Joshua was a man of action. After the spies reported in, Israel’s leader began immediate preparations to cross the Jordan and invade Canaan. As yet Joshua had no knowledge of how this massive group of people was to cross the swollen river. But believing that God would somehow make it possible, he moved them all, bag and baggage, the seven miles from Shittim . . .to the Jordan.
Having arrived at the river they stopped for three days. Time was no doubt needed for the leaders to organize the crossing and pass instructions on to the people. The delay also gave everyone an opportunity to get close and see the river, now a strong and rapid current due to the melting of the winter snows of Mount Hermon in the north. They must have faltered at the seeming impossibility of the crossing.
At the end of the third day of waiting the people were given instructions. The pillar of cloud would no longer lead them but they were instead to follow the ark of the covenant. No army scouts would advance first into the land but rather priests bearing the ark. And since the ark symbolized the Lord Himself, it was Yahweh who led His people into Canaan.
With the ark going ahead the people were to fall in behind, or possibly to spread around it on three sides. But they were to keep their distance by some 3,000 feet. Why? Probably to remind them of the sacredness of the ark and the holiness of the God it represented. They were to have no casual or careless intimacy with God but a profound spirit of respect and reverence. God was to be considered not “the Man upstairs” but the sovereign and holy God of all the earth.
The distance was also essential so that the largest possible number of this great population could see the ark. God was about to lead them over unfamiliar ground, over a way they had not taken before. It was new territory so without the Lord’s guidance and leadership the people would not know which direction to take.
As the day and time for the crossing approached Joshua commanded the people to sanctify or consecrate themselves. It would be easier to understand if he had said, “Sharpen your swords and check your shields!” But spiritual not military preparation was needed at this time because God was about to reveal Himself by performing a great miracle in Israel’s midst. As a person would prepare scrupulously to meet someone of earthly fame so it was appropriate for the Israelites to prepare for a manifestation of the God of all the earth. The same command was heard at Sinai when the previous generation prepared itself for the majestic revelation of the Lord in the giving of the Law (Exodus 19:10-13).
But that was not all. The people of Israel were to expect God to work a miracle. They were to be eager, gripped by a sense of wonder. Israel was not to lose sight of their God who can do the incredible and the humanly impossible.
The Lord then told Joshua how they would make the crossing, and explained to Joshua that this miracle would magnify or exalt him as the leader of the people. It was time to establish Joshua’s credentials as God’s man/leader to guide Israel. What better way to accomplish this than for Joshua to direct their passage through a miraculously parted river? After the crossing the people did in fact revere Joshua knowing that God was with him (Joshua 4:14).
SO WHAT? (what will you do with what you have read today?)
Sometimes it easy to miss the reason that God wanted the Israelites to move forward and take hold of the land that He had promised them so many years earlier. God had a purpose for that Land. What was that purpose? A baby born in a manger at Bethlehem & Christ, the Son of God on a cross at Calvary Bethlehem &Calvary: all this was God’s master plan for the salvation of a fallen human race. And nothing on earth or in hell should ever stand in the way of the plan of God.
God has a plan today for you life. What is it? The purpose of God for every man and woman is Bethlehem, Calvary and everything that stands in the way of God’s fulfillment of His plan must be conquered.
But between that purpose and its realization flows the Jordan River, and it seems so impossible to cross it. I wonder what your Jordan River is. Is it the hold of some unhealthy habit on your life? Is it some relationship that you are unwilling to give up? Is it a lifestyle that you've grown accustomed to? What is the Jordan River in your life that stands between you and the promised life that God has planned out for you?
Could it possibly be that, in spite of you belief, you are mastered by some carnal passion? Could it be that you have never tasted deliverance from sin? Do you teach others, but have never been taught of God? Do you speak to others about the Lord Jesus, but have never known the conqueror in His power in your life?
May God help you see clearly today the things in your life which cripple your testimony, and paralyze you from possessing the promised land. May God help each of us see the things that roll like a Jordan in flood stage between us and the land! God's plan for us is conflict and victory, but for far to many of us all we have ever experienced is conflict and defeat.
If you will take time to read this third chapter of Joshua - and I mean really read it, you will find that everything centered around the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of the presence of God. No less than ten times in this chapter is there a direct reference to the Ark.
You will see that as the people crossed the Jordan, the Ark had to go in front of them. Every one of the two and a half million people had to have a clear, personal view of what happened to the Ark.
Likewise, neither can we get through to the Christ-life from the self-life unless each one of us has a clear, personal view of the Lord Jesus and His majesty and beauty. We can not go take hold of the plans and purposes of God for our life until we see the clearly who Christ is and the price He paid for our salvation. We will never have the courage of Christ to cross our Jordan River unless we have our eyes on Christ and unless He is our life (Colossians 3:2).
This is the foundational truth for today. How will you apply it to your life?
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