Joshua 3:9—17
The book of Joshua covers a time period of about 25 years in the history of Israel under the leadership of Joshua, Moses’ successor. Joshua was Moses’ “silent partner,” always just behind Moses, witnessing the power of God and learning how best to lead the children of Israel into their new home, the Promised Land.
Joshua, one of the truly great leaders of Israel, was born in a most inauspicious manner: he was born in Egypt, into a life of slavery. His name means Jehovah is salvation, a Hebrew variant of “Jesus.” So, though the conditions of his birth were unimpressive, his name was full of promise; an indication of greater things to come in his life.
Under the leadership of Moses, the previous generation of Hebrews had left Egypt en mass to travel to Canaan, a land promised to them a thousand years before, way back in Genesis to Abraham, founder of the Hebrew nation. Moses had successfully led the people out of Egypt and headed straight to the border of Canaan. However, the people did not have the faith to enter it, and so Israel wandered around the desert for some 40 years. God was unhappy with their flagrant disobedience and that entire faithless generation was to die out without ever receiving the promised blessing of a home.
In the course of time, Moses died and Joshua, by then pushing 90, assumed leadership. He was an immanently qualified leader, full of wisdom and faith, and, most important, he was obedient to God. Because of his obedience, Joshua was able to do in a few short months what his generation was unable to do in almost 40 years!
God is a God of second chances! Granted, sometimes it takes a long time to get to that second chance, but it will come in God’s own good time. Lessons need to be learned and sometimes discipline administered, but for one who has failed the Lord, but whose heart is right, the second chance will come.
1. Setting the scene for faith, verses 9—13
Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD -the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”
The nation of Israel was on the brink of entering the Promised Land. The only thing that stood between them and the fulfillment of God’s promise—a promise they had been waiting for a thousand years—was the Jordan River. How would they cross it? The water was at its highest point; an obstacle guarding the territory and preventing them from possessing not just the land, but God’s blessing. Once again, owning God’s blessing required something from the people. They needed to manifest faith, and in doing so, the blessing would be theirs.
A working knowledge of God’s Word
Stepping out faith is one thing, but stepping out in faith in the direction of a raging river? This was the plan, but it was not a haphazard plan; it did not represent the blind faith of a hopeful leader practicing “positive thinking.” Stepping out in faith must always begin with listening to the Word of God. Notice verse 9—
Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God.”
One of the reasons why Israel was left to wander around the desert for a generation was because instead of listening to the Word of God, they listened to the word of man; the false report made by men who had no faith in God. Imagine people who had just seen the miraculous power of God, choosing to listen to faithless, dishonest men rather than listening to God! But that still happens today; believers would rather listen to and believe somebody who says the Bible isn’t true or that God doesn’t work miracles today or that God won’t answer a particular prayer. Believers that pay heed to that kind of godless chatter lose faith, and consequently lose out on what God has for them.
This new leader of the people, Joshua, was a strong believer in information and organization. He had faith, but he left nothing up to chance. He knew God would keep His word, but Joshua also knew the people had a part to play. Joshua, leading by example, called the people together to make sure they understood that he was not acting on his own initiative, but on the Word of God. Joshua was giving them a reason for having faith. In fact, this Word of God he is giving them is really a preview of what would take place if the people demonstrated faith.
Having the right focus
But notice how Joshua prefaced the preview:
This is how you will know…(verse 10a)
Following that statement, Joshua informs the people that God was going to intervene and govern both nature and history in order to keep His promise. What is particularly interesting, and somewhat distressing to people who are obsessed with details, is that God gave no indication of exactly how, for example, He was going to deal with the Jordan River and how He would deal with the seven nations already living in Canaan. Why would the Lord leave out details like that? Surely the more details the people had, the easier it would be for them to have faith. God knew human nature, and so He in His wisdom wanted the people to be God-conscious; He did not want them focusing on the seemingly insurmountable hurdles that lay ahead. He wanted them to know that those hurdles were already dealt with. How they were dealt with was of no concern to the people.
How many of us thwart God’s plans for us because we focus on the problem rather than on the great Problem-Solver? Trusting in God is not denying reality. But, there is no virtue in being obsessed and continually dwelling the problems you may have. Perhaps some of us would experience more answers to prayer and more “miraculous” deliverances if we stopped looking at things with our eyes and started listening to the Word of Lord and trusting in Him. Remember the inspired definition of faith—
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)
It is certain that if you are staring at what you can see with your eyes, you will not be certain of what you do not see, namely, what God has promised for you.
Knowing the Word of God is essential if you want to live by faith. Focusing on God is essential if you want to experience what God has promised to you. We have a graphic illustration of this in verse 10—
See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you.
The Ark of the Covenant was to be their visible guarantee of God’s presence. His presence would go before them, literally smashing through the hurdles in their way. And so, God was to be central in all that they did from this moment onward. Their strength was to come from Him, both in a spiritual sense and in the practical sense; they needed to obey every detail of His plan for them.
3. Steps of faith, verses 14—17
So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea ) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
The people had been given instructions, they had been told how to step out in faith, and all that remained was for their faith to become operative. Faith is not faith until it is acted upon. Joshua as their leader believed in God and believed God, and he inspired faith in the people. The people, for their part, responded with unwavering confidence, both in Joshua and God.
The Biblical writer notes that the Jordan was at “flood stage.” When God works a miracle, it will be obvious to everybody; those involved in it and onlookers! In the natural, what was about to happen was naturally impossible; there was no way these people could cross the Jordan, especially considering it was at flood stage. But God would not fail those who were expecting great things from Him. How great was this miracle? It is estimated that the Jordan River was about 100 feet broad and had a depth of up to 12 feet. The power of God is best displayed when we have reached the point of no return and going ahead seems impossible.
The last verse in our text is marvelous—
[T]he whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground. (verse 17b)
Notice it was “dry ground,” it was not muddy ground or wet ground, but “dry ground.” When God undertakes to do something for those He loves, He is thorough! Not only did the waters stop flowing, but God made sure the ground was dry and passable. Can we expect any less from the Lord? When He answers a prayer and when we step out in faith, we can be assured that God will always hold up His end.
What should be noted, though, is that nothing happened until the people “broke camp” and started moving toward the water’s edge. The people had to “do something” before God did what He said He would do. So many times, we wait around to make sure God is going to do whatever it is we think He said He would do before we make an attempt. That kind of foolish behavior is not what faith is all about. Why do we behave like this? There might be two reasons:
- We aren’t really sure we heard from God. Maybe that’s why so many Christians have such weak faith or they have never accomplished anything for God; they’re never really sure if God has spoken to them. It is almost certain that people like this don’t read and don’t study the Word, for if they had, they would have known for certain whether or not God was speaking to them.
- We want God to “do it all” for us. In keeping with the modern trend of people wanting to “be looked after,” there are believers who expect God to do everything for them; they don’t think they should have to exert any effort. God has never worked that way. While salvation cannot be earned, the blessings of God more often than not are directly related to the believer’s obedient efforts in accomplishing the Lord’s will.
Let’s never be afraid to step out in faith. The Lord will meet us and make sure we end up on dry land, too.
