WBR 2025-26 - Session 4 - Walls in the Way

We’re continuing our journey through the book of Joshua, and today we’re arriving at the first major battle. Does anyone remember what that first battle was?

Jericho.

Jericho is one of those stories that shows up everywhere — even in popular culture — but today we want to slow down and really look at what it means. Because sometimes, in our own lives, we hit walls. Moments where it feels like there’s something standing directly in the way of where God is leading us.

And for many of you, a lot has happened this year. There’s been joy, growth, encouragement — but also loss, disappointment, grief, and struggle. That mix of momentum and heaviness isn’t new. The people Joshua was leading felt the same tension.

Think about it. They had just crossed the Jordan River. God stopped the water and led them across on dry ground — just like He had done at the Red Sea. Moses was gone. Joshua was now the leader. And God was making it unmistakably clear: I am with you, just as I was with Moses.

This was a moment full of excitement — but also anxiety.

Joshua was stepping into new responsibility, just like some of you are. Maybe God has given you opportunities to lead, speak, serve, or influence others — at church, in your family, or back home. New leadership always comes with anticipation, but it also brings pressure.

And yet God’s instruction to Joshua wasn’t complicated. He didn’t say, “Go build a strategy.” He said, Be strong and courageous.

This land they were entering wasn’t new. God had promised it to Abraham generations earlier. But the first generation that left Egypt never made it in. They saw the land, saw the giants, and let fear decide. Because of that, they wandered for forty years until that generation passed away.

Now this was a new generation — sons who had grown up hearing stories of both promise and failure. They carried the weight of the past, but they were standing at the edge of a second chance.

After crossing the Jordan, they paused to celebrate the Passover — a reminder of God’s deliverance from Egypt. And something remarkable happened: the manna stopped. For the first time, they ate food from the land itself. They were no longer eating the food of wandering. They were eating the food of promise.

God was saying, You are no longer just passing through. You’re home.

And then they encountered the first wall.

Jericho wasn’t an empty city. The Promised Land was already occupied — fortified cities, strongholds, walls. Jericho was the gateway. A massive city surrounded by walls scholars estimate were 25 to 30 feet high.

From a human perspective, it looked impossible.

Joshua sent spies into the city, and they stayed with a woman named Rahab. And she told them something astonishing: When we heard about your God — what He did in Egypt, how He brought you here — our hearts melted. Our courage failed. We know your God is the true God.

The walls looked strong, but fear already lived inside them.

Before the battle began, Joshua encountered a man with a drawn sword. Joshua asked him, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” And the man replied, “Neither. I am the commander of the Lord’s armies.”

Joshua fell facedown and asked the right question: What does my Lord say to His servant?

This is where everything changes.

Joshua could have relied on strategy, experience, or leadership skill. Instead, he put down his plans and listened. Jericho didn’t fall because Joshua was a great leader. It fell because God’s people aligned themselves with what God was doing and obeyed.

And God’s instructions were unusual.

They were told to march around the city once a day for six days — no fighting, no shouting, no ladders, no siege tactics. Just obedience. On the seventh day, they were to march around seven times, then shout.

It didn’t make sense. But obedience doesn’t require understanding — it requires trust.

God is called the “Lord of Hosts” — the commander of heaven’s armies — over 280 times in Scripture. When that’s who you’re following, every human calculation changes.

And this obedience wasn’t just about the wall in front of them. It was also about the strongholds within them.

Jericho represents judgment, but it also reveals redemption.

Rahab, a prostitute, placed her faith in the God of Israel. And God spared her — not just her, but her entire family. She was grafted into Israel and became an ancestor of King David… and of Jesus.

Right at the entrance of the Promised Land, God revealed His heart: judgment and mercy held together.

Now let’s time-travel.

Joshua’s Hebrew name is Yeshua — “The Lord is salvation.” In the New Testament, Jesus’ name is also Yeshua.

The first city Joshua entered was Jericho. The last city Jesus passed through before His crucifixion was also Jericho.

And there, Jesus met a blind man sitting by the road.

The man cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He was told to be quiet — but he cried out even louder. Jesus stopped and asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”

“I want to see.”

Jesus healed him instantly. And the man followed Jesus, praising God.

In the same city once known for walls falling in judgment, Jesus brought restoration and sight.

That blind man had walls too — not just physical blindness, but spiritual barriers. And faith brought them down.

We’ve all seen God knock down walls — in communities, on reservations, in lives. But sometimes we stand in the middle of what God has done and still feel blind. We remember the victory but forget the Redeemer.

Jericho was just the beginning. God didn’t call Israel to conquer one city — He called them to take the whole land.

And in the same way, God doesn’t just want part of your heart. He wants all of it.

Some walls are obvious. Others are internal — fear, addiction, shame, bitterness, self-protection. Jesus conquered the first wall when He gave you a new heart. But there may still be areas where walls remain.

And those walls come down the same way Jericho’s did — through faith-filled, sometimes “crazy,” obedience.

Crazy obedience like Joshua.
Crazy obedience like Rahab.
Crazy obedience like the blind man.

There is only one throne in your heart, and only one King who belongs there.

Jesus breaks down walls in perfect judgment — and gives His body in perfect redemption.

So when walls rise in your life, don’t start with the wall. Start with the God who is bigger than it.

Place your faith in Him.

As Scripture says, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

It’s not about our strength, worthiness, or ability. It’s about Christ.

Our calling is simple: trust, obey, and believe that God will do what He has promised.

Let’s place our hope there.