Title Message from Jericho / Jos 6:15-21
Contents
Subject: Message from Jericho
Bible: Joshua 6:15-21
Noah's descendants who survived the flood judgment built the Tower of Babel on the plain of Shinar. This is a symbol of human pride and rebellion, who built a castle that reached to the sky, made a name for themselves, and tried to maintain survival and unity with their own strength.
God lowered the pride of this man, confuses the language to scatter the people, and stops the construction of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:9). This event was God's intervention to lower human pride for the first time in the Bible. Since that day, human history has continued to build and destroy. I have seen apartments built on mountains, apartments collapsed, bridges built on the Han River, bridges collapsed, and the Twin Towers of New York's Trade Center fall like dust. I saw Hitler's Nazism collapse, Italy's fascism collapsed, and Japan's militarism collapsed. I saw the fall of the Qing Dynasty in China, and the fall of the Yi Joseon Dynasty. However, in recent history, we have seen a great collapse in which the earth is tilted.
The collapse of Soviet communism. One side, which had been divided into East and West camps and coexist with a tight balance, suddenly collapsed one day. As a result, the world lost its balance of power.
Now, the era of tyranny of power has arrived in the world where power is the good of everything.
Today at this time we see another collapse in the Bible.
“The wall fell down” (verse 20) - An impregnable fortress! What does the fall of Jericho mean to us? I want to hear the message from Jericho at this time.
I. Being strong and arrogant is the message of falling apart.
In verse 6, verse 1, it says, “Jero was shut tight because of the children of Israel, and no one came in and out.”
Jericho is an important city in the great plain of Jordan, and around 1800 B.C., 2,500~3000 Hyksos tribes who invaded Egypt at the time built strong walls and lived there.
In 1929, archaeologist Garst n began excavating the fortress of Jericho, and after seven years of research, it was announced that it was destroyed by a great fire from an earthquake between 1400 and 1338 B.C. It is said that the wall of Jericho was built with a double wall on a steep rock, and the height of the outer wall was about 3.5m and the width of the inner wall was about 5m.
It is surprising that a fortress of this size was built in the Mesolithic Age. Also, there were iron chariots in Jericho, and they were using swords and spears made of iron. Therefore, when the Israelites entered the city of Jericho, they tightly shut the gates and refused to allow Israel to pass through. This is the arrogance of the strong. To the people of Jericho, the Israelites, who came in droves with their bare hands, were not opponents of battle and could be ignored.
But what does the Bible say? “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain, and unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps watch in vain” (Psalm 127:1). There are no permanent winners and no permanent losers in the world.
“A speedy racer does not first arrive, a strong man does not win battles, a wise man does not gain food, a wise man does not acquire wealth, and a skilled man does not find favor” (Ecclesiastes 9:11). ). The high are humbled, and the strong are broken. It is said, “God makes the proud” (2 Samuel 22:28).
“The war is not yours, it belongs to God” (2 Chronicles 20:15).
“The wall of Jericho fell down” - The people of Jericho depended on the city, they depended on iron chariots, and they depended on iron weapons, but the wall of Jericho fell down. Everything in the world on which humans depend whether it was material, health, honor, strength, or ability, they are all towers of thought that will crumble.
Where on earth will there be an eternal city? (Hebrews 13:14)
Only one God is eternal.
II. It is a message that all the difficulties in the world are weak in front of faith.
Verse 15 says, “In the early morning of the seventh day, they got up early and went around the city seven times in the same way as they were doing, and they went around the city seven times on that day only.”
What is “still the way”? It's an unusual way. The priests carried the ark of the LORD, the seven priests held the seven trumpets, and they marched in front of the ark of the LORD, blowing the trumpets, and the people did not shout, they did not hear their voices, they did not speak, they obeyed silently (Joshua 6:10). . It was not a paradise flowing with milk and honey that appeared before the Israelites who had passed through the wilderness for 40 years, crossed the Jordan River, and set their first steps in the land of Canaan. In front of them was the huge city of Jericho. The impenetrable fortress standing in front of them was a great obstacle they could not overcome.
If they had encountered these difficulties in the early days of the Exodus, they would have complained, resented, discouraged, and collapsed. But the Exodus IIs, who had been trained in the wilderness for 40 years, were different from them. Rather than get frustrated in the face of difficulties, they marched with the ark ahead and blowing their trumpets. The people went around the city once every day. No change. Repetition of monotonous, boring behavior. What can I say to them? How could they not have wiles and scheming, which they thought would be better? But it was quiet. Because I told you not to listen to your voice. I did one lap every day. The seventh day made seven rounds. It is purebred. But what does Hebrews 11:30 say?
“They went through Jericho by faith seven days, and the wall fell.” In front of the faith of the people of Israel, their greatest obstacle was conquered.
“The wall fell down” - The stronghold collapsed in front of faith.
Ⅲ. It is a message that Satan's authority must be destroyed before God.
Hebrews 13:13 says, “Therefore, since Jesus also suffered before the gates in order to sanctify the people by his blood, let us come to him outside the camp, carrying his reproach.”
We can see the shadow of Jesus going out of the gate with the humiliation of the cross in front of the priests carrying the ark of Jericho around Jericho. Just as Christ was ridiculed by the rulers and priests, so the Israelites must have been ridiculed by the people of Jericho, who looked at them from the high tower and ridiculed them.
But the Bible says, “The weakness of God is stronger than that of men” (1 Corinthians 1:25). Although Jesus was weak and died on the cross, He overcame the power of the devil and Satan by resurrecting with the power of the Son of God. Just like the day in Golgotha, when an earthquake occurred, rocks burst, and tombs were opened when the final victory was proclaimed, “I am finished”, when hundreds of thousands of Israelites attacked Hallelujah! Archaeologists testify that the “The city fell down” - Please believe that the power of Satan fell before the power of God.