JOSHUA: THE LORD IS SALVATION The Day The Sun Stood Still Joshua 10:1-15

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1 JOSHUA: THE LORD IS SALVATION The Day The Sun Stood Still Joshua 10:1-15 Our theme for our summer series on Joshua comes from the meaning of Joshua s name, The Lord is salvation. Whenever the name Joshua was spoken the Lord s salvation was declared. The Scripture passage we ll be looking at today is Joshua chapter 10, where one of the most dramatic miracles in Scripture is recorded a miracle God did as part of the salvation journey of his people. We re studying the Old Testament Book of Joshua this summer, but we re doing more than just observing God s saving power in history four thousand years ago. We re looking at Joshua as a connection point between God s saving power in history and his salvation in our lives today. The message of God s salvation is proclaimed in stories and in promises throughout the Old Testament. For example, Zephaniah 3:17 says, The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 And the salvation God provides came to fulfillment in the New Testament through the birth, life, death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus. The name Jesus is the Latin form of Joshua. When we say Jesus name we re proclaiming God s salvation. As we begin today I want you to reflect on the question, What does God s salvation mean for you? The first thing that probably comes to mind for many of us is the time when we acknowledged our sin, confessed it to God and received the forgiveness that is available to us in Jesus. For some of us that salvation experience was dramatic. We were traveling away from God and our lives were marred by the effects of sin, and then we made a dramatic turn (the word repentance means turning around ) toward God and now we re walking with Him and our life has been radically changed. For others, our salvation experience didn t appear nearly as dramatic maybe we grew up in a Christian home, were saved as a child and our salvation was more of a natural step than a dramatic turn. Whatever our experience was when we chose to put our faith in Christ, I hope we understand that God s salvation is not a once and done experience; it s ongoing. Salvation is God s nature. It s his name. It s who He is. It s what He does. Our Heavenly Father remains active in drawing people to Himself. He is salvation. 1

2 As I thought about the Lord s salvation in my life, several memories quickly came to mind. I recalled a car accident I had when I was a junior in college where God protected me from serious harm. I was going to play basketball with some guys from our church when I mistakenly ran through a red light in Mechanicsburg. I was hit broadside by a truck and then my car careened into another vehicle parked at the intersection. My car was totaled, but other than some bumps and bruises I was relatively unharmed even though I foolishly wasn t wearing a seat belt. My parents and I were thanking God for his salvation. I also recall a trip to North Carolina that Greta and our kids were returning from. We were having dinner at an Arby s in Maryland when there was a loud crash and a window in the restaurant shattered. I immediately felt pain on the side of my head. When I touched my head it was sticky with blood and then I saw a fist-sized rock on the floor beside me. A tractor pulling a weed chopper in an adjacent field had apparently lifted the rock into the air, through the window and it grazed the side of my head. Greta and I thanked God for his salvation. We were grateful that I wasn t seriously harmed and that Treyton, who was 1 at the time and sitting beside me in his booster seat, wasn t struck by the rock which flew within inches of his head. I ve also seen God s salvation through answered prayers. I vividly recall a time when Pastor Ken Hepner and others from our church stood with my wife Greta and anointed her with oil asking God for healing of chronic fatigue she had been experiencing fatigue and a feeling of being exhausted for a long time. During that prayer I sensed that God had moved miraculously in her life. And in the ensuing days, weeks and months and since that time, Greta s energy and health were renewed. We still praise God for his salvation. If we had the time, I m sure many of you could recount similar stories in which you ve experienced the Lord s salvation in your life. Jesus is salvation. It s his name. It s who He is. It s what He does. We may recall our salvation experience, but it s easy to lose sight of the fact that Jesus salvation never ends. It is ongoing. Perhaps, we ve been disillusioned because we ve believed God and prayed for his salvation in certain situations healing for a loved one, resolution of a conflict, restoration of a marriage, salvation for a wayward child and yet haven t seen God move in the way we d hoped. My daughter Kerrigan is a powerful, little prayer warrior. God has blessed her with faith and persistence and sensitivity to Him and his work, and she faithfully prays for people. But her 2

3 faith has been challenged when people she has prayed for haven t been healed and situations where she s asked for God s intervention haven t turned out the way she d hoped. Greta and I try to encourage Kerrigan with the understanding that God always hears us and He loves us, but he doesn t always answer in the ways that we hope. But it can be hard to maintain faith when we don t see our prayers answered and when we feel like God didn t come through for us. In the face of our disappointment, it s easy to lose sight of the fact that our Lord still saves. My hope is that as we look at Joshua chapter 10 this morning and focus on the salvation God brought about through his dramatic intervention, the truth The Lord is salvation is reinforced for each of us today. I invite you to find Joshua chapter 10 in your Bibles or your electronic device. This passage of Scripture that we re looking at today immediately follows what Pastor Jason preached about last week the Gibeonites deception. The Gibeonites, who lived in the immediate vicinity of Jericho and Ai places the Israelites had recently conquered went to great lengths to deceive God s people into believing that they came from a distant land. They did this because they feared that they would soon be conquered by the Israelites, like all of the other surrounding nations. Joshua and the Israelite leaders believed the Gibeonites story and failed to check with God to see how they should respond. After making a covenant promising the Gibeonites protection, the Israelites realized they had been fooled. The Israelites wanted to destroy the Gibeonites for their duplicity, but Joshua wouldn t allow it, because of the covenant they had made. The Gibeonites were allowed to live, but they were relegated to roles as servants for the Israelites. I ll begin reading in verse 1 of chapter 10 and I ll read through verse 15. I ll pause throughout the reading to add some commentary Now Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and totally destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and that the people of Gibeon had made a treaty of peace with Israel and were living near them. He and his people were very much alarmed at this, because Gibeon was an important city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were good fighters. So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem appealed to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish and Debir king of Eglon. Come up and help me attack Gibeon, he said, because it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites. Joshua 10:1-4 The news of the way in which the Israelites led by their God were rolling through every city and people group in their path was spreading fast. Rahab the prostitute from Jericho 3

4 told the spies in Joshua chapter 2 that great fear had fallen on all who lived in the land. The Gibeonites known as powerful warriors were so afraid that they went to great lengths to deceive Joshua. And in these verses the King of Jerusalem decided that he was going to rally four other kings to join him in trying to stop the advancement of the Israelites. But rather than attacking Joshua and his forces directly, this 5 kingdom alliance decided to go after the Israelites new allies, the Gibeonites. I ll resume reading at verse 5 Then the five kings of the Amorites the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon joined forces. They moved up with all their troops and took up positions against Gibeon and attacked it. The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us. So Joshua marched up from Gilgal with his entire army, including all the best fighting men. The LORD said to Joshua, Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you. After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by surprise. The LORD threw them into confusion before Israel, who defeated them in a great victory at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the LORD hurled large hailstones down on them from the sky, and more of them died from the hailstones than were killed by the swords of the Israelites. Joshua 10:5-11 When the Gibeonites were attacked they called out to Joshua in desperation. Without the help of the Israelites, Gibeah knew they were doomed. The natural inclination of the Israelites may have been to leave the Gibeonites to fend for themselves. After all, they were in this predicament because of their own deception (that rationale would have come to my mind), but Joshua quickly made the decision to honor the alliance the Israelites had with Gibeah. He mobilized his troops and they marched out to meet the Amorite kings. These 5 kings and their combined armies posed a great challenge to Joshua and his army. This would be the stiffest challenge the Israelites had faced thus far. As the Israelite army marched toward the battle the Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you. v. 8 God recognized the people s fear and uncertainty and He moved to assure them that they would be victorious. And the battle went as God had said. The Lord threw the Amorites into confusion and Israel drove them back and as they were retreating God sent a hailstorm which killed more people than the Israelites had killed in battle. 4

5 I want to take a little aside before we go on Portions of the Old Testament including Joshua are filled with war and violence and death. A troubling question that confronts us is, How do we account for the disparity between the violence of the Old Testament and the peace and love that characterizes Jesus and his ministry in the New Testament? Based on this perceived disparity, some Bible scholars try and explain away the Old Testament claiming it s an inaccurate depiction of what actually took place either the events never happened or the authors embellished the events beyond all recognition, based on their own cultural understandings. The question, How could a God of love kill so many people, just because they weren t Israelites? is a difficult one. Admittedly, the Old Testament raises some challenging questions, but we can t just dismiss it, because it is God s Word. We believe that the New Testament and the ministry of Jesus is the fulfillment of God s plan, but the Old Testament is still God s Word. Jesus even said that He did not come to abolish the Old Testament, but to fulfill it. When Paul wrote to Timothy that all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, correction and training in righteousness, he was referring to the Old Testament. The New Testament hadn t been compiled yet. And when the author of Hebrews says that God s Word is living and active, he s referring to the only Scripture they had at that time the Old Testament. I can t explain away the violence of the Old Testament or answer all the questions that arise. But I do know that in the midst of the killing and violence we still encounter God s love and grace and the fulfillment of his plan to create a nation of people who were set apart for Him as a witness to all the nations around them. And in the midst of the violence and killing, there were people like Rahab who weren t Israelites and who placed their faith in God. A number of Old Testament scholars point out that God s people in the Old Testament didn t refer just to those who were Israelite by birth. There were Egyptians in Egypt who placed their faith in God and put lamb s blood above their doorpost to be saved from the angel of death and these people accompanied the Israelites out of Egypt and into the desert. Moses father-in-law, Jethro (and his family), were Hittites and yet they appear to have placed their faith in God. And there are references in Exodus and Deuteronomy that lead us to believe that foreigners were also part of God s people. I don t have answers for all of the violence and death in the Old 5

6 Testament, but it doesn t change my picture of God as a God of mercy, grace, love and forgiveness, who revealed Himself fully to us in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. I ll conclude our text today by reading from Joshua chapter 10 verses On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon. So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel! Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal. Joshua 10:12-15 Here s the dramatic miracle that this story is most known for. As God s people were defending their allies the Gibeonites and destroying the 5 city states and their kings, who posed the greatest threat the Israelites had yet faced, Joshua realized that his army needed more time to fully leverage their advantage. So, he prayed, O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon. And amazingly, God answered this prayer. The author of Joshua says, The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. God heard Joshua s prayer for more time and He miraculously answered it. There was no sunset on that day and no sunrise the next day. The sun remained in the sky for two continuous days. Joshua led the Israelites to completely defeat their enemies and God gained great glory for Himself, because his people and their enemies understood that God had miraculously intervened. Can you imagine the Israelites shock the Israelites experienced when the realization of what God did became clear to them? Can you picture the confusion of Israel s enemies, trying to hang on until the end of the day and waiting for the cover of darkness a nightfall that never arrived? God exercised his salvation on behalf of his people in an unforgettable way. Some skeptics of the Bible claim that this miracle (and the reliability of the Scriptures as a whole) is suspect because we now know the sun doesn t actually move in the sky it just appears to rise and set based on the rotation of the earth. Throughout most of history, until less than 500 years ago, people believed the sun rotated around the earth and that it literally rose and set each day. It wasn t until decades after Nicolas Copernicus put forth his ideas in the mid-16 th Century, that it was understood that the earth actually rotated around the sun. So, I 6

7 guess technically, the miracle God probably did that day was slowing or stopping the earth s rotation, which was no less of a miracle. Whatever the scientific nature of the miracle God did that day was, the end result was that there was no darkness for at least a 36-hour period and the prolonged daylight allowed Joshua and his army to completely defeat the 5 kings who banded together against the Gibeonites. God had delivered his people and showed them his salvation by leading them out of Egypt; pushing back the Red Sea so they could walk through on dry land; providing them with manna and quail in the desert; bringing water from a rock; and, not causing their sandals and clothes to wear out after 40 years of wandering. But that day, The Lord is salvation took on new meaning for God s people. The Lord is salvation. He was salvation for his people the Israelites throughout the Old Testament. He demonstrated his salvation in the sending of his Son, Jesus who lived, was crucified and was raised to life by God s power. The Lord s salvation was revealed again at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit, which Jesus had promised, came to live inside of Jesus followers. The Lord s salvation was received by those of us who have invited Him into our lives. And God s salvation continues to be experience by followers of Jesus as we walk through life. We are still people in need of a savior. So, my question today is, Where in your life are you in need of a savior? God, who revealed Himself to Joshua and the Israelites by making the sun stand still is your savior and my savior. Our Heavenly Father, who sent Jesus whose name means, The Lord is salvation is our salvation. In the midst of life s highs and lows, through all of the peaks and valleys, through the joys and the disappointments of life The Lord is salvation. As we move to a time of worship, I d like you to reflect on the truth, The Lord is salvation, and I encourage you to invite Jesus into whatever challenging circumstances you re walking through, so that you can experience his salvation. The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 7