Tag: Joshua and Jesus

Jesus Explains So Much

Old Testament Reading: Joshua 9 & 10

Psalms Reading: Psalm 99

New Testament – Jesus: Luke 24

Before I knew the significance of what God did through his people of old, that everything done points to his Messiah, Jesus the Christ, Joshua was my favorite Old Testament “character.”

It was Joshua who was met by the captain of the Yahweh’s army. It was Joshua who led the children of Israel into the promised land. It was Joshua who fought the battle of Jericho, blowing trumpets and shouting as the walls came tumbling down. It was Joshua the Lord helped using hailstones to defeat his enemies, and it was Joshua, a man, whom God listened to, to make time stand still.

And yet, Joshua cannot compare to our Lord Jesus and what God has done and will do through him.

We mustn’t be foolish. We must know and understand what the prophets said about Jesus to fully understand how significant he is to us. Praise be to God through him that we can gain that wisdom through the help of the holy spirit that was poured out by him because he earned that right. Now everything made new is through him.

Jesus himself taught these things about himself after his resurrection to the men on the road to Emmaus. Beginning with Moses, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.

I’m going to begin explaining some things I’ve learned about him and God’s plan of salvation, beginning in Joshua.

As Joshua, the son of Nun, conquers the land promised by God, he is met with a people who are not the children of Israel, but fear Yahweh and believe that he will do for Israel what he has said, by destroying all the inhabitants of the land to give it to God’s chosen people.

These people were the Gibeonites. They deceived the leaders of the children of Israel into making a covenant with them to save their lives. The terms of the covenant granted them life as slaves in exchange for not being destroyed.

It was a mistake to not seek the counsel of Yahweh prior to entering this covenant, but we see that God continues to work with his people through their failures. They continue to break the terms of their own covenant with God time and time again, but God is forgiving and merciful, just like he is with us after we entered the New Covenant with him through his son Jesus.

Watch the parallels of this story with end time prophesy. It’s quite remarkable.

The people of Gibeon, now servants to the children of Israel, called on the name of their leader Joshua (same name as Jesus) to be saved when they came under attack by the current King of Jerusalem, Adoni-Zedek (meaning Lord of justice or Lord of righteousness; yet he was not really THE lord of justice -that is reserved for the true Lord of Righteousness, our Messiah Jesus) and the other 5 Kings of the Amorites.

God saves Joshua’s servants (Gibeonites) through Joshua (Jesus). . In a similar manner, he will save the gentiles, us, who were not God’s people, but are His after we become the servants of his Son Jesus. He confuses the enemy as Joshua pursues them and He sends hailstones to give Joshua (Jesus) the victory.

To the five Kings who went up against him, he kept them in caves covered by a large stone, sealing them in until the time is right for his people to put their enemies under their foot (literally).

On the day Joshua (Jesus) defeats the Amorites, he, a man, asks God to make time stand still, and God listens. There was never a day like it before or since the time of the writing of Joshua, a day when the LORD (Yahweh) listened to a human being. Surely the LORD (Yahweh) was fighting for Israel!

One greater than Joshua, and all those God answered in the past, is now seated at the right hand of God! Because of this, we can come to the throne room of God in his son Jesus’s name and have confidence that he will hear us, humans, too.

We are privy to know and understand the gospel as recorded in our bibles in the New Testament, which is something Jesus’s own disciples, who walked with him on earth, didn’t have. 

Let us do our part in understanding the scriptures (the Old Testament) and the words of our Lord Jesus (the gospel; the Much of the New Testament) through the spirit, to hear the words he spoke, that all things which are written about him in the Law of Moses and the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled (Luke 24:44).

Let us pray to the God of Jesus that we would not be foolish and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, rather, let our hearts burn within us. “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:46-47). 

Praise be to God that the servants of his son Jesus (Gentiles) can be forgiven because God listens to a man (our Jesus), and accepts us through him.

We were a people who were not God’s people, but were grafted in through God’s son, a man whom he chose to save us through, as the mediator of a better covenant, with better promises.

I cannot wait for God to listen to the man Jesus of Nazareth again, our better Joshua, our Messiah, to make time stand still for us in the Kingdom of God.

-Juliet Taylor

Questions:

  1. What parallels do you see between Joshua in chapters 9 and 10 and Jesus regarding end time prophesy?
  2. Why is it important to know all that is spoken about Jesus Messiah in scripture?
  3. How do you feel knowing that God listens to you, a human, when you come to him in his Son’s name?
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Your Part in God’s Plan of Salvation

Old Testament Reading: Joshua 7 & 8

Psalms Reading: Psalm 98

New Testament Reading on Jesus: John 20

Remember what Jesus accomplished today and all that that entails. Remember his faithfulness to finish the work God gave him on earth.

Now remember what God did. Remember that it was God’s plan of salvation to save us through his son. His right hand and his holy arm have gained the victory for Him!

God has made known to us our salvation!

The Seas and all that is in them know it and resound! The rivers know it and clap! The mountains know it and sing together for joy at his marvelous works!

Do we know it?

Do we realize that God’s plan of salvation is fulfilled through Jesus? Do we fully grasp what that means?

It means that if we are his, we are kingdom bound, and no one can snatch us out of his hand.

Salvation has been made known by God, and he’s done it through covenants. God offers the opportunity for his people to be saved by remaining faithful to the covenants he makes with them. The last, final, “goal” covenant God has made, and will make with his people, is the New Covenant through Jesus.

Before Jesus’s covenant, bringing the hope of entering into the Kingdom of God, God worked through other covenants with his people to give them good things.

It is no surprise to me that God chose Joshua (Jesus), whose name means, “Yahweh is salvation,” to bring his children into the land promised. Although it was Moses who was the mediator of the covenant that God made with them, the plan of salvation for Israel was fulfilled through Joshua.

Just prior to delivering Jericho over to them, God made another covenant with his people through Joshua. This covenant involved being faithful to refrain from taking the devoted things from the city, so that God’s people would not covet. If they violated this command, God said they would have trouble.

One man did violate this covenant, and through this one man’s sin, all the children of Israel were held liable for destruction (hmmm, sounds familiar).

God was faithful to do what he said he’d do regarding the breaking of this covenant. He turned away from his people because of the sin of one man amongst the many, and trouble ensued. But another man, Joshua, led the people to repent (hmmm, this also sounds familiar). God accepted this repentance through Joshua’s leadership, but with requirements to destroy the sin and the violator of the covenant.

After sin was removed from the people, God told his people to consecrate themselves. If they were devoted to him, he would be devoted to them (covenant language). The plan of salvation was restored for a time.

Eventually, the covenant through Moses, and most of the additional regulations that came to be through others came to an end because the people continued to violate God’s covenants over and over again. Every time God offered to make a covenant with his disobedient and obstinate people, it was an act of his mercy and grace because they rarely remained faithful to it, and he knew that. All of God’s covenants were grace covenants out of his love for his people and his desire for all to be saved.

But because of man’s constant violation of his free gift, their unfaithfulness to the covenant, or their unfaithfulness to fulfill their part of the plan, God made a New Covenant, with all mankind, with better promises, that would be fulfilled through his son, Jesus. That is what we are celebrating today.

But remember. God’s plan of salvation through the blood of Jesus is the last covenant he will offer to mankind.

To partake in the plan of salvation, we must freely choose to enter the covenant through Jesus and remain faithful to our part in the plan, as Jesus was faithful to his.

Our part in the plan is to imitate our Lord and Savior, Jesus Messiah, by keeping ourselves free from sin, and repenting when we do sin, so that we can live out a life of self-sacrifice of our will, to whatever extent is needed to save others, just as our leader Jesus did, which is God’s will.

If we do that, we will be one (in the plan of salvation) with Jesus and God. To be one with God and Jesus means that you know your role in the plan of salvation, and you remain faithful to it. Be devoted to him through his son. He will be devoted to you.

I’ve come to realize that most people don’t know the plan of salvation that God has revealed, at least not in its entirety.

There was a time when Jesus’s own disciples did not fully grasp what the plan of salvation was. In John 20:9-10, we’re told that his disciples did not even understand from scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead, even though he had been telling them all along!

Jesus revealed this part of the plan plainly by first showing himself in his resurrected state to Mary Magdalene. He then told her more about the plan and told her to go and tell his brethren.

She was faithful to believe and do whatever her Lord required of her. Remember her character.

Jesus then revealed his resurrected self to his disciples. When those who saw him finally understood this part of the plan, they rejoiced!!!

Jesus instructed and empowered his disciples through the gift of the holy spirit to fulfill their part in the plan of salvation, which includes forgiveness of sins.

God’s plan of salvation begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation. It is fulfilled through our Messiah Jesus.

The people who know the plan of salvation live it out and preach it, so that all may be saved. They join in the purpose and plan of God through his son to save humanity, by choosing God’s will over their own.

Remember Jesus today, and that God’s plan of salvation is through him.

Let’s shout!!! Hallelujah to our God, and Hosanna to our King!

-Juliet Taylor

Question 1:  Do you know your role in the plan of salvation?

Question 2:  What other parallels between Joshua and Jesus do you see, especially related to the covenants God made with them?

Question 3:  Look into the phrase, “One with God.” Do you think it means what I think it means (one in understanding and fulfillment of the plan of salvation)?

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