As we continue our way through the book of Joshua, I'm sure you've seen by this point that each event that has happened sort of builds on top of what has happened before. We've seen how, for example, Israel camped on the other side of the Jordan River. And then the hearts, we saw the hearts of Jericho melted. And we saw that Achan had stole from the Lord. And we saw that this led to the failed attack of Ai. And then the people cleansed themselves. And this led to the success of the second attack of Ai. And then the victories over Jericho and Ai, this led to a cause of great fear among the kings. This led to the Gibeonites deceiving Israel, deceiving them into making a covenant with them. Because the Gibeonites secured a covenant with Israel, as we saw in chapter 9, we're brought to the events of this chapter. The remaining kings of the south band together, interestingly enough, not to attack Israel, but to attack Gibeon. When promises are made, when we make promises, it isn't often that almost immediately that promise is tested. But here we see in chapter, from the events of chapter nine, when Israel promised to defend the Gibeonites, they said, we have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, that we may, and now we may not touch them. This we will do, they said to them. We will let them live. The text doesn't say how much time has passed between chapters nine and chapters 10, but we do see here pretty quickly that Israel is put in a position where they're gonna have to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to this promise. Pretty quickly after the events of chapter nine, Israel's called to defend the Gibeonites. What is amazing, what we see in this chapter of chapter 10, We read, what is amazing that we see is the strength, not so much the strength of Israel, but the strength to which God and the lengths to which God goes to defend his people. That's what we see in this chapter, that we worship a God, we worship a God who is ready and able to come to our defense at a moment's notice. So let's turn and let's look at the situation that the Gibeonites find themselves in. From what we understand of the Canaanite region during this time, we have all of these different cities and we have all of these different kings, and all of them seem to have this alliance among each other. This isn't one nation, but a bunch of different cities that all seem to have this alliance with one another. That's the context to which Israel's entering into, into the promised land of the Canaanites. And so what the Gibeonites did in chapter nine, from the perspective of these five kings, what the Gibeonites have done is they've acted treasonously. They've abandoned their alliance, the alliance that they've had with these kings, and they join allegiance, they join an alliance with this invading army. And this is what fills Adonai Zedek with great fear, as we're told in the opening verses. Just look at verse 2. We find out that Gibeon was greater than Ai. Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, because it was greater than Ai and all its men were warriors. This is how mighty Gibeon is. And so, Adonai Zedek sends word to these four other kings. Each of these cities that are mentioned here are roughly in a 30-mile radius of Jerusalem. Yes, this is the same Jerusalem that would come to be known as the City of David. This is the same Jerusalem that would be the capital of Israel. But at this moment in time, at this particular moment, under the reign of Adonai Zedek, this is This is a small village compared to what it would be under the reign of Solomon. And so Adonai, Adonai Zedek, he calls for these kings. He calls them to action. He says, come up to me, help me. Gibeon has betrayed us. Let's go make war with them. This alliance of five kings basically represents all of the strength in the southern part of the promised land. This is an all-out, no-holds-barred attack against Gibeon. These five kings are mustering up all the strength that they can, all their mighty men, they're marching out with all the strength that they have, hoping once and for all to put an end to the Gibeonites, to wipe them out. Because they're afraid of the alliance that has been made with Israel. I'm sure these kings think that the Gibeonites will now join with Israel's army. These mighty men that fill the city of Gibeon will join the army of Israel. But I don't think that Adonai Zedek is fully clued in to what has happened in the last chapter, to what the status of these Gibeonites now is in the Israelite camp. They've lost their status. They've become the lowest of the low in Israelite society. They are now cutters of wood and drawers of water, we were told, in the last chapter. Regardless, these five kings, these five armies, they march and they make camp. at the walls of Gibeon. But as they approach, Gibeon is able to send a messenger or a couple of messengers out to Joshua and to Israel and they cry out to Israel. Cry out, do not relax your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us. And so by the time we come to the end of verse six, we see Gibeon is sitting and they're waiting for Israel's response. How will Israel respond? Given the events of everything that is described in just these opening six verses, I can't help but be drawn to the opening words of Psalm 2. Psalm 2, why do the nations rage? Why do the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let's burst their bonds and let's cast away their cord from us. That's exactly what we're seeing being played out here in these opening six verses. These are the kings of the nations. They're setting themselves against the Lord This is exactly what the world does, isn't it? The world and its various social movements today and the various different ways thinks that it can successfully stand against God and stand against the church. The kingdom of the world firmly believes that it can stand against the kingdom of God. After all, we don't need to look very far to find examples of the world opposing the church. Just think of the history of the church with Roman persecution, right? The first three centuries. One person once said that in these first three centuries of the church, from Emperor Nero to Emperor Neocletian, Roman imperial provincial persecutions were fierce. They were fierce. Christians, he would go on to say, were forced into a precarious, often secretive existence, living on the margins of society, meeting in catacombs. Churches would meet in catacombs. Churches would meet in caverns. Churches would meet in hideaways just to be able to worship God. That's how far they had to go to get away from persecution. And today, while here in America, we don't see the same level of persecution as what the Romans did, we do see it in the world around us subtly. This last week, Hope's aunt and uncle came to visit us from Canada. And one evening, we were sitting, and the conversation led to discussing the state of the Church in Canada. And Hope directly, and I'm thankful that she did, she just directly asked them about conversion therapy. And how is conversion therapy playing out in relationship to the church? If you don't know what conversion therapy is, conversion therapy is when someone counsels another person against an LGBTQ worldview or agenda, however you want to call it. This is something that can apply to something like if someone should get a transgender surgery changing their sex, if someone comes to you seeking counsel for that. Or if someone seeks for you as a pastor, me as a pastor, to marry them as a homosexual couple. This would be conversion therapy. And if a pastor in Canada were to be accused of counseling against these movements, of calling this sin as it were, they would be found in prison for such counsel. That's real in Canada. So here we have modern day examples of the nations raging, the kings of the earth setting themselves against the Lord, the kings of the earth banding together to stand against God. quite a bit of tension in these opening verses before us tonight. Imagine you can feel it as we read it. How is Gibeon going to survive this attack? Will Israel be true to their word? We don't know up to this point in the text. Will Israel even be strong enough to face these five collective armies? What is God going to do? How far will God go to defend his people? In the rest of our text, we see the answer. And for 20 verses, we see God respond and come to the defense of the Gibeonites. Yes, the Gibeonites, that's right. The same people who deceived Israel will receive the direct defense of God himself. It's almost as if we see here in these 20 verses, these 20 remaining verses, what is said in Psalm 2. How does God respond to the nation's rage? How does he respond to the kings of the earth in Psalm 2? He who sits in the heavens laughs. He who sits in the heavens laughs and the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury. That's how God responds. As we see what unfolds in these 20 verses, God's power is on full display. It's almost as if he's sitting in heaven and he's saying, really? You think five armies, mustering up five armies will be enough to stand against me and to oppose me? The laugh in Psalm 2 is not a humorous chuckle or a response to some joke. The laugh In Psalm 2, Charles Spurgeon comments, is a laugh in which God knows how absurd, how irrational, how futile their attempts are against him. And he therefore laughs at them. In these 20 verses, we see God laugh at these five kings. Look at what God tells Joshua from the start. Joshua and Israel make their march overnight to get to Gibeon. Instantly responding to the distress call. Instantly holding fast to the promise that they have made. Now whether God tells this to Joshua before the march or during the march, we see in verse eight, God tells Joshua this. Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you. God gives to Joshua the same confidence that he gave to him when he went into battle against Jericho. Do not fear. I have given them into your hands. No one shall stand before you. And what unfolds in this battle of the five kings, we see both God and the army of Israel fight and battle together against their enemies. But as the battle progresses, We see that God is the main defender of the Gibeonites. We can see this just from the opening attack. After they've marched all night, after Israel has marched all night, we're given the sense that as soon as Israel gets there, they come right over the hill and they come charging in and they head right into battle. And we're told that the Lord threw them, the Lord threw these five kings and their armies into a panic before Israel. And then there's an interesting phrase. It's an interesting clause in verse 10. The ESV says, the Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck them with a great blow. And then later it says, and they chased them. This is an interesting phrase, because at least from the way the ESV first states it, It sounds like Israel's the one who gives them the chase. We're given the sense that as soon as Israel shows up, God confuses the enemy, and then Israel chases and pursues them. But if you have your Bibles open, perhaps you'll notice that the ESV gives a footnote to another possible reading of this verse. The ESV gives a second reading, and the second reading goes like this. The Lord threw them into a panic before Israel, And he struck them with a great blow at Gibeon and chased them. Do you remember when we looked at the Battle of Jericho? And I asked the question, who fought the Battle of Jericho? And we saw that it was God, and God alone fought the battle of Jericho, and he won the battle of Jericho. I think that this second reading that the ESV offers is more accurate to the reading of the original Hebrew, that God causes the confusion among the enemies, and that God is the one who pursues the enemies, and that God is the one who is leading his people into battle against his enemies. And that is in this battle that God holds nothing back. We'll see, we'll come to see that he uses even creation to put his power on display over these armies. He uses creation to give himself the advantage. As Israel is rushing toward the armies, the armies, they turn tail and they run. And then notice what God does, as if these armies could escape God. Verse 11 tells us that the Lord threw down large stones from heaven on them. This isn't some random hailstorm that's raining down from heaven that these armies happened to run into as they were running away. This is a sovereignly ordained meteorological event with which God has the sole purpose of wiping out these enemies. As Israel's catching up with the enemy, they're able to land a few blows, they're able to strike some people down, but then what Israel is able to accomplish pales in comparison to what God does. We're told again in verse 11, that there were more who died because of the hailstones than because of those who were struck down with the sword. But the battle isn't over yet. Battle isn't over yet. Some of the enemy apparently are starting to get away. And Joshua, he's feeling pressed for time. He may perhaps seize the sun getting lower in the sky. He cries out to God before all Israel in the heat of battle. And he says, sun stand still at Gibeon and moon in the valley of Ajalon. And the Lord heeded the voice of man for the Lord fought for Israel. In this battle, not only does God send a sovereignly ordained meteorological event, but he sovereignly halts the advance of the sun in the sky. God is holding nothing back in this battle. A little over a week ago, we had an earthquake in New Jersey. Last Monday, we had an eclipse. And now here tonight, we're looking at the sun being halted in the sky. So what the Holy Spirit's trying to tell us through that, I don't know. But they're in these courses of events. There are many debates, of course, among theologians, even among scientists, as to what is going on with the halting of the sun. There are many different theories out there. And all I'll really say tonight is this. I'll ask the question that I opened up with this evening. How far will God go to defend his people? He is willing to use his own creation He is willing to defy what we understand as the laws of nature to accomplish his purpose. We may not truly know ever why or how God stopped the sun, but we know that he did, and that he truly did. I do truly believe that God stopped the sun in the midst of its tracks and its venture across the sky. After all, that's why the author references this book of Jashar in our passage. This is an Israelite collection of what I would call uninspired hymns, uninspired songs. The Psalms, they're inspired songs. And then we have hymns, which are maybe uninspired. So this is sort of an Israelite Trinity Psalter hymnal, if you will. But the battle still isn't over. The sun has stopped in its sky. Joshua returns to the camp. The army returns with him. Then we're told that the five kings have hidden themselves in a cave. And as we read, this cave will become their tomb. In these last few verses, we see the focus shift. God is still very much the central character. He is still the central one that is doing all of these things. But we see in these last 11 verses, Joshua, God's chosen representative, comes more into focus in what he does. Once word reaches him that these kings have hidden in this cave, he gives two orders. First, he says in verse 18, roll the large stones against the mouth of the cave and set men by it to guard them. Joshua knows exactly what needs to be done. So Joshua isn't sealing this cave so he can have time to deliberate and to think about what needs to be done or what to decide to do with these kings. If anything, Joshua is intentionally keeping these kings alive. Why is he keeping these kings alive? We see in the following command that Joshua tells his men, pursue your enemies, attack their rear guard, do not let them enter their cities, for the Lord your God has given them into your hand. Joshua leaves these kings alive to show them their utter and total defeat. It's only once their cities are destroyed that Joshua returns to these kings to crush their heads. He does more than that. He also crushes their spirits. He crushes their hearts. He shows them their total and complete failure. These kings, before they die, will know just how foolish it is to stand against the Lord. When you stand against the Lord, you lose everything. And so Joshua does to these five kings what he did to the king at Ai. Only there's an interesting detail added here. An interesting detail, an interesting step that Joshua takes. Something that has greater, a larger redemptive historical significance than we might first read on a quick glance. Before Joshua executes these five kings, notice what he has Israel do. That's right, he has Israel do this part. He tells the chiefs that are with him to come and to place their feet on the necks of these kings. And then notice what he tells them. He says to these chiefs as they're standing with their feet on the necks of these enemies of God. Joshua says, do not be afraid. Do not be dismayed. Be strong and courageous. For thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight." What do we see here? What is Joshua doing? Perhaps it might be better to ask, how is Joshua acting here at the end of this passage? And to these questions, I would simply give the answer that Joshua is acting as a king. Joshua's acting as a king. Let me clarify what I mean by that statement. Joshua is not the king of Israel. I'm not here claiming that Joshua is the king of Israel. No way does he have a crown on his head and in no way is he specifically called to be the king or anointed to be the king of Israel. We won't see that until Saul comes. But what we do see here in the way that Joshua commands Israel crush the heads of their enemies, Joshua is acting as a prototypical king of Israel. Joshua, his actions as God's chosen representative, he is anticipating the role and the function of the king of Israel to defend Israel against their enemies. to execute judgment over them. Now, I said that this has a larger redemptive historical significance. What do I mean by that? I've been using very intentionally this phrase, crush their heads, crush their heads, because this phrase should take us back. It should stir us up to remember the promise that God made in the garden. And how this is the very thing that Adam failed to do, that how it is the very thing that the seed of the woman was promised to come and to do was to crush the head of the serpent. This is what Adam and Eve were told, that one would come, that a Messiah would come to crush their enemies. throughout Israel's history we see stories, tiny little glimpses of this messiah king. Is this the messiah king? Is this the messiah king? But they never truly and totally bring an end to a defeat of their enemies. Even with Joshua. See, later, the land is continuing to be cleansed. Not all of the land is cleansed. Even Joshua fails to fully obey this command to crush the head of the enemies. And so while we see throughout Israel's history glimpses of this possible Messiah King, the true Messiah would not come for a long time. A true Messiah King would come. and prove himself to be the Messiah King, the one who has authority, and this would be proven in the person and the work of Jesus. Demonstrating that he has authority over all creation, just as God in our text has the authority to send hailstones. He has the authority to stop the sun in the sky. Just think about how many of Jesus's miracles are in relationship to nature. He's walking on water. He's calming storms, he's commanding the fish on which side of the boat they should be and where the net should be cast. But he also demonstrates his authority over us as he not only heals our broken bones, the many different passages in which he heals paralyzed people, the blind, the lepers, he also forgives us of our sins and he has the authority to do so. Just think about what Jesus did with the paralytic who was lowered through the roof. Just think about these words from Luke 5, that when Jesus perceived the Pharisees' thoughts, he answered them, but why do you question your hearts? Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven to you, or rise and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority, has authority to on earth to forgive sins. And he said to the man who was paralyzed, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home. Jesus is the true Messiah King who came to save his people. He is the true Messiah King who came to save you from your sins. He is God's true chosen representative. And Jesus still today executes the office of a king. I love the way the Shorter Catechism simplifies how we can understand Jesus and his office as a king when it says that Christ executes the office of a king in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all of his and our enemies. Notice that language of what Christ is doing as our king. He subdued you to himself. He won the battleground that is your heart. Without his work, through his spirit, you would be dead in your sins still today. He also rules and He defends us. He's given us laws. He has given us a way to live. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, He said, and we are to love our neighbor as our self. He's restraining and He's conquering all of His and our enemies. On the cross, He crushed the head of the serpent. We do not need to live in fear of persecution. You don't need to live in fear, because Christ has conquered already over our enemies on the cross, and he has promised to come again. He has promised to come again to fully and totally put an end to the evil of the world, the flesh, and the devil. He's gonna put that to an end, crushing it under his feet. His enemies will be his footstool, we're told in scripture. Until that day, we are called to obey his command, to follow him as our king. And we are called to crush the sin that is in us. So as I close, the question needs to be asked, is there sin in your life that needs to be crushed? We all have it. I have it. You have it. We all still battle with this indwelling sin that is within us. We are called to follow our Messiah King's command to crush sin. How do we do that? We bring it to the cross. We bring it to the cross in repentance. And we put to death what is sinful in us. In this way, we imitate what Christ did in crushing the head of the serpent. I don't deny this is a hard command to follow. That's why it's important for us to know that you are not alone. Not only are you surrounded by fellow sinners, I being one of them, who are struggling and battling against sin, different sins perhaps, but also perhaps maybe there's a brother or sister here that is suffering under a similar sin. Not only are you surrounded by sinners and that we can fight together, but you also worship a God who is ready and is able to come to your defense at a moment's notice. You have been given the Holy Spirit who reveals to you your sin. This is the process of sanctification, bit by bit. You die to sin. As your sin is being revealed to you by the work of the Spirit, you die to sin and you live to righteousness, continuing to nail it to the cross, bringing it to Jesus, knowing that you're being conformed by the work of the Spirit into the image of Him who is our King. Knowing that your king has given you the tools to kill sin because he has destroyed sin's power. And because he has destroyed sin's power, you and we can take these words that Joshua gives us, we can take them to heart and know them that they are true. You do not need to be afraid or dismayed. You can be strong and courageous knowing that the Lord will win the victory and has won the victory. over your enemies. And that day will come when he comes back and he makes all things new in an instant, and we will behold our King face to face. Amen.