Crossing the Jordan

Consider this: Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. Walt also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. Michael Jordan, perhaps the greatest basketball player of all time, did … More

Persistence

In our passage today we see the results of persistence. It must have been an exciting day for the Israelites to finally see what had been promised to them through their father’s generations before. Finally, the day had come when Joshua, with the help of God, was going to lead them into the Promised Land. They had been waiting for this day for a long, long time. God had told Joshua to go across the river into the land, but how were they going to cross. It was a wide river and there were no bridges or boats, and it was too deep to walk through. Most of them had heard of the miracle at the Red Sea, however most of them had been born in the wilderness so only knew what others had told them. The task seemed impossible, but the battle was the Lord’s and that is what is being taught.

 

1. The preparations needed for crossing (vv. 1-6). To experience God’s power, we need to prepare our hearts and deal with known sin in our lives which comes through confession. “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (v. 5).

2.   The promise of passage through the Jordan (vv. 7-13). God directed the 12 priests to lead the way, carrying the ark of the covenant into the Jordan (vv. 12-13). God Himself, went before them. When we step out for God, we can be sure that God will go before us.

3.   The power of God demonstrated in the passage (vv. 14-17). As the people watched, the waters separated and stopped flowing so the priests could walk on dry ground out to the center of the river. Then they stood holding the ark high until all the people passed over.

Application

Joshua had two companions: the Word of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. I can also have these two companions. If I am persistent like Joshua, then I can see the power of God demonstrated in my life.

Joshua 3:1-17 (English Standard Version)


Warning: MagpieRSS: Failed to parse RSS file. (Space required at line 39, column 24) in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/magpie6-1/rss_fetch.inc on line 230

Warning: array_slice() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/rss/esvLookup.php on line 15

View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway) »