Rolled Away!

 

“Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.’ So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.” (Joshua 5:9)

Ever had your reproach rolled away?

Reproach is the Hebrew word cherpah, Strongs# 2781 and it means contempt, shame, disgrace, scorn and taunting. The woman at the well knew this rolling away of reproach as she was set free to tell everyone about Jesus. The woman caught in adultery knew also this reproach being rolled away as every man with a stone in their hand dropped it, knowing their own sin, and walked away.

For the Israelites, they had a slave mentality they had to let go of in the wilderness as they gained faith. As they crossed into this new Land of Promise by faith, they were now inheriting the best land. What was in the past was gone and it was a new day. It says that the hearts of the kings in the land melted in fear as the Israelites crossed over into the new land under this miraculous power.

When they crossed over and planted their feet in Gilgal, they set up twelve stones to represent the twelve tribes crossing the Jordan on dry ground. They were to remember that God miraculously planted their feet in this new land. Just as He split the Red Sea, He split and dried up the Jordan before them. Joshua 4:24 says, “He did this so that all the people so the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord Your God.”

As they stepped into the new land, they circumcised themselves to the Lord reflecting the covenant they were receiving. Then they prepared to celebrate Passover as the Lord told Joshua that God had now rolled away their reproach. They had come out of bondage and wondering in the wilderness to a land of Promise and freedom. They were going from eating manna out of the Lord’s hand to eating food from their very own land the Lord was giving them to inherit.

We can read this and struggle to fully get it. There was this huge change and shift that occurred in them as well as their enemies that shuddered with fear. There were even changes in the way they received provision from manna to eating from the land. They were stepping into the promises of God for them by faith. Where they were wandering, preparing to receive the promises, now they were inheriting them.

As they did, they needed to leave the old behind. They probably gladly set aside having to look for water to drink and having to set up the tent all the time. But other things may have been harder to let go of, such as having the cloud covering by day and fire by night. Or how they were fed manna every day.

Part of stepping into the new God has for us is letting go of the old. We have to be willing to set aside what might have been good and rich in the past and look forward to the promises and things set in front of us now so we can fully cross over. If we keep looking back, it is hard to connect with the new God has for us now.

As an example, some four years ago, I stepped into my new job. I enjoy it and there are things that I love greatly about it, like my incredible staff. They are such a gift. I also had to let go of some things and leave them in the old season. I had really great and meaningful friendships with my co-workers. We had tons of fun together, played jokes on each other, worshipped together and supported each other. As I stepped into the new, I had to give up holding onto the old.

To fully enter into what God has for us now, we have to let go of what we had. We can’t sit around and complain about what we no longer have but ask God to help us have eyes to see the fullness of what is now. Even the things we may not like, we need to realize is for our good and find out how best to engage.

For instance, while the Lord gave the Israelites the land as a gift, it came with lots of battles. They had to take the land by faith and expel their enemies. Yet, this land is where they would identify themselves from that day forward as living in the fulfilled promises of God.

When they crossed over, they named the place, Gilgal, representing rolling away the stone of reproach. It is a play on words. “Rolled away” from this verse, Joshua 5:9 related to reproach, is the word galal, Strongs #1556. Galal is the same word that is used for taking away reproach and contempt in Psalm 119:22.

Gilgal is also a play off the word galgal, meaning rolling (whirling) rock (wheel). Galgal, Strongs #1534 means a whirling wheel as in a whirlwind. It is the word used for how God is bringing the glory in Ezekiel 10:2-6.

No coincidence that when Jesus was risen from the dead that they mentioned they rolled away the heavy stone (Mark 16:3-4). This picture of stepping into Gilgal so miraculously, the Promised Land, is a shadow of receiving Christ as our Savior. It is miraculous and filled with glory. Our shame and reproach are taken away and we miraculously get a brand new life.

There is a literal time of crossing over where we step over a threshold in a miraculous way. We enter the bounty of God’s goodness and the past of wandering around the wilderness is wiped away. There is a new beginning and a new, flourishing, and bountiful life.

I knew reproach in my life before I came to know Christ. It was this heavy feeling of toxic shame that I carried with me everywhere before I know the Lord. It was this struggle to feel worthwhile and the voices who always told me I was not enough. It sometimes looked like vomiting in the bathroom after I ate, contemplating suicide and trying to dress in a way that drew acceptance from the world. It was hiding myself behind camouflage of pretending, trying to sink in to the crowd, drinking myself into forgetting who I was, or going along with things just because I had absolutely no voice of my own. I remember even going to a restaurant, getting the wrong meal and not being able to speak up for myself about it.

When the stone rolled away at the tomb, Jesus was risen and all was forgiven. To all who will receive it, He paid the price for all the heavy weight of sin. When we receive Him as Savior, all that reproach and disgrace that we carried with us is washed away off our face and it is a new day. We come under His covenant and step right into the unfolding of the fullness of His promises.

When we cross over, we find ourselves, like the Israelites, on a journey of faith into the unfolding promises of God for ourselves, our families, our nation, and the world around us. Like them, it takes time to wash away the old, be healed of the trauma we held and understand our freedom, but the quicker we do this, the quicker we can embrace fully the new.

The key is keeping our eye on God and fully embracing what He is doing. Joshua was great at lingering in the presence of the Lord until all the old was made new. He knew the Lord’s goodness and wrapped himself up in it. He believed the promises of God, pressing into the purposes of the Lord coming through.

As Joshua stepped out from the place of Gilgal or receiving the covenant promises, he walked right into a man with a drawn sword in his hand. It was the commander of the army of the Lord. He wanted to know who the commander was for, and the commander clearly told him that he was for the Lord and could not be swayed in any other direction.

As we cross over into this Promised Land, we also have to remember that we are seated in heavenly realms. We live between two kingdoms. We still have natural bodies and operate in the natural but we also have been born again into an unseen realm and entirely different Kingdom. We need to be aware of both realms we are operating within.

The message that the commander had for Joshua as he was on the way to Jericho in Joshua 5:15 was, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.”

We are placed in Christ and, as such, are standing on holy ground. It is in Him that we live and move and have our being. We not only inherit the promises of God through the covenant but we are never alone. We are protected and the Lord fights for us our battles as we step forward in the land.

A few things that I notice about this shadow of this Promised Land that we are placed in Christ and set up to flourish:

First, they stepped right into the bounty of the Lord. There was fruitfulness and goodness everywhere. The Lord was giving them the land because He had nothing but goodness at heart for them. It was where He always wanted His people to reside--- in the center of His love for them.

Also, once the people crossed over into the land, anywhere they planted their feet, they were in the promises of the Lord and remained in covenant. They could make mistakes, shrink back and even blatantly sin and they were not immediately evicted from the land. It was only as they continually and repeatedly sinned and became hard hearted, falling into religious rules, that the Lord evicted them for a period of time so they would understand they were off course and repent.

Second, their reproach was removed the minute they entered the land. Failure and sin no longer lead to condemnation and shame. Rather, they are opportunities to learn and grow. Wherever we are in the land, we have a bounty and an opportunity to flourish.

Just this last week, I was really struggling and wanted to quit. I broke a fast and told God I was just done with fasting and praying for good. As I was slammed in a few different directions, I felt broken inside and wanted out. Underneath it all, I knew no other place to turn so I prayed He would help me get back on course. God didn’t get insulted or toss me out, He came to my rescue. He encouraged me and spoke what I needed to hear to get back on course.

God sometimes gives me a picture of my spirit inside of me and I am always on this balance beam. The beam represents the Word of God. As long as I stay on this, it is a safe place to be and I can balance living int two realms. In my picture, I fell off the side. However, I just got right back on again and all was good. All that to say, even falling away, we land safely into His loving hands.

Third, there always seemed to be battles to fight when they were new in the land. There were plenty forces to evict from the land as they cleared it out and made it holy unto the Lord before the land genuinely knew peace.

In the same way, when we first come to know the Lord, there is typically tons that we need to evict. There are all these lies about who we are, trauma from our past, faulty belief systems and unbelief. Step after step, it may seem like a continual battle but, as we trust in the Lord, we will always get the victory and take more land.

Under Solomon was a period of time of rest and peace in the land. Solomon did not fight battles to accomplish this peace but received what his father before him had established. All that to say that as we do the work in our own hearts to evict the lies, sin and disbelief from our lives, we not only impact ourselves but generations after us. We pass on blessing through us to our children.

What we do matters not only for our immediate benefit but in how it serves the generation after us. If we sin terribly, are selfish and are filled with evil, the curses that result can be cut off from our children’s lives by the blood of Jesus. But, blessings can be passed through us to the next generation. Like David, we can serve as a doorway to those following after us to inherit spiritual blessings.

Jesus is a doorway for blessing. He is the Door of Hope. He is the Open Door into the heavenly realms. He is the door of the sheep, where one enters in and finds pasture. This implies that they have all their needs met and are cared for as they enter this door. This door became opened through His suffering on the cross and paying the ultimate payment to set us free.

This brings me to us, as being children of promise, to open the doorway for others to experience this spiritual realm. Harold Eberle, in his book Spiritual Realities, writes of serving as a doorway for spiritual things to enter the natural world by agreement and alignment with this world. He writes, “When the heart, mind and strength are oriented in the same direction, there can be a free flowing of spiritual substance through that person." [1]

Besides with Solomon with an outpouring of glory and peace being experienced through the land, we see this in the new Testament Book of Acts. So what did Solomon have that made this opening? Solomon knew no bloodshed from battles, only goodness. He plunged to discover the depth of it and came up with more. And the Apostles had a direct encounter with Jesus on a day to day basis. They saw his goodness first hand. Then they lived in such a way as to bring alignment with the Kingdom realm for not only themselves but for others around them. As they stepped into their callings and exercised their faith, there became an open heaven above them. They knew how to open the door for others to spiritual realities.

Harold Eberle notes that, “It is not just a casual believer who becomes an open doorway, but one with wholehearted belief throughout their beings.” He goes on to note that this does not come casually. In some cases, the person has suffered extreme circumstances where they remained believing and trusting, or believed over a long time until every fiber of their being came into alignment. [2]

Just like Jesus on the cross, as we imitate him and become like him, it is in our weaknesses and sufferings that the power of God is displayed. Eberle notes, “Pressure, trials, suffering, extended difficulties, continual exposure, etc., are often the environments through which a person in formed into an open doorway.”

“Here in the power of Christ we stand” sings.

I would like to add that it is not just difficulty in their lives that made them a doorway for others, but finding God at the end of their rope. When there was no more of themselves, there was more of God. They fully embraced the goodness of God and so could maintain a loving trust in all situations.

Lord, we long to be more of a doorway into the Kingdom realm for others. Forgive us for doubting your goodness when things get hard. Keep us balanced upon Your word and trusting in Your goodness. Help us to fully embrace all that is before us and not look back.

1-2. Eberle, Harold R. Spiritual Realities: The Spiritual, Mystical, and Supernatural. Worldcast Publishing. Yakima, Washington, USA.