2014년 6월 8일 주일 영어예배 설교
여호수아 6:17 (Joshua 6:17)

(Joshua 6:17)

     As the Bible explicitly demonstrates, the sovereignty of God has been working in the universe, and there are the determined and unchangeable will and purpose of God. The will of God has been realized one by one in history at the times and places that God designates according to His purpose. The Bible, then, reveals to us significant facts: we, as human beings, cannot know exhaustively when, where, how, and why the will of God is realized. But we comprehend exhaustively the fact itself that God’ will is realized and the purpose is accomplished, and, as Romans says, “all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” The sovereignty of God is working on the basis of His covenant in history. Therefore, the number one principle of Christian people’s worldview should be the sovereignty of God in the covenant. Accordingly, Christian people’s daily life is directly and inevitably involved in the realization and development of the will of God. Today, through the event, the conquest of Jericho, we are going to be appreciating the value of an ordinary individual Christian’s daily life in God’s sovereignty.

In verse 17, “And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.” Israel is poised to conquer the land that God promised to their father Abraham. Capturing the city of Jericho is the first step and at the same time the most important hurdle in the conquest. But Israelites never use any military method. In making the wall of Jericho fall down, what the Israelites are supposed to do is march around and shout, that’s it. This fact shows that God Himself is acting in His own war, and how central God’s position is in this work. Today’s text is a part of the instruction to Israel in this battle. This instruction is inserted between Joshua’s command to shout, which means an initiation of the attack and the people’s actual shouting. This instruction is as critical as it should be reminded right before the initiation of the important military operation. In the verse, we first need to clarify the meanings of the expressions, ‘be devoted to the Lord’ and ‘destruction.’

In order for us to grasp these two concepts properly, let’s find the appropriateness of this war. This war is not a conquest war, but a judgment of God upon the wicked in the land. We need to understand first that all human beings are basically under the wrath of God. This is because ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Rom. 3:23). But by mercy and grace of God, men have been still given chances to repent their sins and serve God, that is they are still alive, not ruined, by the grace of God. In other words, the fact that men live their lives itself is God’s grace. It is true regardless of human beings’ unawareness of this fact. So it can be said that if one is judged by God, it is a natural result owing to his or her sinfulness, and if one is still not judged by God, it is God’s grace and mercy. Ultimately, all sins are finally judged by God, but when and how depends on God. The ultimate and complete judgment will be done when Jesus will come to judge the world, but a partial and local judgment is exercised in history according to the purpose and will of God before The Last Judgment. In doing so, all tangible and intangible factors, such as systems, organizations, laws, and principles and so on are used. When it comes to the judgment upon the Canaanites, the Canaanites only received what all people deserve. In fact, the Canaanites’ sins were really heinous. The sins that the Canaanites practiced included engaging in incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexual activity, and bestiality. We can speak of their sins not only in general but also in terms of their rebellion against God. So the Israelites’ displacement of the Canaanites in the land was in part of a punishment for their wickedness.

Moreover, we have to pay attention to the two facts. First one is that God promised to give them the land a long time ago. In other words, the land is the Promised Land. That Israel inhabit in the land was not determined according to the present situation, but was elaborately planned and promised by God. Second, the punishment upon the Canaanites was also determined by God long ago. But God delayed the judgment according to His purpose and will. Genesis 15:16 says this, “And they shall come back here (Canaan) in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” In Deuteronomy 20:16-18, “But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction,the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God. So it can be understood that exercising judgment on the Canaanites was one of Israel’s missions, as a tool of God, when they came back to the land after four generations.

Another biblical idea for understanding the text properly is this: everything including both tangible things and intangible things in the universe are God’s possession from the beginning, that is, all things belong to God. They enjoyed living in God’s land, or the earth and using all the resources that ultimately belonged to God. They, then, should have willingly given thanks to and praised God. But rather they were rebellious against God. Christian people, as the regenerate, are fully aware of this fact due to the illumination of the Holy Spirit while non-Christian people, as the unregenerate, are not able to be aware of this fact due to their sinful contaminated mind.

Therefore, ‘the land’s being devoted to the Lord’ and ‘the destruction of the land as the punishment and at the same time as the method of the devotion’ are just, proper, and natural.

We find God’s common grace, God’s justice, and God’s faithfulness to His covenant in the story of Jericho. But we find one more amazing thing in there – God’s special grace, saving Rahab. In the midst of the extremely crucial moment when giving the important instructions to Israel right before the initiation of the battle, one instruction is given. That is this in verse 17, “…Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live…”, the commandment of saving Rahab. All the living things in the city are annihilated, but one persona and its family are saved, Rahab and her family. Why is this merely humble pagan prostitute saved from the total annihilation? Why is the saving Rahab important as one of the crucial instructions to Israelites? The verse says the answer, “…because she hid the messengers whom we sent.” Yes, she hid the two spies of an enemy army, or Israel’s messengers. But we have to see what this behavior of hers resulted from. This believing deed came from her right confession of faith in the true God. When she heard what God had done for His people, or the gospel, she reacted correctly to the gospel in the exact manner of God’s people do. In Joshua 2 she confessed this to the spies, “I know that the Lord has given you the land…..for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea…..the Lord your God, he is God in the heaven above and on the earth beneath…..” Rahab believed and acknowledged God confessing her own faith in God. This right faith in the true God resulted in this behavior, and the behavior brought her the gracious salvation. See again today’s text and how amazing the exception is, “And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.”

This salvation of Rahab and her family was the partial accomplishment of the covenant of God in Genesis 12:3, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This was small step toward the fulfillment of the merciful covenant of God to Abram, and the realization of the covenant to save all the nations that will continue to the end of the world. Rahab behaved and lived her life according to the right faith of hers. We find that she and her family were formally incorporated into the people of God after the salvation from the annihilation even though she was a merely humble pagan prostitute. Verse 25 shows this fact: “But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.”

Her faithful and diligent daily life according to her faith in God and His gospel was in the God’s will and purpose in His covenant even though she, as a finite human being, was not fully aware of it. We meet Rahab again in the New Testament, where she is listed as one of the foremothers of Jesus (Matt. 1:5). This Gentile prostitute Rahab was included in Jesus family tree. Is it not amazing? She never knew it, but God definitely knew it because her salvation and her Christian life were in God’s covenant according to the purpose and will of Him. God who visited her first, worked in her, and made her have the right faith was working faithfully and diligently with enthusiasm for saving His own chosen people. God who made His covenant by Himself for His people, and promised to complete the Kingdom of God finally was working hard for spreading and marching of the Kingdom of God toward its completion according to the covenant of Himself. That’s why Rahab was saved and gloriously found in Jesus’ genealogy. She just lived her routine, ordinary, and even humble life in God with faith. But in God’s covenant she was prepared for Jesus’ Incarnation and as the small start of all nations’ being included in God’s salvation. Through the Incarnation, Jesus was crucified and resurrected paying the price of His people’ sins and guaranteeing their eternal life. And so redemptive history continues throughout the church age until it ends in the new Jerusalem, of which we read: “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it” (Rev. 21:23-24). Rahab’s faith was in the covenant of God.

Can you find yourself saved from annihilation, or the eternal punishment? Did you come to believe the effectiveness of the atonement of Jesus’ blood in your life? Do you find your name in the book of life of God? So then you should know this important fact that your daily life, your ordinary life, and your routine life as Christian people in the world is in the covenant of God. We should know that our daily Christian life is the very ingredients of the Kingdom of God that is marching toward its completion. God is still working and faithful. So we must work and be faithful in the situation and place where we are. Be faithful, still, and sincere before God in the position where you are now moment by moment and day by day.

Everyone, if you claim to be a true Christian, your faith is in the covenant of God. Your daily life is in the covenant of God. Clearly remember this fact. If you claim to be a true people of God, your salvation and the established identity of you as God’s people never be canceled or modified. This is because God is working and faithful. Again, remember that your ordinary daily Christian life is in the covenant of God, which means your daily life is directly and effectively involved in the completion of the Kingdom of God. This fact is important because if you really appreciate and are convinced of this fact, you shall triumph and prevail now, it will offer you conquest, victory, and joy. This is because the statement that your faith and life is in the covenant of God is not a just vague, abstract, and religious encouragement, but a very true fact. Your ordinary daily Christian life will never perish because it is in Christ, or in the covenant of God otherwise that will perish because it is not in Christ, or not in the covenant of God. Only Christian people, on the last day, will win and sing the triumphant song because they are the people who are in the covenant of God. I hope you, as God’s people, live your daily life faithfully and sincerely before God, in spite of your condition, and believe in the covenant of God.