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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: "Go through the camp and tell the people, 'Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.'"
But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, "Remember the command that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: 'The Lord your God is giving you rest and has granted you this land.' Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, fully armed, must cross over ahead of your brothers. You are to help your brothers until the Lord gives them rest, as He has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise."
Then they answered Joshua, "Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey your words, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!"
Joshua 1:10-18
This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
At the very beginning of the Book of Joshua, chapter 1, the Lord gives instruction to His newly chosen leader of Israel, the man who this book is named after. In the earlier verses of this chapter, you’ll recall that God told him to get Israel “ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them”…a land that would include “every place where (Joshua) set (his) foot”…a “territory (that would) extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates…to the Great Sea on the west.” This was the Promised Land…the land of Canaan that God had promised every leader of Israel from Abraham until Joshua.
Now, God was about to fulfill that promise. All Joshua and the Israelites had to do was remain obedient to what the Lord had commanded, remember that He was with them always, and with that, be strong and courageous…confident that they would have victory over any enemy within the land they were inheriting because their Lord was fighting with and for them.
So Joshua goes to the “officers of the people” and commands them:
"Go through the camp and tell the people, 'Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.'"
He further reminds the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh that they will inherit the land where they presently were (the land east of the Jordan River) as God promised but all fighting men were to cross the Jordan and fight with their fellow Israelites. In other words, victory for Israel would be a team effort…all of their fighting men from each of the twelve tribes coming together to battle on behalf of their one true God…and that one true God would ensure victory.
In other words, it was essentially all for One (God) and One for all.
Well, after giving orders to the officers of the people, we see that the officers respond with an obedient, powerful response saying:
“Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey your words, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!"
And so we know that Joshua didn’t only have God on his side but the people of Israel as well. He was now fully ready to step forward into Moses’ role and lead the Israelites into Canaan.
You know, this passage reminded me of a concern I have with the Christian church today. For when the church first started, everyone were just Christians…no other distinctions...just one body of Christ-believers who were all committed to one Savior and Lord (Jesus).
That first century Christian church was all for One (Jesus), knowing that the He was one with the Father (John 10:30) and the One who was the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)…the One who was with them and for them.
Now, ask yourself if we look like this as the Christian church today.
Are we REALLY all for One (Jesus) lock-stepped together for the common cause of Christ Jesus?
Or are we a world of Christ believers who identify more with a denomination or home church more than we identify with the world-wide body of Christ?
You see, my fear is that we have allowed the enemy to enter into the Christian church and fragment it, dividing and conquering the people of Jesus so that they might not reach their full effectiveness for the cause of the Gospel and he gets away with it because of our pride. He (Satan) is very skilled at getting individual churches and denominations to get all puffed up in the productive work they do within their respective frameworks for the cause of Christ, so much so that they get caught up in self aggrandization and satisfaction, unable to see how they could accomplish so much more for Jesus if they would come together with all other Christians in support of a common, collective Gospel cause.
Friends, it’s high time for a revival of ecumenicalism to reign supreme in the Christian church. It’s time for us to tear down the walls that Christ believers have built between themselves and truly join together as the universal body of Jesus Christ, the One who is the Head of the church (Colossians 1:18).
If this happened, can you imagine the power the church would hold…and how the world would be turned on its head by the groundswell of united Christian believers carrying out their Great Commission calling together. There’s simply no more time to be inefficient, ineffective, and dysfunctional as a body in carrying out what Jesus has called us to do. Now is the time for all Christians to be for the One (Jesus) as the One (the Head of the church) surely expects us to be, the One who is for us all, without question.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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