Joshua: Servant of the Lord - Lesson 8

Overview

Four Blessings Fulfilled in Christ

Joshua 21:43–45 summarizes the conquest with four great blessings: land, rest, victory, and promises kept. Not one of God's good promises had failed. These blessings, given to Israel in the conquest, find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The land points forward to the heavenly Jerusalem Hebrews 12:22–24. The rest given to Israel anticipates the deeper rest believers enter through faith Hebrews 4:1–3. Victory over enemies foreshadows the victory of faith that overcomes the world 1 John 5:4. And every promise of God finds its "Yes" and "Amen" in Christ 2 Corinthians 1:18–20.

A Call to Whole-Hearted Devotion

When Joshua dismissed the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh to return east of the Jordan, he charged them with five verbs: love, walk, keep, hold fast, and serve Joshua 22:1–6. This echoes Israel's creed in Deuteronomy 6:4–9—a call to full devotion passed on to the next generation. These words become both a mirror for confession and a window to Christ. We fall short in every category, but Jesus loved us perfectly, walked the promised land proclaiming the kingdom, kept the law completely, holds His people fast, and served by pouring out His life for our salvation. His perfect, alien righteousness is credited to our account.

The Danger of Assuming the Worst

The eastern tribes built a great altar by the Jordan, and the western tribes immediately prepared for war Joshua 22:10–29. They assumed the worst, accusing their brethren of rebellion before asking what the altar meant. In reality, it was a witness, not a place of sacrifice—a memorial so future generations would remember they too belonged to the Lord. To their credit, they sent a delegation rather than rushing into battle and showed zeal to oppose evil. But the deeper lesson is a warning: how quickly we fill in blanks with a wrong narrative, then become entrenched in it, then spread it to others.

Pastoral Application: Break the Triangle

Luther urged Christians to put the best construction on a neighbor's words and actions. When tempted to assume the worst about a family member, friend, or fellow believer, go directly to the person and ask. When someone draws you into gossip about another, don't validate the sickness—say, "I hope that's not the case; I'll let them know you're concerned." There is nothing confidential about gossip. Going to the person breaks the triangle and keeps the body of Christ healthy. Like the eastern tribes, our brothers and sisters often have reasons we have not yet heard. Love listens before it accuses, and grace assumes the best until truth is known.

Transcript

Good morning. 6s

Let's join in prayer, please. 9s

Gracious Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for this time in your word for your word 11s

is truth. 15s

We thank you that you call us together on the Lord's day because, Lord, you have something 17s

to give us, word and sacrament. 23s

Bless us now, O Lord, as we turn to this great book of Joshua, instruct us, guide us, 25s

enlighten us in Jesus' name. 33s

Amen. 36s

Well, last week we took a look at chapters 13 to 19 of the book of Joshua, and that has 37s

to do with land allotments. 45s

And on one aspect you could look at that and say, well, that sounds rather tedious. 48s

And some might read chapters 13 to 19 of Joshua and say, well, there's a tedious nature 52s

to that. 60s

If you put yourself into the sandals here of the Israelites of old, they would have rejoiced 62s

in every single promise, every single land allotment because God was faithful to His promises. 69s

We took a look at the message of those chapters that God keeps His promise also that God anticipates 79s

and is communicating the Messiah to come. 88s

We also talked about the land. 92s

And while we certainly have an affinity to the land of Israel, after all, Jesus walked 95s

that land, that there is an affinity with that. 102s

We dare not harbor misunderstandings, false theologies, false beliefs with regard to the land. 106s

We didn't address last week, you'll recall, we didn't address the political issue because 115s

that's a political issue. 121s

But we did address the theological issue and specifically a bad theology that is laid 124s

on top of the political issue. 132s

And when the bad theology is laid on top of the political issue, well, then the issue just 135s

simply gets worse. 142s

We asked the question, who is Israel? 145s

Who is Israel? 148s

And we saw from Scripture that Israel is the elect of God. 149s

Jew, Christian, anyone who is trusting in Jesus Christ, and you hear me use Jew in terms 156s

of nationality there, anyone who adheres to a belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord 162s

are the elect. 172s

We also saw that the Israel of today has no continuation from the Israel in the Bible. 174s

None. 184s

The Israel today is not a continuous line from the Israel in the Scripture. 186s

We took a look at two gentlemen, John Darby and Cyrus Scofield. 193s

They answered the question of the ownership of Palestine. 199s

They answered it theologically. 205s

Up until 1840 until Darby shows up, up until 1840 there was agreement across lines, across 209s

the nominal lines in the church that the issue there of the ownership of the land, the 218s

issue was political, not theological. 225s

And so when the question arose, the church rightly said that's political problem. 231s

Darby comes along and then it's echoed by Scofield and they say that the issue is theological, 237s

theological. 244s

If you have the Scofield study Bible, get a different study Bible. 246s

Get the concordia study Bible, by the way. 256s

Just shelve the Scofield study Bible. 259s

Because Scofield and Darby, they interjected into Christian thought, the understanding that 262s

the ownership of the land is a theologically solvable issue. 271s

They said it's not political. 279s

They said it is theologically solvable. 281s

Millions of Christians in the United States today, millions of Christians take the views 285s

of Darby and Scofield and they apply it to the political problem. 294s

They layer on top of a political problem and incorrect theology. 301s

And when that incorrect theology is laid on top of a political problem, it makes it worse. 308s

We studied about the confusion of four different terms last week. 315s

Israelite, Hebrew, Jew and Israeli. 321s

Israelite Hebrew, Jew and Israeli. 327s

What happens when those terms are confused, you wind up with people believing based off 331s

of Darby and Scofield and all of the false theology. 339s

You have people believing that the Israeli of today, and remember Israel was formed, 342s

United Nations 1948, they believe that the Israeli of today is synonymous with the Israelite 349s

in ancient Scripture. 358s

And it's simply incorrect. 360s

So the land was promised to Abraham. 362s

It was taken possession under Joshua. 367s

It was lost during the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles. 370s

It was regained by Judah in 538 BC. 376s

And as we saw last week, it was reinterpreted by Jesus, Paul and others as the new heaven 382s

and the new earth. 391s

There is no continuity between the Israelite and the Israeli. 394s

There is no continuity between Israel and the Old Testament and Israel of today. 403s

A bad theology laid on top of a political issue where it no longer is seen as a political 413s

issue to be solved politically. 422s

When you lay a bad theology on it, it makes the situation worse. 424s

So let's move on now to Joshua chapter 21 and we'll pick up in verse 43. 433s

So let's go to Joshua, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. 440s

Then Joshua, Joshua chapter 21 verse 45. 447s

Joshua 21 will pick up in verse 43. 461s

Joshua 21. 467s

Thus, the Lord gave to Israel all the land that He swore to their ancestors, that He would 471s

give them. 478s

And having taken possession of it, they settled there. 479s

And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as He had swarmed their ancestors. 483s

Not one of all their enemies had withstood them. 490s

For the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. 494s

Not one of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed 500s

all came to pass. 508s

Now there's four different blessings here that are mentioned. 513s

You've got land, you've got rest, you've got victory and you have promises. 520s

Land rest, victory and promises. 536s

All of those blessings in association with the land that God had given there during the 543s

conquest, all of those blessings we see associated and received through Jesus. 549s

Let's go to Hebrews, the 12th chapter, please. 558s

Good way to find Hebrews. 561s

Let's go to the last book of Revelation. 563s

Work your way back towards Matthew. 566s

You're going to quickly hit James and then comes Hebrews in front of James. 571s

Hebrews chapter 12 and picking up in 22. 577s

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 593s

into innumerable angels in festival gathering and to the assembly of the first born who are 601s

enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made 607s

perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the spirit and to the 614s

sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of able. 622s

Let's go. 631s

Now let's stop here. 634s

You'll notice here that land is associated with heaven. 636s

So the blessing here of the land in terms of the allotment and then the blessing of the 644s

land that we have through Jesus. 651s

And remember as we studied last week, how did Jesus reinterpret the land? 653s

He interpreted it in terms of heaven. 658s

So the land that was promised in the allotment, now Jesus fulfills it in terms of heaven. 660s

Let's go to Hebrews 4, please. 668s

Chapter 4 will pick up in verse 1. 672s

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that 685s

none of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 691s

For indeed, the good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not 694s

benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 702s

For we who have believed, enter that rest. 708s

So here in association with rest, you have peace. 716s

So the land allotment in Jesus, the blessing is applied in terms of the reality of heaven. 722s

In the land allotment, the blessing is rest. 728s

We see through Jesus the peace that is ours through what he has done, through the cross and the empty tomb. 731s

Let's go to 1 John chapter 5. 739s

Good way to find 1 John, let's go to Revelation. 742s

And then work your way back toward Matthew. 745s

1 John chapter 5 verse 4. 749s

For whatever is born of God conquers the world, and this is the victory that conquers the world our faith. 765s

Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we have victory. 777s

So as there was the allotment of the land, the blessing through Jesus is heaven. 783s

As they have rest in the land, there is through Jesus peace with God. 789s

As they had victory, so also through Christ, there is victory through us. 794s

And now let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. 802s

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Romans, then 1 Corinthians. 805s

2 Corinthians chapter 1. 812s

Pick up in verse 18. 818s

As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been yes and no. 830s

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Sylvainus and Timothy and I, was not yes and no. 837s

But in him it is always yes. 846s

For in him every one of God's promises is a yes. 850s

For this reason it is through him that we say the amen to the glory of God. 856s

So you have promises fulfilled and also through Christ the blessing of promises fulfilled. 865s

Okay, let's go back now to Joshua 21. 875s

Joshua 21. 881s

And looking at verse 43 once again. 894s

Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the first blessing land that he swore to their ancestors that he would give them and having taken possession of it, they settled there. 899s

And the Lord gave them, here is the second, rest on every side just as he had sworn to their ancestors. 912s

Not one of all their enemies had withstood them for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. 921s

There is a third of victory. 928s

Not one of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed all came to pass. 930s

So as the Andrian of the land here is the four blessings that God gives and now apply it to the Lord Jesus Christ. 939s

Heaven, peace, victory and fulfillment of all of the promises. 949s

It points ahead to Jesus. 955s

Well, after seven years of fighting, the Rubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 959s

They were allowed to return home east of the Jordan. 968s

And notice what Joshua says to them. 974s

Let's pick up in chapter 22. 977s

Then Joshua summoned the Rubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh and said to them, 983s

you have reserved all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you and have obeyed me in all that I have commanded you. 988s

You have not forsaken your kindred these many days down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God. 996s

And now the Lord your God has given rest to your kindred as he promised them. 1006s

Therefore, turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, 1011s

gave you on the other side of the Jordan. 1019s

Take good care to observe the commandment and instruction that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you. 1022s

To love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, and to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. 1029s

So Joshua blessed them and sent them away and they went to their tents. 1050s

Notice the verbs that are used there. 1057s

Love, walk, keep, hold fast, and serve. 1061s

Love, walk, keep, hold fast, and serve. 1067s

Compare that to Israel's creed in Deuteronomy chapter 6. 1073s

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 6. 1078s

Verse 4. 1092s

Here, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 1100s

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. 1106s

Keep these words that I'm commanding you today in your heart, recite them to your children, and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 1111s

Find them as a sign in your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 1124s

That passage, and then echoed here in Joshua 22, was a call to full devotion, full devotion on the part of the people, 1138s

and to pass on that full devotion to the generations that would come. 1149s

When we look at loving the Lord and walking and keeping His ways and holding fast and serving, when we look at that in light of our own lives, where do we need to confess? 1157s

Where do we need to confess? 1175s

What Luther would so often do is he would use the Scripture, and you read through the Scripture, and he would use it as the Scripture he was reading. 1178s

He would use it as that point of prayer. 1187s

So you come to this section, and you can use this as a way of confessing our sins unto the Lord. 1190s

You can use that as a foundation for prayer. 1199s

And then you compare loving and walking and keeping and being steadfast and serving. 1204s

Then you compare that to Christ, in absolute perfection in those areas. 1211s

Where in love Jesus Christ came for us. 1217s

He walked from one end of the promised land to the other, proclaiming God's ways as He went. 1222s

He kept the commandments perfectly, perfectly, and His perfect life, remember, is credited to our account. 1230s

Luther talks about that alien righteousness that comes not from ourselves, it comes from without. 1240s

He holds us fast. He holds us tightly, and He serves by washing away our sins, pouring out His life for all-self salvation. 1248s

All of Scripture points to Christ, and so you can take this section in chapter 22, and you see those very verbs that are used, the law, how we fall short, and where is the gospel? 1262s

How Jesus Christ fulfilled all of that, all of those verbs perfectly. 1277s

Well, what happens next in Israel's history is both surprising, and it's also confusing. 1288s

Because notice what the people hear, the Rubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh. 1297s

Notice what they built on the other side of the Jordan. 1304s

Let's go to Joshua chapter 22, verse 10. 1309s

When they came to the region near the Jordan that lies in the land of Canaan, the Rubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh, built there and altar by the Jordan, and altar of great signs. 1317s

What was the response to this? Verse 12. 1334s

And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at Shiloh to make more against them. 1338s

Now what's the problem here? Look in verse 13. 1352s

Then the Israelites sent the priest Phineas, son of Al-Azar, to the Rubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead. 1356s

And with him, ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, every one of them, the head of a family, among the clans of Israel. 1366s

They came to the Rubenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and they said to them. 1378s

Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord. 1385s

What is this treachery that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away today from following the Lord by building yourselves and altar today in rebellion against the Lord? 1388s

So what did they think that they did? They thought that they had built an altar to a false God. 1404s

They thought that they were moving into bail worship. 1412s

Jump down to verse 16 of chapter 22. 1417s

Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord. 1424s

What is this treasurery that you have committed, a treachery that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away today from following the Lord by building yourselves and altar today in rebellion against the Lord? 1427s

Have we not had enough of the sin of Pior from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves and for which a plague came upon the congregation of the Lord? 1440s

That you must turn away today from following the Lord if you rebel against the Lord today, he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel tomorrow. 1452s

The delegation from the tribes west of the Jordan had poorly handled this issue in several ways. 1468s

First, they assumed the worst. 1480s

They assumed the worst. 1486s

And they prepared for war without determining what the matter was. 1488s

And they began to accuse their brethren in terms of the meaning of that altar that they had built. 1495s

Are we ever tempted to do the same? 1506s

Are we ever tempted to put the worst construction on something as opposed to the best construction on something? 1511s

Luther called us in his writings, born out of Scripture, to put the best construction on things. 1525s

But so often we can put the worst construction on things, fill in our own blanks, come up with a narrative in our own mind and start believing the narrative. 1535s

And if you ever had those times in life when you've done that and then you find out, oh, that wasn't what I thought at all of why they did or why they said what they did. 1550s

What we see here is the delegation from the western side putting on to the situation their wrong interpretation. 1564s

Now, the delegation also did some positive things. 1579s

One, they sent a delegation. 1583s

They sent a delegation. 1589s

So that was good. 1591s

There wasn't just a move right into war, at least. 1592s

They expressed a sincere desire to oppose evil and to uphold the truth. 1596s

That was good. 1603s

Well, when you look at the larger picture outside of putting the best construction here that was on it, they messed up here, didn't they? 1605s

Because they put the worst construction on things. 1616s

So you have a situation where all of a sudden you hear someone in your family, a friend, a work associate has done this and immediately you start filling in the blanks, you put the worst construction on it. 1620s

And all of a sudden you're angry at the person. 1634s

And the other person has no idea what is going on. 1637s

Because then what can we do in our sinfulness? 1640s

We can not only put the wrong construction on the thing, but then in our sinfulness instead of investigating something, instead of saying, 1643s

say, is this what you meant or can you help me understand why you did what you did? 1652s

We can firmly believe it and become entrenched. 1658s

And then we can layer on top of it and tell somebody about it. 1660s

And so then, in telling somebody about it, the circle has been expanded and the sickness has been expanded. 1667s

And now this poor person over here who is totally acting opposite of what you think here has now told this person who now looks at this person differently. 1675s

Right? Because now all of a sudden this person has been triangulated into this situation. 1689s

You know what you do when you're this person in that situation? 1698s

You say, oh, I certainly hope that's not the case. I'll let them know that you're concerned. 1703s

That's what you do. 1710s

Because what happens in that situation? You break the triangle. 1712s

You break the triangle. And if someone says, oh, there's, that was confidential of what I told you. 1715s

Then you know what you say? You say, there's nothing confidential about gossip. 1722s

That breaks the triangle. That keeps relationships healthy. 1727s

And then you go to that person and you say, say, I don't know what there's a misunderstanding. 1733s

And just want you to know that so and so told me, told me this about what was what was going on. 1737s

You see, the person here that told B, and so see then, tells about what's going on with with A here. 1742s

That breaks that triangle. It breaks the sickness. It's not a violation here. 1752s

There's nothing confidential of what A said to be. 1758s

It breaks the sickness here so there can't be a host cell. 1760s

Remember, we don't get sick unless they're host cells. 1765s

That becomes sick. And then pass it on when there's other host cells. 1769s

Nope. The triangle is broken. It's not a situation of a counseling situation. 1774s

Not at all. It's a gossip situation. So you break it right away. 1780s

That keeps health. Health in the organism. 1785s

What happened here was they assumed what they assumed, right? 1790s

They took actions and then you apply that to our own lives. 1797s

We can be tempted to do the same thing. 1800s

We can put the worst construction on something. 1802s

We can firmly believe it. And then we tell somebody else. 1805s

Because then it validates our belief. 1810s

If all of a sudden the other person says, oh, that sounds terrible. 1814s

That sounds terrible that that happened. 1819s

That's right. It really is terrible. 1821s

And we're just speaking out of our ignorance on it. 1824s

And all of a sudden, C is involved on it. 1827s

And poor A, when they walk by C and they get a cool breeze, 1831s

they kind of wonder, well, what happened there? 1835s

You see, and you got sickness. 1837s

You got sickness in the organism. 1839s

Luther calls us, so look at things and put the best construction on it. 1846s

Because what was the truth? 1854s

Let's go back to Joshua chapter 22, verse 21. 1856s

Then the Rubenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Menasa 1863s

said an answer to the heads of the family of Israel. 1866s

The Lord, God of gods, the Lord, God of gods, he knows. 1870s

And let Israel know itself if it was in rebellion or in breach of faith 1875s

toward the Lord, do not spare us today. 1881s

For building an altar to turn away from following the Lord 1885s

or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings 1888s

or offerings of well-being on it, may the Lord Himself take vengeance? 1891s

No. 1897s

We did it from fear that in time to come, 1898s

your children might say to our children. 1903s

Remember, you got some on the west side and some on the east side of the Jordan? 1906s

We did it from fear that in time to come, 1912s

your children might say to our children, 1914s

what have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? 1916s

For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, 1920s

you Rubenites and Gadites, you have no portion in the Lord. 1924s

So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord. 1929s

Therefore we said, 1933s

let us now build an altar not for burnt offerings, not for sacrifice, 1936s

but be a witness between us and you and between the generations 1941s

after us, that we do perform the service of the Lord in His presence 1945s

with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and offerings of well-being. 1951s

So that your children may never say to our children in time to come 1956s

you have no portion in the Lord. 1962s

And we thought, 1966s

if this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, 1967s

we could say, look at this copy of the altar of the Lord 1972s

which our ancestors made, 1977s

not for burnt offerings, not for sacrifice, 1979s

but to be a witness between us and you. 1983s

Far be it from us, 1986s

that we should be bell against the Lord and turn away this day 1988s

from following the Lord by building an altar for burnt offering, 1993s

grain offering or sacrifice other than the altar of the Lord, 1997s

our God that stands before His Tabernacle. 2002s

Talk about a wrong interpretation, right? 2009s

Of what they did and the sickness that started 2015s

and how that could be averted, same thing in our lives. 2022s

The blessings we see of the Lord were granted in correspondence. 2030s

Blessings received through Jesus. 2036s

The five verbs that were given to the Rubenite's Gettites 2038s

and the half tribe of Manasseh we see perfectly lived out 2041s

in the Lord Jesus Christ. 2045s

And assuming the worst, 2048s

instead may we, by the grace of God, 2052s

put the best construction on things 2054s

and go and talk with the person. 2059s

Well, we're going to continue next week. 2064s

We're going to conclude our study of Joshua next week. 2066s

We're going to take a look at some powerful sermons 2070s

that Joshua gave in the last two chapters 2072s

and we're going to see the powerful sermons 2076s

that were preached from three graves. 2079s

We'll continue next week. 2082s