Is God for Israel or Palestine?
Well praise Jesus today everyone. A lot of you know the biblical story about the destruction of Jericho and how God was with His people of Israel during the destruction of Jericho and how Joshua was as the commander and went in and they surrounded that city and marched around and on the seventh day they blew the trumpet. But before that, if you look at Joshua chapter 5, something interesting happens with Joshua. I want to read this. This is found in Joshua chapter 5, I'm starting in verse 13.
13And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” 14So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?” 15Then 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.
Joshua then listened to the direct directions that the Lord had for him. And because he listened and obeyed, and because the people were circumcised, then they were able to take Jericho. But when Joshua asked this man, “Who was Jesus Christ being in part with? Whose side are you on? Are you on the side of Israel, or are you on the side of Jericho?” The answer was not I'm on the side of Israel. It wasn't just I'm on the side of Jericho. But Jesus Christ is on the side of the righteous, those who will obey. So the question is, are we obeying Jesus Christ? Are we on the side of the righteous? Are we following the captain of the Lord's army? Whoever is on Jesus's side, whoever is utterly and completely pure, will be able to go into battle and they will be able to win. But those who are not on Jesus' side, if there is uncircumcised among you, when you go into battle you will be slaughtered.
So the question is, are you completely holy and pure? If Jesus Christ is with you, you will win. But Jesus is on the side of the righteous. He's not on the side of China or America. He's not on the side of Russia or whatever country Russia is trying to overtake. He's not on the side of Israel or Palestine. Jesus Christ, the one true living God, is on the side of the righteous and He is against the wicked. If you read chapter 5 of Joshua, you will find out that all these people that left Egypt, all these Jewish people that left Egypt, they were circumcised. Moses asked for them, or God asked for them to be circumcised and they were all circumcised. God promised them this land flowing with milk and honey. But what happened? They disobeyed God and God allowed them all to die wandering in the wilderness. Some of them God killed Himself. Some of them died from natural causes, but most all of them died. But their offspring lived on and their offspring were uncircumcised. So if they are uncircumcised and go into battle, God is not going to be for them.
We have to be circumcised in our heart. What does that mean? That means we cut off from us the things of our heart that are impure, unrighteous, sinful, adultery, fornication, ungodliness, all the kinds of pollution that are in our lives. The children of Israel today again need to be circumcised. The children of America need to be circumcised. Every nation that wants to be part of the righteous team needs to be circumcised. And I think it should be obvious to anyone that has watched the news that the war that is happening is not good vs evil. I think it should be obvious from the clips that we have seen that the people are of uncircumcised hearts. The fight is not holy.
If we want God to be on our side, we have to have a circumcised heart. That is why Joshua was able to win. It's not that he just had so much might. If you go back and you read the story of the destruction of Jericho, it was supernatural. God asks them to circumcise themselves and none of these people were circumcised even though they were Jewish because they were the offspring. Their mother and their father had died wandering in the wilderness due to their sin. And then the children were uncircumcised. So the first thing they had to do before they went into battle, into war, was circumcise themselves. And then they had to follow God's direction. Has Israel done that? Have they circumcised themselves? Or have they been raving and partying and cutting people down? Have they been doing things that are wicked? Remember Jesus tells that story about the unfaithful servant that says, "It will be a long time until my master returns home." So the servant begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and to drink with drunkards. Has Israel partaken in that? Has America partaken in that? What nations have partaken in that wickedness where they say, “Jesus isn't coming back anytime soon. Let's eat and drink with drunkards. Let's beat our fellow servants and cut them down. Let's live ungodly because God might not exist anyway. Just believe whatever you choose.”
So much perversion has got into the church. So much perversion has got into Israel. All of us need to be circumcised again. We are the offspring of parents who didn't make it in. And if we are going to go to war, we also need to be circumcised. But this time it is circumcision of the heart. Joshua obeyed God. He circumcised the children. They waited until they were healed. And then after they were feeling better and the warriors were able to fight, they listened to the explicit directions from the Lord. He didn't have them just go in with swords and attack people or with cannons or slingshots. But He said, you go around the city, what was it, one time a day for six days and then on the seventh day you'll go around seven times and then you blow your trumpets or whatever the order was, He gave them very specific directions. And only then after they obeyed the Lord with circumcision and listening to His directions, did they win that battle.
The question is, is Israel following the Lord today? Can you tell by their words and their actions, by their leadership? How about your country? Is your country following the Lord, His explicit directions? How about your town? Or even more specifically, how about your family? Or even more directly, you? Are you listening to the Lord? Have you been circumcised? Have you repented of your sin? Have you cut off from you what is evil and wicked? And are you now hearing the Lord and listening to His explicit directions? His exact directions? Are you following Him? This will determine if when you go into battle, your enemy will be defeated or if your enemy will defeat you. So the question is for you to determine who will win.
May the grace of Jesus be with you
