Jesus the Ultimate Joshua: Riffing on a Theme
Author: Daniel Owens, PhD
January 16, 2025
During his first sermon in his new preaching series, “Joshua: The Timeless Call,” Pastor Chris said something that caught my attention: Jesus is the ultimate Joshua. I’d like to pick up on this theme and develop it a bit. This is as as close to a jazz solo as you’ll ever see from me.
How is Jesus the ultimate Joshua? Pastor Chris pointed us to one way: in light of Hebrews 4:8, Jesus ushers in a rest that is greater than the rest Israel found in the land as a result of Joshua’s leadership.
I want to focus on another way: He keeps the charge God gave to Joshua in Joshua 1:8–9. Refracted through Psalm 1, we see how Jesus is not only a greater Joshua as a leader. He is the ultimate Joshua in being the ultimate righteous man whose righteousness is for us.
God’s charge to Joshua is this:
8“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
This charge echoes in at least two ways in Psalm 1. First, Joshua is to meditate on the law, as does the righteous person in Psalm 1:2. Second, as a result of obedience to God’s instruction, Joshua will be successful in all that he does, as is the righteous person in Psalm 1:3.
Psalm 1 develops the charge to Joshua into a slightly more abstract form, taken from the concrete context of the conquest and connected to the life of any person who loves the Lord. It is the charge for every man and woman, to meditate on God’s word. For evidence that Jesus fulfills this, we might look to Jesus’ response to the temptations of Satan in Matthew 4 or the Sermon on the Mount or the many exchanges that Jesus has with people through his ministry, in which Jesus quotes the Bible. Prick Jesus and he will bleed Scripture.
What makes him the ultimate Joshua for us, however, is his perfect obedience. Jesus endures life under the sun, as we do, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). This enables him to become sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). His sinless life makes him the ultimate Joshua, the ultimate righteous man, and the ultimate savior. His sinless life makes him worthy to suffer for us and for our salvation. He succeeds because he obeys, even unto death (Philippians 2:5-8). Thanks be to God!
Daniel Owens is NCC’s Pastor of Discipleship.
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