How could a loving God command Joshua to completely destroy the inhabitants of Canaan?

There is a timelessness to what Joshua teaches, the book. But the original audience, of course, is tied to the time of writing, the composition question. And it's also an exhortation to finish the job that even Joshua himself could not finish. The conquest is incomplete and certainly Judges alludes to that all over.

And so, when you put the context during the time of the early Iron Age, at the time of the transition to the monarchy, early monarchy, the exhortation is, "Look what Yahweh as done. He was faithful to his promise. They were kind of sleeping on the job and not fulfilling what Yahweh said they should do. So, it's an exhortation to finish the job to the audience, and I think maybe to the early kings, you know, it might not have been lost. We don't know that, but David certainly took that to heart because what's the conquest of the land if you can't conquer the place of Yahweh's inheritance, like Exodus 15 says?

And the place of Yahweh, where he is going to dwell with his people in this sacred space, the Holy Land, is the hill of Jerusalem … not Mount Sinai; it's Mount Zion. And so, here you have all this conquest of the land, but the prize is not taken. So, I think Joshua, the book, really serves to the Yahwists, the precious few during the time of the Judges, to say, "Hey, we've got to finish the job. Yates One of the most difficult questions in reading the Old Testament is the question of why God commands Israel to destroy the Canaanites… It's one of the great mysteries of Scripture why God does something like this.

But I do think there are certain principles within Scripture leading up to the early stages of the book of Joshua that give us some ideas of why God does command the destruction of these peoples. And the first is just the true deep consequences of the Fall and of sin, that when Adam and Eve are ejected from the Garden, part of the curse is death. Death is God's judgment on those who sin and rebel and reject him.

So, death is a necessary requirement of judgment. And when we come to the flood in Genesis 6, there's a sense in which the flood is the necessary normal outworking of God's judgment on humankind, so that when we consider the life that we have, life is a grace, and life is a gift. In a fallen, broken, sinful, rebellious world, the ability and the freedom to continue living is a gift of God's mercy. So, we come to the beginning of Joshua and the conquest of the Promised Land and God commands, or demands, the death and destruction of all living creatures in the land of Canaan. And on the one hand, this is a stunning, shocking move by God.

On the other, it's the natural, necessary outworking of the rebellion of humanity against God. So, death is a necessity for justice. That's one way in which I can begin to understand what's going on there. Another thing that I find helpful is that if you think of the people of Israel as a young, tender plant, and they're being transplanted out of one country into another. And the Canaanites were famous for their idolatry, for their pagan superstition, and for the recklessness of their religion. And I think, in one sense, what God is doing is he's clearing the land of brambles and briars, and he's creating a fertile space for his people, his covenant people to be transplanted and to grow.

And we see this in the later history of Israel as they do plant themselves in this land, and they don't obey God's command to destroy the inhabitants. The idolatry of the people infects the people of Israel like a virus, and so, you have Israel turning to the idolatries of the Canaanites in large part due to their disobedience in refusing to clear the land.

What are some evangelical positions on the authorship of the book of Joshua?

Sherif Gendy, translation The question of why God commanded Israel to destroy the people of Canaan in the book of Joshua can be summarized in the following points: War against Canaan was God's judgment over these peoples because God told Abraham in the book of Genesis 15 that "the iniquity of the Amorites [was] not yet complete. Another important point is that it was to protect Israel from mixing with these nations and worshiping their idols. It was also to cleanse the land from which Israel would become the light to the nations. One more important point is that the command to destroy the Canaanites was only related to the nations within Canaan.

Regarding the nations outside of Canaan, there are very clear instructions that Joshua should not fight against them, but rather offer them peace. We read about this, for example, in Deuteronomy 20… Another important point is that the wars against Canaan and the destruction of the Canaanites was not an authorization for jihad.

This was not for all times and places. On the contrary, these were very specific commands related to a specific time during the history of redemption. We have to understand the role of these wars in the context of God's revelation of the history of redemption, which reaches its climax in the person and work of Christ. This war played a role in preparing for the work of Christ in the unfolding of the history of redemption.

So, it's not a license to wage wars of total destruction against unbelievers for all times and locations. Also, these wars were not repeated, not afterward in the history of Israel or even before these wars. God never repeated his command for Israel to completely destroy certain people or certain nations.

It was only for the days that Israel was to conquer the land and settle in it during Joshua's time. The last point is that in this war — in the destruction of the Canaanites — the Canaanites were evil, so it was a small picture of God's greatest judgment, which will be in the last days. God will execute his just judgment on all the people and nations that rejected salvation through Christ. So, this war was like a small picture or type of a more horrific war that God will accomplish over the evil angels and the evil people who rejected salvation through Christ.

Tom Petter Well, the question why God called Joshua to destroy the Canaanites in the book of Joshua is probably one of the most difficult questions in all of the Old Testament for people to answer because, if you put it this way, it's like this: It's Yahweh talking to Joshua — and Yahweh is, of course, the incarnate Jesus, and you probably had a quiet time with him this morning — and so, the same God said, "I want you to go destroy men, women, children, chickens, goats, sheep, everything," let's just say with the town of Jericho. There are other towns, but complete destruction.

And the word, the technical word is "devoted to destruction," right? Devote this city to destruction. And there's a Hebrew word tied to that. It's called cherem … that is probably always the biggest question that we have when we read Joshua. It's like, wow, this is intense, and it was the will of God, and all that.

And I think that the way to answer that is to go back to the basics of the land belongs to Yahweh… Yahweh has a universal claim on the land. It belongs to him, like the whole earth. It is a universal claim. And Yahweh is holy. But Yahweh wants to dwell with his people because he wants to redeem them from their unholiness, but he has to dwell with them. That's his desire, to be among his people. So, you see the clash — the holiness of Yahweh versus the unholiness of the people. And in this case it's the Canaanites. But you've got to set that story over a larger backdrop… Is it just the Canaanites who are unholy?

From Genesis, we know that the Fall affected everybody. All the descendants of Adam and Eve have been impacted. And to this day, this continues; the unholiness that we carry in the face of a holy God is a perennial problem. So, we shouldn't single out the Canaanites because we're all unholy.

And it's very clear in the book of Joshua that holiness is something that Yahweh has, and if someone is on his side, they're going to be on his side because they have become holy themselves, by Yahweh's means. You look at the conquest of Jericho; what is the conquest of Jericho… It's just a ritual. There's no warfare there. They're just sanctifying themselves by walking around the city with the priests, the trumpet and the ark, and so they're sanctifying the site because it's preparing for Yahweh's holiness to come down.

And Yahweh's holiness is not arbitrary, because he is making that message of judgment known in advance to the Canaanites inside Jericho. They have a chance to be saved from Yahweh establishing his holiness. They have ample times. They have the whole time from the time they leave Egypt for forty years and then the conquest in Transjordan of Heshbon, the city of Heshbon.

They have heard all of it. How do we know that? Because of that woman prostitute that says that; "We have heard. We know what's coming. So, Yahweh, the "unfairness" of Yahweh, it has to be mitigated. Actually, there is no unfairness because they've had the call to turn from unholiness to holiness and they have chosen not to take it, except for that one person in the city of Jericho.

And that one person is actually saved. And so, yeah, the destruction of the Canaanites, it's the death and violence caused by sin. It's the extent of how our sinfulness has impacted the world. It's very, very sad. And let's finish with one more point on this, because that's the main point. Don't assign blame to Yahweh, because Yahweh himself took that death and violence on himself at the cross. He took that cherem upon him. He became cherem for us so we wouldn't have to face that destruction, those of us who have put our faith in Jesus.

So, the claim of unfairness by God? No, he took that upon himself so we wouldn't have to be cherem and devoted to destruction ourselves. And when that hits home and you realize, I'm a Canaanite. If it wasn't for the grace of God, I am a Canaanite devoted for destruction, and it was only by the grace of God and the mercy of God in Christ that I've been spared.


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And our message is to proclaim that message of salvation, that the whole world is cherem , the whole world is unholy, and we go and proclaim a message of salvation, and we hope we're going to have a whole bunch of Rahabs responding to the message. Carol Kaminski Well, the destruction of the Canaanites is a really difficult issue in the book of Joshua, and I think a lot of people have problems with this in the Old Testament.

I think it's got to start with understanding that we worship a holy God. And we see this certainly in the flood story where God is the judge of the whole earth and he is a holy, righteous God, so that's got to be the beginning of it. And it's very interesting, when you look at God giving the land to the Israelites, what you do see is he gives, of course, the laws in the book of Exodus and talks about his holiness, but what you find in Leviticus 18, 20 in particular, is there are a series of laws to do with issues of sexuality and issues of idolatry, and God tells the Israelites, "You're not to do this.

So, that's an important background. And then if you also look at the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy then says, "When you go into the land" — of course, they're at Moab, they're about to enter into the land — and says, "there are seven nations that you are to destroy. And really, the issue is that the Israelites are about to enter into the land, and the problem is if they worship the idols of the land. The Canaanites, of course, are worshiping idols, there is sexual immorality going on, all these kind of things, and so there is a lot at stake for God's people.

And so, one of the pieces is, as they enter into the land, they have to destroy these seven nations. That's part of the warfare as they enter into the land. Buys The New Testament mainly sees the battles and the wars of the Old Testament as part of the massive battle between God and Satan and between God's people and Satan trying to destroy God's plan.

So then, it is also applied to Christians nowadays who are, in the same way, part of the same battle, if you think of Ephesians 6, that your struggle is against the evil forces of Satan, and that Christians must put on the full armor of God to be able to stand firm in this battle. Wellum The theme of warfare is important in Scripture, but it's often controversial in our day. You have to very carefully think through how the Bible applies warfare imagery both in the Old Testament era and the New Testament era.

The Book of Joshua: Victorious Conquest ( - ) (high definition video)

As we think of the whole counsel of God, and as specifically how the New Testament authors look back on the Old Testament, and think through how the warfare now applies to us as believers, it does so in light of the fulfillment that has come in Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, under the old covenant, it's important to see that Israel is a theocracy.

They're given a specific land, a specific role to play in the nations. As they go into the Promised Land, God commands them to engage in warfare, to execute God's judgment, to remove the nations from the land. That is for a specific purpose — to create a holy people, to allow for the coming of Messiah, to execute God's judgment upon sin — I mean, a whole variety of purposes that are given to us. As we come to fulfillment in the New Testament, the church isn't exactly the same as Israel. It doesn't function like a theocracy in exactly the same way.

We don't have a certain geography and a piece of real estate that we are controlling and having geographical borders and this type of thing. We are a spiritual people. We're part of God's kingdom that is international. His kingdom has broken into this world in Jesus Christ. We are people of that kingdom, yet we don't engage in the warfare in exactly the same way that it is under the old covenant.

Yet, the New Testament does apply warfare imagery to us. It first applies warfare imagery in Christ. Christ is the one who is true Israel. He is the one who takes Israel's role and fulfills that. He is the one, in his coming, that defeats the powers. He engages in warfare against Satan. You see that in his life and ministry.

On the cross, he defeats the power, Satan, sin, death — a number of ways that the warfare imagery is applied. It then comes over to us in and through to him. We are to engage against the principalities and powers with spiritual weaponry, not arms and this type of thing that you would have, say, as maybe tied to Israel of old. We are to put on the whole armor of God — Ephesians 6. We are to engage in warfare under the role of our king, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Warfare imagery will be picked up when Christ comes again. He will execute judgment. We aren't to do that; he will do that for us. But we then live as his people in between the times waiting for that second coming. So that, as you think of warfare imagery from the Old Testament to us, it has to be very, very carefully applied.

For the most part, it's christologically defined. He is the one who takes up that war. Finally in the Land: God Meets His People's Needs. Joshua, Judges and Ruth. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel. A Handbook on the Book of Joshua. Joshua - Judges - Ruth. A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. The Message of Joshua. The Challenge of the Promised Land. Commentary, Notes and Study Questions. Theology of Work Bible Commentary: Joshua through Song of Songs. Exalting Jesus in Joshua. Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy. And this also comes to place when the children of Israel cross the Jordan River.

When they cross the Jordan River, once again, they get across and the text says that the Canaanites heard of their crossing the Jordan River on dry ground and again their hearts melted. And this is all God's work before any shot was fired in the Promised Land. And then, of course, I think what's most clear, and we see this elsewhere, but especially in the aspect of Jericho, that they march around the city several times and then blow their horns and the walls come down.

Again, this shows a work of God, a miracle of God, that God, the angel of the Lord himself, has gone before them, is fighting for them, and the Lord gives them victory. And this victory, though, is based upon their obedience to him. And so, when they get to Ai, we realize Achan has sinned against God, and God sees this disobedience, and so they lose at Ai, which tells me that it's not really Israel that's winning this victory, but it's the Lord who is doing this, and as long as they're obedient, the Lord is giving them victory.

When they're disobedient, he's not. So, it's really God's power that is doing this. Carson Well, first of all, the most crucial victory is in the cross itself so that he defeats Satan. The accuser of the brethren, as it were, cannot come along and say, "Oh God, you can't possibly put up with that miserable lot. You say you're so holy and yet you're having dealings with creeps like them who are idolaters and inconsistent and self-lovers, and they don't love you with heart and soul and mind and strength, their neighbors as themselves.

You really must condemn them all, blot them all out. In that sense, the crucial battle has been fought and won. And that's why, for example, in Revelation 12, the saints respond to the accuser of the brethren, they overcome him by the blood of the Lamb. They overcome Satan — described metaphorically in Revelation 12 — they overcome him by the blood of the Lamb. And, so, that battle has already been won. But, like Hitler toward the end of World War II, when he could see that the war was over, he didn't quit.

He was filled with fury because he knew his time was short. That's what is said of Satan. So, Satan is more virulent now, and every time the gospel advances, more people are converted, righteousness is established in individual lives, in the local church, in any sort of subculture, that is already an ongoing defeat of Satan and of all those who love darkness. And the ultimate trajectory toward the ultimate victory is when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, and he will reign forever.

And that's the way the Bible ends up in Revelation 19— Yet, at the same time, this is also a victory over evil people who want to undermine the kingdom of God, or overthrow the moral order, or disdain Christ, and so on. The point is that the trajectory has been set in place so that, as Philippians 2 puts it, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, and the fundamental victory has been won.

That's still got to be worked out in some respects. It's being worked out in the lives of many who do, joyfully, by the power of the Spirit, bend the knee.

An Introduction to Joshua

But everyone will bend the knee on the last day. So, the gospel of the kingdom is already demonstrating its transforming power in overcoming the hosts of darkness, the darkness of the human heart … in anticipation of what is yet to come. Constantine Campbell God is victorious over his enemies through the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. In the death of Christ, by dealing with human sin and paying the penalty for sin, he has overpowered sin and, therefore, the power that sin might have over us. Once sin is dealt with, then the power of death is conquered because sin and death work together.

Sin is kind of like the stinger that death has, and once it stings you with sin, once you sin, then you are subjected to death, and you belong to death. But if you break that stinger, as Jesus did on the cross, then death can no longer hold you. It's like a toothless viper, or a spider whose fangs have been broken off. And so, what follows after the death of Jesus is the resurrection of Jesus, which is the vindication of his right standing with God and that sin has been conquered. And his ascension to God's right hand is described in the New Testament as the final sign that he is victorious over his enemies, not only sin and death, but the authorities, powers and dominions as mentioned, say, in Ephesians 1.

They are under his feet now; they're already conquered. Nevertheless, they still exist, and so, at the end of Ephesians in chapter 6, we see that believers do spiritual warfare with them, but we battle with a team that's already lost, and we are just waiting for the final siren to sound, and then the game is over. We already know we're on the winning side. Scorgie The final conquests that are necessary for the perfection of God's kingdom remain ahead, but they have begun, and they were decisively inaugurated in the ministry of Jesus Christ. And we get some clue to what the inaugurating assault on the enemies of the kingdom looks like when we consider the text from Isaiah that he chose to speak from in the synagogue in Nazareth when he launched his earthly ministry.

One of the decisive enemies of the kingdom of God is the rulers of darkness and the principalities and powers that do not give up their turf without a fight. Jesus launched a massive assault on them. And the New Testament celebrates, really, the intimidation that the greater strength of Jesus Christ created in the powers of darkness. And what this means to believers is that we are no longer under the dominion of fear, fear of evil spirits, fear of death, fear of the control of the bondage to sin. All of these things were, in the inaugurating ministry of Jesus Christ, assaulted in a decisive way, and began then the dismantling of the structures of injustice and deceit and lies that perpetuate the forces of darkness and their stranglehold on human nature.

He spoke truth; he assaulted the gates of hell himself, and then empowers his liberated followers to continue that assault on the road to complete victory. Wellum In Jesus' coming, it's very clear that the New Testament says that he inaugurates God's kingdom. God's kingdom is rooted and grounded in the Old Testament.

Indeed, it goes all the way back to Adam as a vice-regent who is, as representative of the human race, is to rule over God's creation, and indeed all of us as human beings are to do that. But because of sin, he does not do that. Sin enters the world, which then becomes not only that which is transmitted to all of us, but also in Scripture is described as a power, as a domain.

Sin leads to death so that in our lives we ultimately die because we are sinners before God. It means that we are now under God's judgment because of our sin before God. And it also means that, as a result of sin, the ruler of this world, tied to Satan and his realm, is that which we are now under his power and rule.

We're part of his kingdom, not the kingdom of God. And as you work through the Old Testament, the Old Testament anticipates the saving reign of God breaking into this world, that God himself, in and through his Messiah, will accomplish that saving reign and defeat the kingdom of Satan. He will defeat the powers of death. He will do that through, ultimately, the payment of sin and our restoration and reconciliation with God.

He comes as the Lord himself, fully God, fully man. He is the one who, in his ministry, brings the kingdom to pass, not only in his teaching, but his miracles, but supremely in his cross, where sin then is dealt with first and foremost. The power of sin, the penalty of sin is removed. Death, then, is defeated, evidenced in his glorious resurrection and ascension and pouring out the Spirit.

The realm of Satan now over us is now defeated as we are now transferred from Adam to Christ, from the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of the ruler of this air to that of the kingdom of God. And in all these ways — through the life, death, resurrection, ascension, the pouring out of the Spirit, the inauguration of the kingdom, which is now here, yet we await its consummation in the future — he has defeated the powers.

He has defeated sin, death, the Evil One, and we are now victorious in Christ.

How do we know that God's call to destroy the Canaanites was not just a call for ethnic cleansing?

Rev Sherif Gendy, translation Asking about how we as Christians should interpret Old Testament passages describing God's command for Israel to engage in holy war is a very important question. In general, I can say that there are two types of commands in Scripture. There are general commands, which are for all people living in any time and place, such as "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," "You shall not murder," "You shall not commit adultery," etc.

This type of command is repeated several times in the Old Testament and also repeated and mentioned in the New Testament. But the other type of command is specifically designed for certain people in a certain period of time. The passages in the Old Testament that talk about holy war are the other type of command. These commands are specific to a certain people to accomplish a specific goal in the history of redemption. The commands to launch wars against other peoples in the Old Testament were particular to Israel and were related to a certain period when God was leading the people, through Joshua, to conquer and settle in the land.

These commands are not for all people whenever and wherever they are, because they aren't mentioned anymore in either the Old or New Testament. There isn't any other place where God commands his followers to launch this type of war against unbelievers. This doesn't happen again in the Bible. Also, it's important to know that Israel in the Old Testament was a kingdom under the direct authority and sovereignty of God. Israel was implementing God's commands as his representative on earth. Through this role, Israel was executing God's direct mission to launch a holy war against the Canaanites.

So, such a mission was specific to the kingdom of Israel under God's sovereignty during a specific period in the history of redemption. We have to keep in mind that God alone has the right to give and take life. He also has the right to use secondary causes to accomplish his purposes and execute his justice. Concerning these wars, God used Israel as a tool in his hand to accomplish his will towards these pagan peoples. These wars were condemnation against them and their behavior for worshiping other gods. So, through it, God was revealing his judgment against them… As I said, such commands were not repeated again to Israel.

The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob didn't possess the land by launching wars against its inhabitants. And after returning back from the exile, Israel restored the land without waging a holy war like the one that took place during Joshua's time. Such wars and commands are not to be repeated. They were specific to a certain period in history in the book of Joshua. And it's crucial to interpret the text within the historical context in which these events took place. Glodo I think one of the most difficult questions that Christians face when they read the book of Joshua is how they should take the passages commanding Israel to fight holy war.

And it's very important to start with a good understanding of what holy war was and wasn't , but also to understand how radically the new covenant, the fullness of time, the coming of Christ has changed our response. So, holy war in the Old Testament represents the prosecution of God against unrighteousness and idolatrousness. It is a prefiguration of the final judgment, and it's not because Israel is intrinsically more holy than the Canaanites, but because the Lord has taken them to himself and redeemed them.

Now they are to act according to God's purposes, to suppress and eliminate idolatry against God and great moral wickedness that existed among the Canaanites, such as child sacrifice and other things. But when we come to the new covenant, we realize that in the fullness of time, as all things, as the mystery becomes known in the full light of the revelation of the New Testament, we read that while we were yet enemies, Christ died for us. Apart from any action or provision on God's part, we are the Canaanites. But God has then, in Christ, put us to death so that, in fact, we are called to further die to ourselves to live to Christ.

And then, we are called to prosecute God's purposes in the world, but as Paul says in Ephesians 6, in Christ, our war is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and the principalities and the spiritual forces that are at work against God. And so, the way God's holy army prosecutes holy war today is by self-sacrificing, loving those who persecute us, blessing them, loving our enemies, and it is in that way not only that we fulfill the law of Christ but that we win others to Christ.

So, we prosecute holy war today by the tools of the gospel, the proclamation of the good news that Christ has died for sinners and that all who would put their faith and trust in Christ can be reconciled to God and no longer be at enmity with God, no longer to be alienated to God, but be reconciled to God.

But it has to be through the ethical witness of God's people, the church, living out God's righteousness, and even more, the self-sacrificing love of God's people for those who do not know the Lord, because we can do more for those who do not know the Lord today than Joshua could. Joshua could only carry out God's final judgment, but we can bring the good news to those who are apart from God so that they can belong to the Lord and be part of his people. Dan Lacich When Christians look back on the Old Testament, especially looking at things like Joshua and the conquest of the land and God's call to actually go and conquer, we can do one of two things very badly with that passage.

One is that we can try to just explain it away and ignore it altogether and say, "Oh, well, that was then and that's really not anything to do with us on any level," or we can become very nationalistic with it and become almost militaristic in our demeanor with people. And I think what we need to really look at with Joshua and the conquest of the land is to understand that was a specific time and place for the nation of Israel to occupy the land at that time.

The Possibility of Character Development

And since the new covenant and the coming of Christ, God's kingdom goes beyond national geographic borders, it goes beyond people groups, and it's a kingdom as Jesus himself said is not "of this world," and we're not wrestling with flesh and blood, but it's a spiritual battle. And so, the weapons of human warfare are just not appropriate for Christians to use on any level when it comes to expanding God's kingdom. And I think we need to expand that, not just to the actual weapons of warfare, but even our demeanor of us against them, and we're going to conquer them in some other way.

It's really about the expansion of God's kingdom through the gospel, through the good news of what Christ has done for us, as opposed to us conquering someone else. Glodo When Jesus returns, we see the completion of his victory, and we see the benefits that his followers gain at that time. The New Testament picture is really one that begins even as early as Psalm 2 where the nations conspire against the Lord and his Anointed One, but blessed are those who take refuge in the son, who kiss the son, but over his enemies he will rule with a rod of iron. And so, at the end of the New Testament, particularly in the book of Revelation, we see the risen Christ, the one who was dead but now is alive forevermore.

He's the slain and standing Lamb next to the Father in Revelation 5, and his victory means the complete conquest of all the enemies of God's people and his. But that victory will be achieved in two ways: And as we live as Christians, looking for that victory to be completed, we have to remember we don't always know the difference. In fact, we never know for sure the difference between those whom Christ will conquer through the gospel versus those who he will conquer with the rod of iron, which is why our battle is not against flesh and blood but against dark forces and why we preach the gospel instead of bear the sword for the name of Christ.

Sean McDonough When we think about Jesus coming again and winning his final victory, we don't want to think simply in terms of Jesus overwhelming his enemies by what the French would call force majeure or just raw exercise of power. In Revelation, it talks about the sword coming out of Jesus' mouth, and that is surely the sword of the Word, the sword of justice, that final judgment is as much about exposure as anything else. And likewise for the saints, particularly in the New Testament context, vindication is one of the chief themes.

They've gone on believing in Jesus and gone on turning the other cheek and loving your enemies and doing all these other things while the world says this is complete foolishness. So, at the judgment, all things are made clear, all things become transparent, the truth will out, and that will be good news for the saints and bad news for the wicked whose wickedness consists precisely in resisting Jesus and his message. Scorgie I think we have every right to dream of that day when the kingdom of God is fulfilled in its entirety, and our experience of life, restored and renewed life, will be what God intended for us.

Character Studies in Joshua

In many ways, the journey back to the completion of God's perfected kingdom is a journey back to Eden, to linking back to what we lost in the Fall and perhaps making it, not only equal to that in a restored way, but better than ever. Jesus came to save us from sin, and that full restoration will involve a complete liberation from the guilt of sin, which we experience by justification now, deliverance from the power of sin, which we will continue to struggle with to some degree in this life, and most of all, it will involve a complete deliverance from all the consequences of sin, which is a category that encompasses not just death but all the dysfunction, all the pain, all the woundedness that is our human plight in this life flawed by sin.

So, what we look forward to is a comprehensive restoration project, a complete salvation from the guilt, the power, and the comprehensive consequences of sin — back to Eden through Jesus Christ. Keener is the F. How do I use these resources? Are these resources really free? Is there a Third Millennium mobile app? Foundations of Interpretation Making Biblical Decisions.


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  • How could a loving God command Joshua to completely destroy the inhabitants of Canaan? How do we know that God's call to destroy the Canaanites was not just a call for ethnic cleansing? What does Joshua 1: What was Achan's sin, and why was it so terrible? What does the book of Joshua teach us about God's character as a warrior for his people? How does the book of Joshua emphasize God's supernatural power to defeat his enemies?

    How was Jesus victorious over the enemies of God's kingdom in the inauguration of God's kingdom? How should Christians interpret Old Testament commands for Israel to engage in divinely-sanctioned holy war? How will Jesus' victory over his enemies and deliverance of his followers be complete when he returns?