SEEING JESUS IN JOSHUA

The Book of Joshua #6

Pastor Dennis Clanton

Woodland Church

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

(Joshua 5:11–15, NLT) “The very next day they began to eat unleavened bread and roasted grain harvested from the land. No manna appeared on the day they first ate from the crops of the land, and it was never seen again. So from that time on the Israelites ate from the crops of Canaan. When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and demanded, “Are you friend or foe?” “Neither one,” he replied. “I am the commander of the Lord’s army.” At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. “I am at your command,” Joshua said. “What do you want your servant to do?” The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did as he was told.”

God gives and God asks

(Romans 12:1, NLT) “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.”

Manna was handy and healthy

(Deuteronomy 8:3–4, NLT) “Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. For all these forty years your clothes didn’t wear out, and your feet didn’t blister or swell.”

(Romans 10:17, NLT) “Faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.”

The Man appearing was a Theophany, an appearance of the Lord in human form

(Joshua 5:13–15, KJV 1900) “And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.”

A. Every leader needs to be led

B. To Joshua the Lord appeared as a warrior

(2 Kings 6:17, NLT) “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.”

(Isaiah 13:4, NLT) “Hear the noise on the mountains! Listen, as the vast armies march! It is the noise and shouting of many nations. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has called this army together.”

C. To Abraham as a traveler

(Genesis 18:1, 22, 33, NLT) “The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. … The other men turned and headed toward Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham. … When the Lord had finished his conversation with Abraham, he went on his way, and Abraham returned to his tent.”

(Matthew 26:53, NLT) “Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?”

(Zechariah 14:3–4, NLT) “Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south.”

D. God is present in power with His people

(Exodus 13:3, NLT) “This is a day to remember forever—the day you left Egypt, the place of your slavery. Today the Lord has brought you out by the power of his mighty hand.”

The victory is won in the prayer closet or the prayer meeting

“You can do more than pray after you have prayed but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.” – S. D. Gordon

“I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.” – Mary, Queen of Scots

(Psalm 118:6) “The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”