Joshua 3:1-17 “Crossing the Jordan”

God is faithful. He has always been faithful and he will always be faithful! And sometimes, the way in which God demonstrates his faithfulness is an incredible, miraculous, wondrous activity. This is not always the case, sometimes God’s faithfulness happens in our lives in a million unseen activities, answers to prayer, miraculous mysteries, but at other times, there is a thunderous climax of visible power that is undeniable and eternally consequential. This text is one such event in the grand drama of divine history.

(Read Text)

Joshua 3 ESV

Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. At the end of three days the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, “As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.” Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” And Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. The Lord said to Joshua, “Today 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. And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’ ” And Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.” And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan. Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.” So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.

After God performed his miraculous work in the rescue of Rahab, the spies have come back with the good report that the fear of the Lord is present in all those who have heard of him. As we begin this incredible story of God’s faithfulness, I do want to stress that it is exactly the faithfulness of God that is on display. When we read Old Testament accounts of the works of God, we must beware of instantly reading ourselves into the text. The point of this story is not to ask the question, “What rivers are there to cross in my life today?”

Instead, as the author recounts this mighty act of God, we see that God is faithful to his promises. His promise is that he goes before his people and calls us to follow him, to know his presence, and watch him accomplish his mighty works. In Genesis 12:7, God made the promise to Abraham, “To your offspring I will give this land.” In Joshua 3, we see the years of pain and sorrow of the wilderness come to an end, the difficulty is not at its end, there are still battles, conflicts, and promises left for the people of God to see, but God’s faithfulness is on full display in accomplishing his purposes and keeping his word.

In this display we are, like the Israelites, similarly called to:

I. Follow the Lord’s Path (1-8)

a. Joshua’s obedience: The first person to do this is Joshua himself. He has heard the good report of the spies, He knows the Lord is with him and sets out in the morning to lay hold of the promise that God has given. Where is the Lord leading the people? Into the promised land!

b. In Deuteronomy 11:31 God promised that Israel is about to cross into the promised land by God. But part of the promise entails to requirement to live as God’s covenant people.

i. “For you are to cross over the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you. And when you possess it and live in it”

ii. Verse 32 goes on to remind the people in covenant relationship with God that there are requirements for them as well. He says, “you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the rules that I am setting before you today.” Following the Lord means more than agreeing with what he says, it entails obedience and covenant relationship.

c. This passage also highlights for us the transcendence and immanence of God in the manner Israel is to follow. They are to follow the ark of the covenant, but not too closely. The transcendence of God is the great chasm of distance between us and God, and immanence meaning the nearness of God.

i. Rightly understanding the holiness of God, helps us to see that He is absolutely separate from us in his splendor and perfection of his glory. However, we may be tempted to fall into a ditch on either side of this glorious reality of God’s nature:

1. One the one side, we may so stress the emphasis on God’s holiness that we keep 2,000 cubits (3,000 feet or .57 miles) away from Him. We rightly recognize that he is holy, but respond wrongly. Rather than confessing our sins and running to him, we cover our sins and run from him.

2. Or, we make the opposite mistake, we overemphasize his nearness and do not honor and reverence Him as holy. “Do not come near it!” We dare not treat the holy things of God as common. There should be a reverential awe of who our God is.

d. The prominence of the ark in this passage further demonstrates this glorious reality of God’s transcendence and immanence; as we see God dwelling among his people, he is still apart from them. In Exodus 19:12-14 we have a very similar picture, the people are cautioned not to go near Mt. Sinai and they are commanded to purify, cleanse, consecrate themselves before the Lord.

e. App. I believe that one reason we do not see great boldness or spiritual maturity in many places among Christians, is because of the casual way we so often approach our faith. We need to heed the call in this passage to “consecrate ourselves” which reminds us to walk in holiness.

f. This event has an added layer of tension when we remember the previous failure of the Israelites to follow the Lord’s path before. One commentator said it this way, “unbelief says, ‘Let’s go back to where it’s safe’; but faith says, ‘Let’s go forward to where God is working’”[1]

g. Illustration: I was once on a white water rafting trip. And we took a brief break from the water to see what appeared to be a large hole in the middle of the rock. I was instructed to put on a hard hat, go into this hole, and it would push me through a small cavern, underground, under the water, out onto the other side. As I think any sane person would, I hesitated; but after I saw a few friends make it through, I knew that I should be okay. We must not forget the words from the commanders given in verse 4, “You have not crossed this way before.” This is something new to them. They were so close, but had previously responded in cowardice and disobedience. Instead of finding courage in themselves or the abilities of others, the Lord wanted them to follow Him and trust in his presence with them. Hebrews 3:19 reminds us that the Israelites were not allowed to enter the promised land because of their unbelief.

h. Application: How is God calling you to follow him?

i. There is no other path to follow. Any other path outside of following Jesus Christ will lead to more brokenness, this is why Jesus reminds us that he is exclusively “the way, the truth, and the life.”

ii. And if you have decided to follow Jesus, part of following the path of the Lord is to walk in his ways, to consecrate ourselves, to purify our hearts; Isaiah 59 says, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” Obedience does not cause God’s works to be accomplished, but it enables us to rejoice in them and participate in them!

iii. Our hearts should come before the Lord recognizing as Isaiah did, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”[2]And as we inevitably uncover the remaining parts of our hearts that are unclean, let us not go back to the wilderness, but repent of our unclean hearts, trust in the cleansing work of Christ, and run forward in forgiveness!

iv. 1 Peter 1 reminds us that we are to be holy as the Lord is holy. And how do we grow in holiness? We must first reckon with the call that Christ that the synoptic gospels record: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”[3]

v. Following the Lord is difficult, but there is great encouragement in this passage, because…

Transition: as we follow the path of the Lord, we are also able to:

II. Know the Lord’s Presence (9-13)

God’s presence was powerfully present with them in the ark, as it was with the people of Israel in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. Every time we encounter the holy presence of God, we are reminded that he is holy, holy, holy. And as we see the emphasis on the feet of the priests, I think this passage is calling to our memories the encounter with Moses when God spoke to him through the burning bush. God tells him to remove his sandals for the place on which he stands is holy ground.

a. The ark of the covenant has always captured the imaginations of our world. The very presence of God in a box?? Of course, God is omnipresent, he was not contained in the box. The ark was holy because of it representing the presence of God in a tangible form for the people of Israel to understand God’s holy nature. Exodus 25:10ff. gives us the very detailed description of the ark and how it was to be built. And what was inside of it? Contrary to some thinking it was a box of terrifying spirits intent on attacking evil Nazis (that’s from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark for those wondering), inside the ark was a copy of the 10 commandments, a jar of manna, and the budding staff of Aaron (Ex. 16, Num. 17, and Heb. 9). It was a wooden box, constructed with two cherubim, angels, and overlayed with gold.

1. My wife and I were talking about the cherubim and I couldn’t remember the first time that one was mentioned in Scripture. We had to look it up and saw the first time was in Genesis 3:24. Anyone remember this? The first cheribum of Scripture is mentioned alongside the flaming sword that told Adam and Eve and all subsequent generations, “You cannot come in! Your sin has evicted you from God’s presence.”

2. So, the people of Israel were given the ark the remind them that God was still with them, but his presence was mediated, as a place where blood was shed and mercy shown, the ark served as a reminder of his holy wrath and the atoning work of God on behalf of his people.

3. We have a much greater reminder today of God’s wrath and grace. Where the Israelites looked to the ark, we look to the cross, we see the wrath of God poured out on his son, we see divine mercy in rescuing us through judgment bringing us salvation and the very presence of God through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

ii. The Lord speaks to Joshua, “Today 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.” This assurance given to Joshua certainly must have given him courage for the task at hand.

b. Evidence of God’s Presence:

i. He has been faithful: The words of the Lord

ii. He will be faithful: The promises of the Lord (Ex. 13, 33, Deut. 7)

iii. He is being faithful: “Look!” “Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan.”

c. What about this activity of the twelve men? Well, you will want to put a pin in and remember them for next week. Their activity will be very important, but as chapters 3 and 4 are very closely connected, we will not hear about them again until chapter 4.

Each time I read this story, I cannot help but be amazed by fact that God uses these priests to work on his behalf! He is absolutely capable of accomplishing his divine work without the people’s activity, but he invites his people to experience his presence. The Psalmist reminds us that the whole earth is filled with the glory of God!

Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. His presence, better than the presence of the ark goes before us and by his Spirit, dwells in us. Jesus himself assures us of his presence in the great commission, But there is a special reality to the fact that as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3:16, those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ have something far better than the people of Israel, something better than the priests had, we have the very Spirit of God abiding in us: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” The kingdom was expanding through the book of Acts, and continues to be spread today through people filled with his presence. Incredibly then, as we look around at other believers we are not only witnessing fellow image-bearers of God, but temples in which the God of heaven and earth is pleased to dwell! And as we follow the Lord’s path and know the Lord’s presence, we are then invited to:

III. Experience God’s Power (14-17)

a. The time has come. (Paint the picture) Now, we have seen God work in a miraculous way like this before. Right? This miracle clearly parallels the miracle of the Red Sea, but last time unfaithful Israelites were turned away from the promised land. What is going to happen now?

i. The people are following the ark,

ii. The ark is on the move,

iii. The priests dip their feet in the water,

iv. … you read this expectantly, hoping, knowing you think you know the outcome, but another roadblock is brought into the path… the river is even more treacherous,

v. But as we see, the mighty works of God are not deterred or delayed, but he acts in an incredible way by being faithful to his word. As the feet of the priests touch the muddy waters of the Jordan, the water recedes, piles up into a heap and these treacherous waters are held at bay so that the people of God can cross out of their lifetime of wandering into the very land that God had promised to their forefather Abraham.

b. Do you believe that God made water stand in a heap? Do you believe that God not only made the water stop, but that he made the land dry? Do you believe that God healed the lame, that he cleansed lepers, that he cast out demons? Do you believe that God can make the wounded whole? That he takes sinners and washes them clean? Do you believe that God brought his only begotten Son into the world to bring his people out of darkness and into light?

c. Make no mistake dear friends, as one commentator reminds us, “The rescue at the Red Sea, the crossing of the Jordan, and the death and resurrection of Christ are explosions of God’s power that are meant to color the whole horizon of the believer’s life in order to assure us that the God who so mightily handles great emergencies is surely adequate for the smaller crises and anxieties that beset us.”[4]

d. How then do we experience the wonders of God?

e. It can be a danger for the church to too quickly see any evidence of “fruit” as evidence of divine blessing, such as revivals that are not characterized by the proclamation of the word and repentance and faith in Christ Jesus.

f. It is similarly a danger sign for the church when we take on an overactive pessimism. When we hear of the salvation of a lost person or of sinners turning from darkness to light and our response is, “Well, we’ll see…”

g. We should long to see God’s activity and wonder working power in the people of God, and his activity will never contradict his word.

h. Application: Let us pray fervently for God’s wonderful works on display at home, in our church, and around the world! I am grateful when I see the wonders of God here in our church family. We can also take great solace in the wonderful works of God, knowing that is he is able to perform so great a miracle for the people of Israel, bringing them from Egypt to the land of promise, how much more is he able to be both the author and finisher of your faith. He has not brought you this far to abandon you, but will accomplish his will in your life.

i. We can sometimes think of the imagery of the Jordan as a crossing into eternity, but I think this is only part of the picture. Though many books and songs talk of the crossing of the Jordan in a final crossing into heaven, I think we should recognize the reality of God’s already but not yet Kingdom evident in the crossing of the Jordan. It’s not a bad picture to have, but I don’t think that the typical understanding of the Jordan picturing our final crossing into eternity is incomplete.

i. Why? Because the Kingdom of heaven is not only in the celestial city at the end of our lives, or of time, His Kingdom is already inaugurated here on earth because Christ has come. We encounter the living and active God who is working today, we pray that His Kingdom would come and his will would be done already, in-between the here and the not yet.

ii. God led the people through the Red Sea to deliver them out of Egypt and he now leads them through the Joran River into his kingdom.

iii. In a similar way, God has not just delivered us out of sin, but he leads us into the expansion and advance of His kingdom.

IV. Conclusion:

a. Is it not incredible to consider that it was this place where Israel crossed over to claim their promise that Jesus was baptized in the very same river by John the Baptist?

b. The ark held on the shoulders of the Levite priests demonstrated the very presence of the Lord with the people of God. In this very same river, the righteous God, Immanuel, God with us would hear the Words of the Father, “This is my believed Son, with him I am well pleased.” He would hold back the sea of God’s wrath enabling his people to cross not only from bondage into freedom, but from the wilderness into a kingdom of priests.

c. We don’t stand on Jordan’s stormy banks watching for the ark containing God’s law; we look to Christ, God in the flesh, who dwelt among us and calls us to follow Him. So let us follow him! Let us remember that we are not alone in this journey; the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Joshua, Daniel, Rahab, Ruth, Peter, Paul goes with us, that he abides in us and invites us to join in his mighty works!

d. He who went from Paradise to the wilderness to bring wanderers into Paradise. We must not read these books of history and be satisfied to say, “That is wonderful that the people of Israel received the promise made to Abraham!” Rather, we should rejoice! And say, Praise the Lord that we as the people of God see how Yahweh set the stage for His glorious work of redemption and every work, every miracle, prepared the way for the redemption that is ours through Christ and now blessing the world through us, his people! People invited by the grace of God to marvel at the wonders of God. To stand in his presence and simply say, “God is faithful.”

[1]Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Strong, “Be” Commentary Series (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 45. [2]Isaiah 6 [3]Luke 9:23–24 [4]Dale Ralph Davis, 36.