by Theodore H Epp
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| Theodore H Epp |
The first chapter of the
Book of Joshua illustrates for us the goal and conditions of Christian living. A careful examination of its contents will
rescue us from the one-sided approach to Christianity that so many persons
have. We say “believe” and all of heaven
is ours—with the emphasis on the “all.” This is not a contradiction to what I have
said so often: that everything we receive from the Lord is by faith. That is true.
We believe for salvation, and salvation in all its parts is ours
actually or potentially. However, there
are aspects of salvation that we enter into only as we appropriate consciously
and actively what God has provided for us.
We learn from I
Corinthians 3 that there will be some Christians who will be saved yet so as by
fire. This is what the apostle tells
us: “Every man’s work shall be made
manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire;
and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built
thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If
any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by
fire” (vv. 13-15). It is possible, then,
for, a believer to get to heaven and yet have no rewards. There will be no abundant entrance in a case
such as this as Peter speaks of (II Pet. 1:11).
This would be getting to heaven barely by the skin of our teeth. Would not his detract from some of heaven’s joys?
There is a phrase current today concerning a
poor man’s city or a poor people’s city.
Will there have to be a poor people’s heaven? If so, they will have made it so by their own
lack of active faith in Christian living.
God’s people lose so much when they have no more truth than to believe
Christ for salvation from sin’s penalty but know nothing about deliverance from
sin’s power and how to live the abundant life.
The Book of Joshua teaches
us that there is a race to run and a crown to gain. It is true that everything we have is by
faith, but faith that results in action.
Salvation to so many is emancipation from the penalty of sin and hell
and the assurance of going to heaven, but that seems to be the extent of their
view of what salvation involves,. In this way they are very much like the
Israelites who were emancipated from Egypt and then lived the rest of
their lives in the desert.
But who wants to live in a
desert? God’s plan for Israel
was not only to bring them out of Egypt,
but also to bring them into Canaan. It is the same with us. We have been brought out of sin through
salvation in order that we might be brought into the abundant life which is
also part of salvation.
One night an elderly lady
called me asking for spiritual help. She
had been listening to the broadcast and was under conviction thinking that
perhaps she wasn’t saved because as she said, she had not done a thing for
Christ. She had been saved very late in
life and could not go out and win souls and do work that she saw others
do. For this very reason she doubted her
salvation. At least she was
concerned. Many of God’s people are
not. If the glories of heaven depended
on what some Christians accomplish for the Lord while down her, the heaven they
would go to would be a poor people’s heaven!
Then there are many
Christians who have been taught that they should expect nothing but frequent if
not constant defeat in this warfare against the world, the flesh and the
Devil. Such persons seem to be believe that
on this side of glory is defeat, and that victory will not come until we have
entered into eternity.
This is far from the
truth. The Book of Joshua teaches us
that when we met the required conditions, we can do all this as through Christ
who strengthens us. This is what Paul
taught later and this what Joshua believe and practiced.
The defeatist attitude
toward the Christian life is seen at Kadesh-barnea where then of the spies
brought back the report that the land could not be conquered. They said they could not subdue the enemy and
take possession of the country. If we
interpret that into modern Christine living it would be the same as those
Christians who say we have to struggle along the best way we know. Eventually we hope to get the heaven, but
there is really no expectation of victory over evil forces today. They are too great and too many.
Such an attitude leads to
disaster. We need to read Numbers 13 and
14 so as to be reminded of what happens to God’s people when they reach a
Kadesh-barnea—the decision point—and go back into the desert. The rest of their lives is lived in
defeat. This happened to the generation
of adults who left Egypt. God did not desert them even though they did
not obey Him. He went with them,
provided their food—manna and flesh—and waited 38 years until that whole
generation was gone. There were only two
exceptions to this, as we have already seen, Joshua was given leadership of the
nation and led them into the Land
of Promise.
The Book of Joshua sets
forth by example and illustration the requirements necessary for a successful
and overcoming life. In the New
Testament the Books of Ephesians and Hebrews are the counterpart to Joshua.
Canaan in Hebrews
First of all, in the Book
of Hebrews we find the land of Canaan is pictured as a place of spiritual rest
and victory which every believer on earth may enjoy (Heb. 4:3). This rest of faith is in the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. This is why we read such
statements as: “And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant,
for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a
son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and
the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end:
(3:5,6). Some may stumble over
the expression “if we hold fast” thinking that we must hold on in order to be
saved. The commenting on entering into
the hope that God has set before each believer.
In salvation, God holds fast to us.
We are kept by the power of God.
But the hope that we have of a victorious life, a life of rest and
victory, a life of overcoming, a life of rejoicing is dependent upon our
attitude toward God.
The passage goes on: “Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if
ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the
day of temptation in the wilderness…).
But exhort one another daily, while it is called today; lest any of you
be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin… Heb. 3:7-14). According to this we are to receive
everything that God has for us in Christ.
Remember that God has highly
exalted the Lord Jesus and given Him a name which is above every name. He holds a place of authority, a place of
absolute victory over all His enemies.
And one of the glorious thing for us is that we are and are to be
partakers with Him and have victory over all our enemies. There is no need for any of us to remain frail,
defeated, emaciated Christians. Any
believer who fits that description is in that condition by choice. He either does not have what it takes to believe
God and to follow after and to grow in grace and knowledge, or he does not want
it, or he is ignorant of this great truth.
We are told we are made
partakers “if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the
end.” Again the subject here is not
salvation from sin’s penalty but the life of victory that should follow. If we continue on in faith there is nothing
that can stop us from enjoying all that God has for us. The danger is that, like the Israelites, we
may harden our hearts. The warning is:
“For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by
Moses. But with whom was he grieved
forty years? Was it not with them that
had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they
should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we se that they could not enter in because
of unbelief” (Heb. 3:16-19). There is the same problem today. Some do not believe that God has a place of
victory for us. We too ought to fear
“lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest,” any of us should
seem to come short of it. We too have
had the gospel preached to us, not the gospel of salvation from condemnation
only, but the gospel of overcoming also Our hearing of it needs to be mixed
with faith if it is going to profit us.
There is a rest remaining that is a rest of
faith. Such rest does not mean that
there will not be any problems or enemies or troubles. IT does mean that we may have all of these things and yet our
hearts will be at peace because we rest them in Christ.
In our
morning devotions sometime back, we read about a servant of God who was passing
through a region infested by robbers. He had perfect peace in his heart, believing
that God would give him grace for whatever took place. He was accosted by a robber who took
everything he had of material value. It
was not much, but as the robber was turning away from him the servant of God
said, “Wait a minute, I have something more for you.” And he gave him a copy of one the Gospels.
Later on this minister of Christ found out that the robber was delivered from
his evil ways through reading and obeying what he read in that portion of
Scripture.
There is
something left for us in Christ besides salvation from sin’s penalty. There is victory and rest in Him when we
completely turn our lives over to Him.
Ephesians speaks of life in heavenly places. This is victory and rest in Him when we
completely turn our lives over to Him.
Ephesians speaks of life in heavenly places. This is not heaven itself but our experience
of oneness with Christ. We start from victory;
we do not struggle toward it. He has
accomplished everything for us, so it is for us now to enter into victory
through Him. This is the kind of life
the Book of Joshua illustrates for us.
Complete
salvation is ours today both as privilege and as a birthright. Our inheritance is not all future. There is a possession and enjoyment of it
that we may have now. Esau, you will
recall, despised his birthright. It was
a spiritual matter, but he was interested in physical and material things
rather than spiritual things. In this he
was like many Christians who today are despising their spiritual birthright.
God has
great things, wonderful things for us.
It was not until 1955 that I personally came into the knowledge of this greater
truth of the Word of God. What this has
meant to my own spiritual life is beyond expression. END…
A Word from the Book’s Foreword:
(“By today’s standards Joshua should
have long been on the retirement list when he was appointed Israel’s
leader. He was 85 years of age at the
time but, like Moses at 80, was of unusual vigor of mind, body and spirit.
In addition to his administrative
tasks Joshua was General of the Army.
Six years of rigorous campaigns followed his appointment as leader until
the land was subdued from Mount
Seir in the south to Mount Harmon
in the North. He continued to serve Israel until
his death at the age of 110 (Josh. 24:29).
The course of Joshua’s life is
quite fully disclosed in the Bible, and it shows his conduct was not marred by
some special sin as were some of Israel’s other leaders. He had weaknesses, but he lived on a high
spiritual level. It is very evident that
the principle he stated at the end of his life was one that he had followed
most of his days. He said, “As for me
and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Thus Joshua’ record is that of a man who
actively sought God’s control for his life and willingly followed wherever God
led.
The studies in this book were
originally given as messages over the special international radio network of
the Back to the Bible Broadcast.
Incidents from Joshua’s life and his experiences with Israel serve as illustrations and
guides with regard to the life of victory in Christ, the kind of life that Joshua
so well exemplified.)
(An adaptation from
the book Joshua Victorious by Faith. By Theodore H Epp.
This book is available
for a reasonable price from the GNBS Office and Book Shop)
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