Joshua and Jesus
Scripture Reading: Joshua 2-4; Psalm 81
Well, congratulations are in order if you’ve been faithfully following along as we read through the Bible in a year! I was talking with someone a few days ago who mentioned how hard it was to get through Leviticus and Numbers. No doubt, those books can be a challenge. But you did it, and here we are—already into the book of Joshua.
People generally enjoy books like Joshua because the narrative stories are more engaging. We’re wired for stories. That’s why Jesus taught so often in parables and why so much of the Bible is in narrative form. We need more than just stories, but we certainly need them.
When I was a boy, I loved sitting around listening to my dad and uncles tell stories from their childhood. I learned a lot from those stories (not all of it good, but all of it memorable). And that’s the thing about narratives—they stick with us. We remember them more readily than plain instruction.
So, as we read through Joshua, we’ll find stories that stick. But let’s also remember to look for Jesus in and behind these stories.
Joshua stands out as a type of Christ right from the start. First, his very name is a Hebrew form of the name Jesus. That alone isn’t hugely significant—many Jewish boys were named Joshua or Jesus. But there’s something deeper here that points us to Christ.
As we’ve already seen in Deuteronomy, Moses wasn’t allowed to lead the people into the Promised Land. He was disciplined for his actions at the waters of Meribah, where he struck the rock instead of speaking to it. In doing so, he failed to honor God and defaced the picture of salvation God was portraying through the Rock.
But there’s another layer of typology at work. Moses was the lawgiver. The gospel picture here is clear: the Law cannot bring us into the Promised Land. The Law cannot save us. Therefore, Moses—as a representative of the Law—couldn’t lead the people into the Land.
For that, someone else was necessary.
That doesn’t make Moses a bad man. As Paul said, the Law is good and holy (Romans 7:12), but it lacks the power to save—just like a mirror can show you how messy your hair is, but it can’t comb it for you. The people needed someone else to do what Moses couldn’t do.
That man was Joshua—Jesus.
Jesus came to do what the Law could not do. He came to lead us into the kingdom of God. He came to bring us across the river of death and into the Promised Land—the New Heaven and the New Earth.
Don’t lean on the Law to do what it can’t do. Trust in Jesus alone to bring you all the way home.
