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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we think of the book of Joshua and its account of the fall of the city of Jericho, if we think of or remember anything at all, what we think of or remember is probably the unusual way that the city of Jericho fell: by God’s bringing the walls down, after the people of Israel’s men of war, followed by seven priests with seven horns, the ark of the covenant, and the people, had marched around the city one time each day for six days without shouting and one time on the seventh day with shouting (Joshua 6:1-27). We may not think of or remember, connected with the fall of the city of Jericho, “Achan’s Sin” and the essentially two different instances of repentance associated with that sin. After the last two weeks considering, respectively, the “Golden Calf” and “Aaron and Miriam”, tonight “Achan’s Sin” is the third of our “More Snapshots of Repentance”, examples of both repentance and forgiveness of sins that are not only instructive but also comforting for us.
Apparently because the Lord was giving the people of Israel the city, an important part of God’s instructions for the fall of the city of Jericho was that, other than Rahab the prostitute and all who were with her in her house—because she had hidden the messengers or spies whom had been sent—the city and everything else in it was to be devoted to the Lord, either to be put into the Lord’s treasury—things such as silver and gold, vessels of bronze and of iron—or to be destroyed—things such as men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys—and the people of Israel were emphatically warned to keep themselves from the devoted things, lest they take any of those things and make the camp of Israel itself a thing for destruction and, presumably thereby, bring trouble upon the camp.
But, as we heard in the Reading, the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things (confer Joshua 22:20; 1 Chronicles 2:7). There was a conscious act of treachery or unfaithfulness against the Lord in direct violation of His covenant with Israel, a crime that could not be reconciled with the honor of Israel as the people of God. And, the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel. When the three-thousand men were routed by the few people of the city of Ai and thirty-six of them were killed, Joshua and the elders of Israel tore their clothes and fell on their faces before the Lord and put dust on their heads—all outward signs of inward repentance. Without necessarily repudiating their repentance, the Lord told Joshua to seek the cause of Israel’s defeat not with the Lord but with the people, that Israel had sinned by transgressing His covenant—taken some of the devoted things, lied, and put them among their own belongings—and so the people of Israel could not stand before their enemies because they themselves had become devoted for destruction. The Lord told Joshua to consecrate the people, identify the offenders, and properly treat both the offenders and the devoted things.
So, perhaps by way of the Urim and Thummim, or by some “other” lot directed by the Lord—a drawn-out process that arguably gave the guilty parties time to step forward—in turn the tribe of Judah, the clan of the Zerahites, the household of Zabdi, and finally the man Achan were identified. Lovingly confronted by Joshua, Achan confessed his sin against the Lord: having seen a beautiful cloak, some silver, and some gold, he coveted them, took them, and hid them inside his tent, in the very earth of the Promised Land that the Lord was giving them. After they confirmed what Achan said, the people took him, the devoted items, his family—who hardly could have been innocent of at least the cover-up in the family tent—and all that he had, and they stoned them and burned them, and the Lord turned from His righteous wrath.
The Lord also has righteous wrath over your sin and my sin, even if the consequences of our sin do not rise to the level of the consequences of Achan’s sin, or of the later sin of the people of Judah that resulted in their exile to Babylon. We are seldom, if ever, content with that with which the Lord blesses us; instead, we have inordinate, ungoverned, selfish desire or cravings for what we do not have. We may wrongly downplay both the Ninth Commandment against our coveting our neighbor’s house and the Tenth Commandment against our coveting our neighbor’s family and possessions, not to mention our sins against those Commandments. As with our first fore-mother in the garden (Genesis 3:6), we may look at, take pleasure or delight in, long for, desire to possess, scheme to get, and actually get (sometimes in ways that only appear right) what God in some sense does not want us to have. In the process, we may break other Commandments, such as those Commandments against false witness, stealing, and honoring God’s Word and Sacraments by rightly supporting His ministry and church. Our sins in these regards may not affect a whole nation of people, but they can affect our immediate family, and they can affect our immediate family for generations after us. If such sins are not known to anyone else, such and all of our other sins, not to mention our sinful natures themselves, are certainly known to God, as we all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
Yet, before that “accounting”, God, through His ministry and church, lovingly confronts us over our sin, and He calls and thereby enables us to repent of our sin. Out of God’s great love and mercy, He has visited the eternal torment that our sins deserve upon His own Son, born of the Virgin Mary. We might say that Jesus was devoted to destruction for us and for our salvation. For our sake, God made Him Who knew no sin to be sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Outside the city of Jerusalem, on the cross, Jesus suffered in order to make us holy through His own blood (Hebrews 13:11-12). As one original sin corrupted all people, and as Achan’s sin for a time affected the whole people of Israel, so Jesus Christ’s one act of righteousness can lead to forgiveness and life for all people (Romans 5:12‑21). As Rahab and her family were saved through faith in the promise of the spies and the sign they gave to her, so we are saved through faith in the fulfilled promises of God, His Word and His corresponding signs (confer Joshua 2:1-24).
The Lord revealed His will regarding Achan and his family by way of His Word and means, and the Lord reveals His will regarding us by way of His Word and Means. God’s Word and Sacraments—Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and the Sacrament of the Altar—work forgiveness of sins, and they also assure us that we are chosen by God unto salvation: foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and eventually glorified (Romans 8:29-30). By His Word and Sacraments, through the ministry of His Church, God Himself sets us apart as holy and enables us to meet with Him, as in the table fellowship of the Sacrament of the Altar now, and in the marriage feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom that has no end.
After Achan’s sin had been dealt with, the Lord gave into the people of Israel’s hand the city of Ai to do with as He commanded (Joshua 8:1-29), and similarly the Lord ultimately gives to us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:56-57). Until we fully experience that victory, we must be wary of mis-interpreting anything that might appear to be contrary to that victory. Joshua’s Divinely-inspired account in tonight’s Reading arguably is silent about the eternal outcome for Achan and his family, as St. Luke’s Divinely-inspired account in the book of Acts also arguably is silent about similar sinners Ananias and Sapphira’s eternal outcome (Acts 5:1‑11), but we are told that at least Achan confessed his sin, and we know that, if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Achan still had to suffer the consequences associated with his sin, and also we ultimately may suffer consequences associated with our sin, but, like Achan, in the process we can and do give glory and praise to the Lord God.
“Achan’s Sin” is one “More Snapshot of Repentance” that, like the others, is both instructive and comforting for us. We have seen sin, God’s righteous wrath, repentance, forgiveness, remaining temporal consequences, and glory and praise to God. Similar will be next week, when we consider “David’s Son”. Until then, may God bless our repentant walk in this season of Lent to the glory of His Holy Name.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +