Resurrection Life of Jesus Church

CROSSING THE JORDAN
The Jordan River overflowed its banks in the spring and became a raging river. Jesus wanted to display His power, and instead of waiting until summer time when the river was like a small creek, the Son of God wanted the Hebrews to cross a dangerous swollen river that was capable of death and destruction. Joshua 3:1-6

Jesus personally conducted this operation, but in order to fulfill all the legal obligations from the trial of Lucifer, it was necessary to have a combination of divine power and humanity. The weak link would be the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, stepping out in faith into the fast-flowing waters. This would provide Lucifer with the chance to put fear into these men and stop the crossing. verses 7-13

The priests refused to accept the fear they felt and the operation was a success because of their faith in God. verses 14-17

OBEDIENCE
When everyone was safely on the other side, Jesus demanded that the men exercise faith in God and be circumcised. This was an important step because the Israelites had entered enemy territory and the men would be physically weak and unable to fight for a week. Joshua 5:2-9

FACETIME
Jesus wanted to solidify Joshua’s faith and met him in person. verses 13-15

FALL OF JERICHO
Obedience and worship are what God demands. Jesus told Joshua that Jericho was going to be destroyed, but in order to fulfill the legal issues with Lucifer, taking the city could not solely be a heavenly operation. There had to be men involved that could be tempted by Lucifer to derail the battle plan.

Think about it for a moment…There was no need for Jesus to have the Israelites walk around Jericho for seven days. None whatsoever. This was merely an act of obedience and a chance for Lucifer to tempt the people into disobeying the specific directive of the Son of God. Joshua 6:1-5

Joshua ordered the people to do what Jesus had instructed. verses 6-20

Jesus ordered angels to flatten the legendary walls. verse 20

The Hebrew soldiers easily took the city and destroyed it. verses 21-27

LUCIFER MAKES HIS MOVE
Lucifer found a man who was lusting after riches and was willing to disobey God. Achan was deceived by Satan into thinking that he could get away with taking plunder.

The entire Hebrew nation was cursed as a result of Achan’s greed, and in the next battle against the small city of Ai, Jesus did not show any mercy and thirty-six Israelite soldiers were killed in battle. Joshua 7:1-5

Joshua knew he had a spiritual problem and sought the Lord for help. verses 6-9

Jesus stated that there would be defeat as long as there was sin in the camp. The guilty person must be executed. verses 10-15

Since Achan was not willing to come forward and admit his sin, God revealed him to be the guilty party. Achan’s entire family had to pay for his sinful action! verses 16-26

ANOTHER DECEPTION
Lucifer knew the laws that the Godhead had established and he decided to mix heathens among the Israelites since he could not stop Jesus from settling the Hebrews in the Promised Land. These people would pollute the Israelites with idolatry and cause them to embrace pagan worship.

Lucifer found a people called Hivites and skillfully used evil spirits to guide them into disguising themselves as a people from a land far away who sought a peace treaty with the Hebrews. It should be noted that the Hivites were the descendants of Ham, the son of Noah. Joshua 9:1-6

Some of the Hebrews doubted that they had indeed come from a far country. verse 7

Joshua now committed a leadership blunder. Instead of telling the Hivites that he was going to seek the Lord for an answer, he fell for the deception while listening to their lies. verses 8-14

Jesus certainly could have intervened and stopped Joshua from making a mistake but doing so would have removed Lucifer’s ability to challenge mankind. Joshua erroneously applied the free will made available to humanity by the Godhead. verses 15-17

Joshua should have called the entire camp together and led them in repentance for making a covenant with Gibeon. He was spiritually blinded to the truth for some reason. While the city-state was punished and enslaved, their pagan worship crept into the people of Israel. verses 18-27

Joshua had violated the law given to Moses about not making a covenant with the Canaanites. Exodus 23:32-33

SUMMARY
Joshua and the Hebrew nation won individual battles against Jericho and Ai, but they lost the war that will continue until the second coming of Christ. Lucifer successfully planted idol worshipers among the twelve tribes like sleeper agents. Some 600 years later Israel would split into two kingdoms and a few hundred years later they lost the land when they were taken into captivity.