Strengthened in Might, Pt. 4

Ronald Weinland

December 29, 2018

We are currently covering a series entitled Strengthened in Might with this being Part 4.

We know that this world is being stirred up more and more as a spirit world knows that it has a little time left, not a lot of time, and it’s closing in on them. So as I mentioned in all parts of this series, as they’re given more power or allowed to exercise more power to bring about many of the things that are prophesied to take place at the end of this age, especially WWIII, we know that the battles before us are going to become greater as we go along as well, and far more intense.

So God is blessing us, preparing us mentally and spiritually, giving us opportunity to become strengthened more in the power of His might so that we can be better equipped to successfully press forward to Christ’s return. Part of this that I’ve been talking about is the fact that we’re going to experience things we’ve never experienced, just as much as the Israelites in some of the story we’re going through, never experienced the things that they experienced when they had spent that forty years in the wilderness, until God began to work with them to give them a promised land. There are similarities in some of the things to be learned, if you will, from that story. That’s why we’re going through all of this.

So again, part of that preparation that God is giving us includes what we’re covering in this particular series, spiritual lessons, the encouragement we can receive from stories like that, the admonitions that can be gleaned out of the book of Joshua. So we’re going to continue on today with Chapter 10 and I hope as time goes along that we will grasp more and more why we’re going through this particular area of scripture, because it has so very, very much to do with what’s in front of us.

In Part 3 we were in Chapter 9, before this, we went through the story of Ai and how they were finally given victory over them. The first time they went up against them they lost and it was because there was sin in the midst of Israel that God wanted out. There are analogies that apply to us. There are things that are happening to us and much of scripture is written, candidly, about the end-time, and much of it is to prepare people at the end-time, though there are lessons that people can learn at any time, and have in the past 2,000 years especially. But there are things that are a little more directed, if you will, toward us and what we’re getting ready to go through because of what God is doing with us when another Joshua, the real Joshua, the mighty Joshua, if you will (that God gave the name to His own Son), to lead us into a promised land.

A good part of understanding that is that as the children of Israel went into the promised land it wasn’t theirs yet. They had a lot of obstacles, and we’re very, very close to a new age, a new time period, if you will, that God is going to give this world, and we’re being led as well, if we understand that Joshua the Christ is the head of the Church he’s preparing us for his return and for what’s coming. So we have battles ahead of us before we can actually be or have the experience of being in a new age, a promised land that God is giving to us, or promising to this whole world, candidly.

We read the story here about Ai and how they finally conquered it. This becomes more important, especially in what we’re going to go through today, that God drives the point home over and over again that they took Ai as God blessed them in taking Jericho. Everything relates back to Jericho. Just because they came into the promised land doesn’t mean they inherited everything yet. It was theirs but they had to do things. They had to go through a lot in order to finally secure that promise. That’s what this story is about.

It’s incredible when you go through it again and again in the sense of seeing what we’re going to discuss and what we’re going to go through, and especially in the chapters that follow that we’re not going to go into once we conclude today (which is my aim), that it becomes far more evident how important this was to God because of the things that are recorded and what was given.

So, anyway, hopefully we’ll grasp that and see that as time goes along here, but let’s pick it up today in Chapter 10 of Joshua as we continue on. We know that there is a lot to conquer here. There is a lot they must do. They were told (it’s written in the book of Deuteronomy), it was given to Moses that they, once they got to this region, that they were to destroy everything. God had given it to them. Nothing was to remain as far as peoples were concerned. If they were there, they were to be destroyed totally and completely.

Again, sometimes to people when they read through stories like that they think, “Well, why? How could a God do that? How could a loving God do that?” Yet because they don’t understand His purpose and His plan and how God looks at life and death for human beings and the life He can give them that’s far more meaningful, far, far beyond what we experience physically, it’s difficult for people to comprehend. But a very merciful and loving God did exactly this to show, to explain, to magnify what it’s like when you obey God, when you live according to His ways, when you strive to obey Him, and what happens when you fail to do so.

Those are lessons for the Church. It wasn’t for Israel at that time. They were a physical, carnal people. It was never intended that they were being called in the sense of a calling that God gives for people to be in the first resurrection, not by any measure. That’s another phase of God’s plan. Those things that they went through and so much of what’s happened in history, what’s written here in the Old Testament has been for the Church, above and beyond most, of things that are there because even in the Old Testament times, if you will, as far as a period of time if you want to look at the first 4,000 years, the prophets, the different ones that spoke of God’s way of life and taught God’s way of life, they were unique. They didn’t have all these things in the sense of understanding on a spiritual plane what was given later on when Joshua came along (Joshua the Christ came along) and began to show a spiritual dimension, if you will, to everything that’s written, of a purpose and a plan that God has.

Just like the temple, a very physical temple and God was very explicit how it was to be built but everything in it, everything that had to do with the construction of it was about that which was spiritual, about His Family and His purpose. So, it’s incredible how God works with us and how God has planned things out so meticulously so through time.

So we come to Joshua 10:1 and it says, When Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it—as he had done to Jericho and her king... So this is brought up over and over again because that’s what was ringing in their mind. Just like some of the other things that we read before about the Gibeonites and what they did, they heard these things. They were afraid, and so much so that they lied, they were deceitful and wanted Israel to promise to them that they wouldn’t be destroyed because they had already heard what was told to them in the wilderness, that they were to destroy the entire region and all the people in it. They knew these things!

You think, how in the world could that happen? The only thing I can think of that that message could travel through there is a reality of trading routes and peoples that traveled through the wilderness and sold to the Israelites and maybe traded with them various kinds of things, too. We don’t know, but somehow the word traveled throughout the regions. It did during the time of Egypt when they came out of Egypt, and during the forty years as well. They knew they were out there. There were come skirmishes at times, things that took place. That news travelled, but especially when they came through Jericho and the fact that that entire area was destroyed like it was.

So again, The king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it—as he had done to Jericho and her king so he had done to Ai and her king—and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were now among them, that they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty. So again, they heard this quickly. The word of this spread quickly, and what they had done and why they had done it.

It says, Wherefore (therefore) Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent unto Hoham, king of Hebron, and unto Piram, king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia, king of Lachish, and Debir, king of Eglon, saying, Come up unto me and help me, that we may strike down Gibeon, because it has made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. So they were looked upon as being traitors because here in the beginning there was this pact they had that they were going to stand together and fight against Israel, and then when Gibeon saw what happened to Ai that changed their attitude. That changed their mind. They were afraid that they were going to be destroyed as well.

So in one respect, actually, it shows mightily that they were a pretty deceitful people all the way around. They broke their pact with the rest of the people around there because they feared something that they thought was greater and then they lied in order to have a kind of peace, if you will. So it was about saving their skin. They were kind of shrewd in some of the ways they did some of it in a carnal kind of manner.

But the others now, because of what happened, they were understandably so, upset and they wanted to go down and destroy them because of what they’d done, because they betrayed them. So they were first on their list before they went up against the Israelites – destroy Gibeon.

So that he said unto them, they said, in essence, together, this is what they were doing: Come up unto me and help me, so this is what he sent out the message of, but they all agreed to this, that we may strike down Gibeon, because it has made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. Therefore, the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together and went up, and all their hosts, and encamped against Gibeon and made war against it.

So this is what they were getting ready to do, or they were preparing for war. They were getting ready to go ahead and continue forward, if you will.

And so the men of Gibeon sent word unto Joshua, to the camp in Gilgal, saying, Don’t hold back from your servants and come up to us quickly to save us, help us, for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains have gathered together against us.

Incredible story here of what’s taking place and because they had made this pact with Israel they hoped then, they set their desire on the fact that since they had made peace with them that they would protect them as well and come up to help them in this battle.

So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. And the Eternal said to Joshua, Do not fear them... Over and over again that message, “Don’t fear.” Don’t fear what’s in front of you. Don’t fear what you’re hearing. It doesn’t matter. It’s a matter of keeping one’s eyes on the fact that God is almighty and that if our hope and trust and faith isn’t in Him, what we cannot do ourselves, because He lets us do so much in that respect, we learn from that process, He will do for us, and especially in things that are far beyond us. That is what’s coming, that which is far, far, far beyond us, of answers we won’t have to many thing that are in front of us. It’s a matter of relying on God because that’s what we’ve learned, that’s what He’s taught us, that’s what He’s prepared us for. It’s a matter of placing God first.

So over and over again the story is one of don’t be fearful, don’t be fearful of what’s in front of you because the normal, carnal reaction, human reaction, is to be fearful and to not be at peace, in the sense of having peace of mind that God will take care of this.

And the Eternal said to Joshua, Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand. So again, over and over again he had to be told this. He wants told this. It was for them. It was for him and those under him that the message went out to, because he would then tell what God had given to him so that would be encouraging to the rest of them, “God said don’t fear, I’ll take care of this just like what happened in Jericho, just like what happened in Ai.”

We have a lot of things we remember in our lives. That’s why we’re never to forget our calling. That’s why we’re never to forget the journey along the way. We’re to remember the things that God has done, where He’s intervened in our lives. If we understand how He’s intervened in our lives, especially in the remnant Church, that should give us encouragement. There should be things that we have learned through this process, to understand how blessed we are, how much God has given to us. Now that there is something physical in front of us that’s far greater than us, all the more so to look to God because this world is going to suffer. Cities are going to suffer. Every place is going to suffer. It’s going to happen over and over and over again where we’re going to be confronted with things that are far greater than us. The world is going to be very much in fear. Human nature turns very ugly when there is no food. That’s going to be a biggie right there just by itself. So it’s fearful in a carnal, human way.

So how do we think? “I have peace. God will take care of it. God will take care of me. He’s called me for a purpose.” He’s called us for a purpose, but that’s what we need to see in ourselves. We know what we’ve been through. We know the obstacles we’ve come up against and how God has continually intervened over and over and over again in our lives just to bless us more and more. It hasn’t been easy. It’s been difficult.

That’s why we talk about that extraordinary 4½ years, all the things we’ve gone through. Things are not designed to be easy for human life. They’re designed as they are for a great purpose. A part of that design is to learn the lesson that God is almighty and that we are fools if we don’t place Him first in our lives, if we don’t seek to obey Him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our life! Our lives are God’s! They belong to God. They did from the day of baptism when we said what we did, when we promised to God what we did – our life is His to use as He wills.

What could be better in life? Really, what could be better in life that your life is in God’s hands, the God who loves you, the God who has called you for great purpose, to give you great benefit and to fight battles for you, to make you an example to others in the world. Maybe not right yet, obviously, but shortly. “These are My people. Yes, this is what they went through. Yes, this is how you looked upon them and look what I’ve done.” It’s about God and we just have a blessing of being a part of it. How awesome is that?

Sometimes we get so caught up in this physical carnal life that we tend to think carnally and physically. That’s why we’ve gone through a series about drama. Drama, drama, drama, drama, drama. You know, I don’t have to say it. Squeeze that little llama! That’s what drama is like. You think, we just get so consumed with it that it takes us away from God. Drama takes you away from God. It is the opposite of peace and having peace of mind and a peace that comes from God. We tend to get caught up in it as human beings, and that means we tend to get caught up in things that are very physical and those begin to reign in our life rather than the peace and grace and mercy and purpose and will of God. Awesome! Awesome to understand what we’ve gone through to get to this point right now and what God is taking us through and what we’re going through here and discussing.

See, we don’t know at what point, but we have to be prepared. God is blessing us so we have that kind of a mind, a mind that is prepared. We had the post go out talking about what has to happen first. There has to be an economic collapse. That’s what stirs up and brings about WWIII, or at least with certain nations the reality, their belief in their minds this is it, we need a reset, and the only way to have it is a great war.

So they’re already preparing for it. Hypersonic missiles China has come out with now and Russia came out last week in saying they have. You have no defense against it, they move too fast; 20 times the speed of sound by the time they’re re-entering. Nothing can take those down. 20 times the speed of sound. That’s what hypersonic means, in essence, from what I read, if my reading is right. That’s incredible, missiles travelling that fast, the ability to have multiple warheads, as China says theirs does. I believe them. A missile that’s coming in breaks up into ten – ten nuclear weapons going out from it, going at different targets. It comes in on one and at one point divides into ten. Massive nuclear weapons.

The world has never seen anything like this. Hiroshima? Nagasaki? Firecracker compared to those things! That was puny compared to what we have now out there. That’s the kind of world we live in. It’s fearful. It’s scary. Absolutely. So again, we would be so foolish not to place our trust in God after everything He’s led us in and given to us. That’s our life. That’s what He’s called us to do, to prepare for what’s coming.

We see the things that are happening. I get so irritated when I watch some of the things that are taking place with the stock market. They call it volatility. Yeah, that’s an understatement. I saw exactly the same thing in 2008. I remember the articles. I remember watching it on TV in 2008 – up and down. Then what really disgusted me the most is that there are groups, there are people out there who make money when it goes up and they make money when it’s going down. The majority are the ones who suffer, who are in it going up and coming down, because they try to play the same kind of game. When it comes to that they can’t play with the big boys, but it’s that kind of thing that causes greater uneasiness as time goes along. There are people who already understand some of these things. There are already people who have emotions. They’re already set as far as how they think in Russia and China. Those things were already set a long time ago.

Then articles about Europe. They’re constantly coming out how that they can’t make it, they’re going to collapse, this and that is happening, this is going to break apart. You think, you don’t know what’s written. It’s not going to break apart. On the contrary, they will go to war to save it. That’s what it’s coming down to. They will fight to save it.

Merkel now says that she doesn’t need to be re-elected, not going to go through this again, in the sense of running. So either she’s going to have time to quit, and maybe be the head of the European empire, I don’t know—I don’t know what she has her eyes on—and has told people in the past week or so here, which she said before, that everyone has to give up their sovereignty. “If you want to be a part of this, if you want to be a part of something that unites and make it through all this you have to be willing to give up your sovereignty.” Much like what we have in the United States. States have to give up their sovereignty to something bigger, a federal government. So they want to have a great Europe, a United States of Europe, so in order to do that they need states, as it were, that are countries right now, acting as states, that give all their power and all their authority over all to one area, their sovereignty over all to one government. Incredible!

We live in an incredible age. I marvel at this. An army? They’re being pushed into having it because of our pulling out of Iran, an agreement with them. They’re pushed into it because they feel like someone has to be there: “Someone had to do something about this, and if they’re not going to do it? Oh yeah, and now they’re leaving Syria and Afghanistan. Hah, we’ve got to do something like this.”

This has been going on for a hundred years. Great Britain started it in what they did in that area of the world, in Iraq. That’s why I’ve always felt if they’d just learn the lesson, if even from just the movie, if it’s not the real life of those who did those things, Lawrence of Arabia. Those people have never changed. It’s always acted as tribes. They will unite, perhaps, a little bit here and there, but most of the times they’re just fighting and killing each other. That’s just the way it’s been. It’s a reality of life. I’m sorry got off on some of this, but it’s good for us to know what’s going on, what’s taking place out there and the kind of age we live in.

So there is a lot of uneasiness. What is that one index? I know it’s called the Fear Index, but there are some letters to it. I think it has to do with volatility [Chicago Board Options Exchange Market Volatility Index, (CBOE VIX)]. I wish I could remember where the needle was a year ago, but it was up, I think, to 70 something, and then the last few weeks got down to I think, was it 18, then 12 or 13, and then 8, and I think it’s down at something like 2 right now. That’s insanity! There are people who look at those things and react to those things accordingly. Anyway, going on.

We need to see what’s in front of us and that God is preparing us for what’s coming because it’s not a small thing. So we are equipped, it’s just a matter of practicing it and living it all the way through to the end because otherwise what do you have? We have nothing. That’s why I think of those who leave or refuse to obey God and don’t put God first in their life and what do you think the outcome is going to be? What do you think God’s going to do with that? Well, the example of what happened when they failed to take Ai is a really good one because that’s exactly what takes place. You can’t be a part of it.

If you don’t cherish and love what God has given and placed before you, greater wealth than has ever been given to any people on earth in the last 6,000 years when it comes to everything that is spiritual in understanding and help in life, and to turn one’s back on that, to disobey the Great God? You’re going to pay for it. Someone has to pay. The blessing we have if we remain faithful is that we understand that Joshua the Christ paid because we repent of our sins. If we don’t cherish that, not thankful for that, honor that, use that, because, see, we have to use that day by day by day. When we see sin in our life we have to go before God and repent and thank God that we have a Passover, thank God that He’ll forgive us of our sin immediately when we repent and continue to dwell in us and bless us spiritually. That’s profound! You talk about love, mercy, and grace because of a calling He’s given to us? That’s incredible!

So, anyway, they came up and they encamped against Gibeon. They, in turn, the Gibeonites in turn sent to the camp in Gilgal to Joshua, asking for intervention, asking for help.

Verse 7—So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. And the Eternal said to Joshua, Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand; not a single one will be able to stand before you. That’s encouraging. When God tells you something like that? Well, what’s God telling us right now? There is not a single thing that can stand against you. God is greater than everything. God is very capable of delivering you into a new age. It’s a small thing for Almighty God to do that, and He chooses to do so as we hear and as we listen and as we’re encouraged by those things.

As we understand the messages that God gives to us in preparation for what’s coming, not knowing when it’s coming, we have to be prepared. January? February? First couple of weeks of March? After that, if it’s not started, it’s not going to happen this year. Well, next year; this is the 29th. We’re getting close. But in 2019. It just isn’t going to happen. There have to be certain things that take place because there is a certain amount of time that things have to happen before that final 50 days. We can’t just come on the scene at the time of the Wave Sheaf and all of a sudden be breaking out into a war. There have to be things that happen well ahead of that.

So, we have to hunker down, keep moving forward, and realize it’s still coming. The world is ready; it’s just a matter of God’s timing and God’s purpose and what He’s doing with peoples and sometimes with us.

Because there is still that one big factor – it’s still about the Church. It’s always been about the Church first and foremost. That’s above and beyond the importance of the world, in the sense of where they are, because God can bring people back to life, give them life and work with them in a hundred year period. There are things that God is preparing that have to do, first and foremost, with His government, with His Kingdom. That has to be completed first and so it has to do with those who finally become sealed. Once that’s done then there are four beings, in that respect, that have a task before them, symbolically so, of things that must take place from the Trumpets that have been blown, and then it can be unleashed on the earth.

Verse 9—Therefore, Joshua went up to them quickly and marched all night from Gilgal. Because he knew what was going to happen if that many people had come up against Gibeon. They’re going to destroy them. They’re going to be honorable in how they deal with them because they made peace with them. They accepted them as their servants and so they’re going to go up and help fight this battle.

And the Eternal caused them to scatter in disorder before Israel, and they slew them with a great slaughter in Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goes up to Beth Horon, and smote them to Azekah and into Makkedah. And it came to pass as they fled from before Israel, as they were going down toward Beth Horon, that the Eternal cast down great stones from heaven upon them all the way to Azekah, and they died.

Now, some places it translates this as hailstones. The translation of the word is rather difficult because don’t know whether it’s really ice or just rock, but they’re stones. Anyway, so sometimes it obviously can be for hailstones. But this is what God did.

It says, There were more who died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel struck down with the sword. So they did their part. They were a fierce army, in that respect. God blessed them in their fighting and what they were doing but He intervened in a massive way to do more than all of them.

So there are things at times we have to use this in what God has shown us and given to us and strive to do the best we can, but there is that help along the way that God will always give and always does give us favor and help along the way if we could just but see it all the time. Sometimes we can’t as human beings, we’re so carnal.

Verse 12—So it was that Joshua spoke..

If you’re still here today you have been exceedingly blessed. That’s the bottom line. If you’re still here to this day, awesome to understand how blessed you are, if you’re able to be part, if you’re able to share in something that God is offering and giving.

So it was (verse 12) that Joshua spoke to the Eternal in that day when the Eternal delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: Sun, stand still upon Gibeon... Now, he wasn’t told to say that. He said it. Perhaps inspired by God’s spirit? Don’t know. It doesn’t say. ...and the moon, in the Valley of Aijalon. So the sun stood still, and the moon stayed in its place until the people had taken vengeance upon their enemies.

Now, it says here, Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? It’s not a correct translation at all. I marvel sometimes in going through stories like this and seeing what’s written and how people think and so forth, and people wonder, “Well, what’s this book of Jasher? Where is it at?” Things have always been recorded in books and so forth, and there have been ones who have been a part of authoring them and so forth throughout time, things that Moses wrote and the scribes he had working for him and so forth, but what the word means here and how it’s translated most often has to do with not the name of an individual but the fact that it has to do with that who is upright and just, righteous: “Righteous, upright.”

So, basically, it’s really saying, “It is written in the book of the upright.” So it is. It became a part of scripture. It’s something that was handed down through time and so it’s written in the book of the upright. Now, the upright in this case could be speaking of Joshua because of his righteousness in how he lived, in that sense of looking to God and God working with him in the manner that He did – righteousness that comes from God, or it could be about God. It doesn’t say. Obviously, a little bit of both. Mostly of God. He is the one who is upright in all things that He does and He records certain things. Just like what we’re going through now and how I mentioned toward the beginning of this particular part of this series, that there are things written that it becomes very evident how important this is to God and the message that He wants to get across, what He’s telling, what He wants us to see.

So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and stopped from the going down a whole (or if you will, complete) day. Incredible! So what can God do? Anything He wants. Anything He wants.

Now, people in science will go absolutely ballistic over something like this. “You can’t stop the earth!” See, so what happened? The sun didn’t do anything. It was the earth. It stopped. People could say, “That’s impossible to happen.” Yeah, on a physical plane it’s impossible to happen. The way the earth is constructed, the way the earth is made, the molten, everything that’s there all the way out to the outer surfaces, it’s impossible. But not with God. That’s the thing about it. We rely, we trust in, we look to things that are impossible, because God takes care of them, because God does it. It’s nothing to God.

Do we think that way? Do we understand that way? Do we grasp that way? That everything is possible with God, everything that God has created and made? That’s a small thing for God. It’s really a small thing, but we look at that and think that’s awesome! But it is mighty because of us and our outlook, and we should see it as an incredibly mighty thing. It helps us to realize and understand more about how great God is.

I think of people through time who have read some of these things. But it hasn’t been until the last few centuries, in the sense that man has begun to understand there’s a whole lot more out there as well. When you think about what David could see in the skies and he looked up at the heavens and it says that he marvels because God is mindful of man on this planet, in essence, and as he looks into the stars. You think, he didn’t see very much. Really, he didn’t see very much. He was in awe of that, that God had placed it there, but to what we see today? The mind can’t even conceive of it.

That’s why I’ve given examples if you were able to visit thousands and thousands and millions of these areas that God has created, so much per second, which is nuts, how long it would take you to see everything that’s out there! You come down to trillions upon trillions of years. You can’t grasp that. How great is God?

So for Him to cause the earth to stand still for a little while? Pshew! He can make it stand still forever if He wants to, whatever He wants to do, and sustain it exactly like it is, gravity and all. You think, if it stopped, everybody is going to fall off! No, God is all powerful. He controls everything that’s physical. He sustains all that’s physical. Your mind and my mind can’t grasp that.

So when you see mighty things coming before you, or mighty things happening around you, that it scare the living “you know what” out of you (although it’s not living—I don’t know where those expressions come from sometimes) but you look to God. “My life is in Your hands.” It is. That’s the way it always is. I’ve knocked on that door several times. You have to come to that sometimes, you just realize my life is in God’s hands. Either go forward or I don’t. If I don’t, hey, nothing stops. It just continues on – cycle of life, God’s purpose, who God might work through, and what God will accomplish God’s going to accomplish, but how blessed are we for the time we’re in God’s hands as physical human beings? What’s beyond we can’t even begin to grasp.

So there is a great deal of peace in that, there truly is, a great deal of peace when you see how people are acting around you and what’s taking place around you and the kind of news you’re going to be hearing.

I want to read this again here, verse 13, the last part: So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and stopped from going down a whole day, a complete day. There was no day like that before it or after it that the Eternal listened to the voice of a man... Now, it has to do with a context of what is stated here, to do something of this nature. That’s what it’s saying. Never before. Never before nor after to do anything like this, that God’s listened to the voice of a man and to do what he asked and what he said. He said, “Sun stand still.” Where did that come from? Well? I believe it came from God, but nevertheless He didn’t give it to him as He gave other things to him, other charges to him. It came from Him. We have so much to learn. There is so much we’ll come to understand more and more as God continues to reveal more.

It says, for the Eternal fought for Israel. And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp at Gilgal. But these five kings fled and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah. And it was told Joshua, saying, The five kings have been found in a cave at Makkedah. So Joshua told them, Roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave, and set men by it in order to keep them there. And do not stay there... in other words, as they’re passing through because it’s a direction and something they were going to do. It says, but pursue after your enemies, and attack them from their rear. And don’t allow them to enter into their cities, for the Eternal your God has delivered them into your hand.

So basically the charge here was, go after them as quickly as possible, destroy them as they’re fleeing, from the rear, and just keep pursuing them to work at trying to keep them from getting into their cities, into their refuge, in other words. Some of these places were built upon mounds and hills, mountainous type of things, and fortified and very difficult to conquer in that respect. So it’s saying, destroy as many as you can. Go out there after them.

And it came to pass when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, until they were destroyed, and the only ones who survived are those who escaped into the cities. So, in other words, anyone who hadn’t escaped into the city, they destroyed every one of them. That’s what it’s saying here.

Verse 21—Then  all the people returned to the camp of Joshua in Makkedah in peace. None moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel. Then Joshua said, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out those five kings to me from out of the cave. And so they did, and brought forth those five kings to him out of the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.

And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings to Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near and put your feet upon the necks of these kings. An expression, they knew exactly what was to take place. And they came and put their feet upon the necks of them. And Joshua said to them, Do not fear, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for this is what the Eternal will do to all your enemies.

They were going to put their foot on their neck, and it’s a part of putting them to death, killing them, destroying them. So, in other words, he’s being told again here, being reassured again, assured again and again and again to be of good courage, to be strong, to be strong in the power of God’s might, look to God, keep your eyes focused on God. He’s the one that fights it all. He’s the one that gives you the strength to go through any battle. What you can’t do, He will. What you’re incapable of, He will. He’ll take care of it.

That’s how we live. That’s how we’ve always lived except we’ve never experienced anything quite like what we’re getting ready to go into.

So he says, for this is what the Eternal will do to all your enemies against whom you fight. And afterward Joshua struck them and killed them, and they hanged them on five trees; and they were hanging there upon the trees until the evening. So they took them down in the evening.

Verse 27—Then when the sun was going down Joshua commanded that they take them down off the trees and cast them into the cave where they had been hiding, and laid great stones at the cave’s mouth, and they remain to this very day.

On that day Joshua took Makkedah, and struck it down with the edge of the sword, and he destroyed the king of it and all those living there. He did not let any remain. And so he did to the king of Makkeda as he had done to the king of Jericho. Constantly reminding everyone who reads, “Just like what I did from the very beginning when I brought you into this land, I’m doing now.” Then Joshua passed by Makkedah, and all Israel with him, unto Libnah; and fought against Libnah.

Then verse 30—And the Eternal delivered it also, and the king of it into the hand of Israel; and he struck it down with the edge of the sword, and all those living in there. He did not let any remain in it, because that’s what they were commanded. So it’s repeating these things over and over again.

Sometimes we hear things many times. God will show us things, tell us things, and it has to be reinforced in our minds. God wants us to have a specific kind of focus in our lives. Whether it be holy days or whatever it might be, or various kinds of things throughout scripture in sermons, we hear them, but He constantly builds upon that and strengthens us. The more we think upon and look upon things like this the more God can strengthen us as we think about them and thank God for them.

This is a large region for a people to come into, and what they did didn’t happen overnight. So they had some of their greatest warring and battling that struck incredible fear in the rest by what happened here in this particular story because everyone knew that the sun and the moon didn’t move. They didn’t have to have anyone come and tell them, but when they found out later on what had happened and some of the story that went with it...incredible.

That’s why it’s good for us to understand that there are things that God can do with human beings to give you favor when normally in life they wouldn’t. All of a sudden their minds are turned toward you in a positive way to help you, to do things for you that they don’t necessarily understand, but that’s what they’re moved to do. God can do that with human beings, incredibly so, very powerfully so. He can also do to human beings other things because of circumstances and things that happen around them to cause great fear to be upon them toward you. They don’t know why. They don’t understand why. Because it’s something they’ve never experienced; they don’t understand it. But these feelings can be very, very strong in the human mind. God has the power to do those things and has. So again, your life can’t be in better hands, if we understand it, no matter what happens around us.

So again here, in verse 30—And the Eternal delivered it also, and the king of it, into the hand of Israel. And he struck it down with the edge of the sword, and all those living there. He did not let any remain in it, but did to the king as he had done to the king of Jericho.

Then Joshua passed to Libnah... It goes through every one of these repeating it over and over again. ...and all Israel with him, unto Lachish; and encamped against it and fought against it. And the Eternal delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, which seized on it the second day, and struck it down with the edge of the sword, and all those living there, just like he had done to Libnah.

Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua struck him down and his people, until he had left him none who remained, getting a little ahead of the story here rather than waiting to get to it. I don’t know exactly when it’s coming, but basically God did this to all of them. You’d think a little bit of soundness of mind – look at all that’s happened and all the destruction that’s taken place – wouldn’t you want to try to surrender or try to go into some other country now or flee or do something instead of keep coming up against them? But something happened up here to their minds, that they were bent on coming after them and fighting them. Incredible! That’ll come out later on, so we go on.

Verse 34, it goes on to say, From Lachish Joshua passed on to Eglon, and all Israel with him; and they encamped against it and fought against it. They seized it on that day and struck it down with the edge of the sword; and all those living there he utterly destroyed that day, just like he had done to Lachish.

From Eglon, Joshua, and all Israel with him, went up to Hebron; and they fought against it.  They took it and struck it down with the edge of the sword—and the king of it, and all the cities thereof, and all those living there. He left no one remaining: just like all that he had done to Eglon, they destroyed all who were living there. Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir, and fought against it.

So, a person can read through a story like this and it just keeps repeating. It’s important to God though. Battle after battle after battle, just because the promised land was there and they were told what they were going to receive, they never received it fully until they had conquered all those people. It wasn’t until after it had all been conquered that finally they were able—I’m getting ahead of the story again—to have what God intended for them to receive.

I can’t help but think of the reality of what we’re going through and what we’re preparing to go through. There will be battle. It won’t be just one. You’re going to have battle after battle after battle. You keep going forward. You keep looking to God. You keep your eyes fixed on God to give you strength, to give you help, to give you courage to keep moving forward. He will fight battles for you that you have no ability to fight. It is a complete trust in God and looking to God. That’s how you live your life. God will continue to help you in every battle along the way until you’re able to receive that land or that time, that millennial period when Joshua finally has returned because that’s what this is all about. It’s about a battle after battle after battle – and in every one of them God gives the victory. It’s by His power. It’s by His might that we’re able to move forward. Those things are going to be manifest by things we practice in a way that we’ve really never had to practice, not to that degree. That’s what God’s been preparing us for.

It’s not like other eras of the Church. This is unique. This is a unique time. God has prepared things within us to go through things that are ahead of us in a way that no one else has really had to. They’ve had battles. There have been all kinds of battles and horrible things that individuals have had to go through, but not everywhere around the world. Not to this level. Not to this degree. Not with this kind of horrific thing in front of us of what’s going to be seen in the world.

Something to fear? In one respect it’s fearful, you feel for people, but you understand what’s on the other side and why this world has to go through this. It’s the only way! Human nature is so incredible!

That’s why I think about the economy and what’s happening. 2008, and now the attitude that’s here today that’s different than it was back then. Today it’s far more blind than it was before, less fear, though there is a kind of fear that’s out there because people are always concerned about what’s happening to their money. But I’m talking about real fear of everything fully collapsing, it doesn’t exist in the same way at all and it’s like, “We’re going to have to weather the storm and we’re going to work this one out too. Everything is going to work out okay. As a matter of fact, right now things are so low this is really the time to look for bargains. You’ve just got to be shrewd, which ones to buy up.” Sad.

But there’s an attitude out there today to me that reeks it’s so haughty and so proud. Instead of being humbled over a period of seven years look what’s happened to the world. Look what’s happened to people. Look what’s happened to society. Look what’s happening to governments. This world has to be shaken to the core of its being, truly, mightily so before God’s Kingdom can be ushered in. Sad that mankind is that way, but that’s the way we are. That’s the way human nature is.

I think we’re ready for verse 41. Now, Joshua struck them down from Kadesh Barnea, even unto Gaza, and the county of Goshen, unto Gibeon.  And all these kings and their land Joshua took at one time, because the Eternal God of Israel fought for Israel. And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp at Gilgal. So they continued to make a full sweep conquering, destroying. One after another, one battle after another. It was a specific timeframe. It doesn’t say specifically what that was, but it was a timeframe they had to accomplish all this before they could really receive the promised land. Just being there wasn’t enough. God wanted it cleaned up. God wanted to make sure there were no enemies left.

Joshua 11:1—Now, when Jabin, king of Hazor had heard those things, that he sent to Jobab, king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, and to the kings that were on the north of the mountains, and on the plains of Chinneroth, and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor on the west, and to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh. They came together as a great army, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore by number, with very many horses and chariots. So now you have a wider region and those who are gathering together and coming up to fight against Israel.

Really, I think of what’s coming because it doesn’t get nicer as we go along out there; it gets worse. So when we start going into some of the things we do, yes, there’ll be battle after battle, there’ll be horrifying things that are indeed on a physical plane scary by nature, but there is a lot more coming. It just magnifies and magnifies to where it looks worse and worse. But as you go through certain battles you know what? As you go through various things that you do and you see how God has worked with you and blessed you and brought you through battle after battle then when the bigger ones come, which they will, you’ll have greater boldness and confidence, because you saw everything that happened. You have an experience that you didn’t have before.

So we can have knowledge and understanding of certain things we’re going to go up against and we know what we’re supposed to do, and as we practice some of those things in our life and have certain battles they’re nothing compared to the battles that are behind it that are yet to come before it’s over with. That’s part of the story here. It’s a part of being strengthened in courage, being strengthened in boldness, being strengthened in might, and keeping your eyes on God. That’s the story.

Verse 4—They came together as a great army, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in number, with very many horses and chariots. And when all these kings came together, they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel. And the Eternal said to Joshua, Do not be afraid before them, because tomorrow, at about this time, I will deliver all of them up to be slain before Israel. So now here is the greatest battle yet that’s in front of them. Massive in numbers, things that they’re seeing, chariots and horses in such huge numbers, an army of people. They’ve been prepared for it and when God tells them, “This is yours. Don’t worry, tomorrow about this time I’ll deliver them up to be slain by Israel.”

...you shall disable their horses, and burn their chariots with fire. This is what’s going to happen.  So Joshua and all the people of war with him went up quickly against them by the waters of Merom; and they fell upon them. And the Eternal delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them down and chased them unto great Zidon, and unto Misrephoth-maim, and unto the valley of Mizpeh eastward; they struck them down until they had left none of them remaining. And Joshua did unto them just as the Eternal told him: he disabled their horses and burned their chariots with fire.

Joshua then turned back, and took Hazor, and struck down the king with the sword: for before this Hazor was the head of all those kingdoms. They struck down all who were living there with the edge of the sword and destroyed them. There were not any left alive. And he burnt Hazor with fire. And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, Joshua took them, and struck them down with the edge of the sword, and he destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the Eternal commanded.

So again here, making it very clear here that they were doing exactly what they had been charged to do. It was given to Moses. It was written in scripture what they were to do and they were following through and saying, and in reality here, when it’s all said and done, just exactly like Moses had said.

However, as for as the cities that stood on mounds, in other words, those that were built up that I mentioned earlier, Israel burned none of them, except Hazor only; for Joshua did burn it. And all the spoil and the livestock of these cities.... Now, they destroyed all the people just like they were commanded to do, but there were certain places that they didn’t fully destroy. Why? Well, they were going to spread out in time. They were going to have certain things that they would receive as a part of looting, if you will, plundering the land. Cities are the same thing. Some they destroyed. Those that were good fortification or fortified areas in fortified regions, that’s why it mentions it like this, because they were fortified, and so these are great places to have cities, to have places to dwell. That’s what was being done here.

That’s why it goes on to say then, all the spoil and the livestock of these cities the children of Israel plundered for themselves. But every person they struck down with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them. And they left none alive.

Then verse 15—And as the Eternal had commanded Moses His servant, then Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did so. He just obeyed. Did what he said. You don’t go wrong when you do what God says.

That’s why I’m thankful that God’s been cleaning up the Church because anyone at this stage, at this point in time who isn’t deeply convicted that God is first and that they’re living by God’s way of life, that they’re putting God first, no deception, learning to fight against deception, learning to fight against deceit, learning to fight against lies, learning to fight against all the things that are wrong as far as life is concerned, relationships, that those are cleaned up; those who are striving to live by those things and conquer and overcome, fight battle after battle on a spiritual plane to become  more at one with God, God will be with us. God will be with us. He’ll fight our battles for us. That’s why we have to be cleaned up because of what we’re getting ready to go into.

The example is for us of what happened with Joshua and Israel going into this land that they hadn’t received fully yet until it was conquered completely. That’s why I think of that which   we’re given to conquer and overcome, more at the last than any other part of our life, if you will, because of what we’re getting ready to go into, that’s what we’ve been given, greater things to deal with in life. God shows us greater things. He shows us things that we haven’t understood fully before. Drama, drama, drama, drama. He’s letting us see that so that we hate it, and so that as we learn those things and conquer those things God can bless us more. God will bless us more as we fight more against the sin.

Those who refuse and want to continue in sin? If it’s not brought to the attention of the Church and has the Church deal with it God will deal with it because there will be nothing slip by that isn’t faithful and truthful to God. Not a single solitary thing. No one.

So that’s why it’s so important that we’re true to God. It boggles my mind that in our minds we’re not true to God. Sometimes that means being true to what’s happening in our lives, to how we think, to how we react to things, to how we deal with things around us, to whether or not we repent quickly, to whether or not we want to see wrong thinking or the wrong way we’re treating others or speaking to others or thinking about others, so that we can ask for help to conquer that and overcome that.

So we’ve been going through an incredible time of the Church being cleansed and of looking at ourselves more deeply because of where we are and because of where we’re getting ready to go. So it’s a matter of conquering.

Those who don’t want to conquer, those who can’t conquer, like the example of the one individual and the one family there, of what happened to them, that’s what’ll happen because there is no lying to God. It’s futile. For a human being to think they can be like Adam and Eve and be in the garden and walk around in a dark area and somehow God doesn’t know they’re there? So they don’t want to be seen by God so they’re hiding out here and they’re kind of keeping out a little farther away and keeping in the dark areas of the trees and whatever around them, hiding from God. How well do you think they were hidden? To limit God like that is insane, but we have that example from the very beginning.

That’s why it’s insane now ever more so. By all we’ve gone through in time, nothing is hidden from God. He knows every thought in your mind! He does. He’ll help you to see your mind. He’ll help you to understand your mind and your thinking. He has incredible patience with us. If our heart and our desire is to be more at one with God, to love Him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our being, He’ll help us in growing in that. He’ll give us help. He wants us to grow in that. It’s a beautiful thing, but to think that we will hide anything from God or God won’t deal with certain things that we might tolerate in our life as far as sin? No. We can’t do it. It’s got to be conquered, got to be fought against, got to be repented of over and over, whatever it takes.

I’m just going to pick up verse 14 again—and all the spoil and the livestock and the cities it says Israel plundered them for themselves, but every person they struck down with the edge of the sword until none were left alive.

Verse 15—As the Eternal had commanded Moses His servant, then Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did so. Beautiful! As the Eternal commanded Moses, Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it. That’s what our lives are like. Whatever is written here that’s commanded, that God has given to those who have gone before through time, we strive to live by it. We strive to have right relationships with people. We strive to learn how to think right toward people, because that has everything to do with how we respond then. When we respond verbally, by things that are happening, or by actions or by whatever it might in life it goes back to the thinking, what’s in the mind.

...he left nothing undone of all that the Eternal commanded Moses. So that’s the way we should seek to be in all things, really, to leave nothing undone, to strive to address everything in our life that comes to the forefront. That’s why it’s just wise to pray in that vein, like it’s been mentioned before, that God show us what we need to work on, God show us how we think that’s wrong, in mercy, so that we be able to see it so that we can begin to repent of it more and fight against it more because we have to see what’s in the mind. God has to reveal it to us. You can’t see it any other way.

The human carnal mind cannot see self for what it really is. That’s something I really marvel at out of the last many years here, is that more and more God is helping us to see what’s inside here and how this works because it goes back to the thinking process, the thoughts, what’s deep down in the mind that makes us what we are, who we are. It’s how we think. God is blessing us in that being transformed and being changed in ways that I’ve never seen within God’s Church in times past to the same level and degree and speed, if you will. It’s happened over a longer period of time and experiences that are over a longer period of time, but those things have changed mightily toward the end here. To me that’s exciting.

So Joshua took all the land, the hills, and the south country, and the land of Goshen, the valley, and the plain, and the mountain of Israel, and the valley of the same; even from the mount of Halak, that goes up to Seir, even to Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon under mount Hermon. And all their kings he took and struck them down and put them to death. And Joshua made war for many days with all those kings.

It doesn’t say how long. It just says for a time, for whatever that period of time was. But that was their job. That was their task until it was finally completed. It wasn’t overnight. Travelling like that with an army all over that region takes a lot of time, but it was at a time that God gave them because now you’re in this land and now you have these battles to fight one after another until it’s finished, until it’s complete, until finally you’re there.

So the hardest part was in this, to receive it. It takes effort. It takes work. It takes trust. It takes reliance upon God. So even in these cities where some had escaped to they killed them all. They destroyed them all, everyone there. Incredible, what God did.

Verse 19—There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, except for the Hivites of the inhabitants of Gibeon: but all the rest they took in battle. In other words, they destroyed all the rest in battle. For it was the Eternal who hardened their hearts... Awesome! Awesome, the power of God to work with things, to mold and fashion things, to fulfill a plan, to fulfill things the way He said they’re going to be done and what they’re to teach and what’s to be learned from it. God has the power to do that over His creation. Everyone has choices, but everyone without God’s spirit always makes the wrong choices. Always. Always. Always. Selfish. Evil. Because that’s what fighting against God is because everyone fights against God in the world until God draws them and calls them. They don’t understand that. They don’t comprehend that. That’s difficult for the human mind.

But there is one other place where it talks about “hardened their hearts” that we know well, the story, what happened to Pharaoh. Look what happened to him. It says God hardened his heart. It’s by the way He worked circumstances around him. He had the choices to make but God knew what he would do. As various things took place, with him being over a great nation like that at that time, the greatest nation at that time, and how God worked with him then as slowly but surely plague after plague came along, and then his own son died, children of Israel marching out, and by this time he was so hardened and the fury inside of him was so stirred up he went after them with all of his army, every bit of it, and God destroyed it.

But all those things happened as a plan, as a purpose that God had. It was God’s purpose that they chase after Israel, and God brought it to pass. God can work with human beings for whatever His purpose is, to learn whatever it is that needs to be learned, to teach whatever it is that we need to have taught to us so that we can glean from it. When our time comes when we’re called we can make choices that count if God calls us and draws us, opens up our mind to His truth. It gives us that ability to say, okay, which one do you want? Which one do you really want?

That’s an incredible thing with Almighty God, of how He works with us. But again, to keep in mind all along the way people always have choices. But people will always make the wrong choices. Pharaoh made the wrong choices. He went after them. God purposed.

It wasn’t an accident that He destroyed him in the sea. It wasn’t an accident that God led them in a way that wasn’t a way, it wasn’t a highway, it wasn’t a way of travelling into that region of the world. You don’t go up to a sea and expect to find some great bridge that’s been made. They didn’t make bridges like that back then. They didn’t have the boats there waiting for them to take millions across. God led them there for a purpose to deliver them out of Egypt so that these things could be written in a book to be inspiring.

Though the world might scoff at it God’s people will always believe because they know it’s true. He made us. He made everything out there. It’s a small thing for Him to open up a sea and make the ground dry and let the children of Israel go across, a small thing for him to close up the water on a people that are so enraged, so furious and wanting to destroy the Israelites that they chase after them. Then He kills them all, put tremendous fear in the nations around of what happened. Even forty years later people still knew the story and feared it. It was real to them – though they were stirred up as well. God put it in their hearts, “You’re not taking my land. We’ve been here for all this time and who do you think you are?”

So we don’t know all the things that happened around them in their life and in their world, but God worked with them in a similar sort of way to stir them up to do certain things. But their heart was hardened because of their choices. It takes circumstances and things that happen around people for that to take place, where they become filled with greater pride, like what happened to Pharaoh. This is what happened to the leaders here, to be filled with greater pride, greater hatred toward “their God,” because they didn’t really believe in Him or else they’d be worshipping Him. They had their own gods, but they saw a tremendous army and a tremendous people, but they looked upon them as just being physical, but they were superstitious so they’re kind of quandary.

For it was the Eternal who hardened their hearts, so that they would come against Israel in battle. That is amazing! Only one group didn’t, and God allowed that for a purpose, to be written here as well. He let them have their little conniving way and to teach Israel something. What was that? They did not look to God and ask God what they should do with them. Big mistake.

God should always be at the forefront of our lives. We should always look to God whatever we do. Whatever we’re working toward, God should be a part. We should want to include God as being a part with us, and especially if something is difficult, not to bombastically do things just of our own will but wanting to make sure it’s a part of God’s and wanting God to be a part with us, to share with us, and asking God to bless us then as we strive to make right kinds of choices and decisions in our life that are right, that are good in judgment. Not that there aren’t many other ways of doing it, but that’s the point of looking to God constantly, continually in our lives. So God allows certain things to happen to be recorded so we can learn great lessons from it.

I think of what God’s doing right now to different peoples – preparing them, hardening their hearts. It’s happening to Europe in a big way toward this country right now because of circumstances. It’s exactly what happened here. It’s exactly what happened to Pharaoh. Who did they think they are? I mean, that’s the way people think. “Who does he think he is? He made an agreement and now we’re left holding the bag. He tells us we need to pay more! We’re hurting as it is. What do you want us to do? Tax the people more? We’re trying to tax them all we can already to get what we want...not what you want over there! Oh, yeah, you did help us in WWII. We haven’t forgotten that totally—not totally – mostly, but not totally.” I’m sorry.

So people are strange sometimes, how they think. “Pull out of Iran; you’re pulling out of the rest. You want us to pay a bigger part of the military? Who do you think you are?” That’s really what’s deep down inside. “Who do you think you are? Why couldn’t someone else have won?” Anyway, I’m sorry. “A lot of us still haven’t gotten over the election even in Europe.”

Then for a time, France, it was like, we’re buddies. Running down from the back row to be up in the front row. Sorry, but I can’t help it. Human nature is a funny thing sometimes. It’s all about self, human nature is. Show and so forth. Then things haven’t gone so well. Attitudes have changed dramatically over various policies, over various things that are happening.

I hope we see this that they’re being molded and fashioned – they’re already molded and fashioned – into a certain way of thinking to where now they will equate the United States along with Russia and China as threats to them. Now, that’s kind of mind boggling when you really think about it. So where does that come from? For it was the Eternal who hardened their hearts, so that they would come against Israel in battle... It’s exactly what it is. Everything that’s happening out there right now between nations, their hearts are being hardened so that it’s going to be a worldwide thing so quickly, so easily, so simply after one domino falls. Incredible. God has been preparing all this, preparing how people think.

That’s why I marvel in looking at the things that are taking place in the news today, not like it was seven years ago or five years ago or two years ago, but things being spoken of now and looked upon. You think, this is incredible. We’re definitely now at the doorstep. It’s set, ready to go, attitudes, thinking, because its attitudes and thinking that lead people to do the things they’re going to do as time goes along.

So again, It was the Eternal who hardened their hearts so that they would come up against Israel in battle, and be destroyed without mercy. Now, again, this is a very awkward translation, but this is what it’s saying, “and be destroyed without mercy.” That was the purpose. The purpose was that they be so stirred up, that they be to a certain point that they’re going to come to battle and to war, that their minds are so set on conquering and fighting against Israel that they’re to be destroyed, that it be evident to Israel they’re to be destroyed. They’ve come up against you? They’re to be destroyed. The answer is simple: destroy them without mercy because sometimes, like in a time of war like this, Israel and the Israelites had to be of a certain mindset to want to fulfill and accomplish what was placed before them as well. So God knows how to work with people on a carnal plane and on a spiritual plane. How blessed are we?

So again ...that they might be destroyed without mercy, but be, this is the beauty of what’s being said here, but be destroyed as the Eternal had commanded Moses. In other words, God set everything in motion. God set attitudes and thinking of people. Not only of those nations, but also the Israelites, so that they would fulfill and do exactly what God had told Moses that needed to be accomplished. That’s basically what its saying. It’s a beautiful thing. God brought it to pass because it had to be. It had to be that way and no other way.

You think it’s hard for God to work with human beings? Well, harder than it is to make the earth not rotate. It’s a job, but God does. He works with human beings to bring about His purpose, His will.

Verse 21—In time Joshua went and cut down the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, and from Anab, and from the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel: Joshua destroyed them along with their cities. So in other words, now it’s showing if you look at the geography and those who came down first and those that they fought against first, closest in, in essence, and those who were farther out, masses, masses that came up against them, and then they were destroyed. Now they just went throughout the rest cleaning it up, rest of all that land that God had given to them, cleaning it up.

From that point on the battles were lesser, but they were still there. There were things to be accomplished but nothing like they were before. I can’t help but think of the time when finally, at some point, it’s going to be very evident that God Almighty is intervening in the affairs of mankind in this world, and the things we’re going to see there that give a kind of courage and strength far beyond what it was in the experiences of going through the various battles. Now, yes, it’s a type of clean up over here in what it’s talking about with Israel, and it is with God and what He’s going to do when He finally brings all this to a stop – whatever period of time, whether it be 50 days or a year. I hope and pray it’s not a year. I say that because we have to be prepared, because that’s what would be next. The timing would totally change in what God does and how He does it.

Verse 22—None of the Anakims were left in the land of the children of Israel: but only Gaza, Gath, and in Ashdod were any remaining. So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Eternal had said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.

I love that. A rest. The Millennium is given, as an example, in type, as a type of a rest. We look forward to one far beyond that, obviously, of being in God’s Kingdom. But even there, think of the peace that God’s going to finally give to this world.

So this story of Joshua is not just any old story of something that happened a long time ago, but it happened because of great purpose and great design that God had, and the majority of it is for right here right now, to prepare us for what we’re getting ready to go into.

So peace came through obedience and they were strengthened in the might that came from God.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1