In the concluding part of the series on “Miracles’ within miracles” today, we come into yet another amazing “silent” miracle occurring alongside a “thunderous” one…
Precision Bombing!
Joshua Chapter 10 records one of the most amazing Divine interventions ever in human history when a battle was fought as a part of greater war “the Conquest of Canaan (for understanding the nuances of the subject “Conquest of Canaan” better you may also click on this link http://www.jandsmministries.com/message_jan15_08.asp). NO, NO, here at this stage, I neither intend to focus upon the event of sun and moon stopping in their tracks, consequent to Joshua’s prayers (verses 12-15) nor do I desire to focus exclusively here about the enemies dying on account of the hailstorm (verse 11) which God unleashed upon the fleeing army. In the midst of these greater miracles’, I want to focus upon a “silent miracle” that happened alongside them.
Also lets get straight some of the geo-historical aspects of this miracle, which happened when Joshua and his men were engaged in a battle with five Canaanite kings (Joshua 10:3-11). Close to the scene of the battle at Gibeon was Upper Beth-Horon, about ten miles distant, and approached by a gradual ascent through a long and precipitous ravine.
This was the first stage of the flight of the enemy forces, who realized as the battle progressed that they were no match to Divinely strengthened Joshua’s army. The fugitives had crossed the high ridge of Upper Beth-Horon, and were in full flight down the descent to Beth-Horon the Nether.
The road between the two places is so rocky and rugged that there is a path made by means of steps cut in the rock. Down this pass Joshua continued his victorious rout. Here it was that the Lord interposed, assisting His people by means of a storm, which, having been probably gathering all day, burst with such irresistible fury, that “they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.”
Just as it is recorded in Job 38:22-23, sometimes God uses hailstorm to deadly effect in wars. The Oriental hailstorm is a terrific agent; the hailstones are masses of ice, large as walnuts, and sometimes as two fists; their prodigious size, and the violence with which they fall, make them always very injurious to property, and often fatal to life.
So even as these ” natural bombs” from the skies were raining upon the fleeing army, has it ever occurred to us, where were Joshua and his men? Chasing their enemies, they were certainly not far away! Now did these “Heavenly bombs” fall upon them? NO! Welcome to the age of precision bombing! And those of us who think that precision bombing with guided missiles is a modern-day invention would do well to revise our opinions. Doesn’t this miracle of hailstorm “not falling” upon the chasing Joshua’s army awe us, as much as the miracle of it precisely hitting the scampering foes does? A case of yet another miracle within a miracle! Hallelujah!
By now the readers would have gauged the underlying principle behind all of these miracles. The one of God’s faithful preservation of the faithful ones’ amidst full-scale destruction! Psalmist also shares this sentiment in Psalm 91:7-8. What is the lesson these miracles (more than one, as though to underscore a point) hold for modern-day Christians living oh-so-close to the second coming and subsequent tribulation?
Having come under His saving grace, our present difficulties (varying in degree from person to person) on Earth aside, has God not promised to protect His people?
As a Bible teacher taking special classes on the Book of Revelation, I shudder sometimes, at the very thought of terrible woes awaiting the disobedient world. A detailed study of tribulation woes (Rev 6-19) would also reveal their similarity to the Egyptian woes. For one thing in both the cases it was just not one woe but a series of them. Also do not we see both of them gradually growing up in intensity? That is the second similarity. Then what about their impact on the wicked? Again we notice a similarity. Pharoah did not repent till the end and likewise nor would the wicked during the Tribulation time (Rev 9:20-21, 16:11). No wonder our God is said to be an unchanging God (Heb 13:8). Not only are His ways of dealing with the wicked still the same (intensity of punishment always increases gradually) but more importantly He is just as unchanging when it comes to preserving His faithful ones in the midst of calamities. If He has insulated His chosen ones from troubles in the past, will He not keep up His promise of keeping us insulated from the fiery times ahead? Is this not one more reason to praise our glorious Savior God?
HALLELUJAH…more loudly please. What price any theology, which doesn’t end with doxology!
Prayer: Father, we praise Thee from the bottom of our hearts as the realization sinks in that You are the unchanging One…the One who faithfully protects His Chosen ones’ amidst devastation. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Suresh Manoharan www.jandsmministries.com
(To access the entire “Miracles Within Miracles” mini-series, please click here.)