program #6) – Taking Possession of the Good Land

Listen to the Lord’s word to Joshua, in Joshua chapter 1, “Moses My servant is dead; now then arise, and cross over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the children of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads I have given to you, as I promised Moses…Be strong and take courage, for you will cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them.

This was the Lord’s strong word to Joshua, the one God had chosen to replace Moses and lead the children of Israel, not just into the land but also to possess it, to occupy it, labor on it and gain their full sustenance from it.  Actually if our eyes are opened today, we can realize that God is speaking a similar word to us, as His New Testament people, for He had placed Christ before us and has prepared everything that we might enter into Him and to posses Him, as the children of Israel were to possess the good land.

Listen now to Paul’s word in the New Testament Philippians chapter 3:8 “But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ.”

The children of Israel were about to gain the good land and we are exhorted by Paul to gain Christ. A real interesting parallel.

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Joshua (Program #5) – The Preparation Before the Attack

The children of Israel were preparing to enter into the good land to do battle with the kings that occupied the land that God had given them to occupy and possess. Prior to their engaging these enemies, Jehovah performed a miracle quite similar to one that He had performed for their fathers, a generation before when they escaped Egypt.  He once again held back the waters allowing them to cross. Only this time not the waters of the Red Sea but the waters of the Jordan River. News of this miracle reached the kings within the land and it caused them no small amount of fear for they realized that God was among the children of Israel once more. Yet the preparation of Israel was still not complete. As we consider the preparation of Israel in Joshua chapter 5, an interesting chapter.

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Joshua (Program #4) – Crossing the River Jordan

On two occasions in the history of the children of Israel God caused waters to be held back so that Israel can pass over.  The first time of course was their crossing of the Red Sea providing them an escape or an exodus out of the land of Egypt. All Bible scholars agreed that this miracle is actually a type of our own baptism affecting our own escape from the corrupt world, that is under God’s condemnation and judgment.

The second time such a miracle occurred was when the children of Israel were crossing the Jordan river, this time providing them an entrance into the good land, the land of Canaan. The interpretation on this point is not so clearly understood. Many believed that this crossing refers to the believers passage through physical death and their entrance into heaven. But as we will see today such an interpretation misses the real significance of the crossing of the river Jordan

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Deuteronomy (Program #1) – An Introductory Word

The first five books of the Bible form a unit. You probably have heard of this group of books written by Moses refer to as the Pentateuch. The last of these five, Deuteronomy is a conclusion not only to the writings of Moses but the law given first to Moses on Mount Sinai back in Exodus and then developed and enlarged with the judgments, statues and ordinances were added in the latter books of Pentateuch namely Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus.

Today we begin this book with an odd sounding name, Deuteronomy.  This book is marvelous and we believe the Lord will show us many wonderful things as we fellowship through this book.  It would be good to start with a quick look, the name of the book, Deuteronomy, an odd sounding name.  Many do not have much understanding what Deuteronomy refers to.  The word itself actually means second law. At the beginning of this book. Moses and children of Israel are standing on the border of the good land. They are no longer at Mt Sinai. But they are at the border of the good land preparing to go in and possess the land. So, here Moses gives the people a Deuteronomy, a second law, which is not another law, but is a re-speaking of the law that had been spoken previously nearly 40 years before at Sinai in the wilderness.

Now, when the opening of the of Deuteronomy, we have a new generation of the children of Israel. The first generation that came out of Egypt with Moses with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, had all died out. And now, we had a new generation, they had either not been present at the first speaking of the law or they were too young to receive that speaking. So here they all were at the border of the good land before they enter into the land God burdened Moses to re- speak the words of the law to these people to prepare them for what they needed to do to enter into the land and to taking possession of it.

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Exodus (Program #126) – The Priestly Garments (12) Urim and Thummin for Joshua, Eleazar, Aaron

It was recently reported, that although sales for the Bible has actually increased in recent years, reading the Bible is at an all time low.  The reasons given by most people for not reading the Bible that they own is that they simply don’t understand the Bible.  Well, we all experience not being able to understand the Bible from time to time.  Many of the Old Testament books are difficult.  But when we are given the keys to unlock all the marvelous types and pictures that are given to us in the Old Testament becomes a brand new book.  More of those keys are waiting for us today.

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Exodus (Program #46) – The Defeat of Amalek

To be sure, the Old Testament book of Exodus gives us a complete picture of God’s full salvation, from the Passover, a full type of our redemption in Christ to the feeding of God’s people with the heavenly manna and satisfying them from the flowing water from the smitten rock.  All of our genuine experiences of our Christian life are marvelously depicted.  But the picture will not be complete without the experience of the victory of Christ against the enemy of God’s people.  The battle is engaged on today’s program.

We have come to a point in Exodus that is very meaningful.  We are about to see God’s people, the nation of Israel engage in battle for the first time since their exodus out of Egypt.  Here are some excerpts of a few verses in chapter 17:8, 9, 10, 13 “Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.  And Moses said to Joshua, Choose men for us, and go out; fight with Amalek…. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him and fought with Amalek…. And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.”  Some who has been following this life study closely may take issue with us in saying that this portion depict the first account of Israel fighting against the enemy.  Because they surely had an encounter with the army of Pharaoh on the occasion of their exit out of Egypt.  Why do we say that this is really their first battle?

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Zechariah (Program #5) – The Visions of Consolation and Promise (4)

Zechariah is full of mysterious visions revealing Christ. Listen to the first four verses from Zechariah chapter 4, “Then the angel who spoke with me returned and roused me as a a man is roused from his sleep. And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, I see that there is a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl on top of it and its seven lamps upon it, with seven pipes for each of the lamps on top of it; And there are two olive trees beside it, one to the right of the bowl and one to the left. And I answered and spoke to the angel who spoke with me saying, What are these, sir?”

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Zechariah (Program #4) – The Visions of Consolation and Promise (3)

Zechariah chapter 3 begins with a vision of three persons standing together. The first was Joshua, the high priest of Israel; and next to him was Satan, who was accusing him and opposing him. The third person standing just before Joshua was the Angel of Jehovah. This scene is repeated nearly everyday in the life of God’s chosen ones. Revelation chapter 12 tells us that Satan, the adversary of God’s people is constantly accusing them just as he was accusing Joshua before the Lord in Zechariah 3. And here the Lord deals with Satan and Joshua is relieved, not because he wasn’t guilty but because Jehovah cleansed him and justified him. When we find ourselves being accused by the adversary, the key is to do as Joshua did – not to hide or pretend – but to rely on God’s word to deal with both adversary and all of our feelings.

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Hebrews (Program #9) – The Captain of Salvation (1)

God’s goal is not to bring us to heaven. The goal of God’s salvation is to bring us into the very glory which in Christ has been sown into us at the time of our regeneration. Christ is many things to His saved ones. We may appreciate Him as our Savior and our Redeemer or may be even as our friend. But Hebrews unveils Him as the Captain of our Salvation. We’ll see Him as the fighting captain in today’s life study of the Bible.

Logically, we think that for salvation you need a savior or a redeemer but why do we need a captain for our salvation?

We need to make it emphatically clear that we surely need Christ as the Savior and we absolutely need Christ as the Redeemer. There’s no way to be saved without this personal Savior, the God-man. And we surely need Him as the Redeemer who bought us back with His precious blood and has brought us back to God that we may enjoy God as everything to us in Christ as the Spirit. Regrettably, many believers have a shallow even elementary concept of salvation. If we understand salvation merely as a rescue from hell to heaven then we don’t really need a captain. We just need a savior and a redeemer, one who allegedly who brings us out of the likelihood of going to hell and brings us to heaven. However, the goal of God’s salvation is not heaven. We are told in the book of Hebrews that God is bringing many sons into glory. For this we need a captain. Why? more…

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