Courtney Gilmore The city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction.
Joshua 6:17
Can you imagine what it must have felt like to be in the city of Jericho as the Israelites eerily marched around your walls blowing their trumpets? With every collective stomp they must have felt impending doom. They were probably very confused when the Israelites went back to camp the first day after only one trip around. But after the second or third day, they undoubtedly felt like they were being taunted. Then, by the fourth or fifth day, I’m sure they wondered how long this would last and what would happen next.
But on the seventh day, when they began their second and then third trip around, they probably sensed they’d soon find out. They must’ve been terrified when they heard the long trumpet blast, the battle cry of the soldiers, and the sound of rolling thunder as the walls tumbled to the ground. The strength of their walls was no match for the Lord. I’m sure they realized His power as His soldiers flooded into their city, but it no longer mattered. God had given them hundreds of years to change their ways, but they only grew more evil. Now, all but one woman and her family were devoted to destruction.
A few weeks before, when two Israelite men came to spy out the land, Rahab realized their fate and asked the Lord to save her. Everyone else put their trust in the thick walls that surrounded them. But Rahab, the prostitute, believed in the power of Israel’s God above all others. Because she trusted in God, she alone was saved when the Israelites invaded her city.
Everything Belongs to God
The people living there were evil, and God had promised the land to Abraham’s descendants years before. There was no way to live in their midst without being harmed, so their whole city had to be destroyed. The Israelites took the gold, silver, bronze, and iron to the treasury of the Lord. Then the rest of the city was burned to the ground. The Israelites were forbidden from taking anything for themselves.
If they had taken anything that was devoted to destruction, then they would’ve made their own camp an object of destruction. By bringing destructive things into their lives, they would’ve brought trouble upon themselves. Some of the contents of the city were devoted to the Lord for destruction and some were devoted to Him as holy. But it was all set aside for Him and His glory.
There are evils in this world that need to be destroyed. If we don’t destroy them, and instead we bring these destructive things into our lives, we’re bringing needless trouble on ourselves. We cannot live with evil in our midst and expect it not to harm us.
Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
1 Corinthians 15:33
The Road to Destruction
We are all devoted to God for destruction unless He saves us and devotes us to Himself as holy instead.
Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Matthew 7:13-14
The reason the gate to destruction is wide is because all we have to do to enter it is to just carry on as if there is no God. The nations that were destroyed by the Israelites were given a chance to recognize God, but they refused. When they finally realized His power, it was too late.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
This is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light , lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.
John 3:16-21
Like He was with those evil nations, God is patient. But after we die, there’s nothing more we can do to be saved.
Devote Yourself to God
Even though Rahab was a prostitute, God saved her. She was headed for destruction just like everyone else, but she changed course. Her sin did not override her faith. Instead, her faith cancelled all her sin.
Like Rahab, we don’t have to be defined by our sin. No matter what we have done, the course of our lives can be changed. If we have faith in God and we act on that faith by making Jesus our Lord and Savior, then He will cancel our sin too.
You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Colossians 2:13-14
Rahab was a prostitute, doomed for destruction. But she placed her faith in God, and He saved her. He took the record that stood against her, and He died for her offense. Now she is Rahab, the prostitute; saved by God; great-great grandmother of King David; ancestor of Jesus.
This is what it looks like to accept Jesus as our Savior. When we realize our sin and His power to save, we hand Him our list of offenses. Then He takes them from us and pays the price that God demands, giving us His righteousness instead.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
Now, we are no longer known as the sinner who is doomed for destruction. Instead, we are called a child of God, heirs with Christ of eternal life with Him.
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