Book of Joshua - Ch. 4, Vs. 1-24 (12/25/2003)

Everyone open your Bibles to 1st Joshua 4. You know it's quite interesting as we move through this book,

I know we're just starting, but a lot has taken place. Today we see another miracle, perhaps the greatest in all of the

Bible. And it came to pass when all the children were clean passed over Jordan that the

Lord spoke unto Joshua saying take you 12 men out of the people out of every tribe a man.

Now Joshua is told to select one man from each tribe making 12 and command you them saying take you hence out of the midst of Jordan out of the place where the priests feet stood firm 12 stones and you shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place that you shall lodge this night.

Then Joshua called the 12 men whom he had prepared of the children of Israel of every tribe a man and Joshua said unto them pass over before the ark of the

Lord your God unto the midst of the Jordan and take you up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder according as his number the tribe of the children of Israel that this may be a sign among you that when your children ask their fathers in time to come saying what mean ye by these stones then you shall answer them that the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the

Lord when it passed over Jordan the waters of Jordan were cut off and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel forever and the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded them and took up 12 stones out of the midst of Jordan as the

Lord spoke unto Joshua according to the number the tribes of the children of Israel and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged and laid them down there and Joshua's set up 12 stones in the midst of Jordan in the place where the feet of the priest bear the ark of the covenant stood and they were there unto this day now seems rather unique it's hard to get any meaning from it but Greg what's your thinking on the the priests were in them in the center of the bed of the river they the 12 men one from every tribe was to pile up a bunch of stones in the middle they were to take a stone out of the river other stone and carry it to the far side then

Joshua set them up there what kind of meaning is there in this well the rest of you be thinking we we have something physical that he's doing seems to me to be an odd thing joy anything come to mind well

David is it just to remind them of the miracle well that's true

I I too thought of all of that but that didn't satisfy me this section has great spiritual significance you know everything in the

Old Testament was a physical doing of a spiritual truth in the new and to be frank with you

I wrestled with this for quite a while in an attempt to get the full significance now in in Romans if you'll turn to the sixth chapter and I'm quoting from Phillips book

Phillips is not a translation it's an interpretation but in Romans 6 1 through 4 joy will you read that for us all right now when did we die to sin

David all right

I hope you have not forgotten that all of us that were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death now we were dead and buried with him in baptism so that justice he was raised from the dead by the splendid revelation of the

Father's power so we too might rise to life on a new plane an altogether new plane so Christ went into death instead of you and me and that is set before us here in the book of Joshua I believe let's see if we can find it 12 stones were put into the water of death and it would have been death had they not had the hand of God so 12 stones represented part of Israel or all of Israel David all of Israel those 12 stones were placed in Jordan to speak of the death of Christ and the 12 stones taken out of Jordan and put on the west bank of the river represents the resurrection of Christ now follow it took me a long time but see if I can explain it so you can at least have a kernel of something to think about the stones were not taken from the east side of Jordan they were taken out of the river of Jordan so if we have the watery

Jordan representing his death he went into death ahead of me for me he died over 1 ,900 years ago 2 ,000

Paul makes it very clear in the chapter

Romans that we were identified what was the purpose of the of our being placed into Christ Greg all right what was the purpose of us being placed into his death all right and you are identified today because you were placed into Christ so we identify ourselves with him right now

I think it's a shame that the word baptized was transliterated and not translated it's a

Greek word a baptizo and here it has no connection with water it speaks of identification

Christ in his death and when he died he died in our place you must get that must understand that if he did not die you have to all of those that are not in Christ will have to suffer death not the physical death the spiritual death his death was my death when he arose from the dead then we arose from the dead also and we are joined today to a living

Jesus Christ it is in this measure that we are identified with Christ that you and I can enjoy all the spiritual blessings in being identified with him now when the children of Israel crossed over the river they became citizens of Palestine they became forever identified with that land so much so that today even at this hour they speak of the

Jew in Palestine and when he's out of the land he is spoken of as a wandering

Jew now let's tie all of these facts together when we were called of God and received

Jesus Christ as our Savior his death became my death our death and his resurrection became my resurrection and when

I wander or you wonder even if it's just briefly it has a tragic meaning to it

Paul wrote a blessed truth in Ephesians 2 4 through 7

David read that Ephesians 4 to 7 all right when he died he died for our sins that we might have life and when he came back from the dead his life was then our life now we're joined to the

Living God that's one of the greatest truths in the Bible so to go back the twelve men were instructed of Joshua God through Joshua one man from each tribe they were as they passed over they were to pick up a stone probably as heavy as they could carry and to take it with them to the far side then the priests were called to come over to come out of the river and these men as they came laid the stone on the west side of the river to me that represents first the death of Christ he went into death for me for you that's the pile of stones in the river then he came out of death resurrected to a new that's the stones one at a time and that speaks of us as we have to receive

Christ one at a time not he doesn't come and save all of you he saves one of you this one and this one and this one at a certain time in our life he puts the stone on the

West Bank and Joshua built a monument for him and that represents the resurrected

Christ and our being identified with him in Christ to the new life as Ephesians speaks and we are identified with Christ now does my ramblings make any sense do you do you get the idea that this picture is the death burial and resurrection of Christ I think it's all there if we'll just dig it out he did not pass the world through just his children he did not die for the world he died just for his children and it was all under the direction of God the father the priests the men everything and the the one man from each tribe of the children picked up a stone and carried it to the other side now

David let me get your wandering thinking on this that's right that's right yes never gets tired oh there's so much here you want to say something everything well yes yes get it fixed in your mind that every thing every word in the

Bible points to Jesus Christ it all passes through him it is all made possible by him

Greg you have any thoughts on what we've just stated yes

Russell you got in a little late but what's your thinking well the

Bible is full of incredible truth the sanctification of common sense turn to ten now please for the priests which bear the

Ark stood in the midst of Jordan until everything was finished that the

Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the people according to all that Moses commanded and the people hastened to pass over now bear the

Ark in the middle of the Jordan until everything was finished you remember

Christ saying it is finished on the cross then the people hastened to pass over well that's only natural if we were in that circumstance and we saw the waters divided and I got the dry ground to pass over I would be running as if possible to get to the other side for fear that I don't know how long that water will stay back so they would be naturally in a hurry to get over when in obedience to God we have taken our place and engaged in the service which he has assigned us we should patiently abide in it until in his providence he has us leave it then we'll go to the next place and engage in whatever service he has called us look back over your life and you will see that that's true

Greg I have watched you for years

I can remember when you came and you lost your job but the chemical plant

I can't think what it was but we both decided then that was the best thing that ever happened to you you know we can always say at the end of the day this has been the best thing that ever happened to me why do we look at the negative side so much 11 and it came to pass when all the people were clean passed over that the ark the

Lord passed over and the priests in the presence of people the ark is mentioned as the efficient cause here they didn't have the ark when

Moses parted the sea you remember so this is better than that because of the ark well it was a great miracle passage of the

Red Sea in this respect that admitting the fact there is no possibility of the incision the insinuation of the world that this was produced by the river drying up or whatever now look at what

I think it's amazing that God had it planned this way first it was in the spring when the river was flooded impossible to get across second they are about to go into the land which is at the spring of life we enter into a new life and in 12 and the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and half tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the children of Israel as Moses spake unto them the people of God should remember that they belong to how many families

David one family whether you like your brother or not he's in the same family and it's not just this church and they have one common cause among all of us most gladly therefore should each portion pursue the course which is best for the whole

God's promised us that he will not send anything meaning that he sends everything he will not send anything that is more than you can bear or is not good for the whole and the whole church is what he's speaking about 13 about 40 ,000 prepared for war passed before the

Lord in the battle to the plains of Jericho now I believe next week we will see another thing that has to be done before they can go into battle on that day of the

Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of Israel and they feared him as they feared

Moses all the days of his life and the Lord spake unto Joshua saying command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony that they come up out of the

Jordan Joshua therefore commanded the priest saying come ye up out of Jordan and it came to pass when the priests that bear the

Ark of the Covenant of the Lord were come up out of the midst of Jordan and the souls of the priests feet were lifted up onto dry ground dry land that the waters of Jordan returned to their place and flowed over the banks as they did before now it is the father that called them up through Joshua through Christ and Joshua they could not move until then you know that's right and the instant that they were clear of the river it returned to normal the laws of nature there was a law that said the river must flow but God suspended that law that which takes place and I wish you would remember this that which takes place is only that which

God has decreed in the past their crossing which was the final act completed the evidence of this miracle when the waters returned there was no sign of it except the stones 19 and the people came up out of Jordan on the 10th day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal and on in the east border of Jericho now this too is under control fact there's nothing here that is not shown us to be under control because four days before the

Passover what did they do four days before the

Passover Greg you probably wouldn't know unless you went back and looked it up but they selected the lamb the very day when the

Paschal lamb required to be set apart the providence of God having arranged that the entrance into the promised land should be at a feast time

David I truly believe that when he comes back it'll be on the date of some feast and if we were smart enough we could figure out which feast 20 and those twelve stones which they took out of Jordan did

Joshua pitch in Gilgal and he's speaking to the children of Israel saying when your children shall ask their fathers in time to come saying what mean these stones so it is necessary for early religious education of our children the parents who neglect this will have an awful awful thing before the judge and when you shall let your children know then you shall let your children know saying

Israel came over this Jordan on dry land now if we carry the spiritual lessons out our conclusion can be only that we are to teach our children the gospel the business of parents is to teach the gospel and I trust that each one of you have done that there's no privilege like the parent leading his child to a saving knowledge of Christ 23 for the

Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you until you were passed over as the

Lord your God did to the Red Sea which he dried up from before us until we were gone over that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the

Lord that it was mighty that you that you might fear the

Lord your God forever this is another truth that we see from the crossing of the river it was done before all of the world nothing secret nothing hidden they could watch it when

God speaks it's for all of the people in all ages and designed and adapted to make known his character to the universe forever what

God did for the children of Israel he did for their benefit and your benefit and mine he did it that the people of the earth might that the hand of the

Lord is indeed mighty I can see it today working wherever I am that the hand of the

Lord is in that this purpose was graphically fulfilled as soon as the

Canaanites heard the news that the children crossed over Jordan now we've kind of overlooked the

Canaanites but Greg how do you suppose they felt when the river suddenly dried up and the children of Israel marched over boy their

God must really be something some of the important things to remember out of this chapter are that the ark goes before and divides the

Jordan River not the rod of Moses but the ark Christ goes before us through death but also goes with us through life

Jordan is typical of Christ's death not ours the death of Christ now we have a few minutes let me see what you have

David sure that's right you know death terrifies us but the closer

I get to it the less terrible it is and I suppose

I'll eventually get to where I look forward to it not completely but death is is not this the stopping of this life

Christ will will see us through he will be there with us something else anyone that's right

God had put in the hearts of the Canaanites fear fear of his people well well could someone else have been in among the children of Israel and passed over I don't think so he had spent 40 years and weeding out yes yes we will see the falling of the wall and victory in chapter 6 but there's still one thing that needs to be done and it's in chapter 5

I'm sure now did you this past week think about my question did anybody there is something in the world that is as holy as God is what is it well no yes and no

Greg you weren't here last week you and your wife but I asked the question you have something or there is something in the world that is as holy as God what is it

Charlotte Christ one all right it is his spirit

I want us to to recognize how to look at things from God's view by by that I mean if we look at his spirit from his view is holy if we look at his spirit from us from our view is less than holy it has to be because we're looking at it but from him from his view it is holy it is the spirit of God which is holy

I can't for some reason this morning divide the two it's all right to look at it from our view if you will also look at it from his viewpoint that it is his spirit maybe