THE FALL OF JERICHO
INTRODUCTION
A. Jewish people were the first converts to Christianity.
a. they were being persecuted for their faith in Jesus
b. they needed to hold on to their profession of faith without wavering
B. To aid them in doing this, God had some holy man to write them a letter we call “The Book of Hebrews”. In this letter these Jewish Christians were encouraged/exhorted by being reminded of:
a. Jesus’ superiority – superior to angels, Moses, Aaron & his successors
b. their history
c. the significance of faith in “the people of old” (Heb.11:1,2)
C. Among “the people of old” who received “commendation” were Joshua & the generation of Israelites who entered Canaan.
D. Upon entering Canaan they would be faced with Jericho – one of the world’s oldest cities, a frontier town, & the gateway to the Promised Land. Its capture was absolutely necessary before any progress could be made by Israel in conquering and occupying their promised inheritance. But Jericho was:
a. a powerful fortress, the enemies’ leading stronghold
b. it was one of the cities, 40 years earlier, that had frightened 10 of the 12 spies into saying, “the cities are great and fortified up to heaven” (Deut.1:28)
c. failure to capture Jericho would strengthen the morale of the Canaanites & discourage the Israelites
E. Israel conquered Jericho – “…so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city”(Josh.6:20).
F. The amazing thing is that they did it without any artillery. How did they do it? The Hebrew author tells us – “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days” (Heb.11:30).
G. Remembering that “faith” is “…is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb.11:1), let us where the Israelites got their “assurance” & “conviction” that enabled them to capture Jericho.
I. FROM THE CAPTAIN OF THE LORD’S HOST
A. (Josh.5:13-15) Who was this “commander of the army of the LORD”?
a. He accepted worship
b. He was holy
B. It was the great “I Am”; “the Word” that would become “flesh” and dwell among us, who we know as Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.
C. Joshua & his fellow soldiers would not be fighting alone; “the commander of the army of the LORD” would be leading the attack.
D. The Lord stills leads the attack today (Rom.8:31; 1Jn.5:4,5; Eph.6:10-18).
II. FROM THE WORD OF GOD
A. (Rom.10:17; Josh.1:1-4; 6:2-5) Joshua & his fellow Israelites believed God & showed they did by obeying His instructions.
a. the arrangement of the procession
b. the number of marches on the number of days
c. the people shouted
B. (Heb.11:30) They believed what God had said & expected those huge mighty walls to come down, & they did! God keeps His promises.
C. God will keep His promises today.
a. salvation from the condemnation of sin (Mr.16:16)
b. blessedness (Rom.4:7,8)
c. inseparable love (Rom.8:35-39)
d. eternal life (Tit.1:2)
CONCLUSION
The Jewish Christians would find encouragement & a great example of faith by remembering their ancestors’ conquest of Jericho.
”Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, ‘Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls’” (Heb.10:35-39)