Walking from East to West

I just finished reading Ravi Zacharias' autobiography called Walking from East to West and I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. As I read the last pages my thoughts went back to Joshua and when he and the elders divided the land they determined much more than where each family would live but what would influence their lives. Ravi is the man he is today because of those influences in his life and how those influences led him to know Jesus Christ as his Lord. It was amazing how Gos shaped this man so that he is today a leading apologetic for the Gospel.

Mathematics Anyone?

I already said that I grew up in rural Saskatchewan. The land in Saskatchewan is divided into townships which measure six miles on each side. In each township there are 36 sections which are one mile square and each section is divided into quarters called quarter sections of 160 acres each.
The problem is that a farmer had a piece of land that consisted of 3 sections as shown in the diagram. He had four sons to which he willed three quarter sections each. However the farmer loved the shape of his land (L shape) and it was his desire that each of the properties that his sons inherited would have exactly the same shape as the original farm. Can you divide the land for the farmer?
When Joshua and the elders divided the land it was to be given to a family and to that families heirs. The land was not to be sold but kept by the family. That did create some questions such as what if the land owner did not have any heirs?
Let me know if you can divide the land in the diagram above. I would like to offer a prize for the first one but ...

Treasure Map

As a kid I was fascinated by treasure maps. We would hid things in cans and then decide where to bury them. We would then draw a treasure map. Ten steps west from the barn, 15 steps east to the big tree, etc. I even helped our kids bury some treasure in our yard. The treasure usually consisted of a few coins, pictures, etc.
As a look at the dividing of the land in Joshua it is almost like making a treasure map. "This was the territory of Ephraim, clan by clan: The boundary of their inheritance went from Ataroth Addar in the east to Upper Beth Horon and continued to the sea. From Micmethath on the north it curved eastward to Taanath Shiloh, passing by it to Janoah on the east. Then it went down from Janoah to Ataroth and Naarah, touched Jericho and came out at the Jordan. From Tappuah the border went west to the Kanah Ravine and ended at the sea." Joshua 16:5 - 8
This all sounds so ordinary but it was the land that God had chosen for the people of Ephraim. It was no accident that God chose that land for them and it is no accident that God has placed us where we are today.

Driving the Truck

I am one of the drivers of our BFM truck and when I read the dividing of the land by Joshua and the elders it reminded me of how I get directions sometimes. Go down to the corner where the big tree is and turn left. Follow that road to the Smith farm and take the next right. An on and on go the directions. Now I am a relatively new comer to Chatham so I need directions that include street names and addresses. We now use a GPS which does help.
The dividing of the land was somewhat like those directions. They used well known landmarks to draw the property lines. However, as they did this they determined a great deal about what would happen in people lives and for the descendants. It was not down by chance, God determined where would be the best place for families to live so that they could come to know Him. Where you live is where God placed you and it is there that you can find Him.

Library and Archives Canada

Today I was surfing through the Library and Archives Canada website. I took time to look at genealogical page and found both of my grandfathers and the land that they were allotted in Saskatchewan. Because both of my grandfathers had immigrated from England I was born in Canada and raised in Saskatchewan. I am sure that had an influence on my life.
When we read through Joshua 13 through 19 we find Joshua assigning the land to the people. Where they lived was part of what they became. God has planted us where we can grow in Him. Though I live in Southern Ontario now I am thankful that I was raised in rural Saskatchewan.

Guilty of Loving His People

The main story of Joshua is not that He was punishing the Canaanites but rather that He is keeping His promise to His people. He is being extremely loving and kind to His people and giving them the land that He promised them. He is making a land where justice rules and the righteous can dwell. To do this He must destroy the wickedness that is in the land. He has to destroy so that He can bring salvation. This is not modern genocide, this is rigtheousness. The destruction of wickedness and the salvation of the righteous go hand in hand, you cannot have one without the other. There is no room in heaven for wickedness and there was no room in the land for wickedness. God gave them time to repent but He is just and judgment will come. He is also extremely loving and kind to His people. Are you part of the people of God? Today is the day of salvation.

The Gospel

My brother-in-law preached at our church today and his text was Colossians 3:1 - 4. I want to publicly thank him for his sermon. He preached the gospel of Jesus Christ which all of us need to hear every day. He reminded us what it means to be hidden in Christ. The Gospel is not just for sinners it is what each of us needs every day. Thank you Bob.

Guilty of Righteousness

Joshua 11:20 says, "For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses."
The question we may ask is, How can God be righteous if He hardens peoples hearts and then destroys them when they do not repent?
We may say that they also hardened their own hearts. The sun that melts wax will harden clay.
We may also say that God was only giving them over to what they we already doing as we read in Romans 1.
But in the end we are only clay and we cannot call the potter to account. How quickly we want to call God to our standard of righteousness but the question comes back to us from God Himself as recorded in Romans 9, Who are you? We do not have a perfect standard of righteousness and it is the essence of extreme pride to think that we can call God to our standards, that we are more righteous and just than He.
Yes, God is guilty but He is guilty of being perfect in righteousness and someday we will understand that.
This is difficult for me to understand and I want to think that I have a perfect standard by which I can measure others but I must remember, I am not God. I do not know the end from the beginning. If He is God then let us let Him be God and not created in our image.

Guilty of Justice

A few months ago the world was outraged at a man in Austria who had raped and imprisoned his daughter. We ask how could someone do that and we cry out for justice. In Canaan there were all manner of sins being committed against women, children, weak, aliens and other vulnerable people. They were guilty of some of the worst sins against mankind but they were guilty of sins against God. They did not honour God as God. It is one thing for someone to be patient but if that person continues to overlook injustices and sins then that patience is heartless. At some point we must act against the sins. We can be patient with the drug dealer but if we continue to let that drug dealer destroy innocent lives then we are guilty as an unfaithful watchman.
God was just in exercising His wrath. He may be slow to anger but He is not above anger. God is the perfect righteous judge. He is guilty but He is guilty of perfect righteous judgment.
God in is judgment of sin has made a way of escape and that is through the cross. He was willing to pour out His wrath upon His Own Son (Isaiah 53:10). Jesus Christ was made sin for us that we may know the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Daylight Saving Time

This is my 200th post on this blog. Tomorrow I hope to continue with the topic of God and genocide but today I just want add a silly thought I had. As I was reading Joshua 10 and the miracle of the sun standing still I thought of all the ways that we as mankind have tried to change our world including daylight saving time which is like cutting off the top of your blanket and sewing it onto the bottom to make it longer.

Guilty of patence

God did command that all the people of Jericho be put to death. There was only one who escaped and that was Rahab because of her conversion. Was God guilty of genocide? God did it. Read chapter 10 and see how God assisted His people in the putting to death of their enemies. Joshua 11:20 "For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses."
How do we defend this? We cannot.
What we have here is not an example of God's guilt but of God's glory.
First, we have God's patience. This is not God losing His temper and destroying the people of Canaan. He had told Abraham that He was giving his descendants this land. Genesis 15:16 says "In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
God had given these people 470 years to repent. The punishment of God upon these people finally came when their iniquity was complete. While God was being patient these people continued to go deeper and deeper into sin.
Did God harden their hearts? Yes He did. The same sun that softens wax will harden clay. The nature of their heart was to rebel against God so when God was patient with them their hearts were not softened but hardened. Romans 1 tells us that God gave them up to their own sinful desires. To see the nature of their sin read Leviticus 18 and 19. God is guilty but He is guilty of unparalleled patience.

Genocide

Genocide is defined to be any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, including: (a) killing members of the group (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. In the twentieth century we have had the following:
Bosnia-Herzegovina: 1992-1995 - 200,000 Deaths
Rwanda: 1994 - 800,000 Deaths
Pol Pot in Cambodia: 1975-1979 - 2,000,000 Deaths
Nazi Holocaust: 1938-1945 - 6,000,000 Deaths
Rape of Nanking: 1937-1938 - 300,000 Deaths
Stalin's Forced Famine: 1932-1933 - 7,000,000 Deaths
Armenians in Turkey: 1915-1918 - 1,500,000 Deaths
When we look at the definition of genocide we may ask the question whether God was guilty of genocide in the killing of the people of Canaan. Some people become very upset at the killing of the Canaanites. Over the next four days I would like to answer that question. We read in Joshua 11:6, 'The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them over to Israel, slain. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots."'

Baptism

Today we had a baptismal service at the church. First Pastor Gord preached another good sermon and because baptism can be somewhat controversial in our church (many have been baptised as infants) he was able to show how being baptised again as an adult is not disrespectful of our parents. That was an important point and he did a great job of it.
I also remembered my own baptism forty eight years ago in the Kamanistiqua River near Stanley, Ontario which is a few miles west of Thunder Bay. Pastor Harrison Weaver baptised me in that cold river water.
It wasn't baptism that the Israelites went through at Gilgal but rather circumcision. Being circumcised at that time showed that they trusted God not only with their future but their very lives. God wanted a people set aside for Himself and they needed to have the mark of ownership.
We declare the same thing when we are baptised. We declare to a watching world that we belong to Christ. Baptism is an act of faithful obedience. One lady that was baptised this morning said that before the baptism she looked around and saw some from her former church who knew that she had been baptised as an infant. For a moment doubt entered her mind but she knew that it was more important to be faithful to God than to look good in the eyes of her friends. I was blessed by her testimony. Baptisms are great moments in the life of a church.

Change of tactics

Chapter 9 of Joshua seems to indicate that the major conflict is over but it is then that Satan changes his tactics. This time it is deception. If we do not pray, if we do not know our Bibles and our doctrine then we too are vulnerable to Satan's deception. We may feel that the major conflict in our spiritual warfare is over but Satan comes and blind sides us.

The Shack Revisited

Well I took the plunge and finally read The Shack. To say it was a compelling story would be an exaggeration but it is an interesting story. However, I have some real concerns.
First let me list some of my concerns. If you think you will get an understanding of the Trinity by reading this book let me say that you will only get a false understanding of the Trinity. I made a number of notes as I read the book. First on page 99 Papa says (Papa is an African American woman who is suppose to represent God - I would like to comment on how the author in trying to avoid one stereo type jumps right into another) "When we three spoke ourself into human existence as the Son of God, we became fully human." This is certainly not Biblical. Jesus became man, not God the Father, not God the Holy Spirit. He then continues on page 100, "Jesus, as a human being, had no power within himself to heal anyone." When Jesus became human He was still God and the power of the living God was still in Him.
The real shocking part of the story comes on page 110 when Jesus says, "I am the best (not only) way any human can relate to papa or Saraya" and then on page 182 He adds when He is asked if all roads will lead to Him, "Not at all" but He leaves the implication open that there are other roads. Just a few lines earlier He messes with the the verbs jumping from past to present and back again.
On page 145 he talks about hierarchy being the result of sin but there is hierarchy in the God head, read your Bible, and among angels, in the church (God's design so I guess according to this book He sinned) and in the family. This is Biblical. It is not sin.
On page 202 he seems to indicate that the Ten Commandments are sinful but misses the point that they reveal the character and nature of God. He avoids wrath and condemnation and says that it is not part of God's plan but it is contrary to Biblical teaching. God does punish sin, the Bible says so. There are so many ways that as I read this book I could not make it consistent with Scripture.
I have heard a few comments by some people that are really bothersome. One person said that the reading of this book changed their prayer life, I guess now they pray to a Black African American woman. Another said that it took the Trinity and our understanding of God out of the box. The box has been part of orthodox Christian doctrine for two thousand years but we need to take Him out of the box and put Him into one that we will define by a novel. Give your head a shake. Others have said that they finally understand the Trinity - oh you do do you. Compare this to the Biblical teaching and you will see that it does anything but give you a proper understanding of the Trinity.
I also see that there is a breaking of the commandment that you are not to make any representation of God. The commandment is clear, God must define Himself. To define God as an old man or an African American woman is totally against the commandment.
Part way through this book I suddenly thought that I was reading the fictional version of Grace Walk without the Biblical basis for what it was saying.
Why has a book like this one become so popular? People are hungry for the spiritual but they are not willing to go to the source of truth. We have become Biblically illiterate and therefore we cannot see the errors in books like this. It is not that this book is almost right because to get doctrine almost right is to get doctrine wrong. I believe it is a challenge for the church to address the deeper issue that is here and that is why does a book like this get such a following.
There is a humourous part to this. While I was reading The Shack the person who lent me the book came by with another book for me, the title, Christ in the Tabernacle by A. B. Simpson.
My recommendation is not to read the book but if you do remember that it is a novel and not the Word of God. It is not even sound doctrine.

Come and Save Us

When Gibeah was under attack by the other cities they sent a message to Joshua which said, "Come and save us". The interesting thing is that the name Joshua means Saviour. It is the same for us. We call out to Jesus to come and save us and His name means Saviour. The Gibeanites went to the right person for their salvation and it is important that we go to the right person for our salvation. There is no other name by which we can be saved.

The Gospel & Personal Evangelism

I have just finished reading Mark Dever's book The Gospel & Personal Evangelism. This is a book that all Christians should read. Our understanding of the Gospel and evangelism is essential for all Christians. I recently read a book that attacked this very subject because people like Mark Dever are of the reformed tradition. I would like to quote from Mark Dever's book on page 104:
"Have you heard it said that the doctrine of God's choosing some for salvation (the doctrine of election) undercuts evangelism? It didn't in Paul's life. As he later wrote to Timothy, 'I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory' (2 Tim. 2:10). Romans 10 contains Paul's clearest and most impassioned plea for the Christians to send out people to preach the gospel because it is the only way people are saved; but this impassioned plea comes after what many consider Paul's plainest teaching about the doctrine of election in Romans 9. He didn't see any inconsistency that a sovereign God is also a saving God.
"Somehow, Paul found the doctrine of God's sovereignty an encouragement in his evangelism."

The Dentist

Today I went to the dentist. He had to replace an old filling. Before he began to take out the old filling he had to put in freezing. It use to be that you would receive a needle to freeze the tooth and then the dentist would begin to do his work on the tooth. Today I received a numbing on the gum before the the needle to freeze the tooth. We do not want any pain.
I am I writing about this in a blog about Bible teaching? While I sat in the dentist chair I thought about Joshua. Just as we want to remove any pain from dental work we want to remove those parts of the Scriptures that make us uncomfortable. We do not want the killing that is part of the book of Joshua. Over the next few weeks we will have to take a look at this. I am interested in what you may think about this.

The Lost Day

The claim by some Christians is NASA Scientists discovered a "missing" day in time that corresponds to Biblical accounts of the sun's standing still in the sky.

You can read about it at: http://www.snopes.com/religion/lostday.asp

This claim is false. Why do so many people want science to prove the Bible? The Bible isn't true because science proves it, science is true when the Bible confirms it. Which do we trust more, science or the Word of God? God's Word says that the sun stood still over Gibeah, I don't need science to prove that it is true.

Extending the day

Today my wife and I went to a small town and for a few hours this afternoon we sat at the beach watching the waves come in and sail boats going by. It was one of those days that you would want to go on for hours. Sometimes there are days that the sun seems to set too soon. Joshua had one of those days so he asked God to extend the day. His prayer was answered. He needed the longer day to achieve a military victory. Our day was extended by memories.

Happy birthday son

Today is my oldest sons birthday. I am so grateful to God that He has used him to influence many for Jesus Christ. The cross has been central in his message and now as he studies I know that God is preparing him for further ministry. Many times I wish there was more that we could do as his parents to help him fulfill his dream but if we care we need to remember that God cares even more. His dream is being fulfilled. God is using him even now as he prepares for further ministry. Happy birthday son.

Getting Messy

Today Gil preached at our church and he used Romans 8:18-28 as his text. In the first paragraph of the passage it talks about creation groaning, not because it is not good but because of the fall. In the next paragraph it talks about we the church groaning. The world is not as it should be nor am I what I should be but the church needs to go where the world is hurting. That is what Gil is doing on the streets of his city. He reminded us that we are to be the presence of God in the hurting situations. It maybe on the streets, it may be in our homes, it may be in our church. In the last paragraph we read that the Spirit is groaning inside of us. When we go where it hurts God is already there.
The Gospel is messy. As I have looked at the book of Joshua I can see why some people do not like the book, it gets messy. Joshua is an important book in the redemption of God's people and the message of hope to a hurting world.

The Gospel every day.

The Psalmist says of God, "He has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping." Psalm 66:9. Why do we need the Gospel preached to us everyday? We are not only saved by grace but we are kept by God's grace. We do not begin the Christian life by faith in the grace of God and then are left on our own. We must live each day by faith. Paul said that God's grace is sufficient.
So what is the Gospel? It is Christ Jesus as our Saviour and our Lord. It is trusting in the work of Christ on the cross for our salvation and for our day to day living. It is the fact that He died for our sins and that He died to keep us from sin. The Gospel is the good news that man can be reconciled with God.
Rahab understood the Gospel. She was willing to abandon her past life completely and to trust in the God of Israel. She knew that she did not have to go through some ritual or do certain works but to simply trust.
When the Israelites lost sight of the Gospel they fell into defeat. They had to come back to the place of trust.

The Gospel and right living

The Gospel is not just right living. The Israelites were circumcised, they had celebrated the Passover and they had reviewed the Law. Everything was in place for a virtuous life. But that is not the Gospel. They were not victorious. They would still suffer defeats. They still needed the Divine presence to be with them and to lead them.

More than a friend

The Gospel is not simply that God wants to be our friend. When Joshua met the man outside the wall of Jericho He did not come as a friend but as the commander of the Lord's army. He didn't come to take sides, He came to take over. Yes, Jesus is our friend but before He is our friend He has to be our Lord.

All you need is love

God is love is an important part of the message of the Gospel but love is not just having a good feeling about God or oneself. There is another side of the good news and that is judgment. The people in Canaan had refused to repent so God brought judgment upon them. This judgment was not without warning but it was not heeded. God did not have the people of Canaan killed because He didn't love them. He loved the human race so much that He could not tolerate the rebellion and sin against Him. That sin would have effected the whole world and especially God's people. Moses had instructed Joshua and the leaders that when they went into battle against the enemy they were first to make an offer of peace. God is love, the Gospel is about God's love but it is also about judgment. How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

Now that we are out of Egypt

Next month we will once again be back into the regular programs at the church which will include adult class in the morning and Sundays at Six. For Sundays at Six we will be doing a study on the Tabernacle while in the morning we will conclude our studies in Joshua. Because we will be focusing in the blog on the Tabernacle I thought I would take some time to look at what the studies in Joshua will include.

I first want to spend time looking at the Gospel. We need the Gospel preached to us everyday.

They were out of Egypt. They were saved so why did they need to cross the Jordan? They were okay, they were safe, the land on the east of Jordan was fertile. Two and one half tribes already had taken up residence there.

Like many today they feel that they are saved therefore they are okay. They don't need the Gospel. They heard it, they accepted it and now leave us alone. However, the crossing of Jordan wasn't just entering into the promise land which was for a select few. The promises and the inheritance of God is for everyone. The Gospel is salvation from our sins and the judgment to come but it is much more than that. There has to be a break from the past and go on with God. We need the Gospel every day of our lives.

The Gospel According to Jesus

I have just finished reading John MacArthur jr's book, The Gospel According to Jesus. Today it seems that Christians would rather be socially acceptable rather than a counter culture so the message to the world is one of easy believism. How can Jesus be our Saviour if He is not our Lord? Salvation without counting the cost is not salvation at all. The Gospel message isn't something that will make us feel good about ourselves while we continue to live as we always have lived. The Gospel calls us to something radically different, to be counter culture, to leave the past and to become a new creation in Christ Jesus. You cannot have Jesus as an add on or as a fire insurance.

Ten Years Ago Today

Ten years ago today we were visiting my wife's family in Chatham and we learned that 100 Huntley Street had set up a full scale model of the Tabernacle in their parking lot in Burlington. So we went. It was amazing. First, I never realized the size of the Tabernacle. As our guide took us through the Tabernacle it was great to learn about each piece of furnishing and how they portrayed Christ. As we work through the Tabernacle it is my goal that each of us will see Christ in all His majesty. I was so glad that I had the opportunity to visit it that August 1, 1998 and ever since that day I have had a desire to learn more. This September we will begin our lessons of the Tabernacle. It should be a wonderful study.