Joshua 3:1-17
6/12/16
Are you ready for a change? Are you ready to take new ground in your life? Today we take our text from Joshua 3. Israel has been wandering in circles for 40 years. Their fathers had come up to the Promise Land and failed to enter in. The opportunity was theirs; but they backed off of the opportunity because of unbelief in their hearts.1 Now a new generation, led by Joshua, has the same opportunity.
Follow with me as we begin reading in Joshua 3:1
“Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. 2 So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; 3 and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before." 5 And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you." 6 Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, "Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people." So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. 7 And the LORD said to Joshua, "This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, 'When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.'" 9 So Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God." 10 And Joshua said, "By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites: 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. 12 Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. 13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap." 14 So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), 16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.2
I have taken a statement found in verse 4 as the title of this message: You Have Not Passed This Way Before. In one day, everything about their lives is about to change. Up until this time they were nomads wandering around in the wilderness. There food supply was manna that fell from heaven. They were led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. For 40 years it was the same meal and the same routine every day.
Now they come to a place in their lives when God says: “It’s time for a change. It is now time for you to enter into my purposes. It is now time to take the land that I have given you to inhabit. You will no longer eat manna; you will eat the good of the land. But there will be some battles to fight. I will be with. I will give you victory. But you will have to engage the enemy and take the land.”
I want to share with you three directives they followed and we must follow as we move into the next phase of our lives. They were told first to:
I. Set Your Eyes of the Ark.
The Ark of the Covenant represents the Presence of God. In Exodus 25, God instructed Moses to make this Ark. It was a simple wooden chest 45” long, 27” inches wide and 27” tall, overlaid with gold. On the lid was a golden Cherub on each end bowing toward the center which was the Mercy Seat.3 The Mercy Seat was the place of God’s manifest presence. So this Ark represented the presence of God among His people.
Look again at the instruction in Joshua 3:3-4.
“…When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before."
They were to keep 2,000 cubit distance between them and the Ark. This was a little over half a mile. It was extremely important that every eye be on the Ark. That’s how they would know where to go. They were to follow the Ark, the Presence of the Lord. There were about three million people there (about ten times the metropolitan area of Springfield). If they crowded into the Ark, only a few could see it. The distance made it visible to everyone.
The distance also reminded them of the awe we should have for God’s presence. When God appeared at Mt. Sinai, He warned the people about coming too near to gaze at the Lord. If they treated God’s presence that casually, He would break out on them and the glory would destroy them.4
We have a generation of Christians today who do not understand that side of God. There is a presumption and entitlement that is not healthy. Yes, everything we receive from God is because of His love and mercy toward us. We have a liberty to come boldly to the throne of grace. It is a throne of grace for the child of God. But we never lose reverence for Father God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.5 Over and over God taught Israel to respect His holiness and glory even when enjoying His goodness and mercy.
They were to keep their eyes on the movement of God’s presence and follow that. That was the source of their guidance. That was the source of their wisdom. That was their strength: to simply follow the Lord. Don’t start building a bridge. Watch the ark.
They camped there at the Jordan for three days before proceeding. No doubt, some people wondered why they didn’t get on with it. Why the delay? Yet there was something being accomplished in that three days. It was spring time, the time of barley harvest, when the waters of Jordan were at their peak. The snow was melting off the mountains into the river, and the spring rains were pouring down. The river was raging at its high point. It was about a mile wide and impossible to cross.6 For three days the Israelites looked at the tree logs and branches bobbing up and down in the rapids. “There is no way we can cross that. How are we going to enter Canaan Land, let alone conquer it?” God wanted them to thoroughly understand that they could not do it without Him. It was utterly impossible. But God specializes in things thought impossible.
Do you have any rivers you think are uncrossable? Any problems beyond you? Do not live in denial. Take a good look at the impossibility; then remember God is able. With God nothing is impossible. The nation had been in an impossible situation at the Red Sea; but God delivered them from the Egyptians. Their fathers had seen that happened and told them the story many times. But now it is time for this generation to experience the glory of God first hand. Now it is time for them to know by their own experience that God can deliver to the uttermost.
Sometimes things get worse before they get better. It is just preparation for a greater manifestation of God’s glory.7 Why not time this so that they cross when the river is down, only 3 or 4 feet deep and 30 feet wide? Because you might think you got across it by your own ingenuity and ability. No, take a good look at the problem. You can’t solve it without God. So when He does part the waters, give Him all the glory.
Later Israel will learn an important lesson about the Ark of the Covenant. It represents the Presence of God; but it is not a charm that they can manipulate God with. In the days of Eli, his sons were ungodly spiritual leaders. They held the position of spiritual leadership; but they lived in sin and had little regard for the commandments of God.8 When they got into a battle with the Philistines in 1 Sam. 4 they were defeated by the enemy because of their unfaithfulness to God. They thought they could solve the problem by using the Ark as a kind of good luck charm. So they brought the Ark into the battlefield thinking that religious act would defeat the enemy. Instead Israel was defeated; and the Ark was captured. That’s when the heathen Philistines got a lesson on the holiness of God. They brought the captured Ark before the image of their false god, Dagon. The next morning they awoke to find Dagon fallen before the Ark. They propped their image back up; but the next morning they found him fallen before the Ark again, this time with the head and hands broken off. Then a plague broke out among the Philistines. They were very happy to return the Ark to Israel.9
God’s presence is nothing to trifle with. You can trifle with lukewarm churches and social groups. But when you really get the presence of God, stand at attention and do exactly what He tells you to do.10 Israel was not to be gawking around with their attention in the wrong place. They were to Set their eyes on the ark and follow the presence of God.
Second instruction was to:
II. Sanctify Yourselves!
Josh 3:5 “And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you."
God is about to do something you have not seen Him do before. He is about to move in a wonderful, powerful way in your midst.
But you are to prepare yourself for that. Will you do the preparations that God requires?
I gave the vision of this church a couple of weeks ago. It is very simple: easy to understand; but not so easy to do. This is exactly what God is calling on His people to do all across America; but I have to focus on what He requires of me. 2 Chron. 7:14 “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” It really doesn’t matter how many people will or will not do that with me; I must do it. So that is my focus and the focus of this church. When I invite people to Life Church, I simply tell them that is what we’re doing and we would love for them to join us. If I will do that, I’ll be ok tomorrow. God invited all of Israel to go into the Promise Land 40 years earlier. Only Joshua and Caleb met the requirement; but the fact that others wouldn’t go, didn’t keep Joshua and Caleb out. If you will sanctify yourself, you will be ready regardless of what others do.
Joshua 3:5 has two sides to it. One side is what God will do, “for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you." The other side is what you must do to position yourself for what God is about to do, “Sanctify yourselves….” Will you be ready for what God is about to do? The readiness is primarily about your spiritual condition: separate yourself from evil and consecrate yourself to God. Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 7:1 “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” There is the divine side of sanctification and there is the human side. We cannot do the divine side; God requires us to do 2 Cor. 7:1, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit….” 2 Chron. 7:14 tells usfour4 things to do: humble ourselves, pray, seek the face of God, and turn from our wicked ways. Put away the attitudes and activities that grieve the Holy Spirit. Heb. 12:1-2 combines our first two points in this message when it says, “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith….”
We’ll later see Israel consecrating themselves further before going into battle, after they cross the Jordan. Instead of immediately attacking Jericho, they circumcise all the men in obedience and consecration to the Lord. In the natural it weakened them; but as it turned out the sanctification paid off. God defeated Jericho for them when they sanctified themselves.
In the natural, it was a foolish thing to do. It made them vulnerable to attack. But it was an act of faith and obedience and God provided the protection.
"Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you."
An event was about to happen in these people’s lives that would change everything. In one day, God would dry up the Jordan; they would cross over; and life would never be the same again. It has happened over and over in history. On Dec. 7, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and life suddenly changed across America. On Sept. 1, 1939 life in Poland went from peaceful to chaotic as Hitler suddenly invaded that country. Think about the people in Jericho at this time. Everyone is living life as usual. The Canaanites have become exceedingly corrupted and wicked. Out of the thousands of people living in Jericho, only Rahab will be saved. There they all are, surrounded by an awesome wall, feeling safe and sound. Within a matter of days, those walls will fall down and they will be destroyed. The dramatic changes don’t come often; that’s why people think they won’t come at all. But history proves that they do come; and often at unexpected times.
The key preparation is always relationship with God.
So we have seen two preparations for the coming event: I. Set Your Eye on the Ark which represents the presence of God and II. Sanctify Yourselves which involves separating ourselves for anything displeasing to the Lord and consecrating ourselves to the Lord.
III. Step into the Water.
Josh 3:13 “And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap."
God would do wonders among them; but they must obediently act in faith. Everyone could have prayed. Everyone could have sought the face of God. Everyone could have sanctified themselves. But if nobody had stepped into the river, nothing would have happened. There are times of preparation; and then there come times when we must act in faith.11
Imagine the drama of the moment when those priests approached the Jordan River. What if nothing happens? Have we been hearing God right or is this all just wishful thinking? The river is a mile wide. The muddy waters are running rapidly toward the Dead Sea. The priests carrying the ark step into the river as ordered. There is no apparent change! The change occurs 18 miles upstream12 where God stops the flow of the water and it rises up in a heap. But water is still flowing over the priest’s feet. Yet the depth is diminishing. The waters are drying up as the priests make their way to the middle of Jordan. The flow of water has stopped and the river dries up. The priests stand their ground as three million people cross over on dry ground.
You want to be a leader? These priests were the first to enter the danger zone and the last to leave it. As they stand there in the middle of Jordan, their faith is tested and exercised. Yes the waters are not flowing now; but will they burst forth before we can get out. Faith means I not only step into the waters believing God for a miracle; but I persevere as well. I stand my ground until the task is fully done. I don’t break rank. I finish well after I have begun well.
There is a difference between this generation of Israelites and their forefathers that stood at the same decision point 40 years ago. The enemies were still there. The giants were still there. The walled/fortified cities were still there. The raging Jordan was still there. All the same reasons for turning back were there. But this generation was of a different spirit. They were willing to risk it all in obedience to God. They were willing to fight the giants. They were willing to step into the water and see God work in their behalf. They were willing to leave the familiar and comfortable and step out in God. Crossing that Jordan River meant they were irrevocably committed to the battle.
In Acts 15:26 the Apostles described Paul and Barnabas as “men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What am I willing to risk for the honor of that name? What are you risking? Will you risk your reputation? Will you risk your personal finances? Will you risk your personal safety? The difference between the first generation Israelites coming out of Egypt and this generation is the risk factor. They were willing to risk it all for the glory of God.
For some of us, perhaps all of us, it is a time of transition. It is a time of new doors, new opportunities—not without battles—but with awesome victories for those who will step out and believe God. These people are coming into a new way of life. They do not draw back from that.
It’s a new season with new challenges, but also with new opportunities. Do the preparations, sanctify yourselves, keep your eyes on the Lord, and do whatever He tells you to do.
END NOTES:
1 Numbers 13-14; Hebrew 3-4.
2 All Scripture quotes are from the New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
3 ARK OF THE COVENANT (from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright (c)1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
4 Exodus 19:9-25.
5 Lev. 25:17, 36, 43; Deut. 10:12-13; 31;12-13; Prov. 9:10; Matt. 10:28; 2Cor. 7:1; 1 Pet. 2:17.
6 Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Strong: Putting God’s Power to Work in Your Life (Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1993) p. 51.
7 Judges 7:1-7; John 11:1-6, 14-15, 32-43.
8 1 Samuel 2:1-24.
9 1 Samuel 4-6.
10 Acts 5:1-11.
11 Heb. 11:6, 29; James 2:17.
12 ADAM (from The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright (c) 1988.)
