JOSHUA PROMISED God’s presence . Joshua 1:5

Joshua had been apprenticed to the mighty Moses for 40 years. He had seen God’s almighty power as he served his chief. Now Moses was dead.

The Lord still referred to him as ‘My servant’ in the first 2 verses. While his body rested in an unknown grave, Moses had joined the mighty army of Old Testament saints, awaiting Christ’s death and resurrection. Joshua had been his minister. He needed to be assured that the Lord would be present as He had over Moses’ life time.

God gave Joshua a stirring charge,’ Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, ( though flooded ) you and all this people, unto the land, which I give to the children of Israel.’ The Lord specified that’ every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given to you, ‘as I said to Moses’. (v3 )

God authorised Joshua to take ‘from the desert and this Lebanon unto the great river, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the Mediterranean Sea, which shall be your coast.’ Current speculation on Israel’s borders should cease when God speaks.

Joshua must have staggered as God continued,’ There shall not any man be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will not fail you, nor forsake you’. (v5)

How was the Lord with Moses? Let’s consider His Presence with the former leader. Moses had been conceived in the loving marriage of Jochabed and Amrad. The Lord protected him as an embryo in the 9 months’ development. The word of the Lord in Jeremiah 1:5 applied equally to Moses ‘ Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you came out of the womb, I set you apart, and ordained you as a prophet unto the nations.’ Joshua, I guarded you likewise in your mother’s uterus.

The vile Pharoah decided that every male child born to the women of Israel would be thrown into the Nile River. Moses’ parents sheltered him until three months, when he was cradled in an ark of bulrushes on the Nile. The Princess pitied the baby boy as he cried, rescued him, taking him into the palace. In the mercy of God his sister Miriam suggested calling his mother to nurse him. Doubtless she breast-fed him, crooning, singing the great truths of the eternal God in the heart of heathen Egypt. God trained Moses, nurturing him in the university, language, and Egyptian culture.

Joshua, you are the son of Nun, a title, repeated many times in Scripture, for your father taught you the things of God. ‘I was with Moses. I will be with you’.

Moses protected an Israelite, killing the Egyptian, hoping by his own power to deliver Israel from the Egyptian taskmaster. God sent him into obscurity for 40 years, minding sheep, learning the lessons of the desert; and to trust the living God alone.

‘I was with Him’ during those learning years. Joshua, you have been alongside this great leader for 40 years, observing, supporting, proving God.

Joshua, do you remember that I called Moses in the burning bush. ( Exodus 3:2) when the Angel of the Lord ( that was, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ ) appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush’? Yes, Moses turned aside to see, when ‘I called to him from the midst of the bush, saying,’ Moses, Moses’. He replied, ‘Here I am’. As his Lord I said, ‘I Am the God of your father – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Later I showed that ‘I Am that I Am’. For that is My holy Name. Joshua, I appear to you now for you are Moses’ successor, and My valued servant. Understand that ‘I shall be with you’. I do not change. You see. Joshua, ‘I empowered my servant Moses, when 10 times he demanded that Pharoah ‘let My people go, that they might serve Me in the desert’. Yes, I showed My mighty power in the plagues that I sent.

Moses ordered the Passover Lamb to be slain and the blood applied to the doorway and lintel – of course, never on the floor, for the blood of the Lamb must never be trampled on’. ‘Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us’ shows the deep meaning of this event. I kept My word to Moses, as the ANGEL of the LORD hovered protectively over the blood-sprinkled homes, while He judged every home in Egypt, refusing to shelter safely as God had provided. ‘I was with Moses ‘ that unforgettable night. ‘I will (comfortingly) be with you’

Joshua, do you remember the night the 2 ½ million children of Israel stood wringing their hands helplessly on the shore of the Red Sea, while Pharoah’s furious army hurtled along with their chariots? Apparently all was hopeless.

God instructed Moses, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish today’. The extraordinary demand was ‘Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it.’ ( Exodus 14:14,16) God taught Moses in the school of obedience. ‘Joshua, you saw all this’, for the rod spoke of authority, a living faith, as a sceptre, a rod for punishment, a shepherd’s crook or staff. Some may have scoffed at Moses, raising such a weak instrument heavenwards.

Do you remember the east wind that I sent, causing the salt water to stand as a column hundreds of metres high like a wave about to break; and how all the children of Israel crossed safely on dry land? Do you remember how they cheered when they knew the greatest rescue in the history of the human race had taken place..

And the wave broke as I took away My support, and the chariots and horsemen were drowned in the Red Sea. God’s people prayed as they cheered – and wept for relief. ‘I was with Moses". . I will be with you..’

God led His people marvellously during the years of desert wandering. ‘And the Lord went before them in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.’ God’s Shekinah glory ( His heavenly splendour ) guided them through the 24 hours. His Presence comforted.

‘I was with Moses. I will be with you.’ Take comfort in His great Presence.