If you have been following along with us in our Bible reading plan, together we have just completed our first book: the book of Joshua. Perhaps, like me, you found yourself completing each reading wondering, “What on earth does this have to do with my life as a follower of Christ, today?” It’s an important question, and one that likely comes up in more than one place of Scripture. We should always be striving to see what it is the Lord is revealing to us in the pages of His word, and we should seek how through that revelation He is working to teach, reprove, correct, and train us up in righteousness, so that we may be equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). 


I felt it would be helpful for us to consider how it is that the book of Joshua we just read was good for our souls, and how it aimed to instruct us in the ways of the Lord. There are two senses in which I would like to open up the entire work — the literal-historical sense (how the original audience would have understood it, and what the human author intended), and the redemptive-historical sense (how the rest of Scripture illuminates the broader and fuller meaning of the text, and seeking the intention of the Divine Author).

The Main Emphasis in the Book of Joshua

Joshua’s purpose for writing this book of the history of Israel will be instructive for us in understanding the meaning of it — and how it applies to our lives. Quite simply, the book is written to recount the fulfillment of God and His promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 and 15, “The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.””(Genesis 12:7) this land being the land of Canaan. Then later speaking of Canaan he says, “Then in the fourth generation they will return here” (Genesis 15:16). The main thesis of the whole book comes into picture in Joshua 21:43-45,

“So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. And the Lord gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.”

The Lord had promised this land to His people, Israel, and it is in the book of Joshua this promise comes to its fulfillment. While Moses is the one who leads the people of God, as God’s servant, out of Egypt and through the wilderness, it is Joshua who leads them into the land of Canaan.

While reading through the bulk of the book — much of it about land being apportioned to the Twelve tribes of Israel — this main focus should be on our mind: God is fulfilling His promises to the people of God. As Joshua says, “all came to pass.”

But there is also a moral purpose for Joshua in writing this book, and it comes in the final chapter — here’s a helpful truth about reading: oftentimes we need to read both forwards and backwards. The end of the book will tell us just as much, if not more, than the beginning and the middle of the book. Chapter 24 verses 1-13 serve as a reminder of the history of the nation of Israel up until the writing of the book, and Joshua continues in verse 14, “Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.”

This history of the book of Joshua — and the whole of the first 5 books of Moses (the Pentateuch) — is intended not simply to give an overview of where they have been, but to show forth the truth that YHWH (“The LORD”) is faithful in all of His promises he makes to his people! Thus, those who have received the blessings of His promises should serve Him and worship Him, and Him only, in their lives. In essence, this whole book is one long exposition of the first commandment, ““I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me.”” (Exodus 20:1-3) The Lord is the one who has brought them out of slavery, and has now brought them into their promised rest in the land flowing with milk and honey (Deuteronomy 26:9).

This, is our first help in applying the book to our lives — the Lord is faithful to fulfill His promises to us. When reading of land being divided amongst the tribes, or the Lord handing over the various kingdoms into the hands of Joshua (the bulk of chapters 6-12), let it all be a reminder to you that the Lord brings to pass everything He intends to accomplish. So it becomes our response to trust Him in every kind of season saying, “I trust the Lord, for He is steadfast and enacts His plans, and shall fulfill all of His promises to me.” Not only is he faithful and steadfast, we see throughout the book that YHWH, our God, is powerful and mighty to save his people. Each time the Israelites conquer a nation — a discussion of the ethics of which is for another time and place — it is God who hands them over. Here we are reminded that God is the conquering hero of our life in midst of many foes and the Enemy. Next, it becomes our response to be a remembering people — to recall all of the works of the Lord in our history. Consider how He has brought you out of various trials and tribulations, how He has proven faithful even when you doubted His ability to deliver you, or how He comforted you in seasons of great distress. Worship the Lord, praise Him for His steadfastness in times past, and know that He is faithful still!

*It is here we move now to the second way of understanding this book:

The Spiritual Emphasis of the Book of Joshua

This book for us on this side of the cross has a greater scope than simply a retelling of the history of the nation of Israel — this book is pointing us to Jesus Christ our Lord. Certainly, we should remember, Christ is the aim and scope of the entire Bible — and a deeper dive into this book will help us see this more clearly.

The first tell for us is in the name of the one who has been commissioned by God to lead His people into the Promised Land: Joshua. The greek rendering of the Hebrew name of Joshua, is the same name our savior bears in the Gospels (written in greek): Ἰησοῦς. Jesus is the fulfillment of Joshua as the new, better, and greater Joshua. (Joshua was the shadow, Jesus is the substance). The meaning of this name? God (Yah) saves. For Joshua, he saves God’s people from the harm and the power of the Canaanites, for the second and better Joshua — Jesus the Messiah — He saves His people (Israel: the church) from the harm and power of Sin and Death. Whereas the first Joshua brings the people of God into a state of physical rest in the land of Canaan, Jesus the Messiah brings the elect people of God into a state of spiritual rest and enjoy the spiritual blessings of a spiritual Canaan — while we long await for the day when Jesus the Messiah comes again and brings His people home into the better Canaan, the New Heavens and the New Earth, where sin will be no more and we shall rest in the presence of God for all eternity.

There is more within the book that points to Christ and the work Christ will accomplish in the lives of His people, but when we see Christ as the fuller and perfect Joshua, we begin to see again how this book impacts our lives today as followers of Jesus. We can now walk through the book and see that Christ’s goodness in these four ways: [1] He has delivered us from the grand enemy of our sin and the Prince of Darkness, our Enemy, the Devil; [2] Christ has given to us a spiritual rest in Him, where we taste His goodness overflowing in our lives — that all that He has is ours (Luke 15:31) — our souls are no longer restless for they have found their home in Him; [3] Christ has given to us the inheritance promised by Him, namely adoption as sons and daughters of God, now enjoying the great blessing of calling on Him who is our heavenly Father, what’s more we receive a portion not of a physical Canaan, but a room in our Father’s house being prepared for us now — and there we too will be given to us what was promised by Christ our Lord; [4] and finally, we can see that Christ is defeating all of our enemies, and that all of His enemies are being handed over to His hand and being put under His feet (Psalm 110:1), and therefore nothing can overcome us as we rest and stand secure in Christ the King.

Remember your baptism, remember the work of salvation brought about by Jesus the Messiah, remember His faithfulness when he endured the cross for you and for me, remember the promises made by Him — promises of love, and mercy, and eternal life with Him — and do not forget that all His promises are ‘Yes.’ and ‘Amen’, and just as God had done in the first Joshua, so too will He ensure through the second Joshua, Jesus the Messiah: that “not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.”

So therefore, see the book of Joshua and be encouraged at the power, the providence, and the promises of the Lord — see how they are fulfilled in Jesus — and then go, worship Him with your life, trusting Him and Him alone for Joy and salvation.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion” - Psalm 103:1-4