epcblog

Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Joshua 24


 “Thus says the Lord.” When Joshua gathered the people one last time to give them his final message, it was not the word of Joshua alone that came to their ears. God spoke through this great leader of Israel, and He Himself reviewed for them all His mighty acts of deliverance, beginning with Terah, the father of Abraham, who “served other Gods.”
God had led Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his sons. God sent Moses and Aaron. God fought against every enemy and had now brought them into this great land as He had promised to do so long ago.
Then Joshua applied the word of the Lord to their current situation and called upon all Israel to worship the Lord alone, and to put away foreign gods that they still had among them, and to truly serve the Lord. If they were unwilling to have a wholehearted devotion to the God who had worked such great wonders for them, then they should just serve the false gods of the Syrians, or the Egyptians, or the Canaanites. This was Joshua's surprising challenge. He would not give up on this line of reasoning until they had affirmed solemnly for themselves that they were willingly committing their lives to serve the Lord.
In this message Joshua noted that they still had other gods after all these centuries. He said that they were not able to serve the Lord. He told them that if they pledged to serve the Lord now but then turned away from Him that it would bring about great disaster for them. But the people insisted that they would serve the Lord.
He called on them as witnesses of one another to their full commitment as a people to serve the Lord. He urged them to put away all their foreign idols, and to obey the voice of the Lord, their God. They made that wholehearted commitment in this time of covenant renewal. This important event was recorded in writing and Joshua set up a stone as a witness. “This stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.”
Joshua died shortly after this covenant renewal. But the people were faithful to the Lord in the immediate years that followed. The story of the nation's decline will be told in Judges, the next book. For now, we hear the word of challenge to the people of Israel, and we do what we must every time we meet together in solemn assembly. We reaffirm our own commitment to the God of Israel, and to His Son, Jesus Christ, who has gone before us into the Promised Land of heaven. He lives forever, and is our constant reminder of His promises to us, and our pledge to serve the Lord.
We sense our own mixed record of disobedience and obedience; of faithlessness and faithfulness, and we are ashamed. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
As the Lord is our ever-present help, we join Joshua in his determination, in as much as it depends upon us, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” What is shocking is this: that when our bones are buried like the ancient remains of Joseph, and our lives go to be with the Lord in that better existence above, we will not hear a mixed report of our failures and partial victories. We will hear a resoundingly good report of our obedience as seen through the perfect holiness of our Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant!” What a great day that will be, when all that is partial and incomplete now must give way to what is full and perfect in the land where our Messiah reigns forever and ever.

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