(This post is a short summary of a message I just preached at my church.
To watch whole thing, click here.)
THERE IS NO JOSHUA 6 WITHOUT JOSHUA 5. There are no crumbling walls without circumcised hearts.
JOSHUA 6 is the well-known and well-loved story of the Battle of Jericho. The Israelites walk around this walled enemy city for 7 days and on the last lap of the final day, the walls miraculously come tumbling down… and the Israelites win the battle.
Joshua 6 is powerful! It preaches good.
It gets put in the kids books.
It gets written about in songs.
But there is no Joshua 6 without Joshua 5.
JOSHUA 5 takes place a few days before Joshua 6. It’s not as popular. It doesn’t preach so good. It doesn’t get put in the kids books and no one is writing songs about it.
But there is no Joshua 6 without Joshua 5.
In Joshua 5, the Israelites have just crossed the Jordan River and entered the Promise Land, ending 40 years of wildness wandering. You would think that after 40 long years this would be the moment where they get to kick their shoes off, put their feet up, and enjoy the land flowing with milk and honey. Nope.
For every Jordan you cross, there is a Jericho waiting. But you don’t fight for victory. You fight FROM victory!
Here’s how the Israelites prepared for battle…
Joshua 5:2 NLT
At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise this second generation of Israelites.”
In order to possess their God-given promise, they had to be circumcised. While we no longer have to be physically circumcised in the way these Israelites were, the principle remains. Only now, it’s a spiritual circumcision of the heart.
It’s the cutting away of our old nature; of our carnality; of our flesh. It’s the cutting away of everything that would get in the way of what God wants to do in and through our lives.
Colossians 2:11 NLT
When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.
Circumcision isn’t pleasant. It’s painful.
But it’s necessary. There are no crumbling walls without circumcised hearts.
Yes, the devil is our very real enemy, but sometimes our problem is not with him. It’s with our own uncircumcised flesh that desires the things of this world.
James 1:14 NLT
Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.
The Apostle Paul elaborates on some of these fleshy desires: “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, and the like” (Galatians 5:20-21, NLT). He says to put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you” and to “put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him” (Colossians 3:5, 10, NLT).
It’s time to cut off the flesh! Just like Joshua made flint knives, we have the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word, that God uses to circumcise our hearts. This is why it is vital and imperative that we be in the Scriptures daily, and allow the Lord to cut between soul and spirit, exposing our innermost thoughts and desires (Hebrews 4:12).
Martin Luther says it well:
“When the flesh begins to cut up the only remedy is to take the sword of the Spirit, the word of salvation, and fight against the flesh. If you set the Word out of sight, you are helpless against the flesh. I know this to be a fact. I have been assailed by many violent passions, but as soon as I took hold of some Scripture passage, my temptations left me. Without the Word I could not have helped myself against the flesh.”
Certain things God will deliver you from. But other things He will disciple you through.
Hebrews 12:5-6 TPT
“And have you forgotten his encouraging words spoken to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t underestimate the value of the discipline and training of the Lord God, or get depressed when he has to correct you. For the Lord’s training of your life is the evidence of his faithful love. And when he draws you to himself, it proves you are his delightful child.”
It’s uncomfortable when we have to face certain things and allow the Lord to circumcise us. But there are Jericho walls waiting on our obedience. There are Jericho walls waiting on our circumcised hearts.
After the Israelites were circumcised in Joshua 5, the most incredible thing happens…
Joshua 5:13-14 TPT
13 “When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw standing in front of him a man holding a drawn sword. Joshua approached him and said, “Are you on our side or on our enemies’?” 14 “Neither,” he replied. “I have not come to take sides but to take charge. I am the Commander of Yahweh’s armies.” At once, Joshua threw himself facedown to the ground and worshiped, and he said to him, “I will do whatever you command, my Lord.”
When the people were circumcised, it released the Lord to take charge! Then He laid out the battle plan and led His people to a miraculous victory. When I’m going into battle, I want the Lord to take charge and show me how to fight!
There is no Joshua 6 without Joshua 5.
There are no crumbling walls without circumcised hearts.
And it’s HIS WORD — it’s through the reading and the studying and the meditating of Scripture, that we find ourselves circumcised and changed.
As many prophetic voices have been sharing, we’re in a new era and on the edge of the greatest move of God in history. But our hearts have to be ready! Circumcise us, Lord!