We have been exploring the Book of Joshua to discover keys to obtaining the promises that God has laid aside for us in Christ. One of the most famous episodes in the life of Joshua and in the entire Bible is the fall of Jericho. We want to consider that section of scripture now as we look at obtaining our promises. As a reminder, God lead Israel out of Egypt with his powerful hand. The Israelites did nothing other than believe enough to leave their captivity behind. Egypt is always a “type” of bondage or captivity in scripture. It is a picture of Jesus leading us out of our bondage to sin. Our salvation comes to us freely through the sacrifice of Jesus. We simply need to believe and receive.
For Israel, the first part was obtaining salvation and freedom from slavery. The second part was taking hold of the promises that God had set aside for them in Canaan. To obtain the promises of a land flowing with “milk and honey,” Israel would have to cross the Jordon at flood stage and face their enemies in battle, clearing out the land one battle at a time. Of course, God would go ahead of them and fight for them but they had to partner with God in obtaining these promises and engage the enemy with him. They had to wield a sword, summon faith, get sweaty and dirty, and risk their own safety each time they took new ground. There may be any number of promises for which we will need to contend in the Spirit and war against the enemy in order to obtain a breakthrough for healing, relationships, the salvation of a loved on, or for the future of a nation. Many of the promises in scripture are not just handed to us.
The first thing we need to be aware of is that Jericho stood in the way of Israel’s conquest. It was an impressive, walled city that housed several thousand people at the time of Joshua. Archeologists tells us that it had an outer wall that was about 15 feet high and an inner wall six feet thick and about 45 feet high above the surrounding plain. Inside the city was a fresh spring and the harvest was nearly over. Those inside the city could have withstood a very long siege. However, the siege would last only seven days.
The truth is that Israel could not have taken Jericho in their own strength. They had no military technology or experience for facing walled cities and actually had little experience in battle of any kind. In the face of that, God gave them a strategy that seemed ridiculous to the wise and experienced in warfare. God instructed Joshua to have the priests to take up the ark of the covenant and to march around the city one time each day for six days with seven priests marching before the ark blowing on trumpets. An armed guard marched ahead of the priests and behind the priests but were silent along with all the people of Israel. They did that for six days. On the seventh day, Israel arose at daybreak. The priests carried the ark again with seven priests marching ahead of the ark and blowing trumpets but on the seventh day they marched around the city seven times. On the seventh lap, when the priests blew the trumpets the people shouted and the walls of the city collapsed. Joshua and the fighting men swarmed into the city and destroyed it.
Neither Joshua nor any of his commanders would have ever plotted out that strategy to take Jericho. Except for faith in God, the whole enterprise would have seemed foolish and futile up to the last moment. It might have even been embarrassing as they walked around the city each day silently while those within Jericho most likely stood on the walls and jeered at them.
Many of the promises of God are fulfilled through unusual, unorthodox, unexpected, and seemingly foolish ways. Otherwise, we would assume the promise came through our own strength and wisdom or simply by coincidence. Paul tells is that God chooses the foolish, weak, and the lowly things and people in this world through whom to accomplish his will so that he gets the glory (1 Cor. 1:27). When we are seeking a promise or needing a breakthrough in our lives, it is best to ask God how he wants us to pray or what our part should be in the breakthrough. There were times when God told his people to fight. Other times, he told them to worship. Other times, he told them to watch. Other times, he gave them seemingly foolish things to do that seemed like a waste of time. Why march around the city for six days instead of taking it in one?
We often think promises are not being fulfilled in our lives because God is withholding. We forget that there is demonic resistance that stands against the promises. Sometimes that resistance is significant. Much of what God would ask us to do is aimed at breaking down walls in the unseen realm. Jericho had been a center for idol worship for centuries before the days of Joshua. God told Moses and then Joshua that he would give them every place they set their feet for conquest. I believe that each day the ark was carried around the city with priests blowing trumpets was a prophetic declaration of victory over the demonic powers of Jericho and each day the unseen walls were weakened by that declaration. What may have seemed foolish and a waste of time was essential.
You may be praying for the fulfillment of a promise in your life. God is faithful and his promises are sure, but we must sometimes contend for those promises with prayer, with declarations, and with faith. We should also ask God how to pray for that promise. We should ask if we should be taking any action or waiting on his timing and we should be willing to look foolish, at times, if he directs to so something that makes no earthly sense. God has made promises to his people. He did not make those promises so that he could withhold them. But, in battle we grow strong and we grow closer to him. Those things are probably more important than promise we are seeking … but keep seeking. If you do, the day will come when the walls will crumble and you will have your promise,
