"The Sound of the Trumpet" -- Judges 6:8-26

The Eighth in a Series of Sermons on the Book of Joshua

On a number of occasions, the people of Israel witnessed YHWH’s miraculous power first hand.  Now they will witness the massive walls of the city of Jericho collapse before their very eyes.  The city of Jericho, which is the main obstacle preventing Israel from taking of all Canaan, will be no more.  Israel’s stunning victory over Jericho will be yet another sign to God’s people that he keeps his promises, while at the same time the fall of Jericho is also a sign to all of the inhabitants of Canaan that YHWH is about to give Israel that land he had promised to give them centuries before.  When the seven trumpets sound seven times and the people of Israel offer up a great shout, YHWH will not only bring down the walls of Jericho, he is putting the nations of the earth on notice.  YHWH is Lord of all the nations of the earth, whether they acknowledge him or not.

The fall of Jericho is certainly one of the best known events in all the Old Testament.  While many only remember this story from their Sunday school days, few people see the fall of Jericho as an important biblical event designed to point God’s people ahead to the day of final judgment.  But when placed within the context of the overall story of redemption, the fall of Jericho is both the sign that Israel will possess the whole of the land of promise, and at the same time serves as a warning that a day of final judgment is yet to come upon all those nations who reject YHWH.  What happens to Jericho when the trumpets sound and the people shout is a graphic picture of what will happen on the last day in human history when the angel sounds the seventh trumpet and there is a loud shout in heaven.

But this same event is also used by enemies of Christianity to show, supposedly, the cruelty and bloodthirsty character of the God of the Old Testament.  When seen through the eyes of faith, the fall of Jericho is one of those events in which we clearly see the holiness of God as he severely punishes those who reject him and who are without excuse.  But the fall of Jericho is also an event to which those who reject God will point as a sign of how unfair God is and how he has no right to be so cruel to innocent men, women and children.  This is why this why the enemies of Christ so glibly dismiss this account as mythological.  This is also why we must see the fall of Jericho in its redemptive historical context–it is not just a Sunday School story–and why we must remind those who mock God and his Christ that the fall of Jericho is a graphic warning to them of what will happen at the end of the age.  Mock God all you wish, but remember what happened at Jericho will happen to all the nations of the earth on the last day.

To read the rest of this sermon, click here