True Freedom

Preached on 09-10-00

JERICHO

A Family Sermon by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose

"And the Lord said to Joshua: 'See! I have given Jericho into your hand, . . . '" (Josh. 6:2)

DO YOU KNOW WHY IT WAS THAT PEOPLE USED TO BUILD CASTLES? They built them so that they could be safe. They would go inside them to be safe from their enemies. That is why castles had such high walls. If enemy soldiers came and tried to attach the castle, they would find it very difficult to get inside. They would have to climb some very high walls before they could attack the people inside.

Now we read in the Word this morning about a city that was built like this -- built like a castle. It had very high and very thick walls. And the name of this city was Jericho.

The Israelites had just crossed over the River Jordan and come into the land of Canaan. The Lord had led them into the land of Canaan so that they could fight against the evil people living there, and then have this land as their own. There were very many people the Israelites would have to fight, but the Lord had promised that He would help them.

Now Jericho was the first city that they came to after they had crossed the River Jordan. It was the first city they had to fight. So the soldiers of Israel came up to the city of Jericho. And first of all, the soldiers surrounded the city -- so that nobody would be able to escape. But after doing this, the Israelites didn't really know how to go about attacking the city, because it had such high walls all the way around it.

The trouble was, that if they attacked the city, they would have to climb the walls around the city. And if they did this, then the soldiers inside Jericho could simply stand on the walls and attack them with spears and arrows, and so on. The Israelite soldiers would have been killed before they could finish climbing up the walls.

It didn't seem as if the Israelites would be able to attack and beat the city of Jericho. Remember, though, that the Lord had promised the Israelites that He would help them. And the Lord told Joshua, the leader of the Israelites, to have the ark carried in a procession around the city. The ark was that very special box in which the Ten Commandments were kept, and it was very holy. They carried the ark around the city once a day for six days. Then, on the seventh day, they marched around the city seven times. The priests then made a long blast on their horns, and the people shouted, and the walls of Jericho just fell down flat. The Israelite soldiers could then march right into the city and conquer it.

By themselves the soldiers of Israel could never have won against Jericho. But the Lord had helped them. It was the Lord who made the walls of the city fall down -- so that the Israelites could win the battle. The Lord showed the Israelites that He was helping them conquer the land of Canaan.

But the Lord also showed something else. The Lord made the walls of Jericho fall down because the people had carried the Ten Commandments, inside the ark, around the city. The Lord was showing them just how powerful are the Ten Commandments. With the ark, in which the Ten Commandments were kept, the Lord would help the Israelites beat their enemies.

And the Ten Commandments are very powerful indeed. We have the Ten Commandments as well, don't we. They are written down in the Lord's Word. If you pick up the Word, turn to the Book of Exodus, and read the 20th chapter -- then you can read the same Ten Commandments that the Lord gave to the Israelites. And did you know that you can also use these commandments to beat your enemies -- not enemies around you in this world, but evil spirits from the other world? Did you know that if you learn the Ten Commandments, and if you do what they say, then the Lord will help you just as He helped the Israelites. The Lord will make you powerful and strong -- so powerful and strong that no evil spirit will be able to hurt you or make you do what is bad. The Ten Commandments give you strength from the Lord against your spiritual enemies.

SPIRITUAL ENEMIES! It is as adults that we come to know full well the reality of such enemies. We are called by the Lord to become true members of His Church. By this is not meant merely a small human organization, but something far bigger, far more significant. We are to enter His spiritual church, the New Church itself, by receiving His kingdom into our spirits, into our lives. And it is as we seek to enter His church, and receive His kingdom, that we come into direct spiritual conflict. Part of us might want to enter the church, but another part wants our own way, not the Lord's way. And if evil spirits would have their way, we would approach the things of the church from a selfish perspective, without opening ourselves up to the protection and the leading of the Lord. And so there is within us a struggle, a struggle represented in the story of the Israelites entrance into the land of Canaan.

When the Lord led the Israelites into the land of Canaan, it was His purpose that their story might become a story for peoples of all ages. It would become a story which would stand forever, for it would symbolize the way in which a person is led by the Lord and introduced into His church. This is why they were led across the River Jordan, for the River Jordan represents something we all must cross. And having crossed the river, they then confronted the mighty city of Jericho, a city which all of us must, eventually, face.

The River Jordan, and the city of Jericho, were, like all the other geographical features of the Holy Land, ancient spiritual symbols. They stood for holy things, things having to do with the Lord's church. And Jordan and Jericho were particularly holy, for they signified the way in which a person enters into the Lord's church on earth. This holiness is apparent even in the literal sense of the story.. Before the Israelites attacked Jericho, it is said that Joshua was standing by the city. He looked up and saw a man holding a drawn sword. The man was an angel -- a "commander of the army of the Lord." And he told Joshua to take his sandal from off his foot, because the place where he stood was holy (Josh. 5:15).

It was a holy place because the representation of Jericho was, essentially, a holy one. Normally we tend to think of Jericho as an evil city -- a city the Israelites were to destroy completely -- and a city they were told they should never rebuild. And indeed, because of the evil of the people who now inhabited the land of Canaan, Jericho had come to represent something evil, something profane. Originally, though, and in a good sense, Jericho signified something very holy. It has to do, as we have said, with a person's introduction into the church.

How is it that a person is introduced into the church? We are told that it is by means of Divine truth -- that truth which is found in the sense of the letter of the Word (AR 367) -- the basic plain teachings of Divine revelation. Both Jordan and Jericho represent, therefore, Divine truth in the literal sense of the Word. More specifically, the River Jordan, as the boundary of the land of Canaan, represented the initial introduction into the church. Jericho, a city which stood right across the river, then stood for the instruction which would then introduce and bring a person more fully into the church of the Lord. "The 'city of Jericho,'" we read, "signifies instruction in the knowledges [cognitionibus] of good and truth, by which person is introduced into the church" (AE 700:15).

We might conclude that by Jericho is meant the state of a person who has recently discovered and gained an interest in the teachings of the church, and is beginning to learn more about it. But the true signification of Jericho goes deeper than this -- for it has to do with the real entrance of a person into the Lord's church.

The Lord's church is not simply a matter of joining and participating in a church organization. Nor is it simply a matter of learning, or happening to know, some of the teachings of the church. The church is, in essence, a way of living, and a person first enters the church when he takes the Lord's teachings, uses them to examine the way he lives, and then makes the effort to actually change his behavior -- the way he behaves both openly, and in secret. Before he does this, we read in True Christian Religion, "there is nothing but a knowledge [of facts], and what the preacher then says is a mere sound going in at the left ear and out at the right." (TCR 525).

If we are not really interested in changing the way we live, the teachings of the Word and preachings from the Word go in one ear and out the other, for they don't really mean anything to us. When, though, a person takes what the Word teaches, sees that he is doing something wrong, and stops doing it, then, we are told, the teaching of the Word "is first received by both ears, is communicated to the heart, and from a pagan the man becomes a Christian" (TCR 525).

This is how a person enters the Lord's church -- not by being vaguely aware of some of the Lord's teachings-- but by taking what he learns and then living it, for only then does he really begin to learn.

This is the kind of learning represented by Jericho. Jericho, we are told, represents instruction. But it also represents the good of life, for, it is said, "unless one is in the good of life he cannot be instructed in the truths of doctrine" (AE 700:15).

"Unless one is in the good of life he cannot be instructed in the truths of doctrine." This is really a remarkable teaching. Unless you live what the Lord teaches, you cannot really learn His truth. Before this, all that you can learn are facts -- facts which can indeed be stored in the memory -- but not truths which touch the heart. Jericho therefore stands for that time, that state -- a holy state -- when truth first enters a person's ears and touches his heart, and begins to change the way he lives.

This is why, from ancient times, Jericho was called "the city of palm trees" (Deut. 34:3). The palm tree signifies the good of truth (AE 458) -- the good a person comes into when he lives what the truth teaches. This, by the way, was why the palm branch was a sign of happiness -- people experience joy when they come into the good of truth. Remember how people waved palms to show their happiness when the Lord rode into Jerusalem! Jericho, the city of palm trees, stands for the good, and for the joy, which a man comes into when he lives the truth -- when he does what the Lord teaches.

When the Lord was in the world, one of His parables revolved around the importance of this state represented by Jericho. He told a story about a man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho. Jerusalem, the center of the church's worship, represented the truth of doctrine of the church (AE 458:10). The man who travelled from there to Jericho was a man trying to live what the church taught -- a man trying to live a life of good according to the truth. But he was attacked by thieves, and both a priest and a Levite failed to help him. The Lord was showing how the Jewish church at that time had no real interest in helping people live a life of good according to the commandments. The only person who helped the injured traveller was a Samaritan -- a gentile -- someone who didn't know the truth but who was at least trying to live a good life (AE 444:14).

It is a sad fact, but nevertheless a true one, that very often those who have the Lord's Word -- those very people who have ready access to the Lord's teachings -- fail to live, and therefore fail to be truly interested in, what the Lord has to say. What the Word teaches is so obviously meant to be lived, and yet all too often the human heart resists, and avoids in whatever way possible, the living of the truth. People should approach the Word, receive the truth into their hearts, and from this truth long for what is good (cf. AC 9325:9). This is the state which is meant by Jericho. And yet, from a desire to remain in evil, people all too often erect barriers -- huge and mighty walls -- which keep them from entering Jericho -- keep them from receiving the Lord's church into their hearts.

At the time the Israelites crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, many of the inhabitants of that land were in manifest evil. As a result, Jericho, as was the case with most of the cities of Canaan, had acquired an additional or secondary representation. In a good sense, Jericho continued to represent the good of truth -- which is why the angel had told Joshua to take off his sandal. But in another and opposite sense, Jericho stood for the perversion of the good of truth. Its present inhabitants stood for those evils which discourage a person from living according to the Lord's teachings. And the walls of Jericho stood for those falsities -- those excuses -- by which a person avoids confrontation with the Lord's teachings (cf. AE 700:15).

The natural part of us does not like confrontation. We doesn't like to hear that what we are doing is wrong and needs to be changed. And so we erect for ourselves walls -- walls of falsity within which we can continue to comfortably live the way we want to live, and to think the way we want to think. "After all," we tell ourselves, "we are not really all that bad" (cf. AC 2973:6). What we really mean when we say this is that we don't really care whether or not we are bad -- we simply want to avoid any real change in our lives. The teachings of the Lord's Word therefore go in one ear and out the other, without touching our hearts, and without becoming a threat to how we live.

The Israelites had crossed the River Jordan. They were to conquer the inhabitants of the land -- so that they might live there in peace -- and so represent the Lord's church on earth. Yet, having crossed the river, the very first city they came to, the city of Jericho, appeared unconquerable. The trouble with Jericho was not that its men of war were more capable than the soldiers of Israel. Later, the Israelites would easily beat them in battle. Jericho posed a grave threat simply because its great walls prevented a battle from taking place. The Israelites besieged the city, but they could not enter it. Yet, until Jericho had been dealt with, they could not safely proceed further into the promised land.

This is the problem faced by everybody who seeks to enter into the Lord's church. It is so easy to avoid what we must not avoid. It is so difficult to come to grips with the most important challenge we will ever face. We need to do battle with our very own evils. We need to face up, once and for all, to the fact that the Lord wants us to change the way we think, and the way we live. But, time and time again, day after day, month after month, and even year after year, we find ourselves continuing along the same path -- avoiding those very changes we know are essential to our spiritual progression. We feel frustrated with ourselves. We even experience despair.

And yet anybody who wants to, can, with the Lord's help, conquer Jericho. "And the LORD said to Joshua: 'See! I have given Jericho into your hand, . . . '" (Josh. 6:2).

The story of how the walls of Jericho fell down is one of the best-known in the Word -- a story most if not all of us remember from childhood. But this is not just a story for children. It is, above all, a story of adults -- for it is the story of how we, as adults, can enter into the Lord's church.

The key to Jericho's destruction lay in the ark. For six days the ark was carried about the city of Jericho, preceded by seven priests blowing trumpets. Then, on the seventh day, they circled the city seven times. Following this, there was a long blast on the ram's horn, the people shouted, and the walls fell down. Jericho was immediately attacked, defeated, and completely destroyed, with the exception of the family of one woman -- Rahab -- who had helped the Israelites.

Each detail in the story is significative. The number seven is so prominent, not only because it signifies what is holy, but because it signifies the end of one state and the beginning of a new -- that new beginning which arises when the Lord draws close to a person (AC 728). The trumpets, and the shouting, have to do with judgment by means of Divine truth, and the acceptance of this truth by the people. But the miracle itself, the falling down of the walls, was brought about by means of the ark. In the ark there were the two tables of stone -- on which were written the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments have the most incredible power. Here, laid out in ten straightforward rules -- are those things we must do if we are to be conjoined with the Lord. Everything of heaven, and everything of the church, is contained within the Ten Commandments. If we take these commandments, and then, as it were, walk around and examine the way we live, and do so without compromise and without fear, then we will see those many excuses we so often make collapse before our eyes.

We have to change the way we live. It is as simple as that. And we have to change the way we live time and time again. Jericho is not so much a state we visit once and only once. It is something we need to return to time and time again. The truth we learn has to be lived so that we might come into the good of that truth.

Jericho might seem to be an ominous city -- with threateningly high walls. And there is a part of all of us which would rather avoid Jericho all together. We don't want to measure our lives against the Divine law, and so have to change the way we live -- the way we love to live.

But Jericho has this appearance because of the evil that we love and think and do. In most ancient times, the plain of Jericho was inhabited by people of the Most Ancient Church. It was part of the land where lived the men and women of the golden age. Jericho, the beautiful city of palm trees, was a place of joy and happiness. It represented a longing, a heartfelt desire, to do that good which the Lord's truth teaches us to do.

This longing, this yearning to do the will of the Lord, is not something ominous. It is not sad. It is not foreboding. It is not something to avoid. Those who want to remain in evil might think of Jericho as a depressing burden. The truth is quite the opposite. Jericho -- a life of good according to the Lord's truth -- is nothing else that the gateway itself into the promised land. It is the way we enter the kingdom of heaven.

Amen.

Lessons: Josh. 5:13-6:5; Luke 10:30-35; TCR 525