I realize there is only a mention of the walls of Jericho in Hebrews as there are only a few words about Rahab. But as our approach to chapter 11 is to magnify the
grace of God and the faith in the OT folks, we are going to take a couple of days and look at each of these examples beginning with the walls of Jericho.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish
with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
There are all kinds of things in the Christian church, the way so many read their Bibles and live their lives, that are a puzzle. For example:
There seems to be an emphasis upon Saul being confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus, even demanding that we all have such an experience, parents demanding their
children have such an experience, if we are really saved, so we are told, we will have such an experience like Saul of Tarsus had.
But hardly no one ever emphasizes the life that came AFTER his so-called conversion. What about his unwavering obedience and desire for holiness? What about the suffering
for Christ’s sake? What about the love he had for the church! The church was His life because it was Christ’s bride! What about being a fool for Christ? What about living with his eyes fixed on heaven? How come THAT isn’t emphasized? How come we don’t hear
it said, and I would argue this actually would BE biblical: If that isn’t the kind of Christian life you live, then you are not a Christian?
The Christian faith has been sanitized. We read the story of David and Goliath but we leave out the part about David cutting off Goliath’s head. We see pictures of
Noah and the animals are all smiling on the deck of the boat, but we ignore the abject terror that the event was, the destruction of men, women and children. We don’t tell our young ones that God killed people in the OT and that God kills people in the NT.
And we don’t tell them that, because, well, it isn’t…nice.
We teach our children to sing about Joshua, you remember, the little song: “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho
and the walls came tumbling down.”
Two things; first, Joshua really didn’t fight the battle before the walls came tumbling down, and second, after the walls came down, Joshua and his men killed every
living thing in the city, but for Rahab and her family; Killed them all just as the Lord had declared.
The Lord appears to his servant Joshua outside of Jericho and gives him the plan…the plan of victory over Jericho. But those instructions are not made up of anything remotely
that sounds like military strategy. No trenches are to be dug, no batteries erected, no siege set to the city, no battering rams built, no waves of armed soldiers attacking in precise intervals, no sneak attack at night.
Instead, march and the walls will fall down at the command of the Lord. Although it is quite clear that the victory is the Lord’s nevertheless the people were to participate,
they were not passive. Two things they were to do:
First, was to engage in a ritual of faith. In other words, they were to trust the Lord’s word and the Lord’s way, as odd as it was, and it was very odd. The presence
of God was ritually set forth in the Ark of the covenant which is mentioned 10 times in the chapter and the priests were to lead the way. Usually, the priests were not to go to war but this would be different, they not only would go to war but would lead Israel
because the battle is that of faith and of trusting the Lord’s Word and putting the rituals, the sacraments of God in their right place, therefore put the priests in the front.
And then there was the blowing of trumpets which announced to all who heard the Lord’s presence. And then notice the prominence of the number seven in these instructions —
seven days, seven priests, seven trumpets, seven times on the seventh day…All of this indicates the completeness of the triumph the Lord will give Israel. [Howard, 169]
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that in the book of the Revelation it is not until the 7th trumpet that the end comes. The 7th trumpet announces
the final judgment of God in the destruction of the city of man. So, it is not a mere coincidence that we have here the sounding of 7 trumpets and then the destruction of the city of man. Jericho and its destruction at the 7th trumpet are linked
to God’s destruction of mankind at the end of the age.
It is of greatest interest to us that the chapter gives us all this sacramental detail preceding the plans for defeating Jericho and then the details about how to follow God’s
plan and only 1.5 verses to the actual triumph itself. Faith is the victory. Knowing God and setting as primary His worship and His means of grace leads to further obedience. Christians who don’t worship are Christians who do not and will not obey the Lord
and therefore will not find the victory that the Lord promises!
Prayer: Father, when I start to truly see my sin for what it is and just how malevolent my heart is, I am in turmoil. The depth of my sin is overwhelming but then
to know that You call me as Your child with words of kindness to forgive me, to wash me clean, to set my life apart from my sin…this is unspeakable mercy. I am left at Your feet with nothing but love, nothing but a deep and ever deepening desire to serve and
love You. Grant me this day, the courage and the faith to live as One forgiven, to the glory of Your Son, my Savior, Amen.
Hymn: Benedictus (Listen for the climax of this beautiful piece of music at about the 5:50 mark. This fits so wonderfully with the prayer this morning.)
