Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-02-12

Golden Text: "Not one thing hath
failed of all the good things which
jehovah your God spoke concerning
YOU" Joshua 23:14:
The death of Moses just on the
eve OF the Isralites entering the land
or promise was a great blow to
them. The men in that great com.
pany-over 100000 of them, 20 years
old and up-had never known any
other leader, for during their forty
/ years Of wandering in the wilder.
ness all the men of that age, who
had come out of Egypt had died
except two, and these who were then
children unborn, had taken their
places.
But while the worker dies the
work goes on. During all of these
years God had been preparing a
successor to His servant Moses,
who was none other than the serv-
ant of Moses, Joshua, Of the tribe
of Ephraiam. Just after leaving
/ Egypt he was chosen as the military
leader of the nation and had been
used of God to win a signal victory
in their first encounter-with the
AmelelSites at Rephidim. He must
therefore have been mature man
at that time; for no mere STRIPPING
would have been chosen for so i'm
portant a post. At Sinai he had gone
UP into the mountain with Moses
and had remained there during the
/. forty days that Moses spent speak
\ ing with God face to face, although
Fshuar himself did not go to the
- with his master. That period of
Waiting must have had wonder
full influence on his after-life.
AT Kadish-Borneo he was one of
the twelve headsmen who were
chosen to go in and make an esti-
mate of the work to be done in TAX
ing the land, and he was one of the
two who gave the minority report,
which prompted the people to de-
sire his death by stoning. And he
and Caleb were the only two adults
who left Egypt who were permitted
to enter Canaan. During the years
of wilderness experience we have no
mention of Joshua, but we know
that as Moses minister he was in
close touch with all the nations
successes and failures. Just before
his death Moses has chosen him to
take UP the work which he has not
been able to complete, but which he
had been doing for forty years. 1t
was no easy task, it is never an
easy task to follow a successful
leader
"Now after the death of Moses
the bondslave of Jehovah. it came
to pass that Jehovah spake unto
Joshua the son of Nun, Moses at.
tendant, saying"
Here was the secret of Johua's
success, here was the reason he was
willing and able to take up the work
Moses had laid down and carry 1t
to a successful coinpletion-God
called him. Notice the promises God
made to him, the requirements He
made Of him and the assurances He
gave him.
His orders were to arise and go
over this Jordan. Mind you, at this
time, the ford, which was ordinarily
about or feet deep and only
few yards wide was now a raging
torrent over a mile wide and more
than a hundred feet deep! "Arise
and go over this Jordan, thou and
all this people, into the land which
1 do give to them, even to the chill
dren Of Israel They were not to
win it; it was to be a gift to them
from Him, and gifts are not won.
They must be received. Every place
that the sole of their foot trod upon
was the only condition.
The borders of the land, this gift,
were to reach from the wilderness
on the south to Lebanon on the
north, from the Euphrates on the
east to the Mediterranean On the
west. No man should be able to
stand against them, for "as so"
las I was with Moses, so I will be
with thee "Only% the strong and
very courageous, that thou mayest
observe to do according to all the
law" Here was the secret of
Joshua's success, and it will be the
secret of yours. This book of the
law shall not depart out of thy
mouth; but thou shalt mediate
therein day and night, that thou
rnayest observe to do according to
all that is written therein; for then
thou shalt make thy way prosperous,
and then thou shalt have good sue
cess"
The only way for Joshua to keep
in close touch with God, the source
of power, was through meditation
in, and observance of, this book"
Joshua knew it was Gods word and
followed it. Out what Of the thou
sands today who are questioning it's
authority and doubling it's source
and neglecting to mediate upon and
observe its teachings? Can there be
any hope OF success hereO
The remainder of the book OF
- JoTnua is.a record of how he obeyed
taes call. The first eleven chapters
lyme story of his leading the peo-
pie into Canaan and taking posses
sion of 1t; the next eleven chapters
tell Of how he divided it to the diff
.ferent tribes; and the last two chap
ters give his parting words to this
people just before his death, in
which he recited how God had led
them and the necessity for their fol-
lowing and obeying His law if they
were to retain what they had re-
ceived.
Immediately after receiving his
call Joshua notified the people to