The Book of Joshua 1:1-9 [NLTse]
After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, 2 “Moses My servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. 3 I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— 4 from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ 5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.
6 “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. 9 This is My command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
As the Book of Joshua opens the Israelites are uuu camped along the east bank of the Jordan River, at the very edge of the Promised Land, and they are completing the mourning period for Moses who has just died.
Before his death, the Lord commissioned Moses’ assistant, Joshua, to lead Israel in Moses’ place. Joshua was one of only two living eyewitnesses to the Egyptian plagues and the Exodus from Egypt, and not only had he served as Moses’ assistant, but he had served as the commander of Israel’s armies during their wilderness wanderings.
The Lord promises Joshua what He had promised Moses, and what He had first promised Abraham (recorded back in Genesis 15): That all the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites would be Israel’s; from the Negev wildlands in the south to the Lebanon Mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean coast on the west.
The Lord God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, tells Joshua this first day of his “new job”, “No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live.” (v. 5a) Why? Because Joshua was so great? Or because Israel had developed into such a formidable force? No. No one would be able to stand against Joshua as long as he lived, God says, because “I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you!” (v. 5b)
The Lord God commands Joshua, “Be strong and courageous!” (v. 6a) Why? God says, because “you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them.” (6b) Moses didn’t appoint Joshua; and, Joshua wasn’t Israel’s choice: God picked him; Joshua was the one God had chosen to lead Israel to receive all God’s promises.
The Lord commands, “Be strong and very courageous,” but He also commands Joshua to “be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them…” (v. 7a-c) Why? Because “then you will be successful in everything you do.” (v. 7d)
To attain success humanity has always worked to make sure they had enough money, worked to make sure they had the right training, worked to make sure they had the proper people. And all of this may be wise and wisdom. But the Sovereign Lord makes absolutely clear, “Do you want to be successful? Then obey My Word; trust Me explicitly.” He says, “It will require strength of character and great courage because I uuu use “things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And [I use] things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. [I use] things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and use them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.” (1 Corinthians 1:27-28) You need to be strong and courageous because you won’t always look like you’re going to succeed – it may never seem to you like you’re going to succeed – but that’s because I’m going to make sure that I get the glory, not you,” says the Lord.
“If you want to be truly successful, successful here and now and forever with a success no one can ever take away from you, you need to be strong and courageous and do what I tell you to do when I tell you to do it. For I am with you, and I will always be with you,” says the Lord.
What’s Joshua’s part? The Lord tells him: “Study this Book of Instruction continually” (v. 8a) The NIV translation reads, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth,” and most literally it says, “Do not let this Book of the Law be removed from your mouth.” So the idea is, always keep it in your mouth, that is, be talking about it all the time: Ask questions about it, remind those around you of it, keep it as a part of your everyday conversation, etc… Of course, the New Living Translation we use says, “study”, because in a culture that did not yet have books or printing presses and where writings were rare and scarce, a person studied by talking about things with the wise, the elderly, those with more years and more experience, debating, saying, “Yeah, but,” “yeah, but,” and “what if…?” and “what if…?”
The Lord also tells Joshua, “Meditate on it day and night…” (v. 8b) We talked about Christian meditation last week: How in Christian meditation we repeat God’s truths to ourselves in order to take them into ourselves to replace the lies, deceptions, and half-truths we’ve often come to believe across the years before we became Christians. Why does the Lord want Joshua to meditate on His Word, on the truth? “So you will be sure to obey everything written in it,” God says.
Life in Christ is about believing the right things, but it is not just about believing. Paul uuu writes to the Ephesians, “God saved you by His grace when you believed… Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” (2:8-9) But Jesus’ half-brother, James, also made uuu clear: But “do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says!” (1:22) Through the faith that has saved us the Holy Spirit seeks to transform each of us – heart, mind, words, and deeds – into the likeness of Christ!
“Be strong… Be courageous… Obey Me… Study My Word… Meditate on My Truth… Only then will you prosper and succeed in everything you do.” (v. 8) Joshua’s success was not guaranteed unconditionally. For the very same reasons, neither is ours…
Surely our beloved Jesus had to live-out these commands given to Joshua to “Be strong and courageous!” because the Lord Jesus is the ultimate example of God’s using “things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise; using things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful; using things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, to bring to nothing what the world considers important.” After all, yes, He was hailed as king by His people that first Palm Sunday, but within the week those same crowds were yelling, “Crucify Him!” And they did. And He let them.
He stepped up to the plate, expected by His followers and all those watching Him to hit a grand slam home run! But He intentionally struck out, instead! How strong, how courageous one needs to be to look the fool, to seem the weakling to all those whom You created in the first place! (And so many of the world religions deny Jesus was the Son of God today just for that reason, saying that God would never allow Himself to be so mocked and so abused, no matter what.)
How strong and courageous our God! To pay the price of the sins of His creatures at the hands of His creatures! And then to still offer them – us – saving grace..!
“Be strong and courageous!” the Father commanded Him, “because it’s going to seem like You’re losing. But Your victory, My Son, will be the greatest victory the world has ever known; the victory the world’s been waiting for ever since Adam and Eve believed that Serpent instead of Me!”
“Jesus, meek and mild,” I hear people say. I tell you, there is indomitable strength in His meekness – in true meekness; and there is courage in His mild-manner – in true mild-manneredness!
My friends, be strong, be courageous: Let us not ever be afraid or discouraged. For Emmanuel, the Lord our God, is with us wherever we go!
Hosanna in the highest Heaven! Save us, Lord! Thank You for saving us, Lord!