Problem Solved

The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan.

– Joshua 3:17

In this new year, we will face new situations and problems as we journey together toward the Celestial City of our God. We may face unemployment, relocation, family problems, sickness, surgery, and even death. We will face the devil, who goes about like a roaring lion to swallow us, if possible. We will wrestle against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.

These hard realities of life are likened to the Jordan River that Joshua and the Israelites needed to cross before they could enter the Promised Land. There is a Jordan for the people of God, and we are told it is at flood stage. Who is competent for such a task? God must help us, and he will. We have his promise, his word, and his presence to help us.

Seeing the Problem or Seeing God

Long ago, God promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit the beautiful land of Canaan. In due time, God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, calling him to redeem his people out of Egypt and bring them into the promised land. With his powerful outstretched hand, God performed mighty miracles and delivered the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage. But Israel disobeyed the Lord, and because they did not believe God’s word, they failed to enter into Canaan’s rest. They died in the wilderness.

The Israelites’ problem was unbelief. When Moses sent spies to Canaan to scout out the land, the majority of them returned with a negative report: “‘We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! “¦ But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large’ . . . . ‘We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.’ And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, ‘The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size “¦ We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them'” (Numbers 13:27-28, 31-33). But two spies, Joshua and Caleb, gave a positive report: “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them'” (Numbers 14:6-9). Notice, the majority saw only the problems, but the minority saw God as well.

Now, some forty years later, after Moses died, the faithful Lord of the covenant was ready to guide the children of the disobedient generation across the overflowing Jordan into the Promised Land. Like their fathers, they also sent out spies; but these spies brought back an encouraging word. They reported that the Canaanites had heard of the Lord drying up the Red Sea forty years earlier, and were afraid of him: “When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed” (Joshua 2:11). So the spies told Joshua, “The Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us” (2:24). After so many years, this was the right report: The Canaanites feared Israel and her God.

God Ordains Problems

The report of the spies encouraged Joshua. But more than that, God himself encouraged Joshua, telling him what he would do at this new time, in this new situation, with this new generation. God wanted his people to cross the Jordan and enter Canaan, and with God, every one of them would.

This problem of trying to cross an overflowing river was not what the people would have chosen for themselves. But when we walk with the Lord, we do not have to worry about any unforeseen difficulties we may face. We can have confidence that they are appointed by God, and that he wants to take us through them to make us strong. Yes, this way may be new to us, but it is not new to God. God, who was faithful to us in the past, will be faithful in the present and future.

In chapters 3 and 4 of Joshua, two key words, ark and crossing are emphasized, appearing several times. The ark symbolizes God’s presence. God is with his people to help them solve every problem they face. Before him, all problems must flee. The Sovereign Lord is able to dry up the Jordan for us; or, if he chooses, cause us to walk on water as on dry ground.

The Necessity of Consecration

First, though, the people needed to consecrate themselves. In Joshua 3:5 we read, “Joshua told the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.'” To experience this kind of supernatural help, God’s people must be holy. They must be united, disciplined, organized, under authority, and wholeheartedly obedient to the divine word.

We cannot follow our holy God unless we also are holy, internally as well as externally. God himself commands, “Be holy, because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44). We find a similar command in Exodus 19:10-11. The people had to wash their clothes, wash themselves, reaffirm their loyalty to the covenant, get rid of all idols, repent of their sins, and believe in the Lord of the covenant. Although their parents did not believe, they must, for no one could enter Canaan without belief in the covenant Lord. They must be reconciled with one another, living in peace and unity. They must be one in the Lord.

We experience God’s power only when we consecrate ourselves to him. We cannot practice sin and expect divine deliverance.

God Does Amazing Things

Then Joshua told the people, “Tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” Joshua’s optimism is based on God’s own promise. Our God is a God of amazing things. He is the “I AM THAT I AM,” the eternal, personal, creator, redeemer God. He is God Almighty, El-Shaddai. He is the Warrior/Savior who always leads his believing people in triumph, solving their problems in remarkable ways. This God, who performed the miracles of plagues against the Egyptians, would do amazing things again.

Joshua encouraged the people, saying, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites” (Joshua 3:9-10). “As soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord-the Lord of all the earth-set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap” (v. 13).

First, Joshua said, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.” God’s word reveals a God who performs amazing things, to whom our problem is not amazing. Our problems are great only if our God is small. Whatever the problem, the answer is in hearing and believing the word of God. Man’s words discourage us, but God’s word builds us up. That is why we must come to the word frequently, listening intently when it is preached as well as reading it, studying it and meditating on it. When we see the power of God in his word, then we shall be strong and courageous.

Joshua then said, “This is how you will know that the living God is among you.” Idols are works of human minds and hands; they have no life and cannot save us. But our God is the living, true and only God. He is with us, and, therefore, he will help us.

Then Joshua said, “He will certainly drive out your enemies.” How does he do that? He does so first by helping us cross the Jordan. So as soon as the priests carrying the ark set foot in the Jordan, its waters were cut off and the people went across (3:13). The problem was solved.

This is the gospel: Believe and you shall be saved. The first generation refused to believe and they perished in the wilderness. But the second generation believed the word and God solved their problems.

God’s Ark Is the Key

As we noted earlier, one of the key words used in chapters 3 and 4 is “ark.” The ark of the covenant was the most sacred object in the tabernacle. A rectangular wooden box, forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches in height, it was covered in gold, inside and out, and topped with a lid of solid gold to which was attached two figures of cherubim facing each other, with wings stretched out and upward, meeting in the center. The ark symbolized the throne of the Lord, with God dwelling above its lid, under the wings of the cherubim, and the law of the testimony, which expressed the character of God, inside. Four priests carried the ark on poles inserted through rings attached to each side.

The ark symbolized God going in front of his people to deal with their enemies: “So they set out from the mountain of the Lord and traveled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest . . . Whenever the ark set out, Moses said, ‘Rise up, O Lord! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you'” (Numbers 10:33-35). It seems by now the pillar of fire and the cloud were no longer appearing; thus, God’s people were to focus on the ark and follow it. When the ark moved, God was moving, and they must follow him.

The ark symbolized the presence, holiness, and justice of God. It also symbolized the mercy of God. In Leviticus 16 we read that on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of a goat, slain as a sin offering for the people, upon the lid of the ark, called the mercy seat. The idea was that the people had violated God’s law, which was inside the ark, and God, who dwells above the ark, was angry against sin. When the blood of the sin offering was sprinkled on the mercy seat, God looked and forgave the sin of the people. All of this pointed to the death of the Messiah, the suffering Servant, in our place. Only Jesus Christ can propitiate the just wrath of God against us.

So when the people of Israel saw the ark, they knew that the invisible God was with them to guide them, fight for them, and save them. Joshua 3:7, 10-11 says, “And the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. . . This is how you will know that the living God is among you. . . [T]he ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan before you.” Joshua 3:3-4 tells us, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord . . . then you will know which way to go.” In verse 6 Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” In verse 8 God said to Joshua, “Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.” God is the way and he makes the way for us. (PGM) His ark goes ahead of us, and our job is very simple-we are to follow. And Joshua 4:7 tells us that “the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.”

The God of Abraham, Moses, and Joshua is with us. He said, “I will be with you, even to the end of the ages.” He said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If God is with us, our problems will be solved.

The Problem Solved

Thus, the people crossed the mighty Jordan. Notice, there was some difference between the solution to this problem and that of the Red Sea. In Exodus 14:15-16 we read, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.” And Exodus 14:21 says, “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land.”

Now, after forty years, the Lord did the same thing, but in a different manner. This was a new time, a new generation, and a new way of solving problems. Yet God remains the same. So there was no staff and no wind. It was simply, “Carry the ark and go into the water. And when the soles of your feet touch the water, it shall be divided, and you will walk through on dry land.” The priests carrying the ark believed this word from God and stepped into the river. And when the soles of their feet touched the water, the waters divided. The upstream waters rose up like a wall and the downstream waters immediately emptied into the Dead Sea. This was similar to when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt: “By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood firm like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea” (Exodus 15:8). Psalm 78:13 says, “He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand firm like a wall.”

But this time there was no staff and no wind. The priests simply touched the water and it divided. And we are told everyone crossed over to the western side-all adults, all infants, all children, all cattle, all priests, all soldiers, all leaders. Not one perished. When we consecrate ourselves to hear, believe and do the word of God, God does amazing things.

Joshua 3:16 says, “So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.” In chapter 4 we read, “As soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the Lord and the priests came to the other side while the people watched . . . And the priests came up out of the river, carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord. No sooner had they set their feet on dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before” (vv. 11, 18); “Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground” (v. 22). The problem was solved.

Erect a Memorial

God then instructed Joshua to build a memorial commemorating this supernatural event. In Joshua 4:4-7 we read, “So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, ‘Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, “What do these stones mean?” tell them . . .'” Tell them what? “God did amazing things! God solved our biggest problem!”

What is the purpose of this memorial?

1. It is a sign for the present generation. We are told in 4:20, “And Joshua set up at Gilgal twelve stones that they had taken out of the Jordan.” He set up these stones as a memorial “to serve as a sign among you” (v. 6). Those who participated in this event were to benefit from this sign. You see, there are times when Christians, though they have crossed over the Jordan, become discouraged, fearful, and dispirited. When this happens, we must look at such memorials and believe that he who delivered us in the past will save us again.
2. It is a sign for future generations. Joshua 4:6 begins, “In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them . . .” A memorial provokes questions. Those who see it ask, “What is this?” When your children ask, that gives you an opening to evangelize them. Tell them about the historical manifestation of the power of God in saving his people. Tell them, “Our God is a living God. Our God does amazing things. Our God is the Savior, the only true God, and we must serve him only. All other gods are false; they can do nothing.”

   In 4:21 Joshua told the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them . . .” The phrase “tell them” can be translated differently. In Hebrew the word is a hiphil perfect, so it means “to cause them to know for certain.” When our children ask, we must make sure they know, appreciate, and experience the salvation of the Lord. We do not want to give them mere intellectual knowledge; we want them to entrust themselves to this God who is among his people, the living God who does amazing things, the God who saves. We find the same idea in Exodus 12:26-27.

3. It is a sign for all peoples on earth. Joshua 4:24 says, “He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful.” God’s purpose is that in Abraham all the nations and families of the earth be blessed. This blessing comes through the knowledge of God, and this knowledge comes through the people of God. So the people of God are to tell all the people of the world about the wonders of God, so that they also may put their trust in him.

Our Memorial-the Bible

Why do we need memorials? Because we tend to forget God and his saving deeds. The stone memorials of Joshua’s day have been lost to history; but now God’s deeds have been written down in a book. Thus, we must look in the pages of the Bible to discover the amazing things our God does. When we come to church we must listen carefully to the word as it is preached, for it tells us about God and what he can do for us. Our God does amazing things; what he did before, he will do again. He saves us, making a way where there is none: “This mountain shall be removed, not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,” saith the Lord. We must diligently study the Scriptures to understand their meaning. We must encourage our children to ask questions: “What does this mean?” Then we must explain it to them and exhort them to put their trust in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. Additionally, we must share God’s word with all the people of the earth. In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus commanded, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Why were God’s words written down? For the same reason God dried up the Jordan: “He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God” (Joshua 4:24). The apostle John tells us that is why he wrote his gospel: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). That is the purpose of the memorial, and that is the purpose of the Scriptures-that we might come to know God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

Jesus Christ, our Problem-Solver

We live at a time of pluralism and inclusivism. The politically correct stance declares every religion to be equally true and valid. This is false! There is only one God and Savior, existing in three Persons. We must tell all the world that he alone is mighty to save, he alone is able to do amazing things, he alone is mighty to deliver sinners from the deadly waters of the Jordan. You see, the wages of sin is death, and the mighty Jordan symbolizes God’s wrath against our sins. We deserve to die, because we have sinned against God, who is just and holy.

But look at the ark borne by the priests. Inside it is the law which we have broken; above it is the presence of the holy God. Now look at the solid gold cover, the mercy seat. There God shows mercy to us because of the blood sprinkled upon it-the blood of a divinely accepted substitute. The death of Jordan is destroyed by the death of the substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ; therefore, its waters cannot destroy us. God is propitious to us because his wrath has been removed from us and put upon another.

Those who trust in Jesus Christ will not drown in the Jordan but will walk through on dry ground. By faith we are united with Christ, our covenant Lord. We died with him, are buried with him, and are raised with him to live a new life. In his presence is fullness of joy, and on his right hand, pleasures forevermore. With Christ we can go through every Jordan, and nothing in all the world can destroy us, for we are with him and in him. He has destroyed death for us and has liberated us from the fear of death, so that we can say with the apostle, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O grave, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).

People of God, let us go forward in this new year, knowing God is with us! Yes, we will face the Jordan, but fear not, the ark is with us; let us look to it and follow it. With our God, we shall cross the Jordan and soon enter the Promised Land. So be not afraid, but be courageous; God will surely solve all our problems. Let us move forward, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who brings us into his presence that we may dwell with him for ever and ever in everlasting joy. Amen.