We now come to the book of Joshua. Moses, that honored servant of God, raised up to bring His people out from Egypt’s bondage, who had guided them all through the wilderness to the borders of Canaan, has passed away. Joshua takes his place. It is he who leads the people into the promised land which God had given them.
Both Moses and Joshua are types of the Lord Jesus, and Israel typical of us, His redeemed people now. Christ has delivered us from Satan’s power, His precious blood shelters us eternally, our sins are put away forever; we have been brought to God and now bask in the sunshine of a Father’s love.
The Lord Jesus is journeying with us as we pass through this desert world. Here we are often humbled in order that we might prove what is in our hearts, but we experience that wonderful grace which meets our every need along the way. We feed upon the heavenly manna—Christ, the bread of life come down from above; and we drink the living water which flows from the Rock, Himself smitten for us.
Israel’s inheritance was an earthly one; but we are a heavenly people, and heaven is our home. God would have us to enter in by faith and enjoy those heavenly blessings which He has given us in Christ, who is already in that heavenly land, seated at God’s right hand. But this can only be through death—our death with Christ, of which Jordan is a type.
Joshua, then, is a type of Christ as the Captain of our salvation. He by His spirit leads us into the possession and enjoyment of the heavenly joys and privileges which belong to Him, and He shares them with us.
Joshua was first called Oshea, meaning “deliverance,” but later he was called Joshua, which means “the Lord’s salvation.”
In Deuteronomy God was teaching His people that obedience and blessing go hand in hand. Now that Moses is gone, Israel’s path of obedience and blessing was in following their new captain. So it is with us. May we seek grace to follow Christ our Captain in childlike faith so that He may lead us more and more into the enjoyment of heavenly things.
In the first part of this book we see a remarkable divine energy. God’s time had come; He would have His people cross the Jordan and take possession of the land, so Joshua is given a solemn charge. “Arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them.”
God Himself had given them that beautiful land with its green hills and valleys, its brooks and streams, its waving fields of corn, its olive trees and vineyards, so pleasant a sight for their eyes to rest on. He wanted them to enjoy it to the full, yet more than all He would have them appreciate and enjoy Himself, the Giver.
But what glories are spread before the eye of faith in that heavenly land which now belongs to the believer-the glories of Christ who fills that scene above. And all these glories and blessings are unfolded to us now in His Word. Oh, that we might be stirred, dear Christian, like Israel of old, to “Arise,” and possess, to know more of “the breadth and length, and depth and height.”
Our God the center is,
His presence fills that land,
And countless myriads owned as His,
Round Him adoring stand.
ML-01/16/1977