In Joshua’s final words to Israel, he reminds them of God’s gracious work and calls them to serve the Lord. God’s grace is the foundation for humble and faithful service, not an excuse for inaction. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are recipients of greater grace and are called to serve humbly and faithfully in our communities.
Jesus said the world will believe our message by the way we love one another. Gospel unity is so essential to our witness but so rare.
God is faithful and fulfills His promises. In Joshua 21, He gave His people land, rest, and victory, foreshadowing greater promises through Jesus Christ: the Kingdom of Heaven, eternal rest, and victory over sin and death. God’s faithfulness brings joy, grace, and enduring hope.
In Joshua 20, God’s people establish cities of refuge as commanded by God through Moses. These cities provided safety and protection for those who had done something wrong. They symbolize God’s desire to be our refuge and caution against seeking false sources of safety and protection.
Joshua is a godly example of a faithful leader and an OT picture of Jesus. Joshua drew his strength and spiritual vitality from being in the presence of God.
In Joshua 18, God’s people were hesitant to claim the inheritance God had given them, becoming content with their current lives. Similarly, we often fail to embrace the fullness of our inheritance in Christ, settling for less when Jesus calls us to a new life of freedom. All we need to do is claim what God has graciously provided.
Joshua 17 shows that the people of Manasseh couldn’t drive out the Canaanites. They focused on their inabilities and forgot God’s promise. We all fail to obey God, but through Jesus Christ, we can trust in the future He has secured for us. With this Gospel of Grace, we are free to risk what we “cannot do” in faithful obedience to God.
God’s Law demands complete and total obedience, yet we tend to believe that being mostly obedient to God will be enough. Joshua 16 teaches us that anything short of total obedience brings nothing but the anger and wrath of God in our lives. Joshua 16 points us to the hope of the Gospel because God sent His one and only Son into this world to save us from our lives of partial obedience.
Who doesn’t love good gifts? The greatest gift of all is a fulfilled life. A life that is full of hope, joy, love, security, comfort, and peace. These are the things we all want most of all. Jesus teaches us that our Father in heaven wants to give those good gifts to those who ask him. Seems easy enough, but most often the hardest thing in the world is to find to humility to ask and the faith to believe that what God gives is the good that we so earnestly desire.
Caleb was a man who patiently waited 45 years for the fulfillment of Gods promise. The central convictions that gave him the motivation to trust God was his knowledge that the Lord delighted in him and was always with him. Through faith in Jesus we can share the same convictions of Caleb and enjoy the delight of the Lord forever.
