Remember those spies that Joshua sent to Ai? As election results rolled across America today I thought of them. They were so sure of an easy victory for Israel.
Most of our nation was expecting a red wave to roll across the nation; but that didn’t happen either. Sometimes things do not turn out as predicted or expected. The Book of Joshua; Chapter Seven has a lot of wisdom to add to this conversation.
WELCOME
Thank you for joining us today in our “every-Thursday” bible study we call COME AS A CHILD. Today we are still considering the things that happened to Israel in Joshua Chapter 7. Funny how much of it ties into something to consider for modern times.
COULD THERE BE ANOTHER REASON?
Voices are already out there yelling “fraud” or “socialistic interference” concerning the recent election procedures. That could well be true; but could there also be another reason for why many of our Christian and conservative values are being defeated?
Perhaps we need to look further into the story of Achan and Israel and The Battle at Jericho and Ai.
Is it possible that we have become such an ungodly nation that God has turned away from defending us? One sinner caused Israel to be defeated in battle. Will we go down that same old path of self-destruction too?
Will our constant lack of faith and loyalty to the ways of God cause us to fall just as Israel did at Ai? How many people will suffer before we find these answers?
LEARNING HOW TO OVERCOME
As we continue to study the Book of Joshua, we will see so many ways to overcome the continuous patterns of sin in our own human nature. Jesus firmly requested that we learn how to be overcomers. Maybe this story can help us to see what we really need to do.
It was unexplainable to Israel that they had been so victorious against Jericho then were so defeated by a little town like Ai. Thirty-six men died and the rest were turned away from the city gates. How was this possible?
Some of us stand like Israel today, shaking our heads and saying – how is this possible? What could have gone so wrong? Things looked so easy from where we stood yesterday. Why would God not grant us a victory in such a small battle?
I also have another huge question.
MEN OF ZERO TOLERANCE
What if Joshua and those old Israelites were to walk into your local church congregations today? What would be your first thoughts? How would they be perceived by the people?
My guess is that they would be seen as extremist, intolerant, and unforgiving terrorists. Yet Joshua is the man that God chose to lead Israel after the death of Moses. He was the one anointed and designated to bring the people into the long awaited promises that God had given to Abraham.
Joshua was a man of zero tolerance.
TOLERANCE AS A TYPE OF NATIONAL IDOL
Tolerance has risen to the heights of an idol in our culture today. We have great respect and esteem for those who will step aside and tolerate any action at all; whether it be good or evil. This seems to be some type of twisted version of “turn the other cheek.”
I don’t think Jesus was preaching “tolerance” when he gave that instruction. Instead, I think he was teaching about transformation from the inside out; as opposed to rule-keeping. He seemed to be saying we need to become pure on the inside and as loving and accommodating as possible without slipping into evil or ungodliness in the process.
Jesus taught that we should live by the spirit of the law and not the letter of the law. It needs to be a part of us; not just something that we rotely preach and teach. God’s Holy Spirit at work can be seen in a true believer’s actions without them speaking one word.
To “turn the other cheek” is to endure a slap in the face from a place of love. It is about not returning insult for insult; enduring in patient kindness and love. However; don’t mistake such a teaching as a form of pacifism. It isn’t. It is simply saying that all revenge belongs to God.
VENGENCE BELONGS TO THE LORD
When we let God be the judge of all matters; the judgments can’t be in error. He is God and we are not. We must trust Him to handle all things fairly; according to His superior wisdom; not ours.
Joshua was well aware that the success of Israel as a nation depended upon God’s presence with them. He also understood that God is holy and He cannot exist in the midst of sin. Rather than risk this threat of sin that would make God turn his back on his people; Joshua chose to deal with the sin. Thus Achan was found guilty and stoned.
WERE THERE INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO SUFFERED?
Yes; but what about the innocent victims that were merely a part of Achan’s family? Were they not all innocent? Was this not harsh and very unfair to them?
We must consider the fact that Achan’s family members would have noticed that he had to remove the flooring in his tent and dig a hole in order to hide his crime. They would have been aware that he had taken and hidden the things that God had specifically told them not to remove from Jericho. The evidence would have been so obvious to them.
If you reworded the scriptures and described Achan’s crime in today’s words the report would have been something like this: Achan would have walked away from The Battle of Jericho with a custom-made suit; over $1,000 in silver and a chunk of gold worth about $21,000.
Those things would have been hard to hide in a group of tents that were constantly moving and changing directions. Achan’s family must have known.
SILENCE KILLED THE INNOCENT
How could Achan hide something worth so much and not tell at least one family member in case something happened to him? Those family members were very aware. They had remained silent. Yet; most likely they KNEW that Achan had brought trouble to the whole nation. Still; they had also been a huge part of the cover up. Their silence had basically caused the needless deaths of thirty-six men and risked many other lives at the same time.
Why had no one spoken up and prevented this catastrophe for the nation?
Who was the most guilty; the one who committed the original sin or those who silently tried to hide it in hopes that they might benefit from it in the future?
THE PAST VERSES THE PRESENT
Let’s stand Achan’s family’s case against some of what typically goes on in many church congregations of today. Yes; the times and customs of our cultures are different; but let’s be bold and face the facts and admit that human nature and it’s consequences hardly ever change over the times of history and in any type of culture.
If Joshua and those rulers of Israel who stoned Achan and his family to death walked into your local congregation today; how harshly would they be judged by the people?
Is keeping the ways of God about doing the right thing by following God’s instructions or being polite?
Have we as a people let the idol of tolerance rule over us to the point that we would endure evil over the ways of God among our people and nation?
I wonder.
GUILT THROUGH ASSOCIATION
Are we standing by in silence and watching evil take our nation without speaking out to our leaders against it?
We mentioned last week that sin is like a cancer. One little spot can grow and affect and infect the whole body. In order to keep this from happening the cancer must be completely removed from the rest of the body. If you leave just a little it will continue to spread and eventually result in death.
Achan’s sin not only affected him; it affected the whole nation of Israel. It affected the lives of his family and all of those he held most dear. In satisfying his own covetous nature; he basically killed his own family. As head of his home he brought them under his own sin. They became guilty by association.
Unlike us today though, Achan had no fitting substitute for the magnitude of his sin. He had basically murdered a whole nation.
THE ANSWER FOR ALL SIN
Today we have Jesus.
He took on the sins of the whole world when He died on the cross for us.
If that were not so; each of us would be just like Achan. It would only be a matter of time before we would be judged guilty and sentenced to a death that removed us from God forever.
Fortunately; God has now given us the covering of the Blood of Jesus; His Only Begotten Son. This is at least one million and more times better than a custom-made Babylonian suit that would not begin to get us into the banquet room of God’s house for The Wedding Feast of The Lamb. No silver or gold can replace the cost of your eternal soul. The covering from Jesus will blot out all of our sins from The Book of Life. Now we will never be faced with an eternity apart from God.
A FITTING REMINDER
So now we can begin to see that Achan’s story is not so much about fearing judgement but it is a very good reminder that we need to deal with the personal sins in our lives before we allow them to deatroy us and those that we love.
Daily we should be confessing our sins to Jesus and allowing him to help us to become overcomers.
So does the story of Achan’s sin prove that God is a God of wrath and judgement as opposed to a God of love and mercy and forgivness?
Even further; does this mean that like Achan we will receive no mercy or grace for our sins?
When Israel marched confidently into Ai; they thought the enemy was already defeated and the battle was already won. Then they learned the truth of the matter. They had to come to terms of the reality that sin was at work among their people.
FOLLOWING GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS MATTERS
In Joshua 6:18 God had warned them ahead of time not to take the things that were set apart, or they would be destroyed. They had been given one restriction; similar to Adam and Eve when they had lived inside the garden of God. Like them; Achan had tried to hide his sin.
God knew.
God ALWAYS knows.
Therefore it is critical that a nation who claims to be a godly nation should not just appear to be pure and godly. A false appearance will only compound the guilt of a sin that has been heaped up before God. That nation must do the hard work of removing the sin and remaining holy by confessing to Jesus and asking Him to cover those sins with His blood. Once that is done; God’s Holy Spirit must be allowed to work inside our homes, our neighborhoods, our states and our country and then go out from us to the world.
MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD
All of the gold and silver of the earth cannot equal the power of the life-giving blood of Jesus Christ at work in a nation who loves and worships God. The stones that are the only reminder left of Achan and his family members will forever remind us that the sins of mankind will only eliminate us from freedom and the blessings of God.
If God is to continue to shed His grace upon our nation in America; we must remove all of the cancers that keep His back turned away from us.
It has been noted by many great thinkers that corruption from within is mankind’s worst enemy. Let us return to God’s best ways to live and become the overcomers that Jesus encouraged us to become.
In the days to come when we approach even more elections for our country; let our hearts and our actions stand and speak louder than our words.
If God is for us; who can stand against us?