An Amazing Man with a Strange Plan...

As a church, we are involved in a sermon series entitled restart. And in this series we just looked at one of the most famous stories in the Bible that reveals for us another timeless principle that enables us to restart our lives so that we would be living in the relationship with God and one another in a way that we were created and called to be. This story begins in Joshua 5:13:

Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?"

This story begins with Joshua, after spending three weeks taking the time to worship God, encountering a man who approaches him with a drawn sword. And like most people, Joshua responds to this encounter with a question “are you for us or for our adversaries?” In other words whose side are you on?

But this morning, have you ever thought as to why Joshua would ask this question? I mean Joshua knew who was on his side and what they looked like. And as one who had spied out the Promised Land, Joshua also knew who the enemy was and what they looked like. This man, however, looked different. There was something mysterious and ambiguous about this man. We quickly find out where this man’s allegiances lie in his response:

He said, "No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD."

In other words, “I am on God’s side”. This mysterious man identifies himself as the leader of the army of the Lord. And in case you were wondering who leads the army of the Lord, as you might imagine, it is the Lord. This is an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ Himself, which is referred to in the Bible as the angel of the Lord. And we can feel pretty confident that this is the case by Joshua’s response:

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his servant?" The captain of the LORD'S host said to Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.

Joshua responds to this encounter with the Lord by falling on his face in worship. Joshua responds to God’s presence with an act of worship and an expression of obedience-“What has my lord to say to His servant”. And notice the response he receives: Remove your sandals from your feet because you are on sacred ground. Joshua was on sacred ground because God was there. Just like Moses with the burning bush, Joshua was face to face with the holy and sacred Creator of the universe. We then see the Lord’s answer to Joshua’s question as the story continues in Joshua 6:1-5:

Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in. The LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors. "You shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. "Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. "It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead."

Now this morning, to fully understand the significance of this conversation, we first need to understand some things about the city of Jericho. When we read that Jericho was tightly shut, that means that the city was impenetrable; no one went in or out of the city. The city of Jericho was approximately three football fields long by 1 football field wide or roughly 9 acres.

In addition, the city was surrounded by walls that most archaeologists and scholars believe were around 30 feet high. The city, while relatively small, was a fortress. The residents of Jericho knew the Jewish people were coming and were prepared for a potential attack.

Second, consider the Jewish army that would attack Jericho. They did not have siege works or other major military machinery at their disposal. Remember, they had just crossed the Jordan a month ago after wandering in a desert for 40 years. And how much military experience did they have when it came to attacking such a fortress?

Now imagine yourself as Joshua. You are face to face with the Lord waiting for instructions on how to capture this fortress community. And here is what you hear: You are to lead the over 600,000 man Jewish army as they march around the walls of the city one time a day for six days while blowing a horn and carrying the Ark of the Covenant. Then, on the seventh day, you are to march around seven times and then shout after you hear a long blast of the horn.

So you are Joshua. You are the leader of the army. You are going to give the commands to the people. What are you thinking right about now? What questions would you have for God at this point? “Uh, God, don’t you want us to fire some arrows to kill their sharpshooters that are on the wall"? "No". "Don’t you want us to build some ladders to climb the wall?" "No". "Don’t you want us to build a Trojan horse or tunnel under the wall?" "No?" "Well, what do you want us to do?" "Just walk around the wall and carry the ark, while occasionally blowing a horn". "That’s it?" "That’s it.”

How would you respond to that battle plan and command if you were Joshua? Tomorrow, we will see how Joshua responds to God’s battle plan as this famous story continues.

In the meantime, what are some of the strange plans and commands in the Bible that have caused you to question or wonder about?