Revering the Word
Joshua 12 The faithfulness of God to Israel and to us.
Good morning everyone. This morning we are in Joshua chapter 12. There's something very important to see and remember. I want to take you back in history for a moment to Genesis chapter 12, when the Lord appeared to Abraham and Yahweh said to Abraham, Genesis 12 verse 1, go forth from your land and from your kin and from your father's house to the land which I will show you. And I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. And I want to make sure that you understand that God promised Abraham land. He promised Abraham the land of Israel and he also promised him a family. And he promised promised him a family through Sarah. And it took a long time for this to come about but God is going to be faithful to his promise. And indeed, you know, after many years Abraham and Sarah finally had Isaac, and that was a miraculous birth by the way and then Isaac had Jacob. You know, Jacob's family ended up surviving through the famine because Joseph was sent ahead one of Jacob's sons into Egypt to save grain. And that was how God saved Abraham's family and they multiplied in Egypt. And just as God said, they would multiply and indeed then they came out of Egypt through Moses and into the desert and now God is fulfilling his promise to Abraham to bless his family and to give him the land of Israel. So everything that we're reading in the book of Joshua is really about God fulfilling his covenant that he made the Abrahamic covenant to bless his family and to give him the land, the land of Israel. At the end of Joshua chapter 11, it said this in verse 23 so Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it foreign inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes, thus the land had rest from war and we're heading towards that time where Israel is going to allot the land that God has now given them. And indeed we can see that God has given it to them. I mean they have been having miraculous victories because of the fact that God is going to fulfill his covenant and give Israel that land. That's what's happening. So in Joshua chapter 12, we have a record essentially of what God has done in providing them the victory and towards the end of the chapter say the last 2017 verses or so. It lists all the names of the kings as to which Joshua and Israel defeated in order to get the land there's 31 kings mentioned on this side of the Jordan that they are now that they defeated in order for God to give them the land think about that. There's 31 different countries kings that Israel was able to defeat because of the fact that God was going to fulfill his promise to give him the land and he did. So here we go. Joshua 12 verse one. Now these are the kings of the land whom the sons of Israel defeated and whose land they possess beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise from the valley of Arnon as far as Mount Herman and all the Arab to the east. The king of the Amorites who lived in hash bond and ruled from a or, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon both the middle of the valley and the half of Gilead even as far as the brook of Jabbak, the border of the sons of Ammon. The Arab as far as the sea of Chineroth toward the east and as far as the sea of the Arab even the salt see eastward toward Beth Jeshamoth on the south, at the foot of the slopes of Pizga on the territory of Ag the king of Bishan, one of the remnant of the Raphim who lived in Astroth and at Adarai the ruled over Mount Herman and Salaka and all of Bishan as far as the border of the Gishurites and the Machites and half of Gilead as far as the border of Sihan king of Hashban. And here we have a little summary Moses the servant of the Lord and the sons of Israel defeated them and Moses the servant of the Lord gave it to the Rubenites and the Gaddites and the half tribe of Manasa as a possession. And that's even referring to you know the ones that they defeated on the other side of the Jordan River as well that eventually those people are going to get. Remember they were reserved some land on the other side because they wanted the land but they had to come over on this side of the Jordan River to help fight. Then it goes on in verse seven now these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the sons of Israel defeated beyond the Jordan toward the west from Bal Gadd in the valley of Lebanon even as far as Mount Halak which rises towards Sier. And Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their visions in the hill country in the lowland in the araba on the slopes in the wilderness and in the Negev. The Hittite the Amorai and the Canaanite and the Purizite and the Hivite and the Juba site. The king of Jericho now I'm going to stop there but what it's going to do and verses nine through twenty four is it's going to list every specific king now. What's powerful about that is like imagine this historical account of Israel's victory. Now getting into the records of this book of Joshua and it's showing God's faithfulness and how mighty he is that he has provided for Israel. You know to us sending in America or wherever you may find yourself you know this isn't the land that you're living in. But if you were you know I'm thinking of like where I live right now in Wisconsin and if all of a sudden you know it was given a historical account and it was naming all the regions that I'm very familiar with that God gave victory to us over. And I'm familiar with them I'd be like a mace like wow that's incredible that God who promised us this land gave us victory in all these areas to fulfill his promise. God is faithful and you know that's what I think is really the moral of the story in Joshua chapter 12. And you know God later promised that there would be a new covenant this is the you know the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant then God made a mosaic covenant. The covenant of the law the covenant of the blessings and curseings and they lived under that covenant a long time. But God said through Jeremiah that one day he was going to bring about a new covenant where he would forgive their iniquity and remember their sins no more. And indeed when that new covenant will come there would be a king in the family line of David which we haven't really gotten to yet in our journey through the scriptures. But that's called the Davidic covenant that's another covenant that David would have a king that would be on the throne forever. And that has come true and will continue to come through through Jesus. The point is is that we've now seen a new covenant come that was promised many years ago so the covenants that God has made and the things that he's going to do in the future. You can count on because he's done he's fulfilled what he said in the past he said he'd bring forth a babe from a virgin from Bethlehem. And his name became Jesus and he did come just as God came in Bethlehem from a virgin. And ultimately as Isaiah 53 said that he would be the one who is pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities and the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed hallelujah. And he came through in Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So God has promised things all throughout the Old Testament that we're covering now. And they've come to fruition so you know sometimes you got to wait and you know what we're a long ways from Abraham's life here in Joshua. And now what was promised to Abraham is being fulfilled Jesus came just as God said and what you can count on is that Jesus is coming again just as God has said God is going to fulfill the things he's promised in his word. All throughout history he's going to continue to do it. You can trust God you're in the right camp. If you're following Jesus Christ, the revelation of who God is who came to earth to reveal God to us. And now hallelujah he's in us always to the end of the age for the power of the Holy Spirit. God is going to make good on his promises in the future just as he has in the past he's coming again.