March 21st, 21

We are reading Joshua 9 – 11 and I Corinthians 6, today.  We are reading from the New Living Translation.

Now the Gibeonites were wise, but their wisdom was rooted in faith – the same kind of faith Rahab had.  Like Rahab, the Gibeonites were natives of Canaan. Both had confidence that God was going to give the land to Israel.  They both responded in fear before God’s people and both acted with wisdom and cunning in order that their people might be saved.  But the parallels don’t end there.  In the end, the Gibeonites would be saved by their faith, just as Rahab had been.  It’s their faith in the God of Israel that causes them to make peace with the God of Israel, by any means necessary.  All the other tribes in the region thought they could overcome the God of Israel, and put a stop to His plan.

The faith of the Gibeonites gives us a vivid picture of how Jesus would win life for all people, Jew and Gentile alike.  We see that in how the Gibeonites pretended to come from a distant land, having travelled a long distance to win peace for their people.  Jesus didn’t just pretend to come from a long distance, he came all the way from Heaven.  Just as the Gibeonites put on sackcloth and old clothes, Jesus humbled himself and put on flesh and bone, and became a human being. The Gibeonites had old bread and wine to prove who they were.  Jesus, too, has bread and wine.  But the bread and wine that Jesus has are not props, they are real.  The body that that bread represents, would really be broken for you and for me.  The wine offered was real proof that God had sent his son to be offered as a real sacrifice for my peace and yours, and all who trust in Him.  The Gibeonites are a picture that we are saved by faith.  It also pictures for us, God’s plan to bring about our peace.  In the Gibeonites, we see a whole lot of wisdom at work.  We see a picture of faith and we see God’s plan of redemption.

Have the wisdom to live by faith, the way the Gibeonites did, carrying the water and the wood.  That water is the water of life, carried for all those who are thirsty. And the wood is the cross of Christ, where you will find your life.  In this way of faith, you will find yourself living in the land of Promise and all that God has for you. You’ll find your life.

You are loved!