Crossing Jordan | Sunday, March 12, 2023

So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; 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... Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you." ... And as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan... the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose up in a heap very far away at Adam... 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. (Joshua 3)

When the obstacle before you is impassable, God shows His strength to those who follow Him by faith—at a distance, and set apart.

Obstacles Too Great

There's a good chance that at some point you've thought, or said to someone else, "The obstacles before me are just too great—there's no way we can get through this." That was exactly Israel's situation under Pharaoh in Egypt. They were slaves for 400 years, commanded to commit infanticide upon their newborn sons, and in the midst of that God delivered them by His power and great strength.

Yet immediately after the Exodus they found themselves in another impassable situation. On their left and right stood two mountains—named in the text as Pi Hahiroth and Migdol. In front of them was the Red Sea, and behind them the pursuing Egyptian army. There God spoke to the people in Exodus 14:

Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.

Then God said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward." He told Moses to lift up his rod, stretch it over the Red Sea, and divide it so the people would cross on dry ground—one of the most awe-inspiring miracles in all of Scripture.

At Their Wit's End

Over and over Israel faced insurmountable barriers—lack of water, want of food, enemies stronger than them, the fiery serpents in the camp. At every point, by their own strength and strategies, they were completely without hope. There was nothing they could do; the obstacles were far too great to cross apart from God.

Did God orchestrate the circumstances to bring them to the point where they were out of options beyond turning to Him? Perhaps. Or maybe it was simply the reality of life in a broken world, or the work of the enemy of God. Whatever the case, Israel kept finding themselves in hopeless circumstances. Psalm 107 describes such a scene:

Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, they see the works of the LORD, and His wonders in the deep. For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea... their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.

Notice that in this instance God Himself raises the storm. The men are at their wit's end, completely out of options. Then the psalm continues: "Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, so that its waves are still... Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness."

Strength Made Perfect in Weakness

It is a difficult lesson, but one I have observed frequently: the greatness of God's power and glory is seen most clearly when we are at our weakest. When we are weak, His strength is made perfect. Paul learned this with his thorn in the flesh. After praying three times for God to remove it and God did not, he learned, "When I am weak, then I am strong." Weakness in ourselves often promotes reliance upon God.

Three times in Joshua 1, God tells Joshua, "Be strong and of good courage." But you only speak words of encouraging strength to one who is lacking strength. Where would that courage come from? Not from Joshua's strategy, not from a battle-hardened army, not from an abundance of swords and shields, chariots, horses, and archers. If it were multiple choice, you'd have to answer "none of the above."

The answer is in Joshua 1:

Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel... No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you... Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

The source of Joshua and Israel's strength was the greatness of God and His promise. Their trust and faith in God, and their faithfulness to His word, were the very things that would sustain them and make them victorious. God asks Joshua, Israel, and you right now: "Do you trust Me?"

Following the Ark

Joshua told the officers, "Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan." He sent two spies into Jericho, who returned with Rahab's report that the Lord had delivered the land into Israel's hand and that all the inhabitants were faint-hearted with dread. That brings us to Joshua 3.

Joshua rose early in the morning, and he and all the people set out from Acacia Grove (Shittim) and came to the Jordan, where they lodged before crossing. If ever they were close, now they were closer than ever—at the very border of blessing. The officers told the people, "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."

What was the Ark of the Covenant? Forty years earlier, God had instructed Moses to construct the Tabernacle, where Israel would meet with God, offer worship, and receive His word. Inside the Most Holy Place was a wooden box, about two feet by three feet, overlaid with gold, with two angelic figures of outstretched wings over its cover. Inside were three things: the tablets of the Ten Commandments, a jar of manna, and Aaron's wooden staff that had budded.

But it wasn't the box or its contents that mattered—it was what the box represented. The cover atop it, between the wings, was called the Mercy Seat, and there God's presence was manifested. So the ark represented the manifest presence of God. The picture here is clear: God was going before His people, and they were to follow Him, ready to go wherever He led. God's victorious strength is witnessed by those who are ready to follow Him.

Israel Did Not Move Until God Moved

Throughout the last thirty-eight years of wandering, Israel did not move until God moved. Numbers 9 records that when the Tabernacle was raised up at Sinai—just after their second Passover, two years out of Egypt—the cloud covered it by day and appeared as fire by night.

Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. At the command of the LORD the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the LORD they would camp.

Sometimes the cloud stayed a day, sometimes a week, sometimes a year. Whether by day or night, whenever it lifted, they followed; wherever it settled, they camped. For thirty-eight years, God guided and directed Israel, and Israel did not move until God moved. All of it was by faith. They had to faithfully follow the pillar of cloud and fire—the manifest presence of Almighty God.

That call to follow by faith has not changed. You may not have a tabernacle, a cloud, or a pillar of fire, but just as Israel had to trust that God was leading, you and I have to follow God by faith. As Hebrews tells us, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

Do Not Get Ahead of God

We are called to a walk of faith, and this passage gives us important truths to hold centrally. The first we've seen: don't go anywhere unless the Lord is directing you. But notice verse 4: "Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure"—about a half mile. "Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before."

The New Testament says we walk by faith and not by sight, and that is the only way to be pleasing to God. As we follow God by faith, we must make sure we are following Him and not getting out in front of Him. God wants to lead you into new paths, but they will always be unmapped territory, ways you have not passed through before. Therefore it is essential that we follow and don't outrun Him.

For Israel, the half-mile space served two purposes: so they could see where to go, and so they could witness what God was doing. God's acts and His ways are only observed by those who follow and gaze upon Him. You have to be at a distance, following, focused and fixed upon Him, watching to see what He will do.

I'm sure more than a few of you have gotten ahead of God—out of zeal, out of ignorance, or just not paying attention. When we outpace God we are exposed: we lose our way, get discouraged, become open targets for the enemy, and make foolish mistakes. We need to keep God in front of us, paying attention to where He is going.

This idea of seeing God work appears repeatedly in the Old Testament. Samuel told Israel, "Stand and see this great thing which the LORD will do before your eyes" (1 Samuel 12). When Judah faced invasion, Jahaziel said, "You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you" (2 Chronicles 20). And Moses at the Red Sea said, "Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD" (Exodus 14). There are times to plant ourselves, stop, and wait upon the Lord. As Isaiah 40 says:

Those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Sanctify Yourselves

The second important truth is in verse 5: "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you." God's wonders are seen by those who are set apart unto the Lord—that's what "sanctify" means, to be set apart.

Do you want to see God's greatness, power, and glory? Do you desire His victory in your life? Then recognize that you need to acknowledge your own weakness and your desperate need for His strength. Like Paul, we come to that humble place: "I don't have the strength or strategy to address all that's coming at me. I need God's wisdom, I need God's grace." Proverbs 8 and 9 are all about seeking wisdom—and seeking wisdom acknowledges that I don't have the resources in myself. As a father, husband, pastor, and leader, I have to come to that humble place. That acknowledgment promotes reliance upon the Lord.

So how do we sanctify ourselves? First, recognize that sanctification is a work of God's Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2). Yet Christ also prayed, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth" (John 17:17). Paul says Christ gave Himself for the church "that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word" (Ephesians 5). Romans 12 says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind," and we renew our minds through the word of God. So Scripture reading, study, memorization, and meditation are essential spiritual disciplines for growing in sanctification.

There are other helpful disciplines as well. Prayer is essential—worshiping God, bringing our petitions, confessing our sins, interceding for others. Fasting—from food, social media, the news—breaks the attachment and strength of our flesh. Think how, around the holidays, your appetite can begin to dominate and direct you so you lack the self-control to say no to that second helping. Fasting quiets and stills the flesh so we can more clearly hear and respond to the Spirit's prompting. Silence and solitude—waiting upon the Lord, going on a hike, putting the device on "do not disturb"—are increasingly difficult in a world that constantly bombards us with notifications, yet they work powerfully toward a sanctified life.

Sanctification is a work of the Spirit, but He also calls us to work it out. As my favorite passage says: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12–13).

The Waters Divided

What is the outcome when we entrust ourselves to God and follow Him by faith in sanctified obedience? Joshua 3 continues:

Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God." 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... Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan."

As soon as the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water—and the Jordan overflows all its banks during the harvest—the waters from upstream stood still and rose up in a heap far away at Adam. The priests stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel crossed over on dry ground opposite Jericho.

What is the obstacle before you that seems impassable—like the Red Sea, like the lack of food and water in the wilderness, like the venomous snakes? As Israel followed God by faith, kept behind Him to see where He would go, and consecrated themselves to the Lord, they saw God move mightily, and He opened a way for them to walk through. That does not mean they would have no more difficulties, obstacles, or battles—we'll see those as we continue in Joshua. But God opened the way, and they crossed over on dry ground.

Stepping Into the Fullness

I am thoroughly convinced that God wants to take you into a greater experience of His promised blessing of victory and rest. Jesus said, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." God wants us to enter the fullness of His abundant life.

All of His promise and blessing is ours by inheritance in Christ, just as the blessings of the land were Israel's by inheritance. But Israel could not take possession of all that was theirs until they crossed the Jordan and stepped into the land. For you and me, "all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us." Those promises await you in Christ, but you have to step in and take possession of them. My prayer is, "O Lord, do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think, through us Your people, to Your glory."

From a People to a Nation

One final note. Eight times in Joshua 3 the word "people" appears. Seven of those times it is the Hebrew word am. But the eighth and final time, in verse 17—"until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan"—it is a different Hebrew word, goy, which the New American Standard translates "nation."

Why the change? Israel moves from being merely "a people" to being "a nation" only when they enter into the fullness of possessing the land. I believe this fulfills God's promise to Abraham some four centuries earlier. God called a person to a place: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation... and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." That word "nation" is the same word that appears here in Joshua 3.

So why does this matter? We only fully become what God intends us to be when we step into the fullness of His blessing. Israel stepped into the promised land and immediately became the nation God had promised. In the same way, every person is incomplete until they are in Christ, and you only fully realize the fullness of God's blessing—ultimately so that all peoples might be blessed—when you step into Christ.

Closing Prayer

God, would You fulfill that in us. Draw us into the place where we step in by faith, following You at a distance so we don't get out ahead of You, so we know where to go and can see You work and understand Your ways. Father God, I pray that You would work in us, Your church—continue directing us, leading us, and empowering us to step into the fullness of all that You have for us. Lord, do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think, as You have great things for us, Your people, to do. Do a greater work, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.