The four main events that we have covered on this subject have been:
- The crossing of the Jordan River represents the death that the people of God must enter into by dying to self, and how death would overflow all of its banks during the time of the harvest, which is the end of the age.
- The circumcision at Gilgal, which represents the removal of the flesh or carnal nature, must be accomplished before we can take possession of our promises. It was also here that Israel was made to appear weak in the presence of their enemies.
- The partaking of the Passover represents the continual focus that we are to have on Jesus and His atonement sacrifice.
- Then they began to eat the fruit of the land, which represents the fruit of the Spirit that Christians are going to begin to display.
Now we are ready to address the next main event in the taking of the land, which we read about in Joshua 5:13-15:
he said, "No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord." 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.
Scholars almost universally believe this to be Jesus meeting Joshua. We do not worship angels, and an angel of the Lord would not have accepted this kind of homage from Joshua or demanded the removal of Joshua’s sandals because the ground on which he stood was “holy.” This speaks of the coming great revelation of Jesus as the Captain of the hosts of the Lord, which must come before the battles for our land can begin.
There is a difference between a revelation, or a revealing by God of a matter, and a teaching. Sound teaching is essential for a healthy, victorious Christian life, as it is what sustains us day-by-day. As I heard one man say, only a handful of the thousands of meals that his wife had prepared for him were so outstanding that he distinctly remembered them. The rest of them may not have been that memorable, they kept him going! Teaching is like that. Most of them are not intended to be so outstanding as to be particularly memorable, but they keep us going. We should be as addicted to sound teaching as we are to food. However, one revelation directly from God can accomplish more than many years of teaching.
For example, we all know the doctrine that Jesus is the Head of His church, but how many churches actually practice this? It seems as if those who preach it the most are usually the worst at practicing it. To paraphrase Shakespeare, “I think he does protest too much.” Conservative evangelicals like to claim to be the most devoted to the Scriptures, yet its most popular journals did a study on itself and found that only a tiny percentage of its articles contained so much as one reference to Scripture. I am very thankful for the conservative evangelicals and their impartation to the health of the whole body of Christ, but we often become presumptuous concerning our own greatest strengths, which quickly become our greatest weaknesses.
Most churches are probably run more by committees and boards than by following the leadership of the Lord. Of course the Lord can speak through these bodies, but few seem really devoted to seeking to hear His voice. This is why we have the most remarkable and heartbreaking statement in Scripture, Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me.” Here we have the Lord Jesus Himself standing outside the doors of His own church knocking, seeking to come in! What could be a worse indictment on us than this?
What good is the most glorious temple if God is not in it? If God is in it, it will not matter how glorious the temple is because it will not be the temple that is getting your attention! The fact is our churches are getting as much evidence of His presence as it is the lack of it. If people were really encountering the Lord at our churches, they would not be talking so much about us, they would be captivated with Him.
I say this while truly believing that overall the church is healthier and stronger today than it has probably been since the first century, and it is getting better. I am thankful for where we are and all that we have, but we do need more. In fact, we need the most important thing of all—the presence of the Lord Himself. As one friend of mine once said, “The church today has everything it needs but God!”
I do not claim that our church is any better. We have been blessed to overflowing in so many ways, and we are thankful for all of these blessings, but one moment of the manifest presence of the Lord in our midst is worth far more than everything else. Moses understood this, as we read in Exodus 33:13-16:
And He said, "My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest."
Then he said to Him, " If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.
"For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?"
I am very thankful for the leadership that the Lord has blessed His church with in our times. I think altogether that the leadership of the church in our times is probably the greatest since the first century. However, even the greatest are no comparison to the Lord Himself. Again, even the twenty-four elders, the twenty-four greatest leaders of the church age, will all cast their crowns at His feet when He enters. This is going to happen. The Lord Himself is going to suddenly come into His temple. When He does, no flesh will be able to minister there, but will flee.
The church is now preparing to cross the Jordan River. We have discussed things such as spiritual circumcision, or the cutting away of the flesh, the carnal nature, the celebration of the Passover, or a return of the cross and the crucified life to its rightful place in our life, and then the eating of the fruit of the land, the fruit of the Spirit becoming manifest in God’s people. Even so, the best of all is that the Captain of the host is coming to take over.
We cannot take our land and win the battles ahead with our own wisdom. There will be a great move throughout the church, beginning with the chosen leaders such as Joshua, to bow before the Captain of the host as indeed the Captain. In the battles to come, His people will follow Him. He is the Captain who has never lost a battle, and never will. If we follow Him, we cannot lose because He “always leads us in triumph in Christ” (II Corinthians 2:14). If we follow Him, we cannot lose.
When Joshua first saw the Captain he did not recognize Him, but inquired whether He was for them or their enemies. The response of the Lord was that He had not come to take sides, but to take over. The Lord is going to take over the headship of His church, and the many divisions and battles now going on between Christians will quickly stop. When this happens, we will not continue to waste our energy and resources in the foolish battles among ourselves, but will be turned into a mighty, disciplined army that is focused on who the true enemy is. This had to happen before even one stronghold in the land could be overcome.
Jesus is not only the Captain of the hosts of the Lord; He is the Reason for everything that we are doing. We are taking the land for His sake, for His purposes, not just so we can be blessed. Our King purchased the world with His own blood and our primary goal in this life should be to see Him receive the reward of His sacrifice. Only the immature who have not yet really seen Him as He is are still focused on what they will get. What could we have as a greater reward than seeing our King receive His reward? Let us live for that today.
