Readings for today: Joshua 7-10
There are fundamental assumptions baked into the text of the Bible. If you don’t keep these in mind, it becomes difficult to understand how all the different stories go together. For example, how does one square what we read today about all the God-ordained death and destruction with the idea that God loves everyone? How does one reconcile the fact that God actually fought on the side of Israel against her enemies with the God who promises to bring peace on earth? How does one come to grips with the execution of Achan and his family with the God of mercy, forgiveness, and grace? As you wrestle with the text, here are the things you need to keep in mind.
First and foremost, God is holy. He is righteous. He is just. He alone has the right and authority to judge the peoples of the earth. He alone determines when that judgment takes place and the instrument He will use to execute His judgment. God will by no means clear the guilty. Sin is a capital offense. The punishment for sin is death. So when we see God using Israel to execute His righteous judgment on the Canaanite tribes, we can be confident He is being eternally consistent within Himself.
Second, humanity is unholy. We are unrighteous. We are not just. Human society is rife with inequality, oppression, tyranny, abuse, immorality, etc. Human beings are responsible not only for the ways we participate in such systems but for our passivity in accepting these evils as “normative.” Furthermore, we perpetuate these gross injustices every day in the personal choices we make. The sins both of commission and omission. The ways we relate to one another. The ways we treat one another. The ways we fight one another. None of us are innocent. We are conceived in inquiry and born with an orientation towards selfishness and sin. The reality is we’ve earned God’s judgment so when we see God use His people to wipe out entire cities and societies, we can be confident that the people living in those places were guilty of sin and deserving of their fate on some level.
Why does God not wipe out all of humanity then? Why privilege some over others? Why choose some and not choose others? Why does Israel get a pass when the other tribes and nations do not? This is the great mystery of election. God is well within His rights to erase humanity completely. But He made a promise after the Great Flood never to destroy the earth again and must remain faithful to Himself. God is playing the long-game here. He wants to save humanity from herself but He also chooses to use humanity as His primary instrument to accomplish His plan of salvation. Sometimes that plan manifests itself in judgment along the way. Sometimes that plan manifests itself in mercy. God sits outside time and space and is not bound by our timelines or our notions of what is right and wrong. He sees the human heart. He knows every human thought. He is aware of every action we take both privately and publicly. Nothing is hidden from Him. Nothing is secret. If God chooses to execute judgment, it is a just response to the evils of this world. If God chooses to delay judgment, it is a merciful response to the evils of this world but make no mistake all will one day appear before the judgment throne. There will be a reckoning.
Where does that leave those of us who believe in Jesus Christ? Did we somehow escape judgment? Did we get a pass? Not at all. Jesus took our place. The punishment we deserved, He took on Himself. The sentence we deserved, He willingly served on our behalf. The full measure of God’s judgment fell on Christ on the cross and was perfectly satisfied. To put a fine point on it, Jesus was “devoted to destruction” so that we might be spared. Thanks be to God for His salvation!
Readings for tomorrow: Joshua 11-14