“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days,” Hebrews 11:30.
Forty years have passed since the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. They have travelled though the wilderness for those forty years as a punishment for refusing to trust the Lord for victory against the Canaanites when they first arrived at the Promised Land. Now all those of that unbelieving generation are dead except Joshua and Caleb who had been ready to follow the Lord into the Promised Land. The new generation had the faith that was seen in former times. It was ‘by faith’ that they gained their first victory in the Promised Land.
I. THEY SHOWED THEIR FAITH BY OBEYING GOD’S COMMANDS
“And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him,” Joshua 6:3-5.
1. They obeyed despite God’s commands appearing strange. They were even more strange to the people in the city.
2. They obeyed despite the jeering of the enemy that would have occurred. I have no doubt that happened!
3. They obeyed despite God’s promise being humanly impossible. ‘The wall of the city shall fall down flat’.
II. THE THREE INSTRUMENTS GOD EMPLOYED IN BRING DOWN THE WALLS
“The ark, the seven trumpets of rams’ horns, the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout.”
Here are the means of defeating the enemy.
1. The ARK - the symbol of God’s presence and redeeming power.
2. The rams’ horns - the symbol of the gospel preached.
3. The great shout - a symbol of bold, unashamed witness.
These are still the means under God of us defeating the enemy.
III. THE MIRACULOUS BRINGING DOWN OF THE WALLS
The word ‘flat’ is translated in Gen 1:7 as ‘under’ and in Deuteronomy 4:18 as ‘beneath’. I believe the walls sunk down under the ground.
1. The soldiers were able to enter the city without hindrance. ‘The people shall ascend up every man straight before him.” That would not be possible if those huge walls fell outward. There would be heaps of rubble and stones which would still serve as a barrier.
2. Rahab’s house on the walls was not destroyed. “And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel,” Joshua 6:23. It most certainly would have if the walls had collapses outward.
Like the night of the Passover, when each house marked by the blood of the lamb was spared, here, the house of Rahab was marked by a scarlet thread. “Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee,” Joshua 2:18. Likely the same cord by which they had escaped, verse 15. There is escape only when the scarlet cord is used and displayed!