Light In Torah

If I was going to summarize this entire chapter, it would be "carpe diem." Carpe diem means "seize the day." That's exactly what Joshua does.  Could you imagine moving into a neighborhood and you're unpacking your boxes, and a neighbor comes to the door and says, "Hey, welcome to the neighborhood. Get your sword. We've got five nations that are seeking to attack us." And you go, "Don't I even get a chance to take a time to breathe?" The children of Israel, as they are moving into the Promised Land, they've conquered Jericho, they've conquered Ai, and there's no rest. You know, it's amazing because in our lives, sometimes we just wish that we could have the world just stop. "Let me get off and let me do the things that I need to do because I need a rest." But God says, "Nope, there's other things to do." Within chapter 10, it's an amazing story because this is the story where the sun stan...

    The book of Joshua is not only about our journey, literally fighting with the armor of God for the inheritance, but it's really an incredible book on leadership. One of my favorite books for leadership is Nehemiah. But Joshua—wow. Talk about incredible leadership, let alone stories like King David and the way that he handled situations. Joshua chapter 8, we defeat Ai. We take our past failures, and we utilize them to guarantee victory in the future. We follow the instructions of the Lord. He sets up the enemy, and victory is won. After victory, it's really important to remember: who was it who gave you the victory? Really, a major focus of Deuteronomy chapter 8 is, once you've accomplished something, to remember it was God who did it for you. Yes, you're responsible for doing your part, but God is the one who orchestrates and makes things happen. You know, as the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, he says, "I plant the seed, Apollos waters, and God g...

  Joshua chapter 8 really lays out a big lesson for us. The lesson is, after you've failed, after you've done things in your own power, you've been overconfident, you figured, "No problem, I can handle this." You didn't consult Yahweh. And as a result of that, boom—defeat. The first attempt to go up to Ai, 36 individuals' lives were ended. Joshua's saying, "How in the world could this take place?" The Lord says, "I don't know what you're all upset about." He goes, "You got sin in the camp. Take care of it, and that'll take care of your situation." Joshua chapter 8. Now they're getting ready to go up to Ai the second time. Strategically, they use their failure as the weapon to put their enemy at ease. And then they come back, and they ambush them, which is amazing. The first trip up to Ai, there's no plan. There's no real coordination. There's not anything that would say success. But there's ...

  We continue our journey through the book of Joshua. Okay, this is what you need to imagine. The shofar has not even stopped ringing in their ears. The dust has not even settled from the walls of Jericho going down. The plunder of the city, the victory, every single detail, the crossing of the River Jordan, the promise that God had given to them—now they have entered the land. Now they have taken their first conquest. Now they have defeated the greatest city in the Promised Land, which brings us to chapter 7—Israel's greatest failure. They are getting ready to move from a life of miracles to a life of participation. Yes, in the wilderness, what did they have? Everything. God provided a pillar of cloud to guide them. God gave them water to drink. God gave them enemies that were defeated who were behind them. God did everything. He provided for them manna. People were never sick. People never pooped. People never peed. Everything was taken care of. Now they are moving out of the wil...

We were in Joshua chapter 5 yesterday, when Jericho falls, and the instructions that were going to be there, and how you have to overcome things that are in the spiritual world. The world has a way of doing things. But God has a different way of doing it when He establishes the premise for how you attack things in the spiritual realm. Chapter 6 says, "Now Jericho"—remember Jericho comes from the word  Yareach , which is the word for moon. And Jericho was like the New York City or the LA or the Kansas City, the Houstons, the Seattles—the major cities of the United States where there is lots of commerce, lots of international trafficking. It was literally the head of Canaan. They had double-layered walls that people actually lived within, and it was the head of pagan idolatry, which ironically is the same that we experience today with the Muslim faith. Muslim faith is built on the crescent moon, and all that goes with it, and ironically, Judaism is very much centered in moon wo...

I am in Joshua chapter 5. The children of Israel are on the verge of entering the Promised Land. And you would think they should get their weapons ready and prepare to go in and take the people of Jericho. One of the things we need to know about Jericho is that Jericho is kind of like Kansas City, kind of like New York, kind of like Los Angeles. The walls were doubly thick. People actually lived within the walls—we see that with Rahab. It was an international city. It was considered the gateway to the Promised Land. It was the head of Canaan, and the word Jericho comes from the Hebrew word for the moon,  Yareach , which they were known for—all their paganism centered around moon worship, which back in that day, every idolatrous practice fit underneath Jericho's walls. So when God gets ready to attack Jericho, He gives them the means to be able to do it, which are exactly the opposite of the way you would attack a city. Instead of with great noise, it was great silence. Instead of j...

  We continue our studies in Joshua, Joshua chapter 4. One of the misconceptions that we have within evangelical Christianity today is that what we call the Old Testament is old and the New Testament is new, when in actuality, Yeshua Himself said that not one jot or one tittle would pass away from the law until everything was fulfilled. If we were to do a good examination of the Torah and the prophets—literally known as the Tanakh, the Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim, the first five books, the prophets, and all the writings—we find that there are still so many prophecies, up to 500 prophecies, that still need to take place before the return of the Messiah. So it's very difficult for us to make the statement, "That was old, and this is new." But yet, the reality is, what we call the new is constantly referencing us back. The Apostle Paul, when he speaks about the race that we run in 1 Corinthians 9, beginning in verse 24 and going through chapter 10, verse 12, is all liken...

  The Torah portions from Genesis through Deuteronomy are rehearsed and reviewed every year. Very seldom do we ever move past the first five books of the Torah into the prophets—Joshua, Judges, etc. But now we want to take the time to venture forward, to move past. Because oftentimes, just like the children of Israel, who were in the wilderness for 40 years, and they had the opportunity to get out of the wilderness after just a year and a half, we tend to get comfortable with where we're at. And when you get comfortable, everything becomes status quo. Holiness becomes common, and commonality becomes mundane and boring. Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt to take them to the border of the Promised Land. Joshua succeeded Moses—his apprentice, his disciple. And soon, the one whom Moses has been mentoring for all of these years is going to take the children of Israel into the Promised Land. The name Joshua in Hebrew, Yahoshua, is the same as our Savior and our Messiah, Yeshua...

In Part 1 of our "new" study, we examined some "new" thoughts on last week's Torah portion— Pinchas  (Num. 25–30). Before we go further, let us examine the word our English Bibles translate as "new"— chadash . In common usage, it does not mean "new" in the sense of never having existed before. In Hebrew thought, there is nothing "new" in that sense under the sun. The adjective  chadash  describes something that has always existed but has been acted upon by nature or time to initiate a fresh cycle of productivity. For example, each year a wheat field produces a "new" crop; each month the same old moon enters a  chadash  phase; and each lap a runner takes around a track is described as  chadash , even though it closely resembles every lap before it. For the Redeemed of the Holy One, preparing for the  chadash  is not about starting over—it is about making necessary adjustments to account for environmental changes. As we know...

As we finished our Torah study on Shabbat, I went back and looked at the five primary focuses, each reflecting a distinct call from the Bridegroom of Heaven to His bride. In the opening verses, the narrative centered on the special covenant relationship Yahweh established with Phineas, son of Elazar, whose act of zeal stopped a plague and brought atonement for a great national sin. I called this the  Great Call to Zeal for God's House  (Num. 25). The focus then shifted to preparing the camp of the Redeemed for an imminent and bloody war with Midian— Time for God's Bride to Take Up Arms  (Matt. 11:11–12; Num. 26). Next, we see a building hunger among the camp to claim their inheritance in the land of the Patriarchs, illustrated by the daughters of Tzelofechad (Num. 27). Now the narrative shifts again, this time to the impending transition in earthly leadership from the rod of Moses to the sword of Joshua. Here is where we  Let Go of the Past and Finally Embrace the Br...