Joshua & the Day the Sun Stood Still - Sunday morning, 6.21.2009

Joshua 10:12-14 - On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel:  “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”  So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar.    The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a man. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!

This was a major battle for Israel as they entered the Promised Land.  Up to this point, the Israelites had fought and won only two localized battles (Jericho and Ai).  

They now faced a coalition of five city-states, each with its own king and army, led by the pagan king of Jerusalem (which was then in pagan hands).  Defeating the entire coalition, however, would give the Israelites control of the central region of the country - the most strategic and inhabitable areas.  Once the central section of the Promised Land belonged to them, they could more easily launch campaigns into the northern and southern areas, which they did.

As with most of Israel’s victories, the battle went in their favor because the Lord intervened miraculously, not because of their own fighting skills.  In this case, the Lord promised ahead of time to throw the pagan coalition armies into confusion before Joshua, so that they broke ranks and began to flee before him.

Joshua pursued them.  Allowing them to flee before Israel would mean winning the battle that day, but it would also give the enemies a chance to regroup and attack God’s people again.  It was imperative that these enemy armies be eliminated completely.  Joshua needed time to finish the job once and for all - or better yet, he needed sunlight.  He knew that once darkness fell in the evening, the fleeing armies could easily hide from them.  So he prayed and asked the Lord to make the sun stand still - and, strangely, the moon as well - until he could finish the task that the Lord had entrusted to him.

God honored Joshua’s request.  Of course, in modern scientific understanding, we know that the sun really stands still, but it appears to move as the earth rotates on its axis; but God did not write the Bible as a science book, but prophetically and spiritually.  (In fact, modern science now teaches that many things we observe - like the passage of time - are partly an illusion based on our perspective).  In other words, we do not know for sure if God accomplished this miracle by making the earth stop rotating on its axis for 24 hours, or if God used some other cosmological event to accomplish the same effect.  It does not matter to us HOW God did it, but rather that God chose to record certain events and details to teach about his project of salvation that comes from eternity.  As it says in the New Testament, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11).  The battle won that day was for the benefit of God’s people who were there; but the details that God recorded in Joshua are for the faithful church of the last days.  They are prophetic.

We also face a great battle, but ours in spiritual, not material.  God did not ask the church to conquer a political or geographic nation with violence.  Instead, our task is to prepare the Body for the Rapture, which is coming soon.  The preparation for the Rapture has two main facets.  The first is conforming the faithful church (the Bride) to God’s will in every detail (both corporately, in the church structure and activities, and individually, in each member’s personal life).  The second is to include as many people as possible in this project of salvation, this Bride being prepared for the wedding of the Lamb.  In other words, the second facet is evangelism in the Holy Spirit.

These two general challenges (each has myriad parts, of course) comprise our present battle, the entirety of God’s Work in the world today.  Our battle is not with financial shortfalls in the church.  It is not with the practitioners of witchcraft around us, or even with other religions.  The greatest battle is inside the church - to teach the people to conform to God’s way instead of following their own preferences.  And an outgrowth of this is for all the members to engage in evangelism, and for us to integrate the new converts into a church where they learn to obey and serve God faithfully.

We need light.  We need light so that we can fulfill the task of the Holy Spirit completely.  Once darkness falls (the Tribulation, after the Rapture), it is too late.

Jesus is the Light.  (See John 8:12, 9:5, Luke 2:32).  He is the Sun of Righteousness. (Malachi 4:2)  His light comes to us so we can see - that is, Jesus gives us REVELATION by his Holy Spirit.  (”In your light we see light.” Psalm 36:9).  Jesus continues to shine his light - to give us his revelation - throughout the days and years until the job is done, the battle is finished, at the Rapture of the Church.  We need his light, his revelation, in order to carry out the great tasks that God entrusted to his servants.  Jesus shines his light continuously for us to see - spiritually - how to do what needs to be done.  The Sun stands still - Jesus is always there, just as he promised, “until the very end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:20).

Joshua’s sun appeared to stand still (continued to give light) for one full day. The “day” is the Day of the Lord, the Day of Salvation.  The Bible repeatedly refers to the Age of Grace - the period in which the faithful church carries out the Work of the Lord - as a “Day.”  “For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2).  “You are all sons of the light and sons of the day.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:5).  “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8).

See also Hebrews 4:7 - ”Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’”

This is the “Day” when the light of Christ shines continuously for the faithful church.  We walk in this light and live in this light, the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

This passage mentions that Joshua and his men marched all night and attacked early in the morning.  We win some of our most significant battles as a church when we pray in the early morning for the items God reveals. Then the Lord intervenes miraculously - as in the days of Joshua - to give the victory and complete the project of salvation.

There remains one odd detail in the story of Joshua.   Notice that the MOON also stood still.  This detail shows the prophetic intent of the passage.  The moon’s presence or movement in the sky would have no immediate purpose for Joshua and the ancient Israelites, if the sun were still shining.  The moon would not help them win the battle.  God included this for its prophetic value, for the important lesson it leaves for our generation.

The moon is a symbol of the FAITHFUL CHURCH, the Bride of Christ.  The physical moon, of course, has no light in itself.  It is made of rock.  The moon illuminates the night sky, however, because it faces the sun even when our side of the planet is turned away from the sun.  The moon reflects the sun’s light to the earth, giving us some light even at night when we would otherwise be in darkness.  The light of the moon comes from the sun.

This is a nice illustration of the faithful church.  The world now lives in spiritual darkness, turned away from Jesus, away from God’s light.  The faithful church, however, constantly beholds the Lord’s glory (see 2 Cor. 3:18); she constantly looks at the light (the revelation from Jesus). The faithful church reflects the light to the world, whose people live in spiritual darkness.  “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect (or behold) the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”  (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The world does not have revelation or spiritual light.  “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)Those living in the world cannot see Jesus today.  They know of him only as a historical figure, who they think founded a religion.  They are in darkness.  We see Jesus, we see the light.  The only way the world sees any light is when the faithful church reflects Christ’s light - when we bring his revelation to those around us.  Like the moon, we have no light in ourselves; we as the faithful church have nothing to offer the world except the light of Christ.

As the faithful church, we give light to the world only as we ourselves behold the light.  If the moon passes to a position where it cannot see the sun, it gives no light.  We must stay in fellowship with the Lord, seeking the Lord for his ongoing revelation, in order to have light to give the world.  When a church loses the revelation, and loses its vision of the living Jesus, then it ceases to have any light for the world - instead it will start to offer things OF the world TO the world, like material items, cultural things, entertainment, relationships, etc.  The churches offer worldly things to the world because they have no more light from the Sun of Righteousness (which, of course, makes the world laugh because they already have these things).

Even if some others cease to offer light, Jesus continues to shine for those who want to behold him.  He continues to give his revelation to those who seek it.  He continues to give us light throughout the Day, until the work is done.  God’s project will reach its conclusion, and the church will pass safely to eternity.  Until that moment, the light continues to shine for those who want it.