Bible Reading Challenge Week 10

I’m late in posting again. This time around, it was our shiny new website that was taking up my attention the beginning of this week. But again, better late than never!

This week we started the books of Joshua and Acts. It’s great to read these two together, because they are very similar thematically. The covenant has been cut, and now it’s time to go and take dominion. For the people of Israel in Joshua, it was time to finally go in and conquer the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness due to disobedience. For the early church in Acts, in the wake of the resurrection, the great commission kicks off in a big way. Both are examples of God conquering His enemies – either through literal conquest or through making friends out of enemies via the gospel.

Week 10 Readings

Joshua 1-18

This section takes us from the commissioning of Joshua after the death of Moses through the majority of the conquest. I found it interesting how God reminded the Israelites of where they had come from in how they entered the land. In Joshua 3, they needed to cross the Jordan River and God parts the river, standing up the waters on the side, so they can pass on dry ground – a very obvious reminder of how God parted the Red Sea when the people were escaping from Egypt. This is the next generation after those who saw it the first time (or were at least old enough to remember it as adults). This is a great reminder to a people who had likely heard of this rather than remembered it themselves, that God indeed did it. He did triumph over the Egyptians in the Red Sea. This should have given them faith that God would indeed continue to triumph over their enemies in the Promised Land.

I would point out that this group of people seems far more ready to serve the Lord than the previous generation. That previous generation had complained and been largely faithless even right after God worked numerous miracles to defeat their enemies. Here, as soon as the people cross the Jordan, they set up a memorial to God’s faithfulness, they sanctify themselves (through circumcision), and celebrate Passover. This is a picture of what they were supposed to do, and the result is that God blesses them and wins the battle for them (Jericho).

However, we also quickly see the flip side – the curses – of the covenant showing up too, as Achan’s sin in disobeying the Lord leads them to be routed in a battle that should have been an easy victory. But, as is the case in God’s economy, repentance yields forgiveness and restoration to God’s favor. The people repent, purge the sin from the camp, and God brings them the victory again.

Acts 1-18

My pastor is currently nearing the end of the series preaching through Acts. I love the title he has given to the sermon series: The Continuing Adventures of Jesus. Though Christ only directly appears at the very beginning of Acts, the work of the early church is definitely how the work of Jesus continues on. The church is His body, carrying out the commission He gave them before His ascension. The great commission tells the disciples to carry the Gospel to “Judea, Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth.” If you follow the progression in Acts, that’s exactly the order things happen.

At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirt comes upon the apostles, they are in Jerusalem (Judea) and 3,000 come to faith just that day. They continued there in Jerusalem preaching the Gospel and “the Lord added to their number day by day.” This is the point where it is fun to see how God does things. Normally, as the adage goes, you get more of what you subsidize and less of what you penalize. In God’s economy it is the opposite, persecution yields growth. In the wake of their work in Jerusalem, heavy persecution comes upon the early church (apostles arrested in the temple, stoning of Stephen, persecution by Saul), but instead of it causing a regression, it yields and increase.

Through the persecution of Saul, some of the apostles start scattering, and the next account we read is of Philip in Samaria. In God’s plan, the persecution drives the next step in the great commission. We then see the conversion of Saul, who preaches in Samaria for a long while.

We then get to Peter’s vision of the sheet coming down declaring all things that God has made clean to be clean, opening up the door for the Gospel to go to the Gentiles – unto the “ends of the earth.” The converted Saul, now Paul, and others take the mission throughout the Roman empire. All throughout this process, the apostles meet with adversity and persecution. Yet God blesses and the church grows immensely. God is faithful to grow His church!

May God bless your reading of His Word!