Read Joshua 5:13-15

“Are You For Us Or For Our Adversaries?”

It was a fair question, wasn’t it? You are the leader of the people ready to fight and take the land away from Jericho, and you see “a Man…with His sword drawn in His hand” (Joshua 5:13). He appears powerful, but not menacing. Would you not ask Him the same question? “Whose side are you on? Are you for us or for them?”

The answer is telling. “No.” This Man was on no one’s side. What mattered was whose side Joshua and the children of Israel chose. “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come” (Joshua 5:14).

Eliza E. Hewitt and William J. Kirkpatrick wrote a song in the late nineteenth century, “Who Will Follow Jesus?” That’s the proper way to look at it. It is not a matter of, “I want to do this, and I hope Jesus goes with me.” We should instead say, “I want to know what Jesus wants me to do, and I will follow Him!” As the songwriters asked in their song, “Who will follow Jesus? Who will make reply, ‘I am on the Lord’s side; Master, here am I’?”

The Man that stood opposite Joshua before Israel took Jordan was none other than the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ Himself. “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”

Notice Joshua’s immediate response to this declaration: “And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, ‘What does my Lord say to His servant?’” (Joshua 5:14). Is this our response to the Lord’s presence? When we open His Word to study, do we approach it with this attitude? Or do we simply look for justification for our actions, not seeking to follow Jesus but hoping that He will follow us?

We must approach God’s inspired Word with reverence. It is the “Holy” Bible. The “Holy” Scriptures. “Holy” Writ. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Do not treat His Word as a snack that you occasionally nibble on during the week as you wait for Sunday. Sit down and feast on the spiritual diet every day, asking as you read, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”