Joshua 21 | Episode #1250

July 31, 2026

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Joshua 21

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for over 25 years. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word verse-by-verse and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Hope Alive, where we apply God's Word to our daily life. My name is Chad Harrison. I'm first a husband, a father and a grandfather. I'm also the teaching pastor at Lake Community Church in Dadeville, Alabama on beautiful Lake Martin. I've been serving as a pastor for over 30 years. I also serve as the Tallapoosa County District Judge. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word verse by verse through the Bible and to find his purpose and will for your daily life. If you would like sponsor this podcast, go to the Show Notes, where there's a link where you can make a donation. I pray in the name of Jesus that God would open his word to you, allow you to see him and to know him, so that you would know his will and his way for your life, that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today. Word of God, please speak to the hearers of your voice today in the name of Jesus. Amen. Foreign. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are in Joshua, chapter 21. Joshua, chapter 21. And you say the whole chapter? Yeah, the whole chapter. We're doing the whole chapter. Why we're doing the whole chapter? Well, it's a bunch of cities. It names a bunch of cities. In fact, it names 48 cities. 48 cities in all. And you go, pastor, you're going to read all those. Now, you know that that would not go well. If I read all Those cities, it's 48 cities. 48 cities that God gave to the Levites. Now, the Levites were the priestly tribe. There were 12 tribes. They expanded it to 12 because they took Joshua and split him into two tribes. And then they segregate out, they separate out Levi, because Levi was to be the priestly class, and Levi was not to live by themselves in one little location. They were to live well with the people. They were to live in the tribes. They were to live all throughout Israel and provide. Well, I mean, this is really, really important. It's a really interesting idea. And not only is it a great idea, it's a great idea that we practice today in that the. The religious power, the religious base was in Jerusalem. That's where the temple was going to be built. But the truth is, is that God did not. Did not want to be separated from his people. He wanted to live amongst his people. So even though there's a temple there, there's synagogues all over Israel, synagogues everywhere. And what are synagogues? Well, I mean, you know, in Modern times, as far as Christianity is concerned, they're local churches, they're local, they're local congre local places to meet and to deal with God. When you're studying about Jesus's life, there's really two different aspects to his teaching. You have his teaching in the regions of Israel where Jesus travels from place to place. A lot of it's done in Galilee, a lot of it's done in the area where he grew up. But you also have Jesus going to the temple. So at the temple, and that starts at 13 years old, he's found his parents leave and they realize that Jesus isn't with him. They go back to Jerusalem to find Jesus and they find him in the temple. And what is he doing? Well, he's teaching the priest. He's literally confounding them. And so for those who think that Jesus was somebody who the priest and the Sanhedrin and those who were around didn't know, they don't really know. They don't really know the story of Jesus life. First of all, at eight days old, Jesus was circumcised. And there was a man there who had lived well. He was an old, old man. And God had promised him he would see the Messiah, he'd see the Redeemer. And when he sees Jes, he says, now I'm ready to die. And if you don't think that they're right in the temple at the birth of Jesus, if you don't think that they took note of that, they did. And then what does Herod do? Herod tries to kill Jesus. When the wise men come and the wise men coming to meet with Jesus is another story of Jesus being known to the people that were in charge in Jerusalem. And then you have him teaching at 13 years old. And so when Jesus comes on the scene, as you know what, what they call a traveling preacher, as if he's some nobody. He's not really a nobody. He's a known figure. He's somebody that everybody is looking for and looking at. And so his life is more public than you think, even though he tried to be private and personal with the people that he dealt with. And so Jesus's life is a wonderful picture of Jesus not only speaking to the religious elite, speaking to the power bases of where he lived, but also being among the people. And that's what the Levites were made for. Sure. There was an organized plan for every Levite to have an opportunity to serve in the temple. In fact, they got to serve at least once or twice during Their lives. They got to serve for a two week term and they would go and serve in the temple. It was a great honor for them to go and be able to do that. There was a priestly class, a priestly family. The high priest was from a family of priests. Well, and you go, where'd that come from? Well, Aaron's family, I mean, Aaron was the high priest under Moses and then gets passed down. So there was a priestly class that, the high priest that ran Jerusalem. But the Levites themselves were, well, they were a tribe that lived in and amongst all the people of Israel. And so what's going on here? Well, God has a place where he calls all his people to come together and meet in Jerusalem, but he also has a place for his people to meet with him regularly. Once a week on, on the Sabbath, on the Shabbat, which was, which was on Saturday, they would meet with him and they would meet and they would sing songs and they would read scripture and they would have Levites and important people in their community who were pious and religious and knew the Scriptures because they were older. They would have them comment or speak on the scripture and then they would discuss how that relates to their lives, how God's word relates to their lives. They had scrolls. Now would they have all the books of the Bible at every synagogue? No, but they would have some of the Bible. In fact, we see Jesus opening up and reading Isaiah from the book of Isaiah, where it predicts his life. And he tells them that this is happening in their hearing, this is being fulfilled right now. And so in that setting, you see Jesus speaking at the synagogue, you see him meeting at the synagogue. And then after Jesus, when they went on the missionary journeys, when all the apostles went out into the world and, and began churches all over the world, the first place they'd go to is the local synagogue, the local place of worship for the Jews. And they would preach Jesus crucified and risen. And after that it was spread all over the world. And then if the Jews in a certain area would not accept it, they'd go preach it to the Gentiles. You go, why did they preach Jews first? Because the Jews had knowledge of scripture and if they received Christ, then you would have a massive group of people out there telling the world about Jesus from a biblically literate perspective. And so, you know, that's, that's how it works. And so this, this, this chapter, even though it just goes through city after city and tribe after tribe and you know, mentions people all over the place, you know, it, it is, it is a, a, a signpost that says, this is how I'm going to do things. This is how I'm going to disseminate myself to the masses. And how is that done? Well, I'm going to put people in every place around the world to be the light in those places, in small towns and big cities and political and religious hubs and in little bitty villages throughout the world. Not just in the United States, throughout the world. There are people all over the world meeting together and talking about the Word of God all the time. Every Sunday morning, there are billions of people in the world who are in some way reading God's word, worshiping him, and then seeing God's word made alive in their hearing and seeing the presence of God. And so that's what God's plan all along. God's plan is such a powerful and wonderful plan in that a sinner who is lost and dead in their trespasses can be made alive and then have access to the throne room of heaven. So you're found in, in, in, in the highways and byways of the world by the Holy Spirit. You're redeemed and you're given access to the very throne room of heaven. Jesus, this, this Nazarene was born in Bethlehem because he's from the tribe of Judah. And, and he circumcised in the temple. And then he comes back and teaches in the temple at 13. And then, and then this Nazarene has access to the power bases of Israel in the Temple Mount, which is a beautiful picture of what God does for us. We're out there in the world. And the Redeemer who was out there in the world with us, he was born to common people. He was born to a poor carpenter and his wife and, and lived among us, lived in the, in the, in the outer regions of Israel, lived in, in Nazareth. What good can come from Galilee and Nazareth? There's nothing good that comes from there. And then, and then all of a sudden, life is given to us by this Nazarene. Well, God makes sure that he disseminates himself throughout the world, that there, there are people all over the world that are doing, doing and being and walk of Jesus Christ and being the light to the world. And that plan was really kind of spelled out and put in place here in Joshua chapter 21. It says in verse 41, all the cities of the Levite within the possession of the children of Israel were 48 cities with their common land. See, 48 cities throughout Israel had a Levite Levites living in them and synagogues in them. Every one of these cities had common land surrounding it. Thus were all these cities. So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which he had sworn to give their fathers, and they took possession of it, and they dwelt in it. The Lord gave them all the rest around, gave them the rest all around, according to all that he had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of their enemies stood against them. The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hands. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. And this is one of those passages that is a fulfillment of what God had promised, but it's also a promise for us. He says, not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. Meaning God's promises are yes and amen. And his presence, his promised presence. He says, I'll be with you. I'll be with you forever. I'm never gonna leave you nor forsake you. Those promises are real and they're true, and they're valuable and they have purpose for us in this life. And God in this chapter says, I'm gonna be out there. I'm not just gonna sit here on my throne and rule from heaven and be separate from you. He says, I'm gonna come and be in your presence. In fact, Jesus came and became one of us so that we might know him, so that we might know God, so that we might have access to the Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem in the sky. And one day that New Jerusalem's coming back. We talk about that on Wednesday nights. In fact, we're getting to it pretty soon. Where God comes down, where Jesus comes down. In fact, it's the next Bible study. We are marking these things out in scriptures. We study them and realizing that God's preparing. He's been preparing his people. And he's out there in the world with us today preparing his people. And so I pray that as you get into this holiday season, that you'll remember that God's not aloof and he's not far off. He's near. He's right there with you. And his presence is always, always around you. And his spirit is always moving, especially in your heart. As you go today. I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.