My habit for the last several summers has been to preach through a book of the Old Testament. Last summer we followed the nation of Israel through the book of Numbers. Beginning with their departure from Mt. Sinai where God gave them his law, the book of Numbers recorded Israel’s forty-year journey to the land God promised to give them as their inheritance. It’s important to remember that God led them to the Promised Land twice. When they first arrived at the edge of the Promised Land in Numbers 13-14, the people rebelled in fear, so God led them through the wilderness for forty years. When they arrived again at the edge of the Promised Land in Numbers 22, the people again struggled to be faithful to God, mingling with the Moabites and worshiping their gods and then experiencing God’s judgment in Numbers 25.
Through the end of the summer, I’ll be preaching through the book of Joshua, the account of God leading Israel into the Promised Land, conquering the Canaanites, and establishing Israel’s homeland. While most folks will read Joshua and focus on the successes of Israel’s conquest, we must not forget that it was God who was victorious and provided Israel’s inheritance not just in the land but in God himself. The conquests of Joshua were more a matter of God’s conquest in the hearts, minds, and lives of Israel than their acquisition of land.
It is remarkable that the people whom God had rescued from slavery in Exodus resisted God so flagrantly. To his glory, God provided sustenance despite their complaining and led them despite their sinful rebellion. In Joshua, we find God conquering Israel’s doubt and sin by proving over and over again his faithfulness to his promise to provide a home, to establish a family, to restore a relationship between Holy God and sinful people. As God conquered Israel’s doubt and sin, he enabled them to overcome their obstacles and follow him faithfully. This is Good News!
The account of Joshua is a history of God’s grace. It is an illustration of conquered conquest. It is the story of God’s purpose to have a relationship with the rebellious people he created, overcoming our sin and providing a way to live with him forever, as he promised Israel in Leviticus 26:11-12: “I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.” To that end, God called Joshua and the people into a new life, saying in Joshua 1:7, “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.” The first battle for Israel was in their own hearts and minds to trust and follow God faithfully.
The same is true for us. Just as God brought Israel out of their sinful rebellion in the wilderness and into the Promised Land, he has conquered sin in us so that we might join him in his conquest. We also need to remember that our conquest isn’t about worldly power and rewards but about victory and rest in God himself. Paul reminds us of the nature of our conquest as people in whom God has conquered sin and death; he writes:
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
Church, yes, we need to fight the battle! Start the conquest in your own heart, mind, soul, and body, and fight along with God for the hearts, minds, souls, and bodies of the people we know and love around us. Be conquered by God’s grace and join his conquest of the world through the power of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.