THE BATTLE OF JERICHO
The Book of Joshua #7
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Wednesday, July 2, 2025
Joshua matters to God and to me
Rahab matters to God and to me
You matter to God and to me
(Genesis 15:16, Amplified) “And in the fourth generation they [your descendants] shall come back here [to Canaan] again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full and complete.”
1. GOD’S PROMISE TO JOSHUA
(Joshua 6:1-2, NLT) “Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in. But the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors.”
a. God has prepared Israel
b. Pure hearts precede an outpouring of God’s blessings
(Proverbs 4:23, NLT) “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
2. GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS TO JOSHUA
(Joshua 6:3–5, NLT) “You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.”
a. March around the city once a day for six days. Jericho belongs to the Lord
b. The priests are to blow the ram’s horn before the ark, God’s throne
c. The priests are to march seven times on the seventh day. Perfection
d. On the seventh day, the people are to vocalize their faith by shouting
e. When the walls fell the warriors were to attack the city
f. All the spoils were to go into the treasury of the LORD. First fruits belong to the Lord
(Joshua 6:19, NLT) “Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury.”
3. GOD’S METHODS ARE HIS PREROGATIVE. OBEYING THEM IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY
a. Be quiet. (Verse 10)
(Joshua 6:10, NLT) “Do not shout; do not even talk,” Joshua commanded. “Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout. Then shout!”
“The tongue is our most powerful weapon of manipulation. A frantic stream of words flows from us because we are in a constant process of adjusting our public image. We fear so deeply what we think other people see in us that we talk in order to straighten out their understanding. If I have done some wrong thing (or even some right thing that I think you may misunderstand) and discover that you know about it, I will be very tempted to help you understand my action! Silence is one of the deepest disciplines of the Spirit simply because it puts the stopper on all self-justification. One of the fruits of silence is the freedom to let God be our justifier. We don’t need to straighten others out.” –Richard Foster, Seeking the Kingdom
b. Be obedient
(Joshua 6:3, NLT) “You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days.”
(1 Samuel 15:22, NLT) “Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.”
c. Be completely obedient
(Joshua 6:15–16, NLT) “On the seventh day the Israelites got up at dawn and marched around the town as they had done before. But this time they went around the town seven times. The seventh time around, as the priests sounded the long blast on their horns, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the town!”
(Hebrews 11:30, NLT) “It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down.”
d. Rahab lives. Jericho perishes
“Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God. The proud, the avaricious, the self-righteous, are in that danger.” –C. S. Lewis quote in Back from the Brothel, by Phillip Yancey, CT January 2005
(Joshua 6:23–24, NLT) “The men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all the other relatives who were with her. They moved her whole family to a safe place near the camp of Israel. Then the Israelites burned the town and everything in it. Only the things made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron were kept for the treasury of the Lord’s house.”
GROWTHWORK
1. The ways of God can appear foolish
(1 Corinthians 1:27, NLT) “Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.”
a. Prayer
b. The Word of God
c. Your Testimony
(2 Corinthians 10:4, NLT) “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
(Revelation 12:11, NLT) “And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.”
2. The world may mock; but the ways of God will always prove to be victorious
(Psalm 73:23–26, NLT) “Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.”
3. If you want God to work supernaturally in your life follow God’s instructions carefully