Maintaining a Right Perspective - Joshua 5:13-15

Sermon Series: Great Leader, Exceptional Follower

I bet that each of you knows someone who is a huge fan of one particular sports team.  You know the guy I’m talking about – he’s the one who celebrates after his favorite team beats down a far inferior team like they have just won the World Series and the one who needs a day and a half to cool off or stop sulking after his team suffers a loss.  I used to be that guy.  There was a time when I was entirely wrapped up in college football and depending on whether or not my team won or lost on any particular Saturday determined my mood for the rest of the day on Saturday and a large part of Sunday as well.  It’s sad to look back on that time of my life and think about my immaturity and lack of perspective.  There’s a commonly used phrase among sports television and radio hosts when referring to fanatics whose team has just suffered a loss.  A lot of times when they are trying to give perspective to the fanatics of a particular team which has just lost they’ll say, “Come in off the ledge.”  It’s not necessarily a pleasant picture, but in many ways it is an accurate one.  These individuals have such a poor perspective that they begin to think that a loss for their favorite team is the worst thing that could ever happen.  There is no longer anything worth hoping in or living for and they act as if they are contemplating suicide.  We know that’s ridiculous, but that’s how many men live from week to week – their perspective on life being entirely wrapped up in the success or failure of a sports team.  (Ladies, you aren’t exempt from this either.  How did you respond when Oprah decided that she was no longer going to be doing her show?  Or how do you respond when your favorite hunk from Dancing with the Stars is voted off the show too early in your opinion and you have to go the rest of the season without seeing him dance?  You all lose a right perspective sometimes too.)

Maintaining a right perspective in life is always important!  Can you think of any particular situation when not having a right perspective would be a good thing?  But I think the idea of maintaining a right perspective becomes especially important when we are talking about God.  God qualities and character are without flaw – so there are many good things that we can dwell on and think about when it comes to remembering God in our lives.  It’s great to think on God’s patience, grace and mercy.  But sometimes we can lose the right perspective in regards to God as well.  One who only focuses on the forgiveness of God may eventually grow to believe that God doesn’t and won’t judge sin – that’s a wrong perspective.  So the question I want us to consider this week is, “Above all other things, what is the one thing we must remember about God?”  And I’m going to suggest that when we read Joshua 5:13-15 in the greater context of the book of Joshua that we will see that maintaining a right perspective means always remembering the holiness of God.

Verse 13 begins by saying, “When Joshua was by Jericho . . .”  Before we go any further I want you to put yourself in his shoes for just a moment.  You have taken over Moses’ role as shepherd of God’s people and up until now your job description has been to lead the Israelites primarily as their spiritual leader.  As God described your job at the beginning of this book, your charge was to lead the nation to take possession of their inheritance – the promise land.  In so doing your responsibilities have thus far been to make sure the people have consecrated themselves, make sure that they are following God by following after the Ark of the Covenant, helping the people communicate the belief in their hearts by taking the outward sign of circumcision, and leading the people to celebrate the Passover feast.  You haven’t had to do anything involving physical confrontation at this point, although the certainty of that is coming.  Now you find yourself inside the promise land and it is time to begin taking possession of it.  Right before you is the strategic town of Jericho with its fortified walls guarding it from the exterior and its valiant men of war guarding it from the interior.  Surely your mind is beginning to make some transitions.  You are probably beginning to think more about leading in battle and less about leading spiritually.

The next part of verse 13 says that Joshua “lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand.”  As Joshua looks up he is surprised to see someone who appears to be ready to go to battle.  Not only is this individual in possession of a sword but he has the sword drawn from the sheath, implying that he was ready to use it.  This must have been a threatening sight for Joshua, especially considering the fact that Joshua does not appear to recognize who the man is or what he has come to do.  So Joshua approaches the individual and asks him the question, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 

In verse 14 we find that this individual doesn’t answer Joshua’s question.  Instead he begins by replying, ‘No.’  He appears to answer this way to help Joshua understand that his interests were not the same as Joshua’s.  Instead this individual had come to reveal something more important.  The individual tells Joshua, “I am the commander of the army of the Lord.  Now I have come.”  As Joshua was sitting next to Jericho wondering just what to do and how to lead this people in their conquest of the land, God once again was demonstrating His faithfulness to Joshua and that He would be the One to make a way for the Israelites to accomplish what He had given them to do.  There isn’t any evidence in the text that suggests that Joshua was doubting God’s promise to him when God had told him that He would be with him wherever he went (1:9).  But Joshua may not have known exactly how God was going to work on his behalf.  As they first approached the flooded Jordan I am sure that there was some uncertainty about how God was going to make a way for them to pass through.  But Joshua had faith and saw the powerful hand of God hold back the waters so that the entire nation could pass over the Jordan River on dry ground.  Now Joshua was outside a fortified city with powerful men on the inside.  Again, Joshua probably had great faith that God was going to make a way for His people but Joshua was probably very uncertain about how God would do it.  Then once again God demonstrates His faithfulness.  The commander of the Lord’s army shows up on the scene with sword drawn and announces to Joshua, “Now, I have come.”  God had sent one of His own who was going to lead a heavenly army into battle before the Israelites so that they might conquer the nations and take possession of the land.

Let’s pause from the text for just a moment and spend a few minutes looking at exactly who this ‘commander of the Lord’s army’ was.  His title tells us a few things about who he was and what he does tells us a little about who he was.  His title reveals to Joshua that he was a supreme military leader – he was the commander.  But it also reveals that he was subordinate to another.  While this individual was the commander, the army belonged to the ‘king’ who in this particular case is God, Himself.  His title also tells us that he is the commander of “the Lord’s army.”  Scripture gives us two options for how we can understand the phrase “the Lord’s army.”  There are certain OT texts in the Bible that make reference to Israel’s army as the Lord’s army.  There are also other OT texts in the Bible that are making reference to an angelic army when it refers to the Lord’s army.  The context here seems to suggest the latter as a better option.  There isn’t any indication from our text that this individual is displacing Joshua as commander of the Israelite army.  So it is probably better for us to understand that this individual is the supreme commander of the angelic army which belonged to God and that he had come to lead this angelic army to fight on Israel’s behalf.  Not only does his title help give us insight as to who this individual was, but what he does gives us some clues as well.  The individual in this text carries out a task that we often see being performed in other texts by an individual with the title “angel of the Lord.”  In other biblical texts we see the ‘angel of the Lord’ bringing messages from God, just as the ‘commander of the Lord’s army’ does in this particular text.  And just as the ‘angel of the Lord’ appears to have a very close association to God, Himself, it appears that the ‘commander of the Lord’s army’ has a very close association to God too.  Different options have been given for who the ‘angel of the Lord’ is in Scripture.  Some think that it is simply an angel who is given a very specific commission to carry out and message to deliver.  Some others think that it is God, Himself, momentarily making Himself visible to those He is encountering.  While these are helpful suggestions there are a few specific texts that give us some very important details which can help bring more clarity.  First consider Exodus 23:20-23.  God is speaking and says, “‘Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.  Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.  But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.  When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivities and the Jebusites, and I blot them out.’”  These verses seem to indicate that this ‘angel of the Lord’ (who perhaps is the same individual as the ‘commander of the Lord’s army) seems to possess the Lord’s character and authority.  This would seem to suggest that he is more than simply an angel with a special commission and message – he seems to be equal in some regards with God.  A few chapters later in the book of Exodus we find a few more helpful verses.  In Exodus 32:34 God is speaking to Moses and He says, “But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. . .”  And then just three verses later, in Exodus 33:2-3 God says, “I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites the Perizzites, the Hivities, and the Jebusites.  Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”  God makes a clear distinction in these verses between Himself and this ‘angel of the Lord.’  The ‘angel of the Lord’ would accompany the people into the promise land but God would not.  So the biblical picture of this ‘angel of the Lord’ is that he is one who possesses the character and authority of God but who is also distinct and separate from God.  This has led some scholars to believe that the ‘angel of the Lord’ and the ‘commander of the Lord’s army’ is the pre-incarnate Christ.  They believe that it was OT encounters with Jesus before God wrapped Him in flesh and sent Him to earth as a human.  Add to this the fact that in all the NT accounts when Jesus is present on the earth there isn’t any mention made of the ‘angel of the Lord’ – he never shows up during Jesus’ life and ministry on earth.  I think this is pretty compelling evidence that in fact both the ‘angel of the Lord’ and the ‘commander of the Lord’s army’ are the same person – they are different titles for the pre-incarnate Jesus leading His people, delivering His people, and rescuing His people from danger.  Can we know this for sure?  Unfortunately not.  Scripture never directly speaks to the identity of the ‘angel of the Lord’ or the ‘commander of the Lord’s army.’  The best we can do is speculate, but I think the evidence is pretty compelling.

While it’s unclear from our text if Joshua recognized the ‘commander of the Lord’s army’ as anyone in particular, it is clear that Joshua recognized the individual’s authority.  Verse 14 tells us that “Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped . . .”  Joshua prostrates himself before this individual in an act of worship and no longer pursues His original questioning.  It was clear to Joshua that this individual was for the Israelites.  He was sent by God and was a significant part of God’s plan for how the Israelites would overcome the mighty nations before them.  So Joshua asks the man a different question, “What does my lord say to his servant?”  Joshua wanted to know what the commander of the Lord’s army would have him to do.  And our text tells us that the commander of the Lord’s army replied to Joseph’s question, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.”

We can only imagine that Joshua’s mind had been pre-occupied with how he would lead, what directions he would give, and how the Israelite nation would move forward and advance in the days ahead.  But more important than any lesson Joshua could learn concerning the coming battles and conflicts, Joshua needed to be reminded of the appropriate response when he found himself in God’s presence.  More than anything else God is first and foremost ‘holy.’  And God’s holiness demands that we come before Him in awe and reverence and that we don’t His holiness lightly.  So the commander of the Lord’s army instructs Joshua to remove his sandals in response to God’s holiness and the text tells us that Joshua does just that.

Many of you who participate in our small group know that when you come over on Wednesday nights that our kids are pumped.  The straightening, dusting, and vacuuming that we do prior to everyone coming over serves as the weekly reminder for them that friends are coming over – and friends coming over means excitement.  Now this same thing takes place every week, so it wouldn’t surprise me if many of you chose not to believe me when I say that it is not always like that at our house.  Most of the time our children remember that the house is not a playground and do a great job of making good choices and playing with self-control.  But the excitement of friends coming over seems to cause them to loose the right perspective.  Good decisions and self-control go right out the window and the excitement of the moment overtakes them.  We do our best as parents to remind them that they are still in the house and that they need to maintain a right perspective but that is a lot easier said than done for them.

I doubt that Joshua was bouncing off the exterior walls of Jericho like my kids would have been.  The excitement of what was taking place was probably producing in Joshua a great deal of anxiety and uneasiness.  But the commander of the Lord’s army shows up to remind Joshua to maintain a right perspective.  God was with Joshua and had sent the commander of the Lord’s army to go before the nation of Israel.  God was being faithful to His promise.  So Joshua needed to trust and he needed to maintain a sense of reverence and awe for the very God who was present with him and helping him.  Joshua removed his sandals recognizing whose presence he was in and honored the holiness of God in that place.

The end of chapter five brings us to the end of the first major section of the book of Joshua.  Listen to the way that the commentator David M. Howard summarizes where we have come to through those first five chapters.  “At the end of the first main section of the Book of Joshua, the Israelites stand well-prepared for their first major encounter with the Canaanites whose land they were to inherit.  They were well prepared because (1) God was very much with them, (2) because He had given them a leader who was already in process of becoming a worthy successor to Moses, (3) because the entire nation was taking care to obey God’s commands to the letter [Joshua, the priests, and the people], and (4) because they were careful to sanctify themselves properly before engaging the Canaanites.”

Here’s the question for us to consider this week – “Do these four statements characterize our church today?”  (1) Is God very much with us?  Absolutely!  God did the extraordinary to rescue us from our sin by sending His Son, Jesus, to take the punishment for our sin by dying on a cross in our place.  Jesus suffered the wrath of God so we wouldn’t have to and shed His blood so that our sins might be washed clean.  And for those who have trusted in Jesus as Lord and Savior, God has placed within us His very presence in the form of the Holy Spirit.  God is very much present with us today, dwelling in the very lives of those who have trusted in Him.  (2) Has God given us a leader who is a worthy successor of Moses?  No, He’s done even more.  God has given us a leader who surpasses Moses in every way!  His name is Jesus Christ.  He is the image of the invisible God, the second Person of the Trinity.  We could go on and on this week listing His attributes and proclaiming His great character – but for time’s sake we’ll simply acknowledge that the answer to our question is “No – He’s given us an even greater leader” and move on to the third and fourth questions.  (3) Have we, as a church, taken care to obey all of God’s commands to the letter?  And (4) have we been careful to sanctify ourselves properly?  While we can answer the first to questions with an affirmative answer quite quickly, I don’t know that we can answer the second two with a confident ‘yes.’

If we can’t answer the third and fourth questions with a ‘yes’ then we probably need to do some soul searching.  We probably need to spend some time asking ourselves a few questions and determining if we need to do some repenting and re-committing ourselves to complete obedience and exceptional following of our Lord and Savior, Jesus.  We need to look at our attitudes during our worship – “Are we worshiping with a sincere sense of gratitude and appreciation for who God is and what He has done for us?”  We need to look at our spending – “Are we being good stewards of God’s money, or do we spend our money exclusively on things that we think will delight our hearts?”  We need to look at our commitment to our church – “Do we understand that our salvation is not only about ourselves as individuals, and that God saved us to be a part of a local body of believers?  Does our participation in church and our service in our church communicate a commitment to the body of Christ that God saved us to be a part of?”  We need to look at our mission as individuals and as a church – “Are we pursuing the lost and doing what we can to share with them the good news of Jesus?”  We need to look at our thinking – “What are the things we are thinking about and meditating on through out the day?  Do we consistently think about anything that we would be ashamed to share with others in public?”  Guys, are we being the husbands and fathers that God has called us to be?  Are we loving our wives the way that Christ has loved the church?  Are we leading our wives and our children as the spiritual leaders of our families?  Ladies, are you being the wives and mothers that God has called you to be?  Are you loving your husband the way the church is suppose to love Christ?  Are your children learning the way they ought to love Christ by watching the way that you love your husband?  These are just a few of the areas where God has already given us clear instructions.  Are we laboring to these ends?  If not, first and foremost we need to repent and ask God for His forgiveness.  Then we need to ask God to help us be obedient and sanctified for His name’s sake.  Then and only then will we be rightly poised to do all that God has called us to do.

Small Group Questions for Discussion:

1.  In Joshua 5:13-15 who was it that God sent to help Joshua and the Israelites?  How was that individual going to help Joshua and the Israelites?  Does God provide His people today with a helper for life and ministry?  If so, who is that helper and what are some of the things that helper does for God's people? 

2. In Joshua 5:13-15 what was it that was more important for Joshua to do than put together a military strategy?  Why wasn't putting together a good military strategy more important than remembering the holiness and the presence of God?  Is there ever anything that we make a bigger priority than remembering the holiness of God, and if so what are some examples?

3. Have we taken seriously the challenge to be obedient in all things and to be set apart and sanctified for God?  What evidence do you have for your response?