The greatest miracle in the Old Testament occurred when Joshua commanded the sun and moon to stand still, halting the day to allow Israel to defeat their enemies. This event, detailed in Joshua 10, demonstrates God's power over creation and his intervention on behalf of his people. The sermon contrasts the five Amorite kings, led by Adonai Zedek (meaning 'Lord of Righteousness'), who attacked Gibeon for siding with Israel, with Melchizedek, the true king of Salem who blessed Abraham. The miraculous halting of the sun and moon served as a divine sign against the sun and moon-worshipping Amorites, affirming God's sovereignty. The sermon concludes by urging believers to recognize God's ultimate control and seek his wisdom in their lives.
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I'd like to ask you to turn to the book of Joshua again, please, if you will. And chapter ten. Joshua chapter ten. Now it came to pass when Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, had heard how that Joshua had taken A.I. and had utterly destroyed it, as he had done to Jericho and her king. So he did to Ai and her king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them, that they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.
Wherefore, Adonai Zedek, king of Jerusalem, sent unto Hoham king of Habern, and unto Chiron, king of Jarmoth, and unto Japhire, king of Lakers, and unto Deba, king of Eglon, saying, Come up unto me and help me, that we may smite Gideon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmoth, the king of Lakers, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together. and they went up and all their hosts and encamped before Gideon and made war against it.
And many of Gideon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants, come up to us quickly and save us, and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us. So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him and all the mighty men of valor. And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not, for I have delivered them into thy hands. There shall not a man of them stand before thee. Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly and went up from Gilgal all night. And the Lord discomforted them before Israel and slew them with a great slaughter at Givion, and chased them along the way that goes to Beth Horan, and smote them to Azekar and unto Maccadar.
And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Beth Horan, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them, and to Ezekiel, and they died. They were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel flew with the saws. Then spoke Joshua to the Lord, in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. And he said in the sight of Israel, Son, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Adela. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies.
Is not this written in the book of Jeshah? so the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day. There was no day like that before it or after it that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man for the Lord fought for Israel. Now here tonight we have if I dare to say it, the greatest miracle that ever happened in the Old Testament. We know from the Word of God here that Joshua commanded the elements, the sun and the moon, to pause in their orbit.
and to obey him after he had spoken to the Lord. It's a fascinating thing. And the more you think about it, the more fascinated you become with this. And the more true it comes to each one of our hearts the mighty power of God. And how, as we sang together, and we do so very often, How great thou art. As I look into this chapter, I see so much in there that I trust the Spirit of God will help me to bring to your notice in the time that we have.
I want you to notice too that there was a certain satanic influence mightily at work here. as we look into this chapter together. The total defeat of the Amorites. Now for those of you that haven't been here when we've talked about this and talked about the preceding chapters in the book of Joshua, we know that God told Abraham that one day in the fourth generation he would bring the nation of Israel to this place to execute judgment upon this idolatrous and wicked people. And now God was doing it in exactly the time that he said to Abraham way back there in the early chapters of Genesis.
Now why does the Spirit of God tell us so plainly here in this chapter the names of these five kings It's not without definite reason. And of course, every word on the sacred page is pregnant with meaning. For those of us that would take the word of God and study it, word for word, verse for verse, and chapter for chapter, we find how great is the Spirit of God as it lays these things for our notice upon the sacred page.
Now, these people from Gideon had come under the shelter of the forces of Israel. They had become in some way a part. We know that it was deceit that brought them, but then we know too that the grace of God overruled that and saved these people, and now they became a charge of the nation of Israel. And the nation of Israel would afterwards and would then reap the fruits of their failure to ask God about it in the first place. How important it is for us to take counsel at the word of God and before the throne of grace.
Now notice five kings. And these five kings went up against Gibeon because they had made peace with Joshua and because they had owned the God of Israel. Now you see, anywhere where there is a standing for the things of God, the forces of evil are arrayed against it. We know that today. I heard someone on the radio say that we're living in a day today when some of the most wicked men, some of the most unrighteous men, are putting themselves up before the public as those that are righteous.
That's the day in which we're living. And this is the way that Satan is concentrating his attacks on God's people. This Adonai Zedek. Isn't it an amazing thing that his name means the Lord of righteousness? That's the meaning of his name. Isn't it more amazing to think that he's the king of Salem? And Salem means the peace. The king of Jerusalem. The king of Salem. Isn't it just amazing that the first king that he contacts to join him in his attack on those that have sided and made peace with God's people is the king of Hebron.
The very place of the patriarchs, the very place where Caleb said, give me this mountain, the very place that stood for all that God meant in his power and in his glory to the nation of Israel. I want you to see how that Satan brings these people who once named the name of God and named the name of the God of Israel in force unitedly against the people that had made peace with God's people. Now I want you to notice a tremendous contrast here.
And I want you to go with me just in thought now to the five kings in Genesis fourteen. Now those of you that study the scriptures know that when Abraham was drawn into this conflict, not willingly, Abraham was separate from these people. But now he was drawn into a conflict with five kings. Just as Joshua was drawn unwittingly into a conflict with five kings of the same caliber, those that had shaken their fist in the face of God, and Satan was using them.
Now Melchizedek, the king of righteousness the king of Salem the king of peace you see the comparison here now that this man in Joshua chapter ten has a name almost identical with Melchizedek and I want you to notice the devil's counterfeit here and his ability to direct his guile and his venom against the people of God.
But what a difference. The five kings that went against Gibeon, they brought nothing but malice. and deceit and desperation to the people of God. The King of Salem, the Lord of righteousness, what a travesty, what a sham. And that's what we have as we watch even in this day in which we live the inroads of Satan against God's people.
What did Melchizedek bring? Well, he brought bread and wine and blessing to Abraham. Now you see what truth will bring. You see what the godly man will bring. You see what the ungodly man will bring and what he will direct his venom against God's people for. Now Melchizedek brought bread and wine.
This is not the sacramental bread and wine. This is the bread to strengthen the patriarch. This is the wine to encourage and to cheer him. And the blessing that he brought was the blessing that God alone could give. The king-priest of God bestowing the blessing upon Abraham in the face of the attack of the five kings. But now, watch this carefully. Melchizedek did not come when Abraham was in pursuit of Kedelioma.
Do you notice that? He came when the king of Sodom was in pursuit of Abraham. And this is what you must notice in every dealing of Satan and all his wilds. You see, when Abraham went out against the five kings, He was triumphant because he was a man of God. He was separated from God on the plains of Mamre, and he depended on God. Melchizedek had no need to go to him with the bread and the wine and the blessing when he went there. But when he came back, he was going to receive a satanic attack from the king of Sodom and that's exactly the moment that Melchizedek came to him and spread his feast of bread and wine on the desert floor and blessed him with the blessings of God.
Let me say this. Abraham was in more danger from the king of Sodom than he was from the other five kings. Now I hope you can see that. Because the king of Sodom said, look Abraham, I want to rejoice with you. He said, you take all the goods, all the spoil, and just leave us the people. And you can hear the hith of the servant there. He wanted to fill Abraham's tent with all the things of Sodom.
And it was at that point where Melchizedek came with this lovely ministry. I want you to notice that it's very, very important. And he blesses Abraham. And Abraham said to him, he said, I have lifted up my hand to the possessor of heaven and earth. the Almighty God. Abraham had seen the wonders of God. He'd seen the majesty of God. And he was at that particular point turning his back on the things of Sodom. They had warned Lot.
Lot came out of the city of Sodom with nothing in his hand because the angel had hold of that one hand and he had hold of his family with the other. But now we see these five kings going up to make war with Gibeon. Now Joshua had to stand by his league bargain. He had made a league with Gibeon. He had to stand by it.
They said, Joshua, as they went down to kill God, where Joshua was. Blessed his heart, that's where he always was with his people. They went down there and said, Slack not your hand for a moment, come and rescue us from the hand of all the kings of the Amorites are gathered together against us. And that's just exactly what God wanted. Because the iniquity of the Amorites at that time was overflowing. And the harvest had passed, the summer had ended, and judgment was about to fall upon them.
And he went up all night to rescue the people from the city of Debian. Now as he went about, God told him he would be triumphant. Fear them not. I've given them all into your hands, Joshua. Don't fear them. Joshua went up and he pursued them. He drove them to flight. But then he spoke to the Lord. I think that's lovely. As I read that, my ponderance, Joshua spoke on that day to the Lord.
And facing the sun, at the zenith of its strength on that day, he said, Sun, stand still upon Gideon, and thou moon in the valley of Agilat. Now the word of God says, there never was a day like that, either before or since. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine a man? that could speak to his God and stop the sun in its course. It had never been done before. It had never been done since.
It was darkened at Calvary, but it never was stopped as it was on that day. And it was because of the iniquity of the Amorites that God was bringing certain judgment upon. Now, as they thought to escape, the word of God says that the Lord reigned stones from heaven upon them, and so far more of them with those stones than ever the sword of Joshua did. Now listen, this is exactly what is going to happen when the trumpet judgments come upon the nations of the ungodly in the book of Revelation, chapter eight.
God is going to rain, hail stones upon them to annihilate them in his wrath against the Christ. rejecting nations. I want you to notice the power of God. Now you see, these Amorite nations, they worship the sun and they worship the moon. They, in the sun, after all, in the moon, God was showing those people that he was the possessor of heaven and earth, just as it was said in Genesis chapter fourteen, to the other five kings was demonstrated to them that he was in complete control and that he was going to, in his hand of judgment, bring judgment upon the Amorites for their wickedness and for their idolatry.
I want you to notice that that Satan tries at all angles to frustrate the purposes of God. Did it when he sent the king of Sodom after God's man Abraham. That Abraham wouldn't listen. He did it when he sent the five kings of the Amorites against Joshua. Joshua had been deceived by the Gibeonites, but now he was able to speak to the Lord. And stay the sun at the middle of the day. Wonderful miracle. Now notice the infallibility of the word of God.
You notice in your Bibles it says that the sun hasted not to go down about the space of a whole day. Now I understand that science has found out that there's a missing day in the record of time. And it's here. But it wasn't a whole day. Because the Word of God said it was about a whole day. Now, if we go into the second book of Kings, We have Isaiah the prophet standing before Hezekiah.
And Hezekiah begged for more time. Being desperately ill, God had sent Isaiah to him to tell him that God was going to raise him up and that he would live on for many more years. And the king said, I want to see a sign, a sign. Isaiah said, you want the sun, you want the shadow to go onward, ten degrees, or backward, ten degrees. Dear old Hezekiah said it would be a light thing for it to go forward because it was already doing that. But to go backward, ten degrees on the sun dial, was only something that the hand of God could do, only something that the one that was in possession of heaven and earth and in control of the universe could do.
And it was done for Hezekiah on that day. Now I did know at one time what ten degrees on the sundial was in those days. Now the sundial of Ahaz had come from Babylon. It was a Babylonish thing. Another one of the things. that Satan had introduced before God's people. So God took that very thing that came out of Babylon. He took that very thing and made the shadow go backward, ten degrees on the sundial of Ahaz, to complete the full twenty-four hour cycle, to prove to heaven and earth and hell and all the idolatrous nations that God was in control, that he was the mighty God, that he was the possessor of heaven and earth.
It's a wonderful miracle. We think about it. We read about it many times. We're amazed at it. But, oh, don't you see, behind all this was the hits of the serpent. And we ought to watch for it today. We ought to watch for it today. There are a lot of things abroad in this world in which we live that are passing for righteousness today. The Lord of righteousness would raise up his head today, but the people of God should never be deceived.
As we look into the word of God and as we bow our heads and hearts before the possessor of heaven and earth, like Joshua, we'll be able to speak to the Lord. We won't ever be able to ask for what he asked for. But God knows we can ask for wisdom today, to be able to live well-pleasing for him and to be able to own in our heart that he is the possessor of heaven and earth, and that he is our great God. How great thou art our God shall pray.
Our Father, we thank thee then for these wonderful things that are recorded in thy word and how little we've been able to say about them tonight, the thoughts of our hearts, the thoughts that thou would bring to us, how little we've been able to say about them. But, oh, our God, we just pray that thou would instill upon each one of our hearts that God is a great God, a mighty God in control of everything today, and that we belong to him, and we should be glad to be beneath his control. Oh, Father, again, remember the prayer requests.
Remember the dear sick ones that would be here tonight if they possibly could. Lord, bless them. We pray thee. And we give thee thanks for our being here tonight. We thank thee for our country. We thank thee for the success that it has had today. But, O our God, we pray that knees in high places might be bowed to acknowledge that God is sovereign in all his ways. So we give thee thanks as we depart one from the other. In the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.