Bible Men: Joshua: Blood, Death and Freedom

Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. Jos 1:7 

The Blood

The Old Testament is bloody. There’s no doubt about that. And Joshua is a book of war. By God’s own confession he refused David to build him a house because his hands were full of blood.

We flinch at the sight of blood. It is death.

Then the Old Testament punishments were crude. The modern heart recoils when we read them.

So we tremble at the sight of blood. But even more we tremble at the thought of such a cruel God. How can one possibly love a God like that?

These questions are valid. Enlightenment has come and gross darkness is behind us. We ask because we want to know.

“Come and let us reason together,” God throws out the invitation. “Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob” (Isa 41:21). 

Is God cruel? Is it hard to love him? Let us find out.

Are we Good?

The question of God is hard to answer straight because he is supernatural and we are not. We die but he does not die. And yet God feels like we feel. He knows pain and he knows love. He knows laughter and he knows tears.

Beyond that he cannot be adequately explained by human logic. We are at sea.

In Genesis we meet a God who has created everything from – nothing. He called everything by name and it was. And it was very good.

But sin happened!

The story of Adam and Eve and The Fall is well known. Sin came into the world and sin brought death as God had said. It is why today there’s hate, blood and death everywhere.

The first murder in the world of Cain to his brother Abel awakens us violently to our own nature of evil.

This is the testimony of God: “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen 6:5).  

And this is the testimony of Paul – a saint! “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Rom 7:18,19). 

Satan’s great lie is that we are good and not rebellious. But everyday proves the opposite. We try honestly. But the sweetness of rebellion always overrides obedience.

Our sins testify against us… and we know them. Isa 59:12

Truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter… and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. Isa 59:14,15

And there’s nothing so enchanting to a child as saying to its parents “I won’t do it!” or saying “I will do it” and then going right ahead and not doing it. If you remember your childhood well nothing gave us so much thrill.

Spiritually we are still children. “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10). 

And God cannot lie.

The Testimony of History

Cruelty runs the gamut of humankind. Some ate others. In Athens lions were let loose on slaves. And Nero burned Christians alive.

History is full of blood.

World War I and II. Nazi Germany and Holocaust.  Secular tyranny of formerly Soviet Union, the Sino-Japanese Wars, the Wars of Independence in Africa and the Americas. And now drugs and crime. We can’t pin these cruelties on God.

The Redemption

Sin brought war. It is still wrecking humankind up to this day. The war Joshua is leading is not only a war of conquest but chiefly a war against sin.

But the Bible is the story of God trying to reconcile man to himself. He has done this through his begotten Son Jesus Christ. He’s the Lamb which was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8). Through his blood we are saved.

So God is not cruel but sin is. God’s war is for the redemption of humankind, but man’s war is for him to be left alone! “I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war” (Psa 120:7). 

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing,” declares the apostle. And those are the words of a courageous man.

We should’ve seen this before but we couldn’t because of sin. “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isa 59:2). 

And the next question is: “What should I do that I may be saved?” And the courageous answer is “Repent.”

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2Ch 7:14.  

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Rom 10:13  

So for believers blood is very important. It’s no longer a symbol of death but life. For by his blood the power of sin has been dealt a blow. 

So today at Holy Communion we eat his “flesh” and drink his “blood” in remembrance of his death. To one blood signifies wrath, to another its freedom. To one it is hope, to another it’s a dark tunnel. That’s the difference Christ makes. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (Joh 8:36).  

Joshua is a great war strategist and general. But it is not his war or strategy but God’s. It is the same strategy he still gives to all his soldiers. The promises he gives to Joshua are our promises and victory too.

Does the sight of blood scare you? Look to Christ and be saved!