Text: “Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them.” — Joshua 1:2 (NKJV)
Introduction: The Ending That Wasn’t the End
Every believer must eventually come face to face with one humbling truth: God’s work does not depend on us. He uses us, yes—mercifully, powerfully, even miraculously—but when our task is finished, He sets us down, and His work continues without pause.
There is an old saying that captures this truth: “God buries His workers, but carries on His work.” Those words are not meant to discourage the faithful; they are meant to free us from illusion. The illusion that the Kingdom hinges on our efforts. The illusion that God’s hand will falter when ours grows weak. The illusion that His work dies when we do.
The history of redemption is the story of a God who never stops working, even when His workers fall silent.
I. God’s Servants Pass Away, But His Purpose Endures
When Moses climbed Mount Nebo, he had led Israel for forty years. He had faced Pharaoh, parted the sea, delivered the Law, and interceded for a rebellious people again and again. If ever there were a man indispensable to the plan of God, it was Moses.
Yet when he died, God Himself buried him in an unmarked grave. “No man knows his sepulchre unto this day.” Why? Because Israel was not meant to linger there. The people were not to build a shrine; they were to cross the river.
“Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise.”
The work of God was not finished because the worker was gone. The promise did not perish with the prophet. God had already prepared Joshua. The same Spirit that empowered Moses now fell upon another. The mission continued.
That is how God works. He moves His servants through time like chapters in a great book—each with its beginning and end, but all leading toward one story: redemption through Christ.
Abraham dies, but Isaac remains. David passes, but Solomon builds. Elijah ascends, but Elisha carries his mantle. John the Baptist fades, and Jesus steps forward. Even the death of the Son of God was not the end—it was the hinge upon which all history turned.
The grave may close over the worker, but it cannot close over the work.
II. God’s Hidden Burial of Pride
There is something instructive about that unmarked grave. The Lord buried Moses Himself, and no one knows where. It was not an act of secrecy; it was an act of mercy.
God knows the tendency of the human heart. We are tempted to build monuments to men, to cling to personalities rather than principles, to make idols even of our heroes. But the Lord will not share His glory.
Every generation must learn that it is not the man who sustains the mission, but the Master.
We may love our mentors, our founders, our leaders—but we must never confuse the servant with the Savior. Churches die when they forget this. Denominations fracture when they build around a name rather than the Name above all names.
So God buries His workers—not as punishment, but as protection. He hides their graves to remind us: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”
III. God’s Call to the Next Generation
Joshua stood on the east bank of the Jordan facing the impossible. The wilderness lay behind, the fortified cities of Canaan before him. The man who had spoken to God face to face was gone. And yet the Lord said, “Now therefore arise.”
There is a holy baton in the hand of the Church. When one generation falls, the next must rise.
It is not enough to mourn the past; we must march into the future. The work does not pause for our grief. The kingdom advances by obedience, not nostalgia.
Every Christian must come to the moment Joshua faced—the moment when the question is no longer, “What would Moses do?” but “What will you do?”
The Lord said, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not leave you nor forsake you.” The same God, the same presence, the same promise.
The Church today must hear that same word. The saints of old have run their race. The prophets, apostles, martyrs, and reformers have taken their rest. But their mantle lies before us in the dust. The plow stands ready in the field.
Now therefore arise.
IV. God’s Workers Die, But His Spirit Lives
The continuity of God’s work is not mechanical—it is spiritual. What links Moses to Joshua, Elijah to Elisha, Paul to Timothy, and one generation to another is the abiding Spirit of God.
Jesus told His disciples, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.” (John 16:7). Even the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ did not interrupt the work—it expanded it. The Son completed redemption; the Spirit applies it.
So too, the Spirit continues to empower the Church today. The saints of the past are not gone; they are gathered around the throne, cheering us on. “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,” says the writer to the Hebrews. Their voices still echo in our preaching, their prayers still bear fruit in our labors.
The work of God is not a line that breaks—it is a river that flows through time, carried by the current of the Spirit.
V. God’s Work Demands Our Faithfulness, Not Our Fame
If God carries on His work without us, what then is our task? To be faithful in our time. To plow the row assigned to us. To sow the seed and leave the harvest to God.
We are not called to be remembered—we are called to be obedient.
Spurgeon once said, “The man buried his minister, but God’s truth went marching on.” Every sermon preached in the Spirit, every act of mercy done in love, every child catechized in truth becomes part of a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.
Our names may fade from memory, but the Word we speak endures forever.
So let us labor without anxiety. Let us preach without pride. Let us serve without fear. For even when the worker is gone, the work remains in God’s hands.
VI. God’s Promise of Resurrection
There is, of course, one final truth hidden in this saying: God buries His workers—but not forever.
When Moses appeared again, it was not in a grave but on a mountaintop—the Mount of Transfiguration—standing beside the glorified Christ. The man whom God buried now stood alive in the presence of the Lord he had served.
That is the destiny of every faithful worker.
Our bodies may rest in the earth, but our labor is not in vain. The same voice that said “Arise” to Joshua will one day say it again to all who sleep in Christ. “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
On that day, the plow will be exchanged for the crown, and the work that seemed endless will be revealed as complete.
Conclusion: The Field Still Awaits the Faithful
The image before us is simple: a sunlit field, the soil freshly turned, and a single plow resting in the furrow. The worker is gone. The day’s labor has ended. But the sun still shines, the field still waits, and the harvest is still to come.
That is the picture of the Church through the ages. God buries His workers—but carries on His work.
Let that truth steady our hands and strengthen our hearts.
When the time comes for us to lay down the tools of ministry, may we do so without regret. May we be found faithful in our generation, trusting that the next will rise to continue what God began.
For the same Lord who called Moses calls us. The same Spirit that empowered Joshua empowers us. The same promise that carried Israel across the Jordan carries the Church across the ages.
“Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise.”
Amen.
