AM Bible Study Group; February 12, 2014
Joshua 24:1-28
Theme: God’s faithfulness to us in the past obligates us to faithfulness in the future.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
In our last time together, we began our study of the closing words of Joshua to his people before he was taken from them in death. They are heartfelt parting words—spoken at a time after the Promised Land had been given to them. They were words in which he called his people to be faithful to the God who had so greatly blessed them, and to thus ensure that they would continue to enjoy the blessings of victory that He had granted them. As we saw last time, Chapters 23 and 24 go together. Chapter 23 was preparatory for what we find in Chapter 24; and Chapter 24 is where we find that the God who had called them to Himself reviewed the history of His own redemptive work toward them in such a way as to obligate them to a response of faithfulness.
One of the mistakes we often make in our Christian life is that of evaluating the history of God’s works on the basis of our own personal experiences—as if our experiences are the determinative factor. This is the same mistake the people of the world make in life; and it is a seriously dangerous one. In actuality, it’s the other way around. The history of God’s redemptive work is the fixed, unchanging, determinative factor in our experience; and until we are careful to base our experience on the unchanging works God on our behalf, then our faith will not be in something stable. We change with our feelings and will not experience a life-long victory in Christ. We will end up saying what so many say in a state of spiritual defeat; "I tried trusting Jesus, but it didn’t work for me."
In this closing chapter, Joshua calls his people to ensure their faithfulness to God—and to secure their experience of the victories He has granted to them—by making sure that their faithfulness to Him is a whole-hearted response to the story of His faithfulness to them.
I. A REVIEW OF GOD’S REDEPTIVE HISTORY (vv. 1-13).
A. Joshua—110 years old at the time, and nearing death—had already called the leaders of the people to himself in 23:1-2. But now, in 24:1, he calls all the tribes of Israel—along with their leaders—to himself. There must have been a great solemnity to the occasion, because they "presented themselves before God" (v. 1). This was because—as we see beginning in verse 2, and running all the way to verse 13—it is a message that Joshua delivers to the people from God Himself! "Thus says the LORD God of Israel . . ." (v. 2).
B. And note what it is that God tells them! He reviews the History of His own work of redeeming the people of Israel to Himself.
1. He begins by telling the story of His creation of them as a people (vv. 2-3). That story is of the call of Abraham (see Genesis 12:1-3). Note that we’re told that Abraham was called— while living in the land beyond the Euphrates in Ur of the Chaldeans—from out of paganism. God had even brought old, paganistic, childless Abraham to the land that the people now occupied and promised that it would one day belong to the nation of people that would come from his own body!
2. He then goes on to tell of His gracious choice of them as His own (v. 4). In verse 3, we’re told that God had given formerly-childless Abraham a son named Isaac. And Isaac had two sons—Jacob and Esau. Esau was given the land of Mount Seir as a possession; but as as God would make clear later, "Yet Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated . . ." (Malachi 1:2-3). It was Jacob—the father of the twelve tribes—that God graciously chose for Himself; even while the two brothers were yet in the womb (Romans 9:11-13). It may not have seemed at the time of their many years of bondage in Egypt that the children of Jacob were the elect of God; but they nevertheless were!
3. God goes on to tell of His mighty deliverance of His people from out of bondage (vv. 5-7). He raised Moses and Aaron to preach to them; and brought plagues upon the Egyptians; and then led them out to freedom. They saw—with their own eyes—the mighty works of God to save them in response to their cries to Him. And even when they dwelt in the wilderness for forty years because of their disobedience, God had His hand upon them.
4. God then reminds them of how He fought for them (v. 8). When they came near to the Promised Land, the Amorites came out and attacked them. And God gave the Amorites into their hand, "that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you."
5. He then tells the story of how He expressed His favor toward them (vv. 9-10). Numbers 22-24 tells of how the Moabite king Balak hired Balaam—a professional ‘curser’—to come and curse them. But God wouldn’t permit him to do so—making Balaam bless them instead!
6. He goes on to tell them of how He gave them victory over their enemies (vv. 11-12). At Jericho—at the very entrance to the land He promised them—we’re told that the people of Jericho fought against them; and so also did the other people groups of the land. But God "delivered them into your hand" (v. 11). He even sent the hornet before them to drive out their enemies from the land; and also the kings on the east side of the river Jordan; so that they had victory, "but not with your sword or with your bow" (v. 12). It was all God’s doing!
7. And finally, God concludes by telling them that He gave rich blessings to them (v. 13)—a land "for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant" (v. 13).
B. What a list of gracious works! God created them, chose them, saved them, fought for them, expressed favor toward them, gave victory to them, and poured out blessings upon them. This all spoke of His unmerited faithfulness to them! As one commentator wrote, "All too often the historical materials of Scripture are treated as so many examples of moral or immoral behavior, to be either copied or shunned. Joshua’s survey puts God in the center, and points to the dynamic progress which binds the various stories together" (M.H. Woudstra, The Book of Joshua, NICOT, p. 343). In the same way, the gracious works of God in our redemption should point us clearly to His faithfulness.
II. THE CALL FOR A FAITHFUL RESPONSE (vv. 14-21).
A. After all this, it is Joshua who again speaks. He tells his people, "Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD" (v. 14). Apparently, they still had much of the old paganism remaining in them. Twice he has to urge them to put away their idols and choose the Lord (see also v. 23). He tells them—in those words that are so well- known to us—"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (v. 15).
B. They talked a great talk in response. "Far be it from us," they said, "that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods" (v. 16). They were, it seemed, convinced by the review of God’s own redemptive works (vv. 17-18). But Joshua didn’t appear to buy it. "You cannot serve the LORD," he said, "for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins" (v. 19). It seems that they still clung—ever so faintly perhaps—to the old, foreign gods (v. 20). They said, "No, but we will serve the LORD!" (v. 21). But sadly, that sounds similar to things they would later say in their times of rebellion against God (see 1 Samuel 8:19; Jeremiah 42:13-14).
C. The people were willing to settle for a half-way commitment of faithfulness to the Lord. A half-way faithfulness is utterly inconsistent with the whole-hearted faithfulness of God toward us—and is ultimately the reason we do not experience the victory in Christ that God wants us to have. Alan Redpath quoted a famous Bible teacher as saying,
"All Christians have eternal life; not all Christians have abundant life. There can be life without health; there can be movement without any progress; there may be war, but defeat. We may serve but never succeed. We may try but never triumph, and the difference all along the line is the difference between possessing life and experiencing life more abundant. This abundant life is simply the fullness of life in Jesus Christ made possible by His death and resurrection, and made real by the incoming of His Spirit. That is abundant life. The trouble with so many of us is that we are on the right side of Easter but the wrong side of Pentecost, the right side of pardon, but the wrong side of power."
Pastor Redpath then added,
We are justified, but we are not sanctified. It is not enough to say that we are forgiven; we are called, says the Book, unto holiness.
It is suggested in some quarters that the great trouble in church today is confusion of doctrine in evangelical circles which leads to confusion of experience. I do not believe that. I believe that the great trouble in the church today is a half-and-half salvation with which so many people seem to be perfectly satisfied (Alan Redpath, Victorious Christian Living, pp. 248-9).
May God deliver us from a half-hearted faithfulness to our fully faithful Redeemer!
III. THE WITNESS TO A COVENANT (vv. 22-28).
A. When we truly review the history of God’s great works toward us, how can we be half-hearted toward Him? The people testified that they would be faithful; but Joshua felt it necessary to make them commit to it! He called them to state it plainly—that they truly would serve the Lord—and to testify that they themselves were witnesses against themselves (v. 22). Then he called them to put away their false gods (v. 23). It’s interesting that, in verse 24, they didn’t say they would do so; but simply said, "The LORD our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!" (v. 24). What a witness against ourselves we become when we say we will serve the Lord, but refuse to give up that which keeps us from doing so!
B. Joshua then made a covenant with them—a binding agreement—in that very place. It was the very same place in which Jacob—several centuries earlier—called for all of his household to commit themselves to the Lord and put away their foreign gods (Genesis 35:1-4). Joshua then wrote all the words of the covenant in "the Book of The Law of God" (v. 26); that is, they were written in the record of God’s revelation to His people. A large stone was set up as a monument by the oak that was near the place where the tabernacle was established (v. 26); and Joshua told the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God" (v. 27). The stone would always be there to remind them of their promise. And it is with the setting up of this stone that the people departed to their inheritance (v. 28).
* * * * * * * * * *
We can be truly saved—truly redeemed by God’s grace—and yet still miss out on the blessings God wants us to enjoy. And it’s because we are willing to settle for God’s grace toward us, but not to respond with complete faithfulness.
May God help us to base our experience of faith on His gracious work of redemption—and to respond in a whole-hearted way that is truly consistent with His own faithfulness to us!