Joshua 1
LORD promises to be with Joshuaverses 1-5
Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD
it came to pass
that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun
Moses’ minister
saying
Moses – MY servant is dead
now therefore arise go over this Jordan – you – all this people
to the land which I do give to them
even to the children of Israel
Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread on
that have I given to you – as I said to Moses
From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river
the river Euphrates – all the land of the Hitttites
and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun
shall be your coast
There shall not any man be able to stand before you all the days of your life
as I was with Moses – so I will be with you
I will not fail you – nor forsake you
Joshua to be strong and of good courageverses 6-9
Be STRONG and of good courage
for to this people shall you divide for an inheritance the land
which I swore to their fathers to give them
Only be you STRONG and very courageous
that you may observe to do according to all the law
which Moses MY servant commanded you
turn not from it to the right hand or to the left
that you may PROSPER whithersoever you go
THIS BOOK of the law shall not depart out of your mouth
BUT you shall MEDITATE therein DAY and NIGHT
that you may OBSERVE to do according to all
that is WRITTEN therein
FOR then you shall make your way PROSPEROUS
and then you shall have GOOD SUCCESS
Have not I commanded you? BE STRONG and of GOOD COURAGE
be not AFRAID – NEITHER be you DISMAYED
for the LORD your God is with you whithersoever you go
Joshua commanded to cross Jordanverses 10-11
Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people
saying
Pass through the host and command the people
saying
Prepare you victuals – for within THREE DAYS
you shall pass over this Jordan
to go in to possess the land
which the LORD your God give you
to possess it
Joshua commands the two and a half tribesverses 12-15
And to the Reubenites – Gadites – half the tribe of Manasseh
spoke Joshua
saying
REMEMBER the word which Moses the servant of the LORD
commanded you
saying
The LORD your God has given you REST
and has given you this land
Your wives – your little ones – your cattle
shall remain in the land which Moses gave
you on this side Jordan
BUT you shall pass before your brethren armed
all the mighty men of valor – and help them
Until the LORD has given your brethren REST
as HE has given you – and they also have possessed
the land which the LORD your God give them
THEN you shall return to the land of your possession
and ENJOY it – which Moses the LORD’S servant
gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising
Two and a half tribes respond positivelyverses 16-18
And they answered Joshua saying
All that you command us we will do – and whithersoever you send us
we will go
According as we hearkened to Moses in all things
so will we hearken to you
only the LORD your God be with you
as HE was with Moses
Whosoever he be that doth REBEL against your commandment
and will not hearken to your words in all that you
command him – he shall be PUT TO DEATH
only be STRONG and of a GOOD COURAGE
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers.
: 5 There shall not any man be able to stand before you all the days of your life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you, nor forsake you. (7503 “fail” [raphah] means weaken, to let drop, abandon, forsake, let go, leave behind, to grow slack, fade away, or lose heart)
DEVOTION: Too often we can feel abandoned when we are trying to live the Christian life. We think we are alone and no one cares about what is going on in our life. That is a feeling that is coming from the enemy not the LORD.
We are not supposed to live our Christian life based on our feelings. Many believers seem to live this way but it is not the way the LORD wants us to live our life. HE wants us to base our beliefs on the facts of the Word of God.
One of those facts is that God will never fail us or abandon us. HE made this promise to Joshua but HE is also making it to us. HE will chasten us if we move away from our service to HIM but the purpose of chastening is to bring us back into a proper fellowship with HIM. It is not to take our salvation away from us or HIS presence away from us.
Joshua was going to fight for a nation. No enemy was going to be able to stand against HIM as long as he was in fellowship with the LORD. The account of the battle with Ai will help us understand what happens when we move ahead of the LORD.
Keep close touch with the LORD in your meditation on the Word of God and your prayer life. HE will give you the strength and leading to conquer all the enemies tries to gain a victory over you.
CHALLENGE: Remember that HE has promised to help us with any assignment HE gives us. Trust HIM!
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 7 Only be you strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law, which Moses MY servant commanded you turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper whithersoever you go. (7919 “prosper” [sakal] means to make steady favorable progress or succeed, to give attention to, to have insight, to act circumspectly, or have success)
DEVOTION: Too often we give up too quick in our actions that please the LORD. We find that there are times when things don’t seem to be going right when really they are going the way the LORD wants them to in our life. HE doesn’t want us to give up. HE wants us to know that HE never gives up on HIS children.
Joshua was called to a very difficult responsibility regarding the work of the LORD. He was supposed to conquer a land with giants in it. He was supposed to lead a people who have been unfaithful to the LORD and would be unfaithful to the LORD in the future. The only consistent one in Joshua’s life would be the LORD. He was not to doubt the LORD’s help during this time period.
We need to realize that the LORD gives us the strength to fight any battle. The people around us might let us down but HE will never let us down when we are doing a work for HIM. HE is dependable.
This is the message that Joshua needed at the beginning of his leadership and it is the message that every believer needs as he or she faces the battles the LORD allows in their live.
This is a promise to us as well as Joshua. Do we believe the LORD help us in all of our battles? Are we turning to him for help through prayer and the guidance of the Word of God?
CHALLENGE: The message to Joshua is a message to us. The LORD is with every believer who genuinely wants to serve the LORD. HE will give you victory over all your enemies.
: 8 This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall have good success. (7919 “good success” [sakal] means prosper, strength, powerful, advance, victorious, or make progress)
DEVOTION: There is one secret to prosperity with God in this world. The secret is a relationship with the Word of God. Joshua was commanded to MEDITATE on the book of the law day and night.
Moses wrote the commands of God for the children of Israel to follow. The most important person to read the book of the law was the leader of the nation. Joshua was that leader. He was commanded to meditate on the law throughout the day. He was to ponder the law. He was to speak in low tones the law. He would have to memorize the law in order to speak it while he is moving around the camp. He was to think through what the law said and meant to his leadership.
So when he woke up, he was to study the word of the LORD. He was to study the word of the LORD each night. Meditate means more than just read it. It means that he was to chew on the Word until it could be understood and digested. If Joshua did this he would prosper.
Once he has studied the Word of God he had to put it into practice in his daily life. Just studying was not enough. The LORD wanted him to obey the commands of the Word of God. He was to practice what he had learned and then through example teach it to others. As others watched his daily meditations and daily service to the LORD they would respect his decisions.
Many of us want to prosper in our relationship with the LORD. We want the blessings of the LORD to be on us and our loved ones. We want to have the peace that passes all understanding as we go through the trials and temptations of this world. We want to face all our enemies with the confidence that the LORD is on our side.
How does this happen? Meditation on the Word of God day and night! Are we speaking the word of the LORD in our daily conversations? Are we observing what we read? Does the Word of God affect our daily living? The only one that can answer these questions is each of us!!! What is your answer?
As we mature in the Word of God, we have to study it with tools that will help us gather the meat of the Word of God for ourselves. We will need further instruction for the rest of our life but that does not mean we don’t cut it and cook it ourselves. Gather good tools like concordances and commentaries in your personal libraries. If you don’t know which ones are good ask a good Bible preaching pastor or Bible teacher.
Once we study the Word of God, we also need to put into practice in our daily walk with the LORD. We have more information than Joshua had and therefore have a better understanding of how God works and what HIS plan for the future is for us.
Problem: We have many Bible scholars who understand the Greek and the Hebrew but come away with a liberal understanding of the Word of God and not a Biblical understanding or interpretation. They put their meaning to the Word of God instead of what the LORD meant when HE gave the Word of God.
CHALLENGE: Success in the Christian life is not easy. It requires an intimacy to the Word of God. A daily chewing on the Word of God is necessary for this intimacy. You cannot live on someone else chewing the Word of God for you. You have to chew it for yourself.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 9 Have not I commanded you? Be strong and of good courage: be not afraid, neither be you dismayed: for the LORD your God is with you whithersoever you go. (2865 “dismayed” [chathath] means broken, break in pieces, shattered, scared, to be confounded, be discouraged, or terrified)
DEVOTION: The command to be strong and of good courage is repeated four times in this chapter. They are about to enter in to the Promised Land and they want the people to know that they have nothing to worry about with God on their side.
We sometimes think we are about to break in pieces when we face trying circumstances. The children of Israel had the same feelings we have when they were about to face an enemy that was larger than them. Joshua had a task that was larger than him as he faced before. So both the people and their leader were feeling the pressure of the battles that were ahead.
They needed a reminder that the LORD was with them. HIS presence is promised to them and to us. We have the Holy Spirit within us once we become a follower of Jesus Christ. HE is there to help us throughout our lives on this earth. God the Holy Spirit will never leave a genuine believer in our dispensation.
So when the LORD commands us to do something we think is impossible we need to move forward in HIS strength and do it. Joshua which is the Hebrew name for Jesus was leading the people into the Promised Land in the strength of the LORD his God.
The 23 Psalm reminds us that even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we are not to fear. It seems that David understood that type of walk and the children of Israel were about to understand that type of walk as they entered the Promised Land.
CHALLENGE: Understand that discouragement comes from the enemy not the LORD. Victory is promised.
: 11 Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, “Prepare you victuals, for within three days you shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God gives you to possess it”. (5414 “gives” [nathan] means to transfer possession of something concrete or abstract to somebody, to cause to receive, to allow, to permit, grant, ascribe, or pay wages)
DEVOTION: Confidence is needed in a leader. Those that follow him must see that confidence in whatever project they are working on together. If the leader doesn’t show confidence those that follow will have the same problem.
Joshua had confidence once he had met with the LORD. The LORD made him some promises that he had confidence the LORD would keep. So he went to those under his command and told them to get ready to cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land.
He gave them three days to prepare. Part of the preparation was for the three and a half tribes to say “goodbye” to their loved ones as they were going to cross the Jordan without them. They had committed themselves to fight with the other tribes. All the fighting men of those tribes were leaving behind only older men that were not of fighting age to protect their families. This had to be hard but they trusted the LORD to protect them as well.
So before battle there needs to be a time period of preparation for each of us before the battle begins. What should we do with three days before we are going to face a battle?
That would be a time for prayer and sometimes even fasting to have the strength available to us from the LORD to win a victory with HIS help. Are you prepared to face a battle today? One is coming your way. Take time to prepare yourself daily for the battles that are coming.
CHALLENGE: Remember it is only through the power of the LORD that we can have true victory in any battle.
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Law writtenverse 8
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Joshua to meditate in the law day and nightverse 8
Observe to do
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Observe to do all of the Lawverse 7
Book of the lawverse 8
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (covenant-keeping)verses 1, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17
Servant of the LORDverses 1, 13
LORD spoke to Joshuaverse 1
God – Elohim (Creator)verses 9, 11, 13, 15, 17
LORD thy Godverses 9, 17
LORD your Godverses 11, 13, 15
Gives restverse 13
Gives landverse 13
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Lebanonverse 4
Land of the Hittitesverse 4
Jordanverses 11, 15
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Turning to right or left of Lawverse 7
Law depart out depart out of mouthverse 8
Afraidverse 9
Dismayedverse 9
Rebelverse 18
Not hearkenverse 18
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Servantverses 1, 2, 7, 13, 15
Ministerverse 1
Inheritanceverses 2, 3, 6, 11, 13, 15
Presence of the LORDverses 5, 9
LORD will not fail or forsakeverse 5
Strengthverses 6, 7, 9, 18
Courageverses 6, 7, 9, 18
Obey the lawverses 7, 8
Prosperverses 7, 8
Meditate on law of the LORD day and nightverse 8
Good successverse 8
Not afraidverse 9
Not dismayedverse 9
Restverses 13, 15
Enjoy inheritanceverse 15
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Moses is deadverses 1, 2, 5, 7, 13-15, 17
LORD’S servant
Joshuaverse 1
Moses’ minister
Promise to give him Promised Land
Description of Promised Land
Promise of presence of the LORD
Observe to do Law
Prosperous
Success
Strong and good courage
Not afraid
Presence of the LORD wherever he goes
Children of Israelverse 2
Officers of the peopleverses 10, 11
Joshua commanded
Prepare
Two and a half tribe pledge to Joshuaverses 12-17
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
Death of Mosesverses 1, 2
Death Penalty for rebelliousverse 18
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QUOTES regarding passage
18 The severity of the punishment threatened was in keeping with the military situation where strict discipline was required. This punishment was actually carried out in the case of Achan (ch. 7). (Madvig, D. H. (1992). Joshua. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel (Vol. 3, p. 259). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
18. The curse also begins with whoever. The verb rebels (Heb. yamreh) occurs only here in Joshua. In Deuteronomy, it describes Israel’s rebellion at Kadesh Barnea (1:26; 9:23) and the nation’s past history of rebelliousness (9:7, 24; 31:27). It also describes the rebellious son whose punishment is death (21:18–21). Thus its usage to describe behaviour towards Joshua is especially appropriate, for it is Moses’ own description of how Israel acted in the past. It implicitly recognizes Joshua as Moses’ successor because it recognizes the potential of his having the same problem. The death penalty is appropriate in the context of Israel’s past experience. Throughout the wilderness wanderings, whenever Israel rebelled, the punishment of death was present. The same is true for the law of the rebellious son. The expression ‘let him be put to death’ is a legal one used in various laws that prescribe death. On the final expression, Only be strong and courageous, see Introduction: ‘The Person of Joshua’ (pp. 21–25). (Hess, R. S. (1996). Joshua: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 6, pp. 86–87). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
In the first part of Joshua 1, there is a verse that is quoted in the New Testament and applied to us, and it concerns this very matter. In verse 5 God tells this great military commander, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (The same thing is said to Israel by Moses in Deuteronomy 31:6.) This text is quoted by the author of Hebrews in 13:5: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you,” to which the writer then adds, “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’ ” (v. 6). This is exactly what Joshua experienced and what he must have said to himself hundreds of times. God was for him. God has called him. He trusted God. Therefore, Joshua would lead the people into battle knowing they would be invincible as long as God continued on their side.
People follow a leader like that because to follow him is to follow God. This is why we find the chapter closing with the words: “Then they [the people] answered Joshua, ‘Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey your words, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!’ ” (Josh. 1:16–18).
The people had not “fully obeyed” Moses, of course, and they would not fully obey Joshua. But that did not faze Joshua. He held on and did his duty to the very end. (Boice, J. M. (2005). Joshua (pp. 25–26). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.)
1:16–18. The response of the two and one-half Transjordanian tribes was enthusiastic and wholehearted. It must certainly have reflected the attitude of all the tribes at this crucial time of preparation for the invasion. What an encouragement this was to the new leader to be sure that the people were united in supporting him. Their pledge of loyalty and obedience (we will go.… we will obey you) included the solemn declaration that anyone guilty of disobedience would be executed. The tribes even encouraged Joshua to be strong and courageous! (cf. vv. 6–7, 9)
But there was one condition: they were willing to follow Joshua if he showed clear evidence that he was being led by God (v. 17). This was a wise precaution and one to be carefully followed lest Israel’s leaders turn out to be false prophets or “blind leaders of the blind.“ (Campbell, D. K. (1985). Joshua. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 330). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
The pronoun “they” probably refers to all the officers Joshua had addressed and not to the leaders of the two and a half tribes alone. What an encouragement they were to their new leader!
To begin with, they encouraged him by assuring him of their complete obedience (vv. 16–17a). “Command us and we will obey! Send us and we will go!” These officers had no hidden agendas, and they asked for no concessions. They would obey all his commands and go wherever he would send them. We could use that kind of commitment in the church today! Too many times we are like the men described in Luke 9:57–62, each of whom put something personal ahead of following the Lord.
In his novel The Marquis of Lossie, author George MacDonald has one of the characters say, “I find the doing of the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about His plan.” That’s the attitude Joshua’s officers displayed. They were not so attached to Moses that they put him above Joshua. God had appointed both Moses and Joshua, and to disobey the servant was to disobey the Master. Joshua didn’t have to explain or defend his orders. He simply had to give the orders, and the men would obey them.
The officers encouraged Joshua by praying for him (v. 17). “The Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses.” The best thing we can do for those who lead us is to pray for them daily and ask God to be with them. Joshua was a trained man with vast experience, but that was no guarantee of success. No Christian worker succeeds to the glory of God apart from prayer. “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” asked Corrie Ten Boom, a question that especially applies to those in places of leadership. When Joshua did not pause to seek the mind of God, he failed miserably (Josh. 7 and 9); and so will we.
They encouraged Joshua by assuring him that their obedience was a matter of life or death (1:18). They took his leadership and their responsibilities seriously. Later, Achan didn’t take Joshua’s orders seriously, and he was killed (Acts 7:15). “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46, NKJV) If God’s people today saw obedience to Christ a matter of life or death, it would make a big difference in our ministry to a lost world. We obey the Lord’s orders if we feel like it, if it’s convenient, and if we can get something out of it. With soldiers like that, Joshua would never have conquered the Promised Land!
Finally, they encouraged him by reminding him of the Word of God (v. 18b). Moses told Joshua to “be ye of good courage” when he sent him and the other men into Canaan to spy out the land (Num. 13:20). Moses repeated the words when he installed Joshua as his successor (Deut. 31:7, 23). These words were written in the Book of the Law, and Joshua was commanded to read that Book and meditate on it day and night (Josh. 1:8).
Four times in this chapter you find the words “be strong and of good courage” (vv. 6–7, 9, 18). If we are to conquer the enemy and claim our inheritance in Christ, we must have spiritual strength and spiritual courage. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might” (Eph. 6:10). (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Strong (pp. 31–33). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage” (v. 18). They suggested that this military edict should be enacted in order to prevent cowardice and disloyalty on the part of others in the army, implying their readiness to cooperate in the enforcing of the same. It is probable that they had in mind the Lord’s word unto Moses, “I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My Name, I will require it of him” (Deut. 18:18, 19). We know that prophecy received its ultimate fulfillment in Christ, but Joshua was a type of Him. “Only be thou strong and of a good courage” was tantamount to their declaring “We, for our part, will do nothing to weaken thy hands, but on the contrary will do all in our power to make thy lot easier!” Such should ever be the attitude of the Christian unto both magistrates and the ministers of the Gospel. (Pink, A. W. (1964). Gleanings in Joshua (p. 51). Chicago: Moody Press.)
As to something of which you stand in doubt, you may be sure it will never help you spiritually; it will never help to make Christ more precious to you; it will never make you love His Word more; it will never enable you to triumph over sin. A great many of these things may not be wicked but are just bordering on the edge of the world, as it were. Like these two and a half tribes, you are settling down on the east side of Jordan. You have not gone through death, burial, and resurrection with Christ experimentally. Some have made a profession of this in Christian baptism, but are not living it out from day to day. In this ordinance we confess that we have died to the world, to sin, and to the law, and that we now are to live unto God as those who are alive from the dead. May our profession and our lives agree that the Lord Jesus may be magnified in us!
After Joshua’s address to the two and a half tribes who were to cross over the river to aid their brethren in taking possession of the inheritance, proceedings went on apace for the actual entering into that land which belonged already to Israel by divine gift, but which they were responsible to make their own practically. To do this required faith in God and spiritual energy for they were to find every inch of ground contested by bitter and powerful foes. But this but gave an opportunity to prove the faithfulness of the God who had delivered them from Egypt and was now leading them on. (Ironside, H. A. (1950). Addresses on the book of Joshua. (pp. 24–25). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers.)
FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves.
Psalm 100:3
Get right in your thinking about yourself; then think of yourself in your relationship to God. And the moment you do so, you will realize that you are utterly dependent upon Him. “It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves.” Our times and our breath are in His hand. God brought us into being, and He could end it in a moment. We, none of us, control life; God controls it all. But men and women do not stop and think about that. They say, “What shall I put on tonight? How shall I dress tomorrow?” They may be dead before tomorrow! But they do not think of that. The whole of life, for them, is without God; He does not enter into their calculations.
That is why the world is as it is, says our Lord. If only all men and women believed in God, they would all humble themselves before Him. If only the whole world believed in God, there would be no preparation for war, there would be no jealousy and envy and rivalry, because all men and women would be bowing before Him and worshiping Him and living to His glory and His praise. But because they do not, they set themselves up as gods, and they worship themselves. So there are barriers between nations. “I am going to be bigger,” says one; so he makes a bigger bomb. “I will make a bigger one!” says the other. And up and up and up we go, and we get worse. “Whence come wars and fightings among you. Come they not hence, even of your lusts…? Ye ask, and receive not,” says the apostle James (James 4:1,3).
You will never satisfy your god, and so, according to the Bible, we get all the troubles in the world–individual troubles and collective troubles, national troubles and international troubles! All this rivalry is because we are not living as under the eye of an almighty God.
A Thought to Ponder If only all men and women believed in God, they would all humble themselves before Him. (Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
1 John 5
Faith is the fundamental principle in overcoming the world and giving us eternal life.
INSIGHT
John writes: “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (v. 5). Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. John wants us to have assurance of our salvation. So he writes further: “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (vv. 11-13). If you believe in Jesus as Your personal Savior, you have the Son of God and you have eternal life. (Quiet Walk)
THE UNUSUAL AND THE SPECTACULAR
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:13
There is a tendency in mankind to pay great attention to and to concentrate upon the unusual and the spectacular. We seem to do that instinctively; I suppose it is one of the results of the Fall. Anything unusual or exceptional always attracts attention much more than the usual and the ordinary; that is why some sort of calamity or extraordinary thing in nature always attracts and interests us much more than the perpetual and wonderful things of nature from day to day. Wordsworth said about himself at the end of his great ode Intimations of Immortality:
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
That is right, and we ought all to put it like that. But the trouble with most of us is that because it is always there we do not marvel at it; that little flower in the hedgerow does not give rise in us thoughts that “lie too deep for tears.” But if we see a tree struck by lightning we are interested because it is unusual, because it is exceptional.
Now, we tend to do that self-same thing in the whole matter of Christian experience. I attribute this to the Fall, and, of course, one must point out in passing that this is something that tends to be organized and often becomes a business. Those who produce books know that the spectacular always appeals to the mind; so they pick out exceptional cases and give them great publicity. But this contradicts essential New Testament teaching. The New Testament never lays stress upon the way in which certainty comes to us; what it is interested in is the fact that it has come.
A Thought to Ponder: There is a tendency in mankind to pay great attention to the spectacular. I suppose it is one of the results of the Fall.
(From Life in God, pp. 104-105, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
Fringe Issues
“And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient.” (2 Timothy 2:24)
One of the plagues of modern-day Christendom is that many take up side issues and deem them all-important— a point of separation between them and other Christians. Health foods, dress codes, and church constitutions are not unimportant, but Christians can hold different opinions and still be walking with God. Note the scriptural admonitions: “Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace [i.e., primary issues]; not with meats [i.e., fringe issues], which have not profited them that have been occupied therein” (Hebrews 13:9); “foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes” (2 Timothy 2:23).
On the other hand, there are many scriptural commands to hold “fast the faithful word” (Titus 1:9); to “keep that which is committed to thy trust” (1 Timothy 6:20). Many of these points of “sound doctrine” (Titus 1:9) are absolutely essential, such as the deity of Christ, the authority of Scripture, salvation by grace, the resurrection of Christ, and many others clearly and specifically taught in Scripture. Perhaps the rule might be, if it’s an essential doctrine, teach and defend it at all costs; if it’s a secondary doctrine, teach it in “meekness” and love (2 Timothy 2:25). But if it’s a fringe issue, avoid strife over it, allowing brothers to exercise their freedom.
Is creationism a fringe issue? No! Few doctrines are so clearly taught in Scripture. Is it crucial to salvation? No! But it is essential to adequately understand the great primary doctrines for it is foundational to them all. Furthermore, it is the subject of origins, which the enemy has identified as a major battleground, vowing to destroy Christianity over this issue. Here we must stand if we are to guard our faith.
(JDM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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