The Living God Goes First!

9 So Joshua told the Israelites, “Come and listen to what the Lord your God says. 10 Today you will know that the living God is among you. He will surely drive (without fail) out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites ahead of you. 11 Look, the Ark of the Covenant, which belongs to the Lord of the whole earth, will lead you across the Jordan River! . . . 13 The priests will carry the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. As soon as their feet touch the water, the flow of water will be cut off upstream, and the river will stand up like a wall.” Joshua 3:9-11, 13 (NLT).

 

The crossing of the Jordan River occupies two chapters of the Book of Joshua (Joshua 3 - 4).  This great event reveals Israel’s faith history and God’s presence on Israel’s behalf to save. This crossing meant this new Israel generation would not turn away from faithful following God as their parents had done forty years earlier (Numbers 13-14). With God’s leading, Israel would now claim the Promised Land and overcome the spiritual failures of the previous generation. 

 

Central to the Jordan River crossing is the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant (also called the Ark of God or the Ark of the Testimony). Chapters 3 and 4 of Joshua reference the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark represented the visible presence and power of the living God with Israel (see Exodus 25:10-40; Numbers 7:89). This visible presence filled the people with grace and mercy as well as calming their fears and worries. God was said to occupy the “mercy seat” (covering) between the two cherubim of gold (Exodus 25:17–22). With the Ark of God leading, the true and living God Himself went into the Jordan River first as He led the people first across the flooding river on dry land (Joshua 4:7). God Himself remained in the river until all the people, weak and strong, had crossed (Joshua 3:17).

 

At the crossing, the Jordan River was at flood stage and the river banks were overflowing (Joshua 3:15). From a human viewpoint, crossing the Jordan River was humanly impossible.  But the new generation of Israel finally believed and trusted that nothing was too hard for God if God led first (see also Genesis 18:14; Numbers 14:5-9; Matthew 6:33).

 

When the people entered into the Promised Land, they would also faced a people who worshipped many gods and idols.  The Ark of God reminded the people they worshipped the “living God” (Joshua 3:10) of the “whole earth” (Joshua 3:11). He was the living and powerful “Lord of all the earth” not only of humans but also nature, including the Jordan River at flood stage. Revelation 11:19 reveals the Ark of God in God’s heavenly Temple. For Christians today, Jesus Christ is our Ark of God.  Jesus Christ is our symbol of God’s full and holy presence with us through Jesus Christ's Holy Spirit living within our hearts (John 14:17; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 9-10).  Thus, God can always be trusted as we faithfully and obediently follow His leading and instructions first!  Our God, Jesus Christ, is with us now (Matthew 1:23).