In Joshua 3 and 4, God illustrates for us three essentials
for moving ahead by faith and claiming all that He has for us: the Word of
faith, the walk of faith, and the witness of faith. If we are to cross the
Jordan’s in our life, face the Jericho’s, and defeat the giants, those
obstacles and mountains that stand between us and the place of victory, we must
learn to live by faith! In 2 Corinthians 5:7, the Apostle Paul said, “For we
walk by faith, not by sight.” We cannot walk and live by our feelings because
they change depending on the circumstances and situations around us. And
usually our “sight”, our feelings will usually take us down the wrong path and
cause us to make bad decisions and choices for ourselves.
First, in Joshua 3:1-13, we find that God has given us the
Word of faith. In this paragraph, you find 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. 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). After Joshua got his orders from the LORD, he gave them to the officers
or leaders of the twelve tribes, who then in verses 1-4, gave them to the
people.
Joshua was an early riser (Joshua 6:12; 7:16; 8:10), who spent
the first hours of the day in communion with God (Joshua 1:8). In this, he was
like Moses (Ex. 24:4; 34:4), David (Ps. 57:8; see 119:147), Hezekiah (2 Chron.
29:20), and our Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 1:35; see Isa. 50:4). It's impossible
to live by faith and ignore the Word of God and prayer (Acts 6:4); for faith is
nurtured by worship and the Word. The people God uses and blesses know how to
discipline their bodies so that they can give themselves to the Lord in the
early morning hours.
Joshua ordered the camp to move ten miles from The Acacia
Grove 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.
The Ark is mentioned sixteen times in chapters 3 and 4.
It's called "the Ark of the Covenant" ten times, "the Ark of the
Lord" three times, and simply "the Ark" three times. 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). The Law of God was kept in the Ark, a reminder of God's covenant
with Israel; and the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled on the mercy seat on
the annual Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:14-15).
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). When the nation had marched through
the wilderness, the Ark had gone before them (:33); and Moses would say, "Rise
up, O Lord! May Your enemies be scattered; may Your foes flee before You"
(Num. 10:35). On that occasion, the presence of the Ark was a guarantee of the
presence of the Lord.
Each of the tribes had an assigned place in the camp and an
assigned order in the march when they broke up camp (Josh. 2). 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. But they were not to get too close
to the Ark, for this was a holy piece of furniture from the tabernacle; and it
was not to be treated carelessly. God is our companion as we go through life,
but we dare not treat Him like a "buddy."
Today, are you in the Word of faith and walking by faith and
not by “sight”?
God bless!
