“Let’s Go Back to Gilgal” (Joshua 5:9-12) - 4th Sunday in Lent –

What Is Gilgal?

There are some places in our life that are special to us. If you were born here, Houlton or Hodgdon is a very special place. If you came to Christ here in this place, this church is a very meaningful place. For Israel, Gilgal was a place of special meaning to them. It was the place that Israel kept going back to while they were conquering the Promised Land. It was their base camp. Why is Gilgal so special to the Israelites? It is because there they experience God personally for the first time. As we know, the Israelites in the Book of Joshua are the second generation. The first generation who had a Red Sea experience all died in the wilderness. These second generation always heard about it from their parents, but now they themselves cross the Jordan miraculously. As soon as the priests’ feet touch the water, the flow of water are cut off upstream and the river stands up like a wall. After this, God commands them to set up the twelve stones in the middle of the Jordon at the very spot. The purpose is this: “He (Joshua) did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you (Israel) might always fear the Lord your God” (Joshua 4:24). Every time the Israelites went to war, they visited this place and looked at the twelve stones. After the war, they revisited this place and remembered God. They kept going back to this place.

At Gilgal

At Gilgal, not only does God command them to set up the twelve stone externally, but also he commands them to be circumcised. What is circumcision? It signifies purity. It signifies the removal of sin and holiness to the Lord. We need to remember that now the Israelites are in wartime. They already sent spies to Jericho, and anytime now the war may begin. God knows this, but he commands the Israelites to be circumcised. That means they are to be disarmed and vulnerable for several days. That means they are to be exposed to the risk of the enemy’s surprise attack. We can learn a very important lesson from this: It teaches us that as we do God’s work (or spiritual battle), what we really need is purity and holiness to the Lord more than any other practical preparations. In Psalm 19:13 David confesses, “Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.” We cannot stand against our enemies until we remove our sins. Let us examine our hearts. And let us cut off the old self – old habits, unhealthy patterns of life.

Under Joshua’s leadership, the Israelites obey God. They are circumcised and consecrate themselves. And they celebrate the Passover and remember God. Then, what happens? God intervenes in the battles and fights for Israel. We say, “The battle doesn’t belong to us, but to God.” But how many times do we fight our battles with our own strength and wisdom? When the Israelites were circumcised and consecrated themselves, God did intervene and fight for them. It was God who knocked down the wall of Jericho and gave the city. It was God who stopped the sun and the moon for Israel. And it was God who hurled large hailstones and destroyed the enemies. The Israelites didn’t need to fight. How can we fight “mountains beyond mountains” challenges of life? We cannot. In fact, we don’t need to fight. Our part is to repent and remove our sins. When we consecrate ourselves, God works for us.

Back to Gilgal

The Israelites keep going back to Gilgal. They keep returning to Gilgal where they encountered God for the first time. They keep returning to Gilgal to remember what the Lord has done for them, how he brought them into the Promised Land with his mighty hand, and how he did save them and fight for them. The word “Gilgal” sounds like the Hebrew for roll. In Joshua 5:9 when the Israelites are circumcised, the Lord says to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place begins to be called Gilgal since then. God wants us to come back to our Gilgal. God wants us to remember what he has done for us, how he saved us, how he raised us, how he healed us, how he was extremely patient with us who were ungrateful, and how he leads us up to this point.

The Apostle Paul always remembered his Gilgal and kept coming back to that place. As he was preaching the gospel, he went through countless hardships. If he wanted, he had an ability to persuade people with words of human wisdom. But he said, “I resolved to know nothing (while I was with you) except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2), because he found his source of strength and hope in Christ alone. At the first opportunity he preached Christ and him crucified. There were two occasions when Paul had a chance to speak for himself – before the people of Israel (Acts 22) and before King Agrippa (26). But both times, he didn’t speak for himself. Instead, he did bear witness to Christ whom he encountered on the way to Damascus. Damascus was Paul’s Gilgal. He revisited that place over and over again and remembered the first hour he believed.

Remember Ai

There was one single battle that Israel was defeated. The battle of Ai was the only defeat of Israel. Why were the Israelites defeated? Achan took some of the things devoted to God. But that was not the only reason. The more significant reason is this: “pride” among the whole community of Israel. You see, as they were going to war, they said to Joshua, “Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there” (Joshua 7:3). Somehow they totally forgot how the city of Jericho was captured. They forgot how God did fight for them. And they thought, “I defeated Jericho. And I can do it again for the city of Ai.” They forgot their Gilgal. And when they forgot, they were completely defeated. There is a power in remembrance.

So, let us go back to Gilgal. Lent is a perfect time to do this. Now is the time to revisit our Gilgal and reexamine our relationship with Christ. Now is the time to cut off the old self and consecrate ourselves. Now is the time to remember what Christ has done for me. “Christ died for me, that I who live should no longer live for myself, but for him who died for me, and was raised again” (cf. 2 Cor 5:15). Amen.