Part 4 (1/2)
PRIVILEGE AND RESPONSIBILITY
(Read Joshua vi, vii)
The Christian reader will do well to turn, first of all, to the two chapters na They furnish a very striking and impressive record of the double effect of God's presence with His people In chapter vi we are taught that the divine Presence ensured victory over the power of the enemy In chapter vii
we learn that the divine Presence deation The ruins of Jericho dereat heap of stones in the valley of Achor attests the other
Now, these two things must never be separated We see thee of the history of God's people, both in the Old and in the New Testament The self-same Presence that secures victory deet this Yea, let us keep it ever in the remembrance of our hearts It has an individual as well as a collective application If we are to ith God, or, rather, if He is to ith us, weinconsistent with His holy presence He cannot sanction unjudged evil in His people He can pardon, heal, restore, and bless; but He is intolerant of evil ”_Our God_ is a consuin at the house of God”
Should the thought of this discourage or depress any true-hearted child of God, or servant of Christ? Certainly not It should neither discourage nor depress, but it should make us very watchful over our hearts, very careful as to our ways, our habits of thought and conversation We have nothing to fear while God is with us, but He cannot possibly sanction evil in His people; and every true lover of holiness will heartily bless Him for this Could we possibly desire it to be otherwise? Would ish the standard of holiness to be lowered at all? God forbid All those who love His naive thanks at the remembrance of His holiness, and rejoice in the truth that holiness becometh His house forever? ”Be ye holy, for I am holy” It is not by any means on the pharisaic principle, wrapped up in the words, ”Stand by thyself; I am holier than thou” Thank God, it is not this It is not a question of what _we_ are, but of what _He_ is Our character and conduct are to be forrace! Precious privilege!
God et this, He will surely rerace, links His nalory with us, it behooves us to look well to our habits and ways, lest we bring any reproach on that nae?
Nay, it is the holiest liberty We may rest perfectly assured of this, that we are never further re that path of true holiness which beco therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves fro holiness in the fear of God”
This great truth holds good at all times We see it in the ruins of Jericho We read it in the valley of Achor What was it that caused the frowning walls and towering bulwarks of Jericho to fall down at the sound of rams' horns and the shout of the people? The presence of Jehovah And it mattered not if it was but the city of Jericho or the whole land of Canaan, before that invincible Presence
But what nificant city of Ai? How comes it to pass that the hosts of Israel, so recently triunominiously before a mere handful of men at Ai? Ah, the answer tells a sorrowful tale! Here it is; let us harken to it, and ponder it in the deepest depths of our heart Let us seek to profit by it Let us be solemnly warned by it
It has been written for our admonition The Holy Ghost has taken the pains to record it for our learning Woe be to the one who turns a deaf ear to the warning voice!
”But the children of Israel co: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against”--whom? Achan merely? or his household, or his faainst the children of Israel”! The whole assembly was involved in the evil Hoas this?
The divine presence iether in such a manner as to involve all in the sin of the one It was one assembly, and hence it was iround The sin of each was the sin of all, because God was in their ed evil
The whole congregation was involved, and had to clear itself of the evil ere Jehovah could lead it on to victory Had He allowed theued that He was indifferent to the sin of His people, and that He could give the sanction of His presence to ”an accursed thing,” which were siainst His holy name
”And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto the, Go up and view the country And the men went up and viewed Ai And they returned to Joshua, and said unto hio up; but let about two or three thousand o up and smite Ai;”--more easily said than done;--”and make not all the people to labor thither; for they are but few”--yet quite too many for Israel with an Achan in the camp ”So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men; and they fled before the men of Ai And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six ate even unto Shebari doherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water
”And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads”
Here was a strange and unlooked-for experience ”And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast Thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us?
would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!
O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our nareat name?”
Joshua, that beloved and honored servant of God, did not see, did not understand, that it was the very glory of that ”great name” which necessitated the defeat at Ai, just as it had achieved the victory at Jericho But there were other elelory besides power
There was holiness, and that holiness rendered it impossible for Hied evil
Joshua should have concluded that there was soht to have known that the hindrance ith Israel, and not with Jehovah The saiven it at Ai, if things were right
But, alas, they were not right; and hence defeat, and not victory, was the order of the day How could there be victory with an accursed thing in the cae the evil, or Jehovah iven them a victory at Ai would have been a reproach and a dishonor to the One whose name was called upon theress in the conquest of Canaan was out of the question ”Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord” ”Holiness becometh Thy house, O Lord, for ever”
”And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? _Israel hath sinned_,”--not ressed My covenant which I co, and have also stolen, and disse their own stuff
_Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies_, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you anyyou”