The story of the
destruction of
Sodom, Gomorrah, and Jericho
-three cities situated along a major fault line extending 1,100 kilometers from the Red Sea to Turkey--is the oldest such description in human history. In this book, noted geologists K.O. Emery and David Neev have revisited that story to shed light on what happened there some 4,350 years ago. With all the benefits of modern geological and forensic science techniques at their disposal, the authors explore an area where earthquakes, volcanic activity, variations in the Dead Sea's level, and oscillations between arid and wet climates have
affected life there for over 10,000 years.
In reviewing the geology, biblical paleogeography, and limnology of the region, the authors have produced fascinating insights into the tectonic and climatic changes that have occurred in the region over the last 6,000 years and how those changes have
affected cultural life in the Middle East.
The Destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and Jericho is the first book to combine modern science and biblical archaeology to produce an authoritative account of the of these three great cities.
Before Joshua begins the battle at Jericho, he encounters “a man” with a sword who identifies himself as “the captain of the host of Yahweh” (Joshua 5:13-15). It’s a familiar scene, echoing the moment when Abraham encountered three men at his tent (Genesis 18:2).
Abraham “lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men”
(Heb. wayyishsha’ ‘eiyniyw wayyare' wehinneh shelosha ‘anashiym). Joshua too “lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man” (Heb. wayyishsha’ ‘eynayw wayyare’ wehinneh-‘iysh).
The three men stand opposite Abraham (Heb. nitztzaviym ‘alayw), and the captain of Yahweh’s hosts stands opposite Joshua (the Heb. is different: ‘omed lenegdo).
Abraham bows to the earth, and so does Joshua.
The differences are evident. Abraham invites the three men to share a meal; the man who meets Joshua is armed for battle. But the differences don’t undo the similarity. Abraham’s sojourn in the land is a preview of the conquest. Everywhere Abraham sets up an altar, Joshua later conquers. Worshiping Yahweh in the land is a proleptic conquest, a preview of the goal of the conquest, which is to strip the land of idolatry and set up the Lord's house.
The parallels also highlight the similarities of Sodom and Jericho. The three come to Abraham to warn him about the coming destruction of Sodom, and the captain is about to attack Jericho. Lot and his household escape from Sodom, as Rahab and her house are spared when Jericho falls. And this parallel runs right through to the end of the Bible, where a city called “Sodom” (Revelation 11) comes crashing down after trumpets are blown
(Revelation 8-11).
The sixth trumpet. The sixth trumpet (and the second woe) involves the onslaught of another demonic horde (Revelation 9:12–21). Once the sixth trumpet sounds, a voice from the altar of God calls for the release of “the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates” (verse 14). These four angels had been kept in captivity for just this purpose: to wreak destruction during the tribulation (verse 15). These four wicked angels lead a supernatural cavalry of thousands upon thousands to kill a third of humanity (verse 16). The riders have breastplates of “fiery red, dark blue, and yellow” (verse 17). Their horses have “the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur,” and “their tails were like snakes” (verses 18–19). They kill with their mouths and with their tails.
Despite the severity and horror of these plagues, the survivors on earth still refuse to repent. They continue in their idolatry, their murder, their sorcery, their sexual immorality, and their theft (Revelation 9:20–21).
Following the sixth trumpet judgment is a literary interlude. John sees an angel descend from heaven with a little scroll in his hand. A promise is given that “the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet” (Revelation 10:7), and John is told that he must prophesy some more (verse 11). Next comes a description of the two witnesses who will preach in Jerusalem and perform miracles before they are murdered. God will then raise them back to life and take them to heaven (Revelation 11:1–13).
The seventh trumpet. The seventh trumpet (and the third woe) sounds, and immediately there are loud voices in heaven saying,
“The kingdom of the world
has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his
Messiah,
and he will reign for ever and ever”
(Revelation 11:15).
The twenty-four elders say, “The time has come for . . . destroying those
who destroy the earth” (verse 18). Obviously,
God is about to wrap things up once and for all.
At the sound of the seventh trumpet,
the temple of God is opened in heaven,
and
“within his temple was
seen the
ark of his covenant.
And there came
flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder,
an earthquake and a severe hailstorm”
(verse 19).
Thus end the seven trumpet judgments. All is set for the seven angels with
the seven bowls of God’s wrath.
These angels stand inside the now-open temple,
ready to step forward and bring the final judgments on earth
(Revelation 15).
Unshakable Faith Creates
in God
Steadfast Courage
Consider the similarities between
Joshua and Peter
Both had high calling that required huge
FAITH,
ultimately they both conquered because of
Faith
in God's Grace and righteousness
Peter had little faith in the boat when the storms came,
he caved to peer pressure in the culture when
eating with gentiles before the Jerusalem counsel,
and through bold faith,
empowered by the holy spirit,
he boldly witnessed of Christ at
Pentecost saving a crowd of thousands
Just like in the Wizard of Oz, Peter needed to attain
"courage, anew heart, and a brain (knowledge)"
Peter did just that, he was first a
servant of the Lord who became an Apostle,
he listened to Jesus first hand, but was
later better taught by Paul
After being taught by Paul, Peter attained the
Courage to boldly Preach at Pentecost,
which testifies to his
heart change about circumcision of the heart
The book of Hebrews is an excellent place
to find
answers to our questions about
faith.
Chapter 11 begins with this short definition of faith:
“Now faith is being sure
of what we hope for and
certain
of what we do not see”
(Hebrews 11:1)
What, then, is a
leap of faith?
The term leap of faith is not found in the Bible.
It is a common idiom,
though. Usually, to take a leap of faith means
“to believe in something with no evidence for it”
or
“to attempt an endeavor that has little chance of success.”
Leap of faith actually originated in a religious context. Søren Kierkegaard coined the expression as a metaphor for belief in God.
He argued that truth cannot be found by
observation alone but
must be understood in the mind and heart
apart from empirical evidence.
Since we cannot observe God
with our eyes,
we must have faith that He is there.
We jump from material concepts
to the
immaterial with a “leap of faith.”
Continuing in Hebrews chapter 11, we find an impressive list of men and women in the Bible who took a “leap of faith,” as it were. These are just a few of the people mentioned who took God at His Word and trusted Him to do what He had promised:
By faith,
Noah obeyed God and built an ark to save his family from the flood
(Genesis 6:9 – 7:24).
By faith, Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son, believing God
would provide a lamb (Genesis 22:1–19).
By faith, Moses chose to side with the Hebrews rather than stay in the Egyptian palace (Exodus 2 – 4).
By faith, Rahab risked her life and sheltered enemy spies in her home
(Joshua 2:1–24).
Throughout the rest of Scripture, the stories of the faithful continue.
By faith, David confronted a giant with only a sling and a stone
(1 Samuel 17).
By faith, Peter stepped out of the boat when Jesus invited him to come
(Matthew 14:22–33).
The accounts go on and on, each story helping us to
understand the biblical meaning of a leap of faith.
Exercising faith in God often requires taking a risk. Second Corinthians 5:7 tells us, “For we live by faith, not by sight.” But a biblical step of faith is not a “blind” leap. Our faith is backed by assurance and certainty. Faith is soundly supported by God’s promises in His Word. A leap of faith is not an irrational impulse that causes us to jump out into the great unknown without any foresight. According to the Word of God, believers are to seek counsel from godly leaders (Proverbs 11:14; 15:22; 24:6). Also, Christians are to acquire wisdom and direction from God’s Word (Psalm 119:105, 130).
The stories in the Bible exist for a reason. Our trust and faith grow stronger as we read these accounts of God’s powerful deliverance and rescue in times of need. God miraculously delivered Joseph from slavery and placed him in charge over all of Egypt. God transformed Gideon from a coward to a courageous warrior. These Bible characters took leaps of faith because they trusted in the God who was powerful enough to rescue them, hold them up, and not let them fall (see Jude 1:24).
Putting our faith into action may feel like a scary leap, but that is part of the testing and proving of our faith: “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:6–9; See Hebrews 11:17 also).
Stepping out in faith requires trusting God to do what He has already promised in His Word, even though we may not see the fulfillment of His promise yet. Genuine faith, belief, and trust will move us to action.
A leap of faith might mean leaving the safety of your comfort zone. Peter abandoned his safety and comfort when he jumped out of the boat to walk on water to Jesus. He could take that leap of faith because he knew his Lord and trusted that He was good: “The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made” (Psalm 145:9). When Jesus said, “Come,” Peter exercised childlike faith, the type of faith we are all called to possess: “But Jesus called the children to him and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these’” (Luke 18:16).
When we demonstrate authentic trust in God, we know that our “leap of faith” is actually a leap into His all-powerful and loving arms. He delights in our trust and rewards those who earnestly pursue Him: “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
As a military leader, Joshua would be considered one of the greatest generals in human history, but it would be a mistake to credit Israel’s victory solely to Joshua’s skill as a military general. The first time we see Joshua is in Exodus 17 in the battle against the Amalekites. Exodus 17:13 tells us that Joshua "overwhelmed Amalek and his people," and so we’re tempted to conclude that Joshua’s military expertise saved the day. But in this passage we see something odd occurring. In verse 11 we read, "Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed." Eventually, Moses’ arms grew so weary that a stone had to be brought for him to sit on and Aaron and Hur held his hands up. Hence, we see in this vignette that Joshua prevailed because God gave him the battle.
The same can be said of the military victories in the Promised Land. The Lord had promised sure victory and delivered it in convincing fashion. The only exception is in the battle of Ai (Joshua 7). There are several things to note about this incident. Israel broke faith with God regarding the “devoted things” (Joshua 7:1). God had commanded the Israelites to devote everything to destruction (Joshua 6:17), and Achan had kept some of the loot from the battle of Jericho for himself. Because of this, God judged them by not giving them the victory at Ai. Another thing to note is that there is no explicit command by God to go against Ai. The purpose of putting these two battle stories side by side is to show that when God sets the program and agenda, victory follows, but when man sets the program and agenda, failure ensues. Jericho was the Lord’s battle; Ai was not. God redeemed the situation and eventually gave them the victory, but not until after the object lesson was given.
Further evidence of Joshua’s leadership qualities can be seen in his rock-solid faith in God. When the Israelites were on the edge of the Promised Land in Numbers 13, God commanded Moses to send out twelve people to spy out the land, one from each of the tribes of Israel. Upon their return, ten reported that the land, while bounteous as the Lord had promised, was occupied by strong and fierce warriors dwelling in large, fortified cities. Furthermore, the Nephilim (giants from the Israelites’ perspective) were in the land. Joshua and Caleb were the only two who urged the people to take the land (Numbers 14:6-10). Here we see one thing that sets Joshua (and Caleb) apart from the rest of the Israelites—they believed in the promises of God. They were not intimidated by the size of the warriors or the strength of the cities. Rather, they knew their God and remembered how He had dealt with Egypt, the most powerful nation on the earth at that time. If God could take care of the mighty Egyptian army, He could certainly take care of the various Canaanite tribes. God rewarded Joshua’s and Caleb’s faith by exempting them from the entire generation of Israelites that would perish in the wilderness.
We see Joshua’s faithfulness in the act of obediently consecrating the people before the invasion of the Promised Land and again after the defeat at Ai. But no more clearly is Joshua’s faithfulness on display than at the end of the book that bears his name when he gathers the people together one last time and recounts the deeds of God on their behalf. After that speech, Joshua urges the people to forsake their idols and remain faithful to the covenant that God made with them at Sinai, saying, “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).
So what can we learn from Joshua’s life?
Can we draw principles for leadership from his life? Sure. That God gave him the victory in taking the Promised Land does not take away from his military leadership. Furthermore, he was a more-than-capable leader for the Israelites, but his skill in leadership is not the primary lesson we should draw from Joshua’s life. A better lesson would be Joshua’s faithfulness, his stand against the ten spies who brought the disparaging report about the obstacles in taking over the Promised Land, and his zeal in ensuring the covenant faithfulness of the people. But even his faith wasn’t perfect. There is the fact that Joshua sent spies into Jericho even though God had ensured victory, and then there is the overconfidence he exhibited in the battle of Ai.
The primary lesson to draw from Joshua’s life is that God is faithful to His promises. God promised Abraham that his descendants would dwell in the land, and, under Joshua, God brought the people into the land that He had promised to give to them. This act completed the mission of redemption that God started with Moses in bringing Israel out of Egypt. It is also a type that points to the ultimate redemption that Jesus brings to the community of faith. Like Moses, Jesus delivered us from bondage and slavery to sin, and, like Joshua, Jesus will bring us into the eternal Promised Land and everlasting Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:8-10).
The story of Achan’s sin and God’s punishment is found in Joshua 7. Achan was an Israelite who fought the battle of Jericho with Joshua. God had commanded the Israelites to
destroy the entire city of
Jericho
because of its great sin.
Only Rahab the harlot and her household were spared because she had hidden the Israelite spies (Joshua 6:17). God further commanded that, unlike most victories when soldiers were allowed to take the spoils, the Israelites were to take nothing from Jericho. Everything in it was “accursed” or “devoted to destruction.” God warned that anyone taking spoils from Jericho would “make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it” (Joshua 6:18-19). The Israelites obeyed, except for Achan, who stole a beautiful robe and some gold and silver and hid these things in his tent.
His sin was discovered, of course (Numbers 32:23). God commanded that Achan and his entire family and all his possessions be destroyed, a punishment that seems overly harsh to us today. How are we to understand this dire act of God? There are several reasons for the severe penalty God inflicted upon Achan. For one thing, Achan’s sin affected the entire nation of Israel. In Joshua 7:1 God says that “the Israelites” acted unfaithfully and that His anger burned “against Israel.” The nation as a whole was in a covenant relationship with God and, when one member transgressed that covenant, the entire nation’s relationship with Him was damaged. Achan’s sin defiled the other members of the community as well as himself. A similar situation is seen in the sin of Adam and Eve and its effect on the whole of mankind. Adam and Eve’s rebellion destroyed the perfect communion the human race would have enjoyed with God.
Further, Achan’s sin caused God’s blessing upon the Israelites to be withheld in their subsequent battle against the city of Ai, and the Israelites “were routed by the men of Ai, who killed about thirty-six of them” (Joshua 7:4-5). Thirty-six men who were not involved in Achan’s sin died because of Achan’s sin. He stole that which was “devoted to destruction” and so brought destruction on others. God explained to Joshua, “That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction” (Joshua 7:12; see also 22:20). We fool ourselves if we think that our sin affects only us. Disobedience brings ruin even upon the innocent. Sin’s effects go beyond the initial sinner.
Also, the gold and silver Achan stole was stolen from God Himself. The precious metals were to be added to the treasury of the Lord, and, in stealing them, Achan robbed God directly. Achan’s disobedience was also an insult to God’s holiness and His right to command His people in the manner He sees fit. Even so, God gave Achan a night to consider his sin and come to Him in repentance (Joshua 7:13). Achan did not avail himself of God’s mercy and patience, however. The gold and silver Achan coveted had a stronger pull on his allegiance. Is it any wonder that, in the face of such insult, God would choose to destroy him?
But why, we might ask, did God destroy Achan’s family as well? The Bible doesn’t give us God’s exact reasons for destroying Achan’s family, although Proverbs 15:27 does say that “a greedy man brings trouble to his family.” In the case of Achan, all we can do is speculate. Perhaps it was an object lesson to the rest of the nation, a lesson they learned after Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16) but which needed to be reinforced. Perhaps Achan’s children had already begun to exhibit their father’s traits of covetousness, disobedience, and disrespect for God’s commands. Most likely, they had actually helped Achan hide the stuff and were, in fact, accomplices to the crime.
There is no way to know all of God’s reasons for what seems to us His harsh punishment of Achan and his family. He doesn’t always explain His reasoning to us, nor does He have to. The story of Achan and many other biblical narratives give us sufficient information to understand that God is holy and that He is not to be disobeyed without risking dire consequences.
Ai was a place in central Canaan. It is first mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 12:8 as a place where Abram camped during his journey toward the land God promised in Genesis 12:1: “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” When Abram reached Ai, he built an altar and “called upon the name of the Lord.” The name Ai means “heap of ruins” (Joshua 8:28).
According to Joshua 7:2, Ai was a Canaanite city located approximately two miles east of Bethel (Joshua 10:1). The ruins of the city now lie beneath the modern archaeological site of Et-Tell on a slope leading from the Jordan Valley to Bethel. Ai is notable for being the scene of a humiliating Israelite defeat as the small city of Ai routed the Israelites and inflicted three dozen casualties. The loss at Ai was due to the sin of Achan (Joshua 7:1–5). In direct defiance of God’s command to keep nothing for themselves from the wicked city of Jericho (Joshua 6:19), Achan had kept a robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a fifty-shekel bar of gold and hid it all in a hole he had dug within his tent. Achan kept his theft a secret until Israel was defeated at Ai. God then revealed to Joshua the cause for this defeat, and Achan, his family, and everything he owned was destroyed at God’s command (Joshua 7:25–26).
Once the sin had been purged from the camp and Achan had been punished, God gave Joshua victory over Ai (Joshua 8:1–29). After drawing the men of Ai out of the city and ambushing them, Israelite warriors captured the king and brought him to Joshua (Joshua 8:23), who impaled him and left his body on public display as a testament to Israel’s great triumph over the enemies of the Lord. The body of the king of Ai was left hanging until evening, at which time it was thrown in the gate of Ai and piled over with rocks (verse 29). After first tasting terrible defeat at Ai due to hidden sin, Israel learned about the power of purging sin from their midst so that the Lord could fight for them (see Joshua 23:3).
The region around Ai became part of the land given to the tribe of Benjamin in the distribution of the Promised Land (Ezra 2:28). Ai was the second Canaanite city taken by Israel in its conquest of the Promised Land, the first being the great victory at the battle of Jericho.
The prophet Isaiah mentions a rebuilt Ai in Isaiah 10:28, calling it Aiath.
The Israelites had a strong army. But God did not want them to trust in their military power. God wanted them to trust him, that is, to have faith. So God gave them strange instructions for their first battle, which was against the city called Jericho. They should not attack the city as an army usually would. Instead they should just march round its walls. And God would hand over the city to them.
They trusted God, and so, they obeyed him. They marched round the walls for 7 days. On the last day, they marched round the city 7 times. Then the priests sounded their trumpets (loud musical instruments). Everyone shouted. And the walls fell down.
They had done nothing that would cause the strong walls of a city to fall down. This was the work of God; he caused the walls to fall. Without walls, Jericho had no defences. The Israelites rushed in and they took the city. They destroyed it completely, as God had ordered them to do.
Other battles in Canaan happened in a more usual manner. But the Israelites had learned an important lesson at Jericho. People do not receive the benefit of God’s promises by human effort. We must receive them by faith. We must believe God, and we must trust him. You can read more about the battle at Jericho in Joshua chapter 6.
I was suddenly struck by the similarity between the fall of Jericho and the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis. In both cases ,the cities were slated for complete destruction by God. In fact, not JUST destruction. Joshua declares that anyone who even attempts to rebuild Jericho will be cursed! As far as I know, no other city was so singled out for eternal oblivion when the Israelites conquered Canaan.
But it’s not just a matter of the devastation.
In the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities are to be wiped from the Earth, along with all the inhabitants, except for Lot and his family. Jericho was to be burned to the ground, except for Rahab and her family. Lot was visited by two strangers, and Lot showed them hospitality, even to the point of putting himself and his family in danger. Rahab welcomed the two spies from Israel into her house, even hiding them from the authorities in Jericho.
Of course, it’s not identical. Nobody gets turned into a pillar of salt in Jericho, and Sodom and Gomorrah weren’t besieged by any army, but I still find the parallels interesting. I wonder what was the sin of the people of Jericho that was so great, it warranted the same sort of treatment as Sodom and Gomorrah. I know that the “standard” explanation for the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah was the homosexuality of the residents there, but there is a counter argument that it was the violence and lack of hospitality that was actually the sin illustrated by the story. As far as I know, there is no mention in the Bible of the exact reason why Jericho was to be eliminated so completely. I wonder if it wasn’t the hostility of the city, in opposition to the hospitality of Rahab.
Paul was a highly educated, brilliantly qualified teacher of the law, yet he did not depend on his own competence in his ministry as an apostle of Jesus Christ: “And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant” (2 Corinthians 3:4–6, NKJV). Genuine ministers of Christ can have rock-solid confidence, but only as they depend wholly on the Lord and His grace.
In 2 Corinthians 3, the apostle Paul confronts the ideas and practices of legalistic false teachers who brag about their “letters of commendation” (2 Corinthians 3:1). These powerful, self-reliant men were challenging Paul’s authority and apostleship. They thought Paul lacked the necessary credentials and resources to be a competent minister. Paul asserts that we (he and all genuine Christian ministers) don’t need to depend on human-supplied credentials because our sufficiency comes from God. In 2 Corinthians 3:5, the Greek noun translated “sufficiency” means “the quality of being able to meet a need satisfactorily, or being fit enough, capable, competent, or adequate for the job.”
In a similar warning to the Philippians about false teachers, Paul explains that, perhaps more than anyone, he has good reason to trust in his own competency: “Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault” (Philippians 3:4–6, NLT).
Humanly speaking, Paul was overqualified for the job. Nevertheless, he puts “no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3). He does not rely on his rich heritage, religious zeal, theological training, or natural ability. Everything that defined and qualified Paul as an apostle was credited to God and His grace: “For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church. But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace” (1 Corinthians 15:9–10, NLT). Paul claims no credit and takes no glory for himself but gives it all to God and the power of His marvelous grace.
“Our sufficiency is of God” is not a declaration of false humility. Instead, it is a pronouncement of confidence in God’s competence, acknowledging that there is only one source to draw from as ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ—the unlimited supply of grace poured into us through the power of God’s Holy Spirit. In the book of Acts, the apostles recognized that their “great power” to “testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” came from “God’s grace,” which was “powerfully at work in them all” (Acts 4:33). God’s grace is the only letter of recommendation we need (Acts 14:26; Romans 15:15–16). Paul admits that in all his dealings he “depended on God’s grace” and not on his own “human wisdom” (2 Corinthians 1:12, NLT; see also 1 Corinthians 2:1–5).
Our sufficiency is of God means that none of us are fit, capable, or satisfactorily qualified by our human efforts or aptitudes to minister to the hearts of lost people. Only God can enable us or make “us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant” (2 Corinthians 3:6, ESV). Our success in ministry comes from God alone, as Paul eloquently illustrates throughout his letter: “We ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. . . . Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. . . . We live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you. . . . All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory” (2 Corinthians 4:7–15, NLT; see also 2 Corinthians 5:18). Our sufficiency is of God, and His grace is all we need (2 Corinthians 12:7–10).
The Bible speaks often of the heart. The word heart can mean different things depending upon the context. Most often, the heart refers to the soul of a human being that controls the will and emotions. The heart is the “inner man” (2 Corinthians 4:16). The prophet Ezekiel makes several references to a “new heart” (e.g., Ezekiel 18:31; 36:26). An oft-quoted verse is Ezekiel 11:19 where God says, “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.” So what does this mean?
In Ezekiel 11, God is addressing His people, the Israelites, promising to one day restore them to the land and to a right relationship with Himself. God promises to gather the Hebrews from the nations where they had been scattered (Ezekiel 11:17) and give them a new, undivided heart (verse 19). The result of their receiving a new heart will be obedience to God’s commands: “Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God” (verse 20). This prophecy will be fulfilled in the millennium, when Jesus the Messiah rules from Zion and Israel has been restored to faith (Romans 11:26).
Someone whom God has given a new heart behaves differently. Saul is an example of this in 1 Samuel 10:1 and 9. God had chosen Saul to be the first king of Israel. Saul was a nobody, but God chose him anyway and sent the prophet Samuel to anoint him king. “Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, ‘Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance?’” Samuel made several predictions to prove to Saul that God had sent him, and verse 9 says, “As Saul turned and started to leave, God gave him a new heart, and all Samuel’s signs were fulfilled that day.” The new heart God gave Saul transformed him from an average nobody to the king of Israel. Not only was his status changed, but his entire outlook was transformed by the power of God.
The human heart was created to mirror God’s own heart (Genesis 1:27; James 3:9). We were designed to love Him, love righteousness, and walk in harmony with God and others (Micah 6:8). But part of God’s design of the human heart is free will. That free will carries with it the opportunity to abuse it, as did Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:11). God desires that we choose to love and serve Him. When we stubbornly refuse to follow God, our hearts, which were designed to communicate with God, are hardened. God compares rebellious hearts to stone (Zechariah 7:12). A heart of stone finds it impossible to repent, to love God, or to please Him (Romans 8:8). The hearts of sinful humanity are so hardened that we cannot even seek God on our own (Romans 3:11), and that’s why Jesus said no one can come to Him unless the Father first draws him (John 6:44). We desperately need new hearts, for we are unable on our own to soften our hard hearts. A change of heart toward God requires a supernatural transformation. Jesus called it being “born again” (John 3:3).
When we are born again, God performs a heart transplant, as it were. He gives us a new heart. The power of the Holy Spirit changes our hearts from sin-focused to God-focused. We do not become perfect (1 John 1:8); we still have our sinful flesh and the freedom to choose whether or not to obey it. However, when Jesus died for us on the cross, He broke the power of sin that controls us (Romans 6:10). Receiving Him as our Savior gives us access to God and His power—a power to transform our hearts from sin-hardened to Christ-softened. When we were separated from God with hardened hearts, we found it impossible to please Him. We tended toward selfishness, rebellion, and sin. With new hearts we are declared righteous before God (2 Corinthians 5:21). The Holy Spirit gives us a desire to please God that was foreign to us in our hardened state. Second Corinthians 3:18 says that we “are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” God’s desire for every human being is that we become like His Son, Jesus (Romans 8:29). We can become like Jesus only when we allow God to rid us of our old, hardened hearts and give us new hearts.
God knows His followers need tremendous courage to carry them through the tribulations of life in this fallen world. For this reason, the Bible is filled with bolstering exhortations like this one in Psalm 27:14: “Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!” (NKJV).
To “be of good courage” is to possess an inner quality that enables a person to confront danger and difficulty without fear and with calmness, boldness, confidence, strength, and trust instead. The word translated “wait” in the original language means “trust.” It is echoed in the words of Isaiah 40:31: “But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (ESV).
This kind of unshakable trust and courage is only possible for those who know the Lord as the Savior. At the very beginning of the psalm, the poet acknowledges, “The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1).
In the face of any threat, we can be of good courage because the Lord Himself is with us, and He is worthy of our trust. No night is so long, no darkness so impenetrable, no suffering so painful, no evil so frightful, and no enemy so fierce as to disturb the confidence of the one who has God for his light and the Lord for his salvation. Believers can be of good courage and not be afraid because the Lord is the stronghold of their lives.
God encouraged Joshua to “be strong and of good courage” (NKJV) or “be strong and courageous” (NIV) because “the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6; see also Joshua 1:9). The same reassurance was given to Solomon and countless other servants of God throughout the Bible (1 Chronicles 22:13; 2 Samuel 10:12; Acts 23:11). We should be of good courage because the Lord is with us. He is our security: “You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap” (Proverbs 3:25–26, NLT).
God uses times of suffering to strengthen and refine us (2 Corinthians 4:7–12; Psalm 66:10). The apostle Paul encouraged believers who were enduring hardship not to lose heart: “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:16–17, ESV). In every situation, we can be sure that God is working out His purposes for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28).
Jesus taught the disciples that it’s possible to have courage and peace amid trials and sorrows by abiding in Him: “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world” (John 16:33, HCSB). In Jesus Christ, we have peace (John 14:27). The world may hate us, but Jesus Christ has overcome the world. Believers are “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). We are God’s children, and “everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4; see also 1 John 2:13–14).
We should be of good courage because God is our protector and defender (Psalm 46:1). We don’t have to be afraid because we are secure in the Father’s love (1 John 4:18). When God is for us, nothing can stand against us (Romans 8:31), and nothing can separate us from His great love (Romans 8:35–39).
What is the worst that the world can throw at us? The apostle Paul said that, even if “the earthly tent we live in is destroyed”—even if we die—“we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven” (2 Corinthians 5:1). We should be of good courage because eternal life in heaven awaits those who are in Jesus Christ (John 17:3; 1 John 2:24–25; 5:20).
The knowledge of God usually refers to knowing the truth about God (Romans 1:19–21). According to the Bible, the knowledge of God starts with God (Proverbs 2:6). He graciously chooses to reveal Himself to humanity in many ways (Isaiah 33:6). He reveals Himself to everyone through creation (Psalm 19:1–2), so that every person knows at least about His “eternal power and divine nature” (Romans 1:20). This basic knowledge of God’s righteousness and our moral responsibility is enough to condemn us for not following His law (Romans 1:18).
Those who fear God, or have a relationship with Him, can grow in the knowledge of God, as He reveals Himself (Proverbs 1:7; Isaiah 33:6). God reveals Himself through the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16), through His people (Romans 15:14), through His Holy Spirit (John 14:26), and through His Son, who is His perfect image (Colossians 1:15).
In the Bible, the knowledge of God is closely tied to relationship with God. God gives knowledge to those who love Him, and rejection of knowledge results in broken relationship (Proverbs 2:4–6; Hosea 4:6; Romans 1:21–25). It is a little like our human relationships: the closer we get to someone, the more we know that person, and the more we get to know him or her, the closer we become. As we grow in the knowledge of God, we learn more about His will, His works, and His character.
Increasing in our knowledge of God, or learning more about Him, should motivate a change in our lives, as we contemplate His goodness, mercy, and glory (2 Peter 2:20). As Christians, we grow in the knowledge of God through our relationship with Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). Our goal is to grow in the knowledge of God, so that we become more like His Son. Paul’s prayer for the Colossians is a beautiful example of this dynamic:
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Colossians 1:9–12).
Finally, as Christians, we do not keep the knowledge of God to ourselves. As we grow in the knowledge of God, we are to share it with others, so that they can come to know Him as well. Paul’s life of self-sacrificial ministry spread the knowledge of God to everyone around him (2 Corinthians 2:14). God also used
Paul’s ministry to break down every obstacle in the human mind that prevented people from hearing the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5). In the same way, we should share the knowledge of God everywhere we go, so that people would come to know Him through the grace of His Son.
Then, as we serve one another in Christian community, we will build each other up until, by the grace of God, “we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”
(Ephesians 4:13).
Since believers are engaged in an ongoing spiritual battle with the
powers of darkness, they
cannot endure without the power of God.
To be strong in the Lord and the power of His might is vital to
living a victorious Christian life.
First, it’s important to understand what “be strong in the Lord” does not mean. In the original Greek language, the term is a passive voice verb meaning “to be rendered (more) capable or able for some task.” To be strong in the Lord does not involve building up your own strength. Believers cannot strengthen themselves in the Lord; rather, they must be empowered or be strengthened, as the Greek voice indicates.
The next key to understanding what it means to be strong in the Lord is the apostle’s use of “in the Lord,” rather than “by the Lord” or “of the Lord.” Only when our lives are positioned in the Lord, in union with Him, do we possess the appropriate power to overcome the enemy. Jesus said, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4–5). The believer’s empowerment comes from being in Jesus. Apart from Him, we can do nothing, but in Christ we have at our disposal all the strength of His might. Through the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, the Lord’s power makes us able or capable. He strengthens us with everything we need for any task. Closing his letter to the Ephesians, Paul goes into detail about how the Lord equips us for ongoing spiritual warfare with the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:13–18).
Earlier in Ephesians, Paul had prayed that his readers might understand and experience “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength. He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens—far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way” (Ephesians 1:19–23, CSB).
When Paul encourages believers to “be strong in the Lord,” he is calling them to faithfulness—to abiding in Christ and trusting in the Lord’s power for everything in life. True Christian strength comes from recognizing our utter dependence on God. This is what Paul meant when he wrote, “I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13, CSB).
Often we are strongest in the Lord when we operate in the realm of human weakness. God allowed Satan to afflict Paul, but God’s purpose was to keep Paul humble and to demonstrate His power in his life: “But [Jesus] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). The power of Christ in the Christian’s life can be defined as “power in weakness,” for the Lord’s grace is apprehended only in recognition of our weakness.
Throughout the Bible, God delights in demonstrating His power in situations where human strength is lacking (1 Samuel 14:6–15; 1 Corinthians 1:27). When we are weak in ourselves, we are strong in the Lord because God’s strength becomes evident: “For he was crucified in weakness, but he lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by God’s power” (2 Corinthians 13:4, CSB). To be strong in the Lord means to be in spiritual union with Christ. Only then can we experience both the weakness of the cross and the power of the resurrection (Romans 6:5).
The holiness of Christ is related to His deity. Jesus is fully God and fully man. Jesus claimed to be God (John 8:58; Revelation 1:8, 17). Jesus accepted worship (Matthew 2:11; John 12:13). Jesus declared He and His Heavenly Father are of the same divine essence and nature (John 10:30). The prophet Isaiah called Him “Mighty God and Everlasting Father” (Isaiah 9:6). Upon seeing the resurrected Jesus, the disciple Thomas honored Him with the dual title, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). The apostle John opens his gospel account by attesting to the deity of Jesus: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1–3, ESV).
Christ Jesus is worthy
of our highest adoration and praise,
for He is God
who clothed Himself in human flesh
(John 1:14).
To deny His deity, and
thus to deny His holiness, is to deny Him altogether.
In his book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis wrote, “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to”
(Macmillan, 1952, pp. 55–56).
Man’s Attraction to and Fear of the Holy
Those who obey Jesus’ commandments may call Him friend (John 15:14), but we must never treat Him as an equal. His holiness demands awe and respect. To approach Him in an overly familiar manner or to use His name flippantly or carelessly is shameful. Jesus draws us to Himself, and we find Him altogether lovely, for He is of the same divine essence and nature as God the Father (Philippians 2:6). Yet His unparalleled goodness and radiant glory stand in stark contrast to fallen mankind’s depravity. Even the best among us are as lowly worms in His divine presence. The Lord Jesus is deserving of our worship, and the day is approaching when even those who mocked and scorned Him will bow in submission and say, “Jesus is Lord” (Philippians 2:10–11).
Suppose that, overcoming his fear, a young boy musters the courage to approach the prettiest girl in his class for a date. With nervousness and inelegance, the youth stumbles over his words and behaves in an almost comical manner. What we are witnessing in this encounter are the contradictory feelings of attraction and dread. The young man is drawn to the girl’s beauty, but that is also the source of his anxiety. In a rather homey way, this illustrates the concept of numinous awe. Sinful man is drawn to God because of His holiness, yet the divine presence of the Holy One fills us with fear and dread.
We see this mixture of attraction and fear in Peter on the Lake of Galilee:
On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him (Luke 5:1–11, ESV).
Simon Peter was a seasoned fisherman. He knew what he was doing when it came to tackle and nets and harvesting fish. Peter may have marveled at the teachings of Jesus, but in the matter of catching fish, Peter bowed to no one. When Jesus asked to use his boat as a floating speaker’s platform, Peter agreed, but when the itinerant rabbi suggested that he drop his fishing nets into the deep, Peter reluctantly obliged: “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets” (Luke 5:5).
Peter was unprepared for what followed. Never before had he hauled in such a catch. The nets, bursting with fish, filled not one, but two boats well beyond their normal capacities. This was the catch of a hundred lifetimes—an unexplainable, supernatural event that defied human understanding. Peter understood this was more than good fortune, and he reacted with unsettled fear. Rather than thanking Jesus for the abundant catch, Peter fell at the Lord’s feet and begged Him to leave: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8). Peter’s fear stemmed from the contrast between his sinfulness and the holiness of Christ. It is frightful indeed when the
common and profane encounter the One who is holy.
Unfathomable, yet Approachable
By all rights, sinful creatures should recoil in abject fear in the presence of Christ Jesus, for He is holy. And, by all rights, Christ Jesus should recoil from the wickedness that marks our fallen race. Yet He opens His arms and says,
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”
(Matthew 11:28–30, ESV).
In our natural state, we are wretched, miserable, poor, blind,
and naked, but Jesus did not turn His back on us. He says,
“Behold, I stand at the
door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
I will come in to him
and eat with him, and he with me”
(Revelation 3:20, ESV). Is it possible the Holy One of God, Christ Jesus, genuinely desires fellowship with us? As improbable as this sounds, the answer is a resounding “yes.” When we place our faith in Christ Jesus as Savior, we, formerly the “children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3),
are supernaturally transformed into His beloved sons and daughters
(Romans 8:15).
The Lord Jesus, who is fully God and fully man, is meritoriously holy because of His divine nature. He is sinless, impeccably pure, and unequivocally righteous (Matthew 26:59–61).
Even Pontius Pilate, the politician who refused to act on behalf of the world’s first and only truly innocent man, three times pronounced Jesus to be without fault (see Luke 23:13–15).
Christ Jesus is the only One worthy to offer Himself for our sin, and His sacrifice was like that of “a lamb without blemish or defect”
(1 Peter 1:19). We now join in the exultation of heaven:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power
and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”
(Revelation 5:12).