We have reached the concluding chapter of the book of Joshua and with it a final exhortation given by Yahweh, through the one who has led them so faithfully, now at the end of his life. He communicates God's covenant faithfulness that they are the true ecclesia of the Lord, the called out ones, those brought across rivers and waters time and again as evidence of the Lord's calling and consecration. Life from nothing, salvation from imprisonment of sin and death, and then brought into life with Christ - how glorious is the life-giving call of God. May we now walk in covenant faithfulness with Him.

When it comes to determining what are our lives are for, how we ought to live our lives, and by what standard that are to be shaped, we cannot improve upon the instruction of God's Word. In fact it is that only standard by which we are to ground our lives that leads us from immaturity to maturity, from glory to glory. Seeing the grace that God has worked for us, we are then called to walk in the way which He has laid down for us. This is the path to continued blessing and victory.

As we endeavor to live lives of faithfulness before the Lord, to keep covenant and to give our children something to see as a reminder to seek after the Lord all our days, it is essential that we weave the contours of Christ work of redemption into all that we say and do. We need practical, covenantally authorized helps to show us the way we are to go, not to supplant the real act of Christ's work, but to show us that we are, even when we are separated from one another by geography bound together by one covenant of grace. It is the altar where peace with God and men is made good, namely in the once and for all sacrificing of Christ Jesus for sinners.

The establishment of the these two types of cities served as not just concepts or reminders, but actual provisions for actual people that also served to show just how precious the blood of men was to the YHWH and the essential role that priests play not only in the application of the law, but in the proclamation of grace and restoration. What God is showing Israel over and over again, even as the law is woven into their hearts and life, is that God loves those who are His, those who are under the law, under the curse, prone to wander and war, and to Redeem them and protect them through the Priest who stands between God and men.

Having recorded the kings that Joshua slew by the sword, brought their cities to destruction, and made way for the people of God to dwell in the land. The job was not yet finished, there was work left to be done, but what a start we find in the first twelve chapters of Joshua! The Lord has promised not only victory, but He allots land for each of the tribes that those who have fought might live, thrive, and delight in the good gifts which God gave, and they fourth for, and continue to fight for in order to bring about the fullness of God's covenant promises. There is something glorious here that is a timeless principle for the Church then and now. Firstly, that chosen man begins and makes possible the great work of taking dominion, that the work does not end until the fullness of Christ's kingdom has been established, and finally that the saints of God will experience their inheritance as spoils of the their worship and warfare.

Joshua is filled with stories of Israel's conquest over various tribes, cities, nations that were located in the land of Canaan, a land which was promised to Israel, which was theirs, given to them by the One who reserves the right and authority to dole out to the tribes of men the boundaries of their dwelling (Acts 17). God has given to Israel, not by right of ethnic superiority, but according to the content of His covenant of grace. The gift was not merely theirs for the taking, it had to be conquered, it had to be taken by force. This inheritance required trumpet and sword, to conquer in the Name of the Messiah, that Israel might devote themselves to the Lord - heart, soul, mind, and strength and seek to remove from the land those who made it unholy.

Victory belongs to the Lord. This is a lesson that is often learned, often communicated, and often repeated in the book of Joshua. We see in addition that victory is directed, sovereignly administered, and granted by the One who leads Israel, not Joshua, but the Messiah. We must ask ourselves when we read the Old Testament and all the exploits of the Israel, "From where does the victory of God's people come?" It comes through the powerful working of the Messiah among us to bring about His purposes, to bring to an end on earth the chaos and misery that sin has wrought upon the world God has made. What Isra began, however imperfectly, Christ would finish through the Church and Spirit, unto the full realization of the promise made in the Great Commission, to bring cross and crown to all nations.

We see here, in this episode, a drama unfolding between the Gibeonites and Israel where we find decisions that challenge our own understanding of what is virtuous and wise for men to do in light of God's directives. We find a pagan nation exercising evil through deceitful cunning, endeavoring to make a covenant on false pretenses by tricking Israel into a unwise peace treaty. We also find Israel falling for their trick and entering into a rash vow. Neither acted uprightly and neither got what they were looking for, because the covenants are not made through trickery or through folly, but only upon the grace and mercy of God.

Even as YHWH established reverence in the hearts of His people, as He made it clear that obedience was not an option, but the only way to bring about the fulfillment of the promises made to Israel, to take, fill, and be fruitful in the land of promise. Here, in this episode, following the one of judgment and remembrance, God walks Israel through the victory they will have over Ai, the treasures that were to be theirs, and how it will be accomplished. This is a recurring theme as God expands His glory through His people - He reveals the designs of dominion, not only to outline how things will be, but as another support or proof of His being present in our battle. The Great Commission is such a plan - how to accomplish the mission and objective which God promises to be fulfilled. We can rest both in the plan and the fulfillment of it as both are given by God.

The call to holiness is one wherein we are called to deny ourselves, that is to die to self, and those interests and former habits that run contrary to the will and righteousness of God for us - to glorify and enjoy Him, and to also live unto righteousness, which is to seek have the will and righteousness of God nurtured in us, that we might walk faithfully with our Creator and Redeemer. Israel was to learn devotion and practice obedience and to the Lord, yet upon the occasion of their great victory over Jericho the nation was punished, corporately because they had not obeyed the voice of the Lord (7:1). Israel learns through judgment that you cannot devote yourself to that which God has devoted to destruction, and you cannot take for yourself that which belongs to the Lord, and live. Rather, consecrate yourselves to the Lord, and you will delight in His covenant blessings.