The next few chapters of Joshua are the history of how Israel defeated and possessed all of the cities and fortresses in their Promised Land. They were commanded to utterly destroy the inhabitants because they had been given over to forms of idolatry and perversion. If they were not completely destroyed, they would cause Israel to stumble in the future.
Israel was called to be a light to the nations, a nation that was of a different spirit, governed by law and justice, and free from the perversion of soul that was a cancer destroying the nations. Radical surgery to remove this cancer was required for the land that Israel was to inhabit.
Even so, we know from the Scriptures that God loves all men and desires for them to be saved. We can be sure that all of His actions were designed for the ultimate salvation of mankind. The very provision to which Joshua was leading Israel was a provision so that the nations would have a future opportunity to return to God and live. We must establish in our hearts that the Creator is just and in every way has mankind's best interest in mind. This was proven for all time at the cross.
These are two things we must settle in our heart as we proceed to possess the promises that we have been given. First, God is just. Regardless of things that we may not understand in our finite minds and finite perspective, He is always just and usually merciful. The second is that there can be no compromise with evil in our inheritance.
If we are more concerned about appearing politically correct than being obedient, we will not make it. Obeying God and doing His will must be the most basic devotion of our life. For now we "see in part, and know in part" (see I Corinthians 13:9). Therefore, it takes faith, so it is usually a waste of time to try to convince those who are doubtful of God's justice. What we are concerned about is its application for us. On judgment day all will know that the Creator is indeed just and merciful.
As covered previously, we are told in I Corinthians 10:11 concerning Israel's history, "Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." All of these nations and cities represent strongholds in our inheritance, which must also be conquered. When we fight against these strongholds, which represent the influences of evil in our land, we, too, cannot compromise with the command that all of these heathen influences must be totally destroyed.
Of course, as we have also previously covered, our inheritance in Christ is the nations. Our goal is not to destroy others, but rather to see them saved. Neither are the weapons of our warfare carnal or physical, but are spiritual. Even so, we must be resolute in not compromising with evil. We will not be able to help anyone if we compromise with evil. One of the most tragic and devastating mistakes of historic Christianity has been to compromise with heathen beliefs and behavior in order to be acceptable to them. This is the mindset of the naive; as such compromise only leads to a disrespect of ourselves and our faith, costing us the power to convert anyone.
To lay a foundation for how these specific cities and groups within the Promised Land represent spiritual strongholds that have to be overcome, let us back up a bit and consider the main attack upon Israel in the wilderness, and what it speaks of. I am referring to the attack of the Amalekites in Exodus 17:8-16:
So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose men for us, and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."
And Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed.
But Moses' hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set.
So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write this in a book as a memorial,
and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."
And Moses built an altar, and named it The Lord is My Banner,
and he said, "The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation."
Amalek represents the devil and his hordes in Scripture. It was the nature of the Amalekites to attack at night and to pick off the weak and stragglers who fell behind in the march of Israel. This is still Satan's strategy for picking off many of God's people who drift from or fall behind the advancing camp of the Lord. This war against Amalek, which continued throughout Israel's history, gives us great insight into our perpetual battle against the evil one.
As we will cover in more depth a bit later, every time in Scripture that there is a reference made to "those uncircumcised" it is in relation to the Philistines, making the conflicts with them a remarkably insightful parallel of our battles against the flesh or carnal nature.
These lessons that we are about to cover are for us "upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (see I Corinthians 10:11) so that we will understand our battles. Understanding spiritual battles is half the victory. Therefore, we will spend some time examining these in enough depth to help us prepare for what is to come.
As stated before, it would have been a small thing for the Lord to have destroyed all of these enemies from Israel's Promised Land before they entered, but He wanted them to fight for their land. The Lord does not want this conquest to be easy, because it will be in the battles ahead that we are changed into those who are capable of inheriting the great promises we are entering into. Those who do not care enough to fight for their inheritance are not worthy of it.
This is one of the important issues looming before the body of Christ: Who cares enough for the inheritance to be disciplined and prepared for the battles ahead? The advancing church will be forming into "marshal array," and learning spiritual warfare is going to a new level of seriousness in the times ahead. There is going to be perpetual war against "Amalek," the devil and his hordes, the Philistines and all of the works of the flesh that they represent, until the King Himself returns physically to complete the victory and establish His kingdom. However, the Scriptures are clear that when He returns, His people will be fighting, taking ground, and not hiding or seeking an escape. It is an ultimate dishonor to our King and to the faith to retreat before evil.
As one friend of mine who was a Special Forces officer told me, "there are many soldiers, but not many warriors." There are many soldiers today who joined "to be all they can be," and then there are those who joined the military because it is their calling. Christians are all called to be warriors, and "many are called, but few are chosen," (see Matthew 22:14) or few go on to fulfill their calling.
There is a call going out now, and true warriors are hearing it. They are not like others who may claim the same faith and same resolve to serve the Lord, but in fact live for themselves, not for Him. There is a new breed arising though. I think for you to be reading something like this, you must at least be hearing the call. An army is being prepared for the greatest adventure and the greatest conquest, ever. We will not conquer in order to destroy, but to save. We will not conquer in order to dominate, but to set people free. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal or physical—they are far more powerful than that.
In the coming weeks, we will study some of the strongholds that are represented by these nations in Scripture, and the weapons that we have been given for the battles ahead.
