Joshua and the Flow of Biblical History by Francis A. Schaeffer

Author:Francis A. Schaeffer [Barry Danylak]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crossway
Published: 2004-03-17T05:00:00+00:00

THE PRINCIPLE OF JUDGMENT

As we think of Jericho, Achan, and Ai, let us notice a principle. There is a sequence of factors that is relevant to the people of God in all ages. First, Achan stole from God just as a man today might steal by promising to give a tithe and failing to do so. Second, though only one man sinned, the blessing stopped for the people of God corporately. Third, when judgment was applied, victory came. This simple yet profound process explains all the rest of the Old Testament. It explains the period of the judges, the period of kings, the captivities under Assyria and Babylon, the Jews’ return from Babylon, and the Jews’ dispersion in A.D. 70 under Titus. It explains Romans 9—11, which speaks of the Jews turning away from God and yet at a future day coming back to God and once more, as a nation, being the people of God. First comes blessing; then if sin enters, judgment comes. If the people of God return to him after the judgment, the blessing begins again and flows on.

This process is as much a universal as any continuity we have studied so far. It is the principle of God’s judgment of his people. It is unchanging throughout Scripture because God really is there. God is a holy God, God loves his people, and God deals with his people consistently. God blesses his people, and one thing can spoil the blessing—sin, either individual or corporate. When either life in the church or doctrine is not cared for, the blessing stops as much as when an individual sins. Sin among the people of God either diminishes the blessing or brings the blessing to a halt until that sin is confessed, judged, and removed.

Does this continuity really flow into the New Testament, to this side of the cross and Pentecost? Or is this something that applies only in the Old Testament? Achan’s sin, we recall, came at the beginning of a new era. The people had received the law of God and a new order of worship; the race had become the nation; the nation was possessing the land. It was important that the people learn at the beginning of this new era that sin is not to be dealt with lightly.

Another new era began at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was given to all the people of God. In John 7:39 we are told that the Holy Spirit was not given before Pentecost because Christ was not yet glorified. This does not mean that there was no Holy Spirit, that he had not previously worked in regeneration, that he had not come upon prophets, kings, and priests in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He has always existed and has always been active. But at Pentecost all the believers became priests of God, all the believers were indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and a new era began.

A little later we read:

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