The Land Flowing with Milk and Honey 8
Joshua 7:10-13
10 So the LORD said to Joshua, “Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. 12 Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst. 13 Rise up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the LORD, the God of Israel, has said, “There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst.”
Brothers and sisters, having crossed the overflowing Jordan River by God’s power, Israel passed the first gateway, Jericho, with great ease. Obeying God’s command, Israel marched around the City for seven days. On the Seventh day, after they marched around it seven times and gave a loud shout, the sturdy wall crumbled down. At this point, God had the seven priests blow the seven trumpets of rams’ horns. Seven days, seven times, seven priests, they all relate to number 7.
7 signifies perfection. The leprous General Naaman was also healed of his disease after washing seven times. So, it signifies that God’s works take place when we completely trust and obey the word of God. Showing perfect obedience, Israel destroyed the City of Jericho and went up towards the City of Ai, their next target. Because the City is smaller than Jericho, they assumed they would win more easily but suffered a miserable defeat. We talked about this in the last session.
Just because Israel crossed the Jordan, just because they conquered Jericho doesn’t mean they’d completed the task of conquering Canaan. When people work towards a goal, they conduct themselves prudently with great resolve. But once they overcome some major challenges, they become lax or arrogant, messing up their work.
But people who are successful don’t put themselves at ease but do their utmost until they achieve their goal. As for the Israelites, they shouldn’t have become lax, just because they’d achieved the great tasks of Jordan River and Jericho. They should’ve been on alert with self-control until the final victory. They should’ve received God’s help as the battle continued.
Today, I’ll speak to you on why Israel was defeated by Ai and how they got through this hardship. I hope that you apply this message well in your efforts to achieve God’s work or in receiving blessings on a personal level. As you learn about how Israel marched in faith, I want you to demonstrate even greater faith and receive blessings. As you hear about Israel’s mistakes, I want you to learn how you can stay on the prosperous path without mistakes.
Also, as you hear about how Israel suffered trials for their sins, hopefully, you wisely resolve to always dwell in God, thereby living in protection and love. I pray in the Lord’s name that everything I’m sharing with you today will become a source of great wisdom and strength and you will always receive the blessings of Canaan flowing with milk and honey.
Brothers and sisters, as the Israelite army returned from a huge defeat in the City of Ai which they thought was easy to conquer, Joshua bitterly lamented and prayed with the elders. They also realized that this wasn’t just a defeat but God turned His face away from Israel. Until then, Israel acted boldly before strong enemies. Even the Canaanites were afraid of them. This was absolutely because God was with Israel.
If God left Israel, they couldn’t help but be destroyed, being surrounded by the enemies. Not knowing why God wasn’t with Israel in the battle against Ai and what they should do from then on, Joshua rent his heart and pleaded with God with tears. In response, God notified Joshua of why they were defeated.
“Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. 12 Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst.” Because Jericho was the first City they conquered in Canaan, God commanded them to offer the city and everything in it to Him but someone violated it.
Joshua 7:11-12
Before this issue of disobedience was resolved, God couldn’t be with Israel. Although it already seemed late, because they found out the reason, they needed to track down the sinner and remove evil from among them. But, God didn’t directly say who the sinner was. Instead, He told them to find the sinner among all the congregation. Rather than instructing them to question each person or having trials, God had them draw lots so that He Himself would pick him out.
First, as all the tribes of Israel drew lots, the lot fell on one of the tribes. Then, it fell on one of the clans of that tribe, then, one of the families of that clan, and lastly, a man from that family. It was Achan from the tribe of Judah. Having no way to get away with this, Achan admitted all his sins. During the battle against Ai, he took a beautiful robe, silver, and gold from the spoils of the City which were to be offered to God. He hid them in the ground inside his tent.
We can feel this is the work of God who is delicate and has everything under control. Mathematically, the probability of being picked out by the lot was the same for each and every person. Let’s say one hundred people drew lots, every one of them shares a 1% chance of being picked out by the lot. But, among all the Israelites which were millions in number, God picked out the exact person, The Bible says, “The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the LORD.” Just watching the process in which God revealed Achan’s sins, we can once again confirm that God knows all things clearly and has everything under His control.
(Proverbs 16:33)
Also, we should keep in mind that, even though the sins were committed by a single person, this kept God from being with all the Israelites. We see such cases in the church as well. There are times God requires the faith of the whole congregation. Let’s say a church has 1,000 members. The whole doesn’t necessarily mean all the 1,000 members. But as for some great works of God, the majority has to show faith.
It doesn’t mean to say that just because a single member or only a few members commit sins, the entire church suffers trouble. I am saying as church members show faith together or the entire church is united as one, they can receive God’s answer or bring down God’s great work. Also, when a pastor or a Levite commits wrongdoing, the entire church can suffer trouble.
The Bible says, “one sinner destroys much good.” The verse signifies that disobedience of a single person could lead his entire group to severe hardship or destruction. This was true of Israel. Due to Achan’s sins, God turned His face away from them, and this resulted in their defeat in the battle against Ai. What God wanted from His people who were about to conquer Canaan was perfect sanctification and obedience on a congregational level. That’s way disobedience of a single person brought about the terrible outcome of God leaving the entire Israel.
Ecclesiastes 9:18
What did Israel have to do to resolve this issue? They had to wipe out the traces of sins from among them, demolishing the wall between God and themselves. A similar case is found in the Book of Jonah. Jonah disobeyed God’s command of going to Nineveh and proclaiming its destruction. Instead, he boarded the ship bound for Tarshish, travelling in the opposite direction.
The ship boarded by Jonah who disobeyed God’s command met with a big storm. It was in danger of a wreck. To find out who caused that crisis, everyone on board drew lots and the lot exactly fell on Jonah. Jonah thought it’d be okay to run away to Tarshish. But as he faced God’s retribution, he repented immediately. Realizing that the tribulation resulted from his faults, he suggested to the people on board, saying like, “This storm came because of me. Throw me into the sea.”
This is a repenting heart. As they threw him into the sea, the storm instantly subsided and all the people on board could escape from the crisis. Thrown into the sea, Jonah was to die. But, the great fish prepared by God swallowed him and Jonah fasted and bitterly repented inside the belly of the fish where it was dark and stinky.
He said, “While I was fainting away,I remembered the LORD,And my prayer came to You,Into Your holy temple. “Those who regard vain idols Forsake their faithfulness, But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the LORD.” While Jonah admitted that he met with the trouble for his faults, he offered God a confession of thanks for saving him.
Jonah 2:7-9
In his prayer, he resolved to obey God’s word. Seeing Jonah repenting and turning back, God had mercy on him and commanded the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land. Even though Jonah had been in a disastrous situation resulting from his great sin, as he bitterly repented and turned back, he was able to receive God’s help.
Likewise, the Israelites wiped out all the traces of disobedience from among them. The people took Achan and his family members, animals, and possessions to a valley and stoned them. They burned them and heaped up a large pile of rocks over it. The same goes for us. In the face of hardships, we should first look back on ourselves, bitterly repent of sins and evil, and completely remove the forms of evil from our heart.
While you ask God to resolve your problems, you are repentant and careful not to commit sins. But when you’re in peace after some time, you shouldn’t love the world again and go back to the ways of sin and evil. God commands us to remove even the traces of sins. After Israel wiped out the sins, God was back with them and notified them in detail of the strategies to conquer Ai.
God told Israel that they shall advance on the city and then pretend to give up fight and flee so that the soldiers of Ai would be lured away from the City. At this point, some of their soldiers ambushing behind the city shall take over the empty City and destroy the enemy forces in collaboration with the soldiers that pretended to flee. Israel obeyed as they were told. They laid an ambush and attacked the City. As God told them, shortly after they began to fight, they pretended to give up fight and flee. Then, the soldiers of Ai who had defeated Israel once chased after the army of Israel.
The soldiers of Ai must’ve arrogantly thought like, ‘They are our prey. There’d be no problem. They claim God is with them, but they’re losing and running away!” So, they just put themselves at ease and chased after Israel, leaving the gates to their city wide open. Because God already recognized their heart, He gave Israel that strategy.
As Joshua gave a signal with Javelin, the soldiers in ambush quickly rose from their positions and took over the empty City, thereby winning a great victory. As they obeyed God’s strategy, it was only natural that they won. If only they obeyed, they were ever-victorious.
Watching how they conquered the City of Ai, we can draw some valuable lessons. The first one is, we should discern God’s will first in all affairs. Before Israel’s first attack on Ai, Joshua should’ve asked God about the battle rather than accepting man’s way of thinking, “Because Ai is a small City. Just three thousand men are enough.” They shouldn’t have become lax because of their victory in Jericho and tried to do things by man’s strength. They should’ve humbly sought God’s strength until they finally conquered Canaan in its entirety.
In planning or accomplishing a task in our families, workplaces, or businesses, we should first hear the Spirit and receive His guidance through fervent prayer, discern God’s will, and obey. Then, we can make the impossible possible and be led onto the prosperous path. Second, to walk with God, we should completely rid ourselves of sins and evil and be sanctified. Israel was defeated by Ai, not because its inhabitants were strong or great in number,
but because God was not with them. After they wiped out Achan’s sins and evil from among them, God was back with them so they could quickly conquer Ai. The same goes for us.
Just as Israel burned up Achan and all that belong to him, we should cast off all forms of evil without anything left. Only then can we become bold before God and receive whatever we ask of Him. As for some people, they are without God’s answers and suffer miseries. But they neither repent nor reflect on themselves but blame their environment or another person. Others, try to hide their sins before God.
Still others, pretend to be holy while their heart is full of evil. But, they can never hide anything before God. Those people cannot walk with God. Jesus said, “He who sent Me, (namely, God), is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”
(John 8:29)
Why didn’t God leave Jesus alone? It was because Jesus always pleased Him. Being sinless, Jesus only did what pleased Him always in the truth. That’s why God was always with Him. Therefore, during Jesus’ ministry, no one could dare interfere right in front of Him.
When Jesus was not around, they plotted against or gossiped about Him saying like, “He is a deceiver. He’s possessed by demon, by Beelzebub. He’s a bad man.” But they didn’t dare do that before Jesus, except when He suffered the crucifixion. Because He was bearing our sins, and God was turning His face away, He went through all kinds of suffering, being beaten and spat on, etc. This wasn’t because He had sins.
To fulfill God’s providence of saving us, mankind, God sacrificed Jesus. Except for that time, God was always with Jesus, protecting Him. Because Jesus had no sins and evil, He always walked with God. As its evidence, God had Him manifest signs, wonders, and great power wherever He went. Likewise, to the extent we cast off sins and evil and live by the word, God makes us prosper in all affairs, thereby manifesting the evidence of His being with us.
Once we become sanctified and come into spirit, we can walk with God, although not to the full extent. As we reach the level of whole spirit and of pleasing God, we can always walk with God. God immediately answers our prayer and leads us to be prosperous in all affairs without any misery. Thus, we should cast off all sins and evil without any of them remaining and achieve perfect sanctification, thereby becoming God-pleasing true children.
After Joshua conquered the City of Ai, he briefly took a break from the conquering battles and led his people toward mountains located some distance away. The Israelites had awakening moments through Achan’s sins and their defeat, so Joshua felt the need to teach the people once again. Also, this was to carry out a special command Moses gave to Israel before his death.
Moses said, “It shall come about, when the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.” In the middle of the Land of Canaan were two mountains, Gerizim and Ebal. Joshua divided the Israelites in two groups and had each group stand on each mountain. And, He had Joshua shout out God’s laws to the people.
Deuteronomy 11:29
When he proclaimed the words of blessings, people standing on Gerizim responded with Amen. When he did the words of curses, those standing on Ebal responded. Can you imagine how this proclamation of God’s commands affected the hearts of the Israelites? While millions of people were standing in two groups, God’s laws were solemnly proclaimed and the people responded to both the words of blessings and those of curses with loud Amens. Those who participated in such a solemn ceremony couldn’t have dared violate God’s commands to which they responded with loud Amens.
They deeply engraved on their heart what blessings would come when they acted by the words and what curses would come for their sins. The words were already taught by Moses numerous times, but through a few incidents, they had kept them in mind all the more. And, God had them inscribed deep on their heart through confessions of their lips. The importance of keeping God’s commands cannot be stressed enough. Regretfully, although Israel always learned them, they repeatedly sinned and suffered from diseases, oppression from the Gentiles, etc as their history confirms.
As their afflictions intensified, Israel turned back, repented, and kept His commands again. Then, God saved them. But, as peaceful days went on, they again left God, forsaking His commands. As they repeated this cycle numerous times, their iniquities built up all the more. Later, they were completely destroyed by the Gentiles. They faced the outcome of forgetting what God exhorted them to do numerous times and forsaking His commands.
Such regretful scenes reflect what human beings are like. We accept the Lord as our Savior, believe God to be our Father, and learn His will. We learn that we’re blessed when we live by the words and that when we disobey, God cannot protect us, so the enemy devil brings us trials and tribulations. But as many people prioritize physical well-being, pleasure, and benefits, they depart from the word.
As they suffer hardships, they hang onto God. They pray, fast, and repent, trying to live by the words. Then, their problems are resolved. But, after that, they soon have a change of heart. They are hardly seen in the church. They stop praying and circumcising their heart, and their faithfulness cools down. Some of them even leave the church.
Even after having their problems resolved, they go back to the world living in sins and evil, thereby suffering greater trouble. After Jesus healed a leper, He warned him. “Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” Also, the Bible says, “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.”
John 5:14
2 Peter 2:20
Namely, God says that if they don’t live by the word, their situation gets worse than it was initially. Years ago, a great number of people came to our revival meetings and received healing, but many of them left God. Having heard the words of life and learned God’s will, they should’ve lived by it and made their souls prosper. But, after they were healed, they just left God. Then, they again committed sins, took worldly things, got sick again, and came back for the revival meeting the following year.
Some of them even said, “The church will have the revival meeting next year, so I can just go and get healed again.” We don’t attend church to receive healing or financial blessings, but to receive salvation and enter heaven. We do to hear the words of life, have our soul prosper, receive salvation, and enter heaven. If people come to church just in pursuit of blessings of this earth, how could God consider this faith?
Because they would leave church after getting blessed, God cannot work. So, they can’t receive answers. If you indeed faith in your heart, if you would stay faithful with your love for God, whether or not you are blessed, why wouldn’t He bless you? God surely blesses you according to what you’ve done and sown. What God wants from His children is not pretending to believe in Him to escape from trouble or believing in Him grudgingly with fear for disasters.
God wants them to indeed figure out His heart, give thanks for His love, joyfully keep His commands, and even make their heart holy, taking after Himself. To gain such true children, He had His only Son who is totally sinless die on the cross. In addition, He’s sent us the Holy Spirit who perfectly knows His heart, helping us figure out His will and live accordingly.
Thus, we should never become foolish ones who forget the commands we’ve heard and suffer disasters. By engraving the words we’ve heard wholly on our heart and obeying, we should all become true children whom God wants.
Now, Joshua and the Israelites were preparing for the next battle to fully take possession of Canaan. The kings of Canaan were scared of Israel, but at the same time, they were busy forming alliances with each other to confront it.
Meanwhile, a group of people came before Joshua. They were envoys dispatched for a peace treaty. Earlier, God commanded Israel never to make a covenant with the Canaanites. He said, “When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.”
Deuteronomy 7:1-2
Among the seven tribes of Canaan, the Girgashites were relatively small. Because they were scattered among other tribes later on, in some parts of the Bible, only six tribes are mentioned without them. God commanded Israel never to ally or make a peace treaty with the seven tribes including the Girgashites, and He told them not to leave them alive. But, these people who came before Joshua claimed that they came from afar and had nothing to do with the Canaanites.
They claimed that they’d traveled so far that their bread had become crumbled and their clothes, sandals, and wineskins had worn out. They even presented clear evidences. Based on how shabby they looked, it seemed that their words made sense and that making a treaty with them wouldn’t hurt. In the next session, we’ll explore how Joshua and Israel dealt with them.
Up to the last session, I told you how the Israelites with Joshua as their head crossed the overflowing Jordan only through faith and obedience and destroyed Jericho with great ease. Weren’t you excited by God’s marvelous works? We also talked about how Israel of which only victory was expected suffered a defeat in the small City of Ai. They were like a racing car speeding on the track, but as an obstacle came out of nowhere, they had to slam on the brakes and make a brief stop.
At such a time, it was important that they discover exactly what was wrong, have it fixed, and again race up vigorously. It’s the same in our Christian life. Watching the power of God manifested by the shepherd, we ran vigorously with hope for New Jerusalem. We achieved spiritual growth and received healing, answers, and blessings. But recently, it feels like, we’ve slowed down or come to a halt. But this is an opportunity to discover our shortcomings and change ourselves.
As we exactly figure out God’s will, fix our shortcomings, and make ourselves more beautiful, we can race faster than before. But if we just give up without changing ourselves, Canaan, the blessing, would get farther and farther away from us.
The Bible says, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith.” We shouldn’t spend time just reminiscing over our good Christian life in the past. We should be on alert and remove greed, selfish desire, and disobedience like those of Achan.
1 Peter 5:8-9
As God says, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall,” we should humbly lower ourselves, always stay on alert in prayer and become strong enough to beat the enemy devil prowling like a roaring lion. I pray in our Lord’s name that all of you will only obey God’s guidance and finally become qualified for New Jerusalem.
1 Corinthians 10:12