Entering the Promised Land

Joshua 5:1-15.

There are some interesting things that happened to the Israelites after they crossed the Jordan River and before they conquered the city of Jericho.

Here are my thoughts.

When God parted the river of Jordan and closed it behind them there was no going back… even if they wanted to. There was just one path forward and that was the direction they were headed. One of the first things that God commanded them to do was to circumcise all the males who had not been circumcised over the past 40 years. After this minor surgical procedure God announces “today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you”.

Let me suggest that the “reproach of Egypt” refers to the Israelites rejection of God when they didn’t believe they could conquer the Promised Land 40 years previously. They had rejected God. Therefore that whole generation of Israelites who had been circumcised in Egypt had to die and a new crop of Israelites who were not born in Egypt but were born in the wilderness had to be raised up. When this new generation was raised up, they were circumcised, not in the wilderness, but on the soil of their promised homeland.

Circumcision was necessary because it was God’s mark on them that validated his promise to Abraham that he would give them a land. They were circumcised because he was about to fulfill that promise. Then the Israelites celebrated the Passover. Let me also suggest that this Passover feast had not been celebrated over the past 40 years. So on the proverbial eve of conquering the first city-state of Jericho he was reminding them of what He had done to the Egyptians and the unstated but fully understood message was that he was about to do the same to the Canaanites. The Israelites could not have been celebrating the Passover because they had no unleavened bread… they had been eating manna. The next day God quits sending the manna.

And thus begins the conquest of Canaan. The transitory phase where God sustained the Israelites for 40 years in the wilderness was over. A new generation of Israelites freshly circumcised, celebrating God’s Passover memorial and fully energized to accomplish God’s promise to Abraham stood on the brink of destiny.

Boldness in Prayer

1 John 5:14-21 is a section of scripture that describes the “boldness” we have toward God. Verse 14 states that if we ask in prayer anything that is “according to his will” that he will grant that request.

Then in verse 16 the author gives an example of what we can pray for “according to his will”. If we see a fellow Christian committing a certain type of sin… (fornication, drunkenness, pride, etc.) we can pray for them, whether or not they are sorry, and God will give them time to repent. And that’s the kind of prayer God will answer 100% of the time because it is “according to his will”.

However, there is a type of sin that a fellow Christian can commit which we should not pray for and expect a positive answer. In the text that sin is called “ a sin unto death”. Let me suggest that this is the sin of Blasphemy. In the broader context you have Christians teaching that Jesus Christ was not the actual Son of God and that he had no deity existing in him. That is the sin of Blasphemy… insulting God by saying He is not God.

Christians were not supposed to pray for these Anti-Christ Christians… because they were guilty of Blasphemy. Oh we might pray for them but don’t expect God to perform like he promised to for Christians who sin but are not blasphemers.

We have great boldness as Christians because we can pray for other Christians and God will give them time to repent. That is a powerful gift and a powerful weapon against Satan and there is no time limit on it. We should be boldly praying for the souls of our fellow Christians who occasionally stray every single day.

Remember the example of Jesus as he was hanging on the cross…. Father forgive them because they don’t know what they're doing.

Interpreting Scripture: Understand Purpose

When interpreting a passage of scripture its alway best to have some understanding about the purpose of what’s being written.

For instance in 1 John 5:1, “Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…”

OK, without giving some consideration to why the letter was written we might conclude that anyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and the only thing we have to do is believe. Boom…. I believe therefore I am born of God and have a one way ticket to Heaven.

That would be a wrong conclusion for several reasons.

1 John was written was because there were Christians teaching that Jesus was not the Christ. They started with an incorrect premise. They reasoned that since all human flesh is sinful and deity cannot have anything to do with sin that deity could not dwell in a human body. Therefore Jesus had no deity in him… he was not the Christ.

OK so knowing that… let’s interpret the verse again. Whoever believes that deity indwells within Jesus is born of God. Those who do not believe that Jesus is the Christ are not born of God and are false teachers and false believers.

So the belief in this passage is used to contrast the belief of Christ-ians with the Anti-Christ-ians.

So you see the importance of understanding why a scripture was written and to not make some hasty application that might have disastrous consequences. After all Satan and his minions believed correctly that Jesus was the Christ but they were not “born of God” were they?