Whose Side Are You On? Text: Joshua 5:13-15
Introduction: The Wrong Question
We come now to a pivotal moment, not just for Israel, but for every Christian who has ever faced a Jericho. Israel has crossed the Jordan on dry ground. The men have been circumcised at Gilgal, rolling away the reproach of Egypt. They have celebrated the Passover in the land of promise. They are, for all intents and purposes, ready for war. The first great obstacle, the fortress city of Jericho, lies before them, mocking them with its high walls. Joshua, the dutiful general, is surveying the city, likely contemplating strategy, siege ramps, and battle formations.
And it is in this moment of human planning and military assessment that he is interrupted by a divine reality. He looks up, and there stands a man with a drawn sword. Joshua, being the faithful commander he is, immediately issues a challenge. It is the essential question of all warfare, the fundamental question of all politics, the question that drives every partisan squabble and every international conflict: "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" Whose side are you on? Are you with us, or are you with them?
This is the question that every fallen human heart wants to ask God. We want to recruit God to our side. We want to get God to wear our jersey, wave our flag, and endorse our campaign. We want to know if the Almighty is a Republican or a Democrat, if He is for our particular tribe, our nation, our pet project. We want to enlist Him as the divine muscle for our earthly endeavors. And the answer that Joshua receives is a thunderclap that should rattle every one of our self-assured presuppositions. The answer is "No."
That "No" is one of the most important words in the Old Testament. It is a categorical reframing of all reality. The Commander of Yahweh's army does not come to take sides. He comes to take over. The central question of the universe is not whether God is on our side, but whether we are on His. This encounter is designed to strip Joshua, and us, of all pretensions of being in charge. Before the first stone is thrown at Jericho, Israel's human commander must be brought to his knees before the true Divine Commander. Before there can be any victory in the land, there must first be absolute, unconditional surrender in the heart of the leader.
The Text
Now it happened when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” He said, “No! Rather I indeed come now as commander of the host of Yahweh.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and bowed down and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his slave?” The commander of the host of Yahweh said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
(Joshua 5:13-15 LSB)
The Confrontation and the Question (v. 13)
We begin with the sudden appearance and the natural, but mistaken, challenge.
"Now it happened when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, 'Are you for us or for our adversaries?'" (Joshua 5:13)
Joshua is doing his job. He is a general preparing for a siege. He sees an unknown warrior, armed and ready for battle, and he does what any good leader would do. He confronts the potential threat and demands to know his allegiance. There is courage here, and faithfulness to his post. He does not shrink back. He walks right up to a figure with a drawn sword.
But his question, while understandable, reveals a fundamentally man-centered perspective. "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" The universe, in this view, is divided into two camps: "us" and "them." And this unknown variable, this powerful warrior, must fit into one of those two boxes. Joshua assumes that he, Joshua, is the fixed point around which allegiances are to be determined. He is the one defining the terms of the conflict.
This is the default setting of the sinful heart. We place ourselves, our families, our churches, our nations at the center of the story and then try to sort everyone else, including God, into columns of "for us" or "against us." We do this in our politics, we do it in our church disputes, and we do it in our personal relationships. We want God to be our cosmic ally against our enemies, the one who will vindicate our cause. But God does not audition for the role of mascot.
The Divine Correction (v. 14)
The response Joshua receives utterly demolishes his framework. It is not an answer to his question, but a correction of it.
"He said, 'No! Rather I indeed come now as commander of the host of Yahweh.' And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and bowed down and said to him, 'What has my lord to say to his slave?'" (Joshua 5:14)
The warrior's answer is "No." Some translations render this as "Neither," but the force of the Hebrew is a flat negation of the entire premise. The question itself is illegitimate. I am not here to join your army; you are here to join Mine. I am not here to align with your program; I am here to announce My own. "I indeed come now as commander of the host of Yahweh."
Who is this commander? This is no mere angel. We know this for two reasons. First, He accepts worship. When Joshua falls on his face and bows down, the commander does not rebuke him, as the angel does to John in Revelation ("See that you do not do that... Worship God!" Rev. 22:9). Second, in the very next verse, He declares the ground holy because of His presence, echoing the very words Yahweh spoke to Moses from the burning bush. This is a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son of God. This is the eternal Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, appearing as the supreme general of the armies of Heaven.
The "host of Yahweh" refers to the angelic armies of heaven. Joshua may be the commander of Israel's earthly army, but he is a mere lieutenant. He is standing before the five-star General of the cosmos, the true King who wages war. And Joshua's response is immediate and correct. The moment he understands who this is, his entire posture changes. The challenger becomes a worshipper. The commander becomes a slave. His question shifts from "Whose side are you on?" to "What has my lord to say to his slave?" This is the great turning point. This is true submission. He stops giving orders and starts taking them. He relinquishes command. This is the necessary prerequisite for any true spiritual victory. You must first be conquered by Christ before you can conquer for Him.
The Consecrated Ground (v. 15)
The first command given by the Divine Commander is not a battle plan for Jericho. It is a call to reverence and an acknowledgment of holiness.
"The commander of the host of Yahweh said to Joshua, 'Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.' And Joshua did so." (Joshua 5:15)
This command deliberately and powerfully connects this moment to Moses' encounter with God at Horeb (Exodus 3:5). The same God who commissioned Moses is now commissioning Joshua. The God of the burning bush is the God of the drawn sword. This is a massive theological affirmation. The authority has been transferred, but the God remains the same. The God who delivered Israel from Egypt is the same God who will now lead them into the land. His covenant faithfulness endures from generation to generation.
But what does it mean? Why remove the sandals? To remove one's sandals was an act of humility and reverence. You are entering a holy space, a throne room, and you do not clomp in with the filth of the world on your feet. It is an acknowledgment that the ground is not made holy by the location, but by the presence of the Holy One. Wherever God is, that place is sanctified. It is a temple. This patch of dirt outside a pagan fortress has just become the Holy of Holies because the King has arrived.
This act is a physical demonstration of Joshua's inward surrender. He is stripping himself of his own standing, his own authority, his own preparedness. He is standing before God exposed, vulnerable, and entirely dependent. Before God gives him the strategy for the walls of Jericho to fall down, He first requires the walls of Joshua's self-reliance to fall down. The battle for Jericho will not be won by military might, but by reverent, obedient faith. And that kind of faith begins here, on your face, with your shoes off, asking, "What does my Lord say to His slave?"
Conclusion: The Battle is the Lord's
This brief, profound encounter sets the stage for the entire conquest of Canaan, and indeed, for the entire Christian life. The central lesson is this: the victory is not yours to win, but His to give. Our task is not to formulate clever strategies and then ask God to bless them. Our task is to report for duty, to submit to our Commanding Officer, and to obey His orders, no matter how strange they may seem.
Think of the orders that followed. March around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day, march around it seven times, have the priests blow trumpets, and then have everyone shout. From a military perspective, this is ludicrous. It is strategically insane. But from the perspective of what happened in Joshua 5, it is perfectly logical. The point was to demonstrate that the battle belonged entirely to the Lord. Israel's only role was to trust and obey. Their victory was not in their strength, but in their submission.
This is the paradigm for all our spiritual warfare. We face impossible Jerichos in our lives, in our families, in our culture. We see high walls of sin, of rebellion, of institutional wickedness. And our first instinct, like Joshua's, is to ask, "God, are you on our side in this fight?" We want Him to back our political party, our social agenda, our strategic plan for cultural renewal.
And the Lord meets us with His sword drawn and says, "No. That is the wrong question." The question is, are you on My side? Have you surrendered your will, your plans, your pride? Have you fallen on your face and acknowledged that you are the slave and I am the Lord? Have you taken off your shoes, recognizing that any ground where you stand in obedience to Me is holy ground?
Only when we have done this are we ready for battle. Only when we have been conquered by the Captain of our salvation are we fit to be part of His conquering army. He does not come to take sides; He comes to take over. And our only proper response is to fall at His feet, worship Him, and say, "What has my Lord to say to His slave?" For when we do that, the walls will fall.