The Jesse Tree: Day 11
JOSHUA
The sound of the ram’s horn, the shofar, is unlike any other. It’s raw, primal, and piercing. In Jewish tradition, it was the sound that called the people to remember the power and promises of God. It was blown at coronations, at festivals, and at the start of battle. Most famously, it was sounded at Jericho, when, as the song goes, “the walls a’ came tumbling down”, not by human strength, but by the living and active word of God.
When Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land, they were standing on the edge of what God had long promised, a place of rest. Generations had waited for this moment. Yet the city before them was fortified and fierce. To any strategist, God’s plan must have seemed absurd: march silently for six days, blow horns, then shout. No swords. Just faith in a God whose word does what He says.
The word of God had spoken, and the people were called to respond in trust and worship. The walls fell because God’s promise was living and active, cutting through fear and unbelief, dividing truth from deception, just as Hebrews 4:12 says. The same word that spoke the world into being was now speaking rest into His people.
But this was not the final rest. The writer of Hebrews tells us that if Joshua had given them true rest, God would not have spoken later of another day. The land was only a glimpse of what was to come. The sound of the shofar pointed beyond the walls of Jericho to another city and another battle—the battle for our restless hearts.
Advent reminds us that through Jesus, the living Word, God once again acted to bring His people into rest. Through the sound of a trumpet and a great shout, city walls fell; but through the strike of a nail and the cry of his son, the curtain separating people from God was torn in two (Matt. 27:51).
At Advent, when we see the symbol of the ram’s horn, we remember that God’s word is still living and active and so we wait for the day when the horn will sound again and Christ will return to complete what He began (Rev. 11:15). The Word that spoke at Jericho will speak once more, and every barrier between God and His people will fall.
When Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land, they were standing on the edge of what God had long promised, a place of rest. Generations had waited for this moment. Yet the city before them was fortified and fierce. To any strategist, God’s plan must have seemed absurd: march silently for six days, blow horns, then shout. No swords. Just faith in a God whose word does what He says.
The word of God had spoken, and the people were called to respond in trust and worship. The walls fell because God’s promise was living and active, cutting through fear and unbelief, dividing truth from deception, just as Hebrews 4:12 says. The same word that spoke the world into being was now speaking rest into His people.
But this was not the final rest. The writer of Hebrews tells us that if Joshua had given them true rest, God would not have spoken later of another day. The land was only a glimpse of what was to come. The sound of the shofar pointed beyond the walls of Jericho to another city and another battle—the battle for our restless hearts.
Advent reminds us that through Jesus, the living Word, God once again acted to bring His people into rest. Through the sound of a trumpet and a great shout, city walls fell; but through the strike of a nail and the cry of his son, the curtain separating people from God was torn in two (Matt. 27:51).
At Advent, when we see the symbol of the ram’s horn, we remember that God’s word is still living and active and so we wait for the day when the horn will sound again and Christ will return to complete what He began (Rev. 11:15). The Word that spoke at Jericho will speak once more, and every barrier between God and His people will fall.
Pause to reflect
Where do you need to hear the living and active word of God calling you to trust?
How might worship become your act of warfare this Advent as you wait for Christ’s return?
How might worship become your act of warfare this Advent as you wait for Christ’s return?
Living Word, speak again into my restlessness. Tear down the walls that fear has built, and lead me to the rest You have promised in Jesus. Amen.
Posted in Jesse Tree
No Comments