Proverbs 13:12 says that, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”
Tonight we begin a series of sermons that really are on the culmination of hundreds of years deferred hope, and finally a desire fulfilled. The Lord promised a land to Abraham, and land to Isaac, and land to Jacob, and land of all of the sons of Jacob, and all of their offspring.
And finally, in chapters 3-5 of the book of Joshua we have the people of God making their way into the promised land, the land of hope, the land of promise that had for so many years been in the distance.
Joshua gives us 3 whole chapters covering their entrance into the land, which tells us a bit of the significance of the event. Thematically, the entrance is surrounded with images and language that recalls the exodus event out of Egypt, and, as we will see, the language also shows parallels to other significant events in the history of Israel.
Their entrance into the promised land is even painted in terms of returning to a garden. It’s almost like the Lord is undoing the events of the fall and mankind’s ejection from Eden. In that sense, what’s happening in this passage is not at all unrelated to the sermons I recently preached from Song of Solomon, where the bliss of marriage is pictured in theologically-rich language of entering an Eden-like garden, and entering the promised land.
Let’s begin by reading chapter 3:
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. 2 At the end of three days the officers went through the camp 3 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. 4 Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits[a] 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.” 5 Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”6 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.
7 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. 8 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.’” 9 And Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.” 10 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. 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth[b] is passing over before you into the Jordan.12 Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. 13 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.”
14 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, 15 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), 16 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. 17 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.
I’d like to begin by looking at the first six verses and noting the emphasis on the work of the Lord. The work of the Lord. The narrative emphasizes for us in several ways how Joshua and Israel were to perceive the work of the Lord.
First, we see very clearly that the emphasis in this chapter and the next is on the ark of the Covenant. The ark is mentioned a total of 20 times in chapters 3 and 4. But what’s so important about the Ark?
Well, the ark symbolized the presence of the Lord himself with his people. It was a picture of God’s presence.
The instructions for the ark’s construction are found in Exodus 25. It was a box about 4 feet long and less than 3 feet high. Not very big. It was covered with gold inside and out, covered in a pure gold lid, upon which were two angels that should facing each other.
“The wings of the cherubim were to stretch out and upward, nearly meeting directly above the cover. It was in that space above the lid of the ark and in between the wings of the cherubim that God was symbolically understood to dwell. The ark was carried by means of poles placed through rings attached to the ark on each side.
When the ark set out, carried by the priests, ‘Moses said, ‘Rise up, O Lord! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you.’ Whenever it came to rest, he said, ‘Return, O Lord, to the countless thousands of Israel’ (Num. 10:35-36).”[1]
So, the ark’s significance is found in what it portrayed. It represented the fact that Israel’s God was with them, wherever they went. Unlike the puny territorial God’s of the pagans, who were tied to particular places or cities or mountains, the God of Israel is Lord over all the earth.
He’s not geographically limited. A point further emphasized by the nature of his mighty work that is about to happen. He’s going to do another miracle, another exodus, of parting the waters, and that confirms that the same Lord who parted the red sea, was not still back there at the red sea.
He’s still with Israel, and he’s the same God. The God “who led Joshua was the same God who led Moses and worked through him. The God of the conquest [of the promised land] is the same God of the exodus, and so on back to the time of Abraham and to creation. God is eternal; he is always the same in his eternal being.”[2]
But, lest anyone get the impression that Israel was in control of its God because she carried His ark around, God makes clear that he is still the leader. He went before them, wherever they went. The only proper way for them to advance is to follow God’s lead.
But, while verse 4 makes clear that God is to be followed, he’s also not to be crowded. They are to put distance between themselves and the ark, roughly half a mile. He wants space, so that all will see his work. He wants his glory known, not to a simple few or to those who are close. He wants all to see. He’s about to do something big.
Lastly, before we leave the ark and the work of the Lord, we should reflect upon what else the ark pictures. The ark pictures both the law and the gospel. It pictures the justice and the mercy of God.
We see the law by what is inside of the Ark: the ten commandments are found inside the ark. God’s justice, his holy standard. A durable reminder of God’s own holiness and perfection. The law was within, the same law that Israel had broken while Moses was up on the Mountain.
And, as Israel marches its way through the pagan land, led by the ark, it is as if Israel is the holy arm of the Lord, executing justice against the wicked lawbreakers. Thus, the ark was a constant reminder for Israel that Yahweh is the Judge of all the earth.
But, lest mankind or even Israel despair at their own sinfulness, we also see the gospel pictured in the symbol of the ark. The covering of the ark was called the Mercy Seat, and it was the place where, once a year, the high priest on the day of atonement would sprinkle the blood that had been shed from a sacrifice on behalf of the people.
The sins of the people would be counted toward that animal, and the animal would die in their place. It’s as if every sacrifice was a sermon for the people that the wages of sin was death. Paul wasn’t saying something new in Romans 6.
But the ark also pictured mercy and atonement. It was a picture of substitution. The death of another in the place of a nation. The guilty pardoned because of the sacrifice of the innocent. The principle wasn’t new either. It went all the way back to the garden, where God clothed the naked Adam and Eve with the skins of an animal.
That same theme leads us all the way to Jesus Christ, the innocent one slain for the guilty. The spotless taken in the place of the soiled. The ark was a foretaste of perfect mercy and substitution, and the ark’s presence among the people should have been a comfort to them.
And it should prompt within them a change, as the gospel of God’s mercy always does. God’s ark is to pass in front of them, to lead them, to ensure their victory, so what are they called to do? Verse 5:
5 Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
He tells them to consecrate themselves, wash up, get clean, God is about to do something big.
The presence of the Lord, especially the mercy of the Lord shown on the lid of the ark, ought to produce in His people a consecration, a purification, a holiness.
His presence produces our purification. His working, leads to our washing. That’s the order. Just like before, God did his mighty work in the exodus, then gave them the law. How do the ten commandments begin? With grace:
I am the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, that house of slavery, therefore you shall have no other gods before me. Gospel, leads to law. Mercy, leads to duty.
Believers, do you see that in your life? Has the mercy of God seen in your life, led you to be consecrated to him? To be holy, to be pure?
Or have you defiled yourself, covered yourself again with the muck of sin?
God’s people ought to look and act different than the rest of the world. Israelites shouldn’t behave like Canaanites, and God’s children should not act like the children of this world.
Paul says it this way in Colossians 3: 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you:[b] sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
God’s already said no idols. He’s already brought you out of slavery to sin, don’t go back to it. Don’t make for yourself a golden calf. Don’t bow down to the idols of this land, like greed and impurity and covetousness.
Remember the God who saved you. And remember he goes before you. I’m not talking about some wooden box on poles. Something greater than that has come.
Christ has come, whom Paul describes as our Mercy Seat in Romans 3. He’s the place where the justice and mercy of God meet. He’s the one who goes before us, not through some river, but through the grave. He’s entered into the promised land ahead of us, and has finished the battle.
He’s earned our victory, the captain of our salvation. The leader of our people. Trust in him, and delight in his mercy. Remember his sacrifice in our place, and by cherishing that, you’ll be able to follow him in consecrating yourself.
His sacrifice, leads to our sanctification. His provision, leads to our progress in holiness.
Now, let’s keep going and we can see a second point from chapter 2: the assurance of the Lord’s Power. The assurance of the Lord’s power.
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. 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth[b] is passing over before you into the Jordan.12 Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. 13 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.”
God, through Joshua, tells the people: Here’s how you’re going to know that I’m going to win, that I will have victory over the Canaanites: I’m going to part the Jordan river. I’m going to stop an entire river.
It’s as if the narrator wants us to see the argument. He’s arguing from the greater to the lesser. “If Yahweh can tame a raging river, then he can also repel attacking Amorites. IF he can stop up the Jordan, he can put down the Girgashite. If he can get you into the land, he can surely give you the land.”[3]
It is the same kind of logic that Paul uses in Romans 8:32: if God did not hold back his own Son but gave him up for us, if he was willing to go that far to save you, then we ought to rest assured that he will give us everything else needed for our full entrance into the promised land.[4]
If he’s given us the most costly thing, will he not give us the lesser things we need?
If he’s demonstrated power over greater things, like death, will he not also demonstrate his power to you, by saving you from this lesser problem, like finances, or relationships, or health?
This is the kind of logic that the Israelites should have used in Exodus 16. They were brought out of slavery in Egypt, walked through the red sea on dry ground. Witnessed the judgement of Pharoah and his mighty army. And then almost immediately they are complaining and whining about not having something to eat.
They have been provided for in the most stupendous way possible in the exodus, and now they doubt that God is willing and able to give them simple food. Would he do the miracle of bring them out of slavery and walking through the red sea, only now to let them starve?
He had done the greater, and now they doubt that he’s able or willing to do the lesser.
I wonder if you’ve seen that in your own soul. God’s provided for you in mighty and miraculous ways in the past, but now you’ve forgotten his past action, and you’re fearful he won’t give you what you need in the present.
You know he’s done greater, but you’re not trusting him to give you the lesser.
Believers, remember the Lord’s power. He’s walked through the Jordan ahead of you, and even more than that, His Son has walked through death ahead of you. He’s tasted the judgment you had earned by your sin, and like the spies, he’s brought back a good report of a heavenly promised land flowing with milk and honey.
He’s the living God, the Lord of all the earth, the text says, don’t doubt his power. He’s done mighty works in the past, he’s done the greater things, indeed the greatest thing in the substitutionary death of Christ in your place. Don’t doubt that he’ll be unable to give you what you need when you need it.
His power is limitless, and his provision is promised. He’s not forgetful or faithless to leave his people stranded. Rather, be assured his power is enough, and his timing is perfect.
Now, we’ve seen the emphasis on his work and his power. Now let’s take note of the emphasis on the Glory of the Lord. The emphasis on the glory of the lord. Look again at verse 14:
14 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, 15 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), 16 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. 17 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.
God’s people begin their walk, with the priests at the head of the line, carrying the ark of the covenant, and as soon as they touch their toes in the water, the narrator gives us a little something extra, a little detail at the end of verse 15.
He says, “now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest.” Why would he put that in there?
He interrupts the flow of the story, abruptly and unexpectedly, in order to put this little bit of information about river conditions in the springtime. Why does he do it? Because it helps the reader to better appreciate the miracle. It helps us to see God’s glory.
The Jordan valley sits between the sea of Galilee in the North, and the dead sea in the south. The floodplain of the river gets up to a mile wide, and that floodplain was packed with thick jungle growth. That dense vegetation would be a major problem to get through.
Then, you add to that that the river itself would have been over 100 feet across, and over 10 feet deep in places, and moving at a strong pace. The current was strong because of a significant drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth of the river. That means that this was no placid stream, but a rushing river in the springtime.
So why does the narrator point it out? To let the reader know that this feat would be impossible, if it weren’t for God. God had chosen to bring the people to edge of the river at the time where it seemed most impossible to succeed.[5]
And this is not unusual in the history of redemption. God delights to show his might in the face of our own utter helplessness, apparently so that nobody could look at the situation and walk away with any impression other than the Glory of the Lord.
Think about the story of Gideon in Judges 7. Gideon had an army of tens of thousands of men, but the Lord said to Gideon, that’s too many. “The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘my own hand has saved me.’”
So he sends home the fearful, which was 22,000 men sent home. Then he sifts them again, until only 300 remain. God in his kindness didn’t let an army of 20+ thousand men go and fight the battle, lest they boast in their own strength.
He waited until the situation seemed desperate, seemed absolutely hopeless, so that nobody could look at the story and say anything other than God did it.
He did the same in the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. He not only had Elijah’s sacrifice doused in water, he had them douse it a second and a third time, until water ran down around the alter and filled the trench.
The Lord wanted to make sure that there was no possible way for man to get any glory. No possible way for the situation to make sense. That’s when he decides to step in and make his Glory known.
The story of Esther this morning is another example of this. God let’s a situation come about that seems utterly hopeless, so that his glory will shine through.
Just when things are the darkest, the most hopeless, the most impossible humanly speaking, that’s where God delights to act, in order to make sure nobody else can share in his glory.
Where else is that most evident than in the cross itself. The sinless son of God had been betrayed by one of his own, beaten, stripped, and whipped, and crucified. The messiah had been killed, the moment of most apparent hopelessness.
How could the kingdom come? How could Adam’s race be saved? How could Abraham’s promises be fulfilled? How could David’s promised son sit on the throne forever? He’s dead. He’s in the grave? No hope. It’s all over and bleak, so much so that even the sky itself grew dark. It’s as if creation itself was mourning in despair.
But God delights in using moments of hopelessness. In the bleak circumstances, and the impossible scenarios, that’s when his glory can shine the brightest. And he did. He used the moment of greatest apparent defeat, to become the moment of his Greatest Glory, for he accepted the sacrifice, and he raised the son.
Perhaps you’re in a moment that feels helpless and bleak. You can’t see any way out. You’re not sure how you’re going to make it, or how anything good can come.
I’d encourage you to read of the works of the Lord in the bible, and see his Glory as demonstrated in his unexpected works.
He frequently waits until the night seems darkest, to when the situation seems most hopeless, in order to show his people that their endurance and their victory, their success is only because of his grace and power.
He’s a jealous God, and his glory he will not share with another. He may not save you from the dark trial, but he wants you to see more of his glory through it.
God didn’t prevent Joseph from going down into the pit, but gloriously raised him up from it at the right time.
He didn’t prevent Daniel from being sent to the lion’s den, but he certainly protected him through it.
He didn’t keep Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from seeing the fire, but powerfully protected them in the midst of it.
And God didn’t prevent the Son from tasting death, but rather used that trial to become the glorious means of redeeming his people from their slavery to sin and death.
Trust in this glorious God, and don’t succumb to Satan’s temptation to fixate on the darkness, and lose hope amidst the despair. Don’t look at your circumstances and say it will never be any better, or how can God work good from this?
You may not see how all the dots connect, but God does. And he delights in working in ways that stump us on the front end, but awe us on the back end.
We will look back on our journey and marvel at his glory and grace, even though now we may be puzzled by his plan. He knows what he’s doing. He’s waiting until the time is right, until the river is highest, so that his miracle of redemption is most glorious.
Trust in him today, and he will save you. He delights in redeeming the hopeless and the helpless. Hear of his mercy and his justice, pictured in the ark. Hear of his power, pictured in the damming up of the Jordan.
Believe in him, and you too will behold his glory, and taste of his benefits.
[1] James Montgomery Boice, Joshua: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006), 37.
[2] Boice, 37.
[3] Dale Ralph Davis, Joshua: No Falling Words (Fearn: Christian Focus, 2010), 36.
[4] See: Davis, 36.
[5] this point expanded from: Davis, 38.
