Israel learned a very tough lesson, through Achan’s disobedience in Joshua 7.
He took some of the devoted things, set apart for God, from the city of Jericho (Jericho is said to be the oldest inhabited city on earth). Israel had crossed the Jordan and were now in Canaan, the land of God’s Promise to the patriarchs centuries before. The manna had stopped as soon as they ate some of the produce of the land. Israel were now dependent on the land and the conquest of Canaan through Joshua. (God’s chosen leader) They’d taken Jericho and destroyed all the Amorites, except for Rahab and her family. Achan stole some of the devoted things and brought God’s anger on the whole nation. The outcomes of sin are always more far reaching than we can foresee.
20 Achan replied, ‘It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 21 when I SAW in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I COVETED them and TOOK THEM. They are HIDDEN in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.’ Joshua 7
Achan describes the process of his disastrous sin, I SAW, I COVETED (WANTED/DESIRED), I TOOK AND LAST OF ALL, I HID. In Genesis 3:8 we read that Adam and Eve HID from God in the Garden of Eden. Sin loves to HIDE, IT HATES THE LIGHT!
Thank God that we live under a different Covenant today, Jesus’ sacrifice saves us from many consequences of sin.
The late pastor and prophet, Neville Johnson, spoke about the apostle John’s relationship with the Lord when He was still on earth. John was the ‘beloved apostle’ and at the last supper, Peter told John to ask Jesus who was going to betray Him. (John had his head on Jesus’breast) Neville Johnson stated that the Gospels, particularly John and the letters of 1 John 1, 2 and 3 would become more important in latter days. There was no record of John’s death and no grave was ever identified, so John may have been translated like Enoch.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1
John tells us here that we can only walk in the light as we avoid conscious sin. Walking in the Light ensures Fellowship with God and one another AND JESUS’ BLOOD cleanses us from all sin.
Through Achan’s sin, Fellowship with the Lord was broken and the whole nation of Israel was in danger. The sin had to be uncovered and dealt with before any more of their inheritance could be taken.
Walking in the Light is crucial for us as believers today to receive all that the Lord has promised for us. Be quick to obey the prompting of the Spirit, when He convicts of something displeasing to God. Walking in the Light is a key to unbroken Fellowship with the Lord and one another.
God bless and keep you today.