THE VITAL NECESSITY OF RENEWAL – Joshua 8:30-35
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on October 23, 2013 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group; October 23, 2013
Joshua 8:30-35
Theme: Victory in the Christian life requires a fresh and personal renewal in the basics.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
This morning’s passage is very important to the story of the Book of Joshua. One Old Testament commentator referred to the “solemn episode” that it describes as “the summit of the book” (A. Gelin; cited in M.H. Woudstra, The Book of Joshua, NICTOT, p. 144, n. 1.). It describes how—just after the recovery of victory over Ai following the disastrous setback of Achin—the people of Israel renewed their covenant with God.
When the people of Israel had first left Egypt, God entered into a covenant with them at Mount Sinai (see Exodus 19-20). But those people were of the previous generation; and that whole generation had broken the covenant. God was still committed to His promises to Abraham’s offspring—that He would give them the land He promised them. But now, as the second generation began to enter in and take possession of that land, they could not rest on the covenant commitments of the previous generation. They needed to renew their commitment to God’s covenant in a fresh and personal way—as something that was truly their own.
This illustrates for us an important principle in the victorious Christian life. Our walk with God cannot rest on past commitments—or even on commitments of those who went before us and influenced us. Our walk with Jesus Christ must build on those past commitments; but in a personal and living way. We must make them our own, and keep them fresh and vital. If we fail to do so, we become stagnant, or indifferent—or worse, unholy—in our walk. There’s no long-term victory without periodic personal renewal. As Paul wrote, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”
What do we see of this crucial ‘renewal’ in the experience of the people of Israel?
I. A RENEWED DEDICATION OF SELF TO GOD (vv. 30-31).
A. We’re told, “Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal . . .” (v. 30). Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim were north of Ai by about thirty to thirty-five miles. They overlook the beautiful Shechem valley—and in a sense, the whole of the land that God was about to give them. Some say that the spot between these to mountains (large hills, really) provide the perfect acoustics by which a loud announcement could be heard by large masses of people. One of these two mountains is mentioned later in the Gospel of John. When the Samaritan woman at the well said to Jesus, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship” (John 4:20), she was speaking of Mount Garizim.
B. It was at this important spot that Joshua built an altar, “as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: ‘an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool’” (v. 31a). These words of instruction from Moses were taken from Exodus 20:22-26—right after the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. Back then, the people were terrified at the giving of the law. God spoke in dreadful thunderings; and the people trembled. And now, as if in commemoration of that event, the altar is built at Mount Ebal that did not have upon it the taint of human design or craft; “And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings” (v. 31b). As they are described to us in the first chapters of Leviticus, the burnt offering is an offering that suggests complete dedication to God; and the peace offering is an offering that suggests God’s approachability and the removal of all enmity. In the context of God’s dreadful law, those offerings commemorate God’s rich mercy.
C. This pictures to us a renewal of commitment that we need to make in the victorious Christian life. Today, we don’t offer a burnt offering or a peace offering on the altar. Instead, we lay our very selves upon the altar. As Paul wrote; “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).
II. A RENEWED IDENTIFICATION WITH GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS (v. 32).
A. We’re told, “And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written” (v. 32). This was done in obedience to the command that Moses gave to the people in Deuteronomy 27:2-3; “And it shall be, on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ just as the Lord God of your fathers promised you.” This may have been a copy of only the ten commandments; or it may have been a copy of the blessings and cursings as representations of the whole law that follow later in Deuteronomy 27. But it was clearly intended to remind the people to keep all the commandments God had given them.
B. A vital part of victorious Christian living is that we walk faithfully in God’s righteous standards. He will bless no other walk with victory than a holy one. We don’t accomplish this today, however, by a strict adherence to the mere letter of the law. Rather, we’re told, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). God has set nothing of His holy standards aside. But what He has done instead is to have empowered us by the indwelling Holy Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law (vv. 22-23).
III. A RENEWED PASSION FOR GOD’S BLESSING (v. 33).
A. What happened next must have been a truly solemn wonder. “Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel” (v. 33). The ark would have represented God’s presence to the people. Deuteronomy 27:13 tells us that the Levites read forth the curses of the law from Mount Ebal; and with each pronouncement of curse, the people were to shout, “Amen!” (vv. 14-26). But the blessings were read forth from Mount Garizim (v. 12).
B. What an impact this must have had! The reading forth of the curses would have made the people long for the blessings of God’s favor! But the law itself brings a curse upon us. We can never enjoy victory in Christ unless we say “Amen!” to the cursedness of sin; and then immediately afterward admit our need for grace! As Paul wrote, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1ff). We must continually reaffirm our position in Christ; because it is only in Christ that God’s blessings are found.
IV. A RENEWED HEARING OF GOD’S WORD (vv. 34-35).
A. We’re told, “And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law” (v. 34). Joshua did as is commanded in Deuteronomy 28. What’s more, they heard the whole word. “There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them” (v. 35). Note that even the strangers—that is, the non-Jewish people who aligned themselves with the God of Israel—heard the law.
B. To have victory in Christ, we must be continually fresh in God’s word. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” There is no victory without it!
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God desires for us to have victory in our life before Him. And that’s why we need to constantly renew our commitment to those things that lead to victory—a full dedication of self to God, an identification with God’s righteous standards, a pursuit of God’s blessings in Christ alone, and a regular submission to God’s holy word.
