Well do please keep your Bibles in hand and turn now with me in them to page 180 as we continue our meditations on the book of Joshua, looking this morning at Joshua 5 and the first twelve verses. You will remember the people of Israel have now crossed over the Jordan River. They are encamped just inside the eastern border of the land of Canaan in the territory of the Amorites, not far from the city of Jericho. Israel is poised to begin the conquest of the Promised Land at long last. And before they do, there are some final preparations they must make. The people must renew their relationship with God by administering the two principle signs of God’s covenant in the Old Testament – circumcision and Passover. These were, as we might say, the main sacraments of the church under the old covenant. The first circumcision, like baptism in the new covenant, was the sacrament of entry into the people of God. It was administered to believers when they became members of the covenant community for the first time and to their children. The second, Passover, also like the Lord’s Supper in the new covenant, was the sacrament of growth and nurture and life within the fellowship of the people of God. And only circumcised, believing, adult members of the covenant community were entitled to eat of it. And given that basic continuity that exists in meaning and in function between the two principle sacraments of the old covenant – circumcision and Passover – and the two sacraments of the new covenant – baptism and the Lord’s Supper – we needn’t consign this incident that may at first glance appear rather obscure and arcane and strange to us. We need not consign it to the ash heap of history.
In fact, we are going to see a number of helpful lessons concerning the role and the proper use of the sacraments for us as the people of God even here today. I want to highlight three of them in particular. First of all, in verses 1 and 2, I want you to see that the sacraments make unlikely strategy. The sacraments make unlikely strategy. The people of God are about to engage in a military campaign, and the sacraments in which they are engaged on the banks of the Jordan appear at least really to get in the way, to hinder their progress, to disable rather than empower the people for the fight ahead. The sacraments make unlikely strategy. Then secondly, in verses 2 through 7, we also need to see that the sacraments make lousy saviors. The sacraments make lousy saviors. The generation that had come out of Egypt were circumcised, yet they perished in the way under the judgment of God. Don’t trust in sacraments; they are no protection against the wrath of God if you embrace unbelief. So sacraments make strange, unlikely strategy. Sacraments make lousy saviors. And yet thirdly, as we’ll go back over the whole passage, verses 2 through 12, we also need to see sacraments, nevertheless, make for very good signs, pointers, “visible words” as Calvin called them, that preach to us about the goodness and grace of a sovereign God who saves to the uttermost all who come to Him by Jesus Christ. So that’s our outline; I hope you can see it. Verses 1 and 2 – sacraments make unlikely strategy. Two through 7 – sacraments make lousy saviors. And then 2 through 12 – sacraments make good signs. Before we unpack all of that, let’s bow our heads once again and pray and ask for the Lord to help us. Let us pray.
O Lord, Your Word is indeed a light to our path and a lamp to our feet, more precious to us than gold, than much fine gold, sweeter by far than honey from the comb, moreover by them, your servant is warned that in keeping them there is great reward. Work now, we pray by Your Word, to guide and instruct us, to show us the way in which we should go, and to enable us to walk in it for the glory of Your name, amen.
Joshua chapter 5, beginning at the first verse. This is the Word of God:
“As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.
At that time the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.’ So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord; the Lord swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.
When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. And the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.’ And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.
While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.”
Amen, and we praise God that He has spoken in His holy Word.
Sacraments Make Unlikely Strategy
Well let’s look first of all, verses 1 and 2, and notice how sacraments really make for unlikely strategy. Sacraments make unlikely strategy. So the people have made it across the Jordan at last. It was a moment of miraculous, divine intervention. The Lord, remember, caused the waters upstream to pile up in a heap. He cut off the waters downstream so that the people could enter the Promised Land on dry ground. It was, without a doubt, a spectacular, thrilling moment for the people of God. And understandably, news of the great event has spread far and wide. In verse 1, the Canaanite News Network, CNN, interrupts our regularly scheduled program to bring us breaking news from the banks of the Jordan – “Mass panic has spread throughout the land. God, the strong deliverer, lands them safe on Canaan’s side!”
And if you look carefully at the news report there in verse 1, you might notice that it looks very much like the report that Rahab the prostitute had given to the two Israelite spies when they crossed the Jordan ahead of the people to check out the city of Jericho. Do you remember what Rahab told them? She said, “I know the Lord has given you the land and that the fear of you has fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. As soon as we heard it, our hearts melted and there was no spirit left in any man because of you.” It’s almost the same language we find here at the beginning of chapter 5.
But now, the Israelites have actually crossed into Canaanite territory and the story has changed a little bit, hasn’t it? You see that in verse 1? Look there please. “As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up” – not now the Red Sea, but now – “the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.” So now it’s not just that God brought Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground forty years before and then they had defeated the two Amorites on the far side of the river. That’s not what’s got the populace all in a tizzy. It’s that the Lord is still at it, this time at the Jordan, right on their own borders. And what can that now mean for the Amorites on this side of the river but surely the same fate suffered by old Sihon and Og. And so CNN tells us, “their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them.” That is, they are paralyzed with fear. They are scared stiff. The judgment of God, they all seem to realize, has come upon them at last.
And so you can imagine the headlines, can’t you? “Miracle Army Enters Canaan.” “Hearts Melt as Hebrews March.” “Jericho – Braced for Impact.” Now what do you suppose the average Israelite camped on the eastern border of Canaan might be thinking to himself as he scans those headlines? Wouldn’t he be saying to himself, “You know, now is the time to strike. Now, while the iron is hot, while the people are all in a panic. I mean, look at the headlines. They don’t know which way it up! This is our moment! Carpe diem, Joshua! Seize the day! Let’s go! Let’s march in with our banners flying and our trumpets blaring and our songs of praise on our lips. We can take them!” That’s what they would have been thinking. That’s what verse 1 seems to indicate, isn’t it? All the lights are green. All the signs promise a landslide victory if the Israelites will only seize the opportunity.
And then look at verse 2. “At that time the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.’” Ouch. Verse 8 even says when the circumcision of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places until they were healed. So not only do they not attack in order to stay and celebrate the sacraments, the very sacrament that they celebrate puts the army out of action completely leaving the whole nation now, do you see, incredibly vulnerable to attack themselves. In one fell swoop, God has stripped His people of their strength, all their ability to march to war, all their confidence in any strength of their own – all gone. It’s a mystifying strategy, until you remember how often God does this sort of thing. Think, for example, of the thorn in the flesh given to the apostle Paul. Why was Paul so crucial to the advance of the Gospel in the Roman Empire? Why was Paul, of all people, allowed to be wounded and afflicted and weakened, undermined in his ministry by this mysterious ailment? You remember what he said, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord that it should leave me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore,” Paul said, “I will boast all the more gladly in my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then am I strong.”
Part of the divine agenda for His people after they enter the land is surely to make certain that they do not begin to believe their own publicity. They’ve heard the reports from the Canaanites and the Amorites about how scary they all were. Miracles have gone ahead of them, opened the Jordan for them. They were awesome! “Well not so fast,” God says. And He puts them all out of action and humbles their proud, fighting men in a frankly very personal, very humiliating manner. “If you are going to conquer Canaan,” He’s saying, “it will not be by might and it will not be by power. It must be by My Spirit,” says the Lord. He wants them sore and hobbled and humbled. He wants them vulnerable and defenseless so they begin to learn. God’s grace, God’s grace really is sufficient for them. His power really is made perfect in weakness. And they begin to boast at last, not in themselves but in their weaknesses, for when they are weak, they now begin to see, then are they strong. That is a painful lesson that God often ordains that we all should learn if we are His people. Isn’t it? He humbles and hobbles us before He makes use of us that the glory might be His rather than ours. Sacraments make strange strategy, don’t they?
They certainly did back then, and if you think about it, they still do. After all, like Israel long ago, we too are called upon, aren’t we, to engage in the conquest of enemy territory as we bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. And to be sure, our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the host of spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places. We are to take every thought captive as we advance the kingdom and bring men and women, boys and girls, into saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is our conquest. And what tools has the Lord given to us for this herculean task? Well He hasn’t given us the spiritual equivalent of machine guns and drone strikes and nuclear bombs, has He? He has not given us a remote, push button option as we engage in spiritual warfare. What weapons do we possess in our arsenal as we prosecute this spiritual battle? Here’s what He gave us – a splash of water, a morsel of bread, a sip of wine – baptism and the Supper. Puny things, really. Absurd things. Weak things. Things, remember, that speak to us about crucifixion. That’s the meaning of these signs. Baptism that preaches to us about the cleansing that the blood of Jesus shed at the cross provides. The bread and the cup that preach to us of His body torn and His blood poured out for us for the remission of sins.
And a more perfect image of futility and failure and defeat, it’s scarcely possible to imagine than that, isn’t there? Can you conceive of one? A naked rabbi in a forgotten corner of the ancient Roman Empire. His flesh torn; His body broken. Nailed to a Roman cross. Left to die amidst the taunts and jeers and mockery of the world. And yet water and bread and wine signal to us the strategy of God for our deliverance. Their very form calls us to put no confidence in ourselves but to rest our confidence entirely upon His grace and the sufficiency of the work of His Son. Sacraments make unlikely strategy that all glory might go to God who alone redeems His people.
Sacraments Make Lousy Saviors
And then look at verses 2 through 7, and I want you to see in the second place that sacraments also make for lousy saviors. They make strange strategy; they also make lousy saviors. Joshua has to make flint knives. He’s told to circumcise all the men in Israel. “The celebration” – I put that in scare quotes since I’m not sure how celebratory the mood among the men of Israel was at the point, but the celebration of the sacrament takes place at Gibeath-haaraloth – a place name this easily embarrassed Brit is grateful the ESV has left untranslated. You can see the footnote if you want to know what it means. Verses 4 through 7 tell us why all of this has to take place. All the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt, though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. So a whole generation has grown up without the covenant sign. The first generation did not obey the voice of the Lord; they did not believe His promises. They perished in the wilderness, and yet they had been circumcised. They have the sign! And a whole generation now has arisen without the sign, effectively outside the visible community of the covenant people of God.
It’s an appalling commentary if you think about it on how low that first generation have sunk. They have neglected the spiritual welfare of their children and refused to administer the sign of the covenant. And here’s my point. It’s not difficult to see. I hope you are beginning to grasp it already. That first generation were circumcised. In fact, think about their experiences and all the blessings they enjoyed. They saw the plagues of Egypt. The angel of death passed over them and they were saved alive. They came through the Red Sea on dry ground. They followed through the wilderness the pillar of smoke by day and fire by night. They watched the glory of God fill the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle. They saw Moses’ face shining when he came down from the mountain from his communion with God. They ate manna from heaven every day, drank water from the rock, and every last one of them, but for Joshua and Caleb who believed, every last one of them perished and did not make it to Canaan.
Sacraments, do you see, are no guarantee of salvation. Do not put your trust in them. Sacraments make lousy saviors. Have you been baptized? Good. You come to church. That’s great. Perhaps you’ve even felt something of the power of the Holy Spirit working through His Word on your conscience. Very good. But listen for a moment to Hebrews chapter 6 and hear just how far a person may come, how much religion a person may have, how many profound spiritual experiences a person may enjoy and still perish on the way and not make it across Jordan. Hebrews 6:4, “It is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened who have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit and have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding Him up to contempt.” Did you hear that? You can enjoy a measure of enlightenment, understand something of the truth revealed in the Word, taste something of the gift of heaven, share in something of the Spirit’s common operations upon the heart and conscience through the preaching of the Gospel, taste the goodness of the Word of God and feel a measure of the power of eternity at work in it and by it within the congregation, you can have all of that as you sit here this morning – baptism, church membership, spiritual experiences – but if like that first generation in the wilderness you will not believe the Gospel and entrust yourself wholly to Jesus Christ alone, my dear friend, you will perish on the way.
Matthew chapter 7, 21 through 23, Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and cast out demons in Your name and do many mighty works in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity.’” When your time comes to tread the verge of Jordan and our greater than Joshua stands before you to judge, you must not think to say to Him, “Jesus, let me cross into the Promised Land. I was baptized. Or, Jesus, Let me in. Forty years ago I was moved by that preacher and signed a card and prayed a prayer.” Don’t say to Him, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name and cast out demons in Your name and do mighty works in Your name? We had great experiences of the supernatural. We were moved by a sense of spiritual realities. We served in the church in Your name. We went on mission trips in Your name. We taught Sunday School in Your name. And we did lots and lots and lots of things in Your name!” Do not put your hope there. Not one of those arguments, not one, will move the Lord Jesus Christ to lead you across the river into the land of promise. Not one. Hebrews 4:1 puts it like this. “Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us fear, lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them.” He’s talking about that first generation that perished in the wilderness. Good news came to us just as it did to them. But the message they heard did not benefit them because – so what do you need to make sure you make it home; all the way home? What do you need? The message did not benefit them because they were not united by faith to those who listened. For we who believe have entered that rest.
Sacraments make lousy saviors. Christian duty makes for a lousy savior. Spiritual experiences make lousy saviors. Religious knowledge makes a lousy savior. There is only one Savior. “No other name under heaven given among men by whom we must be saved.” The Lord Jesus Christ – obedient, crucified, risen, reigning. And only when you trust yourself entirely to Him, without reserve, without qualification, only then can you hope to cross into the land of promise. You must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and then you will be saved.
Sacraments Make Very Good Signs
Sacraments make unlikely strategy. They make lousy saviors. But then finally and briefly, do notice that sacraments, nevertheless, still make very good signs. Very good signs. What was circumcision a sign of? Was this – think about what they were doing – was this mainly a badge of their renewed obedience and trust in God? Is that what their being circumcised here on the banks of the Jordan is about? Their parents didn’t circumcise them, but this generation, they are going to be faithful. They are doing what their parents should have done and so our lesson would have been something like – “They were faithful, we should be faithful too.” Is that the message here? Certainly all of that is true, but is that the message here? Well that’s not where the accent in the text lies. The accent in the text lies on the faithfulness not of Israel but on the faithfulness of God.
Notice verse 7, for example. “So it was their children,” the children, that is, of the unbelieving first generation who died on the way – “it was their children whom he raised up in their place” that Joshua circumcised. Don’t miss the pronoun. Did you see it? Who raised them up? God raised up that generation despite their covenant-breaking parents. God ensured that His promise would stand and that He would be still a God to His people and to their children and to their children’s children. And so what is the message here? Isn’t it 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 13? “When we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” He has made a covenant promise and He always keeps His word.
So parents, here is your hope for your covenant children. If you are anything like me, you look at your own heart, you look at your Christian life, you see all your inconsistencies, your many failures, and you worry, I worry I’ll confess, that my weakness and sin will result in dire spiritual consequences for my children. Don’t you, covenant parents? “What a mess I am! What a danger I am to my children!” And let’s be clear, if the eternal welfare of my kids rested upon the quality of my parenting, they’re done for! But praise God, salvation is the gift of the covenant-keeping Lord. And here we see Him raising up a new generation in accordance with His promise, despite the faithlessness of their parents. And so mom and dad, do not forget our God keeps His promises and you can and you must entrust your children to His care. Sacraments are good signs, not of our hard work and our commitment to God, but of God’s marvelous, sovereign, saving grace which He has committed to us. Praise God that it is so.
The same note is there again in verse 9. Do you see it? The result – what happens in the wake of the circumcision on the plains of Jericho? Verse 9, “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.’” It turns out it’s really not that hard to take people out of Egypt, but it is very, very hard to take Egypt out of the people. That first generation, they never could quite shake Egypt, could they? They could not get Egypt out of their bones. Even meanwhile, God was rescuing them from Egyptian slavery. All the way through the wilderness they are constantly wondering whether they ought not to go back and live as slaves once again rather than follow where the Lord was leading them. And so the reproach of Egypt hung about them even after they had long escaped from it. But now God said, “Now all of that is over. Today your burden is lifted. Your reproach is gone. Your past is past forever!”
Wouldn’t you like to hear God say that to you? “Your reproach is gone. Your burden is lifted. Your sin is forgiven. You are clean and your past is in the past forever.” Wouldn’t you like to hear God say that to you? How does it happen? How do you get Him to make such a declaration over you? By nothing that you do. After the circumcision was complete, what did God say? “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” It is the gift of His grace and their circumcision was merely a reminder and a pointer and a pledge that God is a God of grace and He is their Deliverer and their Savior. He rolls your reproach away by the blood of His Son who bears your reproach in your place. And as you trust in Him, to whom your baptism, to whom the Lord’s Supper points you, He says over you, “Your burden is gone. Your sin is forgiven. Your reproach is removed. Today you are clean.”
And look lastly, very quickly, at verses 10 and 12 where they celebrate Passover on, notice the fourteenth day of the first month. You remember last week I said, when I pointed out verse 19 of the previous chapter, that they crossed the river on the tenth day of the first month. And I made a big deal about that connection with the Passover. And I said that was the day the lambs were slaughtered. Actually, I was wrong. That was the day the lambs for slaughter were chosen. But the Passover itself doesn’t happen until four days later, and that’s what happens here now on the plains of Jericho. And you’ll also notice they eat unleavened bread. Part of the Passover celebration is the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Where do they get the grain to make the bread? This is the first time that they ate Canaanite grain. And the next day, the manna from heaven, this miraculous provision of God, ceases forever because they’ve got something better now. Manna was the bread of promises made, but the bread of Canaan was the bread of promises kept.
What was the meaning, the sign, the symbolism? What was the message preached in that first Passover? God keeps His Word. God fulfills His promises. God delivers. So when He says to you, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life,” that is a promise you can take to the bank. Whoever wills, even you, if you will trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, will cross the Jordan and eat this sweet bread of promises kept.
Let’s pray together.
Father, we bless You for Your covenant love and faithfulness, that even though we are often faithless, You remain faithful, for You cannot deny Yourself. You must be the faithful God who keeps oath and covenant with His people. And in that is our salvation. There rests all our hope. Teach us, help us, draw us to renewed abandonment to Your faithfulness. And bring some of us here today who are not Christians to see their only hope of crossing into Canaan, crossing the Jordan, of making it home, of entering the rest of salvation is not in themselves nor in their religion but in Jesus Christ. For we ask it all in His name, amen.