Jos 5:2 At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.
Jos 5:10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.
Jos 5:11 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. :12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
Jos 5:15 And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
We've come now to chapter 5 and this to me is a very significant chapter and could be easily read over without much thought. That would be a grave mistake. This chapter is the chapter that prepares them for every battle they will face for the chapters to come. They set up camp at Gilgal and throughout their battles you'll finding them returning to Gilgal. There are four things that happen here at Gilgal that prepared Israel for conquering Canaan. These same four things can be lessons to any christian who aims to conquer their Canaan.
1. Circumcision
Joshua 5:2 At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.
The very 1st thing they had to do when they crossed Jordan was to preform a circumcision on all the Israelite's that grew up in the wilderness. There was a whole generation of uncircumcised Israelite's. You say whats the big deal? Was it really that important? It was a big deal to God because it was the covenant set up between him and Abraham's descendants (ref:Genesis 17) This was an old covenant from centuries ago that down through the ages had been forgotten or purposely ignored. Now that they had entered the promised land they were going to have to make sure that all their i's were dotted and their t's crossed. See they were still God's people, God still took care of them even though that hadn't observed God's covenant with Israel but now they aren't going to be wandering any more but warring. There life in Canaan will be much different than there life in the wilderness. Their life in Canaan was going to require COMPLETE obedience and not partial. Dear reader, If you ever plan on conquering your Canaan it is going to require complete obedience, now I know we'll never be perfect but let me get to the point. This circumcision was the cutting away of the flesh and it represents the same thing for us spiritually. We know that there is no profit in literal circumcision today like there was for the Jew in that day(ref; 1 Cor 7:19, Rom 2) The importance is what it typify's. As Christians we are required to live a life separate from the world and there should be a distinct difference between the church and the world. Now this isn't a popular opinion in the day and hour in which we live, in an hour when the church is doing its very best to look exactly like the world. When "christian music" can't be told apart from rock or rap or any other genre. When many churches have even removed the word church from their sign, we can't tell the difference between a concert and a church service and the serviced is centered around a band instead of the Word of God. See, my generation is a lot like that generation who grew up in the wilderness. They've grown up in a spiritual wilderness when the church has forgotten what it means to die daily, to crucify the flesh, to be holy because he is holy, to be ostracized for your faith. We all want to keep the flesh and hold hand with the world and please everybody, but God has commanded us to come out from among them and be ye separate! Is it possible to walk with the flesh as one of His people? Of course, I know from experience but you'll not conquer Canaan with your flesh. If you plan on living in God's will you'll have to die to self, you'll have to deny your self, take up your cross and follow him. The first battle in Canaan wasn't at Jericho but at Gilgal. Before they could draw the sword on the enemy and have victory over the enemy, they had to first draw the sword on them self at Gilgal and win the victory over self. Dear Christian, your first enemy that requires immediate attention is self. Don't think you'll have the victory over the enemy if you've never dealt with self. Every day our first order of business should be to crucify our flesh remember the words of Paul, "I die daily."
You Can keep your flesh as a Christian but instead of conquering in Canaan you"ll be wandering in the wilderness.
We will save the rest of this chapter for another day. I want to be clear, their circumcision was literal but ours is a circumcision of the heart. I encourage you to read Romans 2, Paul illustrates this idea perfectly.
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Come ye out from among them!!
Onward Christian Soldier!!