Title The Living God Experience, October 30
The Living God Experience
Joshua's Leadership
After Exodus, Israel wandered for 40 years in the Wilderness of Midian, and now they have come to the beginning of Canaan, the land promised by Yahweh God. We do not know exactly why they dragged them so long in the wilderness, which they could have traversed in a month, no matter how long. Perhaps they were people who did not aim for Canaan in the first place. If their goal had been clear from the start, they would have had to try several full-scale battles to conquer the land of Canaan, and the Bible doesn't even hint at that. Of course, you might think that life in the wilderness was a period for spiritually training the Israelites. Anyway, after many twists and turns, they now have the land of Canaan in front of them.
Canaan was not a land where the Israelites could freely enter and live. There were already peoples of a civilization far ahead of Israel inhabited there. To enter the land, Israel had to first pass through Jericho and Ai. If other peoples try to squeeze into the land inhabited by other peoples and want to live together, will they graciously yield? Not because the land is small, but because it is difficult for different peoples to live together, so they had to play a ‘zero-sum’ game. If we look at this fight from a more objective perspective, there is clearly a problem with the people of Israel. How can they prove that Yahweh God gave this land of Canaan to their ancestor Abraham as a promise? Since the Old Testament describes the battles fought in Canaan only from the point of view of Israel, it is impossible to get rid of the thought that Yahweh God is a bit partial.
By the way, what is the most pressing problem that the nation of Israel must solve in the campaign to conquer Canaan? The most decisive factor that made Exathus possible was the strong leadership of Moses. But now, Moses had just died right before Canaan. The Israelites have experienced confusion whenever Moses is not present. Considering this, in the end, what the Israelites most need now is to have a leader comparable to Moses. Moses appointed Joshua as his successor before his death, just as Kim Il-sung designated Kim Jong-il as his successor, but leadership is not secured by such designation alone. For a while it can lead to a kind of disciplined rule, but as new situations continue to unfold, that alone won't sustain leadership. The most decisive event in strengthening Joshua's leadership is the interruption of the Jordan River, which we read in today's text. Just as Moses' authority was the parting of the Red Sea, this incident enabled Joshua to exercise unwavering leadership.
Red Sea and Jordan River
What is the reality of the Jordan River incident that today's text describes? What does this biblical miraculous report indicate that as soon as the priests carrying the ark set foot in the river, the river cut off and became like a dam? The Jordan River flows between two rock walls of soft limestone. However, it is said that when this rock wall sometimes collapses, the river water is trapped there, so that it becomes like a lake above and like the ground below. According to historians' studies, between the night of December 7, 1267 and the dawn of the next day, the rock collapsed, stopping the flow of the river for 16 hours. This was also the case in 1927 and 1960, which usually happens when an earthquake occurs. On July 11, 1927, the river stopped flowing for 21 hours and 30 minutes.
I have to say something out of boredom. There are people who argue that why do you keep reading the Bible so critically of history, and why not just believe it as it is written? We do not believe in the Bible, we believe in God. It is important to correctly understand the God that the Bible testifies about, not to believe the report itself. These two facts must be distinguished. The Bible is the text, and God is the Redeemer and Ruler. It's like love is an ability, not a text. So we try to get into the horizon of that biblical text as far as our epistemological powers allow. We are reading the Bible text critically so that we can get exactly the gist of the message the Bible writer who wrote today was trying to convey to the people of his day and posterity through these events.
living God
What is the Bible writer telling us about the Jordan River incident? The biblical writer speaks through the mouth of Joshua: “The living God is among you. The Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Breezes, the Girgadites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites will be driven out” (verse 11). To convey this very fact, the biblical writer brought in a very dramatic event. This is what we who read the Bible today should learn from the Bible. Without this attitude, the Old Testament would remain merely a one-sided interpretation of the history of the warlike and self-centered people of Israel. This interpretation of history has no meaning for us today.
It is quite clear why today's Bible writer is telling us today the cut off of the Jordan River, which is not very convincing. It was his interest to communicate the “living” God. This expression “alive” is not so accurate. If you follow this word as it is, it means that God could die. A mortal being cannot be God at all. The biblical writer must know that, but why would he say that he is the living God? Perhaps in ancient societies, especially in the Near East, various gods were competing with each other. There were gods in Egypt, Babylon as well, and there were many different gods in Greece. Not only that, but in the wilderness of Midian and in the land of Canaan, various gods were worshiped. Those who worshiped such gods would have worked hard to prove in many ways that their god was greater than the gods of other races. In the midst of this, expressions that the gods are sleeping or that they are dead come out. The writer of the Bible who wrote today's text also borrowed the expression of that time to emphasize the fact that Yahweh God “lives”.
How can we find evidence that God lives today? The biblical writer claims that the Jordan River stopped as evidence, but what can we say today as evidence for it? Perhaps some will consider the miraculous restoration of a failing business, the cure of an incurable disease, or the victory of a fallen husband in the world as evidence. Just as the ancient Israelites considered the interruption of the Jordan River as evidence of this, simple people would only believe that God is alive only through such unusual events. But that is still an immature belief. Rather, the world itself created by God is proof of that. The very fact that we exist like this is proof of that. Ultimately, the event of Jesus Christ is the proof.
God with you
However, the biblical writer's confession of faith is that the living God does not simply remain as an eternal and unchanging absolute somewhere in outer space, but participates in the history of Israel. That is why it is written that the living God “is among you.”
That's right. Many people think that God exists, but little realizes that God intervenes in our lives and human history. Since the Enlightenment, people of this world have gained the confidence to live without God. Not only that, but the world is overflowing with events that are too scary for God to intervene. The suffering of the innocent continues, and the luck of the unrighteous continues. The sacrifices of innocent women and children due to natural disasters, terrorism, and war are happening as usual in this world. In a world like this, claiming that God is with us might seem like fanaticism.
Today's text tells us that God is with the people of Israel through the event that the Jordan River stopped flowing, but where can we find it today? We no longer need the Jordan River. No, more precisely, such a miraculous event is not necessary. Confirming that God is among us in that way only means that we are going back to the way we thought at least 3,000 years ago.
Herein lies the trap from which Christian intellectuals today cannot escape. We cannot blindly and unconditionally believe what the Bible says, but neither do we experience the fact that God is in us. So most intellectuals push their faith to the fringes of their lives. The problems of life are solved according to the spirit of the times, and the problem of faith is left as a separate problem. This state is the dualism of life and faith. Due to the dualism of life and faith, some people fall into severe mental conflicts, but most of them seem to live without such conflicts, but with vague feelings.
Ladies and gentlemen, how can we realize that God is with us in our lives today, not in the miracle of the Jordan River stopping? I am not in a position to give you any exact answer. Not because there is no answer, but because you don't really feel that answer. For example, if I told my daughters that if I wanted to know the secrets of life, I had to listen to the wind and blow it all over my body, what would these daughters think? You're probably thinking to yourself, "Did my father taste it?"
Are you experiencing Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God he preached as a spiritual reality to you today? Can you feel the life of the cross he chose? Do you really care about the resurrection life that happened to him? Is your heart wide open toward your neighbors, other living beings, and the whole world because of this belief? If these life experiences are given to you, you are a person with the living God. Otherwise, he still has not experienced the living God. Which side do we belong to?