The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Joshua 7:19-26, “Then Joshua said to Achan, ‘My son, I implore you, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.’”
20 So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel, and this is what I did:
21 when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.”
22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it.
23 They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before the LORD.
24 Then Joshua and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor.
25 Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.” And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.
26 They raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day, and the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of Achor to this day.”

It’s a dreadful story. It was a story of greed and theft. Moreover, it was the commission of sin; and all sin is against the LORD! It was sin that was discovered –sin that Achan ultimately admitted. Yet, it was sin that cost the sinner his life, along with all of his children, his household and wealth.

Moses was dead, and Joshua became the LORD’s choice to lead His people. Free from Egypt, Israel had conquered cities leading to Ai. It was a small city and looked to be an easy foe. Still, Joshua ordered the city to be surveyed prior to Israel’s attack. Only about 3,000 men ventured to spy out the city; still, the men of Ai killed 36 of Israel’s spies.

The story is clear from the Scripture cited above; yet it seriously cautions us over these many years from the actual account. We can no more do wrong and get by than Israel. Sin will ultimately find us out; nor can we successfully hide from God.

It’s exciting to discover something of value –especially, when it is something of real vallue. Achan ignored the words of Joshua, valuing these “things” as more important than the words of Joshua. How like Achan we are! And when things go wrong, we appear innocently before the LORD asking, “What caused this?”

No, there’s a price to pay for sin. Still, we have a choice: we can pay for sin in Hell, or we can allow that Christ Himself has paid the price, and say “Thank You” to Him. The choice is yours. Repent and yield your life to Christ, and His death on the cross will have paid your price. Refuse or neglect to repent and the penalty is yours. “Choose for yourself today whom you will serve…” (Jos. 24:15).

“The price of sin is so great that only Jesus could pay it.
The price of sin is so great that not even Jesus could pay it again.”

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom