Scripture focus: Joshua 5:1-9
Disclaimer: Please forgive any typographical, grammatical, and/or content errors in the following notes. They are not meant to be an exact transcription, but rather a helpful guide for those who appreciate the written word along with the spoken word. If you have any questions on what was taught, feel free to reach out on our ‘Contact Us’ page.
It’s interesting that the more you study your bible the more you see that it says the same things over and over again. Obviously, the stories are vastly different and the lessons change and are deep and pragmatic. But, all of scripture kind of boils down to the same thing over and over and over doesn’t it? God loves me, even in my brokenness and made a way for me to be saved through His son Jesus by faith in him. That’s the sum of the theological portions. The practical portions can basically be summed up in this: Even though God is good and loves us, we are full of pride and want to keep sitting on our thrones doing our own thing. So there it is, scripture in two lessons – one about God and one about you. Now, of course, there’s tremendous nuance in those things, but for us if we can keep those two points in mind as we go through the Word of God it helps to frame the threads that go through them because God is constantly trying to show you how much he love you and how good he is despite our brokenness and how he wants to have relationship with us in our lives and also shows us that our prideful selves – the selfishness or fear that keeps us from going to him – is a problem. The only way that we’re going to approach him and have a relationship that saves us and lives that are hope filled and joy-filled is by humbly laying down your pride, selfishness, and fear. And that’s what the text is all about today. It’s really about our pride, our way, our plans, our exultation versus God’s.
The Lord approaches us one of two ways depending on where we stand before him.
- If we have submitted to Jesus Christ through faith and are saved, then the Lord goes through a constant cycle in our lives of refineing us and using us for a task. This is the purpose of a follower of Jesus, to be an instrument in the king’s hands to do the king’s will to further the king’s kingdom for the king’s glory. Now we are looking at that through the lens of being a servant of the king. There are many other designations and identifiers – we are children of God, heirs to the throne. But from a practical, pragmatic standpoint, the practical side of it is that we’re constantly being prepared for the next thing. Refining and preparation are just two sides to the same coin – as I’m being refined I’m also being prepared. How many of you know that every season of life is just preparation for the next season of life? There’s no such thing as arriving until you’ve actually arrived (i.e. die and you are with the Lord or Come Lord Jesus, Come!)
- If we are not a follower of Jesus God loves you just as much and wants relationship with you just as badly and has plans for you and purposes for you that are just as deep and fulfilling as any follower of Jesus. But it’s that pride that ultimately is getting in the way. So the Lord will take you through a series of situations and circumstances that are calculated to highlight your pride one way or another and give you an opportunity to acknowledge your pride and say, “Ok, Lord, I’m done with me, I want you. I can’t do this anymore, you need to do it. We can resist this and stay caught up in our contented ignorance or angry and resentful and push back and blame God for things. There are lots of ways that we can ultimately allow our pride to keep us from the Lord and the Lord loves us enough to keep us going through those cycles in our lives to highlight the separation.
Today we see both of these cycles at work in the context of circumcision. Isaiah 55:6-9 says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Text – Joshua 5:1-9
As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.
2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. 4 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. 5 Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. 6 For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord; the Lord swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.
8 When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. 9 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.
The Israelites spent 4 days preparing to cross the Jordan River and finally the whole mass of them (3 million +) walked across the dry land, 6-7 miles in sight of Jericho’s walls. We learn from verse 1 that those in Jericho were afraid. This echoes Rahab’s report in chapter 2. God had prepared the way for victory for his people. How many of you know that a daunting task ahead of you can be a very fearful thing but that when I go into it expecting to fail, lose, or be defeated that is not the mindset in which to go do something? The Lord had prepared their hearts to be attacked and the Isrealites had to trust this. You’d think that after crossing the Jordan and preparing for 40 years and most recently intensely for several days for this very day, the first thing would be a call for “Charge!” In fact, Joshua was a brilliant military strategist. However, a military man would never waste the element of surprise. He’d size the moment and attack. So herein we see one of the first indicators of Isaiah 55 in this text – God’s ways are not man’s ways. A prideful man could say, “Alright God, you got us across this river, you’re amazing, thank you – now, watch this!”
In verse 2, we see God’s command and in verse 3 we see Joshua obey even though it was absolutely absurd from a military standpoint to lose the element of surprise, put your men out of fighting condition for days, and leave the group vulnerable to counterattack with your method of escape now a raging river again. Joshua obeys immediately even against all logic, strategy, and reason. When we start thinking of our self-pursuits through the lens of self-glorification it helps us to see how it steals glory from where it belongs.
There was a contest between two teams to cut down as many trees as possible in one day. The first team had a rotation where some cut and some sharpened the axes and by the end of the day they had devoted everyone to cutting. The other team sharpened as a team and then cut as a team and continued the process throughout the day. This is a lot like the service to the Lord in our lives. When it’s time to sharpen, it’s time to sharpen. When it’s time to work, then work. Now, there is overlap and nuances, but the Lord is very intentional and does not mind taking time to prepare his people to do the work he’s called them to. There are many biblical examples of people in ax sharpening seasons: Joseph, Moses, Peter, Paul.
Why is circumcision such a big deal? It was the sign of God’s covenant with his people (Gn 17:10-14). Why weren’t these men circumcised in the first place? Verse 6 tells us it was disobedience of the fathers. It doesn’t matter what faith you were raised with. It doesn’t matter if your parents say that they’re people of God. It doesn’t matter if you try to follow all of the religiosity. God cares about if you are humbly submitting to his son and spiritually circumcising your hearts. Joshua is asking for God – Are you willing to follow me unlike your fathers? The choice is before you.
If you were by faith circumcised as an Israelite or today through the sign of baptism, it showed that you were:
- God’s possession – servant
- God’s people – child
- Entitled to God’s promises
God could have had them circumcise themselves at any point. But once again it parallels baptism. Baptism doesn’t save a person, it’s an outward sign. Circumcision didn’t save them, it was just an outward sign commanded after they were in the Promised Land.
The circumcision of our hearts is the surgery of cutting away our pride, selfishness, and fear so we can freely serve him. Submission is synonymous for lived out faith or obedience. It’s the primary evidence of our love of God. John 14:15 says, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” Life is every day a series of choices of who you are choosing to love. The two are not mutually exclusive but it is about the order of operations. Love of God must come first so I can truly learn to love and love myself and other. 1 John we love because he first loved us.
Love one another as I have loved you. This is the act of submission and circumcision he calls us to.
Verses 8-9 tells us that the reproach has been rolled away from the Isrealites. Egypt is symbolic of the world and the foreskin is symbolic of the flesh. They had gotten rid of the flesh that is constantly trying to draw you back in. Now you are my people and will be filled with love and peace. Deuteronomy 30:5-6 says, “And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. 6 And the Lordyour God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”
Romans 2:28-29 says, “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”Colossians 2:11-15 says, “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”