412. JOS 1:1-5. JOSHUA A TYPE OF CHRIST
Jos_1:1-5. Joshua a Type Of Christ
"The Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun." &c.’97Jos_1:1-5. See Heb_4:8.
The life and history of the most celebrated individual could not fully and perfectly typify the life and work of the Son of God. In several things Moses could not represent the coming Messiah. His sin against the Lord, and his exclusion from the goodly land, especially illustrate this idea. The great designs of God respecting his people were not perfected by Moses. Joshua had to take up and complete those designs, after Moses had died in the mountain of the Lord. Joshua appears, in many respects, to have been an illustrious type of the Saviour. Notice the typical character of Joshua,
I. In his Name.
Joshua signifies precisely in Hebrew what Jesus does in the Greek tongue, viz., Saviour. See Heb_4:8. Both names were appropriate to the work in which they engaged, and the achievements which they obtained. In this only, as saviours, did they differ, that while Joshua had to do with the temporal salvation of the hundreds of thousands of the Israelites, Jesus came to save unnumbered hosts of believers from spiritual and eternal death.
II. As the Successor of Moses.
Moses gave the law to the people, but did not put them in possession of the promised rest. For this he must have Joshua as his successor. So it. was with respect to the legal dispensation, would not give rest to the weary and heavy laden sinner; but our spiritual Joshua came expressly to do that which the law could not do, and to give that to transgressors which the law could not give. As such, the law, with its requirements and its threatenings to the guilty, came by Moses; but grace that is, favor to condemned sinners, came by Jesus Christ. Moses showed the people what they owed to Jehovah, Joshua exhibited what the goodness of God had provided even for the unworthy.
III. As the Commander and Leader of the People.
As such he was required to make known unto the people all the words of God’s law, and to exemplify perfect obedience thereunto in his own person and life. He was also to lead them in their marches, and conduct them onwards to the land of promise. How strikingly did Joshua thus typify Jesus! He was appointed to be God’s witness and a leader to the people, Isa_55:4. All the law of God did he exhibit in his holy and spotless life. He was righteousness, living and speaking to the world, the ten commandments, in all their spiritual meaning, alive. He announced himself as the way, the truth, and the life, and engaged to conduct all who followed him to a glorious immortality and eternal life. "For it became him, by whom are all things," &c., Heb_2:10,
IV. In the astonishing Events of his Life
1. There was the miracle at Jordan.
The waters of Jordan were divided before him, and the people passed through as on dry ground. In the same river the glories of Jesus were witnessed by the people. It was there that he began his ministry, by being baptized of John, while the heavens were opened, and the voice from the excellent glory pronounced him to be the Son of God’s delight, in whom he was well pleased. In this ordinance, too, is it not where men, having forsaken the world, profess their faith in Christ and their love to his name, and by which they become the partakers of that spiritual rest which all who believe experimentally possess? See Rom_6:4; Col_2:12.
2. He threw down the walls of Jericho, ch. vi. 5.
And that by an instrumentality apparently powerless and insignificant. How indicative of that subjugation of the world to the authority of Christ, by the preaching of his cross. Yet, as in the one case, the walls fell down at the sound of the rams’ horns, so in the other, by the publication of the gospel, the strongholds of sin have been beaten down, and by this simple and, to the wise men of the world, foolish agency, small all the kingdoms of the world ultimately bow down before the sceptre of Jesus, call him blessed, and be blessed in him, 1Co_1:18-28.
3. He subdued all their enemies.
Faithful to all which God had spoken to him, the divine help made him at all times victorious, and placed his feet on the necks of his enemies. In this we again turn to contemplate the Captain of our salvation, who came to encounter all the deadly foes of mankind, and who, by his life and sufferings, by his miracles and death, by his conflicts and resurrection, triumphed over all the powers of darkness, bruised the head of the old serpent, and effectually destroyed the works of the devil, Col_2:13-14; Rev_1:18.
4. He gave the people possession of the goodly land. See ch. xiv. 1.
Thus Jesus, having overcome all our enemies, and accomplished all the Father had given him to do, ascended on high, and took possession of the heavenly Canaan, on behalf and in the name of his people. He said, "In my Father’s house are many mansions," &c., Joh_14:1, "I ascend to my Father and to your Father," Joh_20:17. &c.,; Rev_3:21 Such are the leading traits of resemblance between Joshua and Jesus, in the one case, Joshua was the leader of one nation, in the other, Jesus is the captain and conductor of countless hosts of every nation, and people, and tongue. The achievements of Joshua were temporal, and the land he obtained was but an earthly, temporary possession. The achievements of Jesus were spiritual, and the inheritance he bestows is heavenly, and passeth not away. Happy the hosts who had Joshua for their leader, and Canaan for their inheritance, but unspeakably more happy the followers of Jesus, and the expectants of that kingdom which shall not pass away.
Autor: JABEZ BURNS