You may or may not be familiar with the term and usage of ‘types’ that serve as examples of foreshadowing…God laying the groundwork back then to illustrate what His future plans would be in His ultimate design for the redemption for mankind. i.e.- Moses was a ‘type of Christ’ who lead the people out of the bondage of Egypt. Egypt of course, being a ‘type of the world’ and Pharaoh a ‘type of Satan’. Jesus came to set us free from spiritual bondage. Moses leading them through the Red Sea was a ‘type of baptism’. They were ‘baptized in to Moses’ (1 Cor 10:2) and we are ‘baptized into Christ’. You get the idea…
I’ve referred on multiple occasions how the story of them going in to possess the land and removing the wicked nations little by little, is a picture or type of this walk of salvation and the sanctifying process or purifying of our defiled hearts. Just as the Canaanite nations were stronger and more wicked than the people and needed to be destroyed and removed from the land, so are their evil influences that need to be removed from our hearts. (Mark 7:23) And just as the Israelites, in their own strength, were no match for the Canaanite nations, neither are we against our spiritual nemeses. Hence the need for our total dependance on Jesus to lead us and to empower us to overcome through faith in His name and shed blood.
So let’s visit Joshua chapter 5. After the intensive and detailed instructions given in Deuteronomy, Moses hands the reigns over to Joshua before he dies and it’s Joshua who will lead the children of God into possess the land and rid it of the wicked nations. We know the first city that is to be dealt with is Jericho. Some men had been sent in previously to spy out the land and bring back their report, which included their encounter with and help given by Rahab. Jericho was to be their first initial challenge conquering and overcoming to possess this land God had for them. But there was one little matter that had to be taken care of first. (vs. 2-8)
They needed to deal with some ‘flesh’. God instructed Joshua to make some ‘flint knives’ which he used to circumcise the 2nd generation of men. You see, that first generation of men that left Egypt had already been circumcised but that second generation of men who were born during their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness had not been. You might read vs. 6 there that reminds us once again as to why they spent 40 years in the wilderness which by the way…was never God’s intention. It was a twelve day journey from the Red Sea to the Jordan and Paul reminds us again in 1 Cor. 10:4-10 what transpired.
It is an interesting study to look back and read how circumcision began with Abraham, as it was an outward ‘sign of the covenant’ which man had been given the privilege to enter in to with the creator of the world. And let me just state the obvious here, speaking as a man…this certainly speaks to the fact you would have to be serious about taking part in this. It’s one of those ‘you are all in’ moments when you decide to go through something like that. It is serious to God and should be to us as well. We know that marriage is about the closest thing to our understanding what a ‘covenant’ is and who has not heard that line read at weddings where it advises us that no one ‘should enter into his marriage lightly but soberly and in the fear of God’.
And again, this was a ‘type’ of an ‘outward sign’ that defined and separated a group of people that God had chosen. I have no desire to get overly graphic here but even scripture addresses a ‘hill of foreskins’ there that resulted, and the fact that the men remained there for three days so that they might heal. This was to be done prior to their first confrontation with Jericho. To state the obvious, the ‘cutting away of the foreskins’ was the removal of nothing but a piece of flesh. No doubt it was painful and created some discomfort which had to include some suffering. But if one chose Not to undergo this process, they had no part in what God was wanting to do with them.
This physical act or procedure of circumcision is not ‘required’ of believers today nor does it have anything to do with our salvation. This was a point of contention among the Jews and Gentile believers in the early church that was revisited frequently. I kind of get it…that mentality of “Hey…we had to do this …why not them?” But there is another term we read in the OT that Paul would later expound on in his writings that had to do with the ‘circumcision of the heart’ and ‘removing the foreskins of your heart’ found in Deut. 10:16 and Jer. 4:4 to name a couple. It speaks to the ‘flesh nature’ we were all born with and burdened by that needs to be dealt with as in ‘removed’. We cannot walk in covenant with God and try to ‘save it’. It has to die. There is no moving forward in God and following Jesus if we think we want to ‘preserve it’. And putting it to death will produce some ‘suffering’. But not so much in a physical way like a physical circumcision would cause.
I would submit that the ‘removing of’ or ‘putting to death’ this ‘flesh nature’ has been grossly neglected in our modern NT teachings today. To not be circumcised back in those times was just an obvious indication that you had absolutely nothing to do with being a part of God’s chosen family or in His inheritance. You were considered to be an ‘unclean dog’. (that term dog had a very negative connotation to it in describing someone who was on the ‘outside’ of the covenant. You were not worthy to receive anything from God...remember the gentile woman who came and asked Jesus to remove a demon from her daughter? Matt. 15:27). And what was David’s term he used prior to slaying Goliath? – “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine!?” (1 Sam. 17:26)
Hence, the need I feel to spend time emphasizing the connection here for us today. When Jesus spoke of ‘laying down your life’, or ‘whoever tries to save his life will lose it’, He was speaking about this old man...this flesh nature that has to be put to death and die. Turning to Jesus and embracing the cross and becoming a follower is in fact a willingness to have the ‘foreskin of your heart’ cut away and removed. (Col. 2:11-13)
In the same way that you can understand a grown man’s reluctance to undergo this physical act (back then if you can imagine), we have even a greater resistance to having that ‘foreskin of our hearts’ cut away. We will do just about anything to avoid that which includes seeking ‘another way’ in to God’s kingdom. But there is no other way. You will love God with ALL your heart or you will find yourself on the outside trying to look in. That rich ruler...when told he needed to cut loose of his greed and wealth...balked and could not go through with it. He loved it more than Jesus and walked away. And Jesus did not run after him asking him to reconsider. (Matt. 19)
You don’t really hear this laid out in most churches today when we have those ‘altar calls’. We actually tend to invite folks down to ‘try Jesus who has this wonderful plan for your life and wants to bless you’ but we speak nothing about ‘cutting away’ and ‘suffering’ and ‘denying’ before you enter in to this kingdom. Yet as I’ve laid out here today from this story in Joshua...this was the FIRST thing they had to deal with BEFORE they began the journey in to possess the land. It was a significant moment.
This also sheds new insight to what it means to be baptized in water which I fear is lost on most who undergo this ‘ceremony’ today in our churches. Go read Romans 6:1-4 again with a fresh set of eyes. When you ‘go under’ you are saying to Jesus...’cut it all away...you have ALL my heart...I know there is suffering ahead but the glory that awaits (in this new land) will far outweigh anything I’m holding on to now.” And this suffering is the suffering that we experience as we ‘die to self’. We will address this more tomorrow, if the Lord wills it. Take pride, for example. Dying to pride can be painful but not so much in the physical sense if you understand what I’m saying.
But here is some encouragement to chew on...as we suffer and die to that old nature, Peter tells us that we ‘cease from sin’. (1 Pet. 4:1-2) It is how we overcome sin and shut the door on the enemy who has used sin to work his way into our live to steal, kill, and destroy. And the ONLY way this happens is if we truly abide in Him. (1 Jon 3:6) See you tomorrow?
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