Joshua 6-8
 
Joshua 6:15-19 On the seventh day the Israelites got up at dawn and marched around the town as they had done before. But this time they went around the town seven times. 16 The seventh time around, as the priests sounded the long blast on their horns, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the town!”
 
WHEN Israel begins its conquest of the Promised Land, the LORD God not only demonstrated again his unending power, he gave to the world a picture of his final conquest of the earth.
   How is Jericho conquered? With the trumpet blast and a loud shout, the city’s fortified walls and gates fall into rubble. No earthly construction can withstand God’s Word. Here is the triumphant power of Psalms 24:7 Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter. And here comes Jesus for his final conquest on the Day of the LORD: 1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.  
   Israel’s conquering weapon at Jericho was their obedience to God’s Word. The army that diligently trained for war followed God’s marching command to wait. They were not fight for six days and then the seventh until a particular moment. The priests were involved, too, leading the way with the Ark of the Covenant. In the ark was the law, Aaron’s staff and manna. These are the symbols and reminders of God’s rule and provision.
   Through Jericho’s conquest, God Almighty opened the gates for the King of Glory to tear down Satan’s strongholds and destroy the unrepentant. Our task is to know the LORD’s words, to walk in step with his will and to shout his name to the earth.
   God will reveal how you do these things as your mind opens to him. Learn, know and go. The King of Glory will enter powerfully into your life now. And you will rise into his eternal city one day.
 
Revelation 21:23-25 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. 24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. 25 Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there.
 

Read Joshua 1-5
 
Joshua 2:18 When we come into the land, you must leave this scarlet rope hanging from the window through which you let us down. And all your family members—your father, mother, brothers, and all your relatives—must be here inside the house.
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Hebrews 11:31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. 
 
RAHAB’S story is one of faith, rescue and redemption. Very appropriately, the scarlet rope symbolizes her salvation.
   We meet Rahab in pagan Jericho when Joshua sent two spies to investigate Jericho’s strength and weaknesses before Israel attacked. God directed the spies to Rahab, a woman he had chosen to become a link to your salvation.
   As we know, El Shaddai does not wait for one to be perfect before calling us to him. Rahab is another example. She is everything God’s law commanded the Jews to reject. Rahab was a Gentile in a city so corrupt it needed to be destroyed and rebuilt. She was a prostitute who lived in a form of sexual depravity that pointed to Baal worship. What was good about Rahab?
   As the Hebrews passage tells us, God had chosen this not-good person for his good. He did that with Abraham, too, didn’t he? And Jacob was infected with sin. As he did with the patriarchs, the LORD gave Rahab a true, vibrant faith in him to confess God’s sovereign power. Joshua 2:10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. Knowing God’s actions for his people, she acted in faith against her old way of life and for God. Her faith was so strong and active, both Hebrews and James put her alongside Abraham as an example of faith in action: James 2:25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 
   The spies gave Rahab instructions to keep a scarlet cord out her window as a sign that she and her family were to be saved from Israel’s absolute destruction. She obeyed, and all were saved.
   Rahab, in essence, was born again into the kingdom of God. By faith Rahab’s life became new. Her walk with God had just begun. She would become a citizen of Israel and marry into the tribe of Judah. One of her descendants is Obed, who married Ruth – another pagan woman God called to faith. From Obed and Ruth’s marriage came a grandson named David. The generations of the scarlet cord continued to Jesus Christ. (Mathew 1)
   Rahab’s red cord has become a symbol of Jesus’ saving blood tying together God’s grace with the law and the prophets to the gospels. We praise God that he has made us safe from sin’s destruction when the scarlet cord of Jesus’ blood identifies us as the LORD’s own. Thank God! He has rescued us from Satan’s assaults.
 
 

Deuteronomy 33-34
 
Deuteronomy 34:10-12 There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. 11 The Lord sent him to perform all the miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, and all his servants, and his entire land. 12 With mighty power, Moses performed terrifying acts in the sight of all Israel.
 
WE have come to the end of the Torah (law), also called the Pentateuch (five books). These are the five books of the Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Through this account, we have read how God has purposefully created and deliberately called Adam, Eve, Abel, Cain, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Aaron, Miriam and Moses to live into significant roles. Yes, some of them were roles opposing God. The believers and nonbelievers were God’s choosing to enact God’s will to be done on earth. Many experienced God’s blessings to enrich their lives. Others knew the wrath of God’s curse. When we stop to consider these lives so profoundly engaged with God, we must be continually aware God is sovereign over all creation and in our most inner being.  
   The three farewell verses to Moses’ life here testify to God’s personal interaction with Moses. God formed Moses’ life, saved his life twice and transformed his life from a slave household, to an Egyptian prince, to a desert shepherd and to Israel’s lawgiver. God did this with a face to face friendship that caused honest reluctance and passionate petitions from Moses. At times, Moses seemed to argue with God and direct God’s actions. And we have cause to wonder if he was even successful to twice change the LORD’s mind to destroy Israel?  
   But as a true mentor, Father and friend, God used the passionate and forceful Moses that he had created for Israel’s good and God’s purpose. Even when Moses wondered about God’s purpose and methods, the LORD sent Moses to perform all the miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt...in the sight of all Israel.
   Through the record of the Torah, Moses would remain in Israel’s sight through Israel’s entire history. Israel’s priests and teachers would claim, “Moses said.” as their ultimate authority. Even Jesus reminded Israel of Moses’ law as the basis for their moral, health and worship laws. Then the Son of God also pointed out the laws were from God. The Son of God honored his prophet while pointing to the ultimate source of Moses’ wisdom and power.
   I AM did a remarkable work of grace through his friend Moses. He wants to do some remarkable work through you, too. Be alert to what he is saying to you. Perhaps he wants to transform you from who you are now to be someone new for his purpose. Through Jesus, the Triune God has passionately demonstrated that he wants to be face to face with you as your friend, Lord, King and Savior. God has done and is doing a most remarkable work throughout time and across the globe. Israel’s journey through the desert to the Promised Land is an illustration for all of us to take to heart. The Good Shepherd leads you. He condemns your sins and forgives your repentance. In Christ, you can conquer strongholds of sin and destroy the Enemy who tempts you away from the Promise. There is a place prepared for you in heaven as you are saved in Jesus’ atoning love. Live as if this is so and leave a legacy of triumph over evil.  
  
 
  

Read Deuteronomy 31& 32
 
Deuteronomy 31:19-22 “So write down the words of this song, and teach it to the people of Israel. Help them learn it, so it may serve as a witness for me against them. 20 For I will bring them into the land I swore to give their ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey. There they will become prosperous, eat all the food they want, and become fat. But they will begin to worship other gods; they will despise me and break my covenant. 21 And when great disasters come down on them, this song will stand as evidence against them, for it will never be forgotten by their descendants.”
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Deuteronomy 32:45-47 When Moses had finished reciting all these words to the people of Israel, 46 he added: “Take to heart all the words of warning I have given you today. Pass them on as a command to your children so they will obey every word of these instructions. 47 These instructions are not empty words—they are your life! By obeying them you will enjoy a long life in the land you will occupy when you cross the Jordan River.”
 
“AFTER a life of service to the nation Moses heard troubling news from the LORD... ‘They will begin to worship other gods; they will despise me and break my covenant.’ Moses had repeatedly warned them of the dangers of idolatry and of the need to obey the stipulations of the covenant. Still the Lord knew they would succumb to temptation. In response to their defection, God in his anger would withdraw his presence from them. As a result, when disasters would befall the nation, they would find no relief.
   “However, even in their rebellion they would find God’s grace. In Moses’ song in Deuteronomy 32:1-22, Israel would find the reason for their judgments. And they will know the path of repentance as written in Deuteronomy 32:45-47. They will have no excuse. They will know the reason for their troubles and the way out of their trouble. God certainly knew the human heart is prone to stray from him: ‘I know what they are disposed to do.’”
(from Bible Knowledge Commentary/Old Testament Copyright © 1983, 2000 Cook Communications Ministries)
   How sad it must have been for Moses. He, the very reluctant shepherd whom God called out of the desert, had become the great Lawgiver, Prophet and General of Israel. The one who said, “Oh, LORD, I’m not very good with words.” (Exodus 4:10) had become a powerful preacher to proclaim God’s blessings. He had worked long and diligently for Israel’s well-being. Yet, sin was still knocking on Israel’s hearts. Moses would depart with a sadness for Israel, submitting Israel’s future to God and to Joshua would be next to contend with the rebellious human nature in Israel.
          A lesson to learn is that we cannot control how others will respond to God’s grace. But we can control how we respond to the LORD. May you take to heart all God’s words. Pass them on to the next generation and to your neighbors. Trust the LORD’s work.   

Read Deuteronomy 26:16 through Deuteronomy 30
 
Deuteronomy 26:19 God has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.
 
LET’s consider a loving father who sits in the audience to watch his son receive his high school diploma. He thinks of the difficult times his son has endured, rebelling against some of his teachers and rejecting his father’s authority. And then he considers his son’s change of heart. He began to live into the school’s and household rules. His grades improved over four years. Now he is accepted into college. Today is a day to celebrate. The father praises his son for many things, but most of all he sets his son in praise because he is his son.
   God loves you in this same way. The blessings of Deuteronomy demonstrate how God was moving Israel out of their past failures into a blessed future. In wondrous, persistent love, God remained committed to Israel, so he could one day send Jesus to die and live for you. He has welcomed you across the stage of life’s challenges – and even rebellion – into life eternal.
   Yes, God has gone a long way to set you in his praise to call you his own.  
 
A Place to Rest
 
Deuteronomy 28:2-6 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: 3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock – the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. 6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
 
FEEL the warmth of a blanket come over you on a cool, rainy night. You have been working outdoors, and you are chilled. The day is done, and it is time to relax.
   This scripture is like that, don’t you think? God is covering his people with himself. He is offering to them all they need to rest well. “You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.” There’s also the covering of physical blessing. “Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.” Believe in God and believe God. Know his blessing always protects and enriches you with his presence.  
 
Life Set Before You
 
Deuteronomy 30:14-16 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. 15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.
 
WHEN a meal is set before you, you have permission to eat and enjoy, so it will bless your body. In a like manner, the Triune God had graciously set himself before Israel through the law. Today he has set himself before you through the Savior! “Take it; this is my body…This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” (Mark 14:22 & 24) 
   Israel had a choice. So do you. Choose God Almighty. Live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you. Enjoy God’s good food set generously before you.  
 

Leviticus 22:31-33, 26:3–46, Numbers 15:37–41, Deuteronomy 12:32, 22:12, 31:9–11
 
Leviticus 22:31-33 “You must faithfully keep all my commands by putting them into practice, for I am the Lord. 32 Do not bring shame on my holy name, for I will display my holiness among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who makes you holy. 33 It was I who rescued you from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. I am the Lord.”
 
AS we live in the New Testament era of God’s kingdom on earth, we know our salvation is only by God’s grace that you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:5b) God has rescued his own from sin’s death to be born again into a new life in Jesus’ salvation.
   Suddenly, then, our spiritual birth begins to reshape our lives. As we come to learn God’s Word, he exhorts us put his commands into practice. Through the essential commands of loving God and loving one another, our Christian life must enrich God’s name on earth as we reveal God’s holiness through our lives. Being a Christian is a high honor from God’s holy throne. We must know God’s gift carries a responsibility. Our lives are to honor God’s eternal love with a loving response to him and his creation. On the other hand, to claim, “I am a Christian.” but deny Christ’s ways dishonors God to a watching world.
   This pattern is foundational to God’s  story isn’t it? The faithful Christian lifestyle is not new to the New Testament. The Bible tells us that God’s chosen people throughout the Old Testament were to live to exhibit God’s holy character to a watching world.
   In his grace, God formed Israel out of nothing to become a powerful, fruitful picture of the church. He taught them the way of loving God and loving each other. They learned what was good and not good. Then El Shaddai gave them ample opportunities to receive his blessings as they journeyed with him to the Promised Land. In the Land, they were to live, as we are to live today, in God’s way.  
   If Israel obeyed God’s commands, they would demonstrate a new way of life to the world trapped in demonic influence. God’s will was for the world to look at Israel to see a nation of order and blessing, prospering spiritually and physically in God’s law. Obeying God’s commands, Israel would glorify God to a watching world.
   But what happened when the disobeyed? Not only would their sins bring God’s judgment, their sins would shame God’s holy name. Pagan nations would see no value in worshiping the God of a people who acted in the same ways they did.
   Think about this: Israel was a nation of about 2 million people moving through a very small area. The nations and people groups around them were watching this invasion of slaves out of Egypt. Who are they? What will they do? Who is their God? Do we have any reasons to submit our own lives to this nation and their God? Israel’s actions would answer the watching world’s questions one way or another.  
   How about it? Are you purposeful to honor God as you exhibit God’s holiness to the world? What will the world think of God when they see your life? Is there any reason they would want to learn more of God?
 

Readings Include Deuteronomy 5:21-24, 20:1-20, 21:18–20, 22:1–7,  23:9-25, 24:5–14
 
Deuteronomy 20:16-18 In those towns that the Lord your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing. 17 You must completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the Lord your God has commanded you. 18 This will prevent the people of the land from teaching you to imitate their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the Lord your God.
 
ONE of the worshipful songs celebrating Jesus is “King of My Heart.” Some of the words are:
 
“Let the King of my heart be the mountain where I run, the fountain I drink from . Oh, He is my song. Let the King of my heart be the shadow where I hide, the ransom for my life. ‘Cause you are good. And let the King of my heart be the wind inside my sails, the anchor in the waves. Be the fire inside my veins, the echo of my days.” (Bethel Music 2015)
 
What do you think? Do the song’s words line up with this Scripture? How can we worship God as King of our hearts, call him “good”, “anchor”, “fountain” or “shadow” to protect us when he commands, “Do not leave alive anything that breathes in Canaan?”
   Each Christian must have an answer to this very difficult command. Such words or actions in the Bible are often among unbelievers’ weapons to bring charges against God and your faith. “How can you believe in such a hateful God?”, they wonder. Yes, how can the God who commands complete death to certain nations be the “King of My Heart”?
   The LORD God can be your heart’s king when you know this: God’s command here demonstrates the depth of his love to deliver you from the Evil One.
   As God began to instruct Moses, he told Moses he would wipe them out (Exodus 23:23) to protect Israel from the nations’ ongoing detestable idolatry in Canaan. The Father could not allow his children to live in their new home corrupted with such evil. The LORD commanded his people to sweep clean all influences of temptation that could destroy their relationship with God. Even more, he knew if some in Israel worshiped the pagan gods, they would one day sacrifice their own children to such evil. I AM, indeed, is a good King; he is your Shadow to protect you from  sin’s terminal infection.
   What happened? Did Israel obey God’s very hard, yet life-saving command? You’ll learn the answer as you read Judges and the history of the kings.
   If you are doubting God’s goodness, consider how he put your detestable sins upon his sinless Son on the cursed cross. The Son lay down his life, and then he took it up again, so the Spirit could make you worthy to live in God’s holy house.
          Know sin’s depth. Know salvation’s height. Only when we truly understand God’s love will we fully know, “He’s the King of My Heart. He is good; he will never let us down.”

Leviticus 11, 7:22–25, 17:10-16, Deuteronomy 14:3–21, 12:7–25
 
Deuteronomy 12:7 There you and your families will feast in the presence of the Lord your God, and you will rejoice in all you have accomplished because the Lord your God has blessed you.
 
THREE times in Deuteronomy 12, Moses promised Israel they will rejoice and celebrate as they feast in the presence of the Lord your God.
   Yes, perhaps the many sacrifice, worship, civil and health laws we’ve been reading has caused you to ask, “Why so many rules?” But I hope you see here the purpose of God’s rules. In the law, Israel learned who they were as God’s children. From their past, they knew that since Eden, God’s purpose had been to reunite mankind into his joy.
   To do so, HE IS formed a God-believing line of people from Seth to Noah. After the Flood, he set apart Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to form Israel. Then I AM sent Moses to Israel in Egypt. With the plagues he changed nature’s laws to reveal his majesty. He set fellowship, worship, sacrifice and health laws to make a vigorous nation in his fatherly purpose: “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.” (Exodus 6:7).
   If Israel listened closely to Moses’ teachings, they would realize El Shaddai had chosen to invite his people under his rule and into his omnipotent care. The faithful learned that listening to God’s Word would bless them with the LORD God’s holy presence.
   This pattern of God’s revelation and faithful belief extends into a Christian’s life today. God’s laws teach you who you are in Jesus Christ. You are learning that Jesus’ sacrifice has removed from you an unbearable weight of sin from your soul. You understand more completely how gracious God is that he made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
   What a special privilege it is to be saved in the New Covenant of grace! You are the new “Israel”, the chosen ones as the church of Jesus Christ to know God’s omnipotence. He has set you apart from the world, so you can celebrate life in God’s presence. To know God’s Love Story is to know your story.
   As we move out of some very intense reading of God’s laws, let’s approach each day with a grateful heart. Be mindful God has loved you so purposefully through the centuries to welcome you into his presence forever.
 
 
 
 

Leviticus 13, 14:33-57, 15:16–33
 
Leviticus 14:33-34 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 34 “When you arrive in Canaan, the land I am giving you as your own possession, I may contaminate some of the houses in your land with mildew.”
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Deuteronomy 24:8-9 “In all cases involving serious skin diseases, be careful to follow the instructions of the Levitical priests; obey all the commands I have given them. 9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam as you were coming from Egypt.”
 
THE “cleanliness passages” of Leviticus 13, 14 and 15 are another way God reveals his grace, love and mercy to his people. The Father is protecting his children from infections and communicable diseases. You can imagine how quickly such threats as measles, scarlet fever, smallpox or many other diseases could spread through Israel’s crowded camp. In light of the world’s history of contagious plagues, God’s Word on this subject should have been read and obeyed to prevent and reduce such contagions. In fact, the Jews who lived by these laws did escape the great death numbers of various world plagues. Keeping clean and isolating the infected ones helped them to stay alive.
   But then God says, “I may contaminate some of the houses in your land with mildew.” (Some versions say “leprosy”.) Is this true? Does God cause the disease? Deuteronomy 24:8-9 answers, “Yes, he does.” Recall that Miriam criticized her brother Moses. God punished her unjust complaint with leprous skin for 7 days. As the Bible teaches, disease is the curse of sin. God permits disease in the world, and God causes diseases in some. Let’s be clear. No all who are sick are under God’s judgment. God’s reasons for causing one to be ill can include judgment on the disobedient. The reason can also be a test to instruct his faithful. Sometimes he causes a disease to demonstrate his glory in the healing. And there are some he calls to suffering for his sake.
   However, God’s gracious love prepared Israel for the problem. He taught them a process to determine if there was an infection, what kind of infection it was and how to keep others from infection. He gave them a process to remove the mildew (or leprosy) from the home. Sometimes it required the house be torn down and rebuilt. The infected pieces were placed in an unclean area – somewhat in comparison to a waste disposal area or land fill as we have in the U.S.
   There are many ways the human body’s natural processes can cause infection or disease if not handled correctly. The LORD God had a nation in the wilderness. He taught them how to be clean and how to respond to and prevent contagious diseases.
   The law is truly the way to life. For their well-being and health, Israel needed to know.
   It is also good for us to know God’s Word is good for body and soul.

Leviticus 18, 20, Deuteronomy 22
 
Leviticus 18:27-30 “All these detestable activities are practiced by the people of the land where I am taking you, and this is how the land has become defiled. 28 So do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out, as it will vomit out the people who live there now. 29 Whoever commits any of these detestable sins will be cut off from the community of Israel. 30 So obey my instructions, and do not defile yourselves by committing any of these detestable practices that were committed by the people who lived in the land before you. I am the Lord your God.”
 
AS we continue to go forward into God’s story, it will be good to occasionally return to Genesis. Knowing the Bible’s beginning helps us more specifically understand the language and events of God’s entire story. Let’s then return to Genesis to understand God’s language about the land being defiled and vomiting its people as written in Leviticus 18:27-30.
   This scripture concludes a list of evil done by the current residents of Canaan. After a number of “defiling, detestable and perverse” sins in prior verses, God says, “This is how the land has become defiled.” And “Do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out as it will vomit out the people who live there now.” How can the land be as a person to be defiled by sin? To vomit the sinner? Genesis tells us that sin not only infects the soul, it corrupts the land. The good land God created (Genesis 1:10) was to be bountiful with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. (Genesis 1:11) But sin cursed the land into a place of toil: “It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.” (Genesis 3:18) And what happened to the first couple? Genesis 3:23 So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. You could say that the defiled land vomited the sinners. God’s goodness rejected sin as a body rejects bad food.
   In Genesis God connects mankind with the earth. Adam came from the ground. God blessed the man from the good earth to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. Then God judged the couple and expelled them from the Garden into hard toil for their food.
   The Promised Land was to be a preparation for the restored Eden. Israel needed to completely commit to I AM’s laws that would lead to a blessed life in the Promised Land. The image of the land vomiting the rebellious people personifies sin’s terrible consequences. Sin is more than bad. It is detestable. It is defiling. It is death. God’s Word has not changed since Genesis. I AM provides a home now for his church through Jesus’ salvation. The church is to illustrate God’s good land until we enter into the New Heaven and earth.
   As God’s story continues, let us keep Genesis in mind to more wholly understand sin’s cost, God’s love and our role in God’s good land.