VICTORY

Today’s Reading: Joshua 8

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion on the right-hand side).

View looking west at Mt. Gerizim (on the left, south) and Mt. Ebal (on the right, north). In the center between them is the town of Shechem, known as Nablus. According to Deuteronomy 11:29 the recently arrived Israelites were to recite the blessings of the Covenant on Mount Gerizim and the curses from Mount Ebal (fulfilled in Joshua 8:33).

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Joshua 8:30

Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal…

In building an altar, Joshua is obeying the instructions given in Deuteronomy 11:29 and 27:4-8. The offerings presented on Mt Ebal, the mount of cursing, speak of the offering of Jesus on the cross. He took the curse of sin upon Himself. When Israel entered the Promised Land, the supernatural provision of manna ceased. Now they had to eat the produce of the land which included corn, etc. Divine inspiration of Scripture means that in the original language, the record of events is correct. Earlier, so called “higher critics” disputed that accuracy, but later scholarship confirms that the Biblical account is correct. Dr. Bryant Wood (PhD, University of Toronto), who has been a guest of mine on the 100 Huntley Street telecast, conducted excavations beginning in 1995 which meet all the requirements for the Biblical city of Ai. As we read the history of Israel, we can be confident that we are learning what actually happened. Click here for a documentary about the fall of Jericho featuring Dr. Bryant Wood.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, there is so much I don’t understand. I’m looking back more than three millennia in today’s reading. But what I do understand is that I must visit daily my personal altar, and also my family altar. Please help me, by Your grace, to be faithful in this commitment. In the Name of the One who is always faithful, the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

If you have a response to the horrors of war like I do, you struggle with understanding God’s role in human history. In my lifetime I’ve seen genocide in Europe; I’ve visited the death camps where men, women and children perished. Rwanda in Africa and Cambodia in Asia experienced unspeakable man-made destruction of human life. I could go on and on writing of such events throughout the entirety of human history. Nevertheless, I am confident that God looks at history through the lens of eternity, and God, who will put the final period to the last history book, will provide justice for every man, woman, and child whose human life was destroyed, but whose eternal soul is in His hands. This knowledge gives me peace.

Yours for a daily altar of blessing, and for the peace that passes understanding,

David

P.S. The composer of the song, “It is well with my soul,” suffered great personal loss. This song was his response (click here).