January 15, 2017 - Battle of Jericho

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5 (ESV)

Do you believe in God? I would hope that you'd say yes.  But what does it mean to "Believe?"  When things are tough do you believe that God will help you through?  When you're hungry do you believe that God will make sure that you eat? The main question is; Do you TRUST GOD?  It's easy to say that we believe but do we really trust that God can do the impossible?  Well, Israel had to do just that...

Last time we saw the Israelites, they were wandering in the wilderness and eating manna for forty years because they did trust that God would give them victory in the Promised Land.  Now they were going to get a second chance.  Moses, however, would not be going

with them.  Instead, his servant Joshua (one of the only two spies that trusted in God) was going to be their new leader. It was time to conquer the Promised Land which was called Canaan.

The first city they would come to in the Promised Land was called Jericho.  Jericho was a huge city with enormous walls to protect it from attack.  Joshua decided to send two spies to check it out.  The spies crossed the Jordan River and went into Jericho.  They found a place to stay at the house of a woman named Rahab, who's house was actually on the city wall.  

However, the king of Jericho heard that there were Israelite

spies in the city and he was afraid.  Everyone had heard about how God had rescued them from Egypt, parted the Red Sea, and taken care of the Israelites for the past forty years.  He knew that the Israelites were planning on attacking Jericho and he couldn't let that happen so he shut the city gate so they couldn't get out.  

The king of Jericho then sent soldiers to Rahab's house to arrest the spies.  You would think that the spies were in big trouble, wouldn't you?  When the soldiers came to the door, Rahab answered and said to the soldiers, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them." (Joshua 2:4-5 NIV)

So the soldiers went after the spies thinking they could

catch them but Rahab had actually hidden the men on her roof under a bunch of flax stalks she had laid out to dry in the sun.  After the soldiers left she went up to them  and said, "I know that your God has given you this land and everyone has heard about the great things He has done for you and we are all very afraid.  I know

that the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. (Joshua 2:11b NIV)  

Now that I have saved your lives, please promise me that me and my family will not be killed when your army comes to attack us.  The spies promised her that they would spare her life since she had saved theirs.  So Rahab, trusting the spies, found a

Scarlet (red) rope and let them out of her window and down the city wall so they could escape.  They told her, "Tie this scarlet rope in your window so the army will know which house is your.  Make sure your family stays inside or else they will

get killed." Rahab agreed and the spies ran back to tell Joshua everything that had happened.  

It was now time for the Israelites to enter into the Promised Land.  But there was a problem.  How do you get millions of people across the great Jordan River which was even wider than usual?  God told Joshua just what to do.  So Joshua, trusting what

God had said, gathered the people at the banks of the Jordan and had four priests carry the Ark of the Covenant into the river.  As soon as their feet touched the river, God made the water upstream stand up on end.  So the Israelites were able to cross on dry land.  

Joshua also had twelve men gather twelve large stones from the riverbed and stack them on the other side.  This was so future generations would see them and remember what God had done that day.

Now the Israelites were wondering how they were going to defeat Jericho when the wall around the city was so massive.  God had a plan but it

sounded crazy.  They were really going to have to trust God this time.  God had Joshua make the people with seven priests and the Ark of the Covenant march around the outside of the city. The only sound was the priests blowing their shofars (ram's horn). 

They walked around once and then went back to camp.

 They did this for six days in a row while the people inside the city watched.  Then on the seventh day they marched around the city seven times.  Then Joshua said, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab ... and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.... All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.” (Joshua 6:16b-17, 19 NIV) 

When the priests blew the shofars and the people shouted

the walls crumbled to the ground!  Then the Israelite army ran in and easily conquered the entire city.  Only Rahab and her family were saved.  Rahab then lived with Israel and later married an Israelite named Salmon.  

When God makes you a promise, you can trust Him to keep it, even if He has to do the impossible.  If we trust in God then He will do some wonderful things in our lives.

TWO CYBER POINTS THIS WEEK!  IF YOU ONLY GET ONE, YOU WILL GET ONE POINT. IF YOU GET BOTH OF THEM YOU WILL GET THREE POINTS!!!