Joshua 1:5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
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Wherefore Adonizedec king of Jerusalem, sent unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying, Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.
Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it.
And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us.
So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.
And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.
This is all we need . If God is for us how can anyone be against us and stand . That word God gave Joshua is just exactly what we need when we are pursuing any project and when and we have that word from God we can go forward in faith and full confidence .
Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.
And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethhoron, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.
And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.
Not only did they have to fight Joshua but they had to fight God . This would give great confidence and faith to the children of Israel .
Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel.
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The New Testament church:
Moreover whom HE did predestinate, them HE also called: and whom HE called, them HE also justified: and whom HE justified, them HE also glorified.
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Is this what God wants me to do? If so, that's all I need. When I have a word from God leading me I have assurance this is the way I am supposed to go in the matter at hand. We can examine ourselves to see if we have "that" word showing us to do this thing and if we feel we do have "that" word, then we know we can work through any problem that surfaces. When I have "that" word, I have all that I need.
HE that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall HE not with Him also freely give us all things?
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through HIM that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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For me it is critical to hear from God before I go forward in doing something. That is all that matters to me. "Is God with me in this?" If I have that one word that I believe to be from God, I can move instantly forward and hold fast if troubles come during the project. But I must have "that" word that I believe to be from God.
For example: I was driving down the road and a pickup truck carrying a load of firewood pulled up beside my car. I began thinking of how much I would enjoy having a wood burning fireplace. And as I thought about this, I had the following brought to my mind: "You can have this." Never before had I considered changing my gas logs to wood in my fireplace. I pursued this immediately after I had that word brought to me. Words given to me by God are anchors for me as I go forward. Without such I know doubts could pull me down. But which that word I have strength.
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But these five kings fled, and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah.
And it was told Joshua, saying, The five kings are found hid in a cave at Makkedah.
And Joshua said, Roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave, and set men by it for to keep them:
And stay ye not, but pursue after your enemies, and smite the hindmost of them; suffer them not to enter into their cities: for the Lord your God hath delivered them into your hand.
And it came to pass, when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they were consumed, that the rest which remained of them entered into fenced cities.
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21-27 And all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace: none moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel.
Then said Joshua, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out those five kings unto me out of the cave.
And they did so, and brought forth those five kings unto him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.
And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them.
And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.
And afterward Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening.
And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun, that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and cast them into the cave wherein they had been hid, and laid great stones in the cave's mouth, which remain until this very day.
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28 And that day Joshua took Makkedah, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof he utterly destroyed, them, and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain: and he did to the king of Makkedah as he did unto the king of Jericho.
Libnah
29-30 Then Joshua passed from Makkedah, and all Israel with him, unto Libnah, and fought against Libnah: And the Lord delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel; and he smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain in it; but did unto the king thereof as he did unto the king of Jericho.
Lachish
31-32 And Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, unto Lachish, and encamped against it, and fought against it: And the Lord delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, which took it on the second day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein, according to all that he had done to Libnah.
33 Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua smote him and his people, until he had left him none remaining.
Eglon
34-35 And from Lachish Joshua passed unto Eglon, and all Israel with him; and they encamped against it, and fought against it: And they took it on that day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish.
Hebron
36-37 And Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, unto Hebron; and they fought against it: And they took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof, and all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon; but destroyed it utterly, and all the souls that were therein.
Debir
38-39 And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir; and fought against it: And he took it, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining: as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and to the king thereof; as he had done also to Libnah, and to her king.
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To me, the taking of each of these nations by Joshua, is like us dealing with each of those problems which would arise to stop us from doing that which we believe God has sanctioned for us to do.
Some people think if God told us to do something it will go smoothly.
I think these examples of Joshua taking the land shows the land is there and we have to go in and take that land and overcome those problems that arise.
Otherwise you would be retreating the first time a problem arose. In Numbers 13-14 they were to spy out the promised land that God said HE would give them. But there were giants in that land. Problems. So they just gave up and this caused their downfall. We overcome the problems by prayer, asking God to show us what to do in the problem.
No man could stand before Joshua. No problem can stand before us if we will turn to God and receive God's wisdom as to how to deal with that problem.
Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)
Christ, Jesus is the Word.
When we have "the Word" from God showing us to do something, that is our strength in working through the issue to the end to obtain that land God has given us.
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40-43 So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded.
And Joshua smote them from Kadeshbarnea even unto Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon.
And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.
And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal.
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The children of Israel are very important to God, above all others, and God is going to do everything HE promises for them.
When we awaken each morning and see that sunlight coming through the window, we see the faithfulness of God to us and we know God will certainly be faithful to perform each word HE has spoken to us.
And we can rejoice in that Word God has given us.
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The people God destroyed were very evil.
But even as evil as they were, the people today are worse, for the apostle Paul told us the following:
II Timothy 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
At the end of this present world, the wrath of God comes upon the evil, and the great tribulation of that time (Revelation 8-16) is something worse than anything seen before then.
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