Joshua: A Man in Whom is the Spirit

Last week we began a study of the Great Generation at our church. Most people think of the WWII generation when we say that. But there is also a “Greatest Generation” in the Bible. In Deut. 1:35 God called the generation that came out of Egypt the “Evil Generation.” They all perished in the wilderness and never entered the Promised Land. Likewise, the first generation after Joshua’s death forsook the Lord and turned after Idols. But there was one generation in between who served the Lord faithfully, followed their godly leader Joshua, and conquered the Promised Land in God’s name. This is what I call the Greatest Generation.

The Leader of the Greatest Generation was an extraordinary man. Joshua was both a Soldier and a Servant. To simply be able to work with Moses as Joshua did would have been an amazing privilege, but Joshua actually succeeded Moses and accomplished things Moses never did. Perhaps the greatest affirmation of Joshua’s spiritual accomplishment is found in Numbers 27:18 “So the LORD said to Moses, "Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.” This was Joshua’s commissioning service. The Lord specifically told Moses, ‘the Spirit is in this man!’ What an affirmation! To have anyone say that is a complement. To have Moses say it at the direction of the Lord, well it just doesn’t get any better than that! Joshua was an amazing man for an amazing time. If only we all had a heart like Joshua that we could declared by God as a man/woman in whom is the Spirit!