It may surprise many people, but God does indeed have a sense of humor. We see a glimpse of this humor in Elijah’s encounter with the prophets of Baal in the 18th chapter of the Book of I Kings, where we find Elijah mocking the 450 prophets of Baal who had been fruitlessly praying unto their god from the morning until noon to answer their prayers. Elijah had sarcastically stated to them that maybe their god was off somewhere on a journey, or possibly even relieving himself (I Kings 18:27).
We must remember that although this dialogue may seem a little bit crass to some, it is nonetheless still a part of the inspired Word of God (II Timothy 3:16).
An additional exhibition of God’s sense of humor may also be found subtly hidden within the Book of Joshua, which records the events that occurred to the Hebrew people as they entered into their Promised Land. But first, a little backdrop to the story.
We are told in Scripture that the primary reason that Moses could not lead the Hebrew people into the Promised Land was that he had misrepresented God at the waters of Meribah (Numbers 20:12). There is however another seldom discussed explanation as to why God chose this form of disciplinary punishment for Moses. In the context of understanding and viewing Scripture as a “unified whole”, it would have been inappropriate for God to have Moses lead the Hebrew people into the Promised Land. For Moses was deeply associated with the Law in Scripture, as he was the human agency through whom God had first presented His Law to the Hebrew people, and thereby to the world. Moses was therefore the true human “Archetypical Face of the Law”. Therefore, it would have been improper for God on a typological basis to have Moses lead the people into the Promised Land, for this could easily be misconstrued as a representation that, “A person could get into the Promised Land (id est Heaven) by simply following the Law.”
Another thing to remember is that a key component of interpreting and understanding Scripture is that God has sovereignly arranged the events of world history from the moment of Creation:
“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am
God, and there is none like Me.
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from the ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My
pleasure.” Isaiah 46: 9,10
Within His Sovereign control of mankind’s history, we are also told that God has arranged the events of history in such a way that, “History does indeed “repeat itself”, as “there is no new thing done under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). This truth is the basis for the numerous instances openly hidden within God’s Word that constitute the phenomenon of what we term as Biblical Typology, which is God’s way of demonstrating to mankind that He does indeed have control over the events of the history of mankind.
Rather than having the human archetypical representative of the Law (Moses) lead the Hebrew people into the Promised Land, God ordained that this job would be accomplished by Joshua, who is presented to us within Scripture as being a “Type of Christ”. Therefore, by having Joshua bring the Hebrew people into the Promised Land, God was teaching us typologically that the Law only reveals to mankind his sinfulness, and of his need for a Savior, and was never meant to be a means of salvation:
“Wherefore the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we
might be justified by faith.
But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:24-27
It is “Only through the work of Jesus the Christ” that one is able to successfully enter into the Promised Land, (id est Heaven), not by following the Law. This is the background for what happens next in Scripture, which we shall see may indeed be quite an expression of God’s subtle sense of humor through His incorporating the usage of a little “play on words”.
For after God had miraculously delivered the City of Jericho into the hands of the Hebrew people, He then instructed Joshua to go and conquer the people and the land of Ai. This Joshua did, for we are told that “…Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap forever, even a desolation unto this day” (Joshua 8:28).
When we view this event on a typological basis, we can surmise that in the future, “When Jesus returns to the earth to set up His Millennial Kingdom, that He will also be leading His people back into the Promised Land (Jeremiah 29:14), and one of the first things that He most certainly will do, will also be to utterly destroy Ai. This time however, the Ai will not be a certain group of paganistic people living within the Promised Land, but rather the means by which Satan had maintained control over the whole earth through his “Beast System”, that being, Satan’s usage of a new form of Ai, “Artificial Intelligence”!!!
In God’s Word, nothing is accidental, and here we see God’s way of coyly and humorously displaying His Sovereignty over the events of World History, right down to the dotting of every “i” and the crossing of every “t”!!!
“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall
in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matthew 5:18
As they say, “You can’t make this sort of thing up!”
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How
unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor?
Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory
forever. Amen. Romans 11:33-36
What a wise, never changing, and forever interesting Savior we serve, and what a great reminder that in eternity, that we will indeed continue to experience the joys of God’s “heavenly humor” when we enter our eternal permanent abode in the “Promised Land” of Heaven.
