JOSHUA 3
Read Joshua 3:1-17
Chapter 1 showed God preparing Joshua to be the leader of the Israelites taking over from Moses. Chapter 2 was the story of Rahab and the spies that we looked at last week.
Now we come to the crossing of the Jordan – God fulfilling the promise he made to Abraham.
But first there are preparations.
Verse 2 – After 3 days they were ready to cross. It is noticeable in the Old Testament that God often does something special after 3 days (think of Jonah in the whale). We are not surprised when, come the New Testament, God raised up Jesus after 3 days.
Verse 3 – The Ark of the Covenant was the visible symbol of God’s invisible presence with his people. The Ark goes before the people – the symbolism is clear; it is God who leads his people where they have not been before (think too of him leading them through the wilderness as fire by night and a column of smoke by day).
Verse 4 – The people have to keep their distance and not get too close to the Ark. This is a recurring command (Numbers 1:53 for example) because God is holy and cannot be in the presence of sin and if sinful people come close to him they cannot live. Through Jesus we can approach God, but we need to remember that he is God and give him the respect that is due to him.
Verse 5 – The people are told to consecrate themselves – to prepare themselves, because God is coming amongst them. Meeting God is something special and not to be taken lightly. If we expect to meet God when we worship, do we prepare ourselves?
Verse 9 – Joshua emphasises the importance, the centrality of the word of God – ‘come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God’. And God’s word is living and active – not just words on a page – and this is highlighted by the New Testament describing Jesus as the Word, the living word.
Verse 12 – We will see why the twelve men were chosen next week, but the important point is that there is one to represent each tribe, it is the whole people of God that are being led by God.
Verse 13-16 – When the Ark, the presence of God, reaches the Jordan, the flow stops. There are echoes of the Red Sea here and a statement that God is sovereign, he rules over all nature. Think too of Jesus stilling the storm. The river is in flood, the people couldn’t cross by themselves. It is only because of the grace of God that they reach the Promised Land. This is a preview of the cross in that it is only through the grace of God that we can have eternal life.
Verse 17 – The Ark stays in the river until the whole of the Israelite nation has passed – God is faithful, he cares for his people, all of them, and makes sure that they all reach the Promised Land safely.