Winning the Spiritual Battle in Canaan (Joshua 5:1-15)
I hope you and I will hold onto God’s accurate covenant through today’s scripture, Joshua 5. Joshua 5 is telling us about the things we must secure before we go into the war of conquest in Canaan. In the very last verses of Joshua 4, God is explaining to us the goal with which we must conquer Canaan. The reason why God is bringing the Israelites into the land of Canaan is so that all lands may know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and they must always fear the LORD your God.
All the work God fulfills is so we can know Who God is, and because we can only know who God is through the Christ, Paul confessed that knowing Christ is the greatest knowledge, because knowing God is the greatest knowledge. If we live our lives without knowing God, we live our lives without spiritual knowledge. Making sure all the peoples of the world know God is to show how powerful God is, and how futile their idols are. The saved Israelites must always fear God. God carries out the war in Canaan for these two reasons.
In Joshua 5:1, when all the people in Canaan heard about how the LORD dried up the Jordan before the Israelites, their hearts melted. When the Egyptians saw the 10 plagues, they lost their minds. Because they don’t know God and they don’t know how God is working through all things, whenever they see these things, their hearts collapse. If we, too, just like the people in the Bible, do not have a heart of constantly fearing the LORD, then our hearts and our minds will always be in despair.
“Always” means 24 hours, we must always acknowledge God. That is how we fear God. In all works, in all situations, we stand before God. That is how our hearts and minds will not collapse. That is what this means. Then, on the other hand, why is it that the people of God have their hearts and minds collapse? Yes, we may say our hearts and minds are weak, but it is because they do not acknowledge God. The COVID pandemic is a big deal, but if we acknowledge God in the midst of the pandemic, our hearts and minds will not collapse.
The disease of mankind is a disease of the heart and mind, and these are all results that come because we do not stand before God. If you have any worries or fears regarding your children, I hope you will stand before God. “The Triune God Who is in this situation will take full responsibility and take care of my child,” if you do not stand before God like this, you will always be full of worries. “God is guiding my family and my church,” you must think this way for your heart and mind to be happy and normal.
God had already given these words to the Israelites in the wilderness, then in Joshua 5:2, God tells them to be circumcised. At that time, they didn’t have knives, so they would take sharp flint knives to circumcise the men. Why do you think God told them to be circumcised? The reason is in Joshua 5:4-5. Then in Joshua 5:6-7, it explains everything that had happened until then. Joshua 5:6 says, even though God promised them the land of Canaan, they did not obey the Word so they died in the wilderness.
So for 40 years, the Israelites wandered the wilderness and I’m sure the Egyptians mocked them. I’m sure among the Canaanites, there were people mocking the Canaanites, “These are supposed to be the children of God, but they’re just wandering the wilderness.” God had brought the Israelites through the 10 disasters, and He allowed them to cross the Red Sea. Why can they now cross even when there is nothing? I’m sure the nonbelievers thought this way but God was allowing the Israelites to wander the wilderness because they didn’t have the faith to enter Canaan.
Then in Joshua 5:7, God tells the younger generation about to enter Canaan to be circumcised. Then what is the meaning of circumcision that God boldly proclaims, that they must circumcise all the males? Is there something special about the foreskin? If we write some charm or spell on a piece of paper, will we receive mystical power? When do we first hear of circumcision? Genesis 17:10 first mentions circumcision as a sign of the covenant between you and your descendants and between you and God. He says this bodily circumcision will be a sign of the covenant God is making between Himself and the Israelite descendants.
In Gen. 17:4, right before God tells the Israelites to get circumcised, He tells Abraham, “This is my covenant to you, you are no longer Abram, but Abraham.” Gen. 17:8, it shows the meaning of the covenant, it is about circumcision. Then, in Exodus 4, right before Moses is supposed to go into Egypt to talk to Pharaoh, God is about to kill Moses, and then Zipporah circumcised her children and touched his blood ad announced the covenant of the circumcision.
Why do you think this happened before going to Pharaoh and after, God was even going to the point of trying to kill Moses to remind them. Simply put, God first confirms the covenant with us. In other words, He is reminding us that we must go into the land of Canaan. Then in the New Testament, the Israelites war with Paul. The Israelites say they need to be circumcised. “Abraham did not receive salvation because of his righteousness.” This is an inward circumcision of the heart by the Spirit. Jesus Christ lives within us, so the outer salvation has no meaning. You need an inward circumcision of the heart.
Phil. 3:3 explains true circumcision, we who serve God by His spirit. If you look at the churches now, they only glorify themselves, The one who boasts of Jesus Christ has received circumcision in their heart. If somebody boasts of the physical life they believed, they cannot believe. The one who works and serves as if filled by the Holy Spirit will be circumcised. Everyone lives their walk of faith backwards. That’s why in the New Testament, Jesus says “Oh, then You will be a witness.” Before we go out into the world, we must first. Because I relay on the strength I receive from heaven, I do not need to extend my strength for my career.
Then in Joshua 5:9, The LORD said to Joshua, “The place had been called Gilgal. The children and people of God are being enslaved by physical things, success, and money, why is that? We have no choice but to be a slave like that because we live centered on ourselves.
In the next verse, God tells them to celebrate the Passover. After God fulfills the covenant in the Israelites, God tells the Israelites to confirm spiritually. We do not go to work to make money but we go there to fulfill God’s mission. If you’re going there to study or make money, then you’re going there to be a slave to your ego. So, as soon as you wake up in the morning, confirm God’s great covenant. You need to re-confirm the Passover, the fact that Christ has finished it. Receive the filling of the Holy Spirit.
In Joshua 5:13, Joshua saw a man with a drawn sword and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” Joshua 5:14-15. It could be Jesus Christ or an angel. Jesus Christ came as a human a few times in the Old Testament. This is the same message God gave Moses in Ex. 3 as he stood before the burning bush and it’s the same content when they were going in the Exodus in Egypt. What does it mean to take off your sandals? You stand before God, not by the methods of the world, this is something God is doing and you are God’s servant. God will fight the battle ahead of you, so you simply follow behind, you are God’s servant.
Matthew 11:28. These are the words of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is teaching us through life, but we are saying that is not so. The Lord is doing everything, so we’re just united in following Him. Whenever these words come into you as the covenant in faith, you’ll be set free from the burdens of the world and all the suffering of your heart. Remind yourself every morning that your job is not a job, but it is a mission, and that mission is not done by you, but it is a spiritual mission carried out by God.
But if you go there to make money, it’s not a spiritual battle. God sends us there to fight the spiritual battle, it is a spiritual battle to find disciples and save souls through our business. We are fighting that spiritual battle so the income from our job will be used for the economy of light that saves people’s lives. The mission of the people of God who lived in the Old Testament and our mission is the same. The way of life is also the same. The words of the Old Testament and the words we receive today are the same; it’s all the same and connected.
Ultimately every single day when we go out into the field, we fight the spiritual battle, so every morning, remember your circumcision. All problems are finished on the cross, so don’t fall into problems. Hold onto that as your covenant so you won’t fall into problems. Otherwise, even before you get into your studies and your job, you’ll be a slave to your physical problems. Therefore, remember the Passover, remember the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. Receive the circumcision of the heart where the Holy Spirit fills and rests in us. Deeply plant the covenant of Acts 1:8. Then, you pray for the target of your mission field where you must fight the spiritual battle.
Every person you meet is a target of your mission, that is the Word God gives us. If this has failed, you’ve already failed the covenant that day. If you lose hold of that, you might as well walk back to Egypt. The result is that you’ll wander the wilderness for 40 years and then die. Hold onto this covenant and every single morning, confirm that this is a spiritual battlefield and missions field so that the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You cannot do this by yourself.
Every morning, if you do not restore and receive the spiritual, covenantal power, you’ll be enslaved by the world. Anyone who says they can live without this power is someone who lives in Egypt. As times passes, they will have mental suffering, and that will be relayed to the future generations, 3-4 generations. There’s no need for us to do that. We begin each day, already knowing the covenant that is victory, and leaving the strength that is covenantal.
When you go into the field, many things happen; that’s the battlefield, and you cannot win in the battlefield. That is why you pray, 24 hours with the Throne of Heaven. It’s war, but if you don’t know the devil, you don’t know the war, so you think you just have to work hard, so you’ll be seized with no question. Everything you see, hear, in all your business and studies, it must all be connected to prayer. You can only win when you go in with God; you cannot overcome with your own mental strength.
Only when you stand before God will you not be afflicted by scars; otherwise you’ll be oppressed and everything will be a scar for you. We fight the spiritual battle with 24 hour prayer. We win the spiritual fight. As evidence that you’ve won this fight, we’ll have a physical result. However, when we go out into the field, Satan tells us, “There’s no battle, live as you did in Egypt.” He leaves you alone so it looks like things are taking place, but over time, we cry out and suffer.
God gives us the Word so we don’t need that; we overcome all things through 24 hour prayer, why? Because God is constantly carrying them out. God is sending His heavenly angels ahead of you and fights the spiritual battle. You see how everything turned into him throughout the day. We are the missionaries who fight the spiritual fight. But if you are living your life with the things of the earth, then your religion has no method, development, or growth. If you are holding onto God in order to gain the things of God. You’re not receiving the fulfillment of God’s word. In the past, Paul said the things of the world were everything, but after he knew Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God, he considered everything else rubbish, and he knows the tremendous treasure is in the Kingdom of God.
Now, I’m not going there to seized what I’ve been doing. Today, I met with a young adult and did Bible study with them. Young adults have many concerns because that is when they must be active, but the “me” is bound to not work. I’m not sure you understand, it doesn’t mean your business or studies will not take place, but if that’s how you take it, then you’re not understanding what I’m saying, but with these things, you cannot do anything about the disasters fail. The things of heaven must come to me for me to be correct from that point on.
Then the young adult said afterwards, “Even beyond the things I’ve said, there ‘s a lot of darkness pastor,” but what God desires is for you to be completely filled with the things of God. In the past, Luther chose the path of self-punishment and pain for him to try to get rid of his sins and lacking, but no matter what he tried, it would not.
Whatever dirty thing is inside of you, it doesn’t matter. We were all originally like that. Trying to get rid of all of that is what monks do; trying to get rid of those things is the transcendental meditation movement. But for us, everything has already been finished on the cross, so now, the Lord Who is life, must be poured. It means you still don’t realize you cannot do this. It means you still think there’s some potential in your own strength; you don’t know the gospel, if you confess, “I’ve died on the cross,” it means you cannot do it by yourself, so that’s why it’s all finished.
Christ. Of course, the young adult did not understand, but the word of Christ must be restored. It cannot be me, so I just always receive the filling of the Holy Spirit of the You receive the power of the Throne of Heaven exactly as it’s promised, we If you go to succeed, it’s all useless. Should we fail? That’s not for you to know. You need to do this every morning because that is the beginning of the day; if you begin your day incorrectly, the entire day will be incorrect.
“I am going into the mission field to fight the spiritual battle. I’m going to liberate those who are seized by Satan. You need to pray for the power of the Throne of Heaven. When time passes, visible answers are bound to come. May you have victory. Let us pray together, holding onto the Word we have received.