One King Victorious

Scripture Reading

Will you turn over in your Bibles with me to the book of Joshua? After about a month and a half off, we are back at Joshua, and we are in it big time. So, there's a lot to cover today on purpose. We're going from Joshua chapter 10, verse 28, all the way through Joshua chapter 12. So buckle up your seat belts, buddies. We got a ride to go on. Some amazing ground to cover. Let's go ahead and turn to the Lord's Word.

Prayer for Illumination

Joshua chapter 10. If you're using your pew Bibles, you'll find that on page 203. Joshua chapter 10, beginning at verse 28. Let's pray, and we'll get into God's living word. Lord, we thank you so much for this day, and we thank you for your word. We pray now that as we read your word, and as we meditate upon it, that you would indeed be working it into our hearts, transforming our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Joshua 10, beginning at verse 28.

Sermon

On that day, Joshua took Makeda and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword. He utterly destroyed them and all the people who were in it. He let none remain. He also did to the king of Makeda as he had done to the king of Jericho. Then Joshua passed from Makeda and all Israel with him to Libna and they fought against Libna and the Lord also delivered it and its king into the hand of Israel. He struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword. He's let none of remain in it, but did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho.

Then Joshua passed from Libna, and all Israel with him, to Lachish. And they encamped against it, and fought against it. And the Lord delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, who took it on the second day, and struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, according to all that had been done to Libna. Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish, and Joshua struck him and his people until he left him none remaining. From Lachish Joshua passed to Eglon and all Israel with him. And they camped against it and fought against it. They took it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword.

All the people who were in it he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish. So Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, to Hebron. And they fought against it. And they took it, and they struck it with the edge of the sword, its king and all its cities, and all the people who were in it. He left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon, but utterly destroyed it and all the people who were in it. Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir. And they fought against it.

And he took it and its king, and all its cities, and they struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the people who were in it. He left none remaining. And as he had done to Hebron, he did to Debir and its king. as he had done also to Libna and its king.

So Joshua conquered all the land, the mountain country and the south, and the lowland and the wilderness slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded. And Joshua conquered them from Kadesh Barnea, as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, as far as Gibeon. All these kings and their lands Joshua took at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. Then Joshua turned, and all Israel with him, to camp at Gilgal."

Keep your finger there. This is describing all these lower southern countries. If you want to see where those are on the map, stay for Chalk and Talk later. Okay, let's get back into it. Chapter 11, "'And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor heard these things, that he sent to Jobab, king of Madan, the king of Shimron, to the king of Ahphash, and to the kings who were from the north in the mountains in the plain of Chinaroth, in the low land and in the heights of Dor on the west. to the Canaanites in the east and in the west, to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites in the mountains, and the Hivites below Hermon in the land of Mizpah. So they went out, they and all their armies with them, as many as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots. And when all the kings had met together, they came and camped together at the waters of Merman, to fight against Israel. Did you catch that?

Don't lose sight of the imagery here. The king of Hazor has gathered together a whole army. And they're like the sea on the shore. And they're right there. They're going to go battle. There's this coalition who's going to fight against the Israelites. Verse 6, But the Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid because of them. For tomorrow, about this time, I will deliver all of them slain before Israel.

You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.' So Joshua and all the people of war with him came against them suddenly by the waters of Merman, and they attacked them. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who defeated them and chased them to greater Sidon, to the brook Mishporoth. and to the valley of Mizpah eastward, they attacked them until they left none of them remaining. So Joshua did to them as the Lord had told him, and he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire. Joshua turned back at that time and took Hathor and struck its king with a sword, for Hathor was formerly the head of all those kingdoms.

And they struck all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was none left breathing. He burned Hathor with fire. So all the cities of those kings and all their kings, Joshua took and struck with the edge of the sword. He utterly destroyed them, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded. But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, except Hazor only, which Joshua burned. And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock, the children of Israel, took as booty for themselves. But they struck every man with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, and they left none breathing. As the Lord had commanded Moses' servants, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.

Thus Joshua took all this land, the mountain country, all the south, all the lands of Goshen, the lowlands and the Jordan plain, the mountains of Israel and its lowlands, from Mount Halak to the ascent of Sir as far as Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and struck them and killed them. Joshua made war a long time with those kings. There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. All the others they took in battle for, verse 20, for it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that He might destroy them. as the Lord had commanded Moses.

And at that time Joshua came and cut off the Anakim from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. None of the Anakim were left in the land of the children of Israel. They remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod. So Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had said to Moses, and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel, according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war. I want you to stick with me here. Chapter 12 is a list of kings that Joshua defeated. Let's look at that together.

These are the kings of the land whom the children of Israel defeated, and whose land they possessed on the other side of the Jordan towards the rising of the sun from the river Arnon to Mount Hermon and all the eastern Jordan plain. One king was Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and ruled half of Gilead, from Arur, which is on the bank of the river Arnon, from the middle of that river, even as far as the river Jabbok, which is the border of the Ammonites, and the eastern Jordan plain, from the sea of Chenaroth, as far as the sea of the Arabah, the salt sea. the road to Beth Jeshimoth and southward below the slopes of Pisgah. The other king was Og, king of Bashan, and the territory who was of the remnant of the giants who dwelt at Astaroth at Edrim. and reigned over Mount Hermon, over Salka, over all Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Macolathites, and over half of Gilead to the border of Sihon, king of Heshbon. These Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the children of Israel had conquered, and Moses, the servant of the Lord, had given it as a possession to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Now for Joshua's conquest. And these are the kings of the country which Joshua, the children of Israel, conquered on this side of the Jordan, on the west from Baal-Gad, in the valley of Lebanon, as far as Mount Halak, and the ascent of Seir, which Joshua gave to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their divisions in the mountain country, in the lowlands, in the Jordan plain, in the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the south, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, The king of Jericho, one.

The king of Ai, one. The king which is besides Bethel, one. The king of Jerusalem, one. The king of Hebron, one. The king of Jarmuth, one. The king of Lachish, one. The king of Eglon, one. The king of Gezer, one. The king of Debir, one. The king of Geder, one. The king of Horma, one. The king of Arad, one. The king of Libna, one. The king of Edulam, one. The king of Makeda,

1. The King of Bethel 1. The King of Tepua 1. The King of Hefer 1. The King of Aphek 1. The King of Lasharon 1. The King of Madon 1. The King of Hatzor 1. The King of Shimron 1. The King of Akfash 1. The King of Tanakh 1. The King of Megiddo 1. The King of Kadesh 1. The King of Jachniyim in Carmel 1. The King of Dor and the Heights of Dor 1. The King of the People of Gilgal 1. The King of Terza 1, all the kings,

31. What is the point? See, we get into this setting, we do this thing in church, where often what we'll do is we'll look at one paragraph. Or we'll look at even sometimes one sentence, or sometimes if you know me, we just look at half a sentence. But see, the book of Joshua is one book. And people used to read it. from beginning to end. And we only read two and a half chapters. But there's a danger that happens sometimes if we narrow in too tight and we just want to talk about the different geography of where things are and the military stratagem that would have gone from going from the north and going to the south and from this place to that place and this army and this king and that king all over the place, that we miss the main point of this whole section. What's the main point?

First Danger

God is King. And He's giving the land to the Israelites. God is King and He is the one producing the victories and giving the strength, giving the battles over to the people. But see, there's a danger. There's a couple dangers here I want to address. And the first danger is, see, we like to paint ourselves into the heroes of the Bible stories. I have one of my favorite authors of all time, he's a Jewish guy, his name is Chaim Potok, and he writes these incredible novels, and they're all about these Jewish people, he himself is Jewish, and he writes these novels, and as you're reading it, you're thinking like, oh man, this kid is so smart, he's this brilliant scholar, he's doing these amazing things, and you start identifying yourself with the main character of his stories, and then you have to sit back and go, hold on, I'm not a genius, I'm not even Jewish, this isn't about me. We can do the same thing here and paint ourselves in as the heroes of this story. It's human nature, it's what we do, but it's not the right way to read scriptures as a Gentile. See, there's something difficult in this passage. Look with me at chapter 11, verse 20.

For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them as the Lord had commanded Moses. See the Lord, why were these people, why didn't they run? God had said that He was bringing the hornets and they were going to drive some of the people out of the land before they got there, so some of the land was going to be desolate. Why didn't these people leave? The Lord had hardened their hearts. Just like He had hardened Pharaoh's heart in Egypt.

It's up to the Lord who He decides to choose or not to choose. But there's another problem here. If we flip over just one book to Deuteronomy chapter 9, Moses had this conversation with the Israelites. Deuteronomy chapter 9, Moses had a conversation with the Israelites, verse 4 and 5. He's preparing them. Deuteronomy is the second giving of the law. Deutero, second nomos, law, second law. He's giving them a second time. This is largely a sermon as he's standing there and they're about to enter into the promised land.

A land he's not going to go and he says to them, verse four, do not think in your hearts after the Lord, your God has cast them out before you saying because of my righteousness, the Lord God has brought me in to possess the land. But it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you.

See, this is a pattern of sin. As we chase after the wickedness of our hearts, our consciences end up becoming dull. More and more and more. If you pick up the book of Romans and read chapter 1, this is one of the things that the Lord is saying He does. The more we sin, the harder our hearts get, and the harder the Lord allows our hearts to get, and sometimes the harder the Lord Himself actually hardens our hearts.

So He's saying to them, hold on, hold on, be careful here. You Israelites, you're going to be tempted to walk into the land of Canaan and think, it's because of us. we are so good man we are so wonderful that the lord gave us this land that was going to be their natural inclination see they wanted to read themselves in as the heroes of the story and moses telling them nope nope you're not the heroes here hold on It's because of the hardness of their hearts and their sins that I'm driving them from the land. Let's go ahead and continue, verse 5.

It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land. Man, that's like putting a deflation valve on a tire. Right, their ego is gone. but because of the wickedness of these nations, that the Lord your God drives them out before you, and that he may fulfill..." Now, this is why they're being brought into the land.

One, to punish the people for their sins. Number two, this part's important. "...and that he may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Why was God going to bring an unrighteous people into a land to chase out unrighteous people? Why would the Lord do that?

Somebody mouthed it. Because of God's mercy. See, the story of the Scriptures is never about, oh, these people were righteous enough and so they received the promises of God. No, it's God in His great mercy elected some, chose some. Why? For His own glory. To show that He was gracious, to show that He was merciful, to show that He indeed was a good God.

And so as they go through this conquest on the southern land, These are imperfect people fighting sinful people. And as they go for the battle in the north, these are sinful people battling redeemed people. See, the point is not that there's... I just want to be so careful here, right? I'm going to bring you to Christ. But these were real battles. These were real people who really died. These were... real enemies, real armies who fought tooth and war, hand-to-hand combat, horses and chariots and swords, blood spilling on the field.

This is ugly stuff. And if we jump too quickly to talking about the theology of it or the typology of these passages, we're going to miss the reality of how ugly sin is. And sometimes we get squeamish with this, right? We go, You know, we don't like this idea of people dying.

And people come to that with the book of Joshua, and it's a natural response, right? Because death shouldn't happen. But I know very few people who think that way when they get to Revelation. When they hear about Jesus Christ coming with righteous judgment. Did you pick up the last lines of chapter 19? It's pretty graphic.

For the birds of the air would feed upon his enemy's flesh. See, because God takes sin this seriously, the only reason why I'm not dead right now is because of God's mercy. The only reason why you're sucking in the Lord's air right now is because God is gracious. It's because of God's mercy that we're not struck dead immediately for our sins. And so we must face the reality of sin head on here.

But now that we face that head on, I want to talk to you about four things to observe in this portion of Joshua. Notice, why did the people win this battle? Look at me at chapter 10, verse 42. All these kings and their land, Joshua took at one time. Why? Because the Lord God of Israel fought for them. And then in chapter 11, again, verse 8. And the Lord God delivered them into the hand of Israel, who defeated them and chased them to greater Sidon. And then again, chapter 11, verse 23.

So Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had said to Moses. And Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war. Why did they win? Because the Lord was giving them the victory. Why did the people actually have success when they entered into the land? Because the Lord was giving it into their hands. But notice as well, though the Lord is giving into their hands, the people are obeying the Lord also. Look with me at chapter 11 verse 9. So Joshua did to them as the Lord had told him. He hamstrung their horses and burned their cherries with fire."

Now that's an interesting, we might just pass over that, right? One of the things that's going on in Ukraine, somebody put up a picture, you know, it's this little meme, and it's Putin and he's saying, send the tanks into Russia. Shoot the Ukrainians with tanks. Ukrainians take tanks. Ukrainians take tanks?

The normal thing would be that you wouldn't hamstring the horses or burn the chariots. What would be the thing that you would want to do? You would take the horses and you would fight with them yourselves. You would take the chariots and you would use them yourselves. But here, no, no, no. They're not going to put their trust in chariots. They're not going to put their strength in horses. When they get the enemy's horses, they're to make them lame, cut the hamstrings. When they get the chariots, they're to break them apart and burn them with fire. Because it was the Lord who was going to do it. And here they actually obeyed that. That's a crazy command for the Lord to give them, but here they do it.

And in verse 12, again. So all the cities of those kings and all their kings, Joshua took and struck with the edge of the sword. He utterly destroyed them, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded. See, the Lord was giving the enemies into Joshua's hands, but Joshua was being faithful with what God had commanded him. And then just drop your eyes down a few more verses of verse 15. As the Lord commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses. If Joshua had not been faithful, would this have worked? Well, just think about it. I know we've been away from Joshua for a little while, but what happened when Achan decided that he didn't want to be faithful to God's promises?

When he stole the Babylonian garment and the silver and the gold from Jericho, what happened at the next battle? People were killed for it. People died because of it. See, the Lord is giving them the battle, but we have an obligation to keep the Lord's commandments.

But Joshua's a human, just like you. If you were about to go into battle, You got a ragtag group of people who were just one generation ago were slaves in Egypt. And now you come to a battle and they have horses and chariots. The king of Hazor has gathered together a whole coalition army against you. And they're so numerous that as far as you could see, there's just an army that just keeps stretching out. You might be a little bit scared.

And yet in verse 6, what does the Lord say? But the Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid of them. For tomorrow, about this time, I will deliver them all to be slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fires." The Lord encourages Joshua. The Lord tells him, do not be afraid. Why could Joshua have that type of strength? How would Joshua not just say, hey, you know what guys, they created a coalition army, let's back away, let's go away. We shouldn't fight them right now. Let's retreat and come back later. It's because he trusts the Lord and the Lord encourages him. And then if that wasn't enough, verse 21 and 22.

And at that time Joshua came to cut off the Anakim from the mountains. From Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel, Joshua utterly destroyed them and their cities. None of the Anakim were left in the land of the children of Israel. They remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod." Do you remember who the Anakim were?

If we went back to the book of Numbers, we would come to where the Israelites came right to the south of the promised land, and they said, let's send out twelve spies. And the twelve spies go, and they travel all throughout the land of Canaan. Two of them come back and they say, yeah, we can do this, Joshua and Caleb. They say, the Lord's given us this land, let's go fight against this land, we can do this.

But ten of them say, no, we can't. Why? Because there are giants in the land. Because the Anakim live there. This is, notice when it says that the only place they're left is Gaza and Gath. That's where David is going to find his Goliath to fight against. And it's these giants, that this old foe who scared people out of their boots just a generation ago, now they destroy them.

Who's really in charge of all this? As we go through chapter 12, and we see Moses defeating Sihon and Og, and as we hear the list of the different kings that Joshua is defeating, this king won, this king won, this king won, this king won, this king won, this king won, this king won, one after another, after another, after another. Who's really in charge here? was Jesus, who's the King of Kings. The point of this entire passage is that it is God who owns the land and gives it to whom He wants. And it is God who is giving it to His redeemed people.

Not a people who deserve His mercy, no, they're grumbling and complaining people. Now we can start relating to them. Not to people who are very strong in and of themselves. No, these were the people who ran away when they were confronted with hardships. Maybe you can relate with that. These were the same people who didn't deserve to be called righteous by God. No, they were the ones who had idols in their own hearts. Remember the golden calves? Maybe now we can start identifying with who we should identify in the story.

It is not us who are the conquerors, but it is Jesus Christ who conquered. It is Jesus Christ who is our Joshua. It is Jesus Christ who is the King of Kings. It is Jesus who was encouraged by his Father not to fear, but told him from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And it's with that encouragement that he went and went toe to toe with Satan himself. It is Jesus Christ who is our conqueror. A better Joshua has come and his name is Jesus. And he is the conqueror of sin. He has put his foot down on the neck of Satan and has crushed his head. It is Jesus Christ who has defeated death. It is Jesus Christ who has defeated Satan.

Jesus as our better Joshua is our leader. It is Jesus who is a true servant of God, who has kept every command of God and leads us in keeping His commands now. It is Jesus Christ who gives us a better land and it is Jesus who has prepared a kingdom for us.

It's a story of the book of Joshua. is given to you, Christian. Not that you might think that you're going to someday go and conquer a land, but that you would look at this and you would go, God can conquer anything. And when we look at our Joshua, remember Jesus' name in Hebrew literally is Yeshua. When we look to our Joshua, we see the one who has led us in victory. We have seen the one who gives us not just a land in Canaan, but who ushers us into the new heavens and the new earth. We come to the King of Kings who will one day judge the living and the dead with righteousness and justice. Go read the book of Revelation sometime and see how it depicts Jesus. And see how much it lines up with Joshua as his robes are dipped in blood. as he vanquishes his enemies, as he fulfills his father's commands. This passage is about us looking to Christ.

This passage is about reminding us that God is gracious to us and that he delivers us from all of our enemies. So sister, brother, don't be afraid. If God is for you, who could possibly be against you? If God has made a promise never to leave you nor forsake you, if he has said, lo, I am with you, even unto the ends of the age, we need not fear when they revile us or persecute us or say all sorts of evil things against us, because we know they said the same of Christ, our Joshua, and that he promises us victory in him.

Closing Prayer

So look to Christ. The nations may rage. They may fight against our king. But he who sits in heaven laughs. We know the end of the story. We know that he reigns forever. Stand firm in God. Let's pray. Father, we pray that we would follow after you and have confidence in you. no matter how hard things might be in this life. Please, Holy Spirit, let us trust in you always with our eyes fixed upon Jesus.