JOSHUA

Chapter 23

"Joshua Ending His Word"
"Joshua's Address to Israel. [2 - 16]"
"Exortation to Follow the Law. [6 - 8]"
"Warning Against Evil Alliances. [11 - 13]"

This Bible Study is is provided by http://www.theseason.org/ and shared with permission from it's author R. Christopherson

Joshua 23:1 "And it came to pass a long time after that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age."

So this chapter starts eight years later, after all the tribes have settled in their promise land. This took place about 1434 B.C. and Joshua is very old and weak.

Joshua 23:2 "And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them. "I am old and stricken in age;"

Keep in mind that the first part of this address is made to all the tribes of Israel; from the highest ranking, to the lowest lay person. The end of this message will be just to the leaders of the tribes.

Joshua 23:3 "And ye have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the Lord your God is He That hath fought for you."

God made promises and commitments to Abraham, that was passed on to Isaac, and Jacob. In those promises God told Abraham that his seed would go down into Egypt and after four hundred years come out of Egypt far greater than when they went in. God promised Abraham that the land that his feet walked over would belong to his seed, and these people of the tribes of Israel were inheriting the promises that God made. God will keep His promises, and you are the seed of Abraham. It is because of who you are, "because of you", that you are here holding the inheritance that is your possession.

God defeated those many nations that still have the offspring of those fallen angels mixed within them, and He destroy them because of you. So why is it so important? Should those nations of the Nephilim had the chance of continue, the blood line of all mankind would have been polluted to the point where the birth of Christ would not have been possible. The Messiah would come through these people, and their seed must be kept pure from those long necked hybrids that were flooding the earth at this time. That was the reason for the commandment to set the sword to all the people in those cities of those nations that had to be conquered.

Those supernatural beings had the knowledge for the other heavenly age and realm, and the purpose for flesh man was to be born innocent of those things, and be able to chose between God and Satan. Between the ways of God, and salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, or follow Satan like one third of all souls did in that first earth age. What the children of Israel could not do for themselves, God accomplished it for them.

This you have to believe, for God will still fight and go before you in your battles today, as He did back in Joshua's day. We take our beliefs by faith, sight unseen. You can be strong and of good courage if you believe that God will protect you, if you love Him. That is what God wants from you, your love. God arranged for each victory that the Israelites enjoyed, and He will arrange our overcoming our problems also.

Joshua 23:4 "Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward."

God arranged for these nations to fall, and that your tribes will inherit the lands of those heathen nations. In the phrase "cut off" it means that God has run out the nations that were in the land. Sure, most were killed, but some ran off and never came back.

Joshua 23:5 "And the Lord your God, He shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the Lord your God hath promised unto you."

Joshua 23:6 "Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;" 

"The book of the Law of Moses" are what we read in the first five books of the Bible. To the best of your ability, we are to keep to the center of the Word of God. Don't be listening to ideas that sway you away from the Word of God. Stay focused on the Word. Remember that Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, 18 that: "think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

When men tell you something that goes against the Word of God, check that teacher our, if it doesn't fit, don't sway to the left or right hand. When a person opens his mouth and speaks of the Scriptures, it will not take to much spiritual discernment to know whether that person is of God or not.

Joshua 23:7 "That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them;"

This is especially important in our generation. For the false christ will be coming to this earth in our generation. He will be supernatural and doing things that humans can not do. He will be saying things that sound so good and true, but they will be dies and deceptions. So you see, these early Israel faced the offspring of the fallen angels, and the fallen angels will be coming back with Satan when he come.

Revelation 12:9 "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

Satan will present himself as Christ. He will act as people think Christ should act, and do the things that they think that Christ should do. Satan and his fallen angels will be given the authority to come to earth and deceive all those that do not have the seal of God in their minds, their foreheads.

Joshua 23:8 "But cleave unto the Lord your God, as ye have done unto this day."

"To cleave unto" means that it is going to take work on your part. That requires you to study to know and understand the Word of God. We must know the flow of God overall plan, and how each of us fit into that plan. This is not talking about memorizing large portions, but knowing how to obtain the information necessary for your walk. Be willing to share the seeds of truth with those wanted to be directed to our Heavenly Father.

Joshua 23:9 "For the Lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no hath been able to stand before you unto this day."

Don't ever forget what the Lord did for them and for you. Why is it that no man is able to stand before you? Because of God that is in you and goes before you. If God be for you, who can be against you...doesn't matter, for in a spiritual sense we have the victory when we are in Christ.

Joshua 23:10 "One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the Lord your God, He it is that fighteth for you, as He hath promised you."

"As He has promised you;" Do you know what God has promised you? You can claim every promise in the Bible when you meet the conditions of those promises. That is why we must study to know His Word. We can then claim those promises for ourselves.

Joshua 23:11 "Take good heed unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God."

"Yourselves" as used here should read "souls". Take heed of your soul that ye love the Lord your God. Whether you are in your flesh body or soul, it is your soul that is eternal and goes with you. "Take good heed unto your soul, that ye love the Lord your God." If you want to protect your soul, then love the Lord your God. Stop and think for a moment, for our Heavenly Father has created your soul, and when the souls fell from God, He formed this earth age of flesh man and sent His Son into this world age, just as you and I are, to bring you back to Him. He loved you so much that he took each of our place on the cross, to be sacrificed for one and all times for our sins. God loves you, and He wants your love also. You are His child and God loves His children.

Joshua 23:12 "Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriage with them, and go in unto them and they to you:"

Keep in mind that God has cleansed the sanctuary, He had cleansed the land of these people with their mixed up blood strains, and now He expects you to stay away from going back to them and taking them in marriage.

Joshua 23:13 "Know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath give you."

God is telling you that He did it once for you, He cleansed the land of these fallen angels, and He expects each of His children to pay attention to who they marry and the traps that Satan and these fallen angels will set for you. God has cleansed this land for the last time until the time of the end. For then we now Satan will be coming back and bringing all these fallen angels, Nephilim with him. However in Christ this comes back to an individual level. These fallen angels will only be a thorn and snare if you allow them to be. They will be a thorn in your eye if you allow it. When you are loving God and following His ways, you are not going to have these thorns and snares bother you.

About 1434 B.C was the last time that God cleaned the Sanctuary. That presents a mystery for many from the book of Daniel.

Daniel 8:13 "Then I heard on saint speaking, and another saint said unto the certain saint which spake, `How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?' "

Remember that God said that "I will never cleanse the sanctuary again." Why? God gave us common sense so that we are to protect our own selves. We have the right to order Satan out of our lives, as well as His demonic realm. How many years will this take before this happens, for we are talking about these fallen angels being removed for good. We are talking about a starting date of 1434 B. C.

Daniel 8:14 "And he said unto me, `Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.' "

This is talking about the day of the Lord, the day Jesus Christ returns and cleans up the mess that Satan and his hoards of fallen angels will leave here on earth. In Daniel it gives us 1434 B.C. as the starting time. A year later Joshua would die and the children of Israel lost focus and went haywire. They started to mess around with heathen gods, and messing around in strange marriages. Then when we use Daniel 12 as our guideline we can figure about the season that our Lord will return.

One of Daniels days from the time Christ was crucified, until the fig tree was set in place in 1948, the common denominator to Joshua days is about 1.44. So 1.44 X 2300 you get the cleansing to start about 1980 to 81. This of course gives us a close date that reminds us that we are close to Satan's coming, and five months later, the return of our Lord. The only thing for us to make from this is that we are living in the end times, and the prophecies of the end times are common everyday events that we are witnessing today. No man know the time or hour, but the wise do know the season.

Joshua 23:14 "And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof."

God's Word will never fail for He is the same today as He was yesterday, and that is how it shall be for tomorrow. You can count on the prophecies of His Word, and each promise that He has given to each of us.

Joshua 23:15 "Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the Lord your God promised you; so shall the Lord bring upon you evil things, until He have destroyed you from off the good Land which the Lord your God hath given you."

God is promises you that just as all good things shall come your way, He is also promising you that you will also be exposed to all evil things also. Those evil things will bother you if you allow it to happen. Jesus Christ has given you and I power over all of our enemies, but we have to take that authority. Satan will take over your home, and destroy those members in your family if you allow it to happen. God has already wrote us a letter and told us to be strong against our enemy and He expects us to read that letter and follow those instructions. Expect that enemy to come into your life, so prepare yourself for that time. You are in the world, as Satan will be, but what are you going to do about it. God gave you to power to order those evil things out of your house and life. You don't have to fool around with them because you are the children of the living God.

Joshua 23:16 "When ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good Land which He hath given unto you."

There is a condition here, if ye have transgressed against the covenant of the Lord, and have served other gods, like Satan in his role as the false messiah in these end times. If you get taken by Satan when he says that he has come to rapture everyone away, for Satan is not our God. Jesus warned you of this in II Corinthians 11:13, 14 "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into an angel of light." [13] "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." [14]

Many Christians will say, "Isn't that wonderful, for Satan will be transformed into an angels of light." And they show their ignorance. What the manuscripts say is that "Satan will come disguised as an angel of light" to steal their soul, their homes and their families. Satan is already sentenced to death, and he is out to bring you right along with him into the lake of fire. This is why we want God's protection over us at all times.

If you think that you can play around with Satan and his realm and not have God's anger against you, think again; "Then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the land..." The instant that you bow your knee to Satan, God's anger is against you, and in ignorance many Christians will bow their knee to him, for they will be following the traditions that their church houses have taught them. Do you blame God for kindling His anger against you when you are suppose to be the virgin bride of Christ, and you are out messing around with the false Christ, you are no longer a virgin, but the bride of the false Christ. God gave you the good land, and you have a title deed to it in the Word of God. Why would you allow somebody to rip you off of your title deed to the promise land? This will happen to many Christians in our generation, Why? because Christians will listen to men that tell them they don't need to know the Word pertaining to the end times, because we are going to fly out of here in the rapture. Like a bunch of butterflies they will fly to the wrong God. God dislikes lazy people that will not get into His Word.

Jeremiah 4:22 "For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge." 

"Sottish" in the Hebrew test is "stupid", and that is what God is calling those that refuse to study His Word to prepare themselves for these end times. Christians today are not preparing themselves to make a stand, but to fly away in a make believe rapture. They will not have the knowledge or understanding to see through the lies and deceptions of Satan, the supernatural power that will present himself as Christ, and they will believe it. When they do they will give up the right to their title deed in the promise land. The Words that are written is what we are to hang on to, and set our mind to follow in these end times. Get away from the confusion that the traditions of men, and their ways of Salvation have crept in, and throw them away. There will be many teachers in the end times saying they are of Christ, but when the teach against what God's Word teaches, Jesus warns you not to be deceived.

 

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