Messianic Perspectives

Liz Ayello: Are you in trouble? Well, if so, we have good news. The Bible has specific instructions about what to do when you're in trouble. We'll talk about it today, right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Shalom, and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctive first-century Jewish point of view. I'm Liz Ayello. Today, Dr. Gary Hedrick is leading our discussion of what to do when you're in trouble. If you have your Bible handy, we invite you to turn to Joshua chapter five and join in. I'll be back a little later with information about a special offer, so have your pencil and paper ready. Now, with today's study, here is Dr. Gary Hedrick.

Gary Hedrick: All right, thank you, and welcome listening friend to another edition of Messianic Perspectives. It's good to have you with us today as we continue this series of studies on what to do when you're in trouble. In this series of studies, we're looking at something that happened in Joshua chapter five because Joshua was in trouble. In fact, he was in big trouble, and I believe we can learn something by watching the way Joshua faced trouble.

On the last program, we were talking about how some people have the idea that when we come to the Lord and we become a believer in Jesus Christ, our problems are over. Well, that would be nice, and I'd be the first one to vote for that, but that's just not the way it is. In fact, we said some people get into more trouble after they become a believer than they did before. So, we came to the conclusion on the last program that trouble is universal. There's no way around it. That's why we need to know how to deal with it.

Here in Joshua chapter five, we see how Joshua dealt with trouble. Here's what it says in Joshua chapter five beginning in verse 13. It says, "And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him with a sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him and said unto him, 'Art thou for us or for our adversaries?'"

In verse 14, "And he said, 'Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.' And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship and said unto him, 'What saith my lord unto his servant?' And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, 'Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy.' And Joshua did so."

So, here's how Joshua responded to the trouble in his life. We're going to talk about four things, and to make it easier for you to remember, I said they all begin with W. Remember, we talked about that last time? W, this is a little memory aid. The first thing Joshua did was he waited. "And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho," the Bible says. In other words, he was willing to leave the timing in God's hands. He was waiting on the Lord rather than rushing into the battle.

Then the second thing Joshua did was he watched. First he waited, and then he watched. It says he lifted up his eyes and looked. You see, it's one of the ironies of the Christian life that during those times when God seems farthest away, those are the times when he's closest. He's right there under your nose, like the song that says he was there all the time. But you know what happens? We get focused on the problem and we forget to look around us.

We forget to look for the Lord. We forget to look at what he may be doing right there under our nose because we're too busy focusing on the problem and not busy enough focusing on the Lord. It's like that time in the New Testament when the disciples were out on the Sea of Galilee in a boat and they saw the Lord walking toward them on the water. So, Peter cried out and he said, "Lord, let me come out there too." He wanted to walk on the water.

That was Peter. That's how he was. He was the boisterous one. He was the impetuous one. He was impulsive. So, there they were in the early morning hours when it was still dark out there on the Sea of Galilee in the middle of a storm and they saw Jesus walking toward them on the water. It says at first they were afraid because they thought he was a ghost, but the Lord told them not to be afraid. And then Peter decided he wanted to walk on the water too.

But what happened? He climbed out of the boat and started walking, and he did fine as long as he was watching Jesus. But then he took his eyes off Jesus and started looking at the wind and the waves around him, and he started thinking, "My goodness, what in the world am I doing?" Every human instinct within him said that what he was doing was impossible, and that's when he started to sink.

So, what does that tell us? It tells us we've got to focus on the Lord, and that's not always easy. Think about Peter out there on the water in the middle of a storm with the wind and the waves all around him. I mean, focusing on the Lord was easier said than done under those circumstances. And here was Joshua here in Joshua chapter five scouting out the great walled city of Jericho. It would have been easy for him to focus more on Jericho than on anything else.

It was a huge, imposing fortress that dominated the skyline for miles and miles around. It would have been easy for Joshua to become preoccupied with the problem, but he didn't. It says he lifted up his eyes and he looked, and behold, a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" In verse 14, he said, "No, but as commander of the army of the Lord, as captain of the Lord's host have I now come."

Now, this man—and by the way, it should be spelled with a capital M—this man is no ordinary man. He is the captain of the Lord's host, the commander of the army of the Lord. In other words, he's called the angel of the Lord, or the angel of Yahweh. This is none other than the Messiah himself, Adonai Yeshua HaMashiach, the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, "Gary, how can that be? I thought Jesus was born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. How could he have been alive in the time of Joshua, 1,500 years before Bethlehem?"

That's a very good question. The answer is that this episode right here is what theologians call a Christophany or a theophany. That's just a theological term that means an appearance of Christ, or an appearance of the Messiah. It's a pre-incarnate appearance of the Messiah fifteen centuries before he was born in Bethlehem. Here's how it is. Jesus the Messiah is the second person of the divine Godhead. In much of traditional Christendom, they call this the Trinity.

In the Messianic movement, we call it the Tri-unity because it's more descriptive. What this means is that Jesus is, in a very real sense, God. He is God in the flesh. God assumed human form so he could die and pay the price of redemption. He was born of a virgin to protect him from the taint, the pollution, of sin. It's only been in our generation, with advances in science and genetics, that we have begun to understand these things.

We know now that the reason he was born of a virgin was so the genetic material that is normally contributed by the father was literally provided by God himself. It says Mary was overshadowed by the Spirit of God, the Ruach HaKodesh, in such a way that no sin was transmitted to the baby in her womb. It was a miraculous birth. I was writing back and forth on the internet one time, several years ago, with an Orthodox Jewish rabbi.

He was talking about how the story of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ originated in paganism. He said it was like the stories of Mount Olympus and the gods intermarrying with mortal women and producing offspring that were half god and half man. He said the idea of a virgin birth was ridiculous. It was unscientific. It was silly. So, I asked him if he believed God parted the Red Sea in the book of Exodus so the Israelites could walk across on dry ground.

He said, "Absolutely. It's in the Bible. I have to believe it." So, I asked him if he could estimate approximately how many laws of nature were violated by the miracle of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. He said that wasn't the same as the virgin birth of Jesus of Nazareth. But, in fact, it is the same thing. It's exactly the same thing. They were both miracles. Both incidents required a suspension of certain natural laws. They were both supernatural.

The only difference is that my rabbi friend wanted to believe one of them but not the other. He had no problem with God supernaturally parting the Red Sea and letting the children of Israel walk across on dry ground. But when it comes to God assuming human form and overshadowing a Jewish maiden named Mary so that her baby is literally the only begotten son of the living God, then he says that's impossible. It's not scientific. It's not reasonable.

And I say, "Nonsense." Jesus, or Yeshua, has existed from all eternity as the second person of the Godhead. He was before the creation, and in fact, it was by him that all things were created. Did you know that even the Talmud, the Jewish Talmud, teaches that the name of the Messiah was created even before the world existed? We have a teaching tape entitled "Seven Things God Was Doing Before Genesis 1:1" where we talk about that.

So, this man with a capital M that Joshua meets here in Joshua chapter five is no ordinary man. He is the Son of Man, the Son of God, the second person of the Tri-unity. He is the one Isaiah prophesied when he said, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6.

Well, that's all of our time for today. Where does the time go? So, the first thing Joshua did here in chapter five was he waited. Then the next thing he did was he watched. And we'll pick it up here on the next program as we continue our series on what to do when you're in trouble. Unto then, this is your friend, Gary Hedrick, saying, "God bless you. Take care. Bye-bye."

Liz Ayello: Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. It's always good to have you with us, whether you're listening from home, at work, or in your car. By the way, if you found today's program helpful, you'll be glad to know that the entire series is available on one convenient compact disc. The title is simply, "What to Do When You're in Trouble."

And it's yours for a gift of just six dollars or more to Messianic Perspectives. Just visit our secure online store at MessianicSpecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, P.O. Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292. To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397.

And as always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. This is Liz Ayello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series on what to do when you're in trouble, right here on Messianic Perspectives. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas, and is made possible on this station by the freewill contributions of our listeners in this area.