Forward by Faith, Joshua 3:1-13
Background: The book of Joshua deals with much more than ancient history—what God did centuries ago for the Jews. It’s about your life and the life of the church today—what God wants to do here and now for those who trust Him. The Book of Joshua is about the victory of faith and the glory that comes to God when His people trust and obey.
In the Christian life you’re either an overcomer or you’re overcome, a victor or a victim. After all, God didn’t save us to make statues out of us and put us on exhibition. He saved us to make soldiers out of us and move us forward by faith to claim our rich inheritance in Jesus Christ.
Moses said it perfectly: “He brought us out . . . that He might bring us in” (Deut. 6:23). Too many of God’s people have the mistaken idea that salvation—being delivered from the bondage of Egypt—is all that’s involved in the Christian life; but salvation is only the beginning.
In our personal spiritual growth and in our service for the Lord, “there remains very much land yet to be possessed” (Josh. 13:1, NKJV). The theme of the Book of Joshua is the theme of the Book of Hebrews: “Let us go on” (Heb. 6:1); and the only way to go on is by faith.
Unbelief says, “Let’s go back to where it’s safe”; but faith says, “Let’s go forward to where God is working” (see Num. 14:1-4).
40 years before, Joshua and Caleb had assured the Jews, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” That’s faith! But the people said, “We are not able!” That’s unbelief. That cost the nation forty years of discipline in the wilderness (see Num. 13:26-33). “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—your faith” (1 John 5:4, NKJV).
The lives of the men and women whom God has used—and is using—to challenge the church and change the world had one thing in common: They all believed God’s promises and did what He told them to do. They were men and women of faith, and God honored them because they believed His Word.
So, what’s the problem…God hasn’t changed, and the principle of faith hasn’t changed. What seems to have changed is the attitude of God’s people: We no longer believe God and act by faith in His promises. His promises never fail (Josh. 21:45; 23:14; 1 Kings 8:56), but we can fail to live by the grace of God and not enter into all that He has promised for us (Heb. 3:7-19; 12:15). God has “brought us out that He might bring us in,” but too often we fail to “enter in because of unbelief” (Heb. 3:19).
In Joshua 3, God shares with us how our faith go forward.
As the nation waited by the Jordan River, the people must have wondered what Joshua planned to do. He certainly wouldn’t ask them to swim the river or ford it, because the river was at flood stage (3:15). How about boats or rafts? Construction problems. So, what would their new leader do?
Like Moses before him, Joshua received his orders from the Lord, and he obeyed them by faith. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17, NKJV). It has been well said that faith is not believing in spite of evidence but obeying in spite of consequence.
Because Abraham believed God, he left Ur and headed for Canaan. Because Moses believed God, he defied the gods of Egypt and led the Jews to freedom. Because Gideon believed God, he led a small band of Jews to defeat the huge Midianite army. Living faith always leads to action. "faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26, NKJV).
This passage has five different messages, all of them based on the Word of God, which is the “word of faith” (Rom. 10:8). The people obeyed these messages by faith, and God took them over the river into the promised land.
NEED ELEMENT: Ever feel like your faith is stuck in a rut?
This is how our faith goes forward.
1. Our Faith Can Go Forward When We Seek After God’s Presence (vv. 1-4)
Explanation: Joshua wakes up early in the morning and goes to get alone and hear from the Lord. Once he heard, Joshua ordered the camp to move ten miles from The Acacia Grove (Shittim) to the Jordan; and no doubt the people in Jericho watched this march with great apprehension. It probably took Israel a day to make this journey; they rested another day; and on the third day, the officers gave them their orders: The people were to cross the river, following the ark of the covenant.
What was the importance of "The ark of the covenant”?
3 reasons:
1) It was the “throne of God,” the place where His glory rested in the tabernacle (Ex. 25:10-22) and God sat “enthroned between the cherubim” (Ps. 80:1, NIV). God’s Presence
2) The Law of God was kept in the ark, a reminder of God’s covenant with Israel; God’s Promise
3) The blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled on the mercy seat on the annual Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:14-15). God’s Pardon
The ark going before the people was an encouragement to their faith, for it meant that their God was going before them and opening up the way. God had promised Moses, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Ex. 33:14, NKJV). When the nation had marched through the wilderness, the ark had gone before them (Num. 10:33); and Moses would say, “Rise up, O Lord! May Your enemies be scattered; may Your foes flee before You” (v. 35, NIV). The presence of the ark was a guarantee of the presence of the Lord.
When the leaders of the tribes saw the priests bearing the ark and moving toward the river, they were to prepare their people to follow. Since the people had not traveled this way before, they needed God to guide them.
2. Our Faith Can Go Forward by Permitting God to Do the Work (v. 5)
Explanation: This was both an order and a promise, and the fulfillment of the promise depended on their obedience to the order. Some of God’s promises are unconditional, and all we have to do is believe them; while other promises require that we meet certain conditions. These conditions are not to earn God’s blessing; we’re making sure our hearts are ready for God’s blessing.
Using Mt. Sinai as the pattern (Ex. 19:9-15), “sanctify yourselves” meant that everybody bathed and changed their clothes and that the married couples devoted themselves wholly to the Lord. In the Near East this was a luxury that wasn’t used for personal hygiene.
The Bible uses the imagery of washing one’s body and changing clothes to symbolize making a new beginning with the Lord. Because sin is pictured as defilement (Ps. 51), God has to cleanse us before we can truly follow Him. This idea is carried over to the NT in 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1; Ephesians 4:26-27, and Colossians 3:8-14.
It was their actions that permitted God to do His wonders among them as He promised. This was just the beginning of miracles, for the Lord would go with them into the land, defeat their enemies, and enable the tribes to claim their inheritance. “Who is so great a God as our God? You are the God who does wonders” (Ps. 77:13-14, NKJV). “How great are His signs, And how mighty His wonders!” (Dan. 4:3, NKJV)
3. Our Faith Can Go Forward as the Lord Chooses to Use Us (v. 6-8)
Explanation: We are all chosen to do something for the Kingdom of God. Here are examples of the God’s people being used for 2 different ministries:
1) The Ministry of Faith and Service (the priests)
The priests had the responsibility of bearing the ark of the covenant and going before the people as they marched. It was the priests who had to get their feet wet before God would open the waters. The priests would also have to stand in the middle of the riverbed until all the people had passed over. When the priests arrived on the other side, the waters would return to their original condition. It took faith and courage for these priests to do their job, but they trusted God and relied on the faithfulness of His Word.
2) The Ministry of Leadership
When Moses led the nation through the Red Sea, this miracle magnified Moses before the people; and they recognized that he was indeed the servant of the Lord (Ex. 14:31). God would do the same thing for Joshua at the Jordan; and in so doing, He would remind the people that He was with Joshua just as He had been with Moses (Josh. 4:14; see 1:5, 9). Both Moses and Joshua had received their authority from the Lord before these miracles occurred, but the miracles gave them stature before the people. It takes both authority and stature to exercise effective leadership.
4. Our Faith Can Go Forward When We Recognize Who God Is (vv. 9-13)
Explanation: Having instructed the priests bearing the ark, Joshua then shared the words of the Lord with the people. He didn’t magnify himself; He magnified the Lord and His gracious blessings to the nation.
That’s true spiritual leadership the eyes of God’s people were focused on the Lord and His greatness.
Joshua didn’t give the people a “religious pep talk.” He simply reminded them of the promises of God—the Word of faith—and encouraged them to trust and obey.
Joshua’s God was more than just the God of Israel. He was “the living God” (3:10) and “the Lord of all the earth” (vv. 11, 13). Because He is “the living God,” He can defeat the dead idols of the heathen nations that then inhabited the land (Ps. 115). Because He is “the Lord of all the earth,” He can go where He pleases and do what He wishes with every land and nation. “You shall be a special treasure to Me above all people,” God had told them at Sinai, “for all the earth is Mine” (Ex. 19:5, NKJV). “The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth” (Ps. 97:5).
Joshua explained to the people that God would open the river as soon as the priests bearing the ark put their feet into the waters of the Jordan. He also ordered each tribe to appoint a man to perform a special task that was explained later (Josh. 4:2-8). God was going before His people, and He would open the way!
The Lord gave the people all the information they needed to accomplish what He wanted them to do. You find conditions that the people had to fulfill, orders they had to obey, and promises they had to believe. God gave His “Word of faith” to His people anytime He asks them to follow Him into new areas of ministry. And, whatever God asks you to do, God will empower you to do. God’s commandments are still His enablements, and God’s promises do not fail. “Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper” (2 Chron. 20:20).
