The True Joshua​ - 250410

Speaker A Hello. Welcome to Let God Speak. I am your host, Uriah St Juste. There is a powerful literary technique which is quite common in the Bible, but you may have never noticed it. Today we will take a deep dive into biblical typology and see how it applies to the life of Joshua as we study the topic the True Joshua today on Let God Speak Foreign. Today we have Kaysie Vokurka and and Joshua Wood. Welcome, Kaysie and Joshua. Speaker B Thank you. Speaker A Please join us while we pray. Lord, we thank you for life. We thank you for the possibility to open up your word freely and for the technology that makes it available. We ask, Lord, for your to bless our listeners and viewers today. We pray that your word will be a blessing to them. Send us your Holy Spirit to give us understanding and, and to show us a true picture of who Jesus is. We thank youk. We give youe glory and praise. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. One of the most famous paintings in history is the Mona Lisa. It is estimated that 8 to 10 million people queue up to catch a glimpse of her smile each year. However, for over 500 years of its existence, the exact identity of the lady in the painting is not certain. While tradition says that the image is that of Lisa Gerardini, the wife of a wealthy Florentine silk merchant, another theory suggests that it is the image of Isabella of Aragon, the Duchess of Milan. This idea of a figure on canvas pointing to a real person with two possible applications helps us to understand typology and, and how it applies to the true Joshua. Now, Kaysie, this term typology, is it biblical or is it some kind of academic construct of human beings? Speaker B It's definitely got biblical applications and evidence for it. The term typology comes from the practice of basically one thing symbolizing another. So we can think of it in terms of like a flag for a country. It's whenever we see the flag, we immediately think of the country. And the flag might have elements that represent things that the country stands for. The flag is not the country, but it's very much connected and points to the country. And so it's very interesting. We can give an example from the scriptures of one type, and I'll read that for you. This is in Romans 5:14, and it says, nevertheless, death ranged from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned, according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come. And so what this is saying, and you can understand from the context of this verse that Adam is actually a type of Jesus as Like the head of the human race. It was once Adam, but now it's Jesus. So Adam points to Jesus or represents Jesus. Speaker A And it's interesting that Romans 5:14 uses the word type, which is where we get typology from. And in the original language, to coin a Greek of the New Testament, it's actually the Greek word tupos, which is like a stamp leaving a mark. So you know how you stamp something and leaves an impression. That's what a type is. So you have the original mark and then it leaves another mark. That's where the idea of typology comes from. Now, Joshua, an important aspect of typology is that the symbol and what it represents should share similar qualities. Are there any other Bible characters who share the similar. Similar characteristics of Jesus that appear as a type of Jesus? Speaker C Yeah, definitely. In the Old Testament, we can see David was a type of Jesus, and that's because he shared a lot of characteristics and similar experiences to Jesus. If we read in Psalm 22:1, it says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me? And from the words of my groanings? And so we can see here in Psalm 22 that Saul is pursuing David and David's crying out to the Lord for deliverance. And we can see in Matthew 27:46 a similar phrase that Jesus says as well. He says in Matthew 27:46, in about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, eli, Eli lama sabachthani. That is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So David's experience was very similar to. To Jesus experience on the cross. And that makes David a type of Jesus. Speaker A Wonderful. Now, Joshua, you share the same name as the Bible character we're studying, so we hope not to get confused. The term typology, it's often also applied with Old Testament symbols pointing to New Testament figures. What does this do for the Old Testament, especially when some people have the view that the Old Testament is done away with? Speaker C Yeah, it shows the Old Testament is very important in helping us understand the New Testament and what the New Testament means. In order to have a deep appreciation of the Old Testament. Sorry, of the New Testament and the interwoven themes that we see through it. We have to read it in light of the Old Testament. And if we read in First Corinthians 10, verse 11, it says, now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. So this verse is saying that everything recorded in the Bible, including the Old Testament, is written for us as God's people living in the last days to be a blessing and an encouragement for us in our spiritual journey. Speaker A So this idea of typology connects the Old Testament to the New Testament, and it helps us to understand the New Testament better. Now, biblical types do not only apply to people. You know, we've been looking at David, we've been looking at Joshua, but it can also apply to others, like the nation of Israel, the children of Israel. Their story takes up a great part of the Old Testament. The exodus out of Egypt, the entry into the promised land, and even the sanctuary are all types that help us to understand the salvation story. So, Cayce, how has Israel been a type which is fulfilled through the Christian church? Speaker B Very interesting question to examine this one and we can find an answer In Galatians, Galatians 6, 15, 16, where it says, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but a new creation. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. Now, if we examine what this is saying in verse 15, circumcision or uncircumcision doesn't mean like, it has no way. What is important in the, in the Christian experience is a new creation or being a new creature in Christ, as it says in, I think Ephesians or a different place. And then in verse 16, it's saying that this body of people who are believing and who are new creatures in Christ is called or considered the Israel of God. So it's referring the Christian church to be like, like Israel. It's just like the next version of Israel, if you, if you know what I mean. And so just as in the Old Testament and the Old Israel, circumcision was an important part. Being a new creature in Christ is like the equivalent in the, in the Christian church. So you can see the parallels there. It's just pointing to, pointing to the same spiritual experience, but it's different eras. Speaker C And to add. Yeah, I love what you said, Kaysie. I'd also like to read Revelation 7:4 as well. It says, and I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed. So here we can see that there's an end time fulfillment of spiritual Israel as well. And we can see here that the 12 tribes here are symbolic, they're not literal, and they symbolize those who are alive and ready when Jesus comes in the clouds and ready, ready to meet him in the air. Speaker A So that was the nation of Israel, how they were a type of the Christian church. Now let's look at the Exodus itself. Joshua, how is Israel's Exodus? How does that point us to the experience of the church today? Speaker C Yeah, so if we read 2 Corinthians 6:17, it says, Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord, do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. So we can see that God didn't leave Israel in Egypt to make them a great nation. He called them out into the promised land to give them a fresh start. And in the same way, God calls his church out of the sin and the debauchery of the world and to follow him to the promised land of heaven, free from sin. Speaker A And in the end time, there is a very important warning to the people who follow Jesus and it's found in Revelation 18:4. And it says, and I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins unless you receive of her plagues. An obvious reference to the plagues of Egypt. And you know the Exodus out of Egypt, God's people coming out of bondage, the bondage of sin. Now, one of the most important and significant types in the Bible is the sanctuary. Kaysie, what was at the center, most importantly, who was at the center of the sanctuary and who does it point to? Speaker B Well, the sanctuary system was full of sacrifices and various other symbolic activities. And perhaps one of the most important or key ones was that forgiveness of sin was obtained or represented to be obtained through sin offering, where they brought a lamb and sacrificed it, and the lamb was to be perfect without blemish. And this pointed to the person who all of the sanctuary points to, which we can read about that in John 1:29, which says, the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is what the sanctuary was pointing to all throughout it. Speaker A So literally you had animal sacrifices, a lamb in the Old Testament, and literally John says, the Lamb of God, which is the fulfillment of these Old Testament sacrifices. Speaker B That's right. Speaker A And Cayce, today, Christians, we worship in buildings. These buildings are often called temples. Are they really temples or sanctuaries in the same way Christian churches as the Old Testament temple or sanctuary? Speaker B Well, if they were, then a Christian place of worship would have parts that were only accessible, say by a priest, like in the most holy place. And so the answer is no. The buildings Are not what is what is sacred. If you will, we can find out what what is in First Corinthians 3, verse 16 and 17, which says, do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit, Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy. Which temple you are. So this is teaching us that in the Christian church our bodies are where the Holy Spirit dwells and we should care for our bodies as the dwelling place of God. Speaker A So it's really our bodies, which is something that most people don't really consider. And it's very biblical that we care for our bodies just as the Old Testament church cared for the temple. Now, Joshua, does the sanctuary play any significant role in the last day events just before Jesus returns? Speaker C Yeah, absolutely does. The earthly sanctuary we can see was built off the pattern of the heavenly sanctuary. And part of the earthly sanctuary was the ark of the covenant. And we can see that the ark of the covenant was given as a symbol which represented judgment and the ultimate removal of sins. And we can also see that in the heavenly sanctuary there is also an ark. And if we read in Revelation 11:19, we can see that it says, then the temple of God was opened in heaven and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple. And there was lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake and great hail. And so this verse in Revelation which references the ark of the covenant is connected to the judgment, the pre advent judgment that happens before Christ's second coming. Speaker A Wonderful. And God uses that symbol of the sanctuary which had a lot to do with judgment actually. Now so far in our study we've been looking at types and how they actually work because this is important for us to understand Joshua and who he really points to. The true Joshua. So Joshua, we go to you to look at the Joshua of the Bible. Now Joshua is taking over after Moses. Moses has been this huge figure. And you know, sometimes when there's leadership change, it could be a bit awkward. How does God deal with any possible difficulties that can arise from a new leader taking over from Moses? Speaker C So if we read In Numbers chapter 12, verse 7 to 8, it says, not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly and not in dark sayings. And he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? So here we can see God is saying that he's going to speak very plainly and directly to Moses as a sign to the people of who God was going to appoint as leader. And then if we look in Joshua, chapter 15, verse. Sorry, Joshua, chapter 5, verse 15, it says. Verse 15, it says, then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so. And so here we can see God is appointing Joshua as the new leader. And this is very similar to the way that God appointed Moses at the burning bush. And so these parallels will help the children of Israel see that God has chosen Joshua to be the new leader. Speaker A Beautiful. Now I want to read Deuteronomy chapter 18 and verse 15. And it says, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, him will you hear? So Moses prepares the people and tells them that God will raise a prophet just like himself, Cayce. And they should listen to him. How do we know that this is referring to Joshua? Speaker B Well, the Bible gives us clues that help us to draw that conclusion. And in Deuteronomy 34, verse 9, we read, it says, now Joshua, the son of nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the children of Israel heeded him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. And so you can see Joshua is kind of passed on the baton by laying on hands onto Joshua. And this is where the people then had confidence in Joshua as the new leader. And when you look at the two lives, there are lots of parallels. And you know, Moses gave instructions, Joshua fulfilled them. You know, Joshua led them over the Jordan, Moses took them through the Red Sea. They both renewed the covenant. There's many of them. And so we can see that Joshua is really at least a partial fulfilment of this statement that Moses made. Speaker A So that's, in one sense, it is fulfilled that way. Now, there's a very interesting passage in the Gospel of John, chapter one, verse 21. And it says, and they asked him, what then are you Elijah? And these were the Jewish leaders speaking of or asking these questions of John the Baptist, Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And he said, no. So why would the Jewish leaders, Joshua, be asking John the Baptist, if he is this prophet, if it was already fulfilled fully through Joshua? Speaker C Yeah, well, we can see the New Testament doesn't lay bare exactly the identity of the prophet that was being spoken about in the time of Jesus. And this is because the prophet was referred to by Moses, in one sense was Joshua. And if we read John chapter 6, verse 14, it says then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, this is truly the prophet who is to come into the world. And this prophet is referring to back to Joshua. This makes Joshua a type in quotes of Jesus. Speaker A So the ultimate fulfillment of that prophet was Jesus. Now Cayce, is there further biblical support that Joshua is a type of Jesus? Speaker B There certainly is. There's many parallels between Joshua and Jesus. Joshua, he began to lead Israel after being 40 years in the wilderness with them. Jesus began his earthly ministry after 40 days in the wilderness praying for us. And, and he began his heavenly ministry 40 days after the resurrection as well. Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River. Joshua led Israel into the promised land by miraculously crossing the Jordan River. And in Hebrews 4, verse 8, we read something interesting. For if Joshua had given them rest, then he would not afterward have spoken of another day. And this, the context of this is talking back around the time of the Israelites coming out of the wilderness. And in the Hebrew here where it says Joshua can also be translated Jesus as well. And in the King James it is translated as Jesus. And so in that even in the word, even in the name Jesus, there's a link between Jesus and Joshua. So they have lots of connections and. Speaker A Ultimately they both led their people to salvation, which is what the name means. Now, Joshua, we're going to talk about antitype, which is really the fulfillment of the type with the Joshua of the Bible there was quite a bit of warfare. He led Israel into many battles. And looking at the type of that, Joshua is a type of Jesus and also of the Christian experience. Are Christians supposed to be called to fight wars and holy wars today? Speaker C Yeah, we see that in the Bible. God never calls us to bear arms for his cause, but he does call us to a form of warfare. And we can see that in First Timothy 1:18, it says this charge, I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. So here Paul is calling Timothy to a form of warfare. And the question is, what does this warfare involve? And we can see the answer to that following on in verse 19, which says having faith in a good conscience, which some having rejected concerning the faith, have suffered shipwreck. So we can see that instead of using guns and swords and spears, we should be instead fighting in faith using the word of God. Speaker A Wonderful, wonderful. And Kaysie, we have seen in history where Christians have fought people of other religions or even other Christians that don't Believe as they do. How can we as Christians avoid this mistake of seeing each other or seeing the other person as the enemy that we need to fight? Speaker B That's a very good question, because it's very easy for us as human beings to do that. And what we need is to get a bigger picture. And the Bible teaches that there is a bigger battle waging. It's not a physical one, but a spiritual battle for our souls. And we can find biblical support for this in Ephesians 6, verse 12. For it says there, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. That sounds like a lot of forces to be battling against there. And so we have to remember that in this world, our enemy is not fellow human beings, but ultimately it's Satan. Speaker A And we need to see who is behind it, not fight each other. So even if we're not using guns and knives, but sometimes we can engage in arguments and heated arguments and end up hating each other. And God does not call for us. It's a spiritual battle that we're actually fighting. Now, Joshua, your namesake in the Bible, he used swords and spears and shields. Literally, he was involved in literal warfare. The Christian today, we are fighting a spiritual battle against the devil and his demons. How are we to engage? How are we to fight this spiritual battle? Speaker C Yeah. So instead of using those physical weapons, God calls us In Ephesians chapter 6 to use truth, justice, peace, faith, and the word of God as our weapons. And we can see that symbolized through the armor of God that is seen in Ephesians 6. And in addition to that, if we read Ephesians chapter 6, verse 18, it says that prayer is also a very important weapon in the great controversy. It says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end, with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. So prayer, as you can see here, is one of the most powerful weapons that we have. Speaker A Now, Kaysie, the true Joshua is Jesus. Joshua was a type of Jesus. Did Jesus engage in warfare? And if so, what kind of warfare did he engage in? Speaker B Yes, he did engage, and he does engage even today in warfare. And we can find evidence for this in Revelation 19:11, which says, Now I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse. And he who sat on him was called faithful and true. And in righteousness he judges and makes war. And I love that expression. In righteousness, Jesus judges and makes war. And so we can see that, you know, with judgment, he is looking out for those who are oppressed, those who are defenseless. One day Jesus is going to stand up for them and make everything right that is wrong in this world. So he will sort it all out. And that is very encouraging for us that Jesus Christ goes about his work, his warfare righteously so we don't have. Speaker A To be fighting these battles. You know, literally, you know, being a justice warrior, Jesus will ultimately make it all. We can do what we can, but we must leave space for Jesus to ultimately deal with it. Thank you very much. This is all the time that we have for our program today. Today we learned that the Bible sometimes uses symbols to help us understand its message better. We discovered that David, Moses and Joshua were types of Jesus. God used their experiences to impress upon our minds who Jesus was and his message to this world. This reminds us of the importance of the Old Testament in understanding the story of salvation. It teaches us that God is true to his word and keeps his promises. Both Old and New Testament contain precious promises that can give you hope and bring joy to your life. We are glad you've joined us on Let God Speak. Remember, all past programs plus teacher's notes are available on our website 3abnaustralia.org.au or you can email us on [email protected] join us again next time. God bless. SPEAKER B You have been listening to let God speak, a production of 3ABN Australia television. To catch up on past programmes, please visit 3abnaustralia.org.au. Call us in Australia on 02 4973 3456. Or email [email protected]. we'd love to hear from you.