You Can Stop the Sun

You Can Stop the Sun
Study Center | Home Page | PDF Version

Ephesians 4:

26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

27 Neither give place to the devil.

Believers should not tolerate the works of Satan. If we do not give him place, he cannot stop us from winning. We are to fight until we win. The object is not to fight until the circumstances force us to stop. The object is for us to stop the circumstances so we can finish the fight. Regardless of what circumstances rise up against us, we are not to give any territory back to the devil!

Joshua, chapter 10 records the greatest miracle in the Word of God with the exception of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Joshua 10:

1 Now it came to pass, when Adonizedec king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them;

2 That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.

3 Wherefore Adonizedec king of Jerusalem sent unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying,

4 Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.

5 Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it.

6 And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants’ come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all
the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us.

7 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.

8 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.

Verse 8 is the word God spoke to Joshua, which turned the battle and the attitudes of Joshua and the children of Israel. The first thing God said was “Fear them not.” Secondly, He told Joshua, “I have delivered them into your hand.” Finally, God declared, “There shall not a man of them stand before you.”

In other words, God was saying, “Don’t fear, Joshua.
I’ve already delivered the enemy into your hands. Before the day has ended, every one of your enemies will be dead.”

9 Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.

10 And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.

11 And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.

12 Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.

13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel.

Notice, God said a greater miracle had never been done before or after that day until the time Jesus was raised from the dead. We often talk about the parting of the Red Sea, which was a tremendous miracle. Israel always referred back to the Red Sea, but as great as that was, it only happened in one location. When Joshua commanded the sun and moon to stand still, I’m sure God chuckled, knowing the sun was already fixed and what Joshua really needed was for the earth to stop rotating. I can imagine God looking at the angels and saying, “Some day they’ll understand astronomy!” At Joshua’s command, God stopped the earth from rotating. This was a greater miracle than parting the Red Sea. When the earth stopped rotating, it was for nearly twenty-four hours. During that time the law of gravity was still in effect. Life continued as usual. Joshua commanded the sun to stand still so he could finish the battle.

At the beginning of Joshua, chapter 10, five kings were mentioned whose leader, Adonizedec, was the king of Jerusalem and greatly feared Israel. Israel had entered the promised land and the first thing they did was conquer Jericho. The walls of Jericho were so thick six chariots could race around them side-by-side. No one could scale its walls. Jericho was a border city and the greatest warriors were placed there to defend its borders. Yet, the children of Israel marched around the walls one time for six days and then seven times on the seventh day. They marched in obedience to God and at the end of the last march, they shouted and blew the trumpets and the walls fell! God defeated Jericho.

A few days after the defeat of Jericho, Israel conquered Ai, which was a small city with mighty warriors. After the defeat of Ai, a group of men approached Joshua

with moldy bread in their pockets wearing shabby clothing and worn shoes. They looked dirty and acted exhausted. When Joshua asked who they were they lied to him and said they were from a far off city. Then these men asked Joshua to sign a treaty promising he and his men would not kill them. Without consulting the Lord, Joshua agreed and signed the treaty. The next day, Joshua and his men rode over the top of the hill and found the city of Gibeon, where the men they had signed the peace treaty with were actually from.

Joshua could have rightfully broken his covenant with those men after he learned they had lied to him, but he was a man of his word. Everyone surrounding Joshua wanted him to break the covenant and kill the inhabitants of Gibeon. Joshua’s response to the pressure was, “No, I signed the treaty without consulting the Lord. I gave my word and I will keep my word.”

The five kings now banding together against Israel have heard about the defeat of Jericho and Ai. They have heard about Gibeon’s alliance with Israel. The king of Jerusalem decided to convince the other kings to join with him to defeat Israel. The names of the five kings are very significant because they represent five different ways Satan can come against us when we get our eyes off the Lord.

The king of Jerusalem was Adonizedec, which means “the lord of righteousness.” Why would Satan’s first agent be called the “lord of righteousness?” The reason is because the first and primary way Satan comes to us is as an angel of light. He quotes scriptures so we will drop our defenses. This is exactly what he did in the garden. He came as an angel of light and presented himself to Eve. Eve accepted his lies, ultimately leading to the fall of man. Adonizedec was Satan’s counterfeit for Melchizedec. The Amorites had conquered Jerusalem. King Adonizedec had taken on a godly title.

The same thing happens today. People come claiming to be representatives of Jesus Christ. They may be New Age or with any number of organizations, but the “christ” that is in them is not the Christ that is in us. Satan’s constant objective is to make light darkness and darkness light.

The next king was Hoham. His name means, “the voice of a multitude.” Satan’s next ploy is to pressure you into following the crowd. But the Bible says to let God be true though every man be a liar. It doesn’t matter if a multitude is against you. If the scripture is on your side, you are right and they are wrong! God never checks to see what the winds of popular opinion are on any given day. Right is right and wrong is wrong and the guidelines for both are found in the Word of God.

The third king was named Piram, which means “wild ass.” A “wild ass” represents confusion and instability. All of us have faced confusion in our lives. Confusion is never a time to make a decision. Never. Satan will always try to pressure us into acting while we are in confusion. But God never pressures us into a decision. He gives us time to receive confirmation and to be led by His peace.

Japhia was the name of the fourth king. His name means “bright or dazzling.” Satan will always make the world appear to be bright, appealing, exciting, and dazzling while making Christianity appear to be dull and unexciting. Satan tries to dazzle Christians with the things of the world to draw us down the wrong path. His design is to tempt us toward his kingdom and away from God and His Word.

The last king’s name was Debir, meaning “oracle.” This refers to a satanic or false doctrine. The New Testament refers to these false teachings as “doctrines of devils.”

These five kings joined together to attack the city of Gibeon and the Gibeonites turned to their new ally, Israel, for help. Joshua kept his word and came to their aid, but as he went he prayed, “Lord, what are we going to do?” The Lord gave him a promise in response. Joshua 10:8 was that promise: “And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into your hand; there shall not be a man of them stand before you.”

Fear could have entered Joshua’s heart as he looked at the size of the enemy armies, because they greatly outnumbered Israel. Joshua could have feared as he looked at the horses, chariots, and finest of weapons wielded by the enemy. Israel had swords and spears. But the Bible says, “Some trust in horses and some in chariots but we will remember and put our faith in the Lord our God!” Joshua had God’s word, “Fear them not.”

Next, God gave Joshua the promise, “I have delivered them into your hand; there shall not be a man of them stand before you.” The same God who had promised the land to Abraham hundreds of years prior to this time, the same God who had said, “Wherever the soles of your feet shall tread, I have given it to you,” the same God now tells Joshua, “I will tell you the outcome of this battle. You will win and all of the enemy will be left dead.” What a great way to go into a battle!

The same God who promised victory to Joshua has promised it to us. My God has already supplied all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. My God has already given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. We have already been given the provisions of Jesus on the cross. We can march into any battle knowing the enemy has been defeated and the battle has been won!

It is important to note, as Israel began to slay the enemy, the enemy became aware that Israel was not alone. They realized the Lord was fighting with them. Everywhere Israel turned they were killing the enemy. When the multitude of the enemy saw their soldiers being killed, they ran in every direction. As the enemy fled, Israel faced the problem of how to pursue all of them. Since Israel’s army was smaller, they did not know how to pursue the fleeing armies. Ultimately, the battle is the Lord’s. God asks us to be obedient to do what we can do and when we do our part, He does the greater part.

Israel did their part and God did His part. As the enemy was fleeing, God caused hailstones to fall, killing those in flight. But the battle was still not over. The remaining enemy troops were around Israel, paralyzed with fear and in confusion. Israel still needed to kill the enemy that was remaining. Joshua suddenly noticed the sun was beginning to set and the moon beginning to rise. He realized if the sun set, there would not be enough time to finish the battle. However, not even the sun can stop the promises of God!

So often, we look at circumstances around us and they seem like they cannot be changed, but nothing can stop the promises of God. We do not fight until the sun goes down; we fight until we win!

Joshua spoke to the sun and said, “Sun, stand still over the city of Gibeon. Moon, over the valley of Ajalon, you stand still until we finish this battle.” It took nearly twenty-four more hours for them to finish the battle. As soon as the battle was over and Israel had defeated the enemy, the sun and moon began moving and the earth rotating.

Think about it. Time stopped. What is standing in your way telling you that God’s promise cannot come to pass? Every hindrance can be removed when it comes to a promise of God being fulfilled in your life!

When we find a promise of God, we can stand on that promise. We don’t quit because the sun has gone down. We fight until we win!

We need to do three things in fighting the enemy. First, we need to get angry at the devil. We need to quit tolerating his works in our lives. Do not give the devil any ground in any area of your life. We are here to win!

The doctor may tell you, “You have only three weeks to live. Disease has overtaken your body,” but you speak to death. You say, “Death, stand still. I am not through. I will live and not die and declare the wonderful works of the Lord!”

Secondly, we need to stop saying, “Well, this disease has been in my family for generations. My father had congestive heart disease, my grandfather had it, and my great-grandfather had it too! I guess there’s nothing I can do about it.” That is a lie. Speak to that hereditary disease and command it to stop, in the name of Jesus! If Joshua could command the sun and moon to stop, we can command hereditary disease to stop!

Finally, we need to stop blaming our past. When we fall into blaming parents and grandparents, in essence we are saying, “I can’t change.” When we blame our past, we are saying our background is greater than the promises of God. You may say, “My parents were poor and their parents were poor. I can’t help it if I’m poor. I just have to live with this curse of poverty.” No, you can speak to poverty and lack. You can break the stronghold of poverty. You can declare in the ears of the enemy, “God has given me the power to get wealth that His covenant may be established on the earth. His blessing makes rich and adds no sorrow with it!”

Just like Joshua, we have the power to stop the sun, the moon, and any circumstance hindering our Christian life. We don’t stop when the sun goes down. We fight until we win!

Bob Yandian

If you like this article, check out Fight Until You Win at the BYM Store.