Further Study

Review Questions

These questions are designed to help you review important material covered in the lecture.

1. Briefly summarize the three segments of Joshua’s speech in chapter 23. How do we know that Joshua’s assembly in this chapter was far more significant than Joshua’s earlier gatherings? What was so important about this assembly?
2. List and briefly summarize the five main themes in the book of Joshua that have been discussed throughout this series. How did the author of Joshua weave these five themes into his covenant warnings?
3. Summarize Joshua’s covenant renewal ceremony at Shechem in Joshua chapter 24. Include in your summary Joshua’s summons and dismissal, Joshua’s speech and Israel’s responses, and the ratification ceremony that resulted from Israel’s new-found commitment to God.
4. What does the lesson teach about why the original audience needed covenant renewal? How did the author of Joshua use the five recurring themes that we’ve seen throughout this lesson to move his original audience to renew their covenant with God?
5. Read Jeremiah 31:31-34. In what ways is the new covenant better than the previous covenants that governed the people in Joshua’s day and at the time of the original audience?
6. How did Christ fulfill the call for covenant loyalty at the inauguration of his kingdom?
7. How do Joshua’s warnings and his call for covenant renewal apply in the continuation of Christ’s kingdom throughout church history?
8. What will be the consequences for covenant loyalty and disloyalty when Christ consummates his kingdom? Support your answer with specific references from Scripture.

Application Questions

Application questions are intended for group discussions.

1. Does the requirement of covenant loyalty still apply to us today, or are we free from this requirement because Jesus’ perfect obedience has already been applied to us?
2. Israel was guilty many times of idolatry. The Reformer John Calvin wrote that “Man’s nature … is a perpetual factory of idols.” What does your heart tend to idolize? What does the culture that you live in idolize? What are some ways you can address and reject this idolatry in your own life and culture?
3. Old Testament Israel often erected stones as memorials to God. Is it wrong for Christians today to memorialize God with physical objects? How can believers today celebrate and commemorate God and his mighty deeds?
4. Joshua reminded Israel of God’s faithfulness by reviewing God’s mighty works. How do we in the church do this same kind of thing today? What are the ways that we could do more to rehearse and remember God’s past faithfulness, both personally and corporately?
5. Joshua said, “… as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). What strategies can we use to ensure that we remain loyal to the Lord? How can you develop a godly legacy?
6. What do you think God meant when he said, through Jeremiah, “I will put my law within [my people], and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33)? What does this promise mean for our lives today?
7. How do we receive greater blessings under the new covenant than Old Testament Israelites received under the previous covenants? How have you seen these blessings manifested in your own life?
8. Read Hebrews 12:5-11. Why does God discipline us if he has forgiven our sins through Jesus’ atoning death? How can we use this text to compassionately counsel someone who is going through trials or hardships?
9. The apostle Paul taught that there will be “false brothers” in the church until Jesus returns to consummate his kingdom, and if they don’t repent, they are doomed to suffer God’s eternal judgment. Should the presence of unbelievers in your local congregation change how you preach the Word? Why or why not?
10. What is the most significant thing you learned in this lesson?