Joshua 1:1,2 After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying: “Moses My servant is dead. NKJV
Right Declarations of Death
Tomorrow and if not, then someday, most of us will take up pole position. The leader we have been shadowing will have gone. Gone maybe in terms of physical death, gone maybe in terms of sickness, gone in any event, for good! When this happens, it is we, their near followers who are left to take up the fallen baton and when this happens, many of us need the assurance that it is in fact we who should be leading, that it is, it is we who now have the authority to continue to lead.
There are many folk leading without the God approved authority to do so. The baton has not been theirs to pick up but rather, with ignorant blindness, they have taken upon them a task which is beyond them, or with arrogant culpability, they have assumed a role of their own proud heart’s desire. When this happens, disaster is in the making for both them and the blind sheep that now follow them. It is only a matter of time. So then, in light of such terrible and misguided leadership endings, how may we be assured, that it is indeed us, who must take up the fallen baton and move on with it?
The body of Moses was never found. It was never found because God was his undertaker and the Archangel Michael was the hefty bodyguard that kept Satan from discovering its whereabouts, less even the rotting flesh of this great man and the brittle bones of this dead prophet, should be set as a place of homage and sinful worship! The problem for Joshua was that there was no body and consequently because of that, maybe many people thought that one day, Moses would just mosey on back on in the camp and pick up where he left off! I wonder if our text for tonight indicates that there was uncertainty about the formers leader’s plans and presence to fulfill them, even now playing on the heart of Joshua and that because of that, the LORD Himself had to come to Joshua and verify the case, clarify the new situation and certify Joshua’s role in full. The baton was his to pick up.
Friends, in our text for tonight, this right and opening declaration of death was absolutely necessary because a new leader is being birthed and with this new leadership, a new authority. This authority though linked to the past, is of necessity fresh and independent of the past. A living leader is now needed for Israel, one facing forward, one facing the future, one quickened for action, one fully free to operate with no reference save to God himself. Moses is Dead.
So, how may we be assured that it is indeed we, who must take up the baton and move on with it? Well, only when God speaks to us of the death of the person we are replacing, for this is the foundation of all future revelation which we will receive concerning ‘the how’ of all our present leadership. Without this declaration of death from the most High God, our face will always be looking over our shoulder instead of looking ahead. If the leader you think you are replacing is not in some sense declared to be dead, then rather than mighty manifestations, you are in for some mighty problems.
Listen: - Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." NKJV
Pray: - Lord, for each new role You place me in, declare the death of the past and then quicken my whole body, soul and spirit for the task ahead, in Jesus name I ask it, amen!
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