Joshua – Lesson 22

The Process of Crossing the Jordan

· Joshua 3:1, Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over.

From Shittim to the Jordan River was a distance of about six or eight miles. When they arrived at the river it was at flood stage and overflowing but they were told to move out anyway. If we sit and wait we need not expect God to do something, when we are told to go. A great example of this is the story of Abram when God called on him at Ur and told him to go.

So now we have seen how the first two chapters of Joshua are chapters of preparation of both Joshua and the people for this step forward across the river. The third chapter is one of action as God prepares His people to move. Remember we are talking about a massive crowd of probably millions of people.

Crossing Over by Faith

There is a time for action and there is a time for waiting. God is never too late. There was a three day delay which gave the people time to become quiet before the Lord and this made it possible for Him to give final instructions.

When the officers moved among the people they said,

· Joshua 3:3,When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it.

The reason they were to keep their eyes on the Ark is that they were to follow it. When it moved forward, they were to move forward.

· Joshua 3:11, See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you.

This was a visible assurance to Israel that God would go into the river first and part the waters and remain there as a protection for His people while they safely crossed over to the other side. After the Israelites had finished the crossing, God told Joshua to tell the priests to come up out of the Jordan. When they had come out of the river bed the waters returned to their original position.

Now notice that in life’s experiences God goes before us and we are to follow Him. His presence with us preserves us, and as with those crossing the Jordan, what He begins, He will finish.

For us, there is no moving from the self-life to the Christ-life unless one has a clear view of Jesus. An illustration of this is an event in the Gospels account of Peter being out on the sea in a boat. Seeing Jesus, he called to Him and asked for permission to walk to Him on the water. Peter got out of the boat and began to walk toward Jesus. As long as he was looking at Jesus he would continue to walk on the water. But as soon as he looked down at the waves, he began to sink. Even so, Jesus reached out and rescued Peter. If we keep our sight on the problems, the circumstances and the frustrations of life, they will overcome us. But if we constantly look to Jesus for help, we will grow and mature in our faith.

Another instruction given the Israelites concerning the Ark was that they were to leave a space between them and it.

· Joshua 3:4, But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it."

So a space of about 3000 feet was to separate the people from the Ark. They were not to go near the Ark.

Why were they not to go near the Ark? Think on this: they have just been told to keep their eyes on the Ark. There were probably 3 million people making this crossing. If they crowded up close around the Ark most would not be able to see it, so they kept a sizable distance between themselves and the Ark. Near enough to see it but not so far that it would be out of sight.

For us Christians there is always a danger in following at to great a distance from Jesus. It was true of Peter who tried to distance himself from Jesus by denying that he even knew Jesus.

There is still another reason for keeping a certain distance between the Israelites and the Ark. It was a matter of reverence.

There is much we could say about the matter of reverence as we attend worship services. There seems to be a growing tendency for worship to become more and more casual. I recognize that there are a variety of opinions on the matter of casual dress, casual attention to the service, casual sense of who God is, such as the “man upstairs”, etc.

There is certainly a lot of truth in the fact that God looks at the inside and not the outside, so it would make a certain amount of sense to say that we don’t have to dress-up to come to church. But this all seems to be a part of the “dumbing down” of our culture and we are gradually acquiring sloppier and sloppier habits in our manner of life. There is some reason to believe that these personal sloppier habits have an effect on our mind and that we begin to “think” sloppier. Maybe you have heard the older people use the expression, “pretty is as pretty does”.

The reverse side of that may very well be true. Now this is not to say that a person has to wear a coat and tie at every church service but we need to be aware that the example of the Ark being separated from the people by some distance in the Jordan suggests to us that reverence for the presence of God is not just a matter of culture, but is a matter of spiritual maturity.

The Ark was going to point the way for the people to go so they needed a clear vision of where it was. Here again we have a picture for us believers. Crossing the Jordan speaks of death to self and then resurrection to the new committed life in Jesus.

We have never crossed the Jordan before, therefore we need a guide to lead us as new decisions are before us. It is probably true that many who accept Jesus as Savior wonder if it is possible to be “overcomers”. Here again, we are dealing with a matter of belief. We are to go into the river after the Ark.

Now in fairness let me ask you a question. If you had been among those millions that came to the Red Sea and saw it part with a massive wall of water on each side of you, would you have been reluctant to go into the path created by the parting of the waters? Obviously it requires faith to depend on God in such situations

But there are no bridges over the Jordan; no bridges that we can walk on that do not require a measure of faith in God. The way to follow God is not over but through.

The river probably seemed like an impossible barrier to the Israelites, but with God all things are possible. You will remember that God announced to Abraham and Sarah when they were very old, that they would have a son. Humanly speaking it was impossible. But God was true to His promise and Isaac was born as God had planned.

· Jeremiah 32:17, "Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”

After Job’s heartbreaking experiences when it seemed that he had lost everything, he came to a new understanding of God and he made the following confession:

· Job 42:2, "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.

Obviously when we say that nothing is impossible with God that means that He can do any good thing. He cannot lie and He cannot sin, but nothing is impossible for God that lies within His character.

If one of our goals in life is to “cross over the Jordan River” then faith in God’s promises is required. Hebrews tells us that we cannot please God without faith. The greatest obstacle to achieving the overcoming life is holding on to the self-life. We saw that in the desert. The wandering of the Israelites was due to their selfish, self-centered desires rather that trusting in God.