Read Joshua 5:1-15

Geographically, they were ready for battle. Having spied out the land, the Israelites had followed God’s directions across the Jordan River and landed near Jericho.

But they weren’t quite ready. Some things still had to occur as God prepared His people for the conquest they were to accomplish.

The chosen people of God were in desperate need of renewal. They needed a re-commitment to follow the ways of God. Because the battle was His, and the only way to succeed was to do it His way.

In other words, if the Israelites were to walk in in the salvation that God provided, they needed to bear His mark. They needed to be circumcised.

It was one of the ways God’s chosen people showed themselves to be set apart from other nations.

They needed re-birth, renewal, a start-over point.

Their parents had been marked and then neglected to follow the ways of God as they wandered the desert. It left this generation unmarked. And that needed to change.

It was the re-birth of God’s people. They needed God’s mark in order to do His bidding.

The Israelites, God’s own people, were ready to conquer the land God had laid before them. With Jericho just ahead, Joshua lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him . . . the commander of the army of the Lord (v13).

Jesus Christ made Himself known even as His people, renewed and re-birthed camped on the brink of His promise. Right there on the edge of Canaan, more than a thousand years before Jesus would move to earth so He could rescue you and me from our slave-to-sin problem, Jesus Christ showed up and chatted with Joshua the patriarch.

Maybe today you need a fresh start. Here’s some great news: Jesus moved in so you could start over.

Just like He was with the Israelites, God is eager to renew us and to mark our hearts as His. When we trust Him to circumcise our hearts, He gives us altogether newness so we can follow Him straight into victory living.

What a glimpse Joshua got to have that day when he ended up on his face in worship of the King! But you and I get to not just glimpse Him. We get to live in Him if we submit our lives to Him.

brw