Text: Joshua 24
The gift of salvation is given to us the moment we believe in Christ. At this point a covenant is established between God and the repentant sinner, and eternal life is the result. Though this covenant is a one-off experience, there are times in our Christian walk when we need to renew it.
“And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out. And I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto the sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red sea. And when they cried unto the LORD, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season. And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan; and they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land; and I destroyed them from before you. Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you: But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you still: so I delivered you out of his hand. And ye went over Jordan, and came unto Jericho: and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hand. And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat” (Joshua 24:1-13).
Here Joshua reminds the Israelites of their great past, especially from Abraham to their miraculous deliverance from Egypt. Everything that had happened was not the result of their own might or merit, but was according to the original covenant God had made with Abraham. They were the people of God through his faith.
The New Testament [Covenant] is established in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is through the grace of God alone, rather than any worthiness or righteousness of the sinner, that he becomes a child of God. “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham” (Galatians 3:7-9). We, as Gentiles, are not Abraham’s seed by DNA, but through faith in the righteousness of Christ. Can we not look back and thank God for this wonderful salvation and the many times He has delivered us!
“Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods; For the LORD our God, He it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed: And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the LORD; for He is our God. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for He is an holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that He hath done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve Him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey” (Joshua 24:14-24).
By piety we mean all the devotion, commitment and obedience we promised the Lord at the beginning. It is a return to our “first love” (Revelation 2:4). Joshua calls the people to make a choice about who they are going to serve. Will they serve God or continue to hold to the idolatry of the past? They have a bright future ahead of them in the Promised Land, but they cannot bring along the abominations of the old life. He reminded them that even Abraham’s family had served false gods, “Even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods” (Joshua 24:2), but Abraham, in response to God’s call escaped from idolatry. Therefore, to truly follow the Lord, they must never involve themselves in paganism.
We too have an inheritance in Christ, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1Peter 1:3-5). This covenant relationship we have with God must never be compromised with idolatry of any kind, for we also are called away from the old life to serve the Living God, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17) … “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:5-6).
“So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance” (Joshua 24:25-28).
“Made a covenant” literally means to “cut a covenant” through animal sacrifice. The animal was cut in half, and those agreeing to the covenant walked between the two halves. Anyone breaking it understood that they deserved to be treated like the sacrificed animal, “And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof. The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf; I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth” (Jeremiah 34:18-20).
Most of us know a little about the modern cult of the “Promise Keepers.” In reality they, and most Christians, are promise breakers just like the Jews of Joshua’s day. In truth, the only Promise Keeper is the Lord. When the covenant with Abraham was cut, God walked between the pieces alone to signify that all the patriarch had to do was trust and obey, “And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” (Genesis 15:17-18). As the Promise Keeper He vows to keep every word He has spoken, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). God’s eternal promise finds its ultimate fulfilment in the atoning sacrifice of Christ. We should constantly remind ourselves of God’s faithful promise. “For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Corinthians 1:20) … “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).
“And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash. And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel. And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim” (Joshua 24:29-33).
Faith is a continual journey unto the end of our earthly life. It is our responsibility to stay on track. Joshua lived until he was 110 years old. Joseph and Eleazar were buried in the Promised Land. These men believed in the covenant God had made with Abraham. The list of faithful men and women recorded in Hebrews 11 remind us that trust and obedience to God’s word results in the fulfilment of the promise, “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” (Hebrews 11:13).
Our fight is not against people, but against sin and self. It isn’t for property, but for Heaven. We do not seek the rest [luxury, money, and entertainment] of the world, but that which is found in serving God by faith. Our pathway must always be governed by God’s revealed will, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).
The Israelites promised to follow the Lord, but within a few years after Joshua’s death they became lawless, idolatrous and wicked (see Judges). Disobedience and disregard of God’s word always results in the destruction of faith. We need to consider our past, present and future; consider our piety, promises and path. “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip” (Hebrews 2:1).
Page created 25 February 2006