God in the midst

Joshua 3:3-5

I want to outline a Biblical principal for all of us who would desire to lead a fulfilled Christian ministry.

Let me first say that God did not create us in order for us to “just get by” He wants and longs for us to find that place in Himself that is both rewarding and refreshing. The Christian life is one of learning to rely on the goodness and faithfulness of God. Faith is only proved in the doing.

Here in Joshua we have an illustration of what it is to step out in Faith in order for us to “prove God”.

Let's remind ourselves of the situation. The children of Israel have been in the wilderness for 40 years, all the previous generations have died, including Moses the great leader and the only two people who came out of Egypt and who were still alive were Joshua and Caleb.

Joshua, who has been leader in training under Moses, is now elevated to leader as per the direct instruction from God (see Joshua 1). He has been directly instructed to lead these homeless, wandering nomads out of the wilderness experience into a land that offers much more.

Just so we can get some clarity here I want you to notice that Joshua is the Hebrew form of the Greek word Jesus (or more precisely Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew word Joshua). The word literally means “Jehovah the Saviour” or “Salvation of Jehovah”. So we see we have a direct parallel here between Joshua and Jesus. I also want you to note at this point that Joshua was not always called Joshua his name originally was Oshea which means Salvation, it was Moses in Numbers 13:16 who changed his name from Salvation to Salvation of Jehovah. Moses recognised something in this young man that would one day he would become a saviour. Just as God set Jesus apart for the sole purpose of Salvation and redemption.

The Israelite's, for 40 years, had lived by Gods mercy. A God who provided their daily food in the form of quails and manna (Gods provision) to a place where He would provide for them by His Grace, something they did not earn or deserve.

What we find in the book of Joshua is not just a story about a group of wandering nomads but a story that holds deep spiritual principles about learning to live by Gods grace in new found freedom. This story of moving out of wilderness into plenty is as much a spiritual experience as it is a physical experience and I believe that is a journey we all need to take if we are, in any way, going to be able to live by faith in and through Christ in our ministries for God.

If we are to minister, share, encourage, enable, enthuse or influence other peoples lives and situations, if we seek to “make a difference” then we have to first experience what God has made available to all mankind. Our ministry has to be founded on a proper firm foundation, that of God himself where Christ is the chief cornerstone.

Here in Joshua 3;3-5 we have three basic steps for us to undertake if we want to move from a place of a meagre, captive wilderness experience to a place of freedom and a land of plenty then we need to engage with and follow these 3 verses:-

• v3 Command
• v4 Check
• v5 Condition

Command

We read that “after 3 days the officers went through the camp saying when you see….” Just as a recap if we read Joshua 1:11 we find that Joshua had instructed the officers to go through the camp informing them to get ready, “prepare yourselves..in three days we are moving out” This instruction would have been a nonsense to the people that heard it as the first question they would have had was how on earth are we going to cross the river Jordan when it is in full flood? Yet the command was headed and three days later the officers went through the camp with a second instruction “when you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord… then remove from your place and go after it.” Faith had been implemented, the people did not appear to stop and question the leaders they “believed God” and prepared themselves. Just so we are clear faith is only faith when we move beyond the word and step out into what God has promised. The promised land was never something that the children of Israel were ever to inherit because they were better than the inhabitants already there, it was all about God wanting people to worship Him and the only way He could do that was to wipe out sin which means providing a way by faith through the physically impossible. For further reading on this thought you can read Deuteronomy 9:1-6 which tells us that God hates sin but wants worshipers.

So the command has gone out “when you see the ark”, this little word 'see' in the original Hebrew is an action word without respect of time. The word is as relevant today as it was all those years ago to the Israelite's. The ark of the covenant represents God in the midst of His people and what they were commanded to do was when you see the ark of the covenant you are to leave your place and follow it. That meant they had to be ready, shoes on, bags packed, animals rounded up and ready to go. This is a God on the move are we ready for all that God has for us or are we going to hang back and wait and see? What we need to observe and act on here is that you and I are presented with a choice, we can choose to follow and not know where we are going or we can just sit and wait and see. The truth is that this may be literally but what is more likely this will be a spiritual move or awakening that God has put within our hearts to find more of Him, to find Him in the land of plenty. Surely that has to be better than a wilderness experience?

Check

When we have heard the officers, when we have seen the ark and when we have left our place, our perceptions and preconceived ideas then we have to keep the ark (God in the midst) in view. What the children of Israel are being told is always keep God in focus but do not get to close, do not get over familiar, He is an holy God and therefore should be respected as holy.

They were instructed to keep about ½ mile or 1km's distance between them and the ark, when God is moving the best advise is just to follow. God wants us to trust His leading He does not want us to dictate terms or mold the direction. In the new covenant, by Christ's obedience to death and his resurrection we have this “God in the midst” living in us by the power of the holy ghost. We must never take the gift of salvation for granted, we must respect the holiness of God and His word. The word in this passage is “you have never been this way before”. We need to always keep Christ in view, walking by faith as Paul describes in Galatians 2:20 “the life I live I live by and in the faith of the Son of God”. It is not I that live but Christ who lives in me. It is Christ in me that is the power of my life. It is Christ in me the hope of Glory.

Condition

To this life of faith there is a condition. We read that Joshua says, note here in the preceding verses it is the officers and the leaders that gave the call to follow, now we have Joshua-Jesus our great high priest issuing the condition of this great life of faith that these people are just embarking on. The condition is “sanctify yourselves”. To sanctify means to “set apart as to declare holy”. This is something that each one of us has to do if we have heard the command and have complied with the check. We have to ensure our sanctification. In the old covenant that would have been a physical washing with holy observations and rituals, in the new covenant Christ has sanctified us by his blood and we are free but that does not mean we take our freedom in Christ for granted or abuse it. Romans 5:20 – Romans 6:2 informs us of that. We choose to be holy, we choose to be sanctified just as the command was given by Joshua in v5.

So to conclude we need to get ourselves into a position and place with God which enables us to clear out all that hinders us and gets in the way of us following God in the midst.

In order for God to use us for His glory we need to work out by faith that which God has worked in by Son (Son being part of the of the trinity that we call God). Philippians 2:12-13.

 One thing is for sure as Joshua said to the Israelite's follow and keep the ark in view, cleanse and sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.  

The new start (7)

Life was not easy we had daily battles just to survive but for me it was all summed up when Joshua our great leader and figure head called us all together at Shechem Joshua 24:1 and delivered some words that meant we had to make a choice. We heard how this great God of ours had led our forefathers in times gone past and had delivered us as a people group from slavery and wilderness experiences into a land of promise and abundance. That to me was incredibly real, although I did not remember the Egypt experience I certainly remember the wilderness experience and did not want to live through that again. Joshua went on to remind us that we had been given a land for which we had not worked for, cities that we had not built and vines and olives that we had not planted. Joshua 24:13 All this was an out pouring of grace and mercy beyond what we deserved. 


What Joshua said next will remain with me for the rest of my life, he said,
Joshua 24:15  “fear the Lord, serve Him with sincerity and in truth and put away the gods that your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt.” Then he hit us with a challenge “choose for yourselves this day who you will serve, whether the gods of the past or the gods of the present but as for me and my household we will serve the Lord.”

To me the choice was simple I had experienced great blessing and had seen how Jehovah had sustained us and carried us through many trials. This God was something bigger than I had ever first imagined. He was not contained in experiences of past generations or confined to experiences of current reality, He was a God who was capable of absolutely anything, at times and places He would choose and all that was required was faith and trust that he would see us through what ever lay ahead.

There was great euphoria in the gathering as all the gathered people said, with one voice, “we will serve the Lord, for He is our God.” You would think that that was the end of the story and the end of a great sermon of encouragement resulting in a commitment beyond expectation, where all the gathered congregation said with one voice Joshua 24:18 “we will serve the Lord”, but no Joshua then added some words that were very sobering and required our individual attention. He said Joshua 24:19 “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God, He is a jealous God: He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.” To my surprise the whole congregation replied Joshua 24:21 “No we will serve the Lord.” What we were going to experience after Joshua died was that he was right, we could not serve this Holy, Jealous God with out messing up. We realised that we needed some one appointed by God to stand in the gap, I suppose a kind of Joshua figure, Jehovah my Salvation, one who would pay the price forever for our failures and indiscretions. Little did we know at the time that that is exactly what this God, our God, Jehovah had planned for future generations, a plan that would involve His only son another man who's name means Jehovah my Salvation.

I am great-full to God for sustaining me in my life and I know that He will sustain anyone who puts their trust in Him. I have proved it along with countless others down the ages. I hope and pray that you will be encouraged to give this God, Jehovah a chance. Don't write Him off just because He can't be explained or contained, just keep living and remember the words of Joshua our great example “as for me and my household we will serve the Lord.”

The new Start (6)

Following on from the barbaric destruction of Achan, his family and his livestock we were really unsure what to do. The whole affair had really tested us as a community yet at the same time caused us to wake up to the fact that this God of ours was some how different than all the other gods that were around. Our God really appeared to be visible whilst invisible. There was a real sense that He was not going to let us down even though through the sin and disobedience of one man we had all failed.

Joshua our leader (we called him that in our Hebrew language but other languages, I learnt later, called him Jesus. His name means “Jehovah my Salvation”) was not giving up, he seemed determined to encourage us and began to see beyond where we were in the present and began to lay hold of the promises and prophecies that our previous leader, Moses had given us. The encouragements were in the form of you can overcome because I have overcome (see Lessons from Deuteronomy). 


What was evident was that we could no longer wallow around in our failure and misery, we had been through the wilderness and had languished there for far too long, we had to have hope and belief that God Almighty wanted to bring us into something that far exceeded our expectations and our hopes and dreams, despite our failures and miscalculations of life. We had just witnessed and been party to a most barbaric thing but we were coming to the conclusion that God, our God was a holy God and needed to be worshipped with all holiness and purity.

As we contemplated Joshua's leadership we began to have our faith in him re-kindled and started to listen to him again. What I found amazing was that when I tuned in my spirit, that is the inner most part of me to what Joshua was saying I really began to have peace that this man was appointed of God for such a time as this. It was as if he was our saviour sent from God, this God who we had chosen to follow, to bring us into a new found freedom, a place of unknown yet a place of peace and rest, a place where we could worship and be thankful, a place where we could begin to really be those people that our God had created us to be. It was with this assurance that we found ourselves moving into a position where we wanted to claim ground for Jehovah, places that were not currently His. I reflected on this and found myself asking “were there places in me that God needed to have control over?”. To me it was not just a battle for physical ground it was a battle for spiritual ground, no matter what the outcome of our battle with Ai the real issue was whether my life was justified, centrally aligned to what God required of me. Yes I had encountered experiences and I had seen God do amazing things, dry up a river bed, enable us to defeat a stronghold, lay us low and yet still protect us, cause us to confront failure head on, yet I still had not fully given myself over to this God, there was still something in me that wanted my own thing. Wealth, success, happiness, a stable income so that I could support my family. What I realised that although these were good things, things that society wanted me to achieve and have, they were not fulfilling in themselves. God wanted me, my ambitions and dreams for His glory not my own. We were to learn many more lessons as individuals and as a community. We were to experience compromise and failure along with success.

The new start (5)

After our victory at Jericho, well to be more precise Jehovah's victory because all we did was circle the walls on foot in obedience to Joshua, we found ourselves in a very buoyant mood, WE, we thought had won a great victory and we were certain that God was on our side and that nothing could or would stand in our way. In hindsight it would have been beneficial to do some reflection and offer thanks to our God Jehovah, but oh no off we set, taking matters into our own hands against the next settlement Ai. Well what a grave mistake, not only were we well and truly beaten we were humiliated.

As we returned to our tents, with our tails between our legs and good men lost, both dead and disillusioned. Our company, that is our community was in pieces, asking why has God allowed this?

This was our first experience of failure since the miracle of salvation from the wilderness via the Jordon river.

On reflection we realised that our failure was due, in part to the fact that we did not operate in unity but acted out of brazen exuberance, but also because of one man's greed, in short sin. He saw, he coveted, he took and he hid. I was reminded of the stories that had been handed down to us of one man who sinned against God  Almighty and paid the ultimate price of separation and was banished from His presence.

Oh were we really in need of revival at this point. We had no idea what to do, even Joshua, our leader was in despair. He was on the ground, covered in dust as a sign of remorse and humility before God. Then, as if revived he stood up and said "go and sanctify yourselves" in other words we were told to examine our own hearts and see if we were justified, that is centrally aligned to Gods ways. This was a real personal challenge to me as I had begun to realise that, whilst I did not always have the answers to who our God was and what He was like, I knew that He required my full attention and that my life was not here on this earth for my own greed and self satisfaction. So we went to our tents and we searched our inner self to make peace with God.

We all returned the next day fully expecting Joshua to say "it is OK God has heard your cries of repentance" but he just said there is sin in the camp and we have to deal with this before  we can move on. What transpired was that one man, yes just one man, had contravened the command "not to covet and take what is not yours". We did what was right in our culture at the time and purged this transgression from our midst, we put him, his family and all he had to death. If only one man could die and put an end to this barbaric, self destruction.

Dealing with this kind of failure as an individual and as a community was a very hard lesson but one that was necessary as what we learned was that God was on the side of the man or woman who puts their trust in Him. We began to realise that God was more concerned with His people, His "called out ones" than He was with victories and personal triumphs. Again we realised that God primarily wants worshippers before He wants workers.

The new start (4)

We had just celebrated the passover lamb, an absolutely amazing time when  our community came together. Together times around a meal are a wonderful experience, a time where you really begin to get to know your family and friends.  After we had cleared away all the remains (it seemed strange to me that we had to destroy what was left) we found to our utter amazement another strange thing. The manna we had relied on for 40 years stopped appearing each morning. This 'manna' was our free hand out from a bountiful God who had arranged this "daily bread" in the form of manna and quails, all we had to do was go and gather what we needed, no questions asked. Our only stipulation was that we should only gather enough manna for what we needed that day, it had no value except for our daily sustenance. You see it went off after a day. I know I tried it once, contravened Gods word to my cost, the tent absolutely stank the next morning, I realised God was a God to be obeyed not disobeyed and that I needed to trust Him daily for all my basic needs. God, I realised was no man's debtor when that  man or woman walked with, and worked with Him.God had brought us into a new land where we no longer needed His daily hand outs because He had given us the freedom, the ability and the fertile ground to provide for our selves. All we had to do was be willing to do use the good things He had given.

After our healing was complete, Joshua again rallied us to begin our assault on Jericho, it wasn't so much that they were our enemies but more about us as a people group claiming what our God, Jehovah had promised. "to you and your descendants" .  What our time in the wilderness had taught us, well taught me anyway, was that God was faithful and that He was committed to bringing about all that He communicated.

At the time it did seem to be a rather odd approach that Joshua was taking, marching around the walls of Jericho without making a sound. I suppose though that the inhabitants must have been a bit unnerved seeing all these men marching around their city walls wondering what they were going to do next.

When we finally finished our marching, six days in all, Joshua told us that we would be marching around seven times on the seventh day, well our hearts sank there seemed to be no sense to any of this. Why didn't we just attack? The inhabitants were scared stiff any way. But no, Joshua was insistent that this is what Jehovah had said. This really made an impression on me, the fact that our leader was prepared to wait because he believed and sensed what God was saying.

It was amazing to see how Jehovah had enabled us to win this victory. It wasn't about the blood shed it was about survival. This new found freedom that we were moving into was also teaching us about God and His promises, it was having an impact on our spirituality, all those around us were worshipping gods made by men, carved out of wood or stone or some other material. It seemed to me that people were trying to give their gods some kind of form so that they could at least try to understand what they were worshipping. What I was beginning to understand was that our God, Jehovah was better understood without form. I suppose we had to have faith in God something that I would find out was going to take the rest of my life to grasp. I would find out how to deal with failure as well as success. It was about accepting God for who He said He was.

The next lesson was dealing with failure.

The new start (3)

For someone who had grown up in a desert, who had only been eating quails and wotsit's (well that's what we called it, manna, a flat wafer type thing that was on the ground every morning except on the Sabbath) this journey through a dried up river bed was a great adventure.

I mean here we are on the other side of the Jordan river, something that I had always heard about. Even though my parents generation had not been able to see this they were at least faithful in keeping the promise alive, for that I am truly grateful, but what I was beginning to realise is that this new experience, this new adventure was going to change my life, I didn't know how, or to what extent, but I knew it would have to be different.

Well the first major change and challenge came when Joshua, our leader called all of us men together and explained that as a group of people we were on the brink of something new and wonderful and that if we were to succeed in our God given mission then we needed to demonstrate that we were dedicated to our God by reinstituting the act of circumcision, well we went pale, I can tell you. But the amazing thing is we ALL agreed to it.

Joshua reminded us of what our previous leader, Moses, had said in Deuteronomy 30:6 that God wanted us to be circumcised in our hearts, a state of realisation that we were dedicated to serve and follow Jehovah, come what may and that this physical act was an outward  demonstration of our commitment to Him. What we realised and all subscribed to was that this circumcision was not some act or ritual but something that was meaningful. Of course it made no sense when all the fortified towns around us were gearing up to protect themselves from our attacks. Actually, as a side we witnessed another miracle because it appeared that all the inhabitants of these settlements were "shut in". If I was going to attack I would attack when my enemy was at their most vulnerable, and boy, were we vulnerable, every fighting male laid up because Joshua had chosen to wound us, it didn't make any sense, but then as I grew older and wiser in my understanding of this great God Jehovah I realised that nothing ever does. Jehovah's ways are not man's way.

As we had come out of the river Jordan on the 10th day of the 1st month the passover lamb was selected. Of course, as a herdsman/shepherd you knew your stock so we had some idea as too which lamb or kid we were going to select. The poor things, they were lambs led to the slaughter across the great divide we called Jordan. Nevertheless this was something we needed to do. Joshua insisted that we remember all that God had done for us, bringing us out of Egypt, away from bondage and slavery where our worth was measured by how many bricks we could produce, bringing us out of another desperate existence, a wilderness where we watched helplessly while our beloved parents perished, never to realise true freedom. Keeping this passover celebration was extremely important for us. It was a clear declaration of gratitude to God. What I learnt in that moment of utter weakness was that our God Jehovah first wants worshippers before He wants workers.

Even though I was in pain, in hind sight I am so glad. I followed Joshua, "Jehovah my Salvation".  What I would see next just confirmed in my heart that God, my God, our God was truly our salvation.

The New Start (2)

We're through, I have managed the trip through a dried up river that only the day before had been over flowing it's banks. Don't ask me the detail all I know is that the water flowing down was cut off at some point about 14 miles upstream at a place called Adam. I was beginning to realise that the God I had been bought up with, the one my forefathers had called God Almighty, Elshadi, was actually more capable than I had given Him credit for. There was something in the fact that this river, that was overflowing had been cut off from Adam. Adam to me was always related to this person in the far reaches of time that had disobeyed God and had caused a whole heap of problems for all mankind down the ages, and yet here I was living through an experience where there seemed to be some kind of sign and connection which said all that has gone before has now ceased and has 'been cut off' . This God, Elshaidi seemed to be making some kind of statement, all your past is forgiven and forgotten, cut off from Adam.

The journey was quite an eventful one. We had just been told 3 days before get all your belongings together and be ready with your bags packed, tent down, camels loaded because we're moving out.

That in it's self was no mean feat, I can tell you. By the time I had got all my livestock together, organised the wife and kids, packed my camels and dismantled my home I am not sure it was all worth it. You see, we had been promised this "promised land" for as long as I could remember. My parents used to talk about it and the word on the street was that God was displeased with us as a community because my parents generation had really messed up and had refused to go any further in the quest for a better life and had even muted the fact that they might be better off if they had never left Egypt.


It was quite amazing when we all had got to the other side of the Jordon river, we were all milling about unsure what to do next when we saw some of our leaders taking stones from  the dry river bed where the priests were standing with the ark and bring them up to where we were standing. There was great excitement as we all knew that a miracle had happened which was why we had crossed over on dry land and we all guessed that Joshua, our leader was about to make an alter, a memorial to remind us and those that would follow, about the great miracle of salvation, the release from our wilderness to our promised land. I really hope that future generations recognise that we all need to be released from our wilderness.


What I realised in that moment was that this God, Elshaidi, was interested in me. I had heard about Him through my parents and my other tribe members but it was just hearsay. I knew I had to check this God out for myself, after all He had kept us alive with manna and quails and now had performed some major feat, drying up the river. Well I had never heard or seen anything like it before.
What I knew was that my life would not be the same again.

The New Start (1)

In Joshua 4:19 sees the Israelites coming out of the Jordon on day 10 of month 1, the begining of the feast of the passover. Passover is the sacrificial lamb being slain. It was eaten by people ready to move, bags packed and shoes on their feet. Exodus 12:11

The passover lamb could have been either a sheep or a goat but had to be without blemish, spotless, the best of the bunch not the worst. Exodus 12:5. The lamb/kid would be kept until day 14 then slaughtered. All the congregation slaughtered their sacrificial offering together at twilight Exodus 12:6. An act done together not as individuals, this is community not individualism.The command of God was to "take some blood and paint the doorposts of your house". The house where they are going to eat the passover was then covered by the blood. It was the blood that saved them just as Christ's blood saves us "one man died for all."

The sacrifice was for the people not for God. We have been covered by the blood of Jesus not so that God could get a kick but that we have a way of escape. Just as the Israelites found that their escape was because of the blood (they had been spared the angel of death).

What must it have been like to witness all the plagues then have this command to prepare this lamb and eat it as if it were your last meal. Tomorrow is a day of the unexpected. If we were part of that group of people at that specific time would we have packed our bags or would we have argued the theology?

They were invited to feast on this lamb/kid from twilight till morning 6pm -12 midnight then discard the remains by burning with fire. There is a sense in which anything offered to God in this way can not be carried over. The offering is for the now not something that we do just so we can gain some kind of acceptance from God. The Israelites had to eat ready to move, their bags packed, sandels on their feet, belt on their waist, staff in their hand. They had to be ready to move out, there may not be another chance. This is not meant to scare us into the kingdom but encourage us to the fact that God wants more, God has more and makes a way available through the Jordon via the cross of calvery, which is always available.

Memorial Stones

Get ready. We are moving out. The interesting thing in this chapter is the fact that if you where not ready you could easily have missed the crossing.

Twelve stones are taken out of the Jordan at the command of Joshua. A sign that we have been raised to new life in Christ. Twelve more stones are erected in the middle of the Jordan river as a sign that our old life has been left behind.

Also what we find is that both sets of stones were erected by Joshua. Jesus is the only one, as the redeemer, who can take our punishment. Our sin was buried once and for all by Christ on the cross. As the river returned to “cover its banks” it buried the stones forever. In the same way the stones carried out of the Jordan were then erected as a memorial on the west bank at a place called Gilgal (Rolling as Israel's previous existence had been rolled away) . A sign that Israel had passed through from the old into the new, a sign that a miracle had taken place and that God had prepared the way but also that the Israelites had been prepared to heed the call and move out, bags packed and every thing ready to go.

That morning they would have gathered the manna for the last time, although they did not know that then. God is gracious in that he keeps certain things from us otherwise we might decide not to go with Him if we knew the outcome.

Are we still prepared to follow "the ark", the dwelling place of God and embark on a "New Start", a fresh experience of God Almighty? There will be a cost and at times it may hurt but the blessings far  out way the costs. Lets go and experience "The New Start."

Conclusion

So to conclude

a)   Where are you now?

b)   Where are you going?

c)    How are you going to get there?

Are you still in the wilderness wandering about picking up quails and manna 6 days a week, experiencing some of Gods blessing for you yet at times wishing that you were back in Egypt where although in slavery you at least knew what you were doing, where eventually you would die and never have been freed.

Or have you made up your mind and set your heart as Caleb to wholly follow the Lord your God, the God who by Grace brought you out of Egypt, kept you and sustained you during those wilderness years and is now calling you on to posses your inheritance, to a land of plenty a place where life is not always predictable but one where God is at the heart of all that you do. It is for His glory and His good pleasure that He chose to sacrifice Himself so that you and I could inherit all that He has for us. To live the victorious life, OK one that will require action on our part but one that brings peace and satisfaction because it is no longer I that live but Christ who lives in me and through me. So I would urge you to listen to the voice of God, keep God in sight, prepare your hearts and minds, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among us.

How are you going to get there

There was a great air of optimism in the camp; the people knew that something was going on. They would have also known that now Moses was dead, (he was the last of the old generation to die) and the fact that God had said Joshua and Caleb would be the only two that had left Egypt who would enter the promised land (Numbers 14:30), that the time to move forward had come. The command from Joshua was carried out in Joshua 3:2 – 6. God has spoken, his will is very clear, and the nation must be ready to obey. I want us to notice what he says first to the officers or the leaders of the congregation in Joshua 1:11 “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan River and take the land the Lord your God is giving you”. And then to the people in Joshua 3:5 "Then Joshua told the people Make yourselves holy, because tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you”, What Joshua is telling the people now before they have crossed the river is that it is important for them to change their mindset, to plan for physical sustenance to keep up their strength, to start thinking about living off the land. In other words prepare our hearts because we will need to be able to listen to the still small voice of God, we need to be in a place in our hearts where we can listen and obey the voice of the one who is calling us to go forward. If we don’t do this then we will miss out on all that God has promised us through His son Jesus. Oh yes we might be saved but will we be victorious, will we overcome?  

Did you know that you have a choice? Lets look back at Joshua 1:10 – 18. We see in this section that Joshua speaks to the 2½ tribes that decided to stay on the east side of the Jordan. He commands them that they are to go with the rest of the congregation as Moses had told them and help them to conquer the Promised Land. We know that about 40000 men crossed prepared for war, my guess is that this was only a small part of the 2½ tribes. These tribes promised Moses that they would fight with their brethren (you can read this account in Numbers 32) These people settled for second best, yes they had been saved from Egypt, they had freely taken of Gods Mercies by way of the quails and the manna for 40 years yet they had really become complacent, in short the 2½ tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe Manasseh represent many borderline believers---people who have a relationship with Christ, who get close to the full, joyful inheritance, who experience some spiritual victory in their lives, but who are determined to go back to the perceived comfort across the Jordan. The land to the east of the Jordan is really still the wilderness. It's a place of indulgence to people for whom the quality of material life is more important than life eternal. Are we going to be like the 2½ tribes or are we going to take control and by Gods grace and mercy move forward in obedience to His word. 

Things will be different in the Promised Land. It won’t necessarily be easy but we need to go forward knowing that God goes in front of us (Joshua 3:3 – 5). If we are to conquer enemies, our own struggles with fleshly rebellion and sin, our own resistance to what God wants, the enemies out there that oppose us, the world system, and satanic evil itself; and if we're going to claim our inheritance in Christ, we must have courage and strength. Ephesians 6:10-11 and Ephesians 6:17-18 tells us the source of that kind of courage and strength: "...Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armour of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil...And take...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints...." We're called to warfare, but not in our own strength, not based on our own courage, and not in isolation. We live in community, so we are to pray for one another and with one another, to encourage one another. We need to remember that it is not only our battle, that of fighting sin and the evils of this world, it is God's as well. We are His workmanship equipped and enabled by Him through our obedience to His word both spoken and written.

Let us look at what happened through the obedience of these people who adhered to the word of God. We know that the waters of the Jordan were overflowing their banks Joshua 3:15 yet as soon as the feet of the priests touched the water the river stopped flowing from a place called Adam some 15 miles up river. God dealt with sin at its root He bleed and died on the cross in order to cut out the problem of sin right back to Adam. Romans 5:18 – 19 “So as one sin of Adam brought the punishment of death to all people, one good act that Christ did makes all people right with God. And that brings true life for all. One man disobeyed God, and many became sinners. In the same way one man obeyed God, and many will be made right”. It is only when we recognise that God means what He says and when we are prepared to follow the Lord our God wholly as Joshua and Caleb did will we see and taste of the abundant blessings that God wants to bestow upon us by His Mercy.

Where are you going?

You will remember the original call of God to Moses when He appeared to him from the burning bush at the backside of the desert, while he was tending the flocks of his Father-in-law Jethro. Let us remind ourselves of the words that God spoke to Moses. Exodus 3:7–10. God said "I have seen", "I have heard", so "I have come down". What a great God we have, a God who sees and hears and acts. God said "I will bring them up from the land of oppression a land of continual struggle, a land of slavery and bondage and of going round in circles, to a land that is free and flowing with milk and honey a land of plenty, a land of freedom and space."

This land is the Promised Land that God wants you and I to possess by Faith. He will equip and enable us to do this because He is Faithful who fulfills His promises.

As you know it wasn’t as straight forward as all that. The Egyptians were not going to let their slaves go that easily. God fulfilled His promise because Moses was obedient to the word of God. Each one of us needs to hear and then to act on Gods word to us individually, in our churches and in our communities. The command of God to move forward came form Joshua to the officers of the camp. Let's look at how Joshua motivates this vast number of people. (Joshua 1:10–18) Joshua calls together the leaders of the nation to give them a command, not to ask their advice. This is significant. Moses had organised the leaders of the nation. Back in Deuteronomy 1:15 in his farewell address to the nation, Moses said to the people, "So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and appointed them heads over you, leaders of thousands, and of hundreds, of fifties and of tens, and officers for your tribes." Moses organised the nation this way so that he could communicate quickly with the people through the officers. But here Joshua assembles the leaders to give them God's orders. There are times when spiritual leaders must consult with the people they lead, whether it's in the home arena, in Christian ministry or service, or in the life of the church, to build consensus. But this isn't one of those times. 

We eventually get to the point, where after countless events from Egypt to the edge of the Jordan the people are prepared to listen and act upon the word of God. Joshua 1:11 is a key verse here as it requires action on our part. The officers have been dispatched to communicate a message from Joshua "Prepare yourselves", "in three days we will move". The reply from the people to this message can be found in Joshua 1:16 "All you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go." Jesus said, on many occasions "come and follow me", "leave all". Jesus calls us to a higher place, a place where we can find provision, plenty and contentment in Him who is in the Father.


I hope that you and I are among those people who are listening to the voice of God and are waiting for the command to move forward. Yes, it may be unknown territory and we may not know what awaits us, the Israelites certainly didn't, but the real issue is are you and I prepared to go or are we going to hang around on the edge an wait to see what happens. If you hang around the edge I guarantee you will be left behind. Do you have that expectancy that what is ahead is going to be better than where I am at , in a desert eating 'wotsits' (manna literally means what is it) and quails. What a diet! God has got more in the land of plenty. He doesn't promise it will be easy and there will be battles, some we win and some we lose, but what He does promise is a life fulfilled and a reward beyond compare.
We have now arrived at Joshua 3 that leads us onto our third point.

Where are you

Joshua is one of the most fascinating books of the Bible. On one level it relates the historical account of an ancient Hebrew leader and the people God called him to lead into the Promised Land. But on another level it's a personal story of promise and of great expectations that God has for each one of us. God calls each of us as individuals yet as a corporate group of believers, to enter the land, to claim a life of adventure lived by faith, experiencing spiritual victory.

I want us to consider Joshua 3 under the following three headings: -

1. Where are they (the Israelites) now?
2. Where are they (the Israelites) going?
3. How are they (the Israelites) going to get there?

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

The Israelites are still in the wilderness where they have been for 40 years wandering around, living off the provisions that God has Mercifully provided for them in the form of quails and manna. They are in this place because of disobedience. Remember, forty years before at Kadesh-Barnea in an event recorded in Numbers 13:25-29 where the nation were presented with a report full of hope and a clear indication what was the will of God. They were promised a land of plenty, but they refused to obey it. Why did they refuse?  mainly because they made a choice to believe the majority report of the ten spies Numbers 13:31-33 instead of believing the minority report of Joshua and Caleb Numbers 13:30. God's command was to enter the land and possess it, to obey by faith. If they had listened to Joshua and Caleb's minority report, they would have spared themselves those difficult years of wandering in the wilderness. 
If we read on a little in Numbers 14:11-12  we find that it appears that God has had enough, (that's a scary thought!)  but was persuaded by Moses to persevere Numbers 14:13-19 , (Oh for godly leaders like Moses, people who are prepared to intercede on behalf of us all). We read that God listened Numbers 14:20 but gave the command that all of that generation should die in the wilderness and would not posses the inheritance that God had promised, except for two men Joshua and Caleb, of whom it says in Numbers 14:24 “But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and he has followed Me fully. I will bring him into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it”.

We are beginning to see here in Joshua 3: that this passage is not just about a group of people who are preparing to move forward it is also about individual people catching the vision of the power of God by Faith, which had, 40 years earlier, cost them a passage into a land of plenty. We now find, 40 years on, that the individuals have a common goal, that of moving forward to posses all that God has got for them. Not by sight or report but by Faith and the word of God to the man Joshua who had kept the vision alive for 40 years.

So you see that God is a God of Mercy in that He goes on giving even when we fail. His Grace is something we don’t deserve we are given new life because God loves us. His Mercies are new every morning because God's heart is a giving heart and He will give and give and give again out of the abundance of His love for you and me. God requires obedience from you and I, we will never realise the full potential of our inheritance if we refuse to stay on familiar ground. Faith requires action James 2:20 “You foolish person! Must you be shown that faith that does nothing is worth nothing?”.

So where are you now? Are you still living in the past, 40 years previous, or do you realise that the time has come for us to move together, to cross a flooded river to find God and all that He has for us. This is a corporate, together plan, not an individual mission for my own salvation. This is US moving together to encourage each other.