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April 14 - Joshua 5 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Tuesday, it's the 14th of
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  April and how good is it to have your company as you have
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  decided? Now is the moment in my day
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  where I'm going to put down everything and come before my
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  God and hear His word to me. And today it is circumcision,
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  tastic word that is coming your way.
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  This is the greatest mass circumcision event in the Bible,
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  I reckon. And as we listen to this, we
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  think, my goodness, this sounds a bit archaic, but we need to
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  pause for a moment and think. We live under a new covenant
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  today, a covenant that was set up when Jesus did what he did
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  for us. And so we do outward things to
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  celebrate our covenant with God, and we follow the instructions
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  that we were given through things like baptism and things
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  like participating in communion. But back then they were under a
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  different covenant and their covenant said to be part of
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  God's people. This is one of the outward signs
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  that you do, which is circumcision.
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  So as we read this, and it sounds terribly archaic and
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  quite a foreign concept, this is a very familiar concept really
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  about a people choosing to show that they are God's people.
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  So let us dive in with that lens and read this together, shall
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  we? Joshua chapter 5 When all the
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  Amorite kings West of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings who
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  lived along the Mediterranean coast heard how the Lord had
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  dried up the Jordan River so the people of Israel could cross,
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  they lost heart and were paralysed with fear because of
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  them. At that time the Lord told
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  Joshua, make Flint knives and circumcise this second
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  generation of Israelites. So Joshua made Flint knives and
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  circumcised the entire male population of Israel at Gibiath
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  Haraloth. Joshua had to circumcise them
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  because all the men who were old enough to fight in the battle
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  when they left Egypt had died in the wilderness.
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  Those who left Egypt had all been circumcised, but none of
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  those born after the Exodus, during the years and the
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  wilderness had been circumcised. The Israelites had travelled in
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  the wilderness for 40 years, until all the men who were old
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  enough to fight in battle when they're left Egypt had died, for
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  they had disobeyed the Lord, and the Lord vowed He would not let
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  them enter the land. He had sworn to give us a land
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  flowing with milk and honey. So Joshua was circumcised.
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  Their sons, those who had grown up to take their father's
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  places, for they had not been circumcised on the way to the
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  promised land. After all the males had been
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  circumcised, they rested in the camp until they were healed.
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  Then the Lord said to Joshua, Today I have rolled away the
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  shame of your slavery in Egypt. So that place has been called
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  Gilgal to this day. While the Israelites were camped
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  at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated
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  Passover on the evening of the 14th day of the first month.
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  The very next day they began to eat unleavened bread and roasted
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  grain harvested from the land. No manner appeared on the day
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  they first ate from the crops of the land, and it was never seen
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  again. So from that time on the
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  Israelite ate from the crops of Canaan.
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  When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and saw a
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  man standing in front of him with a sword in hand.
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  Joshua went up to him and demanded, Are you friend or foe?
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  Neither. 1 He replied, I am the commander of the Lord's army.
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  At this Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence.
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  I am at your command, Joshua said.
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  What do you want your servant to do?
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  The commander of the Lord's army replied, Take off your sandals,
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  for the place where you are standing is holy.
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  And Joshua did as he was told. Father, thank you that you are a
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  God who engages with your people.
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  You don't sit in a lofty throne far from us, ruling us from a
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  civil distance. No, you'd get down in the muck
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  with us, and you walk beside us. Yes, you rule eternally, but you
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  live here amongst us as well. Thank you and thank you that we
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  see evidence of this in the covenants that you make with
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  your people, in these agreements, these contracts that
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  you make, so that we know exactly what you ask of us and
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  exactly what you promised to us. And thank you that you have
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  given us this incredible covenant of life in Jesus where
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  we believe and are baptised, and then you strengthen and hold us
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  in this incredible deal of forgiveness and love that we
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  know we have through Jesus. Until finally, after we breathe
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  our last, we come into your presence.
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  Your perfect presence that we can now enter because the blood
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  of Jesus covers over us and transforms us, making us as holy
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  as he is. Oh, we love you and we're so
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  grateful for everything you have done for us and your incredible
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  rich love for us. And we pray all of this in his
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  saving name. Amen.