Skip HeitzigSkip Heitzig

Skip's Teachings > 06 Joshua - 1998 > Joshua 3

Message:

SAVE: MP4 MP3
BUY: Buy CD
Player will resume where you were momentarily. Please wait...

Cancel
Loading player...
Enter your Email Address:

or cancel

Joshua 3
Skip Heitzig

Joshua 3 (NKJV™)
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.

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

Previous | Next Cookies must be enabled to support these options.
06 Joshua - 1998

Pastor Skip Heitzig expounds on the book of Joshua as a historical book, as the Israelites enter, conquer, and divide up the Promised Land, and also as a practical book on victorious living.

FREE - Download Entire Series (MP3) (Help) | Buy series | Buy audiobook

Transcript

Open as Word Doc Open as Word Doc    Copy Copy to Clipboard    Print icon    Show expand

The third chapter of the book of Joshua, chapters 3 and 4 go together. Who knows, by God's grace and a miracle of God we might cover two chapters tonight. They're short. So tonight we're in chapter 3. Remember last week we looked at an individual. Her name was---what?---Rahab. A unique individual because she starts out as a harlot, ends up as a woman of faith, and gets her name in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews, chapter 11, and we find her even in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Now, that's a big life change. But in chapter 2 we saw highlighted an individual who had faith, an individual who had faith. And Hebrews 11, as we mentioned, is a list of individuals at different times of Israel's history who had faith.

In chapter 3 what makes it so great is we have a nation exhibiting faith, which is unusual, especially for this nation, because in the past they've exhibited everything but faith, great unbelief, complaining, but now they're on the same page. Joshua and Caleb are there. They're the surviving leadership from the previous generation. They've always had the faith. But now this young generation, gathered at the Jordan River, ready to cross over, ready to take the new land, filled with faith. Now I think that it is an explosively, wonderful combination when you get together leaders who have faith and groups of people who have faith. Sky's the limit. Sky's the limit. What can be done in the name of Jesus Christ around the world when you have that combination? I think anything's possible.

Joshua ready, chomping at the bit, wants to go in, wanted to go in forty years before this generation wants to go in. There's a great verse of Scripture concerning Saul the first king of Israel. It said that "[He] returned to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him, men whose hearts God had touched." I love that. I love that verse of Scripture. It's a great description of a group of people: "men whose hearts God had touched." Actually, if you think about it, Saul had all that he needed. When you have the Spirit of God resting on him, which we know it did, and you have a group of people, whose hearts have been touched by God, rallying around the leader, he should have succeeded. Of course, he failed because of his own lack of faith, his own unbelief. But now here we have a nation exhibiting great faith.

I really thank God for the people of faith, I would say this, the congregation of faith at this church. Faithful congregation, faithful people, ready to go out and serve the Lord and change and do whatever, not everyone, but for the most part that marks this congregation. Every congregation has different kinds of people in it. Some who don't want to change, don't want to go advance in faith, want to stay on the other side of the Jordan, want to die in the wilderness. But for the most part, that doesn't mark this congregation. You are marked by people who want to know God more and go further and do whatever God would require. There was a man who had dream one night---you know, dreams are weird. You know how they don't always make sense?

They just---you have all these different elements and they really don't work together in a natural world, but in a dream anything's possible. So this guy was at the dinner table and it was a long dinner table. It stretched all the way down as far as the eye could see, a long, narrow table. People all the way around it as far as the eye could see, all dressed up, tuxedos, nice formal dresses, candles on the table. The best food, you know, it's like a Thanksgiving feast. You had all the trimmings. Everyone was there ready to eat, big appetites. The only obstacle---and this is where the weird part of the dream comes in---everyone had these pieces of wood tied to their arms, or their arms were tied to like little pieces of board at the elbow, so that they couldn't bend.

And so it was frustrating because they could grab the food on the table, but they couldn't bring it to their mouths. And so, you know, some tried to break the wood, and it wouldn't work. No one could do it. And in the dream it was a hilarious scene to see all these people trying whatever they could to bring the food to their mouth to no avail. And then one person had the bright idea of taking a bit of the potatoes and meat, putting it on his fork, and sticking it in the mouth of the guy right across the table from him. [laughter] The guy had a nice little mouthful and reciprocated with the same action. It caught on that quick and everyone enjoyed the meal together as they served one another. When you get a group---a leader, volunteers, staff, and people ready to serve God---serving one another, great combination.

And that, again, marks this ministry. I am a very small part of what goes on here. I may be visible, I may be a senior pastor, and I'm in the microphone and on the platform, but the real stuff goes on up in the Internet booth, in the sound booth, the ushers, the parking lot crew, the Sunday school teachers, the staff, ministering throughout the week in such intricate, wonderful ways. I couldn't do it unless there were "valiant men whose hearts God had touched." So Joshua has everything for him at this point, ready to go in and conquer the land by faith. Let's look at a few of these verses. "Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and set out from the Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over."

Now the land that God is giving them was a wonderful land. Okay, ah. Looks like a nice land, doesn't it? Remember, God said in Deuteronomy, he kept telling them over and over again: "The land that you're going into is not like the land of Egypt. It's not like that deserty area with a narrow river running through it called the Nile River where you have to water everything by foot, the foot pump. But this is a land that God cares for. The eyes of the Lord are on it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year." That's Deuteronomy, chapter 11, around verse 11. "And it drinks in water from heaven. And if you obey me, I'll water your land. If you disobey me, you'll have a drought." So it was a great land. "The land of milk and honey" they called it. They heard about it. They longed for it.

Now they're perched at the entrance to it having seen it afar off with Moses. The problem is they're at the Jordan River. It's a tough problem because they have to cross the River Jordan. They come to the Jordan, there's no bridge across it like there is today. You can go up and find a couple different bridges: one in Galilee, and one down south called the Allenby Bridge. But at that time it's much like in this picture where you see a body of water, trees. Sometimes it's very wide, up to 100 feet wide, up to in some places almost a mile wide at the springtime when the water overflows the banks of the river. So, the problem is, "Okay, we're down at the river. We want to cross." How do you cross a body of water? Well, this is one way, of course. [laughter] You know, truth is I just look for any excuse. [laughter]

Now that was Paul the apostle's method, wasn't it? They took boards and went to shore. Right. [laughter] What? [laughter] Verse 2, "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 you shall go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about 2,000 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.' " He's prepping them. This is all preparatory. God had prepped him. God told him what is required. He's giving it all to the people. And, again, they're ready to obey. They're ready to participate. They're going to cross.

They come expecting. "What will God do? What great wonder will he perform in our midst? We have an uncrossable river." And they probably wondered, "What's going on with Joshua? He wants us to come down to the river. I mean, why doesn't he have us go way, way, way down south under the Dead Sea, maybe back to Kadesh Barnea. How do we cross this river?" They're about to see a miracle of God. But they come with faith. Now, faith, we mentioned a little bit last week, is not just agreeing with, it's not just a mental thing, it's an activity. It's an activity. It's not a passive feeling; it's an obedient action. And they're ready to cross over the Jordan River by faith. Faith is not believing in spite of evidence; faith is obeying in spite of consequence.

In other words, "Hey, we're here no matter what. We're not turning back. We got the report from the spies about Jericho. They said the land is good. They said that the people in Jericho have been shaking in their boots ever since they heard about what our God had done at the Red Sea and to the other kings on the other side. We're ready to go." So, they're commanded to get at the Jordan River. They gather. And a few words about the Jordan River itself. It's as good a point as any to discuss it. A lot of people think Israel's just a barren area, all desert. That was one of the refreshing things about Israel from Egypt, it was so different. In certain places there's desert, but there's so many great exceptions, especially north, here where the Jordan River begins.

The Jordan River is a river that goes from north all the way through the country south. And as you know, just by looking at maps of Israel, that basically Israel is long and narrow from north to south, about twelve miles north of a town called Caesarea Philippi. Ever heard that in your Bible, when Jesus took his disciples to Caesarea Philippi and said, "Who do men say that I am? Who do you say that I am?" Well, about twelve miles north of that the Jordan River begins, and there's three rivers that run into the Jordan River. By the way, Jordan means "descending from the heights of Dan," Yarden/Yar-dan, "descending from the heights of Dan." Because one of the rivers is called the Dan River. It starts way up north, twelve miles north of Caesarea Philippi.

Then just a little south of Caesarea Philippi it joins with another river called the Banias River. And on the screen this is the Dan River rushing out---No. This is the Banias River, the second tributary that rushes into it. Then a little bit further south is another tributary called the Hasbani River. And they all flow into the same vein, and that's the Jordan River. About thirty-five miles down from that, goes into the Sea of Galilee; other side of the Sea of Galilee empties out again, and goes all the way through Israel till it empties into the Dead Sea, and most of it evaporates. There's a lot of minerals in the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is, we've told you before, 1,290 feet below sea level, has a 25 percent salt solution, and mixed with its typography.

And the way it reacts to the sun it evaporates quickly, so that the Dead Sea has an inlet, the Jordan River, but no outlet. A lot of it is just evaporated and taken into the soil. So, that's the Jordan River. Now, the Jordan Valley itself is part of a rift. It's a great way for you to see where the children of Israel have encamped. It looks like somebody just put their hand in and scooped out a bunch of dirt out of the ground and hallowed out this section which is comprised as a lot of Israel. Now, keep in mind the Jordan River, we just told you about from north to south, all of it is below sea level. The Sea of Galilee is about 700 feet below sea level up in the north. The Dead Sea down south and that deep depression is 1,290 feet below sea level.

It's all part of the Syrian-African Rift, which is a technical kind of a term topographically for how the plates of the earth form this interesting section of land. It goes all the way from Syria up above Israel, down through Israel, down in through the Sinai, and into Central Africa, the Syrian-African Rift. And it caused this interesting configuration of land. And the red line that you see on the map is where the children of Israel were crossing into. Jericho is about 750 feet below sea level. So, they're crossing it a little bit north of the Dead Sea coming into the lowlands. Jericho is pitched right at the base of some of the hills out there in the plains. And then from there they're going to march south, up to the mountains of Jerusalem.

They're going to go all the way down south through the Negev, come back to Gilgal where their base camp is, sort of where that red arrow is pointing. And then they're going to make a sweep up north, again, climbing up the mountains, making their northern campaign, and then coming back to Gilgal. That's the Syrian-African Rift. "Physical Features of Israel" I've showed with the red line, this rift valley, especially the Jordan River. The Jordan River that I just showed you on the screen with its beautiful streams, doesn't quite look like that where they crossed. It's not so green. It is still lot of water, because it empties out in the Dead Sea. And so it's collected a lot of water and a lot of silt. That's the problem. We'll get to that in a minute.

But there was a lot of silt. If you were to walk or try to wade across it, you'd sink up to your chest just in the mud and the silt, because it's collected all of that silt from the entire country and brought it down to the Dead Sea. So that's the Syrian-African Rift. Now, in verse 3, notice the command. "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. There shall be a space between it, about two thousand cubits by measure' " That's 3,000 feet, a thousand yards. This ark and certain priests were walking before them. " 'Do not come near it.' " We will discuss why in a moment. " 'That you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.'

"And Joshua said to the people, 'Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.' " Now the interesting part of this crossing is now they possess the ark. When they crossed the Red Sea, they didn't have the ark. God miraculously opened it up. It was a night crossing; this is a day crossing. They marched on dry land across the Red Sea, but this time they have an ark, which is symbolic of the presence of God, not just going with them, but here going before them at quite a distance. It's more than God just saying, "Go occupy the land. Have fun boys," but God himself embodied in the ark of the covenant, the presence of God walks before them, goes first into the land, and then the people will follow the ark in.

Why? Because we learned from other portions of Scripture that this pillar of cloud and fire that led them through the wilderness is gone now. They follow the ark. They set up camp at Gilgal. This is now more of a walk of faith, rather than by sight. The manna stops on the other side of the Jordan. So, it's a whole new area they're getting into. Now, let's talk just a little about the ark, and doing that let's keep this in view, the tabernacle. Remember the tabernacle? For those of you who were with us in our studies in the first five books of Moses, this is old hat to you. For some of you it might be new. If you lived back then, and you lived out in the desert, and you were one of the people of the children of Israel, this is what it would look like at the center of your camp.

Imagine a couple million people all camping around this structure. If you were to walk up to the tabernacle, the first thing you would see is a seven-foot high fence with one opening facing the east, one door. And let's say you said, "I'd like to go inside." Well, there was only one way in, and the only way you could ever even get to the door is by having an animal in your hands, a sacrifice for your sins. The blood was shed for you. If you were to walk through the door the first thing that would grab your attention would be this huge brass altar. It was quite large. It was on a platform. That's where the animals were sacrificed to God, a burnt offering was made. You would also notice that there is a basin behind it, a basin of water. Lots of water was used in purification. Then behind it is a weird looking tent.

You can see it in the drawing, in the diagram. Now, the courtyard itself is 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, so it's twice as long as it is wide, and then this tent structure perched toward the back. That's the most important part. It had different skins, badger skins, tent coverings. And that tent would be divided into two sections itself. The tent, by the way, measured 15 feet wide by 75 feet deep. It was divided into two sections. You remember the names of them? There was the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The Holy Place was 15 feet wide by 30 feet deep, which means that the Holy of Holies was 15 by 15, a cube. It had only one piece of furniture in it; that's the ark. But if you were a priest, that's the only one who could enter the Holy Place, the priest would enter the Holy Place.

And I didn't give you a diagram. It's probably good that you don't see anyway, it's kind of you have to leave it up to your imagination like the rest of the people of Israel. But if you could have walked through the tent at the back of the tabernacle, you walk through a veil, and the first thing that you would see is another veil. And on the veil were beautifully embroidered cherubim. And that separated you from the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. You couldn't walk in there. But you could do some work if you were a priest, you would do some work in that Holy Place. On your right-hand side as you would---your right-hand side as you walk in would be a table of showbread, twelve loaves of bread, each one of them representing the tribes of Israel. If you're a priest, you would attend to them and change them regularly.

On your left-hand side was called a menorah, a lampstand, a seven-branched candlestick. And if you were a priest, you'd have to put oil in that menorah daily, making sure that it's perpetually burning as long as the tabernacle is up before the Lord. Then right in front of you, before the veil opening, would be a little altar about forty-five inches tall, an altar of incense. Incense was burned representing prayers going up to God. Then in that cubical---see, we're getting to the most important part, from the outer court to the inner court to the real inner court. In the real inner court, or the Holy of Holies, it was simply a cloth room fifteen feet by fifteen feet. There was one piece of furniture in it, and that's the ark of the covenant.

So get out of your minds for just a moment Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, [laughter] and the Nazi's grab it and all those funny Hollywood effects. There was real ark of the covenant and it sat in that room. And only the high priest, once a year on Yom Kippur, could enter that room. If you were a high priest, and you did go to that inner sanctum once a year, this is sort of what it looked like. This is a rendition. You have a box forty-five inches by twenty-seven by twenty-seven, the ark of the covenant. Inside were these three items: a funny thing called Aaron's rod that budded miraculously, that speaks of the resurrection of Christ ultimately, prophetically; two tablets with the Law written on it. And actually this was a copy, wasn't it?

Why? Because what happened to the first set of---yeah, Moses got really bummed out, because the people had just said, "Hey, man, Moses, really, you go find out whatever God says, and we're up for it." I'm paraphrasing. "We'll do it. We'll obey, whatever. Just come back and do tell us and we'll obey." Well, when Moses gets back getting the commandments, they're having like an orgy out in the camp. And they have a golden calf that they have built and they're sacrificing to it. So he takes these tablets and smashes them. He has to go back up for take two. The second set of tablets was kept in the ark. And then there was a pot of manna to memorialize the fact that God provided for them in the wilderness with this funny stuff that came out of heaven.

There's something absent from the picture; and that is, a lid that sat on top. Now, remember I said you go from important, to more important, to the most important. The ark is important; the most important thing was the lid not shown. The lid was called the "mercy seat," solid gold. On top of the lid was cherubim, angels. The wings spread out and touched and it covered this area. Once a year the high priest would go in with great fear. I say "great fear," because several sources tell us that on his robes he had bells and a rope tied to his ankle. And just in case he not either confessed his sins or gone through the prescribed rituals for his own purification, he would be struck dead, the high priest yet. So he could be in there and they'd always listen for the bells.

And if they hear a ding-ding-ding, cling-cling," they go, "So far, so good," but if they heard a cling-cling boomf! [laughter] and then silence, they go, "Uh-oh," and they start pulling the rope and they'd pull the guy out. [laughter] It's according to Jewish sources. I didn't make that up. I really want---this is---that's really true. I know sometimes you don't know, "Is that part true or is that part a joke?" That part's true. [laughter] Once a year the priest came in with blood and hyssop and sprinkled that lid, that golden lid, the mercy seat, stuck a bunch of blood on it. Blood had been shed by an innocent animal at the altar of sacrifice used as a burnt offering. The blood itself carried in a basin into that inner sanctum and sprinkled on the lid to cover the sins of Israel.

But why on the lid? Well, first of all, God said, "There's only one place I'll meet with you, and that's on the lid, on the mercy seat at the ark. That's where I will speak with you." And that's why God was called God enshrined "between the cherubim" in the psalms. God dwells between the cherubim. God dwelt in a very unique way on that lid. Why the lid? Well, as long as they had a copy of the Law inside the ark, that second copy of the Law was always a reminder that they failed. It was a constant nagging reminder that "We have sinned, broken God's law. And as long as we have those commandments around, and the angels looking down"---they're basically looking down on a broken covenant, and "it's our fault."

But once a year on Yom Kippur blood was shed, and the blood covered the broken law of God, and what was seen was the atonement for their sins, the blood that covered it. Now when the blood was sprinkled, a miraculous thing happened. That throne of judgment, the broken law, was transformed into what was called the mercy seat. It became the mercy seat on that day. The sins were forgiven. It was like, "Wow, brand-new start! It's spiritual New Year's. I'm drawing all that to your attention to give you the significance of this ark going across. It symbolized "God is with us, and not just God is with us where our sins have failed and broken the covenant, but where God's mercy is new for us." Now, in the New Testament there's a verse of Scripture you're familiar with, and another one attached to it you're probably not as familiar with.

Romans 3, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God"---most people don't quote the rest of it---"being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation" for our sins. And usually that's too big of a word. It's like, "I don't even know what that is, but I like the first part, 'All have sinned and fallen short.' That's all part of the 'Romans Road' plan of salvation." You got to put it all together. The word "propitiation" is a very important word. It's a Greek word: hilastérion. You say, "That doesn't clear things up for me, Skip. That doesn't help." [laughter] But the word hilastérion is a Greek word that is translated in Hebrews 9 as "mercy seat."

Jesus Christ, God has set forth to be our mercy seat, not just once a year covering with blood and we blow it---a once and for all eternal sacrifice. So, "In Jesus Christ dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily." That's why the ark is a type of Christ. Joshua---which is the Old Testament, Hebrew word for Jesus---leads them into the Promised Land. The ark goes first. All of these symbols they would be familiar with, the ark of the covenant along with the seat of mercy. By the way, apply that, apply that to your life for just a moment. Satan is called "the accuser of the brethren." Does he accuse you before God? Does he accuse you before you? Yeah, he tells you, "You're a creep. You're not worthy of God's mercy. You shouldn't come to church. Give it up. You're a loser," all those messages you're familiar with.

He's good at it. He accuses us, and face it, he's right. That's the clincher; he's right. We are creeps. We don't deserve it. That's where mercy comes in. "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses a man from all sin," not most, not 50/50, "all sin." That's the great truth of the hilastérion, the mercy seat, and Jesus Christ is that mercy seat for us. And so when Satan accuses you before God, and says, "Listen, God, Skip's this and that. And he's thought this and he did that. And he was impatient there and impatient there. And he blew it here and he"---whatever. He could go on and on and on and on. Jesus can just take out his stamp: "Paid in Full." It's taken care of. My blood has been applied here. The mercy seat. And so the ark goes before them. Verse 5, I draw your attention to---maybe we won't make it through two chapters tonight. [laughter]

Oh, oh, oh. Wait, wait, wait a minute. Back in verse 3, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God . . . from your place, you go after it. Yet there shall be a space of two thousand cubits," a thousand yards. Why the distance? Well, first of all, they need to see it. There's a couple million people. You can't have it ten feet, you have to have quite a distance, so the whole crowd can see what's going on. The opening of the river, they will stand in the river, the people will go around them, wait on the other side until everyone passes through, and then they will assume the lead once again. Also, it shows us that there is a difference between Creator and creation. God is distinct and separate and high above his creation. And there is that aspect of the holiness of God, the separateness of God.

And, you know, you can become too chummy with God. Did you know that? I hear God described by some people as, "You know, the Guy upstairs." Don't talk about God that way. Or as Joan Osborne says, "A stranger on the bus trying to make his way home." That's how she describes God. No. He's sovereign, holy, omnipotent God, and he is separate and distinct, and the ark is set up forward above the rest of the people."Joshua said to the people, 'Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.' " Have you ever waited for something for a long, long time? And then, finally, it's like, "It's happened---tomorrow. This is it." Remember when you were a kid, Christmas was like that? As soon as Christmas is over, the day after Christmas, you start counting the days till the next Christmas. "Christmas is only 364 more days."

And as Christmas nears, you get really excited. And kids---I couldn't sleep the night before, got so excited. And I had a habit of sneaking into the room to see if I could see what I'd get for Christmas. And my parents always busted me, but it was just that anticipation. [laughter] Or a wedding, you anticipate, you plan for, you long, you can't wait to be together, and then it's here. They had waited a long time. Hey, Joshua and Caleb waited longer than anybody. And so, hey, "Sanctify yourselves, tomorrow the Lord's going to do great things." What does sanctify mean? Well, if we take our cues from the last time we read that verse, which was at Mount Sinai, when Moses said sanctify yourselves before the receiving of the Law, what did they do? They changed their clothes and they washed themselves.

They went through a ritual. That was sanctifying yourself, cleansing yourself from the past as a whole new, epic thing that's going to happen. Jacob did that at Beth Bethel. He returns to Bethel, he and his whole family, bathed, changed their clothes as an act of consecration. And we see this repeated several times in the Scriptures. So the idea is: "Hey, let's get rid of the old sin, the old past, and we're making a new dedication, a new covenant with God. We're sanctified, we're holy before the Lord." So they did that. "Joshua said to the priests, 'Take up the ark of the covenant and cross before the people.' So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people." Now, who are these guys? Well, remember the tribe of Levi, there were three sons of Levi and they apportioned different jobs for them to do?

There were the Gershonites. Remember those back in Deuteronomy, back in Numbers? There were sons of Merari and there were the Kohathites, Kohathites or the Kohanim, the priests. The first two groups, not the Kohathites, but the Gershonites and the sons of Merari carried---oh, I didn't, don't have it up there---the tabernacle you just saw. Some of them carried the poles, the infrastructure, the pillars, others carried the cloths and the fencing, others carried the boards. Now, when it came to the holy utensils---the ark, the altars, the menorah, the table of showbread---the Kohathites carried that and there was a specific way to carry the ark. So these are the sons of---these are the Kohanim, these are the Kohathites. They're carrying the ark, a group of them, before the people of Israel.

Verse 7, "The Lord said to Joshua, 'This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that, as I was with Moses, I will be you. 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." ' So 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' "---and notice this phrase---" 'that the living God is among you, that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Jebusites,' " the termites, the out-of-sights, and all these [laughter] Canaanite people.

And they're---some of them are unknown. Some of them live in the hill country. Some of them lived in the hills of Jerusalem; that would be the Jebusites. These are the people groups who inhabited the land. But notice the description of God. He's "the living God." Why did he say that? Because they're about to go into an idolatrous land, right, filled with idols, filled with statutes? They're going to find little household gods and goddesses. They're going to find where people bow down to them in the groves and light incense before this dumb little statute and have little flower offerings and food offerings to it. And in contrast to the dead idols that are unable to do anything at all, "You serve 'the living God.' "

That's the idea that he's getting across to them: "In the land saturated with false gods, the living God will without fail drive these out from before you." There's a great portion of Scripture where David looks at this same comparison. In fact, turn right, go right to Psalm 115. It's familiar once you look at it. You'll say, "Oh, yeah, I remember that one." Psalm 115, look at this comparison: "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to your name give glory, because of your mercy, because of your truth. Why should the Gentiles say, 'So where is their God?' " That's exactly what the Gentiles said: "Where's your God? We can't see him. I mean, you can see our gods. Come in to our shrines. Come into our houses and see the little depictions with the noses and the ears."

Now, God dwelt above the mercy seat, but he was invisible. "Where's your God?" Okay, notice the comparison: "But our God is in heaven; he does whatever he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear." They carve little mouths on their gods. But how frustrating to go up to this little statute and say, "Tell me. Talk to me. What's your will? What do I do?" And the little god would go [closing lips tightly] [laughter]---incapable of responding, insensate, lacking even what humans have. So even below that of a human, and that's obvious, since it was created by a human. Humans were created by the living God.

Humans who are alive by the living God, if they create an idol, they don't have the capacity to impute life to it. So there's a mouth, but it cannot speak, thus it can't respond. And, again, I tell you what---well, you ever desperately try to get a hold of someone and you hear the operator on the other end of the line: "We're sorry but the number that you are calling has been disconnected or no longer in service"? And I think that's what a lot of people do when they try to talk to their gods. Nobody is answering. Remember Elijah was mocking the people on Mount Carmel regarding this very thing? They were crying out, calling out to god, their gods. He said, "You better call a little bit louder, because maybe they're sleeping, or they're on a journey, or they're doing some private business." Incapable.

"They have ears, but they do not hear; noses they have, but they do not smell." So, they burn incense to it, the god can't appreciate it. Can't say, "Ah, that was wonderful." "They have hands, but they don't handle; feet they have, but they do not walk; nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them." Boy, that's an indictment, isn't it? If you serve a dead god, it tells us a lot about you. You become just like what you serve. If you serve the living God, you become full of life. If you serve dead gods, you become dead; insensate gods, you become insensate. "Those who serve them or trust them become like them. O Israel, trust in the Lord." So they got feet, but they can't walk, and you got to carry them with you. You got to carry them with you.

Isaiah talks about it, said they carry the gods, the idols on their shoulders, and they set it up in the house. "Here's my god. Oh, I'm going to move now, I gotta take my gods with me." So rather than having a God who can alleviate your burdens, those gods become your burden. You have to tote them around. Better to have a living God free of all restraint and constraint who is able to bear your burdens. "Israel, God's going to do great things. He's the living God." I think he was planting that thought firmly in their hearts before they crossed over to the other side. " 'Behold, the ark of the covenant,' " verse 11, " 'Of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan.' "

Now, I don't know if you notice this, but back in verse 7 God said, "I'm going to exalt you before the people, so that people know you are God's man, you are the leader." Okay, now when Joshua has the turn to talk, he says nothing about himself. He doesn't say, "You know, I had a vision from God. God spoke to me last night in a vision, and told me my ministry would be great and cover the earth." None of that nonsense, no self-exalting kind of a posture. When he talks, he exalts God. God says, "I'll exalt you." Joshua---this is why God exalts Joshua---Joshua is focused on exalting and glorying God, not himself. That's a true leader, by the way, somebody who's humble, humility. Pride has ruined more ministries than anything else. God starts to use a humble person, and the humble person starts thinking, "You know what? I'm pretty amazing."

Starts believing his or her own press and they're on their way down. They become like the woodpecker who's pecking away at a tree, pecking away, pecking, pecking, nothing happened. Finally, lightning came and struck it. And the bird flew back frightened and turned around and said, "Look what I did." [laughter] And sometimes servants of God can become like that. I talked to Jim Baker right after he was released from prison, and I said, "What was the one thing you learned? What was the one thing that brought you down?" He said, "It was my pride. I didn't humble myself before God." And Joshua stays humble. He's talking about God. He's exalting the Lord in this whole episode. Verse 12, " 'Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe.

" 'And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of your feet, of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan should be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, they shall stand in a heap.' So it was, when the people set out from their camps to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped into edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest)," so this is the springtime, "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," that's the Dead Sea or, "the Salt Sea failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho." Sixteen miles north of the fords where Jericho is---that is, if you looked at a map, found Jericho, went directly over to the Jordan River, and headed sixteen miles up north, you'd come to the town of Adam or Zaretan. The little village in the area today that they point to is a place called Tell, which is simply a little mound, Tell ed-Damiya it's called. And there has been interesting debate, I guess you could call it, as to what happened during this time. A lot of people say, "Well, probably what happened is simply a natural occurrence." And you'd say, "Yeah, what kind natural occurrence would that be that would cause this?"

Well, back in the 1200s, December 8, 1267, I believe, was an earthquake that caused the banks of the Jordan to cave in and actually stop the flow of water for ten hours. It's on record. In more recent times, July 11, 1927, another earthquake in the area stopped the flow of the Jordan, same area, for twenty-one hours. And so some have thought what happened was an earthquake that allowed the children of Israel to go across. Well, I have no problem with God using earthquakes, anything natural. I don't think that happened for a lot of reasons. The timing was, first of all, impeccable. As soon as the soles would touch, it happened. You say, "Well, maybe an earthquake happened." Well, secondly, it was at the springtime of the year, and all of the earthquakes in the area that have been on record happened every other time but the springtime of the year.

Third thing is that the ground was dry. So even if you had an earthquake stop it up, you still have feet of silt still wet if you walk into the riverbed. It was dry ground, like what happened at the Red Sea. It was miraculous, no question. And then as soon as they got out, the water flowed out again. So, I see it as simply a miracle of God. I have no problem with it. God created the heavens and the earth, Genesis 1:1. Remember that? If you can believe the first verse of the Bible, the rest is peanuts. [laughter] If your God can go, "Light be," and light was, create the earth like that, this is, you know, you do this in your spare time, right? This is no big deal. [laughter] For us it's a big deal, because we can't pull it off, but not for God. So, simply a supernatural, decisive act.

"And 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 of Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan." Now the Red Sea was at nighttime. Remember we talked about that, it was at nighttime? These two crossings are similar and yet different. One way to look at these two crossings, the Red Sea that happened years before, forty-some years before, and this crossing, is that the whole wilderness experience is sandwiched in between two crossings, miraculous crossings of bodies of water: from the time they walked out into the wilderness through the Red Sea, to the time they walked across the Jordan, now they're in the Promised Land.

Everything between those two episodes, a lot of it's lost time, except for the giving of the Law. The Red Sea was done at night. They were in fear of the Egyptians. Moses had his rod over the sea. And as long as he had the rod open, you know, the waters abated, and he put his rod down, the waters closed up. It's different this time because it's in daylight. They're pitched. They're going to end up at Gilgal, which is two miles away from Jericho. From Jericho you can view this area of the crossing. I am sure people were on the walls of that city. They didn't have binoculars, but they were sending spies out to hear what's going on. And they were in morbid fear. I know that because I've read chapter 5, verse 1, which says they were in morbid fear. [laughter] "Their hearts melted," exactly is what it says.

They did it almost in defiance of the people of the land. They're not afraid anymore. And this time it's not an obedient leader stretching out his arm; it's obedient priests walking with their feet across a river. It doesn't open up by putting a rod up, they got to walk into it. You got to get your feet wet. Sometimes you got to get your feet wet. "I wonder if God's going to do it." You know, God doesn't say, "Stand at the bank and it'll open it up. And only when it opens up and it's dry, do you walk." "Hey, walk in the water with the ark." You got to get your feet wet. And what Jesus always does with us is he wants us to inherit more and more and more of God's promises. And they're there for us, but you got to get your feet wet. I learned that lesson when I moved to this state from California.

I said, "Okay, you want me to move, God, I want you to, you know, find me an apartment and find me a place to work." And, you know, I went down through the list where I got to really have evidence that God is providing. So I came out here. I had sent several resumes out to different hospitals---that's my background, in radiology---several clinics. Got no answers. I figured, come on, you know, they're gonna probably all write to me and want to hire me. None of them wanted me. [laughter] So I came out wondering, "Okay, you know, why isn't any door opening?" That night I had a good time alone with the Lord in prayer. And I turned to my friend who was with me and I said, "Kent, I've decided to move here." He said, "What do you mean 'you've decided'? How did you decide that?" he goes.

"Well, I'm here and I've looked it over and I prayed about it. I'm going to move here." He goes, "Yeah, but nothing has opened up yet. No jobs. Everything has been a no." "No. I'm going to move here. I think God will open up something. I can work anywhere---flip hamburgers. I'll get a job." The next day I had three job offers given to me in my field by twelve noon. But it only came after I got my feet wet, after I made the decision, after I put the wheels in motion, that step of faith, then the waters abated. So, you can stay in a safe place and go, "Well, you know, if God ever wants me, you know, he can always get a hold of me. He knows my number." [laughter] How many live their Christian lives that way.

You can say, "Lord, here's your promises. You put something on my heart and I'll check this with the Word and the counsel of others, but I'm going to go for it. I want to do something." The question you may want to ask tonight when you go home after this study to God is this question: "What now? I'm saved, Lord, thank you. I've crossed the Jordan. Now what? What do you want me to do? I'm ready to get my feet wet again." What possibilities when you avail yourself to God. So they got their feet wet, crossed over. "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 of Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan."

Now if you were in Gilgal where they set up their camp, about a mile and a quarter away, up to two miles, depending on which site you believe, and you would look over into Jericho, that's how close they were when they set up their camp. And so a couple million people coming across the river, staying there in proximity to where those trees are, which is the outskirts of Jericho, would scare anybody living in Jericho. Especially when they heard the reputation of a God who, let's see, opened up the Red Sea, opened up the Jordan, defeated the enemies, kept people for forty years with the stuff falling from the sky. That's why we read in chapter 5, "Their hearts were melted." And if you were in Jericho and you looked out---and this was taken from the very tell where the ancient city of Jericho was at the time of Joshua.

You can see, as we pointed out in our first study, the hills in the distance. That's the area where the children of Israel are coming across, right about there, crossing the Jordan directly at Jericho. So, the Scripture that accompanies it, "Their hearts melted because of the children of Israel who had gathered against them," and that's in chapter 5, verse 1. Well, wanted to cover all of chapter 3 and 4, but can't. [laughter] Oop, okay, if you wait---you saw all the slides at once. Well, next time when we gather together, we'll see how they did another interesting thing in this. Their job wasn't over. They had to make an altar. They had to make a memorial so that people would look at it in the future and say, "This is what God has done." It's a very simple memorial. It'll surprise you.

In fact, if you try to find the memorial today, you won't find it. But it served its purpose and we'll discuss that very important feature of having some way to mark what God has done in your life. That you could look back and say, "Oh, look at that. That is a work of God. I'll never forget that. It's documented. I remember it." Because you're going to come through times in your life, folks, when you doubt and you will wonder and you'll say, "Did God bring me to this place?" So it's important to have those road markers to say, "God has led me here. I'm in the will of God." We'll discuss that next time. Father, we thank you this evening for the walk of faith of Rahab, the walk of faith of the two spies, the walk of faith of Joshua and Caleb, and now highlighted before us the walk of faith of a unified people.

We think of the words of Paul, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. We think of that when you have a leader filled with faith, other leaders around him filled with faith, and then a group of people ready to be taken to that whole new level, what could happen, what are the possibilities, what you might do to affect a world that you might be glorified in it. We pray, Father, that we would be among that company, that you would use us to touch our state, our area, the United States, and this world. We have a very limited amount of time in our generation before we are passed from the scene, either by way of death or by your coming. So, Lord, help us to number our days, in a sense, to redeem the time, because the days are evil. Use us, Father, for your glory, we ask in Jesus' name, amen.

Additional Messages in this Series

Show expand

 
Date Title   Watch Listen Notes Share Save Buy
7/29/1998
completed
resume  
Joshua 1
Joshua 1
Skip Heitzig
  Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Transcript Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Buy CD
8/5/1998
completed
resume  
Joshua 2
Joshua 2
Skip Heitzig
  Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Transcript Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Buy CD
8/19/1998
completed
resume  
Joshua 4-5
Joshua 4-5
Skip Heitzig
  Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Transcript Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Buy CD
8/26/1998
completed
resume  
Joshua 6
Joshua 6
Skip Heitzig
  Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Transcript Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Buy CD
9/2/1998
completed
resume  
Joshua 7
Joshua 7
Skip Heitzig
  Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Transcript Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Buy CD
9/16/1998
completed
resume  
Joshua 8-9
Joshua 8-9
Skip Heitzig
  Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Transcript Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Buy CD
10/21/1998
completed
resume  
Joshua 10-12
Joshua 10-12
Skip Heitzig
  Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Transcript Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Buy CD
10/28/1998
completed
resume  
Joshua 13-15
Joshua 13-15
Skip Heitzig
  Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Transcript Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Buy CD
11/4/1998
completed
resume  
Joshua 16-19
Joshua 16-19
Skip Heitzig
  Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Transcript Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Buy CD
11/11/1998
completed
resume  
Joshua 20-21
Joshua 20-21
Skip Heitzig
  Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Buy CD
11/18/1998
completed
resume  
Joshua 22
Joshua 22
Skip Heitzig
  Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Buy CD
12/9/1998
completed
resume  
Joshua 23
Joshua 23
Skip Heitzig
  Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Buy CD
12/16/1998
completed
resume  
Joshua 24
Joshua 24
Skip Heitzig
  Watch
Watch and take notes
Listen - Mini Player
Listen and Take Notes
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Video (MP4)
Audio (MP3)
Buy CD
There are 13 additional messages in this series.
© Copyright 2024 Connection Communications | 1-800-922-1888