Crossing Over To Victory

After a long time, the Israelites are about to experience the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham. Genesis 17:6-8. It was a very long 430 year (Egyptian Captivity) + 40 years of wandering in the wilderness after leaving Mount Sinai. So, a total of 470 years of waiting for God’s promise. Now finally the time of inheritance have arrived. Many generations have passed on. Even Moses the man who God used to save His people from Egypt has died. It’s the time for Joshua’s generation to inherit the promise land (around 2-3 million Israelites).

They have to cross over the Jordan river before the conquest starts. Jordan river today is shallow and narrow. But it wasn’t the case when the Israelites crossed over. It was a moderate sized river (100 feet in length), deep (around 10 feet) and fast-moving river with a strong undercurrent.

As they began their conquest journey, the first thing they needed to do was – Joshua 3:5 Then Joshua said to the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you."

Clearly this was not just a military exploit but was a spiritual matter, and so it needed spiritual rather than military preparation. Instead of building a bridge or preparing materials to float on the river to crossover, Joshua commanded them to ‘consecrate’ themselves.

Consecration is not ceremonial but spiritual! Joshua did not tell them to sharpen their swords but to sanctify their soul. They were to set themselves apart before God led them into the land.

This war would be a "holy war" against the abominable godless pagans. God's ways are often the antithesis of the ways of natural (fallen) man!

God Demands our Personal and Corporate Purity before He takes us through or include us in His work of wonders.

Consecrate (Sanctify, make holy; Lxx = hagiazo) qadash means to set apart for a specific use. Consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate, remove from common use, be holy, show one's self to be holy. To set apart a person or thing from all common or secular purposes to some religious use. Everything consecrated to God was separated from all profane use. Qadash could refer to anything reserved exclusively for God.

Now we all want victory in life. No body wants to be loser. We all pray for some miracles in our life. We want God to intervene and do a great miracle for us.

But the million-dollar question is; are we willing to pay the price for God’s intervention? Nothing else but self-consecration.

Most people want God’s help and assistance but never want to consecrate themselves to Him. We want gifts but not the Giver! We live in a miracle seeking selfish generation. We are more concern of what we have rather than having a healthy relationship with God. Materiel has superseded the place of relationship.

Stop praying for miracle and start consecrating yourself today – vs5b – “tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you”. Looks at the words of Joshua! It is so very assuring and affirmative. He said “tomorrow the Lord WILL DO amazing things among you”. Joshua knew His God. Joshua knew only a consecrated vessel will experience God’s glory.

Secondly;

Vs. 6 – Joshua instructed the Ark of the Covenant to go ahead of the people in this conquest. Ark of the Covenant was carrying the presence of God. The priority here is to give one self to the leading of the Lord ultimately. The presence of God must go before us. It’s all about God’s agenda and God’s way of doing things. Only a consecrated vessel will allow God to lead them. Joshua knew this journey must only be led by God. They have learnt a hard lesson at Kardesh Barnea – human wisdom led them into 40 years of wondering in the wilderness until the whole generation died except for Joshua and Caleb. Joshua don’t want that bad history to repeat. Joshua consecrated himself and his people and entirely surrendered to the leading of the Lord.

How many of us truly surrender our circumstances to the Lord and allow Him to lead us in His ways? Sometimes His ways can be mysterious or even foolish in our eyes; but God’s ways are always perfect and better than ours! Isaiah 55:8-9

Finally;

Vs. 13 -, only God can do amazing things. HE who split open the Red Sea did it again. No sea nor river is too great for my God to split into two just for His people! Nothing is too difficult for our God. HE is El-Shaddai – Almighty God. The creator of Heaven and earth has all the authority over nature. Miracles come from the hands of the Lord. Only He can do amazing things that are mind blowing.