The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Joshua 6:1a,
"Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites."
What a picture of the posture and attitude of the world today. Here comes the Lord, amongst his people. His presence is with them as they approach Jericho, carrying his word with them.
The Canaanites had fair warning forty years earlier, when the Lord first delivered Israel from Egypt and intended to bring them against the inhabitants of the promised land. Rather than heeding the events that attended the freeing of Israel from Egypt, clearly known to the inhabitants of Jericho, as confesses by Rahab, and repenting and seeking the Lord's mercy, they shut themselves up.
Given what the inhabitants knew about the miracles of the Lord, this was an act of insanity. Just how tightly can you shut up a city against the Lord and his people, given what took place forty years prior, and more recently with the two kings on the east side of the Jordan? When the Israeli spies went to Jericho, Rahab told them, "I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below." Joshua 2:9-11.
And, yet, the inhabitants of Jericho "tightly shut" themselves before the advance of the Lord and his people! Rahab seems to be the only one from Jericho that made a wise choice.
This is exactly what the world does today. Given the world's history with the Lord, the visitation of God's Son to earth, his death, burial and resurrection, what kind of sense does it make that the world shuts itself up tightly against him? The Lord has clearly told us he is coming back, that he will visit his retribution on planet earth and all of its inhabitants for sin. About Jesus Christ, we read in Revelation 19:13-15, "He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. 'He will rule them with an iron scepter.' He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty."
While those who reject any acknowledgment of the Lord seem to abound today, while so many spurn his offer of forgiveness and restoration with him, Jesus Christ is coming back. While many attempt to tightly shut their minds to their Creator, he is headed this way. Just like a massive freight train that has left the station and is unstoppable, the Lord is headed this way. Just as the walls of Jericho could not stand against the purposes and agenda of the Lord, nothing in this world will stop the Lord's purposes here on planet earth!
The Lord is coming!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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