Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

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Consecration precedes Conquest Joshua 5:1-12 Promised Land Living in Problematic World  Sermon #7 A man was dying of thirst and crawling through the Sahara desert when another man riding on a camel approached him. As the rider approaches, the crawling man whispers through his parched lips, “Water, please...can you give me...some water.” “I’m sorry,” replies the man on the camel, “I don’t have any water with me. But I’d be delighted to sell you a necktie.” “Necktie?” whispers the man. “I need water!” “They’re only four dollars apiece.” “I need water.” “Okay, okay, two for seven dollars.” “Please! I need water!” the man exclaims. “I don’t have any water, all I have are ties,” replies the salesman, as he heads off into the distance. By now the thirsty man has lost all track of time, crawling through the desert seemingly for days. Finally, nearly dead, his clothes tattered and skin peeling under the relentless sun, he comes upon a restaurant. Summoning his last bit of strength, he staggers to the door and confronts the headwaiter. “Water…can I get...water?” the dying man pleads. “I’m sorry, sir,” the headwaiter replies, “Neckties are required.”   It’s important to be prepared. Spiritual preparation is a dominant theme in the book of Joshua. When we think of this book, we typically think of battles, conquest and defeating enemies. But we’re already in chapter 5 and Israel still hasn’t gone to war.   God took forty years preparing Joshua to lead the nation. Then, before they dip their toes in Jordan, they first had to prepare their souls (Joshua 1). After the miraculous Jordan River crossing, they made a twelve stone monument (Joshua 4). Each major event is an occasion for Israel to contemplate the greatness of their God, and leads them to worship, not action.   For God’s people, the first priority is worship, not war. Only after God occupies His proper place in our lives are we prepared for battle. Too often our thinking is upside down with us more focused on “what are we doing?” when Heaven’s focus is on “who” and “why.” God is more concerned with Who we are and Why we do what we do than what we are doing.   The critical question is not, “What we will do for God?” The critical questions are: Do I love God? Is God the center of my life? Am I giving Him the worth He is due? That’s true worship. Actually, this is what the word originally meant, “ascribing proper worth.”   “Worship,” said Karl Barth, “is the most urgent, the most glorious action that can take place in human life." Or, as the Westminster Shorter Catechism states, our chief end is "to glorify God and to enjoy him forever."   I have to confess, though, that the doing is easier for me than the preparing for the doing. Worship too easily eludes me. I’m so anxious to rush into the battle that I can jump in spiritually unprepared; so anxious to learn that I engage my mind and not my heart; so anxious to accomplish spiritual tasks that I make myself the captain of my own life.   We can reason that if we just name the name of God, somehow God will be on our side. Spiritual work and warfare requires spiritual preparation. Worship is not wasted time, it’s the time when we feed our souls on God and the abundance of His grace, when we get refocused and re‑centered. The author is once again highlighting our need for spiritual preparation, v. 1.   We know from Joshua 2:9 that the people of the land were terrified of Israel, but 5:1 sheds new light. Their leaders are also terrified. Why? The Canaanites could actually handle their gods. Their gods were made of clay and stone and were unable to part waters of the Red Sea or of the Jordan River. They did not provide manna or quails, nor did they lead with pillars of fire by night or a cloud by day. These kings compared their idols with Israel’s God, and their hearts melted in fear. The effect of the miraculous Jordan crossing on these heathen kings was sinking hearts, loss of spirit. As Woudstra notes, “the failure of heart results in a loss of spirit or breath.” They were so frightened, they couldn’t even breathe.   The Israelites though were in what athletes know as “the zone.” They had the “Big Mo” (momentum). They’re on a roll, had a streak going. They’re playing over their heads. It’s Monday night and you can almost hear Hank Williams Jr. singing in the background, “Are you ready for some fighting?”   The teams competing for the NBA title this year have been slugging it out. They’ll win one, lose one but just can’t seem to get on a roll. Avid basketball fans will remember the early ‘80's when the Philadelphia 76ers were on a roll.  Back in those days of Dr. J. and Moses Malone, the team demolished the East  with a 65‑17 record; swept New York in the Eastern Semifinals; beat Milwaukee in five; and then overwhelmed the Lakers in the NBA Finals in four straight. It was a playoff run with only one loss. They were in “the Zone.”   Israel is in “the Zone.” The Canaanites are petrified by them. They’re poised to pull off a sweep. We’d expect Joshua to promptly mobilize his forces to attack Jericho.  But Joshua is taking his orders from the Lord, not military strategists, and God’s priority list is often different from our’s. God switches the song from “Are you ready for some...” to that song from the “Lion King,” “Be Prepared.” Joshua 5 reminds us that Consecration precedes Conquest.   The events described in this chapter take at least ten days. Then, the people marched around Jericho for six more days. God waited over two weeks before giving His people their first taste of victory. That’s because God’s people must be prepared spiritually before they engage in physical warfare. The triumphant conquest of the Land was to be God’s victory, not the victory of Israel or because of Joshua’s military genius. It was not the skill of the Jewish army or the fragile emotions of the enemy that would give Israel the victory. Victory is in God’s hands. It’s His presence and blessing that gave them the battle. The lesson of this story is that we must be spiritually prepared if we’re going to successfully do the His work and glorify His name. Instead of rushing into battle, we must “take time to be holy.” Consecration precedes Conquest.   God has some spiritual preparations that must first be taken care of before He leads the nation into battle. During the forty years of wilderness wanderings, Israel had neglected two very important aspects of His covenant with them, circumcision and the Passover. What’s the message of Joshua 5 for us? 1. Consecration is essential to obedience, vss. 2-8. During their forty years of disobedience, no one had been circumcised. Some infer that the sign of circumcision had even been withdrawn by God during the wilderness period as a sign of Yahweh’s displeasure. If they were not going to act as covenant people, then they should not have the symbol of being the covenant people. Based on Genesis 17:14 “Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant,” it’s apparent that this lack of circumcision was a sign that Israel was “cut off” because of their unbelief. They were God’s people, yet they were not. They remained objects of His care, yet possessed no sign to indicate that they were His. But God was not done with His people. He’s the God of the 2nd chance. That 2nd chance came with their children, who were assured that they would enjoy the land after the forty years of wilderness wandering saw the deaths of that entire older generation except for Joshua and Caleb.   The time had arrived for the promise to be fulfilled. This involved the need for the re-institution of the sign of circumcision. The word “again” (v. 2) does not mean circumcise them a second time, but restoring this long absent sign. They were getting a new start, with the Lord not now against them, but very much for them.   a) Consecration often has external symbols. In the Sinai material (Ex. 19:1 –Num. 10:10), the word “consecrate” is used twenty-five times. It can be translated “consecrate, sanctify or make holy.” It implies separation. God’s people are to be separate, distinct from a lost world. They are to be holy and sanctified. Consecration was defined in terms of obedience to God’s Law.   The motivation behind this corporate circumcision was that if they were going to live in the land of the Covenant, then they had to have the sign of the covenant on their own bodies. Circumcision was the sign of the covenant and the sign that they were God’s people. Only a circumcised Israel could become a conquering Israel. For forty years this rite had been ignored. The males born after the exodus from Egypt had never been circumcised. By being circumcised, these men placed themselves under God’s covenant. This episode, like no other, marks the beginning of Israel’s true identification with God and with His Promised Land. It further starkly contrasts this present generation of Israelites with the preceding generation which had rebelled against Moses and the Lord.   Israel is a covenant nation, a privilege God has given to no other nation on earth (Rom. 9:4‑5). God gave His covenant to Abraham  when He called him out of Ur of the Chaldees (Gen. 12:1‑3), and He sealed that covenant with a sacrifice (Gen. 15). God then gave circumcision as the sign of the covenant to Abraham and  his descendants (17:9‑14, 23‑27). While other nations in that day practiced circumcision, the ritual didn’t carry with it the meaning of consecration that it did for the Jews. Through this ritual the Jews became a “marked people” because they belonged to the true and living God. This meant that they were under obligation to obey Him. The mark of the covenant was a constant reminder to them that their bodies belonged to the Lord and were not to be used for sinful purposes. Israel was surrounded by nations that worshiped idols and included in their worship, rituals that were sensual and perverted. Circumcision reminded the Jews that they were a special people, a separated people, a holy nation (Ex. 19:5‑6), and that they were to maintain purity in their marriages, their society, and their worship of Yahweh.   God’s New Covenant people also have an external symbol of their consecration, believer’s immersion. Throughout the pages of the history of the early church this scenario is repeated, those who committed their lives to Christ, were baptized as an external symbol of their new faith. It pictures death, burial and resurrection. As believers, we are dead to sin, alive to God and to live in Jesus’ resurrection power. My friend, if you are a believer, then you need to be obedient in this matter of believer’s immersion.   b) Consecration is often painful and humiliating. Tim Stafford, in his book, Knowing the Face of God, relates this tale. The story is told about the baptism of King Aengus by St. Patrick in the middle of the fifth century. Sometime during the rite, St. Patrick leaned on his sharp‑pointed staff and inadvertently stabbed the king’s foot. After the baptism was over, St. Patrick looked down at all the blood, realized what he had done, and begged the king’s forgiveness. “Why did you suffer this pain in silence?” St. Patrick wanted to know. The king replied, “I thought it was part of the ritual.”   This was not some private surgical procedure done in a doctor’s office with either local or general anesthetic. The text indicates that a type of stone knife was used, possibly with some ceremonial significance. But as Abraham had submitted in obedience to God for circumcision when he was ninety-nine (Gen. 17:1), so many of these men were either middle-aged or senior citizens by today’s standards. There were some 700,000 soldiers in Israel’s army. The cut-off line for line for those who had died in the wilderness for disbelief had been all those above the age of twenty. Do the math. Some of those who were circumcised at this time were nearly sixty. It was both a painful procedure and had some degree of humiliation.   The New Testament church’s sign of being God’s new covenant people is baptism by immersion. Periodically, someone will say that they don’t want to be baptized because it will mess up their hair. Others will relate that they  don’t want to be baptized in front of people and be embarrassed. Consecration sometimes is painful and even humbling. But it does not have to be baptism. Any step of consecration may have a price.   c) Consecration demonstrates faith. There is a strange humor in this incident. The citizens of Jericho are frightened at the very moment when the citizens of Israel are the most vulnerable. All of the Jewish males are virtually helpless, having just been circumcised.   This command must have gone against every military nerve in Joshua’s body. God asked him to incapacitate his whole army in the midst of hostile territory. Don’t you think that he was tempted to second guess God? “This would have been much better if we had done this on the other side of Jordan before we crossed over.” Joshua marched his men right into the teeth of the enemy and then disables them. But the nation trusted in God’s protection and obeyed. God often puts us asks us to put ourselves in a place of “weakness” and trust Him.  The rite of circumcision would have left the nation completely defenseless for a while. The men were disabled for several days, and vulnerable to attack, because they were in clear view of the enemy at Jericho. Remember the story in Genesis 34 of Jacob's daughter, who was raped by the son of a Hivite prince. The young man wanted to marry the girl, and his father spoke with Jacob about intermarrying their families. Jacob’s sons schemed and deceived the king, informing him that all their men  would first have to be circumcised. The king agreed to the proposal, but on the third day following the act, Levi and Simeon entered the village and killed all the defenseless males.   This act of circumcision is a very holy moment for the nation. After the crossing of Jordan, God puts them in a state of complete impotence and utter dependence on Him. Not only are they vulnerable before God, they are vulnerable before one another. As a community they experience weakness and dependence. That’s where God wants us so that He can work...in the place of weakness and dependence.   d) Spiritual circumcision is more important than physical circumcision. Later in their history Jeremiah rebukes the nation because they have “uncircumcised hearts” (Jer. 9:25-26) and resisted God’s authority and had  “uncircumcised ears” (Jer. 6:10) and would not listen to God’s Word. According to Butler, the Hebrew text contains an interesting word play, highlighting the fact that the people who left Egypt were physically circumcised but not spiritually circumcised, as demonstrated by their unbelief. The people entering the land were spiritually circumcised, as demonstrated by their faith, but needed yet to be physically circumcised.   This physical operation on the body is symbolic of a spiritual operation on the heart. In Deut. 10:16 Israel is urged,“Circumcise your hearts.” No amount of external surgery can change the inner person. It’s when we repent and turn to God for help that He can change our hearts and make us love and obey Him more. That’s Paul’s point in Romans 2:25-29. Over the years though, the Jews came to trust in the external mark of the covenant and not in the God of the Covenant Who wanted to make them a holy people. They reasoned that as long as they had the mark of the covenant, they could live just as they pleased! Moses warned them about this sin (Deut. 30:6), and so did the prophets (Jer. 4:4). When John the Baptist called them to repent, the Jewish spiritual leaders said, “We have Abraham as our father”  (Matt. 3:9). They were like many today who feel sure they’re saved and are going to heaven because they’re baptized, confirmed, and participate regularly in Communion. As good as these religious rites can be, they must never become substitutes for faith in Jesus Christ. The sad fact is that you may hold membership among God’s flock but have no relationship with the Shepherd. You may live in the King’s country but reject His sovereignty.   Note: There is tragic reminder in this text – God keeps all of His promises, even His promises of judgement. “For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land that He had solemnly promised their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Josh. 5:6). God’s promise prohibited a whole generation of doubters from entering the Land. Unbelief caused them to forfeit their share in the promise, and so God gave them a new “promise” of judgement. God kept His promise to Abraham, his descendants did inherit the land. But God also kept His promise to one generation of those descendants who doubted. He promised them that their carcasses would all fall in the wilderness during the forty years of wandering and they did.   Do you think for one moment man’s unbelief can annul God’s promise? Just because the unregenerate do not believe in Hell, it does not change God’s promise to condemn those who reject Christ to Hell, just as He condemned that unbelieving generation to perish in the wilderness. Let me put it another way. A blind man may not believe in the sun but it doesn’t stop the sun from shining. Perhaps you’re  convinced in your own heart that there is no Hell. I wish for your sake that you were right...but you’re not. Man’s unbelief does not change God’s promises for eternal blessing or for eternal judgement. 2. Consecration removes reproach, v. 9. According to one source, Americans spend $50 million a year on subliminal message tapes designed to help them do everything from improve their self‑image to learn a foreign language. Unfortunately, the National Research Council has concluded that subliminal messages simply don’t work. Despite all the hype to the contrary, these tapes don’t deliver the life-transforming changes they promise. There is one source Who always delivers on His promises–God. After the Israelites renewed their covenant relationship by re-instituting circumcision, God “rolled away the reproach of Egypt” from them.           Scholars debate what this “reproach” is referring to. We’re not sure. It appears that Egypt’s “reproach” was occasioned by the Egyptians’ observing that Israel wandered aimlessly in the wilderness for forty years, concluding that God had abandoned them and heaped scorn on Israel because of this. This is exactly what Moses predicted on at least three occasions that Egypt would do in the event that God punished his people because of their sin and abandoned them (Ex. 32:12; Num 14:13-16; Deut 9:28).   Now that Israel is being so careful to obey God in every way possible, culminating with the first observance of circumcision in a generation, God effectively put Israel’s “reproach” stage behind them, rolling it away forever. No longer can the Egyptians crack their Hebrew jokes.   As people of the New Covenant, the Father does the same for us. He “rolls away our reproach,” forgiving and forgetting our sin. In Hebrews 8:12 God  promises, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” When we repent, confessing sin, God rolls away our reproach. 3. Consecration results in celebration, v. 10. Camped at Gilgal, Israel now observes the Passover. Circumcision had to come first. According to the Law, without circumcision, they would have been disqualified from the Feast (Ex. 12:44, 48). This appears to be just the third time that the nation has celebrated the Passover. It does not appear that they celebrated the Passover during the forty years of wilderness wandering. This Passover would now mark Israel’s entrance into Canaan just as it had earlier marked Israel’s exodus from Egypt.  The Passover was a time of celebration. It had been initiated when God had delivered them from the slavery of Egypt. Now it will also be a reminder that what God starts, He finishes.   God wants His people to know how to celebrate! Though there is a time for somberness, too often worship services are similar to funerals, rather than the celebrations of those living in the Resurrection. Sunday is not the Sabbath. It’s the Lord’s Day, a weekly reminder that we serve a living Savior who rose from the grave. It’s a day of celebration as we celebrate His payment for our sins and that we live in the power of His resurrection. It’s a day to “Shout to the Lord.”   Sometimes though when we come to a worship service, we just don’t feel like celebrating. This particular Passover is a reminder that God can make a feast for us anywhere. Israel held this celebration on the plains of Jericho. What a strange place to enjoy the feast of fellowship with God–on the front steps of the enemy. They celebrated the Passover in the face of some of the greatest difficulties that they were ever going to encounter and at the conclusion of a very trying and difficult time. But because God was there God, and because He was there, it was a celebration.   Friend, please do not believe that you can’t celebrate because of what you are going through. Have you wandered for forty years in the wilderness yet? We miss out on the celebration when we focus on Jericho’s walls instead of the victory already won for us by King Jesus! Don’t live under the circumstances! Celebrate because you know that God is going to get you through them! This beautifully correlates with that wonderful promise in the 23rd Psalm, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (v. 5).   Note: In these two rites, circumcision and the Passover, we may discern a parallel with believer’s immersion and the Lord’s Supper, one individual and the other corporate. One is an initiatory rite, the other is a regularly repeated  ordinance. The New Testament makes reference to baptism as the Christian’s circumcision, Colossians 2:11-13.   4. Consecration brings more significant blessings, v. 11-12. Something noteworthy now happens, the manna ceases. At first glance this seems to be bad. God is now ceasing to supernaturally provide for His people, but is He? What was manna? It was a supernatural gift given to the nation when they doubted and were murmuring. It was not food for the Land of promise. From now on, in keeping with their possession of their land, God would supply food through natural means, which is God’s normal means of supply. When we walk with the Lord, when we focus on Him and live obediently, we are able to appropriate and taste of His goodness.    Miracles like the manna are the exceptions to the rule, special provisions for special purposes. We need to learn to not expect extraordinary supplies when supplies may be had in an ordinary way.   As we read Biblical history, we discover that God often provides the supernatural in response to doubt, rather than faith. The New Testament tells us that the miracles were signs to encourage faith and a reminder of God’s judgement (Hebrews 2:1-4). It shows greater spiritual maturity and faith to trust God in the “normal” phases of life. While God is always able to work supernatural miracles at will, we should not expect them nor should we be disappointed or think something is wrong with our walk when we do not experience them. It is a greater demonstration of our faith to trust God to use the natural, rather than only believing when we experience the supernatural. God does not work unnecessary miracles. We don’t need food from heaven when He has already supplied us with bread from earth. This is still God’s providence. It’s just “ordinary” providence.   This is God’s pattern. God’s method of provision always moves from the supernatural to the natural. After the Church was born on the Day of Pentecost, its birth was surrounded by miracles. But by the end of the first century, miracles had basically ceased.   That’s what’s happening here. Because of their spiritual growth as a nation manna is no longer needed. Wonderfully God provides for them the fruits of the land even before He hands over to them the fortifications of the land. Partaking of the fruit of the land was also a wonderful sign that the wilderness exile was finally over!   Too many believes seem to be waiting for those special kinds of manna. Some have even erroneously taught, look and see where God is working, then join it. There’s no faith in that. Too many are waiting for God to do something spectacular and thrilling from a spiritual point of view. That is not where we get our growth and our sustenance. While we should rejoice in the special kinds of manna and certainly we ought to take advantage of those things when they come. But the basic day‑to‑day routine of growing that God expects His people to do comes from the “fruit of the land”: getting into the Scripture, a day‑by‑day disciplined prayer life, understanding and seeking His purposes and will.   The great Presbyterian pastor of another generation, Clarence Macartney, told the story about Dr. John Witherspoon’s wisdom in this regard. Witherspoon was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and president of the (then) College of New Jersey. He lived a couple of miles away from the college at Rocky Hill and drove horse and rig each day to his office at the college. One day one of his neighbors burst into his office, exclaiming, “Dr. Witherspoon, you must join me in giving thanks to God for his extraordinary providence in saving my life, for as I was driving from Rocky Hill the horse ran away and the buggy was smashed to pieces on the rocks, but I escaped unharmed!” Witherspoon replied, “Why, I can tell you a far more remarkable providence than that. I have driven over that road hundreds of times. My horse never ran away, my buggy never was smashed, I was never hurt.”   We must beware of thinking that God is only in the earthquake, wind, and fire; of thinking that manna but not grain is God’s food. Most of God’s gifts to His people are not dazzling and gaudy, but wrapped in simple brown paper. Quiet provisions of safety on the highway, health of children, picking up a paycheck, supper with the family–all in an ordinary day’s work for our God. Conclusion: These first twelve verses in Joshua 5 are a reminder that who we are is more important to God than what we do. It’s also a call to renewal and repentance, whether it be thirty‑two hundred years ago or now. God is prescribing for His people a radical spiritual surgery. He wearies when we are stiff‑necked and are forgetful of Him and His teachings. He calls His people of all generations to a circumcision of the heart, to a spirit of brokenness and openness before Him which provides the true identity for His people.   As we come to the conclusion of our study today, let’s ask ourselves some  very basic questions: Have we neglected the things of God? Have we been wandering in a spiritual wilderness, doing our own thing independent of Him? Is it time for a spiritual circumcision?   Although over three millennia separate us from Israel camped at Gilgal, spiritually there’s very little difference. We can become preoccupied with our careers, eking out our own existence and giving the best we can to our children. In the process, we can lose our identity. We are God’s chosen people. Christianity is only one generation from extinction. We need to challenge ourselves anew to that needed circumcision of the heart.   Do we take worship seriously? Are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper important to us? Are we encouraging a family‑oriented worship in which our children are exposed to vibrant, real worship, the preaching of the Word, and the fellowship of other believers in a way that gives them a sense of corporate identity?   Or are we simply trying to amuse them, teasing them along, appealing to our mutual narcissism? Do our children observe us in activities that let them know that we love Jesus and want to serve Him? Do they observe a humility in us that admits when we are wrong, confessing our sins both to God and to each other? They need to see that our hearts are circumcised and we are seeking to live as Promised Land believers.