Day 1

And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of
Canaan that year.

Joshua 5:11–12

The people of God had wandered for forty years in the wilderness. The book of Exodus teaches about the judgment of the people because of their rebellion and unbelief. But in the book of Joshua, we see a new day. In these verses, we see God was granting the opportunity for a new generation of believers to go into the land of promise, the land of milk and honey promised to Abraham.

I tell you our God is faithful, and no matter how dark a generation becomes, how dark a culture or society, God is a faithful covenant-keeping God. I want to share three observations that flow out of these verses dealing with Joshua as the leader of God’s people during this time.

This was a new day. The Old Covenant provided two important acts of obedience by the people of God, (1) circumcision and (2) the celebration of the Passover. Both essential Old Testament rituals were neglected when the people of God left Egypt and wandered in the wilderness. There was a need for restoration around the Word of God. There was a need for God’s people to come in obedience again. This new generation, born in the wilderness or under twenty years old in Egypt when they crossed the Red Sea, were now being led by Joshua and Caleb into the land of promise. The first thing they did was obey these two Old Covenant commands. Those who were uncircumcised were circumcised.

Next, they celebrated the Passover, the memorial meal that God instituted in Exodus when the Angel of Death passed over those faithful Hebrews who placed the blood of the unblemished lamb on their doorpost. It was a new day—a new day for this new generation, and they began by obedience to the Word of God. Today as God raises up a new generation within every society and culture, the gospel must remain relevant. It is not enough to say, “Oh, let’s look back and see what God has done in the past.” God is not only the God of the past, but He is the God of the present and the God of the future. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The God of Israel is the God of the Bible who continues to raise up individuals like you and me to minister in the marketplace by taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. It was a new day for these Israelites as they crossed over and began their conquest within the land of promise.

Secondly, not only was there a new day but there was also a new diet. The Israelites had eaten manna for many years in the wilderness. God was faithful, but they had the same food every day for forty years. Can you imagine the exhilaration, the enthusiasm when a new day came, and they crossed the River Jordan? They entered the Promised Land and began eating from the crops of the field. They began to eat from the land of milk and honey, and they began feasting on the crops. Can you imagine that transformation? The Israelites began to have a full diet. They began to experience the abundance of wonderful blessings from God.

Today our society needs a new diet. Those outside of Christ must be born again because they have never tasted or seen that the Lord is gracious. As Christ’s church, we need to pray God  would expand our diet, and through that, we would partake of the gospel. The faith in our lives will allow it to be an outreach within the sphere of influence God has given us. We are blessed with so many restaurants in the United States. There are so many places to eat and almost too many choices to make. Today we need to go from drinking spiritual milk to eating spiritual meat.

Our people need a renewed enthusiasm for knowing that God gives us a purpose to go into the marketplace. We are to go as salt and light and be dependent upon God to empower us to be change agents within our culture and society. If there has ever been a need for a new diet, a true gospel-centered spiritual diet, it is now. May that begin in you and me.

Finally, not only was it a new day with the people of God, not only a new diet, but God gave them a new direction. They began to prepare for the conquest right after this verse. Within the context of Scripture, Joshua sees the angel of the Lord, who is the captain of the army of God. He bows before him. This shows us that this angel was an angel of the Lord God Himself. There seemed to be a new direction that God gave Joshua as the leader of His people, but really it was not. It was a direction God had given Abraham before. Still, this generation needed to see their identity—to see their place in God’s mission in terms of His redemptive plan for mankind and within the people of Israel. And so, there was a renewed direction.

Can you imagine that a three-day journey from Egypt to Canaan took forty years because of disobedience, rebellion, and unbelief ? It is almost like running on a  treadmill and going nowhere. Can you imagine that new direction and seeing how God opened the door for this new, younger generation to be able to see God’s promises fulfilled with their own eyes?

Joshua would go forth as the leader. It was a great conquest where they were no longer going in circles but were headed now in a new direction. It was a beeline, and it was a beeline that was in the epicenter of God’s redemptive plan. They would march forth, with the first conquest being Jericho. They went forward and God began to give them the promised inheritance as they were faithful and obedient to His Word in their generation. May our generation
see that time is short and be assured Jesus is coming back soon. There is never a “more perfect” time for kingdom influence in the marketplace than now.

God bless you, my friend.