The BOOK – Dark Age

Judges covers the period after the death of the great leader, Joshua to the ascension of Israel’s first King, Saul. During this period, the people of Israel were ruled by Judges whom God raised up to deliver them. This book is filled with struggles and disasters, but also with the moral courage of a select few. 

There are fourteen Judges mentioned, starting from, Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson, Eli and Samuel.  Gideon and Samson were warrior judges, Eli was a priest judge, and Deborah and Samuel were Prophet Judges. The Chief Judges were Deborah, Samson, Gideon and Samuel. 

The People of God went away from Jehovah by worshipping the gods of the nation’s round about them. They forgot that God had chosen them for a purpose – to tell the world the truth that there is but one true God. In punishment for their sins God would deliver them into the hand of other nations. Then under the oppression of these new enemies they would cry to God for mercy and God would hear them and send a Judge to deliver them.

Human pride would love to believe that humanity’s trend is upward. But God’s word shows us that the natural course is downward.

Judges 1 to 3 we see Israel’s failure after Joshua’s death. Israel’s troubles were due directly to their disobedience to God. Instead of exterminate enemies from the land, they worshipped the idols of those people and became corrupted in their mind. Chapter 1 records a series of disobedience and Chapter 2 see defeat and failure. Children of God brought on their own judgement upon themselves and became their own executioners. 

God does not forget his covenant, but he allows our very weakness, our guilty weakness, to drive us back to him. God wanted the chosen people to realize that they were a holy people. They must not mix with the wicked nations about them. They must continuously separate themselves. People who believe in Christ Jesus today must remember that they cannot mix with the world. They must keep close to God and war against sin and unrighteousness. God wants us to be good warriors. 

I pray that this study will make you think about the desires you had with the world. Those same desires, God wants to take away from your mind and soul to make you separate and keep you beside him. May you surrender to Christ and leave the worldly life style and obey him to see his blessings upon your life, Amen.

The BOOK – Farewell

When the Israelites walked into the Promised Land, Joshua had a friend Caleb, who along with him trusted God in taking Promised Land. These were the only 2 people in their generation who could enter the Promised Land because of their obedience. Now you see in Joshua 14:12, Caleb, who was 85 years old asks for high and walled cities, which Joshua gave him as granted. Caleb might be the happiest man in the camp because he had overcome so much and yet had fields to conquer. “Difficulties are things which show what men are”. In your life when you see the glory of God come and change your life in the midst of trials and tribulations, you will trust God all through your life, even in the hardest times. 

Lord never promised his children that they will have an easy time serving him. “In this world you will have trouble” – John 16:33. We see Paul encouraging Timothy, “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” – 2 Timothy 2:3. Caleb knew since he is obedient to God, God had given him the land, as he had seen it before. Even when you face diseases, sickness, financial problems or any earthly problems where the whole world comes around to take you out, if you are faithful to God, you will see your saviour fighting the battle on your behalf and giving you the victory.

Like Moses, Joshua also gave the people some last words when he became very old. He called the leaders and then people and told them not to forget the power and faithfulness of God and told them to be faithful to God. “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness” – Joshua 24:14. He also warned them about choosing whom to serve, whether to serve the gods of their forefathers or the true living God, and confessed he and his family will serve the Lord. “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” – Joshua 24:15

It is good to make open confessions and commit ourselves to a solemn purpose. People of Israel also said they will serve the Lord. When you confess your weakness and how you overcame it through the power of Jesus, your followers will also do the same and become a testimony. If you live a life of hypocrisy, your followers will also come as hypocrites, and even they will not be faithful to you.

At the age of 110, Joshua died. His greatest achievement Certificate is seen in Joshua 24:31 – “Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua”. A leader or a minister should be faithful to Lord and his people and be a testimony to each of his followers. 

You cannot run away from your sins. Be sure, your sin will find you out. In the midst of a sinful life, it is better to leave everything and confess it before God and ask for the forgiveness. Most of the people hate this step – confession. Yes everyone have a problem of confessing before men, but they take the same attitude before God also. We should understand the sins which happened through our mind, mouth and even physically, God was a witness. So confessing before God does not make you a small being, as we are already small and nothing before the Holy God. But for coming out of the sinful world, you need to confess the sins before God and believe in faith that for all the sins you have done, Christ came and took the punishment. Now as you take Christ in your heart, you are free, but you will sin no more. 

Joshua served the Lord and walked with him. He led a testimonial life so that the people who followed him did as he did. Today, without our knowledge our children or other people near to us, follows us and does what we do. It is a choice for every one of us how you want them to be as their life depends on your holiness and faithfulness. May Almighty empowers you to lead a holy life in Christ Jesus and be testimony for him as Joshua was. Amen

The BOOK – Division of Land

When Joshua was about 90 years old, he decided to divide the land which they had taken and to-be taken among the Israelites. They divided it in a way – This is Judah’s, this is Asher’s and so on. They said this even while most of the portions were occupied with Amorites, Jebusites and Hittites. This division of the land was the announcement of faith that under God’s guidance they will occupy the land. When you read the life of great men of God, most of the decisions taken by them were with faith and then depend on God’s providence. 

I am reading about a book on Oral Roberts, a great healing evangelist in the 50’s and 60’s. Everything he did in life was with prayer and faith. He prayed and heard the word of God and in faith took decisions. It started with his ministry and even with that faith he started the Oral Roberts University. They fast, they pray and then by the word and faith they start impossible and God will guide them to move forward. 

Although all this land was allotted to various tribes, all of it was not conquered until the time of David. Division happened according to the will of God, and so the strong did not take the best part leaving the fragments to weak, neither did the rich purchase the choicest spot, leaving the poor more undesirable sites. 

When God takes control, there is no rich or poor. I have heard preaching that poor will be the privileged people in God’s kingdom. God does consider everyone sinners with respect to his holiness. Whosoever confess their sins and accept Jesus and believes that through accepting Christ his sins are forgiven and forgotten are taken equally into God’s Kingdom, whether it is rich or poor, strong or weak. 

I pray that you understand the faith which people of Israel had at the time of division, and have that faith with prayer and a personal relationship with God and do the things which are impossible according to the world, Amen.

The BOOK – Campaign

From Joshua 10 to 12 we see God helping his people to capture and take over the land. Taking of Ai shows a real military strategy. Fame of Israel began to spread far and wide. Kings of Canaan formed a league against the children of God who came to possess their land. One by one came against Israel and were defeated. In Joshua 10 we read about how on the word of Joshua, the sun stood still, or in modern scientific terms, earth stood still. Ordinary things come to a standstill when God’s work is on.

We can see people around us worshipping the sun and see the stars to check their future. They don’t know we worship the creator who made this sun and the stars. So if you are a follower of Christ, kindly don’t follow and check with the people who bow down before the sun and check their life status according to the stars. If you are a believer, your life is saved when Christ died for your sins on the cross. So if you walk with God and obey him, your life will be fruitful. 

The Northern Kings joined together and came against Israel and by the power of God, Joshua routed them all. This did not happen at once. The word says that it took a long time. “At last the land rested from war” – Joshua 11:23

Jerusalem, possibly one of the most famous places in the world is first mentioned in this book of Joshua. This is a city with a great past history and a bright future history. Here Christ will reign when he comes again in power and great glory (Luke 21:27).

Once they occupied the Promised Land, the next assignment to Joshua was to divide the land and give it to the tribes, which we can see in the next chapters. 

In 2016, when the Gaza war was going on between Palestine and Israel, I saw lots of forwards and mails criticizing UN on why they gave the Jewish people the land. They were writing that the land belongs to the Palestine. But the oldest record, or the oldest library, history – The Bible reveals us that long before the Palestinians, say more than 3000 years ago, Israel occupied the land. How they lost the land? They disobeyed God and God punished them and scattered them.

Bible is not the book of past. It shows us the future and present. In the scriptures the prophets mentions that there will be a time when the Jewish people will call upon the name of God and God will help them and unite them together. In 1948, Jewish people got their state surrounded by the Arab countries. The Arab countries took the decision to wipe out Israel from the Earth and for that they tried to capture Israel. But when you look history, the small nation surrounded by big Arab nations, fought and survived, even they captured some enemy territory. How is it possible? With the God who called them anything is possible.

If you are going through a rough time, if you see people surrounding you are against you criticizing, harassing and humiliating you, don’t give up. Believe in Christ Jesus, accept him as your saviour and have a personal relationship with him in prayer and obey the word. Holy Spirit will energize you and provide ways for you to go and recapture your joy and life back. May Lord be with you and fight wars for you and give you victory, Amen.

The BOOK – Ambush City

Joshua 7 and 8 tells about how the children of God failed because of a sin. The capture of Jericho gave Israelites a chance to enter Canaan. The next place was Ai, which commanded the entrance into the valley leading into western Canaan.

As he had done in the case of Jericho, Joshua sent spies to Ai to learn the situation. Since they were very confident, they decided not to go in full strength against Ai. A small force was sent up the steep ascent, but when the garrison at Ai sallied forth and attacked them, the Israelites fled without striking a blow. In this disaster, all of them saw the withdrawal of God’s guiding hand. 

All happened because of one man’s sin. Achan hid the wedge of gold. He alone was guilty, yet we read that Israel has sinned. One man’s sin was counted as everyone’s. Same way, sin against one commandment means sin against all commandments. People may gossip and talk rubbish, they may flirt, or enjoy little bit lust, which they think won’t be counted. Since God wants us to be perfect, a small sin will get counted according to your walk with God. It may depend upon how your walk with God is. If your walk is not in a good way, if you don’t have a personal relationship with him, God won’t bother about you, as you will be equalled with others. But when you walk closer and see his glory in your life, and you fell to sin, it hurts him and he may count it (Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land since he did not listen to God just one time). Same way here Israel saw the glory of God in their life, and then one man sinned and it was taken as a nation’s sin by God. “Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions” – Joshua 7:11. Once God gave the punishment, Joshua led the Israelites and got victory over Ai. It is not about your strength and intelligence, but your walk with God that matters you to go high in life.

One man stricken with chicken pox can infect an entire house. Same way here the sin of one became the sin of an entire community. Through Grace, our sins are forgiven – when we confess it before Christ and accept him. We are forgiven not to sin anymore. David did adultery and killed an innocent man, but he asked forgiveness to God and God forgave him and loved him. But he had to go through problems in life, which can be counted as the punishments. Same way, sin is sin, and a person who commits sin will have punishment. But the punishment by taking away eternity from you can be avoided when you confess it before Christ and accepts him as your saviour and believe in faith that the punishment for your sins have been taken by Christ on the cross. So now you are free, but you won’t sin anymore. You are a new person and now you live for Christ. May the Spirit of Lord help you to live a careful holy life, Amen.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here” – 2 Corinthians 5:17