062. Triumph All the Way

Triumph All the Way

Jos_1:5 : ’93There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.’94

Moses was dead. A beautiful tradition says the Lord kissed him, and in that act drew forth the soul of the dying lawgiver. He had been buried, only one Person at the funeral, the same One who kissed him. But God never takes a man away from any place of usefulness until he has some one ready to replace him. The Lord does not go looking around amid a great variety of candidates to find some one especially fitted for the vacated position. He makes a man for that place. Moses has passed off the stage, and Joshua, the hero, puts his foot on the platform of history so solidly that all the ages echo with the tread. He was a magnificent fighter, but he always fought on the right side, and he never fought unless God told him to fight. He got his military equipment from God, who gave him the promise at the start: ’93There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.’94 God fulfilled this promise, although Joshua’92s first battle was with the spring freshet; the next with a stone wall; the next, leading on a regiment of whipped cowards, and the next battle against darkness, wheeling the sun and the moon into his battalion, and the last, against the King of Terrors, Death’97five great victories.

As a rule, when the general of an army starts out in a war he would like to have a small battle in order that he may get his own courage up and rally his troops and get them drilled for greater conflicts; but the first undertaking of Joshua was greater than the leveling of Fort Pulaski, or the assault of Gibraltar, or the overthrow of the Bastile. It was the crossing of the Jordan at the time of the spring freshet. The snows of Mount Lebanon had just been melting and they poured down into the valley, and the whole valley was a raging torrent. So the Canaanites stand on one bank and they look across and see Joshua and the Israelites, and they laugh and say: ’93Aha! they cannot disturb us until the freshets fall; it is impossible for them to reach us.’94 But after a while they look across the water and they see a movement in the army of Joshua. They say, ’93What is the matter now? Why there must be a panic among those troops, and they are going to fly, or perhaps they are going to try to march across the river Jordan. Joshua is a lunatic.’94 But Joshua, the chieftain, looks at his army and cries: ’93Forward, march!’94 and they start for the bank of the Jordan. One mile ahead go two priests carrying a glittering box four feet long and two feet wide. It is the Ark of the Covenant. And they come down, and no sooner do they just touch the rim of the water with their feet, than by an Almighty fiat, Jordan parts. The army of Joshua marches right on without getting their feet wet, over the bottom of the river, a path of chalk and broken shells and pebbles, until they get to the other bank. Then they lay hold of the oleanders, and tamarisks, and willows, and pull themselves up a bank thirty or forty feet high, and having gained the other bank, they clap their shields and their cymbals, and sing the praises of the God of Joshua. But no sooner have they reached the bank than the waters begin to dash and roar, and with a terrific rush they break loose from their strange anchorage. As the hand of the Lord God is taken away from the thus uplifted waters’97waters perhaps uplifted half a mile’97 they rush down, and some of the unbelieving Israelites say, ’93Alas, alas, what a misfortune! Why could not those waters have stayed parted? Because perhaps we may want to go back. O Lord, we are engaged in a risky business. Those Canaanites may eat us up. How if we want to go back? Would it not have been a more complete miracle if the Lord had parted the waters to let us come through, and kept them parted to let us go back if we are defeated?’94 My friends, God makes no provision for a Christian’92s retreat. He clears the path all the way to Canaan. To go back is to die. The same gatekeepers that swung back the amethystine and crystalline gate of the Jordan to let Israel pass through, now swing shut the amethystine and crystalline gate of the Jordan to keep the Israelites from going back. Victory ahead, but water thirty feet deep behind, surging to death and darkness and woe. But you say: ’93Why did not those Canaanites, when they had such a splendid chance, standing on the top of the bank thirty or forty feet high, completely demolish those poor Israelites down in the river?’94 I will tell you why. God had made a promise, and he was going to keep it. ’93There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.’94

But this is no place for the host to stop. Joshua gives the command: ’93Forward, march!’94 In the distance there is a long grove of trees and at the end of the grove is a city. It is a city with arbors, a city with walls seeming to reach to the heavens, to buttress the very sky. It is the great metropolis that commands the mountain pass. It is Jericho. That city was afterward captured by Pompey, and once by Herod the Great, and once again by the Mohammedans; but this campaign the Lord plans. There shall be no swords, no shields, no battering-ram. There shall be only one weapon of war, and that a ram’92s horn. The horn of the slain ram was sometimes taken and holes were punctured in it, and then the musician would put the instrument to his lips, and he would run his fingers over this rude musical instrument and make a great deal of sweet harmony for the people. That was the only kind of weapon. Seven priests were to take these rude rustic musical instruments, and they were to go around the city every day for six days’97once a day for six days’97and then on the seventh day they were to go around blowing these rude musical instruments seven times, and then at the close of the seventh blowing of the ram’92s horns on the seventh day, the peroration of the whole scene was to be a shout at which those great walls should tumble from capstone to base. The seven priests with the rude musical instruments pass all around the city walls on the first day, and score a failure. Not so much as a piece of plaster broke loose from the wall’97not so much as a loosened rock, not so much as a piece of mortar lost from its place. ’93There,’94 say the unbelieving Israelites, ’93did I not tell you so? Why, those ministers are fools. The idea of going around the city with those musical instruments and expecting in that way to destroy it. Joshua has been spoiled; he thinks because he has overthrown and conquered the spring freshet, he can overthrow the stone wall. Why, it is not philosophic. Do you not see there is no relation between the blowing of these musical instruments and the knocking down of the wall? It is not philosophic.’94 And I suppose there were many wiseacres who stood with their brows knitted, and with the forefinger of the right hand to the forefinger of the left hand, arguing it all out, and showing that it was not possible that such a cause could produce such an effect. And I suppose that night in the encampment there was plenty of caricature, and if Joshua had been nominated for any high military position, he would not have received many votes. Joshua’92s stock was down. The second day the priests blowing the musical instruments go around the city, and again a failure. The third day, and a failure; fourth day, and a failure; fifth day, and a failure; sixth day, and a failure. The seventh day comes, the climacteric day. Joshua is up early in the morning and examines the troops, walks all about, looks at the city wall. The priests start to make the circuit of the city. They go all around once, all around twice, three times, four times, five times, six times, seven times, and a failure. There is only one more thing to do, and that is to utter a great shout. I see the Israelitish army straightening themselves up, filling their lungs for a vociferation such as never was heard before and never heard after. Joshua feels that the hour has come, and he cries out to his host: ’93Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city.’94 All together the troops shout: ’93Down, Jericho, down Jericho!’94 and the long line of solid masonry begins to quiver and to move and to rock. Stand from under! She falls! Crash! go the walls and temples, the towers, the palaces; the air blackened with the dust. The huzza of the victorious Israelites and the groan of the conquered Canaanites commingle, and Joshua, standing there in the debris of the wall, hears a voice saying: ’93There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.’94

Only one house spared. Who lives there? Some great king? No. Some woman distinguished for great kindly deeds? No. She had been conspicuous for her crimes. It is the house of Rahab. Why was her house soared? Because she had been a great sinner? No, but because she repented, demonstrating to all the ages that there is mercy for the chief of sinners. The red cord of divine injunction reaching from her window to the ground, so that when the people saw the red cord they knew it was the divine indication that they should not disturb the premises; making us think of the divine cord of a Saviour’92s deliverance, the red cord of a Saviour’92s kindness, the red cord of a Saviour’92s mercy, the red cord of our rescue. Mercy for the chief of sinners. Put your trust in that God, and no damage shall befall you. When our world shall be more terribly surrounded than was Jericho, even by the trumpets of the judgment day, and the hills and the mountains, the metal bones and ribs of nature, shall break, they who have had Rahab’92s faith shall have Rahab’92s deliverance.

When wrapped in fire the realms of ether glow,

And Heaven’92s last thunder shakes the earth below;

Thou undismayed shalt o’92er the ruins smile,

And light thy torch at Nature’92s funeral pile.

But Joshua’92s troops may not halt here. The command is, ’93Forward, march!’94 There is the city of Ai; it must be taken. How shall it be taken? A scouting party comes back and says; ’93Joshua, we can do that without you; it is going to be a very easy job; you just stay here while we go and capture it.’94 They march with a small regiment in front of that city. The men of Ai look at them and give one yell, and the Israelites run like reindeer. The Northern troops at Bull Run did not make such rapid time as these Israelites with the Canaanites after them. They never cut such a sorry figure as when they were on the retreat. You who go out in the battles of God with only half a force, instead of your taking the men of Ai, the men of Ai will take you. Look at the Church of God on the retreat. The Bornesian cannibals ate up Munson, the missionary. ’93Fall back!’94 said a great many Christian people; ’93Fall back! O Church of God! Borneo will never be taken. Do you not see the Bornesian cannibals have eaten up Munson, the missionary?’94 Tyndall delivers his lecture at the University of Glasgow, and a great many good people say: ’93Fall back! O Church of God! Do you not see that Christian philosophy is going to be overcome by worldly philosophy? Fall back!’94 Geology plunges its crowbar into the mountains and there are a great many people who say: ’93Scientific investigation is going to overthrow the Mosaic account of the creation. Fall back!’94 But friends of God never have had any right to fall back. Joshua falls on his face in chagrin. It is the only time you ever see the back of his head. He falls on his face and begins to whine, and he says, ’93O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side of Jordan. For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth.’94 I am very glad Joshua said that. Before, it seemed as if he were a supernatural being, and therefore, could not be an example to us, but I find he is a man, he is only a man. Just as sometimes you find a man under severe opposition, or in a bad state of physical health, or worn out with overwork, lying down and sighing about being defeated. I am encouraged when I hear this cry of Joshua as he lies in the dust. God comes and rouses him. How does he rouse him? By complimentary apostrophe? No. He says, ’93Get thee up. Wherefore liest thou upon thy face?’94 Joshua rises, and, I warrant you, with a mortified look. But his old courage comes back. The fact was, that was not his battle. If he had been in it he would have gone on to victory. He gathers his troops around him and says: ’93Now, let us go up and capture the city of Ai; let us go up right away.’94 They march on. He puts the majority of the troops behind a ledge of rocks in the night, and then he sends comparatively small regiments up in front of the city. The men of Ai come out with a shout. The small regiments of Israelites in stratagem fall back and fall back, and when all the men of Ai have left the city and are in pursuit of these scattered, or seemingly scattered regiments, Joshua stands on a rock’97I see his locks flying in the wind as he points his spear toward the doomed city, and that is the signal. The men rush out from behind the rocks and take the city, and it is put to the torch, and then these Israelites in the city march down and the flying regiments of Israelites return, and between these two waves of Israelitish prowess the men of Ai are destroyed, and the Israelites gain the victory; and while I see the curling smoke of that destroyed city on the sky, and while I hear the huzza of the Israelites and the groan of the Canaanites, Joshua hears something louder than it all, ringing and echoing through his soul, ’93There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.’94

But this is no place for the host of Joshua to stop. ’93Forward, march!’94 cries Joshua to the troops. There is the city of Gibeon. It has put itself under the protection of Joshua. They send word, ’93There are five kings after us; they are going to destroy us; send troops quick; send us help right away.’94 Joshua has a three-days’92 march, more than double-quick. On the morning of the third day he is before the enemy. There are two long lines of battle. The battle opens with great slaughter, but the Canaanites soon discover something. They say, ’93That is Joshua; that is the man who conquered the spring freshet and knocked down the stone wall of Jericho, and detroyed the city of Ai. There is no use fighting.’94 They sound a retreat, and as they begin to retreat, Joshua and his host spring upon them like a panther, pursuing them over the rocks, while the catapults of the sky pour a volley of hailstones into the valley, and all the artillery of the heavens, with bullets of iron, pound the Canaanites against the ledges of Beth-horon. ’93Oh!’94 says Joshua, ’93this is surely a victory.’94 ’93But do you not see the sun is going down?’94 Those Amorites are going to get away after all, and then they will come up some other time and bother us, and perhaps destroy us. See, the sun is going down. Oh, for a longer day than has ever been seen in this climate!’94 What is the matter with Joshua? Has he fallen in an apoplectic fit? No. He is in prayer. Look out when a good man makes the Lord his ally. Joshua raises his face, radiant with prayer, and looks at the descending sun over Gibeon and at the faint crescent of the moon, for you know the queen of the night sometimes will linger around the palaces of the day. Pointing one hand at the descending sun and the other hand at the faint crescent of the moon, in the name of that God who shaped the worlds and moves the worlds, he cries: ’93Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou moon, in the valley of Ajalon.’94 They halted. Whether it was by refraction of the sun’92s rays, or by the stopping of the whole planetary system, I do not know, and do not care. I leave it to the Christian scientists and the infidel scientists to settle that question, while I tell you I have seen the same thing. ’93What!’94 say you, ’93not the sun standing still?’94 Yes. The same miracle is performed nowadays. The wicked do not live out half their day, and their sun sets at noon. But let a man start out in battle for God and the truth, and against sin, and the day of his usefulness is prolonged and prolonged and prolonged.

John Summerfield was a consumptive Methodist. He looked fearfully white, I am told, as he stood in the old Sands Street Church, in Brooklyn, preaching Christ, and again on the anniversary platform in New York, pleading for the Bible until unusual and unknown glories rolled forth from that book. When he was dying his pillow was brushed with the wings of an angel from the skies, the messenger that God sent down. Did John Summerfield’92s sun set? Did John Summerfield’92s day end? Oh, no! He lives on in his burning utterances in behalf of the Christian Church. He said, ’93I cannot die now. I am only twenty-seven years of age. Sun of my Christian influence, stand thou still above America.’94 And it stood still.

Robert McCheyne was a consumptive Presbyterian. It was said when he preached he coughed so it seemed as if he would never preach again. His name is fragrant in all Christendom’97that name is mightier today than was ever his living presence. He lived to preach the Gospel in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Dundee, but he went away very early. He preached himself into the grave. Has Robert McCheyne’92s sun set? Is Robert McCheyne’92s day ended? Oh, no! His dying delirium was filled with prayer, and when he lifted his hand to pronounce the benediction upon his family, and the benediction upon his country, he seemed to say: ’93I cannot die now; I want to live on and on. I want to start an influence for the Church that will never cease. I am only thirty years of age. Sun of my Christian ministry, stand still over Scotland.’94 And it stood still.

A long time ago there was a Christian woman very consecrated, and she had a drunken husband, and so on came the night of domestic trouble. She lost her children, and there came the night of bereavement. She was very ill, and there came the night of sickness. Her soul departed, and there came the night of death. But all these nights of trouble, and darkness, and sorrow, and sickness were illumined by the grace of the Gospel; and people came many miles to see how cheerful a Christian could be when ill, and how cheerfully a Christian could die. The moon that illumined that night of trouble was a reflection from the Sun of Righteousness. In the last hour of that night’97that night of darkness and sickness and misfortune’97as she lifted her hand toward heaven, those who stood nearest her pillow could hear the whisper, for she wanted to live on in the generations that were to follow, consecrated to God; she wanted to have an influence long after she had entered upon her eternal reward, and while her hand was lifted and her lips were moving, those who stood nearest her pillow could hear her say, ’93I want to live on for many years of good. Thou Moon, stand still in the valley of Ajalon.’94

But Joshua was not quite through. There was time for five funerals before the sun of that prolonged day set. Who will preach their funeral sermon? Massillon preached the funeral sermon over Louis XVI. Who will preach the funeral sermon of those five dead kings’97King of Jerusalem, King of Hebron, King of Jarmuth, King of Lachish, King of Eglon? Let it be by Joshua. What is his text? What shall be the epitaph put on the door of the tomb? ’93There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.’94 Before you fasten up the door, I want five more kings beheaded and thrust in: King Alcohol, King Fraud, King Lust, King Superstition, King Infidelity. Let them be beheaded and hurl them in. Then fasten up the door forever. What shall the inscription and what shall the epitaph be?’97for all Christian philanthropists of all ages are going to come and look at it. What shall the inscription be? ’93There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.’94

But it is time for Joshua to go home. He is a hundred and ten years old. Washington went down the Potomac and at Mount Vernon closed his days. Wellington died peacefully at Apsley House: Now, where shall Joshua rest? Why, he is to have his greatest battle now. After a hundred and ten years he has to meet a king who has more subjects than all the present population of the earth, his throne a pyramid of skulls, his parterre the graveyards and the cemeteries of the world, his chariot the world’92s hearse’97the King of Terrors. But if this is Joshua’92s greatest battle, it is going to be Joshua’92s greatest victory. He gathers his friends around him and gives his valedictory and it is full of reminiscence. Young men tell what they are going to do; old men tell what they have done. And as you have heard a grandfather, or great-grandfather, seated by the evening fire, tell of Monmouth or Yorktown, and then lift the crutch or staff as though it were a musket, to fight, and show how the old battles were won’97so Joshua gathers his friends around his dying couch, and he tells them the story of what he has been through, and as he lies there, his white locks snowing down on his wrinkled forehead, I ask if God has kept his promise all the way through. As he lies there he tells the story one, two, or three times’97you have heard old people tell a story two or three times over’97and he answers: ’93I go the way of all the earth, and not one word of the promise has failed, not one word thereof has failed; all has come to pass, not one word thereof has failed.’94 And then he turns to his family, as a dying parent will, and says: ’93Choose now whom you will serve, the God of Israel, or the God of the Amorites. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’94 A dying parent cannot be reckless or thoughtless of his children. Consent to part with them forever at the door of the tomb we cannot. By the cradle in which their infancy was rocked, by the bosom on which they first lay, by the blood of the covenant, by the God of Joshua, it shall not be. We will not part, we cannot part. Jehovah-Jireh, we take Thee at Thy promise. ’93I will be a God to thee and thy seed after thee.’94

Dead, the old chieftain must be laid out. Handle him very gently; that sacred body is over a hundred and ten years of age. Lay him out, stretch out those feet that walked dry shod the parted Jordan. Close those lips which helped blow the blast at which the walls of Jericho fell. Fold the arm that lifted the spear toward the doomed city of Ai. Fold it right over the heart that exulted when the five kings fell. But where shall we get the burnished granite for the headstone and the footstone? I bethink myself now. I imagine that for the head it shall be the sun that stood still upon Gibeon, and for the foot, the moon that stood still in the valley of Ajalon.

Autor: T. De Witt Talmage