{"id":12900,"date":"2020-12-01T20:56:22","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T03:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/joshua_5_1-8-copy\/"},"modified":"2020-11-29T21:00:10","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T04:00:10","slug":"joshua_5_9-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/joshua_5_9-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus Takes Away Your Reproach and Shame"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joshua 5:9-15 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Joshua 5:9-15.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Joshua 5:9 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 9:\u00a0\u00a0After Joshua leads the Israelites to be circumcised in accordance with the Jewish law, why did God say to Joshua, \u201cToday I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0To commemorate the place where God rolled away this \u201creproach of Egypt\u201d from the Israelites, they call this place \u201cGilgal\u201d, which means \u201croll away\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0But what is \u201cthe reproach of Egypt\u201d anyway?<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that circumcision was the sign of God\u2019s covenant with the Jewish people (Genesis 17:11).\u00a0\u00a0Circumcision was a symbol that distinguished the Jewish people from their Egyptian masters and showed that they were God\u2019s chosen people.\u00a0\u00a0When Joshua had this new generation of Israelites circumcised, it was them returning back to God\u2019s law, going back to being set apart and distinct from an unbelieving world, which Egypt represented.\u00a0\u00a0So \u201cthe reproach of Egypt\u201d may be a way of describing God\u2019s disapproval of those who don\u2019t trust and follow Him.\u00a0\u00a0By leading a new generation of Israelites to once again honour circumcision, God was rolling away that reproach from this new generation.<\/p>\n

How can we apply this to our faith today?\u00a0\u00a0God specializes in taking away our reproach and disgrace through His love and grace.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Back in Genesis 30:23, a woman called Rachel had been barren for many years, until one day God gave Rachel a son, whom she named Joseph.\u00a0\u00a0In giving that son to Rachel, God took away Rachel\u2019s reproach and disgrace.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise,\u00a0before we were unacceptable in God\u2019s eyes because of our sin.\u00a0\u00a0However, through what Jesus did on the cross, Jesus has taken away our reproach, shame and disgrace.\u00a0\u00a0Because of Jesus, God\u2019s wrath has turned away from us and we are now made completely acceptable in God\u2019s sight.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joshua 5:10-12 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 10-12:\u00a0\u00a0As soon as the Israelites ate some of the produce of the land (v11), the manna (which is bread that God had been miraculously providing to the Israelites every day during their wanderings) stopped (v12).\u00a0\u00a0Once again we see that\u00a0God\u2019s timing is perfect.\u00a0\u00a0As soon as one provision began, another provision ended.\u00a0\u00a0God\u2019s provision comes neither early nor late, but right on time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joshua 5:13-15 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The commander of the\u00a0LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 13-15:\u00a0\u00a0Joshua meets a man with a drawn sword and asks, \u201cAre you for us or for our enemies?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0From the man\u2019s reply Joshua learns that this man is actually the commander of the Lord\u2019s army, an angel (or possibly even more than an angel as we\u2019ll discuss below).\u00a0\u00a0Joshua\u2019s tone and posture change completely.\u00a0\u00a0He falls facedown in reverence before this man he has met.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0There is good reason to believe that the man Joshua meets here is none other than Jesus Christ himself.\u00a0\u00a0This is because this man is described as \u201ccommander of the army of the Lord\u201d (v14), which is one of Jesus\u2019 roles (see, for example, Revelation 19:14-16).\u00a0\u00a0Another reason to believe that this man is Jesus is because when Joshua bows down to worship this man, this man does not stop Joshua\u2019s worship, as angels often would (see, for example, Revelation 19:10 and Revelation 22:9).\u00a0\u00a0Instead this man seems to receive the reverence and worship as if he is worthy of it.\u00a0\u00a0These suggest to me that the man Joshua meets here could very well be Jesus himself.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Notice how Joshua\u2019s tone and posture changes when he realizes that the person before him is no ordinary man but someone from heaven, or as I would suggest the Son of God.\u00a0\u00a0At first when Joshua first meets the man, he asks, \u201cAre you for us or for our enemies?\u201d as if to ask \u201cwhose side are you serving?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0But when Joshua learns that this man is from heaven, his focus changes from \u201cAre you here to serve me?\u201d to \u201cHow can I serve you\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0Likewise,\u00a0we should not treat Jesus like any ordinary man, or as someone who is only here to serve us.\u00a0\u00a0Rather, approach Jesus with an attitude of reverence, worship, humility, submission, and obedience.\u00a0\u00a0Here on earth, we are Jesus\u2019 servants.\u00a0\u00a0Heaven does not exist to serve our purposes on earth.\u00a0\u00a0We exist to serve heaven\u2019s purposes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0The Lord tells Joshua to take off his sandals because the place where he is standing is holy ground.\u00a0\u00a0This recalls a similar scene when the Lord first called Moses to lead the Israelites (Exodus 3:5).<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, thank You for taking away my shame and reproach when You died on the cross for me.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that Your provision always comes at the perfect time, neither early nor late.\u00a0\u00a0I proclaim that I live to serve Your purposes.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Joshua 5:9-15.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Joshua 5:9 (NIV)
\n9\u00a0\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verse 9:\u00a0\u00a0After Joshua leads the Israelites to be circumcised in accordance with the Jewish law, why did God say to Joshua, \u201cToday I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0To commemorate the place where God rolled away this \u201creproach of Egypt\u201d from the Israelites, they call this place \u201cGilgal\u201d, which means \u201croll away\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0But what is \u201cthe reproach of Egypt\u201d anyway?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that circumcision was the sign of God\u2019s covenant with the Jewish people (Genesis 17:11).\u00a0\u00a0Circumcision was a symbol that distinguished the Jewish people from their Egyptian masters and showed that they were God\u2019s chosen people.\u00a0\u00a0When Joshua had this new generation of Israelites circumcised, it was them returning back to God\u2019s law, going back to being set apart and distinct from an unbelieving world, which Egypt represented.\u00a0\u00a0So \u201cthe reproach of Egypt\u201d may be a way of describing God\u2019s disapproval of those who don\u2019t trust and follow Him.\u00a0\u00a0By leading a new generation of Israelites to once again honour circumcision, God was rolling away that reproach from this new generation.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12900"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12901,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12900\/revisions\/12901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}