FALL OF JERICHO

Joshua 6

            The first thing we notice in Joshua 6 is that God expected the children of Israel to rise up and participate in the conquest of Jericho.  Yes, God could have wiped out Jericho just as he had wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah all those centuries before.  But this time God did not act that way.  The Hebrews were not supposed to set up their lawn chairs and barbeques and just wait for God to make the walls of Jericho fall down.  They had an assignment and they were to follow through.  The walls of the city did not fall down until after the people did what God told them to do.  What was their work?  They were to march around the city of Jericho for seven days.  Every one of the Israelites had a part to do.  Every one of them was to participate in marching around the city walls.  Day after day they silently marched around the city in obedience to the command of God.

            Right away we see a lesson for us.  If we want to reach people with the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, if we want to make the name of Jesus famous, then we all have to be obedient to God and do our work on a daily basis.  Whatever it is we are called to do, whatever role we have in the church, whatever gifts God has given to us, we are to do our part in obedience to God.

            Another thing we see is that Israel’s work involved everyone!  All the people marched around the city of Jericho!  They were each given a task.  There were priests who were to carry the ark of the covenant.  There were priests who were to blow trumpets of rams’ horns.  There was an armed guard assigned to precede and follow the ark.  The rest of the people marched around the city in silence for six days and then on the seventh day on the seventh time around the city they were to shout.  Nobody was to stay back in the camp.  This job was to have the participation of all the people!

            Sadly, the American church has moved away from the idea of total participation in ministry.  We have gone the way of professional clergy leadership.  I have seen it over and over again in large churches.  When there is a new task to be done they immediately go out and try to hire another staff member to do that job.  This mentality has slipped into churches of all sizes.  It almost seems like most of the church sits by and observes what the staff does and then either applauds or criticizes.  In so many places church has become a kind of spectator sport.  There are many churches where participation is simply equated with attendance at services, or putting money in the offering plate, or occasionally serving punch and cookies!  This is not what God expects of his people!  We are all called to serve in God’s army!  It is not just the work of the church leaders or the people who have outgoing personalities.  There is work for all of us to do and each one of us has to do his or her part!  Some of us preach and teach, some of us share and invite, some of us serve and minister to the needy, and some of us fight the daily battle through prayer.  We need to keep in mind what Peter said to the church, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).  The church will never realize her potential until each believer realizes his or her own duty.

            The last thing we need to notice about how God wants us to do his work is that it has to be done in faith.  It was by faith that the walls of Jericho were brought down.  “By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days” (Hebrews 11:30).  As we have already noted, that city was mighty and its walls were formidable.  For six days there was no evidence that their marching was accomplishing one blessed thing!  Yet, by faith, the people carried out God’s instructions and their responsibilities.  They performed their same duties day after day until God finally took action after the seventh march on the seventh day.  The people believed God and did their work.

            It is by faith that we seek to reach our community and our world for Christ.  Like Israel’s task, ours is great and the problems and opposition we face is formidable.  Sometimes it appears as if there is nothing at all being accomplished.  But are we to give up?  No!  We go one day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, obeying our Lord’s instructions in faith.  God has promised that the task will be accomplished!  John wrote that the elders of heaven fell down and sang a new song to Christ, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.  You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9, 10).  Yes, the task will be completed someday and we will see, just as the Israelites did, that it was all done by God!  It is when we realize our helplessness and hopelessness that God reveals his mighty hand!