The Children of Israel had experienced 40 long years of wandering in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt. The Lord had brought them safely through the River Jordan and now they had to conquer Jericho, which stood near where they had crossed the river. Very obviously, it was through God’s power that the river had opened up to make it possible for all the people to pass over, for it was then in spate. Jericho must have seemed a very serious obstacle to conquering the rest of the promised land. No doubt Joshua believed that God would fulfill His promise to give Canaan to the Israelites, just as he and Caleb had shown strong faith when they had been sent to report on the promised land, although the rest of the spies brought back such a negative, unbelieving report. These 10 spies said, “There we saw the giants . . . and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” (Num 13:33). But Caleb and Joshua believably counselled the Israelites: “Rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land . . . their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not” (Num 14:8). By speaking in these terms, these two men showed that they feared God – that they had a holy respect for God and His will.
Joshua was in the vicinity of Jericho when he looked up and saw a man standing opposite him holding a drawn sword. Joshua went over to him and asked, “Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” (Jos 5:13). The reply was, “Nay; but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come”. And Joshua’s response was to fall on his face and worship. He had recognised this “Captain” not as a man or an angel but as a divine Person. If we ignore the division between chapters 5 and 6, we will see that the narrative continues without any real break from one chapter to the next, where we read that it was “the LORD” – that is, Jehovah – who was speaking to Joshua. We can then understand that here we have a theophany: a temporary appearance of the Son of God in human nature in Old Testament times. In the same way, He had come to Abraham in temporary human nature, along with two angels, when Sodom was to be destroyed.
This divine Captain was indeed on the side of Joshua and of Israel. He had come to give instructions to Joshua about the conquest of Jericho; He was the great Captain – the Commander in chief – of the hosts of Israelites, the armies of God. He directed them, through Joshua, to carry the Ark of the covenant round that city; the number of days on which they were to do so was specified, as was the number of times they were to go round Jericho on particular days; and then they were to shout. All this must have seemed totally pointless to unbelieving Israelites, but the critical point was that the Captain brought down the walls by His divine power. Yet the walls would never have come down unless the Israelites had been obedient to God’s commands. Matthew Henry comments, “That suggestion of the evil spies that Canaan could never be conquered because the cities were walled up to heaven (Deut 1:28) would by this be for ever silenced. The strongest and highest walls cannot hold out against Omnipotence; they needed not to fight, and therefore needed not to fear, because God fought for them.”
The Son of God was to be the Captain of the hosts of Israel in all their battles as they fought to take possession of the land that God had promised them. And no doubt their success would have been greater if their faith in Him had been stronger. But Christ is still the Captain of His hosts today as these hosts go out to engage in battle, as it were, against the enemies of Christ. He is the King of His Church.
When He was bringing Israel out of Egypt, He told Moses, “The Lord shall fight for you”. In their unbelief, the Israelites were afraid and were ready to turn back to Egypt, from which they had been so glad to escape such a short time before. And the Lord did fight for them, bringing them safely through the Red Sea and destroying their enemies when the waters of the Sea rolled back over them. So it is when the Lord would take sinners out of Satan’s kingdom, it is His power that is effective.
When He was in this world, going about doing good, He might bring sinners out of darkness into His marvellous light without the use of human means. Thus He worked directly in the heart of the woman of Samaria. He led her on in conversation until she was convinced of her sin, and then He revealed Himself to her as the Messiah, the Saviour of sinners. Again, when the Saviour met the men of Sychar and spoke to them, they testified to the woman of Samaria: “Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world” (Jn 4:42). Here too the Captain of the host of the Lord worked directly in the hearts of these men.
But after Christ’s ascension, He has generally worked savingly in the hearts of sinners through the use of means – with the remarkable exception of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter and the other apostles preached, but they had no access to the hearts of their hearers. Yet the Captain applied the truth to those who were listening, by the Holy Spirit – who had been poured out on the disciples in the upper room, earlier that day. Those convinced of sin through the preaching asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” It was Peter who answered, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:37,38). Neither Peter nor any of the other apostles had any power to apply the truth to any of the 3000 souls who believed; the apostles were part of the Lord’s host, but it was their Captain who exercised His power and delivered these thousands of people from Satan and his kingdom.
It was Christ who sent out Saul of Tarsus to the Gentiles, as an instrument “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me” (Acts 26:18). Satan has great power, but the Captain of the Lord’s host has infinite power and, until the end of time, every soul that God has a purpose to deliver from sin will most certainly be brought by the Holy Spirit, for Christ’s sake, to exercise faith and will be taken to heaven at last.
No matter the extent to which Satan is allowed to rampage through the world seeking whom he may devour, he is not permitted to go any further than the Captain of the Lord’s host will permit. The Lord is still exerting His power, through means of grace such as the Scriptures and the preaching of the gospel, but let us always be clear about the need for divine power to accompany these means and every other means of grace.
We should ask the Lord that He, in His providence, would send these means to every part of the world – especially providing people with the Bible in their own language and sending out men to preach the gospel. In God’s way of working, means are necessary, but what is even more necessary is the infinite power of the Holy Spirit to work a saving change in those who read the Scriptures and who hear pure preaching. Satan has been erecting walls to keep out the Word of God – as in countries that forbid anyone to have a copy. And he has done his worst over the centuries to lead Christ’s ambassadors astray in their teaching. But the Captain of the Lord’s host, the Lord Jesus Christ, is able to bring down Satan’s walls as He brought down the walls of Jericho and He is able to remove every one of Satan’s obstacles to sinners benefiting from the preaching of the gospel. There is no need for the Church to fear, because the risen Christ – on the throne of infinite power in heaven – fights for His Church. Although it may have no power to fight, He has. And He will build up the Church as and when He pleases.