I just finished reading the book of Joshua for the first time. I have grown up going to church my entire life and the God described in that book has never been taught to me. Not once.

This book is the culmination of centuries of glorious promises of God. The sovereignty and awesome glory of God fill the pages of this book.

And it is bloody. Extremely bloody.

God’s Work in the Killing of Thousands

By the command of God, Israel goes through the Promised Land and kills, if I could estimate, hundreds of thousands of people. Men, women, and children. Not a single living soul was spared apart from Rahab and her family. Listen to the kings that were conquered and killed by Joshua,

the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one; the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one; the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one; the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one; the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one; the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one; the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one; the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one; the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one; the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one; the king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one; the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one; the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one; the king of Dor in Naphath-dor, one; the king of Goiim in Galilee, one; the king of Tirzah, one: in all, thirty-one kings.

Joshua 12:9-24

Each one of these kings was conquered by Joshua. Each one of these kings and everyone living in their cities was killed. All by the direct command of God.

What’s more, God worked sovereignly to harden the hearts of these kings and their people to come against Israel in battle.

There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all in battle. For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle…

Joshua 11:19-20a

He orchestrated this. He commanded Israel to make battle with them, and He hardened the hearts of those they attacked to desire battle as well.

Even more, He caused some, if not all, of the kings and their people to be in panic when Israel attacked. He gave them into Israel’s hands. We see this multiple times.

And the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land.

Joshua 8:1

And the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.” So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal. And the LORD threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck them with a great blow at Gibeon and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.

Joshua 10:8–10

And the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.

Joshua 11:6

Just as God commanded, all the people of these cities were “devoted to destriction” as an offering to God. Everyone. Thousands upon thousands of people. The men, women, and children. In many cases, even the animals. All life was killed.

In Jericho,

Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.

Joshua 6:21

At Ai, in just one day alone, 12,000 people were killed,

And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000, all the people of Ai. But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction.

Joshua 8:25–26

In Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Gezer, Eglon, Hebron, and Debir. Joshua 10:28-39 repeats the same description for these cities, here is an example from Makkedah,

As for Makkedah, Joshua captured it on that day and struck it, and its king, with the edge of the sword. He devoted to destruction every person in it; he left none remaining. And he did to the king of Makkedah just as he had done to the king of Jericho.

Joshua 10:28

At times, God even killed these people Himself. One account, as follows,

And the LORD threw them into a panic before Israel, who struck them with a great blow at Gibeon and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. And as they fled before Israel, while they were going down the ascent of Beth-horon, the LORD threw down large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.

Joshua 10:10–11

The writer of Joshua even makes it intentionally clear that more people were killed by the hailstones thrown by God than by the people of Israel!

The LORD, the God of Israel, did these things. He commanded these things. What’s more, He did this,

…in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the LORD commanded Moses.

Joshua 11:20b

Great, Unchangeable Sovereignty

What does this show us about this great God? Sovereignty. Authority. Preeminence. Ownership of human life. It is all His. He owns these people that are killed, and these people deserve what is being done. This is justice. This is the God of justice.

Now remember, this is the same God that those in Christ follow today. Know this; He has not changed. God is the same in Joshua’s time as He is when you read this now. He has not changed.

He is the supreme Ruler and Owner of all life. He is the Ruler of all man and man has sinned against Him. They have committed cosmic treason. Treason that God promised would bring death, saying, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”(Genesis 2:17). Treason that is irrevocable, man unable to do anything to pay.

Why can God not do what He wills with His creation? As Paul says,

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

Romans 9:19–21

Wrath and Justice Displayed

For me, while reading about these events, it had a direct application to something I hear way too often; “God cannot elect His children because that is unfair or unloving.”

This idea is astounding to me and thoroughly skewed. If you believe in God, then you have to believe in all of God. You have to believe what the Bible says. You cannot pick and choose what you like to hear.

What is fair? Eternal wrath for all men. That is fair. That is justice. That is what you and I deserve. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Because of this, with man, salvation is impossible (Mark 6:26-27). The God who is perfectly good and loving is also the God of justice. He must enact judgment, it is in His nature.

Do you see it? Perfect love and perfect wrath. Perfect grace and perfect justice. Do you see the oneness of God? His love informs His wrath. His wrath informs His love. He is one. Gloriously, perfectly one. If you take one of His attributes away, He is no longer God. You create a worthless, false “god” and worship it which leads to more and more sin being heaped upon yourself. Do you see that disregarding an attribute of God is a matter of eternal life or eternal death?

In Joshua, we see God’s heart. We see who He is. This isn’t God on a bad day, this is who He is. The same God that passed judgment in the Old Testament is the same God who came to Earth, who was fully man and fully God, and who all in Christ follow today. God has not changed.

This same God who, on the coming great day, will raise all of these kings and their people from the dead and throw them into eternal judgment (John 5:28-29). This is the same God.

What does this mean? How does this relate to the dispute I mentioned before, “God cannot elect His children because that is unfair or unloving.” I have been told that I am part of a cult for believing this. “This” being that God is sovereign. “This” being what the Bible says.

Understand this; God can kill everyone who has ever existed and put them under eternal wrath and it is just. Those who suffer in hell will know that they are receiving what is just because every knee will bow before Christ whether you live with Him or are under His wrath (Philippians 2:10-11). God can do this and He would still be totally good.

The Good News of Love-Filled Election

However, there is good news. God is also full of grace. God is love. God has decided to save people. He has decided to choose people to save, though they do not deserve it on their own accord. Just as He chose Israel but decided to kill those kings.

The Bible makes it clear that we would not choose God. Never.

as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
  no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”

Romans 3:10–12

God has made a way, though, for His people to be saved; by choosing them. Without Him doing that no one would be saved. But God has chosen them, redeemed them, regenerated their hearts, washed them clean, keeps them in His power, and will perfect their bodies and live with them forever. As it says in John,

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:12–13

The God who has perfect wrath, who destroyed cities upon cities of people, has decided to save some. Do you see it? How much greater does one know of His grace when one understands His wrath? As it says in Romans,

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:20–21

When one speaks of God’s electing as being unloving or undeserving, they have completely missed the point. They, under a false preconception, believe they deserve the grace of God or that the grace of God is required to fall upon them. But if grace is required, is it really grace anymore? Grace is given freely, and is not taken by the receiver.

Reading Joshua has greatly increased my love for God. It has, more than ever, set in stone the immense grace and love for God, especially through election. If you are resistant to the doctrine of election, please consider what the Bible says. Please consider the just wrath and the tremendous grace of God. Read Joshua. Read Romans. If you are in Christ, the Spirit will reveal these things to you. Flesh and blood cannot reveal these things, only God (Matthew 16:17). All glory to Him forevermore.