JOSHUA 1
The book of Joshua does not, like the book of Deuteronomy, open up to us the wealth and blessedness of the land of Canaan or describe the enjoyment by God’s chosen people of their inheritance. It is essentially a military book. The first half of the book is occupied by the wars of Jehovah, and the people are spoken of as the army of Jehovah; the latter half describes the division and occupation of the land by the tribes of Israel as a result of the conflict. This has a present voice to us, for none of us can enter into our inheritance apart from conflict; we do not hold anything for which we have not engaged in battle.
Joshua now is the prominent figure, and he is looked at as subordinate to Moses; he is spoken of more than once as Moses’ attendant. There is a remarkable statement as to the disciples in the opening verses of Luke; they are described as “eye-witnesses of and attendants on the Word”. That qualified them to take up the Joshua character of things. Joshua represents the most important spiritual reality which we need to lay hold of in view of moving into the land. I do not think he represents Christ personally — Christ personally is at the right hand of God — but he represents the Spirit of Christ found in leadership amongst the people of God.
It is interesting that it should be said that Joshua as a young man remained in the tent of meeting; it seems to indicate his training. Joshua appears first in Exodus 17 in connection with the conflict with Amalek; he appears there in a military connection. He gets the victory over Amalek, who represents Satan working through the flesh in a violent way to resist the Spirit. The Spirit had just been given typically in the water from the rock, and now we find the action of the power of evil to resist that, but there was spiritual power in Joshua that enabled him to overcome Amalek. There was a good general in the field. Joshua’s first experience was to learn how to overcome the hostility that there is to the presence and action of the Spirit in the people of God. In Exodus 34 we find him as a young man not departing from the tent of meeting. The [p. 2] tent of meeting was pitched outside the camp; it was a very unpretentious thing. It was not yet the tabernacle, but an informal structure; nevertheless the presence of Jehovah was there, and Joshua would not leave the tent; he remained in the secret of God’s pavilion. He is seen as at home in nearness to God. We see him in two characters — on the field of battle with the enemy, and then abiding in the place where Jehovah was; and he is Moses’ attendant. He seems to represent that spirit which would mark the saints as having known the company of the Lord.
I think God would touch our hearts by suggesting to us that we have a Joshua, we have an element of spiritual leading, and it lies in the Spirit of Christ. God would encourage the Spirit of Christ in His people, so He says, “Be strong and very courageous”, and the people say to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous”. The Joshua element was very powerful in both Paul and Timothy. Paul encouraged that spirit in Timothy all through his epistles. “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus”. That would bring in the Joshua element, so that there might be spiritual leading amongst the people of God, something that God could support. God commits Himself absolutely to Joshua.
The Spirit of Christ is intensely set on bringing the people of God into everything that the love of God has purposed for them. That is the element amongst God’s people that God would encourage and strengthen. It is most encouraging to me to think that there is that on this earth at the present moment to which God can unreservedly commit Himself — that is the Spirit of Christ in the saints. It is a wonderful thing to recognise that there is spiritual power adequate to cause us to inherit all that God has given us in the purpose of His love; that is the element we want to strengthen and encourage. It is said in verse 5, “None shall be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life; as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee: I will not leave thee neither will I forsake thee. Be strong and courageous, for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land which I have sworn to their fathers to give them”. God will never leave nor forsake those who are formed by the Spirit of Christ. He could not. It is because the saints are viewed as partakers of the Spirit of Christ that this scripture is quoted in Hebrews 13, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee”. We must read the epistle to see the [p. 3] kind of people in view; it is those who are the companions of Christ. If I walk after the flesh it would be profane for me to think that I could have the abiding presence of God with me. It has often been said of this scripture that it occurs three times in the Old Testament. It is said to Jacob in Genesis 28; it is said here to Joshua; and it is said to Solomon. Paul applies it to the sanctified company, the holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling; God never leaves them or forsakes them. The Spirit of Christ gives strength and courage that prepares one to suffer, to be outwardly weak, to go to the wall, but it is a spirit that can overcome every obstacle in the way of taking possession of the inheritance. The apostle Paul could say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”, Philippians 4: 13.
It is a great thing to recognise that the saints are identified with the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is identified with them, and God commits Himself absolutely to support that Spirit. If I move in the Spirit of Christ, I have the unreserved support of the blessed God. Our comfort as saints is that we are moving in concert with the Spirit of Christ, and God is with that element, as He says here, “Jehovah thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest”. Whithersoever the Spirit of Christ leads, God is with that leading. It is a very great exercise for us that we should see what it is that God can strengthen and encourage. If we are moving on the line of the spiritual leading of Christ, there is a living divine support, a victory over every foe; nothing will be able to obstruct us from entering into the inheritance.
Two things come out here in connection with which Joshua is exhorted to be strong and courageous. The first is the coming into the land: “Be strong and courageous, for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land which I have sworn to their fathers to give them”, verse 6. The second is, “Only be strong and very courageous, that thou mayest take heed to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right or to the left that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart from thy mouth; and thou shalt meditate on it day and night, that thou mayest take heed to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt have good success in thy ways, and then shalt thou prosper”, verses 7, 8. There are two things: the bringing into the land, and the [p. 4] taking heed to the book that is written. Those are the two great actions of spiritual leadership in the saints. The Spirit of Christ would always lead into the purposes of God’s love; and on the other hand the law would be preserved in all its integrity, and the book that was written. Spiritual leadership is wholly governed by the written word. The law is most important because it is an element of divine control, and the Spirit of Christ would always magnify that in our hearts — the spirit of control. The commandments of the Lord are always to govern us. They are explicit and authoritative; they are to govern us, and the land will not be enjoyed otherwise. It is a test now of spirituality that the things that are written are acknowledged to be the commandment of the Lord (1 Corinthians 14) — that is how we know a spiritual person. A spiritual person always recognises the commandment of the Lord, and the Spirit of Christ in the saints can never be out of correspondence with the commandment of the Lord. Joshua was never out of accord with Moses; one could not think of such a thing. The law is part of what God has made known; every scripture is inspired of God. There is a remarkable reference to a book here, and reference to what was written. There is something explicit about it. People say, I think this and that, and I believe this or that, but the point is what is written, not what I go with. The Spirit of Christ will always give heed to what is written. If a brother says he knows he has the mind of the Lord, he subjects himself to the enquiry of the saints as to whether it is in accord with the Scriptures.
We read in verse 2, “Now rise up, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people”. The whole people are identified with Joshua, and Joshua with them. It is an element of spiritual leading which every saint is privileged to recognise and give place to; and we can only recognise that in another as we have the same kind of thing in our own spirits. There must be that in ourselves that is in harmony with any light that God gives. When God gives light there is often great opposition and resentment, which shows that there is not that practically in the saints that is in correspondence with it. We are tested by any spiritual leading that there is amongst the saints; but, if I am giving place to the Spirit of Christ, I shall greatly appreciate and respond to what is of the Spirit of Christ wherever it is found. If there is any measure of true separation, there is an element of spiritual leading; it might [p. 5] be in a brother or sister, and it is a great thing to have that element strengthened and encouraged.
This book opens by calling attention to two important things. It is said in verse 4, “From the wilderness and this Lebanon to the great river, the river Euphrates, the whole land of the Hittites, to the great sea, toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border”. That gives the whole scope of God’s purposed blessing for His people on both sides of the Jordan. Paul tells the Christians that all things were theirs, and they were unspiritual people too. “In everything ye are enriched in him” — he spreads it out before them, “That shall be your border”, an unlimited expanse; and all those of whom the Spirit can witness that they are children of God can say, That is our border. We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, so the whole expanse of it is ours. The border includes everything on the privilege side and on the responsible side — both sides of the Jordan — the whole expanse of divine blessing in Christ. All is ours. But there is something else beside that. In verse 3 we read, “Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread have I given to you” — that is another matter. This refers to personal exercise and movement. “The sole of your foot” means that your feet have moved. While everything belongs to us, we only have as much as we have taken possession of. It is wholesome for us to remember that. The question is, What have I put my foot on? We would all accept as true that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ; we are all thankful to hear Paul tell us that all things are ours, and we believe it; but there must be a movement with Joshua”thou and all this people”. If they had not moved with Joshua they would never have put their foot on a piece of the land. The question comes to each of us, How much have we put our foot on it?
Joshua and the people are all identified; and as they followed and moved with Joshua they overcame one enemy after another. Every fresh piece of land they possessed involved marching and fighting. They did not put their foot on the land in five minutes: they had to move with Joshua. Now the question is, How far have we moved under the precious leadership of the Spirit of Christ? How far have we moved into the inheritance so that we are conscious that we have put our foot on a certain piece of ground? That is the idea. Every fresh tract of land, as they moved on, meant fresh fighting and fresh victory, but [p. 6] there was that among them in Joshua that was able to overcome every foe.
It is an interesting fact that they never did possess all the land, and we know as a matter of fact that Joshua did not give them rest. Hebrews 4 tells us that he did not. The thing is left open, as it is today; there is very much land to be possessed. We are left in the exercise and encouragement of that. We have not possessed very much land; we have not put our foot on a great deal.
Joshua does two things here. First, he tells them to prepare victuals, which shows that a starving people cannot go over. It is a people that can prepare themselves victuals. Some of us have not reached that yet; our spiritual food has to be prepared for us and put into our mouths with a spoon. The Corinthians were spoon-fed people; they did not know how to prepare themselves victuals; but after Paul’s second epistle to them they knew how to do it. If there is to be movement there must be energy, and there cannot be energy without food. That is why there is so little energy today amongst the people of God; they are so badly nourished. The Lord has set those over the household to give them their portion of meat in due season. The apostles have done their duty well; they have provided us with meat in due season for every possible emergency. There is a food supply in the ministry of the apostles, and also a perpetual food supply in the ministry of the gifts. There has been a living ministry going on for nearly two thousand years; the people of God have been fed and nourished all that time. In the dark ages even, many beloved saints lived and died in the confession of the truth; in the dark ages there was a food supply which kept up energy and ability to do something. The food supply is very important. Often difficulties and local troubles come in because the food supply is short: the remedy is a little more food.
Then there is the other side that he speaks of. The unspiritual people, the two and a half tribes who had stopped on the wrong side of Jordan, are spoken to about going over with their brethren. Joshua reminds them of the universal character of the conflict which is connected with the inheritance. It is a lesson for us. We may have rest locally, but the conflict is going on, and no one in Israel is to settle down as long as the conflicts of the inheritance are going on. It is a great help to feel that, though I may not be eminent spiritually, yet I am [p. 7] called to take part in the conflicts of the inheritance. I think that is what Paul is referring to when he says to the Corinthians, “Quit yourselves like men; be strong” — he was calling them out to military service. And he says to the saints at Philippi, who were spiritual people compared to the Corinthians, “stand firm in one spirit, with one soul, labouring together in the same conflict with the faith of the glad tidings”. Everybody is called to take part in the conflict; no section of the people of God is exempt from military service.