Josh 5:15, And the captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so. 
	We are at the point in our reading when all those final preparations were put into place for the Children of that first generation to march into the Promised Land and receive the blessing of God’s pledge to them. They had participated in the Passover once again, as prescribed by God. This generation then underwent the process of circumcision to show that they were fully the Lord’s to use as He so deemed proper and best. They were now partaking of the good produce of the Promised thus alleviating the need for the Lord to provide His manna. 
	The time was at hand for the people to move forward and Joshua was on the cusp of figuring out what needed to be done. He had the responsibility set before him of leading this people now that Moses was gone. He was to direct them into battle against forces stronger and mightier in number. That is a terrible duty for any leader who loves the people he is shepherding. Yet he also knew that the Lord was fighting for them. So he was looking over the terrain around Jericho, the first city of the coming conquest, when he was visited by the Captain of the host of the Lord. 
	This brings to mind several other times when the Lord presented Himself before those whom He chose to individually visit. Consider Abraham, who was the friend of God. One of those visitations of the Lord is recounted in Gen 18:1-3. This presents the truth that God was willing to make Himself and His plans and His purposes and His promises known in such an intimate way to the humanity whom He had created.
	Gen 18:1-3, Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. And when he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, "My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by. 
    	This was the visitation in which the Lord revealed to Abraham that he and Sarah would have a son who would be the foundation of a great and innumerable nation. It was a most personal and physical manifestation and visitation by God with man.
	Another type of encounter is related in Gen 32:24-30. Here we have the interaction of man with God as evidenced in the wrestling match between Jacob and the representation of the Lord. It was in the course of this interaction that the Lord changed the name of Jacob to Israel, with all its inherent meaning. 
	Gen 32:24-30, Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. And when he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." And he said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him and said, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved." 
    	The next man to walk and to talk with the Lord, that we will consider, was Moses. There were countless times in which the Lord and Moses interacted on this earth. It began with the call of the Lord from the burning, yet unconsumed bush, for Moses to return to Egypt to tell Pharaoh to let God’s people go. Then there were the numerous times of their meeting together during all those years of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness. God and Moses would meet on the mountain of the Lord, as well as so very frequently in the Tent of Meeting. Moses and God were in a perpetual interaction and discussion that is unparalleled within the Biblical accounting of the visitation of God with mankind.
One such mention of this interaction is recounted in Ex 23:20-31. Here, the Lord promised to send an angel before the people with the power to guard and to guide them to the place that the Lord had prepared. It would be the presence of the Lord, and the nation’s obedience and reverence for God that would guarantee the fulfillment of the blessing so pronounced upon this Chosen Nation.
Ex 23:20-31, "Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him. But if you will truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. For My angel will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will completely destroy them. You shall not worship their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their deeds; but you shall utterly overthrow them, and break their sacred pillars in pieces. But you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your midst. There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. I will send My terror ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send hornets ahead of you, that they may drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you. I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate, and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land. And I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you. 
    	It was this direct promise from God to Moses that Joshua embraces as he was contemplating the upcoming siege of Jericho. As he was formulating his plans, Joshua was met by the Captain of the host of the Lord. In recognition of with Whom Joshua was entreating Joshua bowed low to the ground in reverence. Then he listened as the miraculous plan of the Lord for the destruction of Jericho was detailed in Josh 6:2-5.
	Josh 6:2-5, And the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors. And you shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And it shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead." 
    	Another example of a living encounter with the Lord in a miraculous condescension of God’s representation to visit humanity were the parents of Samson as recorded in Judg 13:15-23. They were barren, unable to have children. The Lord visited them with instructions for the manner with which to receive and care for the promised child, Samson. Manoah was so thrilled, he wanted to honor the bearer of this tremendous promise.
	Judg 13:15-23, Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, "Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a kid for you." And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Though you detain me, I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord." For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, "What is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?" But the angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?" So Manoah took the kid with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord, and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. Now the angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah or his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. So Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God." But his wife said to him, "If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time." 
	One key component of this encounter was similar to that of Jacob, when the name of the Lord was requested. Neither time was there a direct answer except to tell Manoah, in this instance, the following, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?" The name of the Lord is wonderful and it is glorious. This reflects His appearance as described by those to whom God chooses to show Himself in person or in visions of His glory.
	There are at least three major instances of the vision of the glory of God as shown to humanity in visions as the reinforcement of this tremendous reality. Consider first what the Lord revealed to the Prophet Ezekiel, who described the eternal glory that surrounds the Lord God Almighty. For mankind to be shown the plan and the purpose of God in such detail was reinforced when the Prophet Ezekiel was shown a portion of what the Lord was putting into place, as in Ezek 1:26-28.
	Ezek 1:26-28, Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking. 
       	The Lord, through the Prophet, then gave further details of the work that He would accomplish through the Son of Man, His Only Begotten Son. This is revealed and recounted in Ezek 34:23-26.
	Ezek 34:23-26, "Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. "And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken. "And I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate harmful beasts from the land, so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. "And I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessing. 
	Daniel was shown the vast working of the Hand of God in operation as He was blessed with the visions that he recorded for all to read. He was privy to how awesome and resplendent is the Lord of Hosts over all the inhabitants of the earth and the heavens. We have a portion detailed for us in Dan 7:9-14.
Dan 7:9-14, "I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow, And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning fire. "A river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened. "Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. "As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time. "I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. "And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed. 
	The glory of God fills this vision as the Son of Man is given dominion and glory and praise and honor over His kingdom which will last forever and forever. This would serve to maintain the heart of Daniel through all three of those powerful monarchs of the earth who would be accounted as nothing in the grand scope and vision of the Son of Man on the throne of Heaven, forever and forever. 
    	The third writer who was shown the vision of that glory of the Lord God Almighty was John, the writer of the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The glory of the Lord is proclaimed throughout the Book, as in Rev 1:12-16.
	Rev 1:12-16, And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His breast with a golden girdle. And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire; and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. And in His right hand He held seven stars; and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. 
	We conclude this morning with the fact that God sent forth His Only Begotten Son, the ultimate representation of Himself, to this earth to die and then rise again as the means of bringing us into a living relationship with Our Creator. This is so much more than just visitations and visions. This is the gift of eternal life, given freely to all men and women who will but accept and believe upon the redemption that God has provided through the Only Begotten. Because we believe, and honor, and cherish the work and person of Jesus Christ, we will be brought into the immediate presence of the One by Whom all things have come into being.
	The Gospel of John gives us some sense of what was put into place by the earthly birth of the Son of God as man. Actually, all the Gospels, and in fact the whole of Scripture present the truth of The Son of God as Our Redeemer. But for the purpose of this morning, we will look at John 1:15-18.  
	John 1:15-18, John bore witness of Him, and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. 
	The very heart of God was revealed by the Son, Who was the only man who lived a perfect life. He was sinless in every essence and sense, and yet He freely chose to die for us that we might receive the salvation, through His glorious resurrection, that brings us into His eternal life.
	Then, as our final passage, the Apostle Paul details the outworking of the wonderful life of Jesus in us, through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Please turn to Phil 2:5-11, so we can read it together. 	
	Phil 2:5-11, Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So be it!
And the captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so. Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is Ps 71:8. My mouth is filled with Thy praise, And with Thy glory all day long. Amen.