I’ve experienced some significant anniversaries recently. Two years ago, it was the 30th anniversary of the church I serve. Last year, it was 25 years of working with Michael Horton and Sola Media. And this year, my wife and I are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. These significant milestones are always an opportunity to pause and look back at God’s faithfulness before turning our eyes toward the future.
In the book of Joshua, the aging leader of Israel does something similar. He looks back at God’s faithfulness before turning the eyes of the people toward the future. The entire book is a story of transitions: away from the generation that died during the exodus and toward the generation that would settle the promised land; away from exile and toward fulfillment; away from Moses and toward Joshua. In Joshua 24, the final transition takes place as Joshua leads the people in a ceremony of covenant renewal before his death. From this text, we can learn how to train our eyes to see the past and train our hearts to anticipate the future.
How should we see our past? One thing I find fascinating about Joshua’s retelling of Israel’s history is how positive it is. In 24:7, he says, “And you lived in the wilderness a long time.” Of course, their fathers actually died in the wilderness because of unbelief! But this isn’t just whitewashed history or seeing with rose-colored glasses; Joshua is teaching us how to see and understand our past.
When God’s people look back—on both good things and bad things—they should be focused not just on what happened but also on God’s faithfulness. Joshua is teaching us how to understand history: when we look back, we see that no matter what, the purposes of God cannot be stopped. For the people of Israel, God’s purposes couldn’t be stopped by idolatrous ancestors (Terah, who worshipped other gods) or family strife (Jacob and Esau) or genocidal rulers (Pharoah in Egypt). Not even the people’s unbelief or the enemies who seem overwhelming will prevent God from fulfilling his plans for his people.
This means that as we look back, we should train our eyes to see God’s faithfulness both in the good things that have happened and in the hard things that have happened. God is present in it all. God is working out his purposes in it all. God’s will cannot be thwarted! If God can use even the most monstrous crime ever committed—the crucifixion of his own son—for the salvation of his people, then nothing in our history has been wasted. He is able to turn everything toward the good of those who love him (Rom. 8:28).
Moments of transition don’t just give us time to look back. They also give us opportunities to train our hearts to anticipate the future. Joshua points the hearts of Israel toward the future, and he teaches them how to act and what to expect as they settle in the land. As long as they are faithful to God, they can expect God to be faithful to them. Joshua’s covenant, which he is renewing here, is a renewal of the Mosaic Covenant, and the Mosaic Covenant has a strong works principle embedded in it. Even though it is an administration of the covenant of grace, the future of the people in the land would be absolutely dependent on their faithfulness to God.
God, of course, was abundantly merciful to Israel—contrary to Joshua’s threat in verse 19, he was always forgiving their trespasses and sins because that is his nature. But the warning is still real: the people shouldn’t presume upon God’s kindness. They need to be constantly affirming their love and loyalty to God. That’s what’s behind the phrase Joshua uses at the end of verse 15: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua uses a verb of continuous action: it points to the future, but it’s built on the past. Just as Joshua had been faithful to God, so he is publicly affirming that he will be faithful. In his book Joshua and the Flow of Biblical History, Francis Schaeffer says Joshua “chose, and he chose, and he kept right on choosing.”
Twice the people confidently declare that they too will serve the Lord (24:18 and in 24:21). Usually at this point, a preacher like me will talk about how foolish the people were. Even though they vow to serve the Lord, they won’t be able to keep that vow. But the historical record tells us something different. Joshua 24:31 says that Israel did serve the Lord all the days of Joshua. And Judges 2:7 repeats the claim—the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua. But Judges 2:10 ominously describes a generation that arose after them who did not know the Lord or the work he had done for Israel.
The point is clear: as we set our hearts toward the future, we must choose and choose and keep on choosing to be obedient to the calling God has given us. But we must also ensure that future generations know the Lord—not just in a saving way but in knowing the work of the Lord that Joshua celebrates.
For all its dire warnings, Joshua 24 is filled with the comfort of gospel promises: God’s faithfulness far exceeds our sin, our failures, and our mistakes. We are who we are today because God has done greater things than we could ever imagine; he has drawn beautiful straight lines with the broken sticks that are our lives. So, from this beautiful place of gratitude, let us be faithful for the future and always seek to pass on to future generations a knowledge of all that the Lord has done, to the praise of his glorious grace.
Footnotes
See, Westminster Larger Catechism 33 and 34.
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