{"id":5913,"date":"2023-08-07T19:56:30","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T19:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/?p=5913"},"modified":"2023-08-07T19:56:30","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T19:56:30","slug":"the-guardian-angel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/the-guardian-angel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Guardian Angel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click HERE for sermon audio<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cBehold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.<\/em><\/span>\u00a021\u00a0<\/sup>Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice;\u00a0do not rebel against him,\u00a0for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

22\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cBut if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then\u00a0I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

23\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cWhen my angel goes before you and brings you\u00a0to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,<\/span>\u00a024\u00a0<\/sup>you shall\u00a0not bow down to their gods nor serve them,\u00a0nor do as they do, but\u00a0you shall utterly overthrow them and break their\u00a0pillars in pieces.<\/span>\u00a025\u00a0<\/sup>You\u00a0shall serve the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0your God, and\u00a0he[a<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0will bless your bread and your water, and\u00a0I will take sickness away from among you.<\/span>\u00a026\u00a0<\/sup>None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the\u00a0number of your days.<\/span>\u00a027\u00a0<\/sup>I will send\u00a0my terror before you and will throw into\u00a0confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.<\/span>\u00a028\u00a0<\/sup>And\u00a0I will send hornets[b<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.<\/span>\u00a029\u00a0<\/sup>I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you.<\/span>\u00a030\u00a0<\/sup>Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.<\/span>\u00a031\u00a0<\/sup>And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates,[c<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0for\u00a0I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.<\/span>\u00a032\u00a0<\/sup>You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.<\/span>\u00a033\u00a0<\/sup>They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.\u201d (Exodus 23:20-33)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The Guardian Angel<\/b><\/p>\n

After giving the people the law which would be their rule in the land that God was giving them, God now gives them their marching orders for when they enter into the promised land. In so doing, God assures them of their passage by calling them to behold the angel which He sends before them to guard them and bring to that place He has prepared for them. Now this is not the first time we have seen this angel with the people here in Exodus. God had already sent this angel to deliver His people out of Egypt. When Israel was crossing the Red Sea and the Egyptians were coming after them and closing in on them, the angel of the Lord guards them from Pharaoh and his army. Exodus 14:19-20, \u201cThen the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So God assures Israel that His angel shall be with them throughout their journey to guard and keep them until they enter that place God was giving them. Certainly they ought to be equipped to trust God and obey the angel, as they already have experience being guarded and delivered by Him. Now this Angel of the Lord that we saw in Exodus 3, Exodus 14, other Old Testament passages, and now Exodus 23 is no mere created angel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Consider just the language used to speak of the angel in Exodus 23. First, God says to \u201cbehold,\u201d which could be used in a general sense, but also is often used in a sense of worship to \u201cbehold\u201d the Lord God. But further, the language of strict obedience and reverence is commanded to the angel. Verse 21, \u201cPay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him\u2026\u201d Certainly this could not be said of just any angel, as a third of the angels fell and rebelled against God and are not to be trusted and obeyed. And as Galatians 1 tells us, even if an angel preaches a false gospel, we are not to listen, but let him be accursed. Even the devil masquerades as an angel of light.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, even higher language is spoken of this angel. They are commanded not to rebel against him, \u201cfor,\u201d verse 21, \u201che will not pardon your transgression\u2026\u201d This then cannot be a created angel, for such angels are not able to pardon transgression, which is sin against God. Only God can forgive sin. And, as John Gill says, it would be absurd to state that the angel would not pardon their transgressions if he could not pardon their transgressions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even further, God says of him at the end of verse 21, \u201cfor my name is in him.\u201d This is the type of language used to speak about the relationship of the members of the Holy Trinity. As Jesus says in John 14:10-11, \u201cDo you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me\u2026\u201d Of who else could God say, \u201cfor my name is in him?\u201d Certainly of no created angel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally upon this point, in the same breath, pronouns are interchanged between this angel and Yawheh. Verse 22, \u201cBut if you carefully obey HIS VOICE and do all that I SAY, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.\u201d Thus the indication is that \u201chis voice\u201d and what \u201cGod says\u201d are one and the same. Just as Jesus said in John 14, \u201cThe words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So who else do we have here, sent out to guard and bring Israel to the place God prepared for them other than the pre-incarnate Son of God? And here is the Father saying of the pre-incarnate Son, \u201cmy name is in him, obey his voice, pay careful attention to Him, do not rebel against him, carefully obey his voice\u2026\u201d And so when the Word becomes flesh He says of the Father that He does the works He gave Him to do and He dwells in Him, and His Words are not His own authority but from the Father, and so on. This is no created angel but the divine Son of God. Those religions which would accept the Old Testament and yet reject the divinity of Jesus Christ, do not know the very Scriptures of which they claim as their own. For the Old Testament is not simply about Christ in hidden pictures or promises, shadows or types, but He is present and active all over the pages of Old Testament Scripture. It was the Son who appeared to Abraham and then destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah when Genesis 19:24 says, \u201cThen the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven.\u201d It was the Son who wrestled with Jacob, changed His name to Israel and blessed him when Genesis 32:30 says, \u201cSo Jacob called the name of the Peniel, saying, \u2018For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.\u2019\u201d And it was the Son of God who appeared to Moses in the\u00a0 burning bush and saved His people out of Egypt and brought them to the promised land.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So it is that Pastor Doug Van Dorn posits his thesis that the book of Exodus is not primarily about Israel but about Christ, saying \u201cthe central figure of the Exodus story is not Moses, but the Angel of the LORD.\u201d It is the Angel of the LORD that first appears to Moses in the burning bush, saying that He has heard the cries of His people in Egypt, and calls Moses to be His servant. It is the Destroyer, Exodus 12, who brings the final plague of death upon Egypt. It is the Angel of the Lord in the cloud that stands between Israel and Egypt in Exodus 14, and it is the Angel of God who goes before to guard and keep Israel throughout all their journey to the promised land. And so the book of Exodus ends saying that \u201cthe cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journey.\u201d The work of the Exodus began by His coming down to the burnish bush, and never leaving through all their journey in the cloud and fire.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So I agree with Pastor Van Dorn, that the central figure of Exodus is not Moses, important as he is, but the Angel of the LORD. For it is all about His hearing, saving, guarding, and keeping of His people. The story of the Bible is so much more amazing and glorious than we so often take time to notice and delve into. If it were just stories about men, then that would not be the case. But the Bible is the story all about the work of the Triune God from beginning to end. He is everywhere in it revealed and seen and that should humble us and amaze us before the Word of God, to know that this God actually became flesh and dwelt among us being born of the virgin Mary. He bore our sins and griefs, was crucified by Pontius Pilate, rose from the dead, and ascended again on high with all authority given to Him in fulfillment of the Scriptures and we belong to Him and worship Him today, and commune with Him today in fellowship with one another, as He has delivered us from our slavery and bondage to sin and darkness and He guards us and keeps us by His Spirit until we enter into that place which God has prepared for us. And the Father says the same thing to us, as He spoke from the cloud on the mountain at the Transfiguration of Jesus, saying, \u201cThis is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Conditional Blessings<\/b><\/p>\n

In verse 23 and following of Exodus 23, God tells the people of what He will do in the conquest of the promised land, and gives them their marching orders. Amidst this, there are all sorts of blessings promised to them, but these are conditional blessings, meaning that they will receive the things God speaks of here, so long as they do what God says they must do to receive them. The chief condition we have just seen in the first few verses today, and that is that they are to listen and carefully obey the angel of the Lord and all that God tells them. If they do what He says, THEN He will be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to their adversaries, verse 22. So simply obedience is the first condition. Simply said, not so simply done.<\/span><\/p>\n

Part and parcel to obedience, they are called to covenant faithfulness, which is seen in their refusal to give any quarter to the gods of the Canaanites, and to actively break down their idols – verse 24, \u201cyou shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.\u201d So they are not to commit idolatry with these gods, but the opposite – they are to destroy them. And again in verse 32, covenant fidelity to God is required, \u201cYou shall make no covenant with them and their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.\u201d So God says they are to make no covenant with the Canaanites or the Canaanite gods. And that they must not even be allowed to remain in the land, but must be driven completely out, lest they be a snare and cause them to serve other gods.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So essentially God says here that if He is to bless the people and their land, all the land and people must be His. God here does not allow for any sort of pluralism or peace with evil. There is to be no toleration of other gods, or their people, if God is to bless their land. They are not to be neutral to these false gods. To be neutral would be to be at peace with them and would be to disobey God and not receive His blessing.<\/span><\/p>\n

While we have not been given the marching orders here, as we are not tasked with the conquest of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and the Jebusites, there are important lessons to learn here, which we would apply differently than Israel of old. There is no neutrality in the world. We are not to be at peace with evil. We are not to partner with darkness. Though we may live amongst unbelievers and under them, and to be the best neighbors to them that they\u2019ve ever had, we are yet not to be in arms with them and their gods. We are not to give up the ground of the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all of life. We are not to take part in their works of iniquity. We are not to aim for a peaceful pluralistic utopia, for there is no peaceful pluralism – all is to be subjected to Jesus Christ. If every thought is to be taken captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ, then that includes every other possible thing that flows from all thoughts. Pluralism is not the goal, but the discipling of all nations to obey everything Jesus taught us is the goal. And there may need to be some pillar breaking along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

So for Israel in their conquest, their blessings were conditioned upon their covenant fidelity and obedience to all that God has said. What were these blessings promised in the conquest of Canaan? God says that He will bless their bread and water, and take away sickness from them, and that they would have no barrenness or miscarriages. These are amazing things the Lord will give if they serve the LORD their God only. These are specific blessings that pertain to their mission of having dominion in the land. Vital to their increase in the increasing land they are given is their food and water, and their health and offspring. Sickness and death are results of the curse. Strife between the offspring of the woman and serpent came from the curse, which contained the promise of the triumph of the offspring of the woman – which is ultimately a curse on the serpent. So these blessings are little snapshots of the reversing of the curse. It is a foreshadow or forestaste of the reverse of the curse and the triumph of the seed of the woman over the serpent through ethical submission to God. These are things which are tied to the conquest and the land, conditioned upon that covenant.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, there is a general principle here, which we see throughout the Bible, that what one sows, that he will also reap. Obedience to God always brings blessing, even if it is not materialistic blessing, and disobedience to God is never good for us. We ought to hold on to these principles while maintaining that these are not the terms or conditions of the New Covenant. In the New Covenant, all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places are bought for us by the work of Jesus Christ which we obtain through faith alone. Though we may endure hard providences in life and great losses, we have everything, and every eternal blessing in Jesus Christ for He has redeemed us with His blood and given His life for ours. Therefore, we endeavor to obey Jesus in everything, knowing that it is always a blessing to obey Him, even when we suffer for it. But there is a time coming when all will be made right. When sickness and death will be no more. When we will sin no more and the wicked will be no more. And we will forever be with our Lord.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Conquest Applications: Great Commission<\/b><\/p>\n

In the meantime we\u2019ve been given a conquest of our own, if you will. We\u2019ve been given marching orders which involves the world conquest of baptizing, teaching, and discipling all the nations. And in giving us this great commission, Jesus promised us that He will always be with us. Our weapon is the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, to drive out the nations, so to speak, so that they are converted to Jesus Christ. And Christ has gone before us, having disarmed the principalities and powers, the rulers and authorities, that the gospel may go forth and have its effect by the quickening of the Spirit of God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dominion<\/b><\/p>\n

But there is another important principle we learn from these marching orders given to Israel. Verse 29-30, \u201c<\/span>I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you.<\/span> Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.\u201d This is fascinating. The Conquest was never to happen all at once. It was to be gradual. Little by little. If God drove all the Canaanites out at once, Israel would not be ready and equipped to properly take the land and have dominion. They would not be able to fill it all at once. They would be overtaken by the land and the wild beasts that were left to fill the vacuum. God\u2019s program of conquest for Israel was one of gradual progress. The people had to come to maturity one step at a time. It was dominion through maturity. This finds its New Testament principle in the maturity process of being entrusted with a little, at first. And if you can be entrusted with little, then a little bit more, and so forth. God was teaching Israel, and teaches us, that dominion comes through patience and responsibility a little bit at a time. This principle could be applied to our lives in basically every area.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, it was God\u2019s grace that did not destroy all the Canaanites at once, for Israel would not have been ready for it. It was for their good that they were driven out a little at a time. Maturity comes from responsible stewardship over time with patience. So it has been, in some way, for the Church\u2019s good that the Great Commission has taken 2,000 years and counting. And on a small scale as we obey it in our little lives, it is good and necessary that it takes the time it’s taking in our endeavors for the Lord. So we are not to grasp for the fruit that is not ready, but to work today, be faithful and responsible today with what God has given each of us. Right now, today, you have your children, or family members, or coworkers. You have the time and the resources that you have. You don\u2019t have what you don\u2019t have. Maturity, growth, progress, fruit will all come in due season.<\/span><\/p>\n

In verse 31 God tells them the big picture of what He will give them in the conquest. \u201c<\/span>And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.\u201d<\/span> So here are the coordinates of the land that God is giving to them. Such detail may be easy for us to overlook. But if we do not overlook these details, we find that these details appear again elsewhere. This is the land that God gave them in the conquest, but these coordinates are used and expanded upon in later prophecies ultimately pertaining to Christ.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In one of the great Christological Psalms, Psalm 72:8 says, \u201cMay he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth!\u201d To jump to the point, Christ the King has dominion from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. These are the four cardinal points of the land that are expanded out to all the earth. In Exodus 23 it was from Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines – sea to sea – and from the Euphrates – the River – to the wilderness – which is like the end of the earth, pictured as the end of the land – of course expanded to truly the end of the earth in the dominion of Christ.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This language is reiterated in the Prophet Zechariah in an amazingly clear Christological prophecy, Zechariah 9:9-10, \u201cRejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, Calvin says this, \u201cWhen they had robbed themselves of this blessing, God applied a remedy to their iniquity, by raising up a new condition of things under David, to whom this promise is repeated, as is seen in Psalm 72. Therefore, although even up to that time their inheritance was in a measure incomplete, yet, under this renovated condition, they reached its full and solid enjoyment. But since that prosperity and extension of the kingdom was not lasting, but after Solomon\u2019s death began to fail, and at last its dignity was destroyed; therefore Zechariah uses the same words in declaring its ultimate and perfect restoration. Thence we gather that by the coming of Christ this prophecy at length obtained its perfect accomplishment; not that the race of Abraham then began to bear rule within the bounds here laid down, but inasmuch as Christ embraced the four quarters of the globe under His dominion, from the east even to the west, and from the north even to the south.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So wherever you are on this earth, you are on land that belongs to King Jesus, and have the authority to proclaim the gospel and call men to Jesus Christ. And little by little, like leaven working through dough, progress may be made.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fulfillment<\/b><\/p>\n

But what happened to Israel in the conquest? Did they listen to the Angel of the Lord and take care to pay attention to Him? Did they drive out the nations? In a word, was the conquest successful? The short answer is yes and no. God kept His word all the way, but Israel failed in many ways.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In verse 27-28 God said He would send His terror upon the nations and hornets to drive them out. On several occasions we see the nations trembling in terror at Israel because of what they heard God do. In Joshua 24:12-13 we see that God did indeed send hornets as He said He would in giving them the land, \u201cAnd I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow. I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In Joshua 21:43-45 it says God gave them all the land he swore to them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/sup>Thus the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there.<\/span>\u00a044\u00a0<\/sup>And the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers.\u00a0Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for\u00a0the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0had given all their enemies into their hands.<\/span>\u00a045\u00a0<\/sup>Not one word of all the good promises that the\u00a0Lord<\/span> had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:43-45)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

However, Israel did not remain faithful to God and obey His voice. In verse 33 God warned that if they served other gods it would be a snare to them. Psalm 106:34-46 tells us what happened:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

They did not\u00a0destroy the peoples,<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>as the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0commanded them,<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n35\u00a0<\/sup>but they\u00a0mixed with the nations<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and learned to do as they did.<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n36\u00a0<\/sup>They served their idols,<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>which became\u00a0a snare to them.<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n37\u00a0<\/sup>They\u00a0sacrificed their sons<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and their daughters to\u00a0the demons;<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n38\u00a0<\/sup>they poured out innocent blood,<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>the blood of their sons and daughters,<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\nwhom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and the land was\u00a0polluted with blood.<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n39\u00a0<\/sup>Thus they\u00a0became unclean by their acts,<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0played the whore in their deeds.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

40\u00a0<\/sup>Then\u00a0the anger of the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0was kindled against\u00a0his people,<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and he abhorred his\u00a0heritage;<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n41\u00a0<\/sup>he\u00a0gave them into the hand of the nations,<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>so that those who hated them ruled over them.<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n42\u00a0<\/sup>Their enemies\u00a0oppressed them,<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and they were brought into subjection under their power.<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n43\u00a0<\/sup>Many times he delivered them,<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>but they were rebellious in their\u00a0purposes<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and were\u00a0brought low through their iniquity.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

44\u00a0<\/sup>Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress,<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>when he\u00a0heard their cry.<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n45\u00a0<\/sup>For their sake he\u00a0remembered his covenant,<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0relented according to\u00a0the abundance of his steadfast love.<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n46\u00a0<\/sup>He caused them to be\u00a0pitied<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>by all those who held them captive.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

We see toward the end of Joshua that there were still people groups that needed to be driven out. In Judges chapter 1-2, we see more nations driven out, but instead of driving them all out, Israel turned and enslaved them, allowing them to dwell among them as slaves, thus disobeying God. So what happened? Judges 2:1-5 tells us:<\/span><\/p>\n

Now the angel of the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0went up from Gilgal to\u00a0Bochim. And he said, \u201cI brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said,\u00a0\u2018I will never break my covenant with you,<\/span>\u00a02\u00a0<\/sup>and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land;\u00a0you shall break down their altars.\u2019 But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?<\/span>\u00a03\u00a0<\/sup>So now I say,\u00a0I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become\u00a0thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.\u201d<\/span>\u00a04\u00a0<\/sup>As soon as the angel of the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.<\/span>\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup>And they called the name of that place Bochim.[a<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0And they sacrificed there to the\u00a0Lord<\/span>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

So in sum, God kept His Word, for He cannot lie, yet the people did not keep the conditions of their conquest marching orders. So praise be to God that we have a greater Joshua, the Lord Jesus, who conquers the nations with a sword coming forth from his mouth, who has conquered us to be His people, we are His spoils of war. And that Word continues to go forth today. So today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, for today is the day of salvation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click HERE for sermon audio \u00a0\u201cBehold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.\u00a021\u00a0Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice;\u00a0do not rebel against him,\u00a0for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. 22\u00a0\u201cBut if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":685,"featured_media":5914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1582],"tags":[1798,205,1893,274,1892,461,483,557,1890,1891,664,678,679,699,765,836,849,882,1161,1226,1235],"class_list":{"0":"post-5913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sermon","8":"tag-angel","9":"tag-bible","10":"tag-canaan","11":"tag-christ","12":"tag-conquest","13":"tag-exodus","14":"tag-father","15":"tag-god","16":"tag-guardian","17":"tag-hornets","18":"tag-israel","19":"tag-jenkins","20":"tag-jesus","21":"tag-joshua","22":"tag-lord","23":"tag-moses","24":"tag-murder","25":"tag-old","26":"tag-son","27":"tag-testament","28":"tag-the","29":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/08\/s640.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6270,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/show-me-your-glory\/","url_meta":{"origin":5913,"position":0},"title":"Show Me Your Glory","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"January 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Click HERE for sermon audio Moses said, \u201cPlease\u00a0show me your glory.\u201d\u00a019\u00a0And he said,\u00a0\u201cI will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name \u2018The\u00a0Lord.\u2019 And\u00a0I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.\u00a020\u00a0But,\u201d he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/img_6736.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/img_6736.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/img_6736.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/img_6736.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/img_6736.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5487,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/a-holy-nation\/","url_meta":{"origin":5913,"position":1},"title":"A Holy Nation","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"January 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Click HERE for sermon audio On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they\u00a0came into the wilderness of Sinai.\u00a02\u00a0They set out from\u00a0Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6161,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/moses-faith-in-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":5913,"position":2},"title":"Moses’ Faith in Christ","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"December 11, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Click HERE for sermon audio Introduction In centuries past, the Church hammered out, in creeds and confessions, the essential doctrines of the Christian faith through much debate. Things like the nature of God, the divinity of Christ, and the Trinity. 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For on the third day\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/02\/signal-2023-02-11-184518_002.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/02\/signal-2023-02-11-184518_002.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/02\/signal-2023-02-11-184518_002.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6366,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/look-unto-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":5913,"position":5},"title":"Look Unto Me","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"March 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Click HERE for sermon audio \"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.\" (Isaiah 45:22) Introduction This statement from the prophet Isaiah is a simple call for sinners to look unto God and be saved from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Church History"","block_context":{"text":"Church History","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/church-history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/Painting-5366-1024x683-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/Painting-5366-1024x683-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/Painting-5366-1024x683-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/03\/Painting-5366-1024x683-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/685"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}