Joshua 3:7-17, Psalm 107:1-7, Psalm 107:33-37, Micah 3:5-12, Psalm 43:1-5, 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13, Matthew 23:1-12
A). CROSSING JORDAN.
Joshua 3:7-17.
JOSHUA 3:7. Transition from one ministry to another is always challenging, but if the Lord’s people recognise the new incumbent as God’s man then they can agree under God to hearken to him (cf. Joshua 1:17). Moses was dead, but the LORD had appointed Joshua in his place. So now the LORD promised to “begin to magnify” Joshua “in the sight of all Israel.”
Of course, the LORD had already promised Joshua that ‘as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee nor forsake thee’ (cf. Joshua 1:5). But now the whole nation would be given the miraculous reassurance that the LORD was with them, and that they should indeed bear the same respect to Joshua’s leadership under God as they had to Moses’ leadership under God (cf. Joshua 4:14). Apart from the grace of God, no-one would be going anywhere.
JOSHUA 3:8. That Joshua is the LORD’s delegate becomes clear when the LORD commands him to “command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant” what to do: “When ye shall come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.” What will happen when they obey is held in abeyance within the narrative until Joshua 3:13, when Joshua will explain it to all the people.
JOSHUA 3:9. So Joshua summoned all the children of Israel, not just the priests, to “Come hither and hear.” Joshua was the spokesman for the LORD: what he was about to say was not what he thought, but the very “words of the LORD your God.” It is good when the words upon the lips of God’s ministers are His words rather than theirs.
JOSHUA 3:10. The miracle that was about to happen was to stand as evidence that “the living God” would “without fail” drive out the enemies that were, in effect, then squatting in the promised land. The argument is from the greater to the less, echoed in the NT: how can God, who ‘spared not his own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things’ (cf. Romans 8:32). That the LORD is here named “the living God” distinguishes Him from all other so-called deities, such as those of the nations that Israel was about to dispossess.
JOSHUA 3:11. The “ark of the covenant” represents the presence of “the LORD of all the earth” with His chosen people. He passes before His people into the river Jordan.
It is “the LORD of all the earth” who ‘dwells between the cherubim’ above the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant (cf. Exodus 25:22). It is “the LORD of all the earth” who is the creator and sustainer of all things (cf. Colossians 1:16-17). It is “the LORD of all the earth” who is over all people and peoples that ever dwell upon the earth – including the tribes then living in the promised land.
It is “the LORD of all the earth” who embraces death ahead of us. He is ‘Immanuel, God with us’ (cf. Matthew 1:23). His name is ‘Jesus’ (cf. Matthew 1:25).
JOSHUA 3:12. The selecting of a man from each of the tribes of Israel involves the whole community in what is about to happen. Tantalisingly their purpose is not immediately apparent, but it will become clear in Joshua 4:3. After all the people except the priests (who would still be standing in the midst of the water) have passed over Jordan, these men are to collect stones from the place where ‘the ark of the LORD God stood’ and are to set them up in the promised land as a memorial of the crossing of Jordan. (cf. Joshua 4:6-7).
JOSHUA 3:13. Now, at last, Joshua told Israel what ‘wonders’ (cf. Joshua 3:5) they might expect. As soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, “the LORD of all the earth” he again emphasises, then the waters would stand in a single heap upstream. Not two walls of water, as with the Red Sea, but a single heap upstream.
JOSHUA 3:14. It is time to step out in faith. It is only as we do so that we will see God’s purposes “come to pass.” The people broke camp, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant set out half a mile (cf. Joshua 3:4) ahead of them.
JOSHUA 3:15. As “the feet of the priests that bear the ark were dipped in the brim of the water…” A parenthesis indicates that this was the time of the spring harvest: the river would be in full flood. The date given in Joshua 4:19 corresponds to springtime (a.k.a. Passover) in the Jewish calendar. So the timing of what was about to happen could only be an act of God, a miracle, no less.
JOSHUA 3:16. The geographical details indicate that the “heap” of water was several miles upstream from where the Israelites crossed the Jordan. The waters coming downstream towards the Dead Sea were completely cut off. “The people passed over right against Jericho.”
JOSHUA 3:17. “Dry ground” is mentioned twice. From the first step of faith to the last, God is with us all. All the way to the promised land.
B). A CITY OF HABITATION
Psalm 107:1-7; Psalm 107:33-37.
This Psalm is a call to thanksgiving to the LORD, “for He is good: for His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 107:1). The writer longs that those whom the LORD has redeemed, whom He has redeemed from the hand of enemy - out of the east, and from the west, north and south - should “say so” (Psalm 107:2-3). Say what? Share their testimony of what the LORD has done for them.
The psalmist then gives four examples of the type of deliverances which people may have experienced: wanderers in the wilderness (Psalm 107:4); prisoners in chains (Psalm 107:10); those languishing in sickness (Psalm 107:18); those tossed about in the storms of life (Psalm 107:27). Each called upon the name of the LORD, and the LORD heard them, and the LORD wrought deliverance (Psalm 107:6; Psalm 107:13; Psalm 107:19; Psalm 107:28). Each time the psalmist repeats his appeal, that men would ‘praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men’ (Psalm 107:8; Psalm 107:15; Psalm 107:21; Psalm 107:31).
Now each of these pictures speaks to the whole condition of mankind outside of Christ. We see it here in the first: wandering in the seemingly trackless wilderness of life, seeking but not finding a city to dwell in (Psalm 107:4). ‘Without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world’ (Ephesians 2:12).
I am glad it does not end there. Ephesians 2:13 continues: ‘But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.’
But the wanderers in the wilderness had to realise their condition before the remedy could be applied. “Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them” (Psalm 107:5). It is, after all, those who ‘hunger and thirst after righteousness’ who shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).
Filled with what? Filled with ‘the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe’ (Romans 3:22). Thus are we made ‘the righteousness of God in Him’ (2 Corinthians 5:21).
So “they cried to the LORD,” as we have seen, in their hunger and thirst, “and He delivered them” (Psalm 107:6). “For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness” (Psalm 107:9).
And in that trackless wilderness, the LORD led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation (Psalm 107:7). Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father but by Me’ (John 14:6; cf. Acts 4:12).
This reversal is echoed later in our Psalm, and again using the figure of a wilderness. What we see here, if nothing else, is that the LORD is behind it all: “He” made the wilderness (Psalm 107:33); “He” turns “the dry ground into water-springs” (Psalm 107:35).
Remember, those who ‘hunger and thirst after righteousness’ (Matthew 5:6)? Remember how they “found no city to dwell in” (Psalm 107:4); and how, when they had cried to the LORD, “He led them forth by the right way (Jesus is the Way), that they might go to a city of habitation” (Psalm 107:7)? Well, here they are at journey’s end: “And there He makes the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation” (Psalm 107:36).
There they sow fields, plant vineyards, and benefit from the fruit of their labours (Psalm 107:37). The Christian life, after all, is not a lazy life: but it is a fruitful one.
C). THE MAMMON OF THE PROPHETS.
Micah 3:5-12.
Jesus said, ‘Ye cannot serve God and Mammon’ (cf. Matthew 6:24). Yet this was what “the prophets” of Prophet Micah’s day were trying to do: they would preach “Peace” to those who fed them, but would “prepare war” against those who “putteth not into their mouths” (MICAH 3:5). They would even go so far as to “divine” for money (MICAH 3:11)!
Such prophets, says the LORD, “make my people to err” (MICAH 3:5). They would speak words of “Peace” when their hearers fed them, but effectively declared war against those who could not afford to pay them. ‘There is no peace,’ says the LORD, ‘unto the wicked’ (cf. Isaiah 48:22). ‘They have healed the hurt of my people slightly, saying, “Peace, peace;” when there is no peace’ (cf. Jeremiah 6:14).
So there would be a punishment to fit the crime: the prophets would have the gift of prophecy taken from them. Their light would become darkness to them; and they certainly would no longer be able to “divine” (MICAH 3:6).
If we abuse our privileges and gifts, even as Christians, we may find that our ministry is not only compromised, but taken from us. This would be both a disgrace and a shame for those with a pretended renown as a servant (or minister) of God.
“Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded” (MICAH 3:7a). “Seer” is another name for prophet (cf. 1 Samuel 9:9). “Divination” is the seeking of spiritual light in any place other than in the LORD Himself, and is condemned throughout the Bible (cf. Deuteronomy 18:10), and cost King Saul his kingdom (cf. 1 Samuel 28:8).
“Covering the lips” (MICAH 3:7b) could signify the distress of the leper, or perhaps even that of the awakened sinner (cf. Leviticus 13:45). It also signified mourning (which is what the truly awakened sinner will do). Either way, they may as well cover their lips since they had nothing to say from God!
Micah stood over against these sorry prophets, not so much beating his own drum as beating the LORD’s (MICAH 3:8). Micah was “full” of “the Spirit of the LORD.” Consequently, he stood powerfully on the side of justice, and, inevitably, since he stood for justice, he necessarily had to “declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.”
Earlier in this chapter, the prophet addressed leaders of the nation, who ‘ought to know judgment (justice)’ (cf. Micah 3:1). Now he returns to these “heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel” and speaks of them as those who “abhor judgment (justice), and pervert all equity” (MICAH 3:9).
There is more than a hint of corruption, and of oppression, when we read that “Zion” is built “with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity” (MICAH 3:10).
The judicial heads of the nation were open to bribery. The religious elite were no better: the priests teach for hire; and the prophets, as we have seen, “divine for money” (MICAH 3:11a). What they share in common is a love of money: and as Apostle Paul informs us, ‘the love of money’ (not money itself, but an idolatrous love of it) ‘is the root of all evil’ (cf. 1 Timothy 6:10).
Somewhat ironically, these corrupt leaders, both in church and state, presumptuously “lean” or ‘rely’ upon the name of the LORD (MICAH 3:11b). After all, they might reason, we are the people of God, this is the city of God, and up the hill there is the Temple of God. “Is not the LORD among us? None evil can come upon us.”
They sound like those in Jeremiah’s day, who put their reliance upon ‘the Temple of the LORD’ (cf. Jeremiah 7:4).
After the dedication of the Temple, the LORD had appeared to Solomon and warned him what would happen in the event of a national apostasy (cf. 1 Kings 9:6-8). Now Micah told the complacent leadership of his day that because of them, this city built with ‘blood’ and ‘iniquity’ (cf. MICAH 3:10) was in danger of being destroyed: “Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house (i.e. the Temple) as the high places of the forest” (MICAH 3:12).
This must have sounded like treason to those who heard Micah. However, this verse became the only verse in the OT to be quoted by another OT writer: ‘The priests and the prophets’ were petitioning for the death sentence against Jeremiah for ‘prophesying against this city’ (cf. Jeremiah 26:11). ‘The princes and all the people’ (cf. Jeremiah 26:16) defended Jeremiah against them. ‘Thus saith the LORD,’ they said (cf. Jeremiah 26:18), and quoted MICAH 3:12.
Eventually, although not for another century, that is exactly what befell Jerusalem, and its splendid Temple. And all because of the unfaithfulness and love of mammon on the part of its prophets, priests, princes, and other leaders.
D). FROM LAMENT TO PRAISE.
Psalm 43:1-5.
Bold prayer dares to address God in the imperative. It seems that the Psalmist, speaking on behalf of many a pilgrim since, has lost his sense of the immanence of God. Yet we cannot rely upon senses, so he falls back on what he knows about God.
“Judge me, O God,” he pleads (PSALM 43:1) – and he hardly needs to add, ‘Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?’ (cf. Genesis 18:25). We do not know whether the Psalmist had been taken hostage by foreigners, or was being persecuted by his own people, but he was a victim of both “deceit” and “injustice,” and sought God’s deliverance.
But why should the LORD hear such a prayer? “For,” says the Psalmist, “thou art the God of my strength” (PSALM 43:2). “Thou art” leaves no room for doubt. God is, and ever has been, my protector. So our reassurance is that ‘Hitherto hath the LORD helped us’ (cf. 1 Samuel 7:12). Why would He let us down now?
Yet, we ask, when God is “my strength,” why should it be as if He has “cast me off?” We “mourn” when we lose our sense of the felt presence of God, and we become all the more keenly aware of “the oppression of the enemy” (PSALM 43:2).
The way forward for the Psalmist was to submit himself anew to the “light” and “truth” of God (PSALM 43:3). Let them be his guides to lead him back to “thy holy hill” - where God “tabernacled” amongst men (cf. John 1:14). For us, that means approaching God through His Son Jesus Christ, ‘the Light of the world’ (cf. John 8:12); and ‘the way, the Truth and the life’ (cf. John 14:6).
“Then will I go to the altar of God” (PSALM 43:4). Jesus is our altar, and our sacrifice, and our great high priest. So even when we do not ‘feel’ the presence of God (and we need not live by our feelings), we may ‘boldly approach the throne of grace’ in the name of Jesus (cf. Hebrews 4:16).
Thus the Psalmist can look forward to approaching “God my exceeding joy” (or ‘God the gladness of my joy’). When we are full of the joy of the LORD, our desire is to give expression to that joy through the praises of “O God, my God” (PSALM 43:4).
The Psalmist scolds himself for his dejection. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me?” (PSALM 43:5). “Hope in God,” he says. Why? “For I shall yet praise Him.”
Indeed, He who is “the health of my countenance” will ‘wash away all tears’ at the last (cf. Revelation 21:4). And (owns the Psalmist once more), “He is my God.”
May we all have such a happy issue out of all our afflictions. And to His name be all the praise, and all the honour, and all the glory. Amen.
E). THE GOSPEL OF GOD.
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13.
Paul is continuing to speak about the Thessalonian reception of the gospel message from the point of view of the messengers.
1 Thessalonians 2:9. Now, still addressing them as “brethren” (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:1), he reminds them of what they “remember”: “our labour and the toil.” Far from being ‘burdensome’ to them (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:6), the missionaries were “night and day working, in order NOT TO burden” any of them. You can imagine Paul busying himself in his trade of tentmaking, but still finding time to “preach unto you the gospel of God.”
Appointed by God, approved by God, entrusted by God, and aiming to please God (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:4): it is “THE GOSPEL OF GOD” that they (and we) preach (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; Romans 1:1; Romans 15:16; 2 Corinthians 11:7).
1 Thessalonians 2:10. Having called God as witness to their integrity (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:5), Paul now summons the believers AND God as witnesses as to “how holily (i.e. devoutly), righteously and blamelessly” the missionaries conducted themselves among the believers in Thessalonica.
1 Thessalonians 2:11. “Even as you (all) know.” Paul reintroduces the strand of what the Thessalonians “know” to be true (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:5).
Not only were the missionaries gentle as nursing mothers ‘yearning’ over their own children (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8), but they were “as a father with his own children” exhorting and comforting each one of them.
1 Thessalonians 2:12. The missionaries were literally “testifying” that the new believers should “walk worthy of God who called (them) to His own kingdom and glory.”
The kingdom of God broke into this sphere of existence when Jesus was ‘born king’ in Bethlehem. So, when John and Jesus both said, ‘the kingdom of God is at hand’ (cf. Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17), they were speaking of the immediate presence of the king. The mighty works of Jesus were intended to prove that the kingdom of God had come (cf. Matthew 12:28).
When the Pharisees demanded to know when the kingdom of God should come, Jesus answered, ‘The kingdom of God is within you’ (cf. Luke 17:20-21). The word ‘you’ is plural, so a better reading might be ‘in the midst of you all.’ Jesus was NOT saying that the kingdom of God was in the Pharisees’ hearts (cf. Matthew 5:20 and Luke 11:39)!
We become citizens of the kingdom of God immediately upon our conversion. We have a new king over our lives, Jesus. The word ‘kingdom’ speaks of the sovereignty of Jesus, His right to rule over our hearts. It also speaks of God’s people, under God’s rule.
1 Thessalonians 2:13. “For this cause also we thank God unceasingly, that, when you (all) received the word of God which you (all) heard of us, you (all) received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectually works in you (all) who believe.”
No wonder Paul, Silas and Timothy could ‘give thanks always for you all, making mention of you (all) in our prayers’ (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:2). To God alone be the glory!
F). A CRITIQUE OF PHARISAIC HYPOCRISY.
Matthew 23:1-12.
Turning away from the Pharisees, Jesus addressed both the crowds and His own disciples (Matthew 23:1). From the outset, Jesus acknowledged the legitimacy of the Pharisees as a party within Judaism: they “sit in Moses’ seat” (Matthew 23:2). Whether or not there was a ‘chair’ as such, their office as teachers of the law of Moses was accepted by our Lord.
Before we proceed, we must acknowledge that there were amongst the Pharisees those who spoke out against the tendency to hypocrisy within their own party. This is also true within the church. We must be careful not to tar everyone with the same brush.
1. To “say and to do not” receives a stern indictment from Jesus (Matthew 23:3).
Jesus is here criticising the ‘Do as I say do’ mentality of much of the Pharisaic teaching. ‘Yes,’ says Jesus: do ‘do what they say’ - inasmuch as they teach you what Moses taught - but if they do not ‘practise what they preach’ then do not follow their lifestyles. The applicability of this advice goes beyond the immediate context of first century Judaism: it applies also to the Christian church, right down to the present day.
2. There is a tendency to set man-made rules above God’s Word (Matthew 23:4).
This was allegedly done with a view to clarifying the law, but in fact transformed it into an impossible burden for the people. Those who make Christianity to be about ‘do this, and don’t do that’ will very rarely lift a finger to help those who are genuinely struggling to enter the kingdom of God. This stands in stark contrast to the easy ‘yoke’ of Christ (Matthew 11:28-30).
3. Outward show is no proof of a genuine inward relationship with God (Matthew 23:5).
In their own observance of the detail of the law, the hypocritical Pharisees were often just showing off. What they were doing was not wrong (Numbers 15:38-39; Deuteronomy 6:8), but pretentiously exaggerated. What is the use of our carrying the largest Bible to the church, if we do not bear the Word of God in our hearts, and obey it in our lives?
4. A pretentious spirit delights to receive honour from men (Matthew 23:6-7).
Not only do they love the place of honour at feasts, but they drag this worldly priority into the place of worship. Furthermore, says Jesus, they love honorific titles - even when they are out and about in the market places of life. This tendency is not only found in Pharisaic circles: it is part and parcel of the human condition.
5. Turning to His disciples, Jesus says, “be not ye” like them (Matthew 23:8-10).
a) Jesus is speaking against using a title like Rabbi/ Master/ Teacher, as if it entitled us to privileges without responsibilities (Matthew 23:8). To do so robs Christ of His place as our Master/ Leader/ Guide/ Instructor. Furthermore, He reminds us that we are all brethren under Him, so placing one above another is not in the spirit of the kingdom.
b) Similarly, to style a mere man as Father robs our Father in heaven of His priority and dignity in our lives (Matthew 23:9). There may be one who can say to us that we are his ‘own son in the faith’ (1 Timothy 1:2) - yet it is ‘in Christ Jesus’ that we are begotten ‘through the gospel’ (1 Corinthians 4:14-15). We must esteem those who labour in the gospel on our behalf (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13), yes - but ministers are not infallible.
c) Neither be called Master/ Leader/ Guide/ Instructor - for this title belongs to Christ (Matthew 23:10). We must learn to lean on Jesus, rather than on His ministers. We must obey His Word, rather than the opinions of even the best of men.
6. The grace of humility (Matthew 23:11-12).
Jesus’ final words on this subject - before pronouncing His eight ‘woes’ against the Pharisees (Matthew 23:13-33) - echo teaching which He has already given (cf. Matthew 20:25-28). Rise yourself up above others, and He will strike you down. Live a life of loving service toward others, and He will raise you up.
