Joshua 4:22-24 - "That All the Peoples of the Earth May Know..."

We are looking at the Book of Joshua and thinking about all the spiritual lessons that we can learn and apply to our own lives. The Bible is a Book, not only to be read, studied, memorized, and meditated upon, but a Book to be practiced! When we look into the mirror of God’s Word we are to look into our own hearts and find out where we are missing the mark, (that is what sin is), and ask the Lord to cleanse us through His Word, His blood, and find forgiveness, and then live a life that honors and glorifies Him!   The leading person in the Book of Joshua is not Joshua but the Lord Jehovah, the God of Joshua and of Israel. In all that Joshua did by faith, he desired to glorify the Lord. When the Jews crossed the Jordan River, Joshua reminded them that the living God was among them and would overcome their enemies. (Joshua 3:10-11)   Through Israel's obedience, Joshua wanted, not only for the generations of Jews to come, but all the people of the earth to know the Lord and fear Him. Then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land'; for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever" (Joshua 4:22-24).   Today, we are experiencing an open display of antisemitism, a hatred for the Jews and Israel. We are hearing a loud and public cry for their total destruction all around us. The question is being asked, what and who is behind this? I believe I can tell you the answer to this question. The very names, Israel and Jew, are the greatest proof that there is a living God in heaven. They gave us the Bible and a Messiah, Who is our Savior. God’s four-thousand year history of preserving the Jews and Israel as a people and nation is a reminder to the devil and to everyone that there is a God in heaven to whom we will have to give an account of our lives to one day! (Hebrews 9:27)   The plain and real truth is, that it is God they are against! We live in a humanist world where we worship the creature rather than the Creator. This is explained in Romans 1. We love ourselves and our sins. Like the devil told Eve, “If you disobey God and eat this fruit, you will be like God, and you can decide what is good and what is evil. You don’t need a God in heaven running your life.” The lost person can’t enjoy their sin and have God in their thoughts. To get rid of God, they must get rid of the Jews and Israel! Honestly, I believe that is what is behind all this antisemitism today.   At least fourteen times in the Book of Joshua, God is called "the Lord God of Israel" (7:13,19-20; 8:30; 9:18-19; 10:40, 42; 13:14, 33; 14:14; 22:24; 24:2, 23). Everything that Israel did brought either glory or disgrace to the name of their God. When Israel obeyed by faith, God kept His promises and worked on their behalf; and God was glorified. But when they disobeyed in unbelief, God abandoned them to their own ways, and they were humiliated in defeat. The same spiritual principle applies to the church today.   As you look at your life and the life of the church where you fellowship, do you see yourself and your fellow believers wandering in the wilderness or conquering in the Promised Land? In the wilderness, the Jews were a complaining people; but in Canaan, they were a conquering people. In the wilderness, Israel kept looking back, yearning for what they had in Egypt; but in the Promised Land, they looked forward to conquering the enemy and claiming their rest and their riches. The wilderness march was an experience of delay, defeat, and death; but their experience in Canaan was one of life, power, and victory.   As you look at the "spiritual map" of your Christian life, where are you living?   God bless!