Topic: Cleansing Before Occupation [Wednesday March 28, 2018]
Text: Joshua 10:28-37 (KJV)
Key Verse: “And the LORD delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel; and he smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain in it; but did unto the king thereof as he did unto the king of Jericho” (Joshua 10:30).
MESSAGE:
Israelites’ conquest of the Southern region of the land of Palestine may be a moving account but really, it was God at work: cleansing the land of evil. God would not allow His people to inherit the pollution of those they would displace. So, these heathen nations had to be judged for their wickedness and immorality “…because of these abominations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee” (Deuteronomy 18:12).
Today’s passage therefore was more than the story of a conquest, but also a promise fulfilled concerning the Lord’s preparation for His people and an object lesson that God’s desire is to have a cleansed people and an equally cleansed environment. When our Lord Jesus entered the temple and saw the abomination of buying and selling there, He did not hesitate to purge it by casting out those responsible. With the prevalence of evil in the world, the judgment of God hangs over it with very little time left for the fall of the sword of justice. The Lord said “… I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible” (Isaiah 13:11).
A localized judgment was experienced in the days of Joshua but a worldwide one will occur when the Lord returns in full-blown judgment. The way of escape is to make peace with God through confession of sins, forsaking them and accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Only the one who judges himself ahead of God’s judgment by renouncing his sin, asking for forgiveness and receiving Christ, will no longer be judged “for if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31).
Thought For The Day: Yield to God before He yields to justice.
Bible Reading in one Year: Joshua 19-21
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
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