Joshua, Chapter 5 - Miracle to Mission | Prophets of Israel

[music] Shalom friends. Welcome to the Prophets of Israel Daily. This is the Book of Joshua chapter 5. And this series is brought to you by the Land of Israel Network at the land of Isisrael.com. Okay, let's get back into it. Imagine the entire nation standing on the edge of history. Dust rising from their sandals, the scent of the Jordan still clinging to their clothes. Hearts are pounding, not from exhaustion, but from anticipation. The waters of the Jordan have just split open before them. The ark leading the way. And now silence. The promised land is finally beneath their feet. The dream of Ara, Mitra, and Yakov, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is no longer prophecy. It's geography. It's soil. It's real. Right? For generations, this land lived in legends and in stories. It was sung about in exile. It was cried over in midnight prayers and spoken about at holiday tables scattered across continents, right? In a homeland promised not just as a territory but as destiny. And now after centuries of promise and 40 years of wandering, we're standing in it finally. You know, we're actually quite literally standing in Judea in the land of Israel. And you know, people don't always appreciate the importance of the land of Israel. They may love the holy land. They may love Erit, Israel, but they don't get that it's all about the land of Israel. See, there was really only one promise in the Torah given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their children would become a nation, and that nation would be given a promised land. That's it. The whole world is watching in expectation. Some people hate us, some people love us, but everyone is watching. Will God fulfill his one promise to his people? I mean, in some ways, the entire world is spinning around the axis on that promise. I mean, October 7th, the Abraham Accords, everything you hear in the news, the underlying spiritual war is all about the land of Israel because what happens in the promised land touches on the deepest parts of people's identities and beliefs. And Ari and I, we don't just believe that, you know, we live it. We chose to cast our lot and build the deepest settlement in Judea on the Arugoat farm because we know that the calling of this generation is really no different than the calling of Joshua's generation to go and inherit the land. You know, so our network and our fellowship, it's called the land of Israel fellowship because it's all about the land of Israel. So in some ways this is the climax of the Bible itself in Joshua for the first time we finally made it and now the story really begins >> right it begins and you'd think that the first part the first chapter there would be like when the swords are drawn right you would expect celebration or conquest or triumphant momentum national pride but that is not what happens instead the nation is told to stop again Not to fight or to build or to conquer, but to stop. God commands them to circumcise their sons, to celebrate Passover, to eat from the produce of the land, and to encounter a mysterious commander standing with a drawn sword, an angelic commander. Right? Joshua chapter 5 reveals something fundamental. Entering the land of Israel is not simply a geographical movement. We've spoken about this, but we need to really understand it. It's a spiritual transformation. It's the moment when redemption shifts from dream to actuality to responsibility. The chapter opens with the kings of the Amorites and Canaanites hearing about the miracle at the Jordan River. And it was when all the kings of the Amorites heard how Hashem dried up the waters of the Jordan, their hearts melted and there is no spirit left within them. Right? That's the first verse of this chapter. Right before Israel lifts a single weapon, fear spreads throughout the region. The the strategic moment for attack has arrived. Momentum is fully with Israel. And at exactly that moment, Hashem commands them something just shocking, right? God tells Yeshua to circumcise the entire nation for 40 years. The generation born in the wilderness has lived under miraculous protection. They ate mana. They were surrounded by clouds of glory. They witnessed divine care daily. Yet they had not fully entered the covenantal sign given to Arau to Abraham. And now before the conquest, before sovereignty, before victory, the nation must renew its covenant physically, nationally, and spiritually. And as you can imagine, this moment is deeply uncomfortable. Circumcision renders the soldiers weak and vulnerable. It requires healing. One can't help but to think of Shimon and Ley's conquest of Schm using circumcision to weaken their adversaries. And here we are doing it voluntarily to ourselves before the greatest battle of our lives. Right? It places the entire nation in a place of just demanding complete trust, complete trust in divine protection rather than military readiness. Hashem commands verse two, make for yourself flint knives and once again circumcise the children of Israel. And after they fulfill this command, Hashem declares verse verse 9, "Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from upon you." The place is named Gilgal, which from from literally from the word meaning roll away. Entering the land does not simply fulfill destiny. It removes disgrace. Exile carries a spiritual wound. Exile itself is a is a desecration of God's name. For the prophets tell us, the nations will say, "How great can the God of Israel be when his nation is scattered around the world, right? The covenant is fully alive when Israel stands in her land, living according to her divine mission." Anyways, immediately afterwards, the nation celebrates Pesak, Passover, for the first time inside the land. They observed the Passover. This is verse 10. They observed the Passover on the 14th day of the month in the evening in the plains of Jericho. Imagine that moment. The same nation that left Egypt as refugees now celebrates freedom standing rooted in their homeland. Redemption is no longer memory. It's becoming present reality. And then something historic happens. The mana stops. As we read in verse 12, the mana ceased and they ate from the produce of the land. For 40 years, God sustained Israel with miraculous daily bread. Now the relationship matures. This is not a punishment. It's a graduation. God is no longer carrying them as infants in the wilderness. Now he invites them to become partners, cultivating the land, building society, shaping destiny through covenantal living, planting the seeds, working the land, and all the while knowing that it is God's miracles no less than the mana from heaven. but it is just growing from the earth. But they need to see through the illusion of their own power and their own strength. And of course, you can't help but to see how powerfully this blueprint echoes throughout modern Jewish history. For nearly 2,000 years, the Jewish people lived in exile, sustained by by memory and prayer and and hope. The only place the land remained alive was in the prayers of the people, right, in the soul of the nation. And then waves of Jewish return began. Jews from Yemen and Eastern Europe and North Africa and Ethiopia and Iraq and America and and beyond, right? And they they crossed these these Jews crossed their own modern Jordan River. The land that lived as prophecy began began transforming into living reality for them. I've experienced it myself. You know, they they drained swamps, revived the Hebrew language, built cities, defended Jewish life. And beneath these accomplishments was something deeper. The rediscovery of covenant identity in our ancestral homeland. Life in Israel transforms Judaism into a full national civilization where agriculture, defense, governance, and you know, culture, it just becomes expressions of the covenantal destiny. Then the chapter culminates with one of the most mysterious encounters in Tanakh. Yeshua meets a figure standing with a drawn sword. He asked the figure if he's a friend or a foe. A friend or an enemy. And we see in verse 12, the answer is stunning. I'm sorry. In verse 14, the answer is stunning. No. Rather, I am the commander of Hashem's army. Now I have come. Yeshua immediately falls to the ground. He's told to remove his shoes because the ground is holy. And the message is eternal. Redemption is not about God joining our agenda. It's about us aligning with God's mission. Israel is not conquering the land for national pride. Israel is invited to participate in a divine unfolding of history. The sword is drawn, but it is held by heaven. Yeshua's generation stood at a threshold moment between promise and fulfillment. They crossed the river, but they still needed to live the prophecy through covenant responsibility. Our generation really does stand at a similar threshold. After centuries of exile, we've returned to the land. Hebrews in the marketplaces, the land is blooming. Sovereignty is reemerged after millennia. But Joshua 5 teaches us that return is not the end of redemption. It's the beginning of a new stage. It's the beginning. The real work unfolds at Gilgal where identity is renewed and memory is honored and responsibility is embraced and mission is clarified and disgrace is rolled away. Right? For Jews today in Israel or throughout the nations, this chapter whispers that redemption is not abstract. It's not. It's geographical and agricultural and national and covenantal and and it invites participation. And for those among the nations drawn to the Hebrew Bible and to Israel, this chapter reveals the breathtaking consistency of God's faithfulness. The story of Israel is not ancient mythology. It is an ongoing chapter of sacred history unfolding before our eyes. And perhaps the deepest message is this. Before Jericho falls, before walls collapse, before battles are won, the nation must heal. We recommmit. And we we must align with our covenantal identity. And victory flows from identity, not the other way around. >> You know, it's true. Why though is the renewal of the covenant and commitment so important right now? Why does Joshua do it right as they enter into the land? And the reason is because there's a transition that happens in the book of Joshua. It's taking us through a journey. And we spoke about it at the Jordan River, and we'll see it now even clearer. But we see this theme over and over again. Israel is moving from a life of overt miracles into a life of providence. And commitment now is more important than ever. After Passover, after they circumcised themselves, that's it. The mana stops. For 40 years, food fell from heaven. And now the day after the first day of Passover, it stops. And so, he's entrusting Israel with a responsibility. The miracle of the mana shifts into the partnership of working the land of Israel. It's like dependence on miracles gives way to partnership in creation. That's the ideal life in the land of Israel. You know, people ask, "Why do we see miracles like in the times of old and after watching Israel defeat her enemies on seven fronts with beeper operations in a 12-day war with Iran and more than a thousand kilometers away without a single plane being shot down or even one soldier injured? I mean, what you see is miracles appear now in partnership through providence. That's the ideal life that God laid out already then in the book of Joshua. And that's the providence we're living through today." Well, you know, the chapter, it doesn't end with battle, you know, it ends with with reverence. Yahosua removes his shoes. He stands on holy ground. I think about it all the time when I'm walking around. If I could hear God's words, maybe he would be saying to me, "Remove your shoes. You're standing on holy ground. We're standing here in Judea on that same ground." You know, and perhaps that's the posture required of our generation. You know, to build, to defend, to plant, to dream, but always with humility, always with reverence, always remembering that we are walking inside a story written long before us and will continue long after us. Joshua leaves us with a question. You know the when standing at the threshold of fulfillment when ancient dreams take tangible form or they start taking tangible form when history opens doors that were once closed for millennia. How do we respond? Yeshua's answer was not strategy. It was surrender. He fell before the commander of history and asked, "What does my master command his servant?" and perhaps standing where we stand today, watching ancient promises unfold before our eyes. That's the question each of us is quietly invited to ask ourselves as well. And only we can answer it in our own hearts. But we have to really dig deep and find that place because redemption is waiting. My friends, we will see you all tomorrow as we dive into chapter six with Jeremy. Oh.