GOD WILL MAKE A WAY

(Joshua 3:1-17)
A Message by Rev. Dr. Vincent Leoh on 19th March 2000

I. WHAT ONLY GOD CAN DO

1. God Will Make a Way – When There Seems To Be No Way
“…for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of the harvest” (:15)

The Israelites were brought to this river at the worst possible season of the year. During most of the year the Jordan River was about a hundred feet wide, but at the spring flood season, the river overflowed its banks and became a mile wide. God, who overlooks nothing, and times carefully the ways of His providence, selects those very days of the flooded river for the passage. The darker the room the greater the need for light. The more hopeless your circumstance, the more likely your salvation. The greater your cares, the more genuine your prayers. God loves to bring us to our difficulties when they are at flood tide, that we may not attempt to cross them without His help. God delights to help His children in their absolute necessities, that the remembrance of His love and power may be more abiding.

2. God Will Make a Way – When We Do Not Know the Way
“… for you have not passed this way before” (3:4)
” … they set out (“nasa”) …they crossed over (‘abar)” (3:1)

The verb “nasa” is the Hebrew word for “journeyed” or “set out” or a constant “going onward.” It is used 88 times in the Book of Numbers, but only three times in the Book of Joshua (3:1, 3, 14). The word `abar – meaning to “cross over” to “pass over” is used 21 times in the story of the crossing (3:1 – 5:1). This verb emphasizes the decisive nature of this moment in the history of the Hebrew people and distinguishes it from everything that had gone before. It connotes something with tremendous epic significance. The word was never used to describe the passage through the waters of the Red Sea. While walking through the waters of the Red Sea was both an escape and a liberation, crossing over Jordan meant entering a new kind of life in the Promised Land, marking a decisive transition which involved inheriting and finding “rest.”

Every life has its “crossover” times – those crossing over experiences and crisis moments, which can be frightening. They are the times in life so familiar to those of the people of Israel capsuled in the phrase “for you have not passed this way before” (:4). The challenge is to be an `abar people – a crossover people – to be willing not just to “set out” each day in a regular routine but instead to face those dangerous moments of a new beginning, willing to expand, claiming new territory, inheriting the future; willing to cross over into whatever new faith experiences and faith “land” God has in store.

3. God Will Make a Way – As He Leads the Way
“Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan” (:11)

Up until now, during their time in the wilderness, the people of Israel had followed the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Now these two divinely instituted symbols have been removed. The ark of the covenant takes their place (:3-4). A large box containing sacred objects, the ark was seen as the portable throne of the invisible God.

A. The Ark Symbolized the Commands of the Covenant of God.
The Ark had less of the supernatural about it than the Cloud. The presence of the Lord did not become less actual as it became less manifest. The Cloud might give place to the Ark, the Ark to the temple, and the temple to the living Church, but God was not most present when He was most seen.

B. The Ark of God Symbolized the Commands of the Covenant of God.
The ark of the covenant contained the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai (Dt. 10:1-5) or even the whole book of the covenant teaching (Dt. 31:24-26). This whole covenant relationship – an entire way of life – went with them as they crossed over the Jordan. It symbolized the specific teachings and direction that God had given to His people. They had the assurance of His direction over the untrodden and unfamiliar way ahead of them. God would teach them what they needed to know as they traveled into Canaan.

C. The Jar of Manna is a Reminder of God’s Provision
The people were to remember how God had taken care of them during the wilderness experience.

II. WHAT ONLY YOU CAN DO

God always gave His “Word of faith” to His people whenever He asks them to follow Him into new areas of conflict and conquest. God’s commandments are still His enablements, and God’s promises do not fail. You find promises they had to believe, conditions that the people had to fulfill, orders they had to obey.

1. Prepare for the Way
“Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” (:5)

Whenever we face new opportunities, God’s voice tells us to “sanctify yourselves.” Then and now God calls His people to holiness, purity and separation. Are there particular sins that have held you in tight clutches over a period of years. Need of prayers of release from that bondage, cleansing from all uncleanness. God has chosen not to work in all His fullness in the lives of people who are unwilling to open their hearts to His cleansing and to His leadership.

2. Walk by Faith and Not by Sight

Faith is the belief that God is real and that God is good. Faith is not a mystical experience or a midnight vision or a voice in the jungle. Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. Faith is the belief that God will do what is right.

Take the First Step
“…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 …that the waters which came down from upstream stood still and rose in a heap very far away…” (:15, 16; also v. 13)

It takes great courage for the priests to dip their feet boldly into “the brim of the water” which only began to yield as they began to tread onward seemingly into the depths. When you read Hebrews 11, the great “faith chapter” of Scripture, you discover that the people mentioned there all did something because they believed God. Their faith wasn’t a passive feeling; it was an active force.

In Mark 5:24-36, the woman’s part in the healing was very small. All she did was extend her arm through the crowd. “If only I can touch Him.” She did something. She refused to settle for sickness another day and resolved to make a move. Healing begins when we do something. Healing begins when we reach out. Healing starts when we take a step. God’s helps is near and always available, but it is only given to those who seek it.

In the kingdom of the Lord, he who never attempts to perform what he cannot do, seldom does that which he might and ought.

Compared to God’s part, our part is miniscule but necessary. We don’t have to do much, but we do have to do something! Write a letter. Ask forgiveness. Call a counselor. Confess. Call mum. Visit a doctor. Be baptized. Feed a hungry person. Pray. Teach. Go. Accept a leadership position. Give out a tract. Do something that demonstrates faith. God honors radical, risk-taking faith.

Keep the Ark of the Covenant in Sight!
“When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God …then you shall set out from your place and 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 ” (:3, 4)

The people were ordered to keep a specific distance of 2,000 cubits (about 1000 yards) from the ark. Some would say that this was to keep separateness between the people and the holy God. More significantly, at this moment, was the importance of staying far enough from the ark so that it could be seen as it was held up during the crossing of the Jordan. The ark was to lead the way into these untrodden paths.

If we are to be a crossover people we need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ. The pastors and leaders of the church are given responsibilities to set a godly example. But the church does not belong to the pastors and the leaders, it belongs to Jesus Christ. Our feet are clay, and He is the only One who will not let us down. Only Christ is capable of leading us across the difficult waters, providing the ultimate direction. McCheyne used to say, “For one look at self, take ten looks at Christ.” We endure best, not as seeing ourselves, but “as seeing Him who is invisible.”

Cross Over
“…and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.” (:17)

The crossing of the Jordan River is not a picture of the Christian dying and going to heaven, contrary to what is said in some songs. The crossing of the Red Sea pictures the believer being delivered form the bondage of sin and the crossing of the Jordan River pictures the believer claiming the inheritance in Christ Jesus. This book illustrates how believers today can say good-bye to the old life and enter into their rich inheritance in Jesus Christ. Joshua is a type of Jesus Christ our Conqueror who leads us from day to day into the inheritance He has planned for us. Don’t stay back on the east side of the Jordan. Cross over!