Key Bible Passage(s):

Deuteronomy 4:5-8; 31:27-29 & Joshua 5:13-15

Tier 1:

Deuteronomy is basically the account of a sermon preached by Moses as he approaches death. It looks back to all the Lord has taught them during the wilderness wanderings, and forward to their life in the land. In it Moses outlines the blessings and the curses that will follow their oebdience and disobedience respectively. The Lord longs to use Canaan to show the nations of the world the glory of the New Creation, but He anticipates the Church’s refusal to live that life before Him and before those nations.

Tier 2:

The critical piece of information to understanding this section of the Bible is to realise that ‘the Promised Land’ was supposed to function as a foreshadowing of the New Creation. But before the New Creation can be inaugurated we witness the ‘great and terrible’ Day of the LORD.  This glorious day when Christ dismantles the structures of evil and sin and cruelty, judges the wicked, defeats His enemies, and strips from His creation all that is so relentlessly opposed to the goodness and love and grace of God.

Tier 3:

The Book of Joshua is often presented as a problematic book, perhaps even as advocating a kind of ‘Christian holy war’. Christians often feel anxious about reading it and uncomfortable with what they assume it might be teaching. This session seeks to explore these misconceptions and to frame the Book more hlepfully as a model of Christ’s return in glory to judge the living and the dead. In that context, we see that these books have quite a bit to teach us about discipleship. It also prevents us from them as a kind of ‘health, wealth and prosperity religion’ that promises blessing for obedience.

Depending on how you structure the session, you might it helpful to show a map of the inheritance by the tribes. The marking out of the boundaries of anticipated regions takes up a significant part of the second half of Joshua, and can make for tedious reading. A picture as they say is worth a thousand words!

And, sir, when we think of eternity, and of the future consequences of all human conduct, what is there in this life that should make any man contradict the dictates of his conscience, the principles of justice, the laws of religion, and of God?

William Wilberforce

Discussion at the start of the session:

How do you feel about the Christian belief that Jesus will ‘return again in glory to judge the living and the dead’? 

What do you think that Day will be like? ... for those who are Christians?  ... and for those who aren’t?

Where in the Bible do you go to inform your thinking on this?

When you think of Jesus’ return, what causes you to worship, and what causes you anxiety or fear?

Main Group Discussion:

How familiar are you with the story of the book of Joshua?  What parts of it do you enjoy? ...which parts cause problems for you?

What are the questions you have about the Book of Joshua?  To what extent do you feel you have adequate answers to those questions?

How would you respond to someone who was saying that the reason they couldn’t believe in the God of the Bible was because of the sort of violence they saw in books like Joshua?

Is the Book of Joshua mandating a kind of holy war for the Church?  Is it a slaughter of the innocents?  Is it genocide?

Homework:

Over this half-term we have been working to memorise Matthew 6:1-4. You will have to keep refreshing the rest of the Sermon on the Mount whilst you do this.

(we’ll have memorised the whole of the Sermon on the Mount over the 3 years of DTP)

To Be A Christian: Q&A 25-34

Read Judges 1-16