for Christ in the Old Testament. And as we look for Christ in the Old Testament, we encounter Joshua meeting a man whom he asks, whose side are you on? Open your Bibles or look at the screen there to Joshua chapter 5. You'll be aware, I think most of you, that Joshua is the beginning of the historical books, the historical section, at least in our English division of the Old Testament, Joshua through Esther, covering the account of God's people. The name Joshua, you may know, is the same name as Jesus in the Greek, the Lord who saves. And we see in this account, in the book of Joshua, a partial conquest and possession of the promised land. A few times ago when I preached, I suggested there could be at least six ways that we look for Christ in the Old Testament and summarize those in these six letters. Two P's, progress and promises. Two T's, types and themes. And two C's, as we compare and contrast the Old Testament scriptures with the further revelation of God. And primarily, seeing Christ in Joshua chapter 5, we will see the progress of redemption. But listen to God's word as I read it, Joshua chapter 5, the entire chapter. As soon as all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel, until they had crossed over, their hearts melted And there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel. At that time, the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time. So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeah Paralah. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war had died in the wilderness on the way after they came out of Egypt. Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness, after they had come out of Egypt, had not been circumcised. For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord. The Lord swore to them that He would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. So it was their children whom he raised up in their place that Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. And the Lord said to Joshua, today, I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land, and there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, a man was standing before him with this drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, are you for us or for our adversaries? And he said, no, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, what does my Lord say to his servant? And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy. And Joshua did so. Having heard from God in his word, let us seek him in prayer. Oh Lord God, our father in heaven, open our eyes that we might behold wondrous things from your word. Open our ears that we might hear not merely the voice of the preacher, but that we might hear the voice of God, that we might hear the voice of Christ and that we might follow him. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Israel had crossed the Jordan. They'd come in to the promised land, a land filled with enemies. And we see the Lord giving them instruction. And I'd like to summarize the instruction in this account of God's dealing with his people under these three primary points. The first that we'll see in the first portion of the chapter is worship as you are taught. Worship as you are taught. And then after that initial account, prepare as you are able. And then finally, as we see this encounter between Joshua and the man, Submit as you must. The first, worship. Worship as you are taught. They're here. They're in the presence of their enemies. They're less than two miles from Jericho, the first great city state that they will encounter in their battle against the enemies of Canaan. They may have come across the Jordan and thought, let's get busy. There's war to be done. God has said he would go with us. He miraculously brought us here over the Jordan River. Let us engage in battle with these enemies. Very likely that the lookouts on the great walled city of Jericho could see this mighty host camped in the plains, less than two miles from Jericho. And they knew that Israel had come to destroy them. And we see that they're terrified. And yet God said to his people, who may have been ready to go to war, he said, wait, there's something more important. I want you to remember the importance of worshiping me as you were taught. And so God called on them to take part in these two covenant ceremonies as they camped there in the plains of Jericho. The first of those covenant ceremonies is circumcision. We're told that for 40 years, the Israelites had not been circumcised. We're not told the particular reason why. It may have been God's provision for them as they were marching through the wilderness. The act of circumcision is a painful one. The little eight day old boys would need time to heal. And it may be that God had given that provision as they were on their journey. We don't know. On the other hand, it may have simply been a reflection of the rebellion of the parents of these young men who were born in the wilderness and who grew up and who watched their parents die in the wilderness because of their rebellion against God. This failure to circumcise the children may have been a symptom of that rebellion. But whatever the reason for them not having been circumcised, God said, now is the time. Now is not the time to go to war, but now is the time for the reproach of Egypt to be rolled away from you, my people. We no longer have to practice circumcision as a covenant sign. It's been replaced in the New Testament with baptism, with a washing of water that symbolizes the washing away of sin. I was engaged in a conversation this week with my neighbor, Bob Wakefield's friend. As I engaged him with the claims of the gospel, it was clear to me that he felt no need for forgiveness of sin, a mix of mystical Buddhism and a sense of experiencing oneness with God that is contrary to the oneness that God has given us in His Word. And I just wanted to help him understand how desperately he and I need the forgiveness of sin and the cleansing, the washing away of that sin that was symbolized here on the plains of Jordan for the people of God. And God did roll away the reproach. He did roll away the sin that had followed them through the wilderness. This covenant sign, a picture of God's cleansing work on his people and the new covenant sign of baptism, that same symbol. The circumcision took place. There was a time for healing and then Again, perhaps these warriors would have said, let's go, let's go to war. Let's get busy. Let's take this city state, Jericho. And again, God said, not yet. There's more to be done. There's additional worship that I want you to do. I want you to participate in this sacramental symbol of worship of Passover. We know that at least some, the Passover was kept in The journey through the wilderness, we expect that it would have been somewhat regularly taken place, but it was time for the Passover, not for war. It may be that those who participated in the wilderness participated only externally. We don't know. I'm certain, it's certain that there have been some faithful men and women of those who died along the way. Certainly not that whole generation had turned in their hearts against the Lord. We don't know. But what we do know is God said, take part in this important sacramental service of worship. Remember that your sins were passed over. Your death sentence due to you for your sin was not carried out because of the death of a substitute lamb. And so they participated at this Passover. They remembered God's forgiveness, God's provision, of a substitute. And of course, Passover also is replaced in the New Covenant, in the New Testament, it's replaced as a covenant meal by the Lord's Supper, where we're invited to remember and to proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. And we're strengthened individually in our union and in our union together in the Lord's Supper. And you probably feel I don't know what the practice of your congregation is in terms of the frequency of the Lord's Supper, but it may well be that you've had to withhold that in this time of isolation, this time of shutdown. There's debate and struggles over, even as churches are opening up, should they participate in communion? We're strengthened in the Lord's Supper, individually, but also in our union together. Now these two sacramental services of worship were not the whole of the worship of the people of God, just as like for us. Baptism is as rich and wonderful as it is, and the Lord's Supper as deep as it means to us to partake of the body and the blood of the Lord in a sacramental way. Worship is more than that, even though the sacraments may be a high point in worship. We had, this last Friday, a senior chapel, invited the seniors back to campus for a service of worship. Dr. Barry York preached powerfully from the word of God. And he asked us to consider the question, why has God sent us into exile from the assembled worship? Why is it that we're only able to see one another's names or faces on little squares on our screen and not be together in the assembly of the people of God? I don't know. But we should ask, is it because we have not worshiped as we're taught, we've not held worship as precious and priceless, that we've thought we're too busy, or there are too many enemies, there are too many wars? Let us learn from Joshua how important worship is, and let us, in obedience to God, worship as we are taught. But then the period of worshiping is over, and Joshua begins to scout out Jericho. And so we come to the second principle of the text before us this morning. Worship as you were taught, first of all. Secondly, prepare as you were able. Notice there in verse 13, when Joshua was by Jericho, it's suggested in those words, though not spelled out in detail, that Joshua was scouting out the enemy. that he was trying to find out how invincible these tall, strong walls around this great city-state of Jericho were. Now we need to remember that Joshua and the people of Israel were on a God-appointed war against the Canaanites. The Lord God had said to Moses that the sin of the Canaanites had not yet reached its fulfillment, but now it had. And now God was bringing upon them temporal judgment as a reflection of the internal judgment that they faced, unless they would repent and believe. And so Joshua here is scouting out the enemy. And we would do well to imitate him in seeking to understand the conditions that we face. It's very likely that he was checking out how difficult it would be to penetrate this wall this wall that was closed up in fear. We see in chapter four and in chapter five and in chapter six that Jericho had been closed up. They were under quarantine, but it was a self-imposed quarantine. They were terrified of God and God's people. And their war to be fought against God and his people was to be a defensive war. They were not gonna go out of their stronghold and hoped that it would be sufficient. And Joshua likely being like that one Jesus talks about in Luke 14, who before he goes to war, tries to consider whether he is able to defeat him. And as Joshua is seeking to understand the conditions, he's confronted with a man and he seeks to understand the contenders. As this warrior is preparing for battle, is preparing to prepare his people for battle as he's sizing up the opponents. He meets a man, a man dressed for war, a man with his drawn sword in his hand. And rather than fall back as we might in our flesh, in the fear of who is this armed man and why is he standing against me? Joshua approaches him and Joshua says to him, are you for us? or for our adversaries. And the implication is that it had this man said, I am for your adversaries, that Joshua would have drawn his own sword and would have gone to battle, believing that God had called him to defeat these enemies. Joshua asked the question that we might phrase it, whose side are you on? And then the man answered the question and that changed everything. And so we come to our third point of application and following the word of God. We're to worship as we're taught, we're to prepare as we're able, and we are to submit as we must. For as Joshua asked this man, whose side are you on? Are you for us or are you for our enemies? This man says, I have now come as the commander of the army of the Lord. I have come as a commander of the armies, of the Lord of armies, of the Lord of hosts. We sing in Psalm 80, God of armies. We see throughout the scripture, we saw it in Revelation 19, God of armies, God of the hosts. And here, this man says, I am the commander. I am the commander of the army of the Lord. In a sense, he says, Joshua, you're asking the wrong question. I am the mightiest warrior. I am the all powerful King. And this commander of the army of the Lord of hosts affirms God's universal rulership that encompasses every force on this earth and in the heavenly places. And in Joshua 5, 14, this commander of the army of the Lord is Jesus. This commander of the army of the Lord, the commander of God's army is Jesus. It's not merely a type, though we look for types of Christ in the Old Testament. We see them in Adam primarily as a negative type. We see them in David. We see them in Joseph. We even see them in Joshua, who bears the name Jesus, Yehoshua, the Lord is salvation. And some read this text and honestly come to the conclusion that this commander of the army of the Lord of Hosts is an angel, albeit a powerful, perhaps an archangel. But I believe the scripture demands that we see this pre-incarnate appearance We see this commander as a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus himself. There's a technical term that we use for those appearances of God in the scripture. Theophany, appearance of God, or more specifically here, Christophany, appearance of Christ. And we know that he was not merely an angel. For as we read in the book of the Revelation in chapter 19, and we see it again just a couple of chapters later, that when the angel is giving John a glimpse into heaven, a glimpse into the judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ in his reign over men and nations, and not merely a temporal, physical destruction, but an eternal destruction that is to come, As John is hearing and seeing these things that are beyond comprehension, we read Revelation and we can hear from John at times the terror, at times the uncertainty, at times he doesn't know what to do. And so when the angel reveals to him in Revelation 19 of the judgment of the victory of the commander of the Lord of Hosts, Joshua falls to his face to worship this angel. And the angel takes him by the hand and said, see that you do not do that. Get up. I am your fellow servant. Worship God. And had this commander of the Lord of hosts, the commander of the army of the Lord, been merely an angel, he could not have accepted the worship as Joshua fell on his face before him and worshiped and asked, what does my Lord say to my servant? The commander answered, if you will, I'm not simply for you and I'm not for your adversaries. I am the commander. And that turns the question. It begs the question for Joshua and it begs the question for me and for you. Whose side am I on? The tables are turned. Joshua said, whose side are you on? And Jesus said, I'm the commander. And the implication, And the question that comes to us that came to Joshua is whose side am I on? Whose side am I on? Joshua fell on his face to worship. He submitted himself to the Lord. He took off his shoes. A pattern throughout the scripture when God's people are confronted with the presence of God, they take off their shoes because the place is holy. God's glory and God's holiness are not to be over whelmed by the filth of human sin. The dirt of our existence may not dirty the holiness of God. And Joshua submitted himself to Christ and said, in essence, I am on your side. But what about you? What about me? It's easy to want the Lord on our side. We want the things that God can do. As Matt was sharing of this couple in South Sudan who are seeking witch doctors in order to be able to conceive children. I was torn in my own soul. How would we pray for that couple? Do we pray that God would open the womb? When it may be that they would attribute that kindness to the witch doctors that they called on. It seemed to me that perhaps it would be best if they stayed barren, at least for a time, and learned God's provision apart from the gift of children. Because often what we want most from God is what He will give us. And He gives us so much and so many blessings that it's easy to understand. He gives us things, He directs us through life, He empowers, He overpowers our enemies. But the most compelling question that we could ask is, am I on Jesus' side? Am I following him? How do I know? How do you know? How do we know if we are on the Lord's side? Well, Joshua gives us an example. Hear and obey his commands. Hear his commands and obey him. What does Joshua say as he falls on his face and worships? What does my Lord say to his servant? Such a response shows that Joshua recognized him as the commander of the armies of God, and he responds to the goodness and the kindness of God. It's so easy to say, I'm on the Lord's side. I will hear and obey his commands. But is that the practice of my life, of your life? Teach me, Lord. Lead me in your truth. Show me in the way that I should go. I will follow you. we see the first response of Joshua is to submit to the instruction of the Lord of armies, of the commander, of the Lord of hosts. Joshua thought, you've commanded me to be strong and courageous, and I will do my best to be strong and courageous, and I will lead these people of yours into battle with our enemy. And Jesus says, well, not exactly, all win this battle. And if we went on to read in Joshua chapter six, we know the account. The people of Israel did nothing but silently marched around the city for six days. And then on the 7th, marched seven times and then shout and the walls fell and God gave Jericho into their hands. God's call here to Joshua was accept my victory, accept my gracious victory and follow me and trust me. Do we in the decisions of life, hear and obey the commands of God. Not just in the major decisions. We pray for a pastoral election and we cast our ballots. We ask God, lead me in your way. We receive a call and we pray, God, lead me in your way. But it's not just the major decisions. It's the everyday life of the Christian. Am I hearing and obeying the commands of God? Eric Little, in his missionary work in China, wrote a book, The Disciplines of the Christian Life. And he suggested there are six questions we might, as Christians, ask at the beginning of each day. And I'm just gonna read the first and the sixth. The others are valuable as well. But he suggests these questions to begin the day. Have I surrendered this new day to God? And will I seek and obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit through its hours? You see, it's easy to get dressed up for God on the Lord's day, to put on a face of worship and carry out the actions of worship, but is it an everyday practice? This day, I will seek to obey God. And then his sixth question really parallels the first, what does God want me to do today? And how does he want me to do it? A good way, I think, to remember that I am to hear and obey the commands of God. For you children, your parents say, do this or don't do that. You are faced with the question, am I going to obey God as I obey my parents? My children probably tired of the number of times that I asked that question. Are you going to obey God as you obey your parents? But it's not just children. Those of us who are older, who are adults, it's easy to disobey God in the little things. to ignore the commands of God in our daily life, to live not for Christ, but for ourselves. And the call is to hear and to obey the commands of God. Now, I want to give you a certainty, though I'm not a prophet nor a son of a prophet, you will not this week encounter in your daily activities a man and you might ask him, who are you? you will not meet one who says to you, I am the commander of the armies of the Lord. Don't expect a post incarnation appearance of Christ, but listen to God as you read his word in your private worship, in your family worship, as you assemble for corporate worship, even if you can only assemble by ring central meetings and hear his word read and preached and obey it all the time. You know, it's easy to hear the word when it applies to somebody else. Oh man, I hope so-and-so is listening to this. Do we say, I hope I'm listening to this. I hope that this word is affecting me. An expression that I like in response to the Word of God is if you can't say amen, say ouch. There are times when the Word convicts us of sin, when it confronts us with the holiness of God and the continued practice that we are in sin, and so we're driven to the cross. We're driven to the captain of the Lord of armies as we say, Lord Jesus, you've forgiven my sins. Help me walk in obedience with you. and obey the commands of God and fight on His side. We are in a war. Our war is not against flesh and blood. As I spoke with that neighbor last week, and to be honest, I came away discouraged with my own inadequacies, my own failure to clearly and gently and humbly communicate again and again the truth of God. But Lord willing, I'll go back tomorrow, because we've been meeting not every Monday, but often on Monday afternoon to talk. about the claims of Christ, to try to fight against his wrong ideas. And for me, one of the tensions is I want to fight, I want to argue, but we don't fight with earthly weapons. We fight with the gospel and the truth of the gospel. For the unbelieving neighbors and coworkers are not our enemy. They have been taken captive by Satan, and we are to try, if possible, to rescue them by the power of the gospel. And what's the outcome as we fight on the side of the Lord? What we see in Joshua as we go on and read that Joshua followed the Lord's instructions and Jericho was destroyed, but the conquest and the possession of the promised land was not complete. We had Achan taking of the forbidden things. We had Israel compromising with the Gibeonites. We saw them responding not in obedience to the Lord, but in fear of the Canaanites. But don't just point fingers at those weak Israelites, because our conquest of sin is not complete, but we know the outcome. Jesus wins. Don't be discouraged, saints. Even as you see your sin and your failures, go back to the commander of the armies of the Lord and renew your commitment to respond to His saving grace to you with an obedience and a submission, knowing that He wins. He will perfect His saints. We will one day be completely sanctified as we stand in His very presence. He fights for His people now. And if you are of Christ, He is fighting for you. You can't win this battle on your own. Jesus said to Peter, Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail. Jesus fights for his enemies now. And ultimately, as we read in Revelation 19, he will cast the devil, the unbelieving angels and all who do not believe in him into eternal hell. And so I ask you again, Whose side are you on? Pray with me. O Lord God, our Father in heaven, might we be really and truly on the side of Christ? If anyone listening today does not know Christ savingly, convince them of the power of the gospel, turn them in submission to the commander of the Lord of hosts, and might they fall on their face and worship Might they ask, Lord, what would you have me to do? Might they be converted? And might they walk in holiness? And might we who have been converted walk in holiness, living this week in the everyday events of life in obedience and submission to our commander, your son, our savior. And it's in his name, in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.