Jos-Lesson 12

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JOSHUA 11
LESSON #12
OVERCOME THROUGH SPIRITUAL WARFARE

• Memory Verse: Eph 6:12-13
• The Israelites had won all the battles over the enemies in the territory to the south. Now they must fight for the northern territory.
• Read Joshua 11:1-23
• The northern campaign [look up the cities on a Bible map]
• It is estimated that this campaign lasted about seven years.
• The enemy consisted of a federation of four kings from four cities:
• Hazor – Jabin was the king.
• This city was the most strategic city because of its commerce and its strong military. The city was well fortified.
• The population was about 40,000 people located in two sections of the city. One section was on a hill 130 feet high above the surrounding plain. The lower city was an enclosed area to the north.
• The other three cities were Madon, Shimron, and Achshaph.
• The people in these four cities are all Canaanites.
• Verse 4 does not tell us any numbers but the historian Josephus says there were 300,000 armed footmen, 10,000 horsemen, and 20,000 chariots. Therefore, the army of the enemy consisted of more than 330,000 soldiers. The Israelites were greatly outnumbered.
• God gives the Israelites encouragement despite these large numbers in verse 6.
• The results of the northern campaign:
• Of all the cities that the Israelites conquered, Joshua burned only one city in this northern campaign. Why?
• The city of Hazor was burned like Jericho. (13)
• The king of Hazor, Jabin, was the predominate king that had united all these city-states to fight against Israel. He was the leader. (10-11)
• All the people in these cities were killed, men, women, and children.
• All the other cities, except for Hazor, were left undamaged.
• All the animals and material goods were confiscated by the Israelites.
• The northern campaign was not as rapid as the southern campaign. (18)
• The Israelites learned endurance and perseverance in battle.
• The Christian should learn endurance and perseverance in his spiritual battles.
• God has promised us the victory in Jesus Christ.
• God expects us to fight the spiritual battles in cooperation with the Holy Spirit.
• God hardened their hearts. (20)
• None of the people in these cities surrendered to God or to Joshua. They fought to the death. Why?
• Read Joshua 11:20
• The Bible tells us that God hardened the hearts of these immoral people.
• What does this mean, and how does this happen?
• We find this concept of God hardening the hearts of non-believers from time to time in the Old Testament. An understanding of this concept helps us understand the total destruction of all the people including the children.
• Read Rom 1:18-25
• Read Rom 2:1-11
• These verses in Romans explain very specifically the pagan inhabitants of the Promised Land.
• =1= God reveals himself to all men that He exists through the elements of creation.
• =2= Man that desires to know the Creator will desire to know Jesus Christ.
• =3= Man that does not desire to know God will rationalize his own immoral behavior by means of worshiping something else.
• =4= Man left to his own devices, permits his base immoral behavior to rule his life.
• This was the condition of the Canaanites when the Israelites entered the Promised Land.
• They were totally immoral people living with an epidemic of sexual diseases and passing their lifestyle down to their children.
• =5= Man at this level hardens his heart toward God.
• =6= At this point man is without excuse before God’s judgment. Sometimes God brings judgment in this life on earth but always eventually at the final judgment of the Great White Throne.
• =7= Because man has first hardened his heart toward God, God responds by hardening His heart toward these people.
• At this point this person is under the judgment of God. (The Pharaoh of the book of Exodus is the example.)
• Does that mean that no person in this condition can be saved? No.
• It only means that probably he will not turn to God in repentance.
• God judged the Canaanites and their total destruction by Israel was their judgment.
• This is the reason God told Joshua to destroy all the people in the Promised Land because they are without excuse.
• If any of them had turned to God in repentance, God would have saved them.
• We know this is true by the evidence of Rahab and the Gibeonites that were saved.
• The Anakims (22) (Num 13:28, 32, 33)
• Who were the Anakims?
• These were the giants that the spies saw in the land when the Israelites first sent the 12 spies into the Promised Land under Moses.
• We first see these giants in scripture in Gen 6:1-4.
• The Israelites under Joshua destroyed all these people and the giants except for the area of land along the southern coast of Israel that belonged to the Philistines.
• Joshua tells us that some giants still lived in the Philistine cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.
• It was not until King David that these people were finally destroyed. (Remember that Goliath was one of these giants.)
• Application to the Christian life:
• Read Rom 15:4
• The Christian’s battles: Identify the Christian’s battles in the following verses:
• Read Rom 7:19

• “for the good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do”

= the battle is to do the right thing.

• Read Rom 7:23

• “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”

= the battle is between my renewed mind and the sin in my flesh nature.

• Read 2Cor 10:3-5

• “for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

= the battle is against strongholds and imaginations and evil knowledge in our minds.

• Read 1Tim 1:18-19

• “this charge I commit unto thee son Timothy according to the prophecies which pointed to thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare, holding faith, and a good conscience which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck;”

= the battle is to maintain faith and a clear conscience.

• Read 1Tim 6:12

• “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, unto which thou art also called and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”

= the battle is to maintain faith and a good witness.

• Read 2Tim 2:3-4

• “Thou, therefore, endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”

= the battle is against compromise with the world.

• Read Eph 6:11-18
• The battle to maintain spiritual preparation through prayer.
• Review:
• Joshua 10 and 11 deal with the southern campaign and the northern campaign of battles to win the Promised Land.
• What principles from Joshua 10 and 11 can we use in our present Christian life?
• =1= Deal with the enemy where you find him.
• =2= Don’t hide evil in the caves of your mind.
• =3= Leave nothing of the old life to cause temptation.
• =4= Relate publically God’s victories.
• =5= Mark the places where victory was gained through going to battle for another.
• =6= Be constant in spiritual warfare.
• The weapons of Christian warfare:

• Joshua and the children of Israel had 3 weapons:
• Faith, obedience, the presence of God.
• The presence of God was exemplified by the Ark of the Covenant.
• Believers in Jesus Christ have a choice, we can fight our spiritual enemies or we can give up and let the enemy win. Giving up does not please God.
• If we choose to fight, we have the same weapons the children of Israel had.
• We also have many more weapons that they did not have.
• These weapons of our warfare fall into two categories:
• Offensive weapons of Christian warfare and defensive weapons of protection.
• Many of these weapons can be used both offensively and defensively.
• The weapon of the authority of the believer in Jesus Christ:
• -1-. Binding and loosing authority (Mat 16:18-19)
• Jesus prayed, “thy kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven” (Mat 6:10)
• Binding a situation to the Word of God.
• Binding a situation to the will of God as it is in heaven.
• Loosing the covenant blessings of God.
• Loosing God’s sovereignty in the situation:
• In legal terms, it is contracting with God based on what god wills. “I bind the power of Satan in this situation and loose the will of God in this situation.”
• In military terms, it is laying siege to enemy territory:
• In Old Testament terms it refers to the authority of the Jewish Sanhedrin to determine whether rules and obligations were binding upon the people or whether one was freed or loosed from such obligations (debts, vows, etc.).
• -2- Authority in the name of Jesus Christ (Joh 14:13)
• -3- Authority of the blood of Jesus Christ (Rev 12:11)
• -4- The word of our testimony (Rev 12:11)
• -5- The protection of ministering angels (Heb 1:14)
• The power and presence of the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. (Rom 15:13 Eph 3:20 Rom 8:11 Act 1:8)
• The presence of God, the Father; Jesus, the Son; and the Holy Spirit within us. (Joh 17:20-23)
• The help of other believers in intercessory prayer. Where 2 or 3 are gathered together as touching anything. (Mat 18:19-20)
• Our faith in Jesus Christ that overcomes the world.
• Our obedience to God’s will and His plan for our lives.

HOMEWORK
JOSHUA 12
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of Joshua 11
• What is the biggest battle in your Christian life today?
• What did you learn from chapter 11 and last week’s lesson that will help you fight this battle?
• Write your progress this week:
• Preparation for Joshua 12
• Read Joshua 12:1-24
• Read Ephesians 6:12-18
• What do you think the armor of God is and how do you use it?
• Identify:
• The helmet of salvation
• The shield of faith
• The breastplate of righteousness
• The girdle of truth
• The sword of the spirit
• Sandals of peace on the feet
• Memory verse: Ephesians 6:18