PODCAST
Crossing Over
September 27, 2026 | Brandon CooperBrandon discusses how trusting God is easy to talk about but hard to actually do, especially when you are standing at the edge of something impossible. In Joshua 3, God carefully prepares His people to trust Him before asking them to take a single step into a flooded, raging river. He moves them through three stages: preparation, understanding, and seeing. At the heart of it all are two questions that conquer fear. Is God able? And is God good? The crossing of the Jordan points forward to an even greater act of faithfulness. Jesus, the true Ark of the Covenant, went ahead of us, crossed over first, and made a way for us to follow. God does not promise that every impossible situation will resolve the way we hope, but He does promise His presence. And His presence is enough.
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TRANSCRIPT_______________________________________________+
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Good morning, church. You can go ahead and grab your Bibles. Open up to Joshua, chapter three. Joshua, Chapter three, as we continue in our series in Joshua today. As you’re turning there, if you’re a history buff, you may know General Pope, Union General in the American Civil War, who was famously incompetent.
At one point, he basically marched his troops around in circles effectively, and they, as a result, ended up out marching their supplies so that by the time they arrived at the battlefield, they were already exhausted and hungry. And the officers under Pope were confused and nervous. So when they faced the famously competent Confederate general Stonewall Jackson, they were expecting the worst and knew that they had every right to expect the worst.
Now, consider Israel, because at this moment, of course, they’ve been marching in circles effectively for 40 years, living off manna and not much else. Their illustrious leader is dead Moses, and they now have this unproven replacement, Joshua, over them. And you can imagine they stand on the brink of the Promised Land, exhausted, hungry, nervous, confused, maybe even doubting. Why would they trust Joshua to lead them into the Promised Land? For that matter, why would they trust God?
Why would any of us trust God really, at any moment? Well, in today’s story, we’re going to see why. Because God is going to give Israel every reason to trust him. And Joshua, his servant, he’s going to give them encouragement to go on and to go into the Promised Land. It’s a slow process.
It’s interesting here in Joshua 3, Joshua 4, which we’ll get to next week, the narrative slows to a crawl. This is the longest, most important scene in the book, which may surprise you. Most of us. You go, what’s the most important scene in Joshua? And you would all answer, Jericho.
Yep. And that one’s important. It’s a long narrative as well, but this is the longest, most important part of the book. In fact, when you look at later Israelite writers, they point back to this moment when they crossed the Jordan river and not to Jericho. It’s memorialized in Israel’s history.
Here is the prophet Micah, for example, speaking to encourage his generation to go on trusting God. And he says this. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord. Shittim is where they are. Gilgal is where they’ll be at the end of chapter four.
So, like, this is the story that we’re talking about. And here you’ve got a later prophet going. You remember. Do you remember that? Like, that’s how important this is.
So God Takes his time in telling this story so that his people and we today might know and trust him. So we’ve got three stages on the way to trust and on the way across the Jordan River. These three stages are a little bit like first time patient in a dentist’s office. You know, picture a little kid or something like that. And they’re freaking out because, you know, it’s the dentist and whatnot.
What does the dentist do? How does the dentist help them get settled in? First stage of just kind of preparation, right? Like take deep breaths here. Mom and dad are probably helping out in this process.
And then the second stage is understanding. That’s where the dentist will start showing the tools. Like you met Mr. Thirsty before. He’s just gonna all the saliva out and then he’s got the, you know that little hook thing. And he touches your finger and it’s sharp, right?
And you’re like, yeah, why are you showing me this? And they’re like, but then we do it on your fingernail. Do you feel that? No. See?
Okay. Okay, I got understanding now. I know these tools are going to be used for. And then ultimately they’re going to see the dentist is going to do a little bit and they’re going to go, okay, that wasn’t that bad. I think I can do this.
I’m ready now. At this point, you notice they don’t show the drill that first time, do they? Right? But the kid’s like, I can do this. Leans back, you know, chair goes back.
You’re watching Bluey on the TV on the ceiling. It’s great stuff. So that’s what the Lord is doing for his people here. So stage one then, as we dig in, stage one, preparing. Preparing God’s people to enter in.
This is Joshua, chapter three. Let me read verses one to six for us.
Early in the morning, Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan where they camped before crossing over. After three days, the officers went throughout the camp giving orders to the people. When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the litical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about 2000 cubits between you and the ark.
Do not go near it. Joshua told the people, consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you. Joshua said to the priests, take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people. So they took it up and went ahead of them. You notice it’s early in the morning, first thing.
This is the people that is ready to go. They’ve been waiting for a while and they’re going to set out from Shittim. As I mentioned, they’ve actually been in this camp since numbers 22. So long time since they arrived in this camp. They’ve taken a second census.
They’ve gotten extensive instructions and have been preparing themselves to go in. And Moses, before he died, preached a series of sermons to them that has come to us as the book of Deuteronomy. Now they’re there for this long time because it’s a strategic place to camp right near the Jordan river so they could get there quickly. When the Lord finally says, it’s time, let’s go, they’re right there. So the whole nation is like first time expectant parents at this point.
You know, you’re coming up on nine months and you’ve got the go bags packed. That changes, by the way. But I can speak from experience here. By the fifth one, you don’t pack a bag, okay, until the baby crowns and then you’re like, we should think about this now. But first time they’ve had the bags packed since like month three.
Set to go. The keys are right there on the table. You don’t need to look for them. If, you know labor happened in the middle of the night kind of thing. The car is parked facing out so that they can get to the hospital as quickly as possible.
At which point they’ll hear it’s false labor and they should come back later. Because that’s how it also works your first time out. But like, that’s where Israel is. They’ve been waiting for 40 years for baby to arrive and they are ready to go. So the first part of preparation that they get here then is just simple instructions.
The officers go throughout the camp. We met them back in chapter one. Here we know why they got appointed so that they can pass along instructions to the people. They’re giving orders. You notice they’re giving orders about the ark in particular.
If you were here with us last year when we did our Exodus series, you know a lot about the ark. If you weren’t just kind of a brief synopsis here. First of all, if you are picturing Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, that’s it. That’s what we’re talking about. Okay, so it’s the gold box, got the angels on top kind of doing this.
It’s was constructed at the same time that the tabernacle was constructed. And it’s important. I mean, in many ways, this is the holiest object on earth at this time, which is why it is then placed in the holiest place on earth, the most holy place in the tabernacle, right there. And it is seen as God’s very throne. Like, this is where God speaks when he speaks to his people.
We saw in Exodus. Within it are the tablets of the covenant that Moses brings down off Sinai. There’s an omer of manna, so that they remember the Lord’s provision while they were in the desert, and Aaron’s staff that budded to show the Aaronic priesthood. So the Ark’s got all of these ideas associated with it, and a few of them we would probably think of, but maybe not one of them. So three in particular I want to highlight.
First of all, there’s a military association, and that’s the one we wouldn’t necessarily think of. We picture, you know, the religious, the cultic association. But no, there’s a military one. The ark went into battle. In fact, that’s how the Israelites lost the ark for a time, because they lost the battle under the priesthood of Eli because of their sin and rebellion.
But the ark goes first as this reminder that it is God, Yahweh, who leads them into battle, and it is Yahweh who gives the victory. Of course, there is the legal association. It’s got the covenant, the laws within it strongly associated with Sinai. Moses gets the information about how to construct the ark when he’s up on top of the mountain. So, like, yes, this is the law of God.
And then, of course, there is that religious association. The ark is the mercy seat. And this is again where God sits. But it’s also where atonement happens. And so on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, which was last Sunday, by the way, is when it was celebrated this year on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, the day of atonement, the holiest person on earth, the high priest, walked into the holiest place, the most holy place, and there sprinkled blood on that holiest of objects.
The Ark of the covenant made atonement for the sins of the people so they could be forgiven. This is what the Israelites would be thinking about when they saw that gold box and what God is reminding them of here. This is God’s conquest under God’s command because of God’s covenant with his people. So the Ark goes first because God goes first. And this really is God going first.
If you were to drop down to verse 11, which we’ll get to in a moment, and you can see the ark’s mentioned again. It says, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth. And that’s a perfectly valid translation. It’s just not actually what it says. It says, the ark of the covenant, the Lord of all the earth.
Yeah, picture like EM dashes or something on either side. Like, there goes the ark. You know that’s God, right? Like, if the ark is going, God’s sitting there. Like, that’s how strongly associated God is with the ark.
Wouldn’t that strengthen weak hearts to see, like, okay, God is moving. That’s God who’s out in front of us. We would be more than willing to follow, which is exactly what they do. Although they are to keep a distance of about a thousand yards. Now, why do they need to keep a distance?
It’s interesting. The Hebrew is often clunky. The Hebrew is clunky here. And so the esv, the English standard version, preserves the word order in a way that the NIV doesn’t. What we preach from here, the niv.
NIV is perfectly valid translation. But here’s the esv, just so you can see it. It says this. Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits 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.
So you can see a huge part of a distance. It is just very practical, like, keep it out in front so that you’re going, oh, okay, we’re supposed to turn right up here because I saw the ark turn right up here. Nice and practical, although surely spiritual, too. So there’s a practical idea, but there’s a spiritual idea. And that’s what the NIV brings out in particular.
We get echoes of Sinai again, of course, when Moses is receiving the instructions for the ark and all the rest of it, you know, he’s telling the people, like, don’t come near the mountain. Don’t let your animals come near them. You can’t near the mountain. Like, you’re going to die. Because we’re talking about the holiness of God.
Like, God is present. So, yeah, you’re going to want to maintain a distance. You don’t want to stumble in the crossing and accidentally touch the ark. That doesn’t go well for people. If you’ve ever read the story of Uzzah, you would know that and then we get the final step in preparation.
There in verse five, when Joshua tells the people to consecrate themselves. Echoes of Sinai again. They consecrated themselves before the Lord came down to speak to Moses. And the people we know, looking at the Old Testament, what this would look like, consecrating yourself. So it would involve the confession of sins, ritual purification, you know, washing clothes, all that kind of stuff.
Abstinence from sexual relations. The idea is clear, like, get yourselves ready, because God is about to show up. It’s almost like Joshua is saying, here, take your shoes off now, because the ground you’re standing on is going to be holy soon. That’s the idea. But why all this fuss and why this long lead in?
It’s because Israel needs to be ready to see and to understand what God is about to do. Because it’s so easy to miss the significance of God moments, you know, picture a group of middle school students on a field trip to a war memorial. You know, 9, 11 was not that long ago. Maybe they’re there at ground zero in New York City, and the teacher’s kind of looking out at the middle school students going, I know what these students are like. They’re unruly frequently.
They’re loud, they’re obnoxious. And that’s not gonna be okay in this moment. There are gonna be people there who are grieving. It’s gonna be a somber place. And so the teachers are gonna pull the students aside and be like, hey, like, I need you to know what we’re about to see so that there’s a sobriety about it.
And that’s what Joshua is doing here. What an important word for us this morning.
How do you prepare for public worship? Like, what we’re doing in this moment now, we might not see the amazing things that Joshua talks about there in verse five. Amazing things is the Hebrew word for miracles. Wonders is how it’s normally translated. Yeah, that might not happen here this morning, but God is speaking to us in this time.
The Lord inhabits the praises of his people. We just sang to him. He is here. And of course, he indwells his people by his spirit. Like, we are on hallowed ground.
The living God is among us. Do you see him? Do you hear him? I wonder sometimes in these moments when people are a little unimpressed with the service, you reach that point where your phone comes out. Let me just make sure I got my fantasy football lineup set.
Let me jot down those couple things. I know I need to get at the grocery store on the way home today if that isn’t happening, because you didn’t prepare your heart for what’s coming. That’s why we start our services the way we start them here, which I realize some of you have never seen because you come a little bit late. But we start with silence because we’re thinking, look, we’re expecting the holy to arrive, the sacred to break in. In this moment, and we need to prepare ourselves for that.
Even in your daily lives, though, this isn’t just for public worship. This is for all day, every day. Have you gotten yourself every morning, do you get yourself ready for. For God to move so you can see him and hear him and make the most of every opportunity that he might bring your way?
The people are prepped to see God. This is like the dentist, you know, explaining the value of regular checkups. Got to come in every six months. And so what happens next? The dentist will turn to the hygienist and say, okay, can you hand me the.
And that’s what Joshua does. He turns to the hygienist, he turns to the priests, verse 6, and says, take up the ark. It’s go time. It is interesting that the priests are the ones carrying it. We see here in verse six.
And the command was there in verse three. It’s not normally the priests who carry the ark. It’s the Levites. The priests are Levites. You know, all priests are Levites.
Not all Levites are priests, though. So this is like the special group that’s actually doing it. And it shows the special importance of this moment. It’s a little bit like if the CEO of a major company takes the elevator down to the ground floor of the building and holds the door open. You’re thinking, okay, this is an important client that’s coming in.
If the CEO is doing. That’s what’s happening with the priests carrying the ark in this moment. They took it up and they went ahead and we all like, here comes, here’s the miracle, here’s the wonder, here’s the amazing thing, except not yet, still not ready. So let’s look at stage two of getting ready, which is understanding. Let me keep reading for us.
Verses 7 to 13. And the Lord said to Joshua, today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel so they may know that I am with you, as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant, when you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river. Joshua said to the Israelites, come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. This is how you will know that the Lord living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites.
See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. Now then, choose 12 men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and and stand up in a heap. So people have gotten ready. They’re packed, ready to move.
They’ve got their instructions, they’ve consecrated themselves. But they still need to know why God is about to do what he’s about to do. So they’re ready to see God move, but they’re not ready to understand what they’re seeing. And that’s why the action pauses here. They need to know.
In fact, they need to know that this is about to happen so that they know God is trying to teach them something. Here the word know is really important. Shows up three times in our section here. Last one was in previous section, right there in verse four. The first occurrence that you may know which way to go.
Okay, like I said, nice and practical. Second occurrence of no shows up here in verse seven. Are we going to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses? So they need to know that Joshua is God’s man and that God will be with Joshua like he was with Moses. God’s going to leave them in no doubt about that.
And so they won’t have any doubts as they follow Joshua, who’s following the Lord. And what sets Joshua apart as the leader? His education? His experience? His effectiveness as a communicator?
Nope. It’s God’s presence. God’s presence is the distinguishing mark of God’s leaders. It is the essential qualification even today for church leaders. When you read about the qualifications for an elder in places like one Timothy and Titus, I mean, really, the question is, is God with him?
Which is why the qualifications are all about character more so than competence. It doesn’t say, does he have an M. Div? No, it says, is he gentle? Is he forbearing? Is he pugnating?
We need to know about this. Why? Because the presence of God manifests in character. That’s why they call it the fruit of the spirit, the spirit’s presence. That changes us, of course.
And then God tells Joshua to talk to the priests, which means he really is stepping into Moses role, because Moses was a mediator. Now Joshua is a mediator. He says, go stand in the river. Doesn’t tell us why yet. We have no idea what this whole river thing is about.
We’re gonna have to wait a little while. He’s building suspense, our narrator. And then in verse nine, Joshua steps not into the mediator’s role, but into the prophet’s role. He’s got a prophetic role. I mean, verse nine, come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.
And this is the equivalent of a prophet going, thus saith the Lord. So Joshua is now speaking for God. And what does he tell the people? It’s our third use of the word know. In verse 11.
Sorry, verse 10. This is how you will know. This is how you will know that the living God is with you. The living God is among you. And if the living God is with you, victory is assured.
Now, that name, the living God, sets God apart from all of the false gods, the not living, the dead gods of the seven peoples that are listed there in verse 11. How do you know? Like, how do you know that our God is going to drive them out? Well, because God is real and these gods are not. Show the blood.
And this is what David says. As the armies of the Lord are cowering before Goliath and little pipsqueak David shows up and goes, like, what is happening here? He asked the Israelites this. 1st Samuel 17:26. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? You understand what David is saying?
Goliath’s God isn’t real. He can’t help him, can’t rescue him, our God Israel. And so, of course, he can rescue us. So why are y’ all so afraid?
It’s a good question. Why are you afraid today? I mean, what do you fear?
Death?
Our God is the living God. He is the resurrection and the life. Our resurrection is already assured because we have Jesus as the first fruits of it. Now, we shouldn’t give death a moment’s thought. I mean, uncertainty the future.
I mean, sure, but we know the God who knows the future, right? We have nothing to fear if we have a living God. They have no reason to fear because the Ark of the Covenant, the Lord of all the earth, is going before and going with them. That’s all they needed to know. That’s all we need to know.
And what do you need to know to conquer whatever fear you have this morning? Kyle already told us. Already? Read it for us from Psalm 62, 11 and 12. One thing God has spoken.
Two things have I heard. Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love. Only two questions we need an answer to if we’re going to conquer fear. Is God able? And is God good?
Is God able? I mean, he’s the Lord of all the earth. He’s the living God who works wonders, does amazing things among his people. Yeah, he’s able, he’s strong, he’s powerful. Is God good?
I mean, look at the Ark of the Covenant. He makes covenants with his people by grace. He provides a way for them to be brought back into right relationship with him. He makes promises and keeps promises. Yes, he is good, our God, strong and loving.
No reason to fear. Then verse 12. Choose 12 men, one from each tribe. And that’s it. No explanation.
We don’t even know what they were chosen for yet. Anyway, I always like this scene. It’s a little bit like in the Two Towers when Gandalf early on says, look to my coming the first light of the fifth day at dawn, look to the east. And then like an hour and a half goes by and no one remembers that Gandalf is a character in this book. So I had this illustration well in hand actually a long, long time ago and coincidentally watched the end of that movie last night with one of my daughters introducing it to her for the first time.
And when Gandalf showed up, do you know what she said? Oh, I totally forgot he said that. And so you all are gonna forget until next week when you’ll be like, oh, There are the 12 dudes. I knew it. Okay, they’re coming back.
They’re coming back and they are important. But onto the priests at this point, Joshua says, you’re gonna go step into the water and immediately when your feet hit the water, the Jordan will stop flowing. Well, upstream of us, those waters will stand up in a heap. What do you think? Are we ready now?
I hope so, because we’re on a stage three. Seeing here is the amazing thing. Here is the miracle itself. Verses 14 to 17. So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them.
Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan, their feet touched the water’s edge. The water from upstream stopped flowing piled up in a heap a great distance away at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethon. While the water flowing down to the sea of the Arabah, that is the Dead Sea, was completely cut off, so the people crossed over opposite Jericho. A priest who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground ground.
So as the priests get moving, we get this parenthetical Note in verse 15. Oh, by the way, the Jordan’s at flood stage at this point.
And many of you are probably asking the question in your minds right now that one of my daughters asked as we read this passage together as a family this week. So how big is the Jordan when it’s at flood stage? Like, help me out here. I don’t know what to picture in my head. The Jordan is in this area, about 90 to 100ft across, as shallow as 3ft in some places, as deep as 12 in others.
When not at flood stage, by the way, in this section, it also drops about 700ft, so you can imagine what that does at flood stage. If you are picturing a placid river, you have got the wrong image in your head. This would be a raging torrent, perhaps up to a mile wide, covering uneven terrain and tangled brush. If you’re old enough to have played the Oregon Trail, if you’re not old enough, you’re just missing out, okay? Like, TikTok has nothing on it.
If you played the Oregon Trail, you know, you had two things to fear, dysentery and crossing rivers. Here’s the crossing rivers one you watch Little House on the Prairie. You’ve all been traumatized when Jack gets lost, right? It’s the same idea, only so much worse. Do you know how hard it is to cross the Jordan river at flood time?
It’s so hard that it’s the kind of thing that if you did it, people would remember you for it. Throughout the Old Testament, especially around the time of David, we get these lists of these mighty men who do these mighty exploits for God. And so it’s like one of them’s fighting, like, a thousand people. Another one, you know, takes out Goliath’s older, taller, meaner brother. Another one.
It goes down into a pit to fight a lion. It’s not like the lion attacks him. He’s like, oh, there’s a line down there. We should try this. Like, okay, so these are the sorts of people we’re talking about here.
These are the elite of the elite. These are the Rangers. Here’s first Chronicles 12, 14 and 15. Let’s meet some of these mighty men of God. These gadites were army commanders.
The least was a match for 100 and the greatest for a thousand. It was they who crossed the Jordan in the first month when it was overflowing all its banks. Wait, you crossed the Jordan during flood time? We got to write this down. Only we’re not talking about the Rangers here.
We’re not talking about green berets. We’re talking about kids. We’re talking about newborns, we’re talking about the elderly. Oh, and all your stuff also because you know the nation’s moving in at this point. There is no hope of getting across this river.
So now maybe some of you are asking the question that I very definitely am asking.
Why after 40 years and they’ve been camping at Shittim since number 22, why does God have them cross now? Like what’s 40.3 years? A rounding error? Can we not just wait a couple of months? But that is just like God.
Over and over again in scripture we see this. The Lord loves to put us in impossible situations so that we will know who he is and what he can do so that we will know that he is able when we are not. There’s nothing like being thrust into an impossible situation to cure your self reliance so that you learn to trust in him and as a result then give him all the glory when you come through. I mean God, we saw this already. God intentionally leads his people into a trap at the Red Sea so that he could prove himself to that nation as they cross the Red Sea on dry ground.
Will he do so again? That’s the question. Certainly feeling expectant here, but notice the priests have to obey first. Like they could still be swept away at this point. They’re going based on the bare word of God.
You can kind of imagine their panic. Whoever’s going in front here going, alright, I’m not sure what I’m stepping into. I don’t even know what’s underneath this. I don’t know what the current is going to feel like. And yet they do it.
How often is that true of us where we need to step out in faithful obedience without knowing if God will come through.
Like sometimes you just have to initiate the evangelistic conversation, trusting that then the Spirit will give you the words you need to say. I think about a number of friends of mine who’ve left a lucrative profession to head out on the Mission field. And there’s that moment where they have to stop making money so that they can take the time to fundraise. And so, like, what’s happening in the meantime? Will the Lord provide or not?
There are families even here in this room who have said, we will open our home as we serve with safe families and bring somebody in who needs it for a little while. Not knowing how it’s going to go, not knowing what’s going to get broken.
But faith is rewarded. God loves to reward humble steps of faithful obedience. And God comes through. He comes through here. As soon as their feet hit the water, the Jordan river stops, stands up in a heap, and they cross on dry ground.
You can’t miss. The Exodus echoes here, of course. They cross over on dry ground just like their parents did at the Red Sea crossing. And even the way it’s phrased, the water’s going to stand up in a heap. Kind of a weird way to talk about water.
Joshua knows what he’s doing. He’s just quoting Moses. Here’s Exodus 15, verse 8. This is part of the song of Moses. The waters piled up.
The surging waters stood up like a wall. Same word as heap in the Hebrew. Why is it a wall? Because that’s kind of what it would have looked like as they were going through the Red Sea. Whereas now the Jordan river, since it’s way up there, would pile up like a heap.
But it’s the exact same word. You can’t miss the point. What happened then is happening now. What happened there is happening here. The God who delivered his people out of Egypt will deliver them into the Promised Land.
Only that last generation didn’t go on trusting, did they? They doubted they couldn’t enter the Promised Land. They didn’t get to cross the Jordan on dry ground. Will that happen again, too? Will this generation trust God or doubt?
That’s a question we’re going to have to have in mind as we keep reading, including even next week. But for now, at least, no doubt. Israel sees God’s goodness and power, his strength and love, even in extreme circumstances. And it’s like that kid leaning back at the dentist’s office. There is trust.
So there is a lesson for us here today. And this is the big idea. God will make a way.
Ah, but that’s not good enough. That’s not really the big idea, is it? That’s not nearly enough, because that confuses us, as if the important part of this is just the amazing thing in the crossing the Jordan River. That’s not it. At all it’s the repetition of that word.
You want the big idea? It’s this. God will make a way for us to know him as he truly is so that we trust and follow Him. Because like Israel, we will face challenging and sometimes even impossible situations where we have no earthly assurance that it will turn out well.
But God reveals Himself so that we will know him and then proves Himself so that we will trust him, so that we will understand and see. And can I tell you, that would be true even if God never did. Another miracle, another wonder, another amazing thing like this, until Christ’s return. Because God has already proven himself, revealed Himself supremely at the cross of Jesus Christ, we have all the information we need already. We can still see the Ark up ahead of us.
Only now it’s not a gold plated box, but it is Jesus Christ himself. As we learned in our Exodus series, Jesus is actually the mercy seat because he is the place of our atonement, where blood is shed and our forgiveness is one. Don’t take my word for it. This is Paul. In Romans 3:25, God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith.
That phrase, sacrifice of atonement here in the NIV translates the Greek word, that translates the Hebrew word for the mercy seat. Jesus is the Ark. Which means we need to make sure we’ve got a good vantage point so that we can see Jesus. Hey, even better news, we don’t have to stay a thousand years back, 1,000 yards back, right by the blood of Christ, we can draw near, we can be right next to him to make sure that we can see Jesus fixing our eyes on the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, the one who crossed over ahead of us and made a way for us to cross over also, by the way, that certainly answers our big questions, doesn’t it? Is he good?
Is he able? Well, let’s look at the cross. He is good enough. He is loving enough to send his son to die for us while we are still in rebellion against Him. God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners.
Christ died for us. Yeah, he’s good, but is he able? Well, he’s good enough to die for us. He was strong enough to walk out of that tomb three days later to win our resurrection as well. Yeah, he’s able.
God will make God has made a way for us to know him, see him, trust him, follow Him. So what does that look like? Just as we close here, I want to speak To a few different groups. First of all, to those of you who are still questioning Jesus, skeptical. And especially to those of you who are skeptical, going, like, I’ve heard this stuff, I’m not so sure.
Convince me. The verse you need to have in your mind is verse 10. This is how you will know that the living God is among you. God has proven himself. No reason for skepticism.
We have all the evidence we need. God does not call you or anyone to blind faith. He has given us the evidence supremely in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So examine the evidence, prepare yourself to see and understand. You got questions about that, come talk to me.
I would be so happy to have that conversation. Next group. Those of us who aren’t skeptical, those of us who believe, those of us who are going, yes, Jesus, living God, all that stuff. Think what God did for Israel. What he does here is he takes care of the hard stuff first so that they’ll know, so that they’ll trust.
Like he took care of Egypt. That’s the superpower at this time. The mighty hand and outstretched arm and then the Red Sea and then there’s the manna. Now there’s the river. You’re going, look, if he can do that, then he can take care of the rest of this stuff.
Like is there any reason to think, is there, you know, crossing the Jordan that he couldn’t handle the Perizzites? Or when the water’s standing up in a wall that he couldn’t handle the walls of Jericho? Don’t want to steal my thunder from a couple weeks from now, but yeah, the walls of Jericho, not a problem for him. Not a problem at all. Okay, has anything changed?
No. God’s taken care of the hard stuff already. He defeated sin and death and Satan on the cross in the empty tomb. So what are you worried about? We know what God can do.
And so we can trust him in the day to day. We can step out in obedient faith. Ah, but he doesn’t always do miracles like this, does he? Of course not. Flip through all of it.
There is no promise that he will do this. In every circumstance you face. That’s a misapplication, the word of God to just be like, whatever Jordan river I face, God is going to get me through this. Maybe, but you might get swept away when you get the cancer diagnosis. We’ve had two members of our congregation ring the bell this month.
Ended the cancer treatment. Very exciting. And I’ve done funerals for people who’ve died of cancer in this room. You might get Swept away. Maybe the Lord provides manna.
Maybe you’re part of the reduction in force. Your position’s made redundant. Did his promise fail? Of course not. Of course not.
I mean, even Israel knew this. They crossed the Jordan river on dry ground. Guess what happened every time they hit a river after that? They forded it. Their feet got wet.
That’s often how it goes, too. We need to remember this or we will be swept away by doubt. And that’s the danger. I mean, David Jackman puts it like this. When that moment comes, you get this negative talk going.
You know, perhaps I’m not consecrated enough, or my record of obedience isn’t impressive enough. Or perhaps he isn’t really interested in me after all. Or perhaps the promises have no real benefit for me. Or perhaps, let’s make it even harder. Perhaps he isn’t the living God.
So we can’t assume that God will act the same, but we can assume that God is the same. And so we can know and trust that he will deliver us ultimately, like Christian and pilgrim’s Progress. Like, there is a river we are all going to cross in the end. But here’s the good news. Jesus already made the way so we can, all of us, get to that celestial city in Christ.
And then the last group I want to talk to is the group I want to talk to all of us. I want to talk to us as the church, as the people of God, because we are the Israel God, as Galatians 6 says, we are his people. Our role is changed. Verse 3. When you see him move, follow.
It’s not our place to second guess. It’s not ours to question his methods. Really, Lord, Flood stage. Are you sure about this? No.
We know who he is. We trust him, and so we follow Him. Can I say that’s what we’re trying to do with the church? Plant. God has opened doors, unexpected doors for us, for us to plant at this time, in this way.
And so he opened the door, we think, and so we’re going to walk through that door trusting Him. Do you have questions? I have questions. Here’s my flood. Why now, God?
Couldn’t you wait one more year? Because then we’d have the debt gone. Or just about gone. Doesn’t that make more sense?
You’re going to see it, by the way, November, when we’re at revision, you’re going to look at our budget and your eyes are going to go. I know it. Because the elders, we met Wednesday night to talk about the budget. And do you know what these men of God did. When we looked at those numbers, they went, it’s going to be scary.
So what are we going to do? We have no promises. I want to be so clear about that. God does not say, if you step out in faith and plant this church, I’ll make sure the money’s there. If you send a group of people out, I’ll make sure that there are people there to replace them.
If you send this church plant out, it will thrive. It will still be there, lampstand burning when Jesus comes again. No promises for any of that. We don’t have his promises, specific promises. But what we do have is his presence.
And that is enough. It’s Corrie 10. Boom. We quote her a lot here. My favorite quote of hers, do not be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.
That is what we have. The key is his presence. Thank goodness for us as leaders too. Like, I really love this story about Joshua. You know who cannot lead you to plant a church?
Well, this guy. You know who doesn’t know how to plant a church? Well, that guy.
Sorry, Reeb, but that’s okay. Like, it actually takes a lot of pressure off because God can. And because we know that Jesus Christ, the new and true ark, the mercy seat, is with us all. And so we will step out in faith and we will get our feet wet before we’re sure the river will stop. Because we know that God is good and able, strong and loving.
God will make has made a way for us to know him so that we trust him and then follow him. Now let’s pray.
Lord, it is often scary to follow you. Especially when we forget. Especially when we take our eyes off of the ark and fix our eyes on our circumstances instead. Or when we look at ourselves and think, I can’t do this. So Lord, help us to fix our eyes on you instead.
Because we know that you can do this. And better still, you have already done what we most need. May that knowledge strengthen and encourage us today so that we follow you with a whole hearted, reckless obedience. Because we know that we are safe in your hands. And we ask this, Lord, knowing then that when you come through, the glory will be yours alone.
Because the work has been yours alone. It’s in Christ’s name that we pray.
Amen.