October 21, 2025 - Joshua 6:16 - "Salvation Typified"

Joshua 6:16

 "And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city."

The scene of Jericho is not a story of human conquest but a revelation of Divine salvation. The LORD Himself had already given the city into Joshua’s hand before a single wall had fallen. This was not man’s work but God’s. Salvation is typified here in The LORD Jesus Christ, our greater Joshua, Who stands as the Captain of our salvation, and the victory is His.

The ark of the covenant went before the people. That ark represents the sacrifice of our LORD Jesus Christ. Wherever the ark went, the people followed. So the believer follows Christ crucified, trusting in His blood and righteousness alone for his salvation. There is no salvation apart from the ark, representing Christ, the Mercy Seat. The preaching of the cross, like the blowing of the ram’s horns, goes before the ark continually, declaring that salvation is the LORD’s.

The priests blew the trumpets. Those horns were made from the sacrificial ram, speaking of the death of Christ. It is through the proclamation of His death that the walls of man’s proud heart come down. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds" (2 Corinthians 10:4). The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). The continual sound of the trumpet is the constant preaching of Christ and Him crucified. Paul said, “I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). That is the message that brings victory. Every other message is vain noise, but the sound of the Gospel brings the shout of faith. When Joshua commanded the people, “Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city,” it was not a shout of uncertainty but a shout of triumph in what God had already done. So the believer rejoices, not in what he can accomplish, but in what Christ has finished.

The walls of Jericho represent the stronghold of sin and unbelief. No human power can bring them down. Marching around them day after day shows that human effort cannot accomplish salvation. The walls fall only at God’s appointed time, through His appointed way. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.” The shout of faith is the echo of grace. It declares, “The Lord hath given us the city.”

The seventh day, the Sabbath, was the day of victory. That day of rest points us to Christ, Who is our Sabbath (Hebrews 4:9-10). When He cried, “It is finished,” the walls of sin fell flat. His people entered into rest. The LORD Jesus is our Joshua, leading His redeemed into the inheritance prepared for them. Rahab’s deliverance that day was not chance; it was sovereign grace. She was saved through the shed blood of the sacrificial lambs, looking forward to the LORD Jesus' death, but pictured in type in the scarlet cord, the token of redemption through His blood. Rahab believed the message sent by God, which was evidence of God's work of grace already in her. Her separation from the accursed city was the LORD’s work in her. The city was devoted to destruction, yet within it God had a chosen vessel of mercy. So in every age, when judgment falls, there is salvation for those under the scarlet sign of the blood.

Joshua said, “The city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD.” God’s way of salvation leaves no room for compromise. Everything that does not glorify Christ must be destroyed. 2 Corinthians 6:17, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate.” Salvation brings separation, because grace makes all things new. The shout at Jericho was a shout of faith, a shout of victory, a shout of rest in Christ. It proclaimed that the LORD had done it all. The same shout rises from every redeemed heart—Christ has conquered. The LORD hath given us the city. The LORD hath given us salvation.