Free To Choose: A Look At How the Israelite's Journey Ended

The book of Joshua concludes the Israelite's journey through the wilderness to the conquering of the Promised Land to finally resting in the inheritance that the Lord promised them. In this post, I'm going to speak on three major components of the book: the foreshadowing of Jesus, the promises of God, and the parallelism between how the journey began and how it ends. Finally, we'll look at what this means for us today.

The Foreshadowing of Jesus Christ

In Joshua 5, we see the men of Israel prepare for their first battle at Jericho. "And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?" So He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped..." Joshua 5:13-14

We know this was pre-incarnate Jesus Christ because (1) the text capitalizes His pronouns in the same way it references God, (2) Jesus Christ is God's manifestation as man, (3) we know that Jesus is Commander of the army of the Lord per Matthew 26:53, and (4) an angel or messenger of the Lord would not allow themselves to be worshipped.

God appeared to Joshua as a Man--the Commander of the Lord's army who would lead them into the Promised Land--just as Jesus Christ Himself leads all of mankind into the eternal Promised Land. But the foreshadowing does not end here.

Seeing God depicted as a Man with his sword drawn, as leader of the Lord's army, as protector of God's people, foreshadows the second coming of Christ when He will return as our Warrior King. We see here that Jesus has always been a part of the story. He has always been our defender.

The Promises of God

In Joshua 21, we see the Israelites finally receive their inheritance, but it wasn't just the land that was promised to them. "The Lord gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass." Joshua 21:44-45

The Lord promised presence, inheritance, victory, and rest. Those promises still stand today.

Presence: The Lord promises He is with us. He will not forsake us.

Inheritance: He has promised us eternal life with Him in heaven.

Victory: He has promised victory over the grave.

Rest: He has promised rest in Him now and in heaven.

The story of the Israelites is a mirror of every Christians' journey.

We all have our Egypt, our bondage, our doubting days, our wilderness where God reveals Himself to us and teaches us to trust Him. We all have an inheritance in Him, and there is a spiritual war we must endure in order to receive it. But, like the Israelites, if we hold fast to the Lord, if we love Him, if we walk in all His ways, if we follow His commandments, we will prevail. We will have victory and rest.

"But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul." Joshua 22:5

Note: Jesus died to save us from the curse of the Law, because no one is capable of walking in righteousness without The Righteous One. We are not capable of being holy. And yet, Jesus did not abolish the Law. He still references God's word (the Law of Moses) in His teachings. He reminds us that not a single word of God will fail. So, while we are free from the penalty of sin, which is death, we are still called to reference His word and walk in His ways.

How The Story Ended

The story of the Israelites ends with a warning to not return to the world. "Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations--these that remain among you--and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you, know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish..." Joshua 23:12-13

God had saved the Israelites from bondage. He had revealed Himself to them over time. He had preserved them in battle and followed through on every promise He made to them. No longer did they have an excuse to not trust God. No longer could they claim ignorance as to His commands. At this point, a choice to turn against Him would be deliberate and it would no longer be forgiven.

"He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good." Joshua 24:19-20

While we live in the age of grace, a post-crucifixtion world where each day brings new mercy, there still will come a time when our earthly journey will end. And when there are no more days to make a different choice, we will be judged based on the choice we made when we had the chance to choose to follow Him or conform to the world.

This portion of Joshua reminds us that just as God is faithful in keeping His promises, He is also faithful in judgment against sin. It reminds us there is a difference between sin prior to knowing God and sin after knowing God.

Before you know Him, His commandments, and His love, you may have a subconscious feeling that something you're doing isn't right. That's the Holy Spirit trying to reach you. But when you know something is not right and you still choose to do it anyway, you are turning your back on God. Sin becomes a deliberate choice and when you make that choice it carries a different kind of weight, guilt, and consequence. Still, the Lord--because of His love for us--forgives if we repent.

What is repentance? It's not just, "I'm sorry." That's called acknowledgment or confession. Repentance is choosing to follow Him once again. Choosing to keep His commandments. Choosing to walk in righteousness via the power of the Holy Spirit, because it is His power that equips us to do so.

This story--the Israelites and ours--begins and ends with a choice.

The story began with God choosing to make us His people. He chose to be faithful to us, to be our God, to lead us out of bondage, to protect us from our enemies, to give us victory in every battle, to give us an inheritance with Him, and eternal rest. The story ends with our choice to accept Him, His gift, His sacrifice, His love, to follow Him, love Him, and serve Him.

As Joshua said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15