Oh, good morning.
It was a wonderful season of worship, and our Lord Jesus certainly deserves it.
As we come again to look in God’s Word, I like to repeat a principle that He taught me many years ago—or I’m still learning, rather. And that is total reliance upon the Holy Spirit every time we come to the Bible.
The bottom line, after we’ve looked at all of the helps and gone through the research, and the atlas, and the word studies, and the sermons, and the devotional books—after we’ve done all that—we come before the Lord as little children, with our mouths open wide, and we just say, “Lord, now You show me Christ.”
Only the Lord can show us the Lord. And we thank God for His indwelling Spirit, a Bible Teacher in your heart and in my heart, in order to explain to us the things of the Lord.
Now, before we go to prayer, I’ve got two verses I’d like to share. One is actually a little bit of a passage, but it is in Joel 2:11. And even though, in the context, that is negative, it is still true:
Strong is He who carries out His word.
In the context there, He is strong to chasten, if that needs to be. But then He said something very precious to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1.
He gave Jeremiah a vision, a revelation. And all of you who have, in any way, had the privilege to teach, you know what it is to come before the Lord and say, “Lord, You show me.”
Jeremiah came before the Lord, and the Lord showed him a vision. Then the Lord questioned him, and the Lord said, “What did you see?”
Jeremiah answered. I don’t understand his full answer, but God’s answer was:
And the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.”
I want you to know that I’ve waited before the Lord, and I would love to hear Him say what He said to Jeremiah: “You’ve seen well, and I’m watching over My word to perform it.”
I trust that is so. But if it is not so, I’m asking the Lord to speak behind the scenes something that He can watch over and perform. I’m quite sure what I have is from the Lord, but I know He’ll watch over His own revelation and perform it.
So let’s bow, commit our season to the Lord, and then we’ll go into the text.
Our Father, we want to stop right now and thank You for the indwelling Holy Spirit—Your life in us. Amazing.
And we know that You search the depths of God and reveal to us the things concerning Christ and our own peace. We just pray this morning for that spirit of revelation, that we might be able to see what You have presented.
Then give us the grace to appropriate everything that comes from You. Watch over that word and perform it, Lord, so that the enemy does not come and steal any of the seeds.
And so this morning we give this session to You. We’re thankful that we can trust You, and we know, Lord, that You’re going to meet with us—not because any one of us deserves it, but our Lord Jesus deserves it. We come in His name. Amen.
For those who are just coming in for this time, there is a little connection with what we looked at last evening. But, as I told folks in our Bible study in Delaware, sometimes we have thirty or thirty-five lessons, and they’ll come in on lesson twenty-eight.
What I tell them is, every lesson stands on its own two feet. If we were preaching a theme, then you would have to build up. But it is a Person. It is our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so you can come in at any time and walk out at any time, and still expect a blessing from the Lord. I’ll try to show a little connection with what we were looking at, but you won’t be lost, because we pray that the Lord will reveal Himself.
We have been looking at a little block of redemptive history—in other words, in the Old Testament, the story of Israel. We are starting at Passover, and we are moving to crossover.
By that, I mean that they were redeemed by power and blood. Then we went through the Red Sea, and now we are going to, this morning, as God graces us, look at going over the Jordan River.
Everyone looks at things differently. My analysis of that little fifty-year period is that I saw Israel, the redeemed of the Lord—redeemed, but with no history yet to their faith.
And so they are redeemed, but they are running. They look back and get afraid of Egypt; they look up and see the present pressure; they look ahead and see the unknown; and they are fearful, and so on. So we saw them as redeemed and running.
Now we would like to jump over the wilderness and all of that, and come to the second generation as they stand before the Jordan. We have called this redeemed and resting.
We are looking at it as a full salvation. God saves us out, and then He brings us in. We are saved from, but we must also be saved unto.
Many Christians have only been saved from, and they have not entered into the fullness, even though in the heart, mind, and purposes of God, they are already in the land. Some people have not appropriated that, and they are not in the land.
In that connection, I’ll remind you again of what a clincher verse is, Deuteronomy 6:23:
He brought us out from there, in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.
So that is the block of history we are looking at: God’s people getting out—they are redeemed—but then also going in.
It is important that we realize we are beginning with redemption. Everything we say concerns people who are already saved. They have been delivered, pictured by being delivered from Egypt.
Joshua 4:23 says:
The Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the Lord your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed.
In other words, God brings those two events together: crossing the Red Sea and crossing the Jordan River. That is not my bright idea. That is not the idea of some hymn writer. That is not the idea of a commentator. That is God’s idea. God brought that together.
Now there is another connection—actually, a couple more connections—between the crossing of the Red Sea and the crossing of the Jordan. One is in Joshua 4:19:
Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth of the first month, and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho.
So the question comes: Why does God date that? Why does God tell us the exact time that they crossed the Jordan River? The answer is because it is a celebration of an anniversary, very much like we did this morning in the breaking of bread.
Exodus 12:3 says:
Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, “On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.”
That was the day they chose the Passover lamb. They chose that which pictures Jesus, and they said, “We now choose Jesus.”
Now God, forty years later, says, “Let’s celebrate that day when you first chose this lamb to be your lamb.” Let’s celebrate.
So this is an anniversary. They are crossing, celebrating the day that they first chose Jesus to be the Lamb. And by that blood, they were delivered out of Egypt and they were saved.
Now thousands of Christians, I think, stand today where Israel stood that day on the tenth day of the first month, fourteen hundred years ago. They have been delivered from.
You hear testimonies, and I am not undermining a one of them. Praise God for everyone who has been delivered from alcohol, from drugs, from pride, from unbelief, from homosexuality, from cults, from religion, from self, and from all of those things.
But salvation from is only the beginning. We bless God that we have been saved from, but it is possible to be saved unto.
We can be saved unto sweet fellowship with our Lord Jesus; unto an intimate relationship with Him; unto a walk in the Spirit of God, where He opens the Bible and unveils His beauty to you; unto this beautiful fellowship with God’s people.
Blessing. Just seated in heavenly places. Life hid in Christ and God. We need to be saved unto.
Were you brought out? Praise God. But have you been brought in? I am suggesting that this crossing of the Jordan is a marvelous illustration of being brought in.
Jordan was the dividing line. It was a separation—from wilderness living to abundant living. You had to cross that line from the land of unbelief to the land of faith; from the land of disobedience, and all that took place in the wilderness, into the land that pictures Christ.
It is the inheritance, the land of promise, the land of milk and honey. Flowing with milk and honey pictures Christ—the life of milk and honey.
As God’s people went into the land, He shows us how we go into Christ. As they conquered in the land, He shows us how we have victory in Christ. As they found their portion in that land, in the body of twelve tribes—“Where do I fit in?”—that is how it is in Christ.
And as they learned to settle down, to live in the land, and to live off the land, we in Christ learn to abide in Christ and feed off of Him. That is what it means to be delivered in. We have been delivered from.
Don’t answer aloud, but have you ever entered in? Have you entered in to that land of rest?
Well, crossing the Jordan River at flood season—this marvelous miracle—is an illustration of how God brings us in.
The way out, we looked at, and we saw that it was simple. It was by simple faith—by power and blood. Power was illustrated by the plagues, and blood was illustrated by that little Passover lamb and the blood applied to the door. You remember the story well. They came out by faith.
Colossians 2:6 says:
As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.
As—so. They got out by faith. How are they going to get in? By faith. They got out by receiving Christ. How are they going to get in? By receiving Christ.
That is the whole Christian life. You have received Him as your Savior. Some have only gone that far. Some have received Him as Lord, King, Priest, Comforter, Smelter, Potter. There is no end.
The whole Christian life is just receiving Jesus over and over again.
As we enter into the land, I have had people say to me, “I had the faith to get saved, but I don’t have the faith to live that victorious life.”
Well, great honk in the morning, it is the same thing! You see, it is not different. If you had faith to get saved, you have faith to enjoy Jesus and live an abundant Christian life. As you receive Christ, walk in Him.
Oh, my God, open our eyes as we cross the Jordan this morning, because we want to see how to be redeemed and resting.
Now, there is another picture of Christ in Joshua. Our Lord Jesus is pictured as the land. That is the big picture. But there is also another picture, and that is in the man Joshua.
You remember the man Joshua. The Hebrew word Joshua is the Greek word Jesus. And so Joshua leads them into the land which pictures Jesus.
You know the principle. It is the theme of the Book of Joshua: Only Jesus can take me into Jesus.
Moses, and all he represented in the law, could not take them. Somebody named Jesus has to take me into Jesus, and only the Lord can reveal Himself.
I want to make one other introductory comment, and then I’ll pour out what is on my heart. It concerns the reference to the two thousand cubits.
In Joshua 3:4, it says, concerning the ark of God:
There shall be a distance between you and it of about two thousand cubits.
Those who claim to know say that is about a half mile. Most of my commentators have said that they were to keep a reverent distance from that which pictured the kingship of Christ—the Lord—a reverent distance.
That is the half mile, the two thousand cubits. I understand what they mean by that. He is our Friend, but He is not our buddy. He is not the man upstairs. He is the One we worshiped this morning in the breaking of bread.
He is awesome. He is the almighty God. He is not a co-pilot. We cannot see Him that way. Keep a reverent distance from this ark of God. Come boldly into His presence, but that does not mean you come recklessly into the presence of the Lord.
So I understand that. But I think there is also a practical reason, and then a spiritual reason, for that two thousand cubits.
The practical reason is that there were about two and a half to three million people who were going to cross the Jordan, and the ark was going to lead the way. There is no question about that.
That is all right if you are in row one. But if you are in row forty-seven or beyond, there is a big crowd of people with their herds, flocks, goods, and tents. That is a lot of people.
If the ark of God is at the feet of those in the front row, then I feel badly for those behind them. Having the ark out a half mile in front of everybody meant that everybody could probably see it, or at least have a better chance of seeing it. That is a practical reason.
But I think there is also a spiritual reason, which ties into what I am talking about—that they are redeemed and resting.
The two thousand cubits in the New Testament was a Sabbath day’s journey. That is where they measured the Sabbath day’s journey.
You say, “Is there a verse on that? How do you know? Where does it say two thousand cubits is a Sabbath day’s journey?”
I will tell you where they get it. They get it from Acts 1:12:
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.
That is as close as we get. They measured that distance. It was about a half mile, and so that is where they relate it. But that is the proof text they use.
It fits my point, because I am talking about rest—Sabbath rest.
All right, forget those mechanics. Anyway, let me share the message that is on my heart. This is what I think I have seen from the Lord, and I want Him to watch over it and perform it.
It is one hundred percent true that only Christ can lead us into Christ. But it is also one hundred percent true that He uses human instruments to lead the redeemed into the land.
The question comes over and over again to those who have even begun to taste life in Christ: “How can I get others to come into this land? I want to be in a position where I can help the redeemed cross over this line, get out of the wilderness, and leave the land of disobedience and unbelief.”
How can I be used of God to help the redeemed cross over into the land?
Listen, please, as I read Joshua 3:6-8:
And Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over ahead of the people.”
So they took up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people.
Now the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you.
You shall, moreover, command the priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”
I want to have you focus your attention on this little group: the priests, the Levites. I am going to call them heart Levites. I have a reason for that.
They are going to represent for us those whom God uses. God is going to take His people across. Only Jesus can lead us to Jesus. He is going to do it. But in a special way, He is going to use these Levites.
He is going to have them take a certain stand so that God’s redeemed can pass from the land of wilderness, the land of unbelief, into the land of promise.
We have a picture here of those whom God selected. Call it whatever you will: call it the remnant, call it the godly, call it the priests. God has chosen certain qualified people to stand and to lead the way.
Now, I want to be one of those. I hope you want to be one of those. If you have tasted any part of Christ, if you have abided in Him and experienced His life and His fruit, I am sure your heart beats hot for others. You want them to taste it, to go in, and to begin to enjoy the Lord.
So I want to focus a little bit now on that tribe, on that remnant, that handful, that select army of the Lord. God is going to help His people cross. Part of the way He prepares us is by bringing into our life somebody like them.
For those of you who take notes, the outline is very simple. I want to examine this passage in two ways. The Levites are the illustration God uses. These are the kind of people who will help others get into the land.
First, I would like to draw on your Spirit-controlled memories. I want you to think back.
I am not saying there is not a lot of ground to be possessed—you understand that—but if, in any way, you have had your foot on resurrection soil, if you are on that side, God used somebody or some group, some instrument, to help you.
As I go through this, I want you to remember and say, “Oh, praise God for that woman, that man, that book, that tape, that fellowship.” I want you to thank God.
Then, after that, I pray God would challenge your heart: “I thank God for them. Lord, use me like that. Not only use me—first make me usable, and then use me.”
There are so many redeemed who need to cross. There are so many who need to get over. I want to know what to do. Am I supposed to take them aside? Am I supposed to teach them? Am I supposed to shake them? What am I to do? Jesus loves you—you’ve got to…
May God help us as we look at this. I hope your heart is full of thanks for the brothers and sisters who have been used in your life.
I see five principles suggested here concerning the one God chooses to help others get across. The first one is this.
If you have been in the land for any time at all, I know God brought someone into your life—or more than one, perhaps a whole assembly of people—somebody who went first, who got there before you.
Maybe you read their testimony, heard their testimony, or heard them giving a message. Who knows? Somebody went first.
Joshua 3:13 says:
It shall come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off; and the waters which are flowing down from above will stand in one heap.
Joshua 3:15-16 continues:
When those who carried the ark came into the Jordan, and the feet of the priests carrying the ark were dipped in the edge of the water—for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest—the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam.
They crossed by faith. Somebody had to have faith, and you had to see that. Somebody had to go first, and you had to see that.
But I want you to know that it was not faith that dried up the Jordan. In the picture, it was the ark of God that dried up the Jordan.
Joshua 3:11 says:
Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you into the Jordan.
I told you that I enjoy poetry, and therefore I love the Psalms. I have one son—my last son, my lastborn son. I cannot believe it, but he does not like to read Psalms. Everybody loves Psalms! I am trying to show him the beauty of the Psalms, but he just does not like to read them. He says, “I’m not into poetry.”
Well, I am. Anyway, in this connection about the parting of the Jordan, listen to Psalm 114:3-7:
The sea looked and fled;
Jordan turned back;
The mountains skipped like rams,
The hills, like lambs.
What ails you, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
O mountains, that you skip like rams?
O hills, like lambs?
Tremble, O earth, before the Lord,
Before the God of Jacob.
Faith comes by hearing. These priests had a word from God. This was not presumption. God told them what to do: “When your feet touch the water in the flood season, when the soles of your feet touch the water, then it will begin to go back.”
Now, it had to encourage the people to see that very first step—somebody who dared to step into the flood season, to put their foot down and step on that water. That water was raging.
It was not like the Jordan today. They have drained it all off now for irrigation and so on. But back then, this was a raging river. They took that first step by faith.
I like to ask and look at it this way: when the priests were ten feet away from the river, what did the river look like? It was raging.
When they were five feet away from the river, what did the river look like? It was raging.
When they were a foot away from the river—now they are going by faith—it was raging.
When they were two inches from the water, it had not even started to recede.
And when the soles of their feet touched the water, it went back in both directions.
I will never forget when I was a very immature and bumbling Christian at Columbia Bible College in South Carolina. The president of the school at that time was Dr. Alan Fleece.
He stood up in front of the student body, called a special meeting, and the whole student body gathered in the auditorium. Dr. Fleece stood up there and said, “The Lord has shown us—the faculty—a project that He wants us to do.”
I still do not understand how that happened, but that is what he said. He said, “God has given us a clear word, and this project is so much money, and we are going to trust God.”
He said it was a financial goal that they were praying for, and he said, “God will provide it.” Then he added, “If He doesn’t, I’m not a man of God.”
Well, great day! I was a student, and I did not know anything. I heard him say that, and then he said, “We’re going to be praying that God will meet this financial goal.”
Then he said, “We are not asking any of you to pray. We do not want you to pray. You are not here to pray. You are here to watch.”
“We want you to watch the faculty as we trust God for this.”
Can you imagine the impact on somebody like my heart? I was so hungry, so messed up, so confused. To hear somebody say, “Watch me trust the Lord”—that was amazing.
Not everybody had my heart. Some kids were expelled from school that year because, on the side, they made bets about whether or not the financial goal would come in. They were betting against it.
Anyway, these priests go first. It must have been a great encouragement to all these people watching the waters rushing down. It was flood season. God had fooled the Canaanites, and now these priests went there. As soon as they touched it—
Praise God for those who have gone before you and taken a step of faith so that you could see that.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we cannot praise the Lord enough for those who took that first step, and you saw somebody live by faith.
Hold that a moment, please. There is a second observation.
The Levites not only took that step of faith, but then they were required to take a stand on ground that God had dried up supernaturally.
Don’t read that la, la, la. We had a foretaste of that in the crossing of the Red Sea: God dried up the land.
Joshua 3:17 says:
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 crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.
We read that same thing about the Red Sea. To see others stepping in childlike faith into flood waters, and then to take a stand on miracle ground that God had dried up.
They did not stand in mud that day. It was a miracle. God dried up the ground.
That is the miracle that our Lord Jesus did on the cross. He dried up the wrath of God. He dried up the fires of hell. He dried up the guilt and penalty of sin.
We stand on the finished work—done—the ground that He has dried up.
I do not want to be too allegorical. I have been accused of that. I plead guilty sometimes.
But this water went all the way back to the city of Adam. They have never found the city Adam. They do not know where it is. They have guesses—anywhere from eighteen miles upstream to thirty miles upstream. They have some good guesses.
Anyway, when I see something going from Adam all the way to the Dead Sea, my spiritual mind reads into that. But the miracle is really more spectacular than it seems at first sight.
Joshua 3:13 says:
It shall come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off; and the waters which are flowing down from above will stand in one heap.
When they stepped into Jordan, the water flowed in two directions. It actually backed up. You do not see a river backing up.
It backed up fifteen miles, eighteen miles, twenty miles—we do not know. But it was not like the Red Sea, where they were looking at it right there. This was out of sight, piling up.
Both the past—I see that going to the Dead Sea—and going back there. You know, it is a precious thing that the victory God gives us not only sets us right now so that we can walk in the future corrected, but the victory He gives goes back.
Death is swallowed up in victory. It goes back. It goes backwards.
I want you to pull out the stops and let God help you believe this with all your heart. When God deals with some blunder you have made, some mistake you have made, some decision you have made, some sin you have sinned, will God forgive that and take you forward?
The answer is yes. But He will also back up and restore the years that the locusts have eaten. He will also back up and turn the curse into a blessing.
He is not only going to put the fire out; He is going to rebuild the house.
You say, “Man, I messed up so bad. I know God can give me a fresh start.” Yes, and He can undo all the damage that has ever been done. And He will.
That is what His promise is: death is swallowed up. I can trust God to rule and overrule. That is what He does as the King.
So that is somebody He brought into your life—somebody who dared to take the step of faith in your presence; someone who knew what it was to stand on a finished work, a miracle work of God, and to believe that God has done it all.
You are standing on dry ground. Remember, give thanks for those who impressed you.
There is a third picture. Those chosen to lead the way not only stand in the middle of the Jordan River, on ground God dried up, but they are to stand there carrying the ark of God.
As I look around, and as I have heard testimony of what God has done in Richmond, I am sure many of you—most of you—do not need an explanation of this marvelous picture, the ark.
But there might be one or two who did not grow up in the church and have their teeth cut on Bible stories. So that no one is left behind, I ask you to be patient with me as I give the basics on this wonderful picture, the ark.
I am going to share only enough to carry the spiritual point, but I want you to see this: in Joshua 3 and Joshua 4, eleven times there is a reference made to the ark of God.
Seven times it is called the Ark of the Covenant. Three times it is called the Ark of the Lord. Once it is called the Ark of Testimony.
Take my word for this—Exodus 25; you can check it out—but it was a little box. It was four feet long, two feet high, and two feet wide. It had a seat on it called a mercy seat.
The mercy seat was like a lid. You could lift it, take the mercy seat off, and put things inside. In fact, there were things inside. We read about that in Hebrews 9:4:
Having a golden altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant.
Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.
There is a lot of significance. I will make a reference in another connection to the items inside, but for now know that it was just a heavy box—four feet long, two feet wide, and two feet high—covered with gold on the inside and outside.
It had two angels, one piece of gold over the top, and it was carried on staves.
Exodus 25:14 says:
You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark with them.
Only the Levitical priests could carry the ark. I will not read it, but it is in 1 Chronicles 15.
We do not know how many priests it took to carry the ark. We assume there were two on each end—four. But I know in one case, in 1 Chronicles 15, where they were carrying the ark, it mentions six priests carrying the ark, and it names them.
You have the picture. It is a box, four feet long. It has a seat on it. Why do you put a seat on something? What do you do with a seat? You sit on it. That is exactly right. We have a theologian here in the front row.
You sit on it. Somebody was sitting on this seat.
First Samuel 4:4 says:
The people sent to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who sits above the cherubim.
It was in the shape of an oriental throne. It was a picture of a throne. On the throne was the invisible King. It was King Jesus.
Now, these Levites had to carry that on their shoulders, and they had to stand on ground that God had dried up. When you have a throne over you, you are under lordship.
You remember that person who came into your life. You looked, and he took a step of faith, and you said, “Wow, I wish I had faith like that.”
Then he began to tell you about the finished work: it is all done, it is all dried up, and he took a stand on the finished work of Christ. Your heart thrilled, and you said, “Wow, there is somebody standing on miracle ground.”
Then you saw that they were under the lordship of Christ, under His kingship, holding high King Jesus so that everybody could see King Jesus. Praise God for that person.
This is for another time, but that box pictures something very wonderful. Inside that box were the Ten Commandments.
Inside the box and under the lid—the mercy seat sprinkled with blood—if that represents King Jesus, then in Christ Jesus and under the blood is everything I need for obedience: the Ten Commandments.
In there was the manna. In Christ Jesus and under the blood is everything you need for provision.
In that ark was Aaron’s rod that budded. In Christ Jesus and under the blood is everything I ever need for fruit, for a fruitful life.
Remember that person who came into your life? That book you read, that tape you heard, that program you saw, that website you touched, that assembly that God led you into? Do you remember?
They took a step of faith. They took a stand on the finished work of Jesus Christ. They stood under the lordship of Christ, and you saw that.
They proclaimed that in Christ is everything you need to obey the Lord. In Christ is everything you need for every provision you will ever require. In Christ is everything you need for fruit.
Boy, I praise God in the closet. I thank God by name for those brothers and sisters who led the way for me. I was on the wilderness side. I needed to come over, and I needed to see somebody like these heart Levites.
Praise God that He gives us this picture.
As I meditated on this, I did take a season to thank God and recall names. Lillian and I recalled the names together, and we just praised God.
I would never have been able to enter into the land, which is Christ, if God had not used instruments. I know Jesus leads me to Jesus, but He uses instruments. He used these Levites, and He brought men like that into my life. I am sure He brought them into your life as well.
Let me give another principle, please, and we will get close to ending here. I have a little cold; excuse me.
The next principle I want to share is that these priests stepped out first by faith, stood on ground that He had dried up—miracle ground, finished work—held high King Jesus, and made all that was in Christ available to them.
They also stood firm by the mighty power of God. Let me show you what I mean by that.
Verse 17 says:
The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground.
They did not just stand there. They stood firm.
We sort of read this thing, la, la, la. This was a heavy box. It was covered with gold. It was four feet long. Inside were two tablets of stone. This was a very heavy box.
How long did those priests stand there?
After they crossed, they set up camp in a place called Gilgal. That was about five miles away. I do not know how long it takes. They were on foot, and they walked the five miles. How long does it take to walk five miles?
Then those men were chosen, and they had to come back and get stones. They were going to build two monuments of twelve stones, and so on. They had to come back.
We are not dead sure whether Joshua just stayed there, or whether they went back and built the monument and then Joshua came back and built another. How long did it take to cross? Two and a half to three million people, with their families, flocks, and goods—and they are standing there.
That is what I mean when I say they stood firm. They stood by the power of the Lord. There was no possibility that humans could stand there holding that weight for that long.
All that time, they held that ark high. Joshua 4:11 says:
When all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed before the people.
I am sure—I do not know exactly—but I am looking at eight hours, ten hours. They had a long time.
I found a verse that I am thankful for, though I do not know how it happened. It is in 1 Chronicles 15:26:
Because God was helping the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.
The Lord was helping them carry it. How did He do that? I do not know. But I know they had to stand by the power of God.
Some of you who have been in the land and have longed for others to come into the land, do not get weary in well-doing.
Stand there with the ark of God and hold it high. I do not know how long it took for that group to come over, but even when it looks like some are not responding, they just have to stand there and hold that high.
I imagine some were invalid. I do not know—three million people. Probably some were infirm. I know only two people were over sixty: Joshua and Caleb.
But I am not sure all the herds cooperated. You have children—a lot of children. They do not know that they are about to enter the land of promise, the land of milk and honey. They are on a hike. They are just walking and playing.
We used to walk with our kids, and sometimes they were behind us and sometimes they were in front of us. How long did it take? I do not know.
I think it is a beautiful picture that these priests took the step of faith, stood on a finished work, held high the kingship of Christ, lived under the authority of Christ, and declared that in Christ is everything you need—for obedience, provision, and fruit.
It is all in Him, under the blood. They stood there hour after hour by the mighty power of God. They stood firm. There was no other way.
I suppose as they looked around and some were lagging back, they thought, “What is wrong? Come on. Let’s go.”
Let me give one more principle, and we will wrap it up.
Joshua 4:11 says:
When all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed before the people.
Praise God that someone God has chosen not only went first—they were the first ones in—they were the last ones out. They were the last ones out.
They love you.
Praise God for your elders. Praise God for those who have stood before you, who have taught you to walk by faith, who have told you of the finished work, and who have lived a life under the lordship of Jesus Christ. You saw it.
Day after day, week after week, month after month, they just stand there. They do not change the message. It is Christ. He is King. They stand firm by the power of God, and they wait.
They wait for you. They wait for the brother. They wait for the sister.
This characteristic is important because it sheds light on the great faithfulness and patience of the Lord.
It is only the patient God in the elders, in the leaders, in those who have gone before. It is only His life that enables them to stay patient.
Sometimes, I tell you, I want to take Christians and shake them. I want to tell them—you know, I have used that illustration before—about that little child with his plant-and-grow, and he rips it up. I want God’s people to enter in. It is so wonderful.
Yet God has called me to stand on ground that is miracle ground, to hold up His kingship. They were not yelling back, “Hurry up! What is wrong with you? Let’s get going!”
In fact, there is no record that they said anything. They just stepped out in faith and stood on solid ground.
In fact, when they got the rocks, it says they were under the feet of the priests. They not only stood on dry ground, but they stood on the solid rock.
They held up the message of Christ. They stood under the lordship of Christ. They were the last ones out.
I say this helps me see the faithfulness of the Lord.
I like the King James Version in Joshua 3:17. It says they waited until they had “passed clean over.” I do not know what “clean over” is, but it is also in Joshua 4. You get the same thing in Joshua 4:11-12. They waited until they were clean over.
I think some of you are familiar with Alexander Maclaren. In his commentary on this passage, he said, “They waited for the greatest laggard and the slowest of foot.”
Well, those old Englishmen knew how to say it. Anyway, the representatives before you are patient, and they are patient with you. They love you, and they still stand there.
They are going to wait until you get over. They are just going to keep standing there. They are the last ones out.
No matter how slow you are, I would have given up on me a long time ago. When I look back on my life, oh, I thank God for His patience.
He is so patient. He is not omnipatient; that is not one of His attributes. He is long-suffering, but He is not omnipatient.
If He were omnipatient, He would never judge. But there comes a day when to be patient one moment longer would violate His holiness and the necessity of judgment. When that line comes, He calmly—He does not fly off the handle—He calmly stands up and administers judgment. That is how it is.
Well, anyway, aren’t you glad that God does not take God-sized steps with you? When He holds my hand, He accommodates His greatness to my weakness.
When He holds your hand, He takes His greatness—it is like a parent, a mother or father, with a toddler. Watch them walk. They walk along with the toddler. They take baby steps.
God, in His love, just waits for me until I am clean over. He waits for you until you are clean over. He just holds you hour after hour. Praise God for that group.
Now, I hope you are among those who want to enter into the land, and you are praising God for those who have gone before.
I do not need to repeat the list again, but you know: they walk by faith; they stand on the finished work; they hold up the lordship of Jesus Christ; they stand by the power of God; and they wait and pray and long that you would respond and cross over into the land that is Jesus.
Let me sort of wrap this up by answering a question in two ways.
Someone says, “Well, I want to cross the Jordan. I want to leave the land of disobedience. I want to enter the land which is Christ. When does a Christian cross Jordan?”
There are two answers to that.
The first answer is this: every Christian already crossed Jordan two thousand years ago when Jesus died on the cross. You have already crossed.
You say, “Yes, but practical—I mean in my life now. When do I cross Jordan?”
Here is the second answer: You cross Jordan the very moment you begin to believe that you already crossed two thousand years ago.
That is when you cross. When you start reckoning yourself dead indeed, you cross. When you believe that you have already crossed, you cross.
Are you familiar with Evan Hopkins? Evan Hopkins tells a story, and I do not know if it is true or made up. It does not matter; it has a powerful punch.
He describes somebody who wants to get into the land. It is not a river. He pictures more of a lake or a sea. There is this fellow swimming and swimming, struggling. “I’ve got to get to the land. I’ve got to get to the land.”
“I want to enter into everything. I want to know what a Spirit-filled life is, how to abide in Christ, how to rest. I want to get in.”
He sees he is not going to make it. He has gone more than halfway. He cannot continue, and he cannot go back. He is going to drown.
A boat pulls up alongside him. He says to the boatman, “Where are you going?”
The boatman says, “I’m going to the land of promise.”
The fellow says, “You mind if I hang on?”
“Go right ahead.”
So he begins to hang on. He looks around and sees his friends struggling, swimming, and drowning. He knows if he lets go, he cannot help them.
He talks to the boatman. He says, “I’m getting tired. I know I’m going to let go, and I want them to come. What am I supposed to do?”
The boatman said, “Get in the boat.”
Get in the boat. It is not hard to get into the land.
Do not trust your clinging any more than you can trust your swimming. You do not get there by clinging. You get there by riding.
He wants to take us into the land which is Christ: redeemed and resting. Sabbath day’s journey. Come on in and begin to enjoy the land.
Once you are in the land, there is more to the story, but we will close there.
If you thank God for those who were in front of you, you are the priest now, right? You are the priest.
Will you take that step of faith for others? Take a rugged stand on the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hold high the kingship of Christ. Live publicly under His lordship. Let them know what is in Christ Jesus and under the blood.
Stand by the power of God, no matter how long the day is or how weary you get. Wait patiently for that brother, that sister, who straggles along. Just wait patiently. You are the last one out.
May God use us as those instruments.
And for the rest, get in the boat.
Let’s pray.
Father, thank You for Your Word. Lord, we always have to say that we want You to watch over and perform everything that is from You.
Save Your people from everything that is flesh and blood.
Thank You, Lord, for making Your salvation so very simple for us.
Show us Jesus in a fresh way. We pray that we would allow Jesus to take us into the land which is Jesus. We pray in Jesus’ name.