Joshua 5: Don't Forget Holiness

Theological Proposition/Focus: The holy God of the universe has standards that he expects his people to keep.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: God expects his people to to identify with him, to celebrate the works he had done and to wholly revere him.

Introduction:

Image: I wish you had told me that earlier.

Have you ever been told a story, asked a favor, or received more details and thought "I really wish you had told me that earlier?"

Body

God expects His people to be identified with Him (2-9).

2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth. 4 Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of military age—died in the wilderness on the way after leaving Egypt. 5 All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness during the journey from Egypt had not. 6 The Israelites had moved about in the wilderness forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. 8 And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.

Here we have an interesting situation. Upon crossing into enemy territory, God reminded people that there was an important standard they had failed to satisfy.

The Standard: Circumcision was expected.

Back up with me for a minute to the time of Abraham.

Read Gen. 17:9-14 we see that circumcision was symbolic of God's covenant with Israel.

In fact," though other ancient Near Eastern groups performed circumcision, this ritual action became the most significant marker of Jewish identity."

Now that we have an idea about the command to be circumcised we can better understand the situation that the people were in,

The Situation: Circumcision had not been completed.

In verse 5 we see that all the people who came out of Egypt had been circumcised. However, it seems that those born during the wilderness wanderings had not been circumcised.

The problem is that circumcision had important significance.

The Significance: Circumcision represented the covenant.

Circumcision was done on infants after 8-days demonstrating that God's people need his cleansing grace from birth.

This placed the people in a significant conundrum, they were supposed to have been circumcised but had not been circumcised. The solution was simple.

The Solution: Circumcision was conducted.

Notice something significant here.

If I were planning this out I probably would have asked people to be circumcised on the other side of the Jordan before entering enemy territory.

However, I think God wanted his people to demonstrate faith. We don't get to identify with God when it is convenient.

In Egypt circumcision was reserved for priests and upper class citizens

Hence, it seems unlikely that the Egyptians would have allowed their slaves to conduct such a practice.

Image: We are used to identifying with companies, brands, ideas

I think that sometimes we are numb because we are inundated with identification. We wear shirts that advertise brands, we put bumper stickers on our cards, and we like companies on Facebook. With all the identification that takes place, I wonder. Do we identify with God?

So naturally, we ask the question,

MTR: Ask yourself, am I identifying with God?

Consider some of the ways we can identify with God.

Baptism

Baptism: Believers Baptism is Christ's ordained means of identification with him.

Now I want to be careful here. There are many denominations that argue that baptism has in fact replaced circumcision and based on this argument they argue for infant baptism. This is not the case. Consider

Colossians 2:11-12.

In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Key to this passage is the idea that this circumcision was not performed with human hands but is rather a circumcision of the heart.

In fact, God had promised to circumcise the hearts in Deut. 30:5–8

That is, the physical act of circumcision was a symbol of the covenant but was never the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal was repentance and dedication to God.

Indeed in Acts 7:51 Paul declares

“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!"

The simple fact is that one way of identifying with God is through believers baptism.

Love for one-another

1 Cor. 13:8 states

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

In the early Church particular Spiritual Gifts were normative as evidence that God was at work in the Church. However, as the early Church matured these sign gifts passe away and are no longer normative. What remains for the Church to use to identify itself? Love!

God expects His people to celebrate His works (10-12).

9 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal to this day. 10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. 11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.

The Standard: Celebrating Passover was expected.

Some commentators believe this was only the third Passover ever celebrated. The first would have been in Egypt as in Exodus 12:1-28, the second at Mount Sinai just before the people broke camp to move toward Canaan (Numbers 9:1-5). However, other commentators view this as just two previously mentioned observations while many other observations had been completed.

I know that for many of you reading through the book of Leviticus is not on your top ten books of the Bible but tucked away in Leviticus is an important command. Among the celebrations that are commanded in Leviticus 23 there is an important command to celebrate the Passover in Leviticus 23:4-8. See also Deuteronomy 16:1-8.

The Situation: It was time to celebrate Passover.

In verse 10 we read that it was the 14th day of the month. It happened to be the first month of the year in the Jewish Calendar and so it was time to celebrate Passover.

The Significance: Passover memorialized God's deliverance.

The Passover was one of the most significant historical events

Recall the events that led to the first Passover.

The Solution: Passover was celebrated

In some sense the Passover became a set of bookends.

The Passover marked the beginning of the Exodus from Egypt and now the Passover marked the end of wandering in the wilderness.

The Results: God's new provision.

Remember that throughout the wilderness wandering, God had provided for the people. However, the people did grow tired of the manna and complained. Now God was providing for the people in an entirely different way. Now the people were able to take part in the fruit of the promised land.

The passages emphasizes the stopping of the manna mentioning it twice.

I think the emphasis here is that the people are not longer a wandering people. God had provided manna in the past but now he was moving into a different means of provision.

Image: Late night video game nights have lost their appeal.

Emily and I were married young, we were really still just kids. In fact, one of the staples of our early marriage was late night video game parties at our house. I was a nerd and set-up a fairly elaborate computer network throughout the basement of the house we rented. We built several computers using old parts from computers that had belonged to people at church and broken, some component wore out or anything else we could get our hands on then every Friday night my friends we would have friends and younger siblings come over, Emily would cook a pile of burritos (and yes I mean a pile) and we would boot up all the computers and play Star Wars Galactic Battle Grounds late into the night. 15 years later when we were all together we had the bright idea of having a late night video game night like old times. I think we may have made it an hour before we put away the game and started talking about family and other parts of life. As sad as it was to admit. We had moved on in life.

Moving on and forward is part of life, and it seems to be part of spiritual life. We need to celebrate how God has worked throughout history but we also need to be careful that in celebrating the past we never forget that God is working now and into the future. God's works might look different. Don't get stuck wanting manna when the fruit of Canaan is right in front of you.

God expects His people to revere Him (13-15).

13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” 14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” 15 The commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. .