Chapter 8
Step Into the Water
The Reading: Joshua 3
The Problem:
Israel had been wandering around in circles for 40 years. Years before, their fathers had come up to the edge of the Promised Land, but failed to enter (Numbers 13). The window of opportunity was there, but they refused to move forward because of fear and a lack of faith and trust in God. Now a new generation, led by Joshua, had been given the same opportunity.
Up until this time, they had been nomads wandering around in the wilderness. Their only food supply was the manna that fell from heaven. A pillar of cloud had led them by day and a pillar of fire by night. For 40 years, they had been eating the same meal and following the same routine every day, day after day and night after night. But now they had come to a place in their lives when God said: “It’s time for a change, and you are going to move on to your new home.”
However, it was springtime, the time of the barley harvest, when the waters of Jordan River were at their peak. The snow was melting off the mountains into the river, and the spring rains were pouring down. The river was raging at its highest point. It was about a mile wide and impossible to cross. The Israelites must have looked at the tree logs and branches bobbing up and down in the rapids and said, “There is no way we can cross that. How are we going to enter Canaan Land, let alone conquer it?” God wanted them to thoroughly understand that they could not do it without Him. It was utterly impossible.
So first they camped by the river for three days before proceeding. No doubt, while some people thought crossing the Jordan would be impossible, others must have been impatient to keep moving forward. I wonder if they questioned Joshua about why God hadn’t bring them to the edge of the Jordan a few months earlier or a few months later, when the waters wouldn’t have been so high. But surely they remembered how the nation had been in a similar impossible situation at the edge of the Red Sea, but God had delivered them from the Egyptians. Their fathers had seen that happen firsthand, and had told the story many times.
The Turning Point:
Over those three days, the leaders went through the camp and gave the people three important directives. Obeying these instructions were crucial for the success of their mission.
- “Keep your eyes on the Ark of the Covenant and follow it, but stay back about ½ mile.” The Ark was a simple wooden chest 45” long, 27” inches wide and 27” tall, overlaid with gold. On the lid was a golden Cherub on each end bowing toward the center, which was the Mercy Seat. The Mercy Seat was the place of God’s manifest presence. So this Ark represented the presence of God among His people, and the people were to keep their eyes on the movement of God’s presence and follow that.
- Sanctify yourselves. This is exactly what God is calling on all of His people to do around the world. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
This verse has two sides to it. One side tells us what God will do, “ … for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." The other side is what you must do to position yourself for what God is about to do, “Sanctify yourselves….” Will you be ready for what God is about to do?
The readiness is primarily about your spiritual condition. Separate yourself from evil and consecrate yourself to God. We do this by confessing our sins to God, resisting the devil, and drawing closer to the Lord. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
- Step into the water. This directive was for the priests first. The waters were still at a dangerous level, the river was a mile wide, the rapids were rushing downstream – nothing had changed in the past three days. But the Lord wanted them to step boldly into the water while carrying the precious Ark of the Covenant.
In addition, it was extremely important that every eye stay focused on the Ark, because they hadn’t been this way before and that’s how they would know where to go. There were about three million people, so if they crowded too close to the Ark, only a few would be able to see it. The required distance made the Ark visible to everyone.
The priests were the first to enter the danger zone and the last to leave it. As they stood there in the middle of Jordan, their faith was tested and exercised. But the people’s faith was also tested. They could see the huge wall of water, knowing in the natural that was completely impossible. To have the courage to step into the Jordan River, even though the land beneath their feet had dried up, they had to trust that God would continue to hold back the water.
The Miracle That Followed:
God stopped the flow of the water and it rose up in a heap. But water was still flowing over the priest’s feet as they moved forward, although the depth was steadily diminishing. Eventually the ground beneath their feet was drying up as the priests made their way toward the middle of Jordan.
The priests stood their ground there in the middle of the Jordan River, while three million people crossed over on the dry land. Imagine how long that must have taken for all those people to cross. I wonder if the priests’ shoulders ached from holding the Ark for such a long time.
The Bottom Line:
All of the preparation in the world would not have gotten the Israelites across the river. It took stepping out in faith and walking across to get to the other side. And it still takes faith today to move into the unknown, especially when all you see is a flooded river. Faith means that you are not only willing to step into the waters believing God for a miracle, but you are able to persevere as well. You must be able to stand your ground until the task is fully done. You must never break rank.
The crossing of the Jordan remains a model of how to enter new territory as a child of God - just follow His lead. It is Jesus Christ who goes before us and it’s as we follow Him that we begin to see. In fact, we are to follow the presence of God for precisely the same reason Israel was to follow the Ark of the Covenant — we have not been this way before and we do not know the way to go (3:4). Jesus said it this way: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
