This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Considering the Church” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, June 19, 1994.
About this sermon
Joshua’s conquest, hornet and angel included, sets the pattern that Ephesians 3 fulfills in a greater Joshua and a greater Israel, Christ and the church. The strange details of the conquest carry real weight into the New Testament’s argument. Real assurance of election shows itself as a desire for God himself more than for his benefits.
Sermon transcript
Please turn in Joshua, the book of Joshua, chapter 24, for a few verses that we will be reading there. This is Joshua, chapter 24, and we are reading from verse 12 through verse 15. Give your attention to what God says. And I sent the Hornet before you, which drove the Canaanites out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites, but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. And I have given you a land for which ye did not labor, and cities which ye built not, and he dwelt in them. of the vineyards and olive yards which ye planted, not do ye eat. Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river, and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that we’re on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Then, turning over to Ephesians, Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we are at chapter three. This is Ephesians chapter 3.
For this cause I call the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you, word, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God, given unto me by the effectual working of his power. unto me, who am less than the least of all the saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of that mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers and heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, and whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. Wherefore, I desire that ye think not of my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the Church, by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen. Let’s pray together now. Help us, O God, your poor people, a people that looks to you for our wealth and our riches. Truly, O God, you are our reward, and we glory that you have given yourself to us. Bless us as we think on your word, and help us, Lord, that we would concentrate as is right. Bless your word and your servants today who proclaim it, and may it prosper in those riches of which your kingdom abounds. This we ask through Christ. Amen.
Now you may recall that our last message, under the title, Considering the Church, one preached two weeks ago, raised for your consideration a bond, a relationship that exists between Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and the Old Testament book of Joshua. This morning we want to go further with respect to this connection. and deepen our appreciation of it.
We do so by reminding ourselves of that tie that exists as we move from the one testament to the other, the tie that exists between Israel and the Church. Between Israel and the Church. but we are also apprised of the tie, the bond, that exists between that Old Testament leader of the people of God, Joshua, and Jesus Christ himself. As Joshua led Israel across the Jordan into Canaan, that territory promised as an inheritance by God to the Israelites, so Jesus Christ leads the Church through death, by His own death, into that true inheritance, the glory of God. Here, then, it is obvious to us, is it not, that there is much for us to learn about how the Old Testament anticipates for us the New. How the New Testament is actually laid within the Old Testament, and how that Older Testament points to the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to the fulfillment of His ministry. In this regard, I call your attention to one of the great events of the General Assembly past.
Nothing that took place on the floor, but something that took place at a book table off the floor. The announcement that promise and deliverance by F.G. de Grasse is back in print. All four volumes are available again to the Church of Jesus Christ. And we all ought to be singing the praises of the publishing house that provided that service for us. And I encourage you, with respect to those volumes, because here is a marvelous testimony to the continuity of God’s purpose, Old Testament to New, but also wonderful testimony as to how, in fact, Jesus Christ is laid within the fabric of the Old Testament and anticipates him and his work.
But having said this now, with regard to the relationship that exists between Joshua, the book of Joshua, and the New Testament epistle to the Ephesians, there is a deeper appreciation on our part that is still in order as we grasp after the fullness of that New Testament witness. We do not want to be deprived of it. We want it to the fullest extent. It will not, then, be enough merely to connect Israel to the church.
It will not be enough merely to connect the Old Testament figure of Joshua to Jesus, for And I’m sure you’re well aware of this, Jesus is greater than Joshua by an exceedingly wide margin. Jesus is greater than Joshua, but the corollary is also so. is greater than Israel. Now, as to the exceeding greatness of Jesus, even this is hinted at as we read through the Old Testament testimony, even as we consider some texts in the book of Joshua itself.
I want you to note, first of all, in this regard, what is said in Joshua chapter 23, in a statement that is not uncommon as you read through this portion of Scripture. We are here in Joshua’s last days before he is to depart from the king. But he is reminding Israel that it was actually the Lord himself who had been doing their fighting for them. Now, as I say, this is a line that is common throughout this portion of Old Testament Scripture. There is one greater than Joshua, Joshua bearing testimony to it, who is responsible for Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land. Now I want you to turn to that portion of Joshua that we read, the 24th chapter, and I want you to note what is said in verse 12. You will note here that Joshua is reporting the words from the Lord himself, that he, the Lord, had sent his appointment. before the Israelites to drive out the hostile nations.
Now, obviously, this is a poetical way of speaking. There was no literal hornet that was preceding the Israelites into Canaan. Nevertheless, God employs this image in order to set before Joshua himself, and also the Israelites, that there is in fact this intermediary that is operative on behalf of the Israelites as they make their way into the land for the purpose of conquest. God’s intention by this image of the hornet is to draw attention away from Joshua. It is also to introduce into the scene the suggestion of an intermediary, by which then the Lord Himself would accomplish His purpose. Now, we’ve already struck the note in chapter twenty-three that the Lord Himself is doing this, but now we’ve struck another note.
And that introduced to us, through the figure of the Hornet, the intermediary. God chooses to speak of the accomplishment, then, of his purpose, not irrespective of the introduction of this figure of the Hornet. Now, it is the Hornet, it’s not the Hornets. Not that the Hornets weren’t mentioned earlier, but it seems as if we’ve made progress from an earlier revelation with regard to this very thing.
If you were to check, for instance, Exodus chapter 23, verse 28, there God speaks in the plural. He speaks about the Hornets, a swarm of them, putting the Canaanite tribes to flight before the onslaught of the Israelites. But that twenty-third chapter of Exodus is very interesting in this regard, because in that twenty-third chapter of Exodus, another figure is introduced to us. In verse twenty-three, God speaks about His angel, or the angel of His presence, and that the angel is the one who is responsible for the scattering of the Canaanites.
In all of this, we observe the similarity of language, do we not? The Canaanites took to flight by a hornet, by hornets, by the angel, by the Lord himself. The similarity of the language, all referring to the means by which the Lord would conquer the Canaanites. Now, with respect to hornets and angels, we might ask ourselves what might they have in common? How might angels and hornets be brought together?
Well, they have wings. They fly. But even more now, beyond that particular association You have the noise that they make, the sound of the hornet. Think of a swarm of them. Think of those texts in which God is preceded by the sound of a mighty rushing wind, or of many waters. Think of Acts 2, and the coming of the Spirit, and what is said at that juncture in the history of redemption. God, in his presence, brings that with him which then gives the impression of a great commotion, tremendous noise, as if the sound of many wings beating. angels and hornets? But there is still another level at which we must look at the connection here. For, you see, the angel and the hornets are both creatures of God. The angel and the hornet reinforce the sense of the creaturely.
And that’s specifically with regard to the intermediary in view. There is an emissary of the Lord being portrayed for us even here, one that appears as a creaturely emissary, hid from view, operative for the triumph of Israel. Above and before Joshua, there is this creaturely agent of conquest. But as we have called attention to the creaturely dimension of this intermediary, we must not lose sight of that verse from Joshua 23, which we noted earlier, that God himself is the agent of conquest. And so close is God bound to his intermediary, specifically the angel of his presence, that in many texts in the Old Testament, it is impossible to distinguish them, one from the other. In other words, then, under the varied forms and images given us here, hornets, angels, the Lord himself, the creaturely and the divine considerations are combined, that Israel might then, through this mediator, be delivered from their enemies, brought into the promised land, and granted peace and rest. In light of this truth, a greater figure than Joshua is perceived, who in a veiled way works for God’s great purpose. This figure is presented under a creaturely form, but also in the blazing glory of divine effulgence.
One who stands apart from Joshua, but one who also has in himself the very essence of and at the same time the essence of the creature. Yes, there remains that sense in which Joshua and Jesus parallel one another, both linked in similar parallel service. That Jesus’ exceeding greatness is found in that in him, not Joshua, the essence of God and the essence of the creature meet. To be sure, Jesus is a man, like Joshua, but he is also God.
And in time, the cover of the angel is torn away, and the language about the hornet is dropped. When the God-man steps out of eternity into this world, so that he might lead the people of God by his own death, through death, into eternity, into an inheritance preserved for God’s elect from before the foundation of the world.
This brings us then to another look at the relationship that exists between Israel and the Church. Our point has been made. Just as Jesus far exceeds Joshua, So the Church far exceeds Israel. We have already spoken about this in our message, our previous message, that dealt specifically with the matter of the inheritance. Israel was granted the land of Canaan, but that gift, that grant of grace, was but a foreshadowing of the greater inheritance. And that greater inheritance is that into which now the Church is entering, the glory of faith.
But it is important now, especially in light of the language that we find in Ephesians, that we do not permit ourselves to allow our thoughts to rest merely upon the things that might be gained for us in the inheritance. It is a very easy step moving from the material matters of heaven to the material matters of heaven. Thinking of the inheritance almost exclusively in terms of possessions to be acquired. possessions to be enjoyed, they having been granted by grace to be sure. But you see, those of you familiar with Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, you see how he will not allow us to live at that level, he will not allow our thoughts to rest along that line, it is not going to be the near inheritance of things.
It is going to be the mutuality of the inheritance of persons. I want you to get this straight. Understand the content of the inheritance that is now being bequeathed. There is something even in the Older Testament that pushes us, that encourages us in this direction. Even Joshua’s writings have this in mind when it reiterates the adage heard often in the Old Testament, not given through Moses. I have in mind Joshua 13, verse 33, where this is stated, But to the tribe of Levi, Moses did not give an inheritance.
The Lord, the God of Israel, is their inheritance as he promised to them. The Levites had God as their inheritance in the midst of the tribes. They got no land, they got God. Now if you turn to Exodus 19, verse 6, you will find there that Moses called Israel a kingdom of priests. You are a kingdom of priests. The Levites were a picture to Israel and a reminder. about the true nature of her identity, that that true character, her identity, was a priestly one realized in the incomparable inheritance of God Himself.
It is this inheritance that is specifically in view as you come into Ephesians. You read through that first chapter and the language about inheritance there, and you might be befuddled because it seems as if Paul does not tell you explicitly what the inheritance is. But then you come to the third chapter, verse 19, and there the inheritance is spoken. There it is set out in front of you, unmistakably and clearly, that you might know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
That’s the inheritance, the fullness of God. God himself is your inheritance. You understand, then, why the Holy Spirit is the down payment of your inheritance? The Holy Spirit is God, given to you now, unto the end that you might have the fullness of God in the consummation.
But there is a flip side to this divine-human exchange, and it is alluded to in that nineteenth chapter of Exodus, the previous verse, verse 5. For there, Israel is not merely recognized as a kingdom of priests in view in the sixth verse of that chapter, thereby claiming God as an inheritance, but the people of Israel, redeemed by Him, have become God’s inheritance, His possession. The New Testament, then, brings the fulness of God as the inheritance for God’s people. We inherit God, we possess God, but it also brings about the fulness of God’s own inheritance, namely the nations themselves, including the fulness of Israel. You understand better the sweep of that third chapter. in Ephesians, as Paul speaks pointedly to the Gentiles, and tells them that now they are the ones who are the beneficiaries of the great mystery that was hid from before the foundation of the world, and now they are being benefited immeasurably in that they, too, are the possession of God.
They are joint heirs in this whole thing. God has declared that the nations are His inheritance, and He is drawing forth from those nations His elect. He is bringing them to Himself as His possession, and He gives Himself to them as their possession.
God inherits us. We inherit God. That is why, you see, I cannot allow you to merely think about your inheritance in terms of things. You must think of your inheritance in terms of the person of God. You are an heir of God. a joint with Christ. And all of this because, you see, God has determined from all eternity to make you His inheritance.
And He will not let you go. Do you understand why confidence is now yours? And assurance before your God. He will not let you go. He is determined to have you. And in having you, he gives himself to you. But how can I be sure that I’m part of his inheritance? How can I be sure that I’m elect? How can I know that Christ has died for me? Do you desire Him? Do you long for Him now? Do you hope for Him? full possession of him? If you do, then be assured, according to his word and his promise, that you are his inheritance, and that his desire is for you.
Let’s pray. Help us in this matter, O God, even as we look with open eyes into the Old Testament books, that we would not be content until Christ is preached to us from those books, until those passages offer up to us the content and significance of the gospel. And Lord, as we have been blessed to live at this time, may we also understand the fullness of the blessing given to us, that we are heirs of God, but that we are your inheritance also. and that you will not let us go. Receive our thanks for this whole matter is inexplicable to us. Sinners that we are, redeemed through Christ’s sacrifice and made alive by his resurrection.
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