“Now Joshua was old, advanced in years. And the LORD said to him: “You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed.” How old was he? Well, let’s see. He was 110 years old when he died (Joshua 24:29). We are not too sure how old he was when he left Egypt. We normally associate him with Caleb because they spied out the land together. Caleb was forty when they left Egypt, and from Caleb’s conversation, we can assume that the conquest lasted five years (Joshua 14:7-12). I wouldn’t think that Joshua was any younger than Caleb. Indeed, I think he was older. So Joshua is at least 85 at this point. I suspect that he is much closer to 110. Joshua has much to reflect upon the glory of the Lord during those years.
He was with Moses when they left Egypt. The first mention of him is in Exodus 17 when Moses makes him general of the army when they fight that famous battle against Amalek. He saw the glory of the Lord in the midst of the battle. It was clear that when Moses raised his hands, they won. When Moses lowered his hands, they lost. Joshua knew that it was the glory of the Lord that produced his victory.
Joshua went with Moses when he went up on the mountain of God to receive the law (Exodus 24:13-18). He was nearby when the fiery finger of God inscribed the law upon the stone tablets. He alone dwelt next to the cloud on the mountain and experienced the thunders and lightings of the presence of the glory of the Almighty God as Moses entered the cloud for forty days and forty nights. As they returned, it was Joshua who remarked that there was a sound of war in the camp (Exodus 32:17). He was unaware of the apostasy that occurred in the valley below. While it was Moses with whom God spoke face to face as with a friend, it was Joshua who refused to leave the tabernacle where the glory of God dwelt (Exodus 33:11).
It was Joshua that was jealous for the glory of Moses when men were prophesying in the camp. But Moses corrected his thought relating to the glory of the Lord, saying, “I wish the LORD would give his Spirit to all his people so everyone could be a prophet (Numbers 13:29).” It was Joshua who was selected among his tribe to be one of the twelve spies sent into the land. Only he and Caleb brought a positive report because they knew the glory of the Lord. When they rebuked the people, the people took up stones to kill them. It was then that the glory of the Lord appeared and prevented any harm to him (Numbers 14:6-10).
It was Joshua who led them across the Jordan. It was Joshua who met the commander of the Lord’s army. It was Joshua who led them in the renewal of the covenant signs. It was Joshua who led them around Jericho. It was Joshua who led them against AI. It was Joshua who stumbled in making the treaty with Gibeon. It was Joshua who had seen the might victories against the Canaanite kings. What a legacy! My how he had seen the glory of the Lord! When you and I die, will we with Joshua be able to say, “I have seen the glory of the Lord in my life, and this how I have seen it. . . ! God forgive me for being satisfied with lesser things. Let me thirst and crave nothing less than the glory of God. Let not my life be mediocre! Let it only be saturated and dripping with the glory of God. May people see not me but the glory of God! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 9
We were driving in the middle of the night going east on I-70. Laura was driving; I was sleeping. We hit black ice at 70mph. I woke up when she screamed. The first thing that I saw was snow coming over the hood. My first thought was, “Lord, I’m coming home!” It was rather frightening. We came to an abrupt stop in a 4-foot-deep snow bank. A highway patrolman came right behind us and dug us out. He said, “It is black ice all the way from here to the border. Take the next exit and find a motel.” We started on our way. This time I was driving. Even going slow, I soon went into a spin. I was trying to remember my driver’s education, “When you go into a spin, turn into the direction of the spin.” That was just counter-intuitive. Its kind-of like, if a guy throws a left hook, you lean into it. I soon found myself sliding off the highway again. We dug ourselves out again, and we took the next exit.
The Lord is a just judge. The concept is both frightening and comforting at the same time. It is frightening because I know that I have sinned. In Psalm 7 we learned that the Lord is angry with the wicked all day long. How many sins must I commit in order to be considered wicked? The Scripture is clear, one sin makes me wicked. IF the Judge is angry with me, I am fearful to be judged by Him. However, this judge is also merciful. 9:10 says, “You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.” So, I, who am wicked, am supposed to run to the judge, who is angry with the wicked all day long?
That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. It seems counter-intuitive. It is kind-of like turning into the direction of a spin on ice. Yet, that is what He desires. He delights as a judge in dispensing mercy. He wants to show us His mercy so that we may revel in His love. It is only by turning into His direction of the spin that we are in that we can find mercy. It always brings us back to Him. Turning into His direction is called, ‘repentance’. When I turn that direction, instead of finding a God who is angry with me all day long, I find a God who delights in my embrace. To turn away from Him is to invite His wrath. To turn toward Him is to invite His embrace. Why do I hesitate? Should be a no-brainer. But it is not. It is counter-intuitive. I rejoice in the fact that He is a just judge and invites me to seek Him. What glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
JEREMIAH 35
Jonadab, the son of Rechab, was the founder of the Rechabites. He recognized the value of obeying his glorious Lord. He also knew the corrupting influence of cities and wine. In the days of the Kings, Israel excelled in the production of wine. They exported wine all over the world. Of course, if there is something that a nation produces a lot of, the nation is usually first a consumer of it. Israel was surely a consumer of their product. The Canaanite religions were excessive in their use of wine. We can safely assume that as Israel picked up the worship of the Canaanite Gods, they also picked up their drinking habits. Centuries before Jeremiah, Jonadab charged his sons to live the life of nomads and not drink wine for the purpose of avoiding the corrupting influences of cities and wine. According to the KJV Commentary, “During the reign of Jehu (841–814 B.C.) the Rechabites assisted in the eradication of the Baalim from Israel (II Kgs 10:15–23). Obviously, the Rechabites had been holding true to their tradition.
As an object lesson to the nation, Jeremiah tests the Rechabites who are now living in Jerusalem because of the Babylonian invasion. He sets wine before them and asks them to drink. They passed the test. They refused to drink the wine out of obedience to their fathers. The Lord points out how much He appreciated their obedience and His desire for Israel to be equally obedient to Him. There is One who was totally obedient, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians tells us that he was obedient to the Father even to the point of death, even death on a cross. It is the glory of our Lord that He is obedient to the Father. He wants us to share in His glory. Will we obey? If we do we may share in His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
ACTS 16:22-40
Have you ever been a prisoner? We all have been at one time or another. Maybe not in a conventional prison but, we have been prisoners trapped in the confines or consequences or our own sin. Jesus is the ultimate liberator because He makes us free from the very bars that we have built.
Paul and Silas were in prison. It was a literal prison. They were there unjustly. They could have been bitter. They could have allowed emotional walls to go up that would have enslaved them against the jailer and the people of Philippi. But they knew too much about the glory of their king. Indeed, Paul had been left for dead and Jesus raised him up. Paul had encouraged others that through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God. They knew that in every town that they entered, tribulation and maybe death awaited them there. Why did they still go? Because they knew that in every town they entered, the glory of their king needed to be revealed.
They had received many stripes and were placed in the securest cell with their feet in stocks. But they chose to focus on the glory of their king. That focus on the glory made all the difference in the world. You know, whenever I focus on the glory of my King, I cannot help but sing. So too, they could not help but sing. Picture this: Many stripes--that means that their back was beaten until the skin broke in multiple places. You know they had to be experiencing physical pain. In prison with no knowledge of if or when release would come. You know they had to be experiencing emotional pain. Feet in stocks. If your back is bruised and bloodied and your feet are stationary in stocks, how can you possibly lie down? It is midnight. I am sure they have been in the stocks for some hours now. Now they begin singing. Why? Because of the glory of their King. It has nothing to do with their remarkable character, which they had. It has all to do with their remarkable King. Choosing to focus on Him made all the difference in the world. They could have been prisoners in a second cell, an emotional one. But they chose to focus on the glory. A Roman family embraced that glory because Paul and Silas made the choice to focus upon it. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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