Last time we looked at a little of the life of Moses who led Israel out of Egypt. Now we move on to Joshua, who was Moses' assistant for so many years. Joshua's job was to lead the group out of their wanderings in the wilderness for so many years, into the Land of Promise. He had already seen the land once, as one of the twelve spies (Numbers 13:16) sent to look the place over, and along with Caleb was one of the only ones to have faith that God would help them conquer the land.
Joshua was a man of faith, a strong leader and had a large part in setting up the nation of Israel in their now-historical home. But in Joshua chapter 1, God felt it necessary to tell him that, just like Moses, God would be with Joshua all his life. "No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you." (verse 5). Three times (verses 6, 7 and 9) God says "Be strong and courageous" and finishes with "the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
There are a lot of famous exploits in this book of history, including crossing the Jordan river in its spring floods stage (chapter 3) the fall of Jericho (chapter 6) and the long day (chapter 10). All that served to help establish Israel in the land, so that many years later, Messiah would be born in the land and complete the true salvation of all people. Moses led Israel out of Egypt, but Joshua (Yeshua in Hebrew) led them into peace. The Son of God born as a human, whom we Westerners know as Jesus has the same name in Hebrew; it's just the change to English that makes his name sound different. Joshua was born in captivity in Egypt, and walked into freedom in the Land of Promise, just as Jesus was born into human flesh and sinful nature, yet without sin, and leads us now into eternal life.
The historical book of Joshua ends in chapter 24 with the scene where Joshua gathers the Israelite leaders, rehearses their history, and reminds them that they are now in a land of plenty with cities and orchards and vineyards they didn't create themselves (verse 13); a picture of salvation given us as a free gift of God's grace in Jesus Christ. Then Joshua finishes with these ringing words in verse 15: "Serve the Lord alone. But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord."
Jesus, of course, is the only one to ever "serve the Lord" perfectly. And by his perfect life, his death on the cross that was in our place, and his resurrection to eternal life, he has led us into the true "land of promise" with God, forever (see Colossians 1:13-14, Ephesians 1). Let's live every day in that glorious truth!
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