As rallying political speeches go, Joshua’s farewell speech in Joshua 24 has got to be one of the most anti-climactic ever. After leading the people of God from one victory to another, he ends the book with these words:
“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt [Wait…why did they still have them?], and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve… whether the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods…”
But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord…” (Joshua 24:14–16, 19)
Talk about a dud ending. The people say, “Joshua, we’re with you! We’ll serve the Lord!” And Joshua simply replies, “No, I know you guys. You won’t.” You’ve seen those halftime speeches that they’re starting to show on TV now? Imagine getting a peak inside the locker room and hearing the coach say, “Guys, we’re down by 10. They’re bigger, faster, stronger. Actually, I’m sure they’re going to win. You just don’t have it in you. Well, I guess we should go back out there.” That’s the kind of downer Joshua gives here.
And the more you read the Old Testament, the more you see that most of the OT books end like this. Joshua couldn’t make the people courageous. Moses couldn’t make the people obey the Law. These men all pointed forward to another man to come, one who would give us the courage to obey all the way.
This Joshua would show us, even clearer than the OT general, that he was fighting for us. But the city that stood in our way wasn’t Jericho; it was the city of our sin and the curse of death. And Jesus (which is simply Greek for Joshua) said, “Don’t lift a finger to take that wall down. You can’t. I’ll do it for you.” He went to the cross, and through his death, he demolished the wall of eternal separation that had kept us from God. Like the people of Israel, our role was simply to watch, to believe…and then to shout in worship!
And the rest of the Christian life, we just keep shouting: I believe that if you won this battle for me, then nothing else can intimidate me. If God loved you enough to take away your sin, surely he’ll love you enough to take care of you in the dark times. If he was powerful to remove your condemnation, surely he’ll give you the power to live the Christian life, to be a faithful witness, to overcome temptation, to face singleness, or whatever else stands in your way.
God knocked down the biggest city of all for me: my death and condemnation. So now, in Christ, I can be absolutely assured that any lesser city—like job failure or divorce or cancer—poses no threat to my God. He may not resolve everything how I think he will, but he will move in power. I no longer have to wait to see if God is going to act in my life. I only have to wait to see how.
We obtain victory in our lives, not by superior “battle techniques.” We obtain victory by shouting our belief, over and over and over again, that he overcame the greatest battle of all for us, and that he’s still fighting for us to this day.
For more, be sure to listen to the entire message here.
