Joshua Meets... The Joshua

This is an old note I originally wrote on Facebook, and it documents the amazing revelation in Joshua 5 that the physical Joshua met the Heavenly Joshua (Jesus the Christ) face to face prior to the battle of Jericho. Ideally this represents a new trend for my little blog, wherein I'll begin shifting my attention from earthly matters to the Kingdom of Heaven. Enjoy, and feel free to comment....

Have you ever realized that there's a point in the book of Joshua where the earthly Joshua meets the heavenly Joshua? I kid you not! But hold on a sec; I can hear you asking "what's the difference between the 'earthly Joshua' & the 'heavenly Joshua'"? Jolly good question, that! Here's the answer.

'Joshua' is the English translation of the Hebrew name 'Yeshua.' Now, like all names in all languages, Yeshua has an actual meaning. It literally means 'Yahweh/Jehovah saved' (Strong's Concordance #3091 Hebrew). Now interestingly enough, 'Yeshua' is literally translated from Hebrew into Greek as 'Jesus' (Strong's Concordance #2424 Greek). Therefore, it is a safe linguistic affair to recognize that 'Jesus' is not only the same name as 'Joshua,' but also that the name significantly means "Jehovah saved." I say significantly since Jesus is named in Matthew 1:21 specifically as "JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." Praise God! Anyway, we can now conclude that if Jesus & Joshua are the same names w/the same meanings, then in the book of Joshua we have Joshua the son of Nun being an earthly Joshua, and Jesus being the heavenly Joshua, since he descended down from heaven ("And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven" ~John 3:14). With me? Excellent!

So, how is it then that we have an instance of the earthly Joshua meeting the heavenly Joshua? Let me show you, if you please."And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?

And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?

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." ~Joshua 5:13-15

Wow. How profound & powerful is THAT? The point which I'm advocating in this writing is that this "captain of the host of the Lord" is actually Jesus Christ, the heavenly Joshua. Disbelieve? Let's let scripture search out the issue!

Notice the description of this captain rendered; he is a man with a sword, and is the commander of the host of the Lord, who appearance must be so commanding that Joshua immediately falls to his face upon the earth and calls him lord. Now take a look at these passages...

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword."
~(Jesus Christ) Matthew 10:34

"His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead." ~John's description of Jesus Christ in Revelation 1:14-17

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.... And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.... And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth." ~Revelation 19:11-16,19,21

"And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." ~II Kings 6:16-17

Alright, that was quite a bit of scripture, but it was needed to prove several points. First, that there IS a heavenly host, and that said host is definitely capable of martial vigours and exertions. Second, that the heavenly host is synonomous w/the host of the Lord. Third, that the heavenly host has a captain at its head. Fourth, that that captain is clearly identified in Revelation as Jesus Christ himself. Proof- whom else has a sword as his word, is called King of Kings & Lord of Lords, and whom else is openly identified as the Word incarnate? (Compare w/John 1:1-5,14; Matthew 28:19; 1 John 5:7).

Also, for those of you who might be thinking at this point 'well yeah, Matt, but how do we know that this man w/a sword appearing before Joshua as captain of the host of the Lord isn't an angel? Or maybe specifically the archangel Michael per Revelation 12:7-8 & Daniel 10:13 or 12:1-2?

Brilliant question! Absolutely smashing of you to ask! The answer? Look carefully at the response to Joshua's words & actions in the original passage. You'll note that 1) Joshua falls on his face and worships the man whom he calls 'lord,' and he is NOT corrected or rebuked for doing so; 2) that he is furthermore told 'loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy.' Observe this key scriptural recognition: the ONLY person to accept worship from men throughout the Bible is God. Every angel who appears before men rebukes & corrects humans who fall to the ground and offer worship, for angels cannot receive worship from men.

Additionally, the 'loose thy shoe from off thy foot' injunction appears only one other time in scripture, and it's well known to anyone who's ever seen "The Ten Commandments" or "Prince of Egypt." Yup, you guessed it correctly- Exodus 3:5-6, wherein God tells Moses "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God."

So, what can we safely conclude?
1) That the description of the captain of the host of the Lord matches other scriptural references exclusively applied to Jesus Christ.
2) That this captain did not act as angels act, and allowed Joshua to fall face down upon the ground and offer worship.
3) That Joshua is offered the same injunction as Moses when Moses stood before God in the burning bush- to take off his shoes, for the ground itself was made holy by God's presence.

Therefore, I submit that it is scripturally safe to deduce that in Joshua 5:13-15 we witness the appearance of our lord Jesus Christ himself, Yeshua the Annointed One of God, before Joshua's victory at Jericho. Take what you will of it from there, but I choose to regard this as an inescapable example of divinely-inspired foreshadowing. The earthly Joshua leads his people over the Jordan and into possession of the promised land, with his victories attained by divine promise and his faith in the fulfillment of that promise. The heavenly Joshua is heralded as having come to save his people from their sins, fulfills the law and prophets, and then seals the promise of eternal life for his faithful peopl "beyond the Jordan" in the "new Jerusalem" by his own blood and subsequent victory over death. Can I get an Amen and Hallelujah to that? Praise God!