There are major events which stand above all others in history. Things like Noah’s flood and the crucifixion of Christ. There are things which are so far back in history we can hardly comprehend their importance to us today. Things like the Norman invasion of England has a great bearing upon us in western North America. Then there are other events like the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
On a smaller scale there are major events in each of our lives. Some are momentous because of the joy they have brought us. In my life, it would be like the day that Judy Lynn Price changed her name. The birth of a child has radically changed thousands of parent’s lives. Some major events might be categorized as crises of our lives. A crisis by definition is “an important turning point, or highlight in something.” I have a book in my library by G.C. Morgan entitled “The Crises of the Christ.” That work looks at the baptism of the Lord, His Transfiguration, His Crucifixion and resurrection.
Eventually, in every life there come several major crises; hinges upon which those lives turn. Some common ones are the acceptance of the gospel message or perhaps the rejection of Christ. Whether we join one of the Lord’s churches, and which church it is. The choice of further education, where and in what direction. Perhaps whether or not we move, and at what time in our lives that move comes. In all of these moments of crisis, I believe the Christian has a Helper at our side. And that is what I want us to see illustrated with the Ark of the Covenant tonight.
We have noticed the symbolism of the Old Testament Ark in our last two messages. The material which made up the Ark; the wood and gold depict the humanity and deity of our Saviour. The objects which were sometimes kept inside also point to Christ. Then we noted the presence of that Ark with Israel, leading and comforting.
Tonight’s text marks the next major reference to the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament. l would like to carry on with that theme of leadership, but with a bit more detail tonight. Verse 4 reminds us, just as it does Israel – “ye have not passed this way heretofore.” That is certainly an understatement – there are always new things coming up before us. Sometimes we can call them challenges or dangers. Sometimes they are just new vistas, new opportunities, or new friends. In addition to new things; sometimes our crises are impassible obstacles. There is a crisis facing Israel in the crossing of the Jordan River. But praise the Lord, there is always someone at the Christian’s side when facing these crises. For the Christian, there may not be another human being, but there is the Divine Being.
First, let’s consider this particular crisis.
Between Israel and the land which God had promised them, lay a swollen river. It was harvest time (verse 15); that is it was the time of the barley harvest in April. 120 miles to north, the snows of Lebanon were melting and the Jordan was flooding. Ordinarily the river was about 100 feet wide at this point. And there were about 60 other places between the lakes where Israel could have forded the river. But during the Spring the river became 500 to 1,000 feet across – and very cold and very swift. Practically speaking, It was impossible to cross without a ferry. As you know, every step Israel had made during the last 40 years had been directed by the Lord. He could have brought the nation to this river three months earlier or three months later. Without a doubt, the Lord has place this crisis before the nation; there is no escaping that fact. We know people who deny the sovereignty of God in their lives. That difficult doctrine plagues humanistically thinking mankind, and it always has. Despite our shallow thinking and stupid reactions, sometimes our crises are simply there by Divine command.
And in Israel’s case, she was brought to the brink of the river and made to watch the water for three days. The Lord wanted Israel to see her helplessness and to test her heart and resolve. Is she going to resort to worldly schemes to get across – like building a hundred ferries and taking a month to get everyone to the other side? Is she going to turn back to the wilderness to loose another 40 years and another generation? Thankfully, under Joshua’s leadership Israel was forced to look at the Lord. Perhaps they heard – “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.”
Now what does this river represent to us today? Can we relate this to any specific crises of ours? The most common answer is that this river presents the Christian’s death. Certainly, no hinge in our lives is any bigger than that one opens the door to eternity. The great allegorist, John Bunyan used Jordan to picture death in “Pilgrim’s Progress.” We have a hundred human “psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs” which tell the same story. But as I have said before, I don’t like that analogy very much. Canaan isn’t the Christian’s rest; it is the place of Christian service with its victories and defeats. Palestine isn’t Heaven, it is the testing ground for our faith while we await our Saviour. Nvertheless, if we understand the limitations of the picture, to apply Jordan that way is permissible.
I prefer to employ this crossing of Jordan to the moving from one level of Christianity to another. I don’t mean to suggest that a Christian can become more Christian through some event in his life. But there can be crises in our lives which prepare us to be better servants and more useful to the Lord. This could be used as an illustration of Moses meeting the Lord at the burning bush when he was given an entirely new commission and spiritual responsibility. A few years ago, I was a student at Colorado State University, minding my own business, passing my classes and attending a little Baptist church when its doors were open. But during that year I was brought up to the brink of the river and my heart, and my timid, self-centered, Christian-worldliness were challenged to either cross or retreat. The Lord’s burning bush reached out and my robe caught fire. For forty weeks I had been wandering about, doing my duty, feasting on manna, listening to Moses. But then I was forced to stare at the Jordan, with the Lord telling me He wanted me on the other side. That is my preferred way to think of the crossing of Jordan. But we could use it as the facing of any kind of crisis.
Israel may not have known, but she will soon be losing the comforting, shading, directing, pillar of cloud. This will be a crisis of sorts to these people, like the losing of one’s best friend. They will be cast upon their own devices or forced to trust the Lord with different degree of faith. And from now on Israel will never again taste that ubiquitous manna. Some of their more familiar blessings are coming to an end, but new ones are beginning. Those are moments of crisis, and they come from time to time in our lives.
The blessing was that in this crisis, there was the presence of Christ – in the Ark of the Covenant.
Isn’t it glorious to know that there are no degrees of difficulty God? The gymnast or the diver in the Olympics gets ready for his event, and the announcer quietly tells us that this dive or routine has a degree of difficulty of 2.5 or 4 or something. To our Lord, a backflip with a 3/4 pike, inside out, reverse with a pinch lemon is just as easy as the simplest swan dive. There is nothing too hard for the Lord. With man various things are impossible; but to the Lord there is nothing impossible. And in this case, victory lays on the other side of this swollen river of crisis. On the eastern side there is nothing but defeat, defeat, and more defeat. And on the west there is victory and blessing. But there is no crossing of this river without the presence of the Ark. That is the key to everything. It is mentioned no less than ten times in this chapter.
Now let me try to bring us back to last week’s idea of the presence of God. The Ark was with Israel all along, but in order to cross the crisis, He must be first in our lives. Sure Christ is with us in the midst of our hospital stay, but at what point does He come in? Is He there before the ambulance brings us up to the door, or does He come in later. Is the Lord more important than the doctor? Is He more important that the pain medicine? Did you send the Ark of the Covenant into that new job before you stepped into the water?
The blessing for the child of God is that Christ is here and wants to be the center of your life. He will even step into the Jordan first, if you will give Him the chance. Without Him that river may destroy you, but have you permitted Him to be a part of the crisis?
There are conditions before Christ will take charge.
First, the saint must sanctify himself. “Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.” That means – look your life over, searching for anything which might offend the Lord – then get rid of it. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” My only hesitation in mentioning this in the light of Israel’s crisis is the thought that it only applies to life’s crises. The sanctifying of the heart and life should be a daily activity of every Christian. You will never have the blessing of Christ blocking the stream of problems running toward you if you continue in sin.
The second condition to guidance in this crisis, is to follow the Lord, but not too closely. Israel was to keep about a thousand cubits between themselves and the priests with the Ark. Some commentators think that this is to illustrate our need of reverence. Certainly we cannot argue that reverence before the Lord is essential. But that wasn’t required under ordinary circumstances as well – so why right now? Most commentators think that the reason for the command is more practical. When too many people jump into the rescue boat they may cause it to sink. Let’s keep Israel back from the Ark that more of the nation can witness the miracle. Besides what if in the haste of the moment people should bump the priests? We must remember that they will be standing in that river bed for several hours. What a tragedy if the Ark and Mercy Seat should be dropped. But isn’t it good to know that our Saviour can be trusted through the whole ordeal? The Ark was the first thing to enter the river and the last to cross. Christ is the Way, Truth and Life; He stands there holding the door open.
The third requirement from the people was a simple faith – faith in the heart of absolutely everyone. Think of the four priests as they were the first to step down into the muddy water. What things must have passed through their minds? How their hearts must have raced, and how the adrenalin must have pumped. Then there was Joshua who was asking millions of people to risk their lives on the Word of God. We could pursue fact that Joshua is a good picture of the pastor in this case. He has received the message of the Lord and is now preaching it unto the people. He’s reproving, rebuking and exhorting the people to sanctification. He’s the one challenging the nominal saints to move on into greater things for the Lord. And oh, what faith is required on his part. And it requires faith to become a fool for Christ. Why do you think that there isn’t an army of Canaanites on the western side of the river? Because only a fool would even think about swimming the Jordan in flood time. Not to mention their lives, but Israel is getting ready to sacrifice the most precious object of their religion – the Ark. What fools those Christians are. It requires faith to go on in the face of such slanderous remarks.
But we can’t forget that our faith is no good at all until it is tested. That is ever what Lord is wanting us to do, and what we are so hesitant at trying. But that is part of the blessings of our crises – sometimes we are forced to step into river. There is no other choice. As Psalms 119:71 says, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” Come on saint, step right in and go to the very limit of your faith. Become willing to be a fool for Christ.
The last thing we must notice is the passage itself.
When the Ark entered the stream, the waters instantly receded from before the feet of the priests. With each succeeding step the waters went back a bit farther and farther. When the priests got to the middle of the riverbed the whole river was dammed and that which was down stream just kept on flowing down stream towards the Dead Sea. In other words Israel didn’t have just a channel to walk through as they did in the Exodus. In some ways, this is a more spectacular miracle than the Exodus. This time a river disappeared.
With Christ in the crisis the danger evaporated and access was made into a new way of life. Sure there will be new trials in the months ahead – new challenges and new problems. But the lessons learned of the presence and blessing of Christ should have told Israel that solutions will come when they are necessary. Just so long as they put the Ark in the proper place in their lives.
And that is the object of our thoughts this evening: Ask Christ to come into your crisis and then step out of the way. He will work out your problems if you are willing AND sufficiently humble before Him. Live a life of sanctification – separation and surrender to Him. Mix in a good dose of real and growing faith. Then at the other side of Bunyan’s Jordan, you will be filled with praise and joy at the leadership of the Lord.