Introduction - who were the Anakim, Rephaim, Emim, Nephilim, Amorites, and other giants? (Dealing with a controversy first.) Numb. 13:22,28,29,32-33; Deut. 1:28; 2:10,21; 3:8 (with Amos 2:9-10); Deut. 3:13; 9:2; Josh 11:21-22; 14:12-15; 17:15 (see 18:16; Judges 1:10,20; 2 Sam. 5:18,22; 23:13; 1 Chron. 11:15; 14:9; Is. 17:5)

Before we dig into the passage, I want to look at the identity of the Anakim in these verses. And we are actually going to spend a fair bit of time on this introduction. There are some very odd theories out there about these Anakim, and I want to clearly distinguish my view from these other theories. What I will do is simply read several verses about the Anakim and draw conclusions from them. And any of you children who love stories about giants will probably find this interesting.

Deuteronomy 2:10-11 says,

Deut. 2:10 (The Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. 11 They were also regarded as giants, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

We can derive five facts from this verse:

1. First, the Anakim were a people group. The Hebrew word is Am (עַ֣ם), and is one of several proofs that they were not aliens from outer space or even half humans; they were a human people group. I'll deal with the half-human theory in a bit, but it is clear that this verse calls them a people group.
2. Second, they were considered by others to be giants. That doesn't tell us a lot, but it does indicate that they were considerably bigger and taller than your average Israelite, Moabite, or Ammonite.
3. Third, it indicates that these giants were not disproportionate by being tall and skinny like some modern tall people are. They were both great (in other words massive) and tall, indicating a largeness all around.
4. Fourth, it says that they were numerous. This implies that the giants weren't anomalies among their people group. All of the Anakim were great and tall. Nor was this a medical condition that left them walking with crutches, as Robert Wadlow (who was almost nine feet tall) had. He had to walk around on crutches. Instead, the Bible presents several people groups in which everyone is labeled a giant - the Anakim, Emim, Zuzim, Rephaim, the Amorites (see Amos 2:9-10 and Deut 3:8) the Ahiman tribe, the Sheshai tribe, and the Talmai Tribe. By the way, speaking of tribes, Deuteronomy 2 indicates that the Anakim and Emim were split-off tribes of the Rephaim. They were genetically related. Anyway, we are talking about numerous giants. There are 80 references in the Bible to the Amorites, who we will see shortly are said to be tall like cedars and strong like oaks. So don't think of one or two genetic oddities within a people group. These tribes seemed to have giantism as the genetic norm.
5. Fifth, there were other people groups that had died off who were similar, but were unrelated. It's another hint against the half-angel-half-human theory. Different groups of unrelated giants.

I won't read all of Numbers 13, but that chapter gives several additional clues.

6. For example, eight verses in Numbers 13 identify the Anakim as being the descendants of Anak. So they weren't aliens. Their ancestor is identified. And Anak's father is also identified in Joshua 21:11 as being Arba. It speaks to normal human generations.
7. Next, it identifies the Anakim as being very strong or powerful - another indicator that it wasn't just height that was in view. I've already mentioned that some of the 8-9 feet people in recent history have had health problems, couldn't walk well, and were not strong. In contrast, these giants were muscle-bound tough dudes who could lift enormous weights. And by the way, within the last 1000 years there have been people who have been able to lift more weight than the Olympic champion, Chuck Vogelpohl, who did a squat lift of 1,140 pounds. So even in the last 1000 years there have been some giants.

Now it is true that Goliath is not called a giant, and it is true that there were giants bigger than him, but I think we can draw some conclusions about them by looking at Goliath. Goliath was 9 feet and nine inches tall, and had such massive hands that his spear had the girth of a weaver's beam with a metal head weighing 15.1 lbs (about the weight of a shot put), and his scale armor weighed 126 pounds. I put a picture from the creation museum of what Goliath's spear probably looked like into your outlines. That would not be a very useful spear for the average person. William MacDonald says, "The heavy weapons were no problem for Goliath, since he himself must have weighed somewhere between 600 and 750 pounds (possibly more, depending on his build). This gave him many times the strength of a normal man."¹ Since Goliath was not called a giant, but was only called a Philistine champion, it is not surprising to find that at least some of the Anakim were much bigger than his nine feet, nine inches. And other tribal giants that the Anakim were compared to (like the Amorites) had at least some people who were much bigger. For example, Amos 2:9 describes the Amorites this way. God said, "Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was as strong as the oaks..." Is that poetic hyperbole? Possibly. But even with hyperbole, to compare their height to the cedars and their strength to oak trees indicates that these were well-proportioned, powerful, and incredibly tall giants.

8. The next hint is given in verse 33 of Numbers 13, which calls them Nephilim. This is a huge blow to the theory that the Nephilim in Genesis 6 were half-humans. And let me go ahead and explain that theory briefly. Some claim that the word for giants means fallen ones, and (based on interpreting the "sons of God" in Genesis 6:4 as being good as-yet-unfallen angels), they have come up with a bizarre theory that there was a second fall of angels. The first fall obviously happened before Adam and Eve fell, when Satan took 1/3 of all the angels with him. But on this theory, much later in history, there was a second group of good angels who lusted after human women, had sexual relations with them, and that those women bore these half-human warriors, and as a result of this sin, God cast those angels out of heaven and cast them into the lowest parts of hell. And they say that this is why 1 Corinthians says that women should be covered because of the angels. They claim that Paul didn’t want to have the women make angels lust. I think that is bizarre. There are many problems with that theory. I'm not going to give you all the problems, but let me outline four of about a dozen problems. And since all Anakim are called Nephilim, these are additional clues on what Anakim were like. And I'm going through all of this to show that these were incredibly formidable foes. They weren't slow moving people like Andre the giant. No. They were a lot bigger and a lot quicker. Andre was kind of small compared to them.
9. First, Genesis 6:4 calls those pre-flood nephilim or giants "men" (the Hebrew word אִישׁ), not half-men. They were men.
10. Second, the fall of angels happened before Adam fell. On their theory, there was a second fall of good angels who produced the nephilim in Genesis 6, and then there was another fall of angels producing more nephilim post flood. Why do they say that? Well, they are forced to because the flood destroyed all flesh. That means the Nephilim would have been wiped out. So if Nephilim were half-angels and half-men, there wouldn't be any left after the flood. Yet the Anakim are called nephilim. Do you see where their logic is headed? If Nephilim are half-angel, then you would have to have had a second unrecorded incident after the flood that produced such giants and a second group of angels who needed to be cast down to the lowest parts of hell. Every bit of that is foreign to the Bible. Jesus said that angels neither marry nor are given in marriage.
11. Third, ancient Jews interpreted the word "nephilim" as simply meaning "giants." That's the way they translated it in the Septuagint just like the New King James does, not as half-angel half-human demi-gods. The word doesn't mean fallen ones. It just means giants.
12. But there is a fourth reason why Anakim were simply humans. In addition to Genesis 6:4 calling nephilim ish or "men," and Deuteronomy calling them am (or a people group), Joshua 14:15, calls Arba the "greatest man among the Anakim," and the word for "man" there is Adam - a descendent of Adam. He is identified with Adam. And six day creationism has shown how all the genetic code for pigmyism all the way up to 18 foot or taller men is part of Adam's genetic code. There is no need to come up with a bizarre theory that these giants were aliens from other planets or were half-humans.

So how tall were the Anakim? We only have hints, but Deuteronomy 3 and Amos two give us two more clues.

13. Deuteronomy 3:11 says that the bed frame of Og, king of Bashan, was nine cubits long by four cubits wide according to the standard cubit. Well, we know exactly how big the standard cubit is, so that amounts to 13 feet 6 inches tall and 6 feet wide. In other words, his bed was longer than two king-sized beds stacked end-to-end. He may well have been somewhere between 13 and 13.5 feet tall. Answers In Genesis says, "To put this in perspective, if stood up on end, the height of this bed would have been exactly twice as tall as a person who is 6 foot 9 inches tall."² So that is twice as tall as the tallest person in the room here.
14. I've already read from Amos 2 that the Amorites were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks. While that is not precise, it definitely correlates with the statement of the spies in Numbers 13 when they said, "in it are men (ish - the normal word for humans - "in it are men") of great size... and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." To be comparatively like a grasshopper meant that they had to have been huge.

Now it is true that at least some of the so-called giant skeletons that you see on the web are probably hoaxes, and we have no way of verifying the multitude of giants recorded in secular history - and there are a multitude of supposedly historical accounts in every part of the world. Those reports give eye witness descriptions of humans who were 18 feet and taller. Some of the heights recorded make me skeptical too, but who knows - especially given the statement in Amos 2.

But as Answers In Genesis points out, every other species has had a wide range of sizes from small to giant. For example, the uncontested evidence that everyone agrees to in the fossil record shows spiders with a 12-inch leg span, centipedes 13 inches long and longer, frogs 16 inches high, dragonflies with a 2 1/2 foot wingspan. How would you like to have a dragon fly this big land on you? They show pictures of giant rats with an estimated weight of 750 lbs and actually there are some that were more, beavers 7 1/2 feet long, scorpions 8 feet long. Woah! I wouldn't want to meet a scorpion 8 feet long. I mean, talk about giantism within the genetic code; that's incredible. And they gave a much longer list of other giant specimens among birds, insects, reptiles, fish, and other species.³ What’s my point? Well, with giantism in virtually every species, there is absolutely no logical reason why ancient histories should be dismissed out of hand simply because they record things we haven't seen today - such as giants 10 feet, 13 feet, 18 feet, and taller.

Dr. Tim Chaffrey of Answers in Genesis is 6 foot 9 inches tall. He guestimates King Og's height at 13.5 feet, which is exactly double his height. And then he goes on to estimate the weight. This is interesting. He says,

This means that, along with my height, both my width and depth would double, so we would need to multiply my weight (about 250 pounds) by a factor of eight. So a person of my proportions at 13’6” would weigh 2000 pounds!

Are you getting a good picture of how intimidating these giants were? He does show that the square-cube law isn't 100% precise. Nevertheless, it makes him skeptical that any giants were 20-30 feet or more, but he couldn't rule it out altogether. And of course, ancient histories claim to have seen giants that were 20 feet, 30 feet, and taller. I too tend to be a bit skeptical, but who knows?

But we will stick with the Biblical data. Imagine facing a seasoned warrior who was twice as tall and much broader than the tallest person in this room, and weighing 2000 lbs, and then seeing other warriors who ranged from 750 lbs to 2500 lbs. It could be very intimidating. And their are Egyptian papyri from that period talking about the Anakim being in that size range. These were the giants that the Israelites under Joshua were conquering. It seemed impossible, and yet they did it.

Well, this morning I want us to learn how to take on our own metaphorical giants by looking at how Joshua took on his literal giants. John Bunyan kind of did that with his story, Pilgrim's Progress. Let's dig into the text.

Facing your giants (v. 21)

Verse 21 says,

And at that time Joshua came and cut off the Anakim from the mountains: from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel; Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities.

The first thing that I notice when I look at this verse is that Joshua faced his giants. And great men and women of the past have always been willing to face their own giants. And you would be amazed at how frequently people successfully face what seem to be impossibilities. In 1962, Victor and Mildred Goertzel published a study of 413 "famous and exceptionally gifted people" down through history. And the common thread that ran through at least 392 of those people was that they had to overcome almost impossible difficulties.⁴ I'll read you someone else's brief summary of a handful of those people. It says,

Thomas Edison was deaf. Abraham Lincoln was born to illiterate parents and faced many other impossible hurdles in his life. Lord Byron had a club foot. Robert Louis Stevenson had tuberculosis. Alexander Pope was a hunchback. Admiral Nelson had only one eye. Julius Caesar was an epileptic. Louis Pasteur [was] so near-sighted that he had a difficult time finding his way in his laboratory without glasses. There was Helen Keller, who could not hear or see, but who graduated with honors from a famous college...

Walt Davis was totally paralyzed by polio when he was nine years old, but he did not give up. He became the Olympic high jump champion in 1952.

Shelly Mann was paralyzed by polio when she was five years old, but she would not give up. She eventually claimed eight different swimming records for the U.S. and won a gold medal at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

In 1938, Karoly Takacs, a member of Hungary's world-champion pistol shooting team and sergeant in the army, lost his right hand when a grenade he was holding exploded. [You would think that would be the end of his pistol shooting.] But Takacs did not give up. He learned to shoot left-handed and won gold medals in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics.

Lou Gehrig was such a clumsy ball player that the boys in his neighborhood would not let him play on their team. But he was committed. He did not give up. Eventually, his name was entered into baseball's Hall of Fame.⁵

And the stories go on and on.

What are the giants that are hindering you from excelling in your calling? For some it is depression - a giant that holds many Americans captive. For some it is bitterness, or self-pity, or doubt. For some it is indifference or apathy. For some it is fear, and for others it is lack of faith. Whatever your giant, take it on. Refuse to be dominated by it. Declare a holy war against it. John Bunyan's book, Pilgrim's Progress, treated many of those things as metaphorical giants.

But when you look at how the left has captured America, that too seems like an impossible arena to recapture. But hey, 100 years ago there were leftists who thought it was impossible to capture America. People are too easily intimidated. If the whole church used the whole armor of God and acted in faith, this nation could be turned into a Christian nation. I have no doubt about that. And according to Hebrews 4, we wouldn't need the physical sword. All we would need is the sword of the Scriptures. Let's break this verse down and look at how Joshua faced his giants.

Joshua took the battle to them; he didn't wait for the battle to come to him (v. 21a)

First, Joshua was proactive, not reactive. Verse 21 begins, "And at that time Joshua came and cut off the Anakim from the mountains..." The mountains added a disadvantage to Joshua since they would be fighting uphill against giants. But Joshua not only took the battle to them, he was willing to do it on territory that was to giant's advantage. He didn't wait for them to bring the battle to him.

And this is a critical first step for us. Too many people hope help will somehow come from somewhere else. They aren't proactive. But to be proactive you have to have a basis for believing you can do it. And of course, that's where the promises of previous sermons come in. We must know God's promises, memorize them, pray them and claim them, and then take action believing that God will come through.

And what is true of our personal battles is certainly true of taking on culture as a whole. We will never take culture on successfully if we sit in our pews and do nothing to penetrate culture. And there are many ways to be proactive. Michael Elliott is training anyone who wants to learn street evangelism and influence. A couple of you have taken him up on that offer, but not very many. I think it would be great if most of our men could be exposed to that kind of evangelism. But there are other ways we can be proactive. There are County Commissioner meetings you can either attend or write notes to the commissioners about agenda items. You can do the same on every level of government in Nebraska. They have made it much easier to contact them by text and email. You are all pretty well informed. They need to hear from you. Jarrod Ridge is involving people in Abolish Abortion Now in Nebraska. Some of you took advantage of the Worldview Discussion group and are now using those principles. But the point is that America will never be taken if God's people do not become proactive. A lot of you are proactive, so I'm not preaching at you. I'm just saying that this needs to be characteristic of the church as a whole.

Joshua systematically took down the giants (v. 21b-d)

Next, Joshua was systematic in his taking down the giants. You can't fight every battle at the same time, and the land was not taken overnight. If you are a new believer, you are going to have to be systematic in dealing with numerous issues needing growth, starting with the most important and working down to the least critical areas. Last week we saw that it took seven years of constant effort to conquer the portion of the land that Moses had said they would occupy - which was not the whole of Israel. But Joshua was systematic about the way he took the war to city after city. Verse 21 goes on to say, "from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel." One after the other, he took them on. Chapter 14 will tell how Caleb took Hebron and chapter 15 will tell how Othniel took Debir. This is just a summary statement here.

When you are attacking your giants (whether those are depression, bitterness, fear, or whatever) you have got to be systematic in your spiritual warfare. Leave no stone unturned. Hit your giants from every angle. Don't be satisfied if they run away for a moment. No! No! Conquer them! Ask others for Biblical homework that was successful for them and do the homework yourself. Wake up every morning claiming God's promises. The moment that sinful thought comes into your head, reject it and battle it with the confidence that you can win. Be systematic in your warfare.

And I believe the church in America needs to be more united and systematic in their taking on of the strongholds in this country. I am thankful for the organizations that are uniting Christians across the spectrum - like Alliance Defending Freedom, American Center for Law and Justice, Center for Law and Religious Freedom, Liberty Counsel, Liberty Institute, National Legal Foundation, Pacific Justice Institute, each of which as carved out niches or battle grounds that they are taking on on behalf of the church.

Sadly, the church for the most part has the bad theology and the lack of faith that the previous generation of Jews had. But it doesn't mean that minorities can't still win battles. They can. In chapters 13-15 we will be looking at some of those smaller groups doing battles. The book of Judges gives a number of examples of a very small group gaining huge victories and the rest of Israel waking up to the possibilities and joining them. So even as a local church, we can be strategic and systematic on which high places we will take on. We can't take them all on. We need to be systematic and strategic.

Joshua refused to make a peace treaty with them (v. 21e)

Next, refuse to make a peace treaty with your giants. Verse 21 goes on to say, "Joshua utterly destroyed them..." It's much easier to live with them than it is to destroy them. And some people justify it with their theology - like Daryl Hart who wrote a book called A Secular Faith, which justifies keeping Christianity out of politics. A secular faith! What an oxymoron. But what that means is that Christians so divide life between what the Bible can address and what it can't address that they are conveniently secular in most areas of life. But even those who don't have a compromised theology like that are failing to keep the antithesis. And that's a problem because God has not called us to win conservative battles in America. He has called us to bring all things into subjection to King Jesus. He's the One that we serve, not conservative politics. So refuse to make a peace treaty with the enemies out there.

And refuse to make a peace treaty with your flesh. When things go well for a day or two, it is easy to get lazy on your devotions, memory work, prayer, and spiritual disciplines. But when you start slacking off, it gives opportunity for the enemy to become bold and to bring the battle to you. Don't give in to sin. Don't make a peace treaty.

Joshua destroyed their cities (v. 21f)

And deal even with the environment in which your giants thrive. Verse 21 says that Joshua also destroyed their cities. This made sense since none of the houses or tools of the giants would fit the Israelites. The Israelites couldn't make use of their tables, beds, toilets, or anything else, all of which would have been ginormous. Try sitting on a toilet or dining room chair built for a 2000 lb 13.5 foot high giant. It's not going to work. But it also made sense because they didn't want to leave giant cities intact that other giants could flee to and refortify. So Joshua destroyed the environment in which giants could be safe.

And on every level of America, we need to seek to remove what feeds and houses and protects the enemy. Just as one tiny example - look at taxes. And you might think, "No. You can't ever fight taxes." Don't be so sure. Taxes are one thing almost universally hated. So why not take advantage of that hatred and convince others that America's tax system is condemned by the Bible and needs to be replaced. And if you need help convincing them, hand them Dr. Fugate's book, Toward a Theology of Taxation. If Christians were convinced of that and started only voting for people who believed in Biblical taxation, you would dry up the revenue for Leviathon pretty quickly.

A more difficult metaphorical "city" to take down are the grants that the various levels of government hand out on a regular basis. I was really bothered by how many grants our county gives to worthless organizations. Actually, it bothers me that churches take grants from some county and state governments. But this means that they can't (without hypocrisy) oppose grants to evil organizations. During a time when finances are bad, encourage the government to save money by no longer giving grants, welfare, and other government handouts to anybody. Tell them that we can no longer afford it, and by the way, its theft.

Another metaphorical "city" that our modern giants thrive on and are protected by is the federal agencies. We should encourage people to destroy these agencies, since they mainly support the enemy anyway. Reagan tried to close down agencies, but failed. But more and more people are waking up to the tyranny being waged by some of the agencies, and we may be at a place where agencies could potentially be dismantled. They are unconstitutional anyway, so you could answer them according to their folly and say it violates Article I, section I of the constitution. But we can also present the positive by showing how much these agencies violate Biblical justice. That's far more important. If you could close some of the agencies (which even pagans are beginning to be in favor of), you could cut off the environment in which much evil is promoted, funded, and protected.

Of if the Federal giant-cities look too big, start working on county politics. Convince the county sheriff of the old fashioned doctrine of interposition.

But we need to do the same with our personal internal giants. If you tend to gossip when you are around certain people, find new friends - or at least make sure there is another friend there who has the courage to confront gossip. If you tend to get depressed in certain areas, go to places that are upbeat. Play music that is upbeat. If you are able, change your environment to be supportive of your God-given goals. Or at least try to remove the outward things that lead to sin. It's legitimate. For example, if you are constantly stumbling into pornography, put Covenant Eyes on your phone and computer and get accountability partners who have the guts to confront you. And even if you don't find that stuff tempting, you can use Covenant Eyes for testimony's sake. That's sort of like fighting against the cities that the giants can inhabit.

There will always be new giants for each generation to tackle (v. 22)

But verse 22 reminds us of something else that is important. It says, "None of the Anakim were left in the land of the children of Israel; they remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod." So Israel had victory in the space that God had allotted to them. But there were giants in other areas that future generations would have to fight.

In our American culture wars, it is unlikely that the church of our generation will win all the battles that need to be won. But we can at least work on our part of the battlefield. And praise God that there is good literature that we can pass on from generation to generation that can help us in our battles.

And speaking of books, it is important for each generation to learn the self-counseling techniques needed for overcoming bitterness (should it ever arise), or fear, depression, unbelief, sexual temptation, discouragement, or whatever. You may have licked your giants, but have you taught your kids to lick their giants? I encourage parents to purchase books for their kids to work through. One self-counseling book is Broger's book, Self-Confrontation. It's a great starting tool for the next generation to learn the ropes of warfare against our flesh. There are a lot of excellent CCEF counseling podcasts that are about 20 minutes long. I have found those to be wonderful and very Christ-centered.

Enjoy rest in its time (v. 23)

But God always ensures that we will have times of rest from the battle as well; times we can enjoy the fruits of our hands. Verse 23 says,

So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had said to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war.

Rest is a good thing. And God doesn't just call for weekly rest on the Sabbath. He calls us to imitate Christ and go aside by ourselves for a while to be refreshed. We call that a vacation. And some very driven people think, "I can't afford to rest on Sunday or I can't afford to take a vacation." But there will always be more work than you can do in your generation anyway. God commands rest. It's important.

But not to the neglect of Biblical duty (v. 23a-b)

But I think we can safely say that rest should not replace taking dominion. When did they rest and stop fighting? The first clause says that it was after they had fulfilled their Biblical duty. Verse 23 says, "So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had said to Moses..." He didn't do what God had called later generations to do. He only took the land that God in the Pentateuch had commanded that generation to take. And we did see last week that there were Scriptures in the Pentateuch that said that God didn't plan for them to take the whole land. It would be conquered little by little over a period of 400 years to be a symbolic type of the New Testament conquest via the Great Commission.

We can't do much about the world as a whole, but we can certainly work on what God has placed in our path to do. That needs to be balanced with rest, but rest is not an excuse for laziness.

Not before you have provided for the future (v. 23c)

The next phrase indicates that the rest didn't happen until they had provided for the future. "...and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes." And in the future we will be looking at the importance of land, houses, passing on an inheritance, and seeking God's guidance for how things will be passed on. But Joshua was thinking about the future.

And we should too. When I write books, I am writing not just for our own generation, but also for future generations. I try to invest my extra giving in ministries that are future oriented. And I do that because I want to leverage my giving.

But there is a time to rest from war (v. 23d)

But the last phrase indicates that there is a time to rest from war. Personally this is true, but in terms of the bride as a whole this is also true. The last phrase says, "Then the land rested from war." That will happen one day according to many prophecies. This will be a converted world. Are we ready for that rest? Not by a long-shot. I like what Gary North said one time. He asked,

Do we have a developed body of practical answers to the questions that a newly converted world will raise? If our answer is "No, we do not have such answers," then we are in the unenviable position of a newly elected President who has no program. We will have to stall for time. We will have to announce, “We can get the answers, but we will need a little time.” After 2,000 years, and still no answers, how much more time can we reasonably ask for? How can we ask a newly converted world to wait patiently, as the humanist culture is collapsing, while we figure out specific, concrete answers to specific, concrete problems? If we ask for more time, won’t we make fools of ourselves? ...what does He expect us to do in order to prepare for a truly biblical revival?⁶

If or when I do my series on Deuteronomy, we will have a ton of answers to provide the foundations for a newly converted world. My books are trying to do that as well. And Biblical Blueprints is gearing up for trying to leverage our work of providing blueprints for life. The new website is almost finished and we will be putting a ton of new stuff over the next few months.⁷ This is preparing for the rest God will bring when nations are Christian nations. And Joshua certainly had studied Deuteronomy. He was ready for this rest.

But in the meantime it is my prayer that the Lord would help us to be like Nehemiah - with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other - with the ability to take down enemies and the ability to rebuild a new civilization. May it be so Lord Jesus. Amen.