On this Good Friday we are worshipping Jesus who removed the power of sin and death by laying His life down on the cross for us. Our sin was rolled away!
In the lyrics by Isaac Watts nearly 3 centuries ago:
At the cross, at the cross
Where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day!
Jesus rolled away the burden of sin from our hearts! Amen! On Sunday we will celebrate the rolling away of the stone giving us a way into new life!
So today we read our next verse and it fits nicely with what today holds for us.
“By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.” (Hebrews 11 v 30)
And so we are presented with another faith story by the author/Pastor doing their best to keep the community of believers as followers of Jesus.
The story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho. I want to dwell on this over the Easter weekend.
Just like the other faith heroes Joshua was given an incredible task of obedience and it involved a deep trust that not only had he heard from God correctly but that it would actually happen.
Joshua was in Egypt and had fled with that generation. Before they entered the Promised Land he had the nation who had come out of the wilderness circumcised in preparation for what was to come. Moses called for people to circumcise their hearts. Joshua made sure a generation experienced the physical pain. Jeremiah called for people to circumcise their hearts before the Lord and Paul agrees that circumcision is one done by the Spirit.
I have found the cut of my heart continually happens throughout my life and so have you. Sometimes the pain of circumstances are used to make the cut and sometimes it is the pain of conviction.
It will mark a new day, a new journey, a new direction, this is a moment of change, you will never be the same again and all that sounds wonderfully exciting, but it begins with a cut. It hurts. For Joshua it led to this:-
The Lord said to Joshua “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” (Joshua 5 v9)
What did he feel reproached about Egypt?
It could have been some personal failure in that maybe he wanted to fight Pharaoh but wasn’t allowed to. Maybe it was fear and that he really did have issues regarding courage. Maybe it was frustration of not getting anywhere for the 40 years of wilderness journey. But now his circumcision heralded a new day for him.
And today on this Good Friday the cut and the blood of Jesus announces a new day for you and me.
Missions Paul 