He was led to read Joshua 5:2-15 on the Lord’s instructions to Joshua to prepare to lead the Israelites second generation who grew up in the wilderness into the promised land. The preparation was in the following three steps:
1. Joshua was asked to circumcise the entire male population, as a covenant reestablishment ceremony. The watchman was drawn to this verse after they have obeyed, “Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt.” (5:9) In the New Testament, Jesus came and took away the shame and bondages of His believers and led them (us) from the kingdom of darkness (Satan’s kingdom) into the kingdom of light (the kingdom of God). Prior to this privilege, one has to repent. The believers of Jesus have to repent first before they receive the kingdom citizenship. (The requirement and power of repentance has been written in the watchman’s previous blogs)
2. The second step was celebrating Passover. The first Passover (Exodus 12:23) was carried out on their last night in bondage under the Egyptians. When the angel of death saw the blood of the lamb on the top and sides of the doorframe of the Israelite homes, he would pass over their homes. In the New Testament, Jesus had shed His blood on the cross for the remission of the sins of many, and He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. When He instituted the Holy Communion for His disciples, He pronounced this over the wine: “This is my blood for the new covenant, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins.”
3. The third step was Joshua’s encounter with the Lord (Jesus), the Commander of the Lord’s Armies. Joshua immediately fell with his face to the ground in reverence and worshipped Him, waiting for the Lord’s instructions. For Christians this is the worship in truth and in Spirit.
The watchman was then led to read the famous Fall of Jericho in Chapter Six. He was asked by the Lord to read all the details of the Lord’s instructions requiring Joshua to lead his people to march round the fortified city of Jericho, and he noted the number of days and times they marched round, those (priests, armed men, and people) who marched, their order of marching, what they carried and did (e.g. the priests marching in the presence of the Lord, blowing the ram horns as they marched, with the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant followed behind, some armed men marched in front of the Ark and some behind). the people were required to shout on the seventh day, seventh round when they heard the long blast of horns and when Joshua commanded, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the town!” When Joshua and his people obeyed, indeed Jericho walls collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it. (6:20) “They completely destroyed everything in it with their swords.” (6:21)
After reading this and praying for sometime he went to bed. When he woke he took Holy Communion and was led to read Peter’s account in Acts 11:9 “Do not call anything unclean if God has made it clean.” 11:17 “And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift He gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?” 11:18 “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.” The verses prompted him to repent for himself and his family for not being sensitive to the Lord’s heart to save all. Jesus’ blood was shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.
When he reached the church an intercessor leader suddenly requested a sister to lead the congregation to repent. However, when the worship leader came in he did not know this and he went ahead and started the worship. He sang in the Spirit and then led one song. Before the Holy Communion he asked the watchman to pray the opening prayer. the watchman had earlier received in his spirit that the day’s worship is to reveal the Father’s heart. The sister who was supposed to lead the repentance prayer nudged him and whispered, “Repentance!” He obeyed and started with words of repentance and subsequent words just gushed out like never before. He heard amens. He remembered what he read earlier in Acts. He saw the Father’s heart unfolding His love for many, indeed, the lost multitudes out there, outside the walls of the churches, and the living dead in churches. He also prayed from Ephesians 4:3-5, using words like “one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one baptism, one God and Father”.
After the opening prayer, they had Holy Communion. The sister who interpreted the leader’s English words omitted important words like ‘Blood”, “Jesus”, ‘Cross”. The watchman had to interrupt and cried out the correct words which he believed were all crucial for the majority of the congregation who do not understand English to partake the Holy Communion correctly. He did not have time for decorum at that moment. There was an urgency in his spirit and he knew something important was going to happen.
When they resumed worship the leader led them to sing a song of marching. “We are marhcing in the light of God”. A number of the congregation were carrying big flags and most others carried small flags. One sister came and asked him whether they should march round and he said yes. So they started marching with their ram horns and flags, urging the rest of the congregation to join them. As the congregation sang and marched round, ram horns were being blown. Then the song leader led the song “Shout for joy, God’s people…for the Lord has given this land to you”. So the congregation marched, blew ram horns and shouted at the point when the song leader sang “Shout for Joy!”
Later, at the afternoon class, as the watchman shared with the participants how he was led to read Joshua chapters 5-6 early in the morning, he put all the pieces together and realized in amazement that the Lord had actually let him see the whole worship event through Joshua 5-6 about 7-8 hours before it happened. In fact the following worship sequence today was exactly as what was written in the two chapters!
1. Repentance Prayer (the act of circumcision at Gilgal)
2. Holy Communion- the body and blood of Jesus (the taking of the Passover Lamb)
3. Worship in Spirit and in Truth (Joshua’s Encounter with the Lord -the Commander of the Lord’s Armies- and his worshipful prostrating himself before the Lord)
4. Marching songs sung and actual marching procession with ram horns, flags and shouting by the congregation (Jericho march).
It was indeed awesome. In answer to his early morning prayer on how to conduct his class and what to teach today, the Lord has used the worship service to demonstrate to him how a class should be taught. First he was shown the Bible truth. Then he witnessed the practical application. He has to admit later that only the Holy Spirit could mobilize the leaders and the congregation to flow exactly according to the Word of God that morning!
For the first time since many months ago, there was a breakthrough in today’s afternoon class. In the sleepiest hours after lunch, the eyes of the participants were wide open and the participative and interactive learning was led by the Lord’s Spirit. Afterall, the walls in each individual’s heart had already been pulled down that morning during the march!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
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