"A Box, Feet, and Rocks" Sermon: Joshua 3:7-17

“A Box, Feet, and Rocks”

[Joshua 3:7-17]

October 30, 2011 Second Reformed Church

            “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, ‘To your offspring I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Raphaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites’” (Genesis 15:18-21, ESV).  The promise was made by God to Abram – who became Abraham – about 2000 B.C.  It was recorded by Moses about six hundred years later in the book of Genesis.

            Moses led the nation of Israel out of Egypt in about 1490 B.C.   Exodus records that there were over 600,000 men over the age of twenty who were able to serve in the army.  The actual number of people who left Egypt may have been upwards of two million. They wandered in the wilderness for forty years, due to their sin.  They finally arrived in Moab, where Moses died in about 1450 B.C., after naming Joshua as his successor.

            As the book of Joshua opens, Joshua tells the people to decide whether they will serve God will all their heart and soul and mind and strength, or whether they will serve idols.  When they reached Shittim, about ten miles east of Jericho and across the Jordan River, Joshua sent two spies, who came back and reported that the Lord had given Jericho into their hands – just as God had promised over five hundred years before.  And they reported that the people of the nations were terrified of Israel and her God.

            Joshua led the people to the edge of the Jordan and told them that they were going to wait three days before they crossed the Jordan.  During those three days, they were to purify themselves according to the Law of God, and then they were to arrange themselves with the priests and the Ark of the Covenant out front.  You will remember that the Ark of the Covenant was a box that was kept in the Holy of Holies, where the Presence of God rested.  Inside the box, were the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod, and a bowl of manna.

            “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.’”

            In other words, God told Joshua that the people weren’t sure whether he was the right man to succeed Moses.  “Maybe he’s a good military leader, but remember the miracles Moses used to do?  Now, that was real power – we knew God was with him.  Joshua?  It could go either way.”  God told Joshua that He would prove to the people that He was with him.

            “’And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘”When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.”’”

            Why did God send the Ark of the Covenant – with the priests – into the waters – and across the Jordan – first?

            To symbolically emphasize the Sovereignty of God and His Presence with them.  Don’t get confused – God was not in the Ark of the Covenant – God was not in the box.  The Ark symbolized God’s Presence, and in sending it into and across the Jordan first, they were confessing that God is Sovereign.  God is the One Who brought them up out of the land of Egypt.  God is the One Who brought them through the Red Sea.  God is the One Who brought them through the wilderness.  God is the One Who will bring them across the Jordan and lead them to conquest in Jericho and throughout all of the lands that God promised to Abram.

            So the nation of Israel – all two million of them – marched up to the Jordan River – with the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant before them.  And they stopped at the edge of the water.

            And what were they facing?  I had to Google this, because I didn’t know.  The Jordan River is over one hundred miles long.  It averages eight miles wide.  And it averages seventeen feet deep – though there are some sharp plunges to over one hundred and fifty feet deep.  But, as we’re told in verse fifteen, it was the time of the summer harvest when the banks of the Jordan overflow – so it would have been averaging deeper than seventeen feet deep and wider than eight miles wide.

            Perhaps there are some hearty people in the congregation who are thinking, “So what?  I could swim eight miles.”  But remember, they had two million people to get across the Jordan – some who couldn’t swim, some who were infants, animals, and cargo – all the riches they had plundered from Egypt.

            “Well, they could build boats and shuttle people back and forth.”  Remember, Joshua gave them three days to go through the purification rites, and then he announced they were crossing.  There wasn’t time to build boats.  Besides, someone surely would have seen boats shuttling all these people across the Jordan, which would have spoiled the surprise attack.

            They were in a situation similar to when they reached the coast of the Red Sea after fleeing from Egypt. “How do you get two million people across?”  And fairly quickly.

“And Joshua said to the people of Israel, ‘Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.’ And Joshua said, ‘Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan.  Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.’”

            The people had heard to promise of God to Abram for generations; they knew the promise God had made to give them the land of all these various nations.  And Joshua told them that they would be assured of the promise God made to them when they see what is going to happen.  When they see how they are going to get across the Jordan, they will have no doubt that God is the One God, the God Who keeps His Promises and will bring His people to the home that He had promised them.  God is the Sovereign God over nations and all of Creation, and He will save His people.

            And when the feet of the priests stepped down into the Jordan, carrying the Ark of the Covenant, signifying the Presence and the Sovereignty of God, the water parted, and the priests walked down on dry land.

“So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.”

Notice, there were people in their tents.  Joshua had told everyone to get to the river, but some people doubted and stayed in their tents.  Until they saw the water part, that is.  Then they packed up their tents and got to the river’s edge.  Then they knew that God was with Joshua.

And we’re told that the waters rose up in a heap from Shittim on one side to Adam, which is near Zarathen on the other.  What does that tell us?  It tells us the width of the dry land that God made for Israel to pass over:  the distance from Shittim, near the northern edge of the Dead Sea, to Adam, which was near Succoth, was thirty miles.

“Well, maybe there was a drought.”

No, we’re told that it was the rainy season and the river was flooded.  Also, we’re told that the water did not merely stop, but God heaped it up!  Thirty miles of the Jordan River were suddenly flowing up into the air, rather than along the river bed.  What an amazing site that must have been!

The inhabitants of Jericho and the surrounding lands were right to be afraid of Israel and her God:  Who would want to fight the God Who can clear the Jordan River so His entire nation can pass through on dry land, and Who cannot merely stop the river, but make it course up into the air for miles on end?

When Israel passed over to the other side, the twelve men – back in verse twelve – took twelve stones – one for each of the tribes of Israel, and built a memorial pillar, so when their children saw it and asked what it meant, they would recount the history of how God parted the Jordan River so they could cross over on dry land.  And they would tell them why they crossed the Jordan:  Because God, the Sovereign God of Creation, promised to give them all the lands around them, and with God as their Sovereign, they knew every promise would come to pass.

The Psalmist remembered these events when he wrote, “When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.  The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back.  The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.  What ails you, O sea, that you flee?  O Jordan, that you turn back?  O mountains, that you skip like rams?  O hills, like lambs?  Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water” (Psalm 114, ESV).

What ought we to understand from this?

When I am asked what it means to be Reformed, I answer, “We believe that God is Sovereign.”  In a nut-shell, being reformed, being a Calvinist, being a Bible-believing Christian means that we believe that God is Sovereign.

The Belgic Confession, one of the standards of the Reformed Church in America – one of those documents which we believe is an accurate, human summary of what the Bible teaches – says this:  “We believe that the same God, after He had created all things, did not forsake them, or give them up to fortune or chance, but that He rules and governs them according to His holy will, so that nothing happens in this world without His appointment; nevertheless, God neither is the author of, nor can be charged with, the sins which are committed ….

“This doctrine affords us unspeakable consolation, since we are taught thereby that nothing can befall us by chance, but by the direction of our most gracious and heavenly Father, who watches over us with paternal care, keeping all creatures so under His power that not a hair of our head (for they are all numbered), nor a sparrow, can fall to the ground without the will of our Father, in whom we do entirely trust; being persuaded that He so restrains the devil and all our enemies that, without His will and permission, they cannot hurt us….” (Article 13).

So, let us understand, first, our Sovereign and Triune God created, sustains, and maintains all of Creation, by Himself, for Himself, and for His Own Reasons.  Our Sovereign God is intimately involved with all of Creation.

Paul, speaking of Jesus, wrote, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15-17, ESV).

God created everything Himself and the Creation continues to exist as God causes it to exist.  God is Sovereign over the Creation.

Second, our Sovereign God causes human history to occur as it occurs.  God keeps His Promises, and He allows evil to accomplish good in the end for all those who believe savingly in Jesus Alone.

As Daniel confessed, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.  He changes times and seasons;  he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him” (Daniel 2:20b-22, ESV).

And King Nebuchadnezzar confessed, “At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:34-35, ESV).

Everything that occurs, everything that happens, does so according to the definite and unchangeable plan of our Sovereign God.

Third, our God is Sovereign over our salvation.

Paul wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:3-14, ESV).

If you believing savingly in Jesus, it is because God chose you – for His Own Reasons – not because of anything you did or did not do – but God chose to save you and make you His own simply because it pleased Him to do so.  God is Sovereign in salvation.

Fourth, knowing that God is Sovereign is a comfort to His people – to all those who believe savingly in Jesus.

As Jesus said, “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.  But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!  Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.  Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:4-7, ESV).

Our Sovereign God has told us to call Him, “Father.”  And He loves us as a Father and will not allow even one of us to be lost.

Paul exclaimed, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39, ESV).

If God has chosen you and saved you to be His own, there is nothing you can do to separate yourself from God’s Love – there is nothing you can do to “lose” your salvation.

The nation of Israel weren’t sure whether or not Joshua was the leader God had chosen to succeed Moses.  But God in His Mercy displayed His Sovereignty to them by opening a thirty mile stretch of the Jordan River – sending the River flowing up into the sky – so the nation could walk on dry land.  Then they knew God was with Joshua, and they were reminded that God not only promised Jericho and all the nations around them as their inheritance, but God is the Sovereign God Who can and will keep His Promises.

God is Sovereign over all of Creation.  Why is it raining this morning?  Because it pleased God to cause it to rain this morning.

God is Sovereign over the nations.  Why does the United States exist?  Because it pleased God to cause it to exist at this time and for a time.

God is Sovereign over our salvation.  Why can I tell you a sinner like me – who deserves nothing but God’s Wrath – is right with God?  Because salvation is entirely God’s Work, and He chose me for His Own Reasons and has made me His Own – eternally.

The fact that God is Sovereign – our Loving Father, Who sent His Son to die for our sins and then physically rise, victorious, from the grave to secure our salvation – is a comfort.  I hope we are all comforted in the knowledge that God, our Father, is Sovereign.  The God Who came to earth in the Person of Jesus is the One God – the God Who created and controls everything that ever was and ever will be – the God Who parted and thrust the Jordan River into the sky -- He love us and promises that we are His -- forever.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank you for the history of Israel’s crossing of the Jordan.  We thank You for showing them that You are Absolutely Sovereign – and for the witness of this history to us.  Help us to receive comfort in knowing that You are All-Powerful, and all things occur only according to Your Plan.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.