Victory through the Word

“Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:7-9

These verses are the most familiar in the book of Joshua. In fact, if you take a Bible survey course, your instructor might refer to Joshua 1:9 as the key verse of the book, and you might also hear that the theme of this book is “victory.”

When comparing the books of Joshua and Judges, you find a sharp contrast between the two. Joshua mostly presents the victories that come from the obedience of the children of Israel, while the book of Judges describes a cycle of disobedience, defeat, and then deliverance after they repented.

However, the book of Joshua is not devoid of examples of disobedience and defeat, but we mostly see how a believer can live in victory as he follows the teachings of God’s Word.

1. For True Spiritual Success, One Must Be Committed to Following God’s Word

In verses 8 and 9 of the first chapter of Joshua, the Lord speaks directly to Joshua. He instructs him that the only way to success and prosperity is by strict adherence to the “Book of the Law,” which is what we refer to as the Pentateuch, the first five books of the law. Note that meditation and observation are important factors. One cannot truly keep the Word of God in His thoughts if he does not constantly seek to meditate on it. In fact, in the book of Deuteronomy, the Israelites were instructed to teach the scriptures to their children and to make this teaching part of their daily lives.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9

2. Successfully Following God’s Word Establishes a Powerful Testimony

In the second chapter of the book that bears His name, Joshua sent out two spies to Jericho prior to the famous battle that took place there. These spies entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab, who hid the spies on her roof under some stalks of flax that she had stacked there. Before the men retired for the night, Rahab told them that she knew the Lord was on the side of the Israelites, and because of the stories that the people of Jericho had heard about the God of Israel, their hearts “melted.” All courage had failed them, and so Rahab was convinced that the Lord God of the people of Israel was truly “the God in heaven above and on the earth below.”

The stories that she recounted were how God had dried up the Red Sea when the children of Israel came out of Egypt and how kings, namely Sihon and Og, were “completely destroyed.” These stories are retold throughout the Old Testament as a reminder to God’s people to trust in this same God who delivered them time and again.

Psalm 136 is a classic example of how God wanted His people to remember these powerful incidents day in and day out:

To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn,
For His mercy endures forever;
And brought out Israel from among them,
For His mercy endures forever;
With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who divided the Red Sea in two,
For His mercy endures forever;
And made Israel pass through the midst of it,
For His mercy endures forever;
But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,
For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who led His people through the wilderness,
For His mercy endures forever;
 To Him who struck down great kings,
For His mercy endures forever;

And slew famous kings,
For His mercy endures forever—
Sihon king of the Amorites,
For His mercy endures forever;
And Og king of Bashan,
For His mercy endures forever—

And gave their land as a heritage,
For His mercy endures forever;
A heritage to Israel His servant,
For His mercy endures forever;

Psalm 136:10-22

3. Blessings for Obedience and Curses for Disobedience

The book of Deuteronomy is a book of remembrance. In this book, Moses reviews God’s dealings with the children of Israel during their year of wandering in the wilderness. Chapter nine of Deuteronomy begins with God’s promise to drive out the inhabitants of the land that God was giving them:  

“Hear, O Israel: You are to cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?’  Therefore understand today that the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said to you”
(Deuteronomy 9:1-3)

Then Moses warns them against pride after success:

“Do not think in your heart, after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land’; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people” (Deuteronomy 9:4-6).

Moses then reminds them how they provoked God to wrath when they made their own God, a golden calf, and angered Him at other times, including when they refused to take Kadesh Barnea.

Moses was so angry with God’s people in the matter of the golden idol that he broke the tablets on which God’s law was written. Moses reminds Israel, that because He had broken the tablets the Lord instructed him to, “Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.”

In chapter 11 of Deuteronomy, we find the blessings that come from following God’s law and the curses that come from disobeying it. He concludes the chapter with these words:

“Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:  the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today;  and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.  Now it shall be, when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.  Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the plain opposite Gilgal, beside the terebinth trees of Moreh?  For you will cross over the Jordan and go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess it and dwell in it.  And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today.”

At the famous battle of Jericho, God gave a specific and unusual list of battle requirements for Joshua and his army to defeat the inhabitants of that city:

For six days, the men of war would march around the city once
During those six days, seven priests would march with them bearing trumpets
On the seventh, they were to march around the city seven times with the priests blowing the trumpets, and when they would play a long blast of the ram’s horn, the people would shout, and as the old spiritual hymn says, “the walls came tumbling down.”

God issued unusual commands throughout the Old Testament for battle strategy, for healing, and for testing His people to see whether they would obey His Word and trust His promises. God gave these unique requirements so that no human could take credit or claim the glory for the victories that came from the power of the Almighty.

Because of their obedience to Him, God’s people experienced a great and mighty victory. However, because of one man’s disobedience, defeat was just around the corner.

In Joshua 6, we read of the specific command that one of the Israelites disobeyed at Ai. “Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And you, by all means, abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.”

Joshua led his army with great confidence to the city of Ai. After such a tremendous victory in Jericho, what could possibly go wrong? Much to the surprise of Joshua, Ai soundly defeated his army.

A man named Achan took a garment that he had coveted and caused the Lord’s favor to be removed from His people.

Joshua brings his inquiry to God about the reason for the defeat. God’s answer was quite direct: “Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff.  Therefore, the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you.” God then had Joshua go through a process that would ultimately identify the culprit who had brought such devastation upon God’s people.

Our utmost attention to the instruction found in God’s Word is of paramount importance to our success or failure in the Christian life. We should use scripture as the Psalmist said, “as a lamp to our feet and a light unto our path.” Paul’s words to Timothy remind us that, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work”
(2 Timothy 3:16).

Let’s take heed to God’s instruction and let it both correct us and instruct us in righteous living, so that He might “make our way prosperous” and “give us good success.”