Hebrews 11:30: - By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had
marched around them for seven days.
---
This evening's session was again very moving and powerfully preached, and
the translation was smoother than usual. I was encouraged earlier by looking
at the church caretaker and the ushers. The caretaker always sing together
with gusto, and those ushers (from the drug half-way house Breakthrough
Missions) also seem to really do their job faithfully, and participate in
the singing as well. I thought this to be so much more genuine than the many
worship services I have attended, where many rehearsals still cannot produce
a genuine worship experience. Tong's song leaders just simply go up there to
lead songs with a simple piano accompaniment, and the congregation always
responded with great singing.

As usual, Tong started with a brief review of last week's lesson. He spoke
about the Red Sea and the river Jordan being the 2 natural boundaries that
marked the history of the Israelites. Geographically speaking, you have
Egypt on the left, then the Red Sea, the wilderness, the River Jordan, then
Canaan the promised land. Tong said that this segregated the history of the
Israelites as well; 430 years of slavery in Egypt, 40 years of wondering in
the wilderness, and then the promised land. This is reflective of the life
of a Christian as well. We were first enslaved by sin, until Christ (as with
Moses for the Egyptians) came to lead us out. Then come a period of time
when we wonder in the wilderness, through trials and temptations (like the
Israelites did) before we finally reach the promised land.

Returning back to Moses, Tong spoke about the burial of Moses being kept a
secret from the Israelites, so that they will not end up worshipping him.
Moses was so important that the Bible says in Jude that even Satan wanted
his physical body, and the LORD sent the archangel Michael to battle for his
body. Moses died without having been into Canaan, because he struck the rock
twice for water instead of once, thereby violating the God-ordained
principle that Christ was to die once, since the rock represented Christ.
Although Moses' contribution was so great, the LORD is not to be taken
lightly.

With the death of Moses, Joshua took over. Joshua was selected because
together with Caleb, there were the only 2 spies out of the 12 sent to spy
on Canaan, that reported that while the Canaanites were strong, the LORD
will deliver them to the Israelites. Tong spoke about how difficult it is in
Christian ministry to be the minority voice, because the tyranny of the
majority always would aim to shout you down. A true Christian leader would
not bow down to pressure, and would stand firm on his principles; but these
people are so rare... as rare as 2 out of 12. Joshua was much younger than
Moses, and thus Moses needed to encourage him by being bold and courageous,
looking to the LORD and not his circumstances.

The situation Joshua faced was very different from Moses. Moses led the
people across the Red Sea and taught the people about the laws of God, and
the tabernacle. The ark of the covenant was crafted by Moses, and he carried
it high above the heads of the people together with the bones of Joseph.
Joshua on the other hand, inherited all these things. More importantly, once
he crossed over the river Jordan, three things ceased. Firstly, the manna
from heaven stopped. Secondly, the pillar of cloud disappeared. Thirdly, the
pillar of fire disappeared. Joshua was left all alone to lead the people and
the first obstacle occured in the great city of Jericho. Tong said that
Jericho was possibly the first, true great ancient city; probably the first
to have a walled boundary. It was as if the first task in a series of
challenges was the greatest one. But Joshua was obedient, and did everything
as commanded to him, circumcising all the males.

Tong reiterated his theme about the relationship between suffering and
spiritual gain. Although Canaan was a promised land, God did not simply let
the people have the land by first wiping out its inhibitants. Tong
illustrated this by saying that it is as if someone willed a house to you,
but you arrived at the house to find burly, strong gansters living inside.
While the house is yours, it is your job to chase those people out. So no
spiritual gains can come without the need to suffer and endure trials.

Tong lamented that full-time workers today are mostly interested in their
salary, their retirement benefits, their welfare, their job security over
whether the power of God is with them. This is why they cannot preach with
power and conviction, because they are not good examples of faith to begin
with. To enjoy the power of resurrection, one must first die. To have the
crown of glory, one must first carry the cross.

Joshua then met a warrior and immediately confronted him, asking him if he
is for him, or against him (Joshua 5). This, said Tong, is the great mistake
that practically all spiritual leaders make. We are only interested in
whether someone is for us, or against us. So we go around trying to find
out, and attempt to gather our supporters to support our ministry, while
dealing with our foes. We try to identify the rich, the talented, and talk
them into our causes. The warrior's answer to Joshua ought to serve as our
guiding principle. The warrior answered that he is neither for, nor against
Joshua, but is there to lead him. Joshua worshipped the warrior, whom Tong
assert was the pre-incarnation Jesus Christ.

Herein lies the secret of ministry: the realisation that we serve not
because we are helping God, but because He has allowed us to observe Him at
work. Tong said that he asked his co-workers to find a bible verse that
contains the words "working for God". None could find one. The fact is that
God needs us not. We are never working for Him, because He never takes a
vacation. The fact that we can serve Him comes from His grace in allowing us
to observe Him at work, through us. We need to have a paradigm shift in our
thinking process; only then can we have true revival.

Joshua was then instructed about how to bring about the destruction of
Jericho, and a strange method was chosen. The people were to walk around the
city in silence. Tong said that this is a lesson that we ought to be still,
and know that He is LORD. This is a difficult lesson to learn, as most of us
want to assert ourselves and make ourselves heard. He related a story about
his friend who enrolled in a Roman Catholic course, part of the requirement
of which was for one to keep completely silent for 2 weeks. It was
difficult, but his friend said he learned a great deal from silence. God's
method is just so different from man's.

The people needed to exercise their faith in God now that Moses had gone. On
the 7th day and on the 7th cycle, the people must have been so exhausted (as
the city boundaries would have been large). But they exercised their faith,
and all shouted together as commanded, and the walls came down. Tong said
that without a single cent, a single weapon, a single military strategy, an
entire city's defense was destroyed. Contrast this with the way we work
today. Tong said that the money spent on weapons today is so staggering,
that all the money spent on nuclear war heads would have allowed the same
number of all the missionaries in the world today to preach the gospel for
the next 1,300 years (he also said something about money spent on cosmetics
by Indonesian women able to feed missionaries for hundreds of years).

Next came the tiny city of Ai, ironically, the Israelites were defeatedand
due to the hidden sins of Achan (who stole from the loot of Jericho). Tong
said that the weakness of Joshua was seen because he grumbled to the LORD
when they were defeated. This shows that Joshua was a shade lesser than
Moses, because the Bible never recorded Moses wanting to go back to the
past.

The closing message was strong and good. The examples of Jericho and Ai show
that if one is obedient to the LORD, even the largest obstacle can be
overcome with the power of God (as with Jericho). But if one were to hide
even a tiny sin, even the smallest enemy can render us complete defeat (as
with Ai).

END

Disclaimer: This summary does NOT represent the official position of STEMI (Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministry International), and is the personal opinion of the author, expressed without prejudice. Expressed opinions are meant for academic discussions only.