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The Conquering Messiah Joshua Have I not commanded you? Be strong
and courageous! Dan Wesol Joshua was the greatest general in Israel’s history. Under Joshua’s leadership the nation of Israel conquered most of the people that lived in the land of Canaan and took possession of it. The Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite fell before Joshua and all Israel (Joshua 3:10; 24:11). In 1 Corinthians 10:6,11 the apostle Paul tells us that the things that happened to the people of Israel were types for us, upon whom the ends of the ages have come, and as a warning that we should not desire evil things. If the things that happened to Israel were types for the Christian’s instruction, Joshua may well have been a type of Christ. The experiences of Joshua appear to have an antitype in Jesus, as the prophesied conquering Messiah (see Psalm 2:1-12; Isaiah 11:1-9; 61:1,2). Joshua’s History Joshua was the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim. Ephraim was a son of Joseph, the son of Jacob (who later was called “Israel” by God), the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. God promised Abraham the land that Joshua and all Israel would fight for and inherit (Genesis 13:15). Abraham was also promised that “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). Before Joshua became Israel’s leader, he was an assistant to Moses. Moses charged Joshua to choose men to fight against the Amalekites at Rephidim. Joshua did as Moses asked and Joshua and Israel defeated the Amalekites as long as Moses held up his rod. After the victory over the Amalekites, Joshua did not attempt to seize power from Moses. He was always loyal to God and Moses. When Moses ascended Mt. Sinai to receive the two tables of the law from God, Joshua went part of the way with him (Exodus 24:13). He was also with Moses on his descent (Exodus. 32:17). Joshua remained loyal to God and had nothing to do with the golden calf that Aaron made at the demand of the people of Israel. When God commanded Moses to send twelve men to spy out the land of Canaan, Joshua was selected as the leader of the tribe of Ephraim. After spying out the land, Joshua and Caleb, the leader of the tribe of Judah, encouraged the people to conquer the land because God was with them. The ten spies from the other tribes gave an evil report, saying that the Israelites were like grasshoppers compared to the great size of the Canaanites (see Numbers 13:25 to 14:9). Because of their good report, Joshua and Caleb were the only ones left of the sons of Israel that were numbered.1 by Moses and Aaron in the wilderness of Sinai (Numbers 26:65). The rest, twenty or more years old at the time of the spying expedition, died in the wilderness after forty years of wandering, a year for each day the spies were in the land, as God commanded. Before he was called Joshua, his name was Hoshea meaning Salvation. In Numbers 13:16 Moses changed his name to Joshua, meaning Jehovah is Salvation. Jesus or Jesous is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua. An angel of Jehovah tells Joseph to call the child’s name Jesus, “For it is he who will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21, Phillips). Before Jesus was born he was the Logos and the only-begotten son of God (1 John 4:9). He spoke the truth in righteousness and was daily God’s delight, as described in the personification of wisdom (Proverbs 8:7,8,30). Jesus and Joshua In his pre-human existence the Logos did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8). Jesus’ brethren wanted to kill him because he spoke the truth (John 8:40). When Joshua spoke the truth that God would give Israel the land of Canaan after returning from spying out the land, his brethren wanted to kill him by stoning (Numbers 14:6-10). Both Joshua and Jesus were appointed as leaders of God’s people. In Joshua’s case it happened after Moses died: “Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to Joshua and did as the LORD had commanded Moses” (Deuteronomy 34:9). John the Baptist identified Jesus as the one who was greater than he, for he existed long before him (John 1:30). After John baptized Jesus in the Jordan he saw the holy spirit descend upon him like a dove and heard the voice of God from heaven saying, “Thou art my beloved son; in thee I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). Jesus confirms his appointment by God, saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden” (Luke 4:18,19, NAS). God’s Representative God makes it clear to Joshua that he is God’s representative or “prime minister” to Israel. He tells him: “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. … No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.” (Joshua 1:2,3,5, NAS). Joshua and Jesus did not take a leadership position upon themselves nor did they inherit the position. God chose them to lead. Joshua was faithful in carrying out God’s commands: “Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”—Joshua 1:7-9, NASB Even after receiving such encouragement and instruction, Joshua never fails to call upon God for direction and help. Joshua and the congregation of Israel miraculously cross the Jordan River on dry land and destroy the cities of Jericho and Ai. Joshua then built an altar of uncut stones to the LORD and wrote a copy of the law on the stones; he read the law for all Israel to hear. Joshua then defeated five kings at Gibeon. God threw large hailstones upon them as they fled before Israel. More died by the hailstones than by the swords of Israel (Joshua 10:5-27). Israel went on to defeat city after city in the land of Canaan. Joshua’s faithfulness in following God’s law was remembered for generations. When the children of Israel returned from Babylonian captivity and kept the feast of booths, this is what they said: “The entire assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them. The sons of Israel had indeed not done so from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day. And there was great rejoicing” (Nehemiah 8:17, NASB). Correspondencies Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River symbolizing the sacrifice of his own will and his consecration to do God’s will. God showed his acceptance of his consecration by sending the holy spirit in the form of a dove. The spirit then led Jesus into the wilderness (Matthew 4:1). He fasted forty days and forty nights in the wilderness before starting his ministry. Joshua had wandered with the children of Israel forty years before leading Israel across the Jordan River. With his perfect mind, Jesus had memorized the Scriptures. Perhaps Jesus was calling to mind the encouragement God had given to Joshua, to be strong and very courageous, as he reviewed the passages concerning the suffering of the messiah. He may have considered these words to Joshua: “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful” (Joshua 1:8, NASV). When Jesus became hungry and was tempted by the Devil to turn the stones into bread, he responded with these words: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3, NIV; Matthew 4:4). When tempted to throw himself down from the temple, Jesus responded and said, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (Deuteronomy 6:16, NAS; Matthew 4:7). When tempted to worship the Devil and receive all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, he responded, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written [in Deuteronomy 6:13], You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only” (Matthew 4:10, NAS). The Devil had been defeated. In this first battle with the adversary as well as subsequent battles, Jesus was victorious, just as Joshua was victorious. The Devil does not appear to try a frontal assault again since Jesus’ faith was immovable. The Devil did attempt to interfere with God’s plan for Jesus to suffer and be put to death in Jerusalem when he used Peter to rebuke Jesus by saying, “This shall never happen to you.” Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s” (Mark 8:33, NAS). The Devil attempted to sift Peter as wheat and Jesus prayed that his faith would not fail. Judas was taken over by the Devil to betray Jesus, however by faith Jesus knew his time had come and left his interests in God’s hands. On the Sea of Galilee a sudden tempest arose, possibly at the Devil’s hand, while Jesus was asleep in the boat. The apostles awoke him because they were afraid they would all perish; Jesus rebuked the wind and the sea and there was a great calm. Instead of destroying Jesus and the nucleus of his church this event was a great victory for Jesus to teach the apostles to exercise faith in God. Jesus had no fear, and had a storm-stopping faith because he knew God was with him, just as God had assured Joshua: “Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Jesus remained faithful to the mission God gave him to suffer and die to redeem the world, preach the kingdom of God to the lost sheep of the house of Israel using words and miracles, and teach the narrow way of sacrificial love to his disciples and apostles. Jesus was tempted in all things, as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:8-11, NAS). When the holy spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove, a universal symbol of peace, Jesus began to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy, declaring him to be “the prince of peace” (Isaiah 9:6,7). The heavenly host glorified God at his birth and proclaimed peace on earth. The birth of Jesus was the beginning of God’s “peace process.” It would be through Jesus’ voluntary sacrifice of his perfect human life that the sentence of death upon Adam and his race would be cancelled. The process would continue with his resurrection and ascension and the selection and completion of the church, the new creation. The Messianic Kingdom and the resurrection of all the families of the earth will complete that peace process when “whosoever will [shall] let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:2,17). The Church’s Battles “St. Paul, in Hebrews 4:5-8, gives us the suggestion that Israel’s entrance of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua typified the entrance of the Church into the rest of faith and special privilege under the leadership of the antitypical Joshua, Jesus. The Israelites had rest from their wilderness journeyings. It was a wonderful change for them, a blessed change, yet it was not the full realization of all that God had promised them. That full realization will be attained only in Eden itself, and as a result of Messiah’s glorious work of Restitution. Following the Apostle’s lead, we perceive that the experiences of Israel up to the time when Moses died represented the Law Dispensation, which ended at the Cross. The Gospel Dispensation, beginning at Pentecost, is typified by the crossing of Jordan and the taking possession of the land, Canaan signifying rest. “ ‘We who believe do enter into rest’—in proportion to our exercise of faith. He who exercises much faith may have much rest, and may conquer, and possess quietude. He who has less faith will have less rest and will be able only partially to enter upon his privileges. The storming of Jericho and the other cities of Canaan typified the warfare of the New Creature, begotten of the Holy Spirit, against the things of the flesh, the desires of the flesh, the weaknesses and depravities of the flesh.”—Reprints, p. 5345. The new creature in Christ has crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. The deeds of the flesh, immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these are to be utterly destroyed within our hearts and minds. We who are spiritual, must have hearts that produce the fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, to encourage others of the new creation as well as helping the world up the highway of holiness (Galatians 5:19-24; Isaiah 35:8-10). The weapons of a Christian’s warfare during this Gospel age “are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4,5, NAS). Christ, the captain of our salvation (Hebrews 2:10), led by example when he told Peter to put away his sword when Peter attempted to protect him in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus, the prince of peace, spoke a great truth that “those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). He then healed Malchus’ ear that Peter had cut off (Luke 22:51). Jesus shares another truth with Peter when he tells him he could ask his Father in heaven for twelve legions of angels. Instead, he says: “How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen this way?” (Matthew 26:54, NAS). Jesus knew his destiny, as should we (Isaiah 53:6; Psalm 22:1-18; Galatians 3:13,14). A Christian’s armor is spiritual. Jesus did not take his armor off, neither should we who recognize him as our captain. Truth is around our mid-section, righteousness covers our chest, our feet are in boots of peace, on our left arm is the impregnable shield of faith, on our head is the helmet of salvation and in our right hand the sword of the spirit which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:11-18). As Jesus, the antitypical Joshua, never went into battle in his own power but in the overwhelming power of God using prayer and supplication, so should we. Our battle is not against flesh and blood (our fellow human beings) but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. As we seek to do the will of our God as we follow our “Joshua,” we will overwhelmingly conquer (Romans 8:37). Man’s Millennial Warfare “This warfare of Israel against their enemies may also be a picture of conditions in the Millennium. During the Millennial Age the world, under the guidance of Christ and the Church, will be brought into a condition which will fit them to have possession of the whole earth. Satan will be bound for a thousand years. Sin and the curse of Adamic death now resting on the world will be destroyed, together with everything contrary to righteousness. All these things belong to the reign of that ‘strong man’ who has so long oppressed the world. Christ, the Antitype of Joshua, will then be in control, and will show man how to exterminate these things of sin and thus eventually come into possession of the earth, the Eden of God, and each man be a king, a sovereign. “While the Natural Israelite was to be a man of battle and to take possession of the land of the enemy, we are not to see in this fact anything that was not in it. For instance, it was not the Israelites who were to say that they would go up and possess the land of Canaan. It was God Himself who was to give them possession. Nor are we to think that God was negligent of the real interests of these Gentile peoples. He declares that their iniquity had come to the full. It was no longer profitable at that time that their lives should be prolonged. Thus we see that justice was not infringed upon in giving the Israelites that land for an everlasting possession. This had been previously foretold by the Lord; but the testimony of the Lord, at the time the promise was made, was that it would not then be an appropriate time for its fulfilment, but that there should first be a dark time, until the iniquity of those nations had come to the full.”—Reprints, pp. 5706, 5707. We read: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). Jesus was fully consecrated to accomplish God’s will that the world might have life (John 6:38,39,51). Even those whom Israel as God’s executioner destroyed in Canaan for the evil they practiced, will hear the voice of the son of man and come forth. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive (John 5:28,29; 1 Corinthians 15:22). Seven Foes to Conquer The seven corrupted peoples (viz., Canaanite, Hittite, Hivite, Perizzite, Girgashite, Amorite, and Jebusite) which fell before Joshua may represent sin in its worst forms, the seven things which God hates: “There are six things which the LORD hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers” (Proverbs 6:16-19, NASB). As Joshua came to the rescue of the Gibeonites as they were attacked by five kings (perhaps representing our five senses), so The Christ, head and body, will rid the human race of both sin and the love of sin from their hearts. As hailstones fell upon these enemies, so the solid truths of God’s word, the knowledge of God, will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9; Habakkuk 2:14). Jesus’ healing of Malchus’ ear was a foregleam of what Millennial Canaan will be like for the world that Jesus came to save. Those who attempt to hurt or destroy in God’s holy mountain will be stopped and whatever damage they do will be restored as though it had not occurred. “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. … And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”—1 Corinthians 15:25,26,28 1. The Levites were unnumbered, and some who were older, such as Eleazar, did live to inherit the land. |