Captain, My Captain

“but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come.” “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” ~ Joshua 5:14-15 (excerpts)

    Walt Witman wrote, “O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,” in his moving tribute to Abraham Lincoln. Witman lamented with the entire nation that its leader who brought them through a war that divided the country and shed a generation’s blood on its soil did not live to see the end. 
    Now consider the Captain of the LORD’s hosts who intercepted Joshua as he prepared to take the Promised Land. It is immediately apparent that Joshua is encountering God the Son, who does not shun His worship as an angel would, even declaring that the ground is made holy in His presence. This Captain informed Joshua that His armies would fight the battles ahead under His leadership. 
    Joshua reminded the people of this repeatedly as he declared, “Be strong and courageous!” As the people moved toward God’s Promise and acted according to God’s precepts, they witness incredible, miraculous victories. When they disobeyed God and presumptuously pursued their own objectives, they suffered and failed. The simple truth is that, when that followed the Captain of the Lord’s hosts, they joined Him in what He was doing. When they failed to listen, watch, and wait to see where the Captain was going, they suffered the consequences. 
    Joshua and Israel’s Captain is our Captain too. He is our Savior, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Unlike Walt Witman’s captain, our’s is alive and will see the completion of the civil war of Heaven (Revelation 12). Even when our Captain breathed, “It is finished” on the cross, He only meant that the battle of redeeming lost sinners completed. When he breathed the Holy Spirit into His disciples, the Captain welcomed them onto the “holy ground” of His Father’s house. Now, like Israel on the banks of the Jorden, we stand ready to follow our Captain as He methodically moves to put down the rebellion. Our Captain will either change the hearts and minds of the enemies or utterly defeat them. 
     Having had our hearts and minds transformed through repentance and new birth, we are no longer His enemies but His brothers and sisters. As such, we are charged to follow our Captain and join Him in whatever He is doing. When we obey His teaching and follow His lead their will be miraculous victories over evil and sin. However, when we impulsively disobey and willfully follow our own paths, we too will suffer the consequences.