While listening to Joshua’s account of the fall of Jericho in the Old Testament, I wondered how it would be received in today’s world of Social media and live news feeds. I imagine the media would explode with interviews, conjecture, ridicule, and laughter run-amok. Would there be even one media source that would not be mocking these followers of God who say their God is the “One and Only God” in my opinion, the sarcasm would be relentless.
Can you envision the video they would capture or the reporter’s words? “These people actually believe the huge city walls in this video will collapse if they march around the city once a day for six days while staying quiet, and then on day seven march around the city seven times with priest blowing trumpets; then, at the sound of one last trumpet, they believe all they have to do is yell, and this massive wall, this huge massive wall of Jericho, is going to fall down so they can take the city”
Can you imagine the news coverage? How about the jaw-dropping shock to the world of unbelievers when the wall falls?
Do you think the walls of Jericho would have fallen if they had done anything less than what God commanded them to do? The same God who specified the march also specified how a person comes into Christ. Hebrews 11:30 says the walls fell by faith after they had been encircled for seven days. The city had already been given (Joshua 6:2); the marching did not earn it. The promise was attached to the instructions, and the result came when those instructions were kept
For some reason, many today take huge liberties with God’s word and make statements along the lines of, “God loves us; Jesus died for us, and because He loves us, we don’t need to be baptized (immersed) to be saved. We don’t need to gain understanding, repent, confess Jesus as Lord, or change our life; all we have to do is say a prayer, and we are saved, and once we are saved, we are always saved.
Scripture does not present a prayer as the converting act. It names belief, repentance, confession, and baptism for the forgiveness of sins (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Romans 10:9–10). A changed life follows that response; it is not a work done beforehand to earn it (Romans 6:4; John 14:15). Passages on security address those who continue in Christ (John 10:28–29; Romans 8:38–39). They do not cancel the warnings against falling away we find in (Hebrews 3:12–14; 10:26–29; 2 Peter 2:20–22).
What if a priest in Joshua’s camp said, 7 times is unnecessary; God loves us; let’s pray, then blow the trumpets and yell, ‘God is with us! Or any other variance from God’s command. Do you really believe the walls would have fallen had anything less than God’s command been done?
I don’t!
God attached the promise to the instructions He gave. The walls fell when those instructions were kept (Joshua 6:20). I do not believe a substituted plan would have brought the same result.
The walls would never have fallen if they had done anything other than what God told them to do. In 2 Kings 5:14, Naaman was told to dip seven times in the River Jordan to heal his leprosy; He first wanted a different method. He was cleansed when he dipped seven times “according to the saying of the man of God. ”had he tried to sprinkle water on his body or do anything else, he would not have been healed because he did not do as God commanded. We are told to teach the message of Christ with boldness and love, not by changing the message to get more people to listen or respond. Doing so is foolish!
Christ’s blood is the ground of forgiveness. Faith, repentance, confession, and baptism are the conditions God set for receiving it—not works that earn it.
Throughout Scripture, we have words and examples showing that it is important to do God’s will, God’s way, as stated in His Holy Word, not our own desires. This was true then, and it’s true now.
Jesus tells us, “If you love Me, you will keep My Commandments.” God specified the way at Jericho. He has specified the way now.
Hebrews 11:30; Joshua 6:2–5, 20; 2 Kings 5:10–14; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Romans 6:3–4; Galatians 3:26–27; 1 Peter 3:21; John 14:15; Matthew 7:21; James 2:14–26; Hebrews 5:9.
God First!
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