14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. 15. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
There are so many places I could go with this chapter, but I would like to focus on a small part of verse 15.
15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope:
The valley of Achor received its name after Achan was stoned for disobeying God's orders. This story is found in Joshua 7:24-26:
24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. 26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.
Achor literally means trouble. After reading this story, you might be feeling sad and depressed. After all, when's the last time you rejoiced over reading about a gruesome death? So how could there be a door of hope in the valley of Achor?
The interesting thing about this story is that Israel had to stone Achan before they could destroy Ai. When you came to God, you had a valley of Achor experience. You were guilty of sin and you stood before God in the valley of judgment. There, your sinful nature was stoned to death.
Notice that even after they had stoned Achan and his family, they buried them under a pile of stones. In the same way, we were buried with Christ in Baptism. Our sins were buried once and for all in the valley of Achor.
When we read this story in the book of Joshua, we can either focus on the gruesome death of Achan, or we can rejoice when we read about Israel's victory over Ai. Some people want to keep wallowing in the mire of Achor. They keep trying to dig up the bones of sin that were meant to be buried forever. While it's important for us to never forget about Achor (our new birth experience) we mustn't dwell on the buried sin. Instead, we need to remember the door of hope that God opened for us in this valley. I'm sure that the people of Israel would walk past the valley of Achor often. It would always serve as a reminder of painful death, but it would also remind them of their victory over Ai.
All of us should remember the chains that once bound our hands and feet, but we should also rejoice in the fact that those chains are gone. Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song years ago that contained the following lyric:
Remember your chains
Remember the prison that once held you before the love of God broke through
Remember the place you were without grace and see where you are now
So remember your chains and remember that your chains are gone
1 Corinthians 6:9-11:
9. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
(3.) It is good for Christians to look back on what they once were. It will produce
(*) humility,
(*) gratitude,
(*) a deep sense of the sovereign mercy of God,
(*) an earnest desire that others may be recovered and saved in like manner.
You don't have to regret your past any longer. If you turn your regret into testimony, this world will sit up and pay attention. People can argue with doctrine, scripture, and your personal convictions, but they can't argue with your testimony.
Acts 4:13-15
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. 14 And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
Go out and tell those around you about your valley of Achor experience, but more importantly, tell them about the door of hope that you found in that valley.
Jordan Mills
