Gods Sabbath

128

E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

To the human mind, these specific orders were illogical and foolish. Since then, throughout history, no general has ever ac cepted or implemented such a plan, despite the successful oper ation of it at Jericho. Certainly, if the elders of Israel in commit tee had devised the strategy, they would never have thought of such a scheme. If one of them had proposed it, the others would have laughed him to scorn, just as the antediluvians ridiculed Noah while he was building God’s ark. Yet, that which no human mind would ever have formulated, was conceived by the Almighty as the most effective means of overthrowing Jericho’s fortifications. There was not one single thread of human devising in that arrangement. Joshua and all Israel were required to exercise unquestioning faith in God’s wisdom and power in order to accept and execute such instruc tions. When we consider the unusual and seemingly senseless nature of those directives, we can better appreciate the degree of faith required to carry them out. There would also have been a strong tendency for the Israelites to feel rather foolish as they thought of the Canaanites looking down upon their silent marches from the ramparts above. But despite all this, they took God at His word and carried out His commands precisely as He gave them through their leader. They asked no questions, but simply obeyed in faith. This is a good example of how true faith and God’s works are needed in combination, in order to strengthen and maintain that faith and to guarantee unquali fied success. What made the test of faith even more severe for Israel was the fact that God did not communicate the plan directly to the people, nor did they even see or hear Joshua receiving it. There fore, the faith required to bring down the walls had to include complete confidence that Joshua was the man of God’s appoint ment and that he was actually telling them exactly what the Lord had given him. It was by faith in gospel order that the walls of Jericho fell. “By faith the walls of Jericho fell ....” Hebrews 11:30. “The Captain of the Lord’s host communicated only with Josh ua; He did not reveal Himself to all the congregation, and it rest ed with them to believe or doubt the words of Joshua, to obey the commands given by him in the name of the Lord, or to deny his