Good morning to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends as we begin a new week together.
I wonder what great miracle you are needing this Monday. Do you think God understands the great need you have? Is the God you know powerful enough to accomplish the miracle you need? Were you awed, as I was, by the closing song I gave you over the weekend, and how the video of God’s majesty as seen BOTH in the macro and micro worlds, calls us to stand in awe of God?
Join me again, 3400 years ago with Joshua and more than 1 million people standing on the banks of the flooded Jordan river wondering what is going to happen next. The account of this amazing miracle is found in Joshua 3, in the Bible. I was there, visiting Israel, a few weeks ago. I stood in the Jordan river, I drove by the city of Jericho, I looked at the vast desert south of the Dead Sea from which these 1 million Israelites had walked, I looked across at the vast region east of the Jordan where these Israelites were likely camped, awaiting God’s direction. In our weekend edition we looked at what Joshua had heard from God and told both the Levites and the people about the flooded Jordan river. Now today, let’s walk with them, are you ready for a remarkable miracle?
“So, when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan river, the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan river is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the Ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing! it piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Dead Sea was completely cut off! So, the people crossed over opposite Jericho!! The priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by, until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.“ (Joshua 3:14-17)
Honestly now my friends, does that almost take your breath away as you consider the remarkable sight these words describe? What strikes you as most unreasonable, most unbelievable in this miraculous scene? Is it the Levite priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant and actually walking INTO the flooded Jordan as instructed by Joshua? When’s the last time you got close enough to a flood to step into the water? Is it the miracle of the river piling up in a heap, while the last trickle runs south to the Dead Sea? Is it the rush of people, thousands, hundreds of thousands of men, women, kids, carts, and animals running across the Jordan riverbed, without any water, and up the other bank onto the land they’d only dreamed about for so long?
And how long do you suppose it took more than 1 million, perhaps as many as almost 2 million people, to cross the dried-up Jordan river? And all the while, those faithful priests stand in the middle of the riverbed, holding up the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders, representing the Presence and Promises of God. How many hours did they stand there? Can you hear the shouts, the screams of delight and amazement? Can you see the people slapping those priests on the back as they rush by, thanking them for their courage and faith in God? Can you see adults, on both sides of the river, holding their children up in their arms or putting them up on their shoulders and pointing, explaining to their kids the remarkable miracle they are experiencing which no one has ever seen before?
Finally, the last of them scrambled up the other side of the Jordan riverbank, while the faithful priests remained standing in the middle of the riverbed, holding the Ark on their shoulders. They awaited word from Joshua, and Joshua awaited word from God. Joshua recorded for us what happened next: “When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, ‘Choose 12 men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up 12 rocks from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them up over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight!’ (Joshua 4:1-3) Look, can you see Joshua? He’s pointing at the priests holding the Ark, telling them to wait, to stay right where they are, be patient! Then Joshua calls out the 12 men, gathers them around him and explains what he has heard from God and what it means. Let’s listen in…
“Each of you is to take up a rock on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your descendants ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Tell them that the flow of the Jordan river was cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD… These rocks are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever!” (Joshua 4:4-7) 12 men. Each man represented an entire tribe of Israel, some of which were well over 100,000 people by this time. What a great privilege! Watch them. First looking upstream to be sure the water is not yet running, then scrambling down into the riverbed, scurrying around to find a rock, a big rock! Down on their hands and knees digging that rock up out of the riverbed, hoisting it up on their shoulder and coming back to Joshua on the WEST bank of the Jordan river.
Joshua records this for history: “…the men carried the 12 stones over with them to their camp, where they put them down. Joshua set up the 12 stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan…and they are there to this day. Now the priests who carried the Ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan riverbed until everything the LORD had commanded Joshua was done by the people…” (Joshua 4:8-10)
Come on friends, let’s stand over there, out of the way of all the action, and just watch. Make yourself comfortable, it’s going to take many hours for this huge throng, all their children and animals, all their carts and belongings, to make their way from where they had camped to the riverbed, then across that miraculously dry riverbed, and up the other side, and then to a place where they can set up camp for the night.
More than 1 million people! What a phenomenal sight! And every few hours do you see other Levites coming to replace those standing firm in the middle of the riverbed, proudly, joyfully, faithfully, holding the Ark of God’s Covenant on their shoulders?
It’s a miraculous sight none of us will ever forget as long as we live! And we’ll tell it to our kids, our grandkids, our great grandkids and if possible, we’ll bring them to this place, and tell them the story as they watch the river flow, especially at flood season! Oh my, what a great and awesome God! How could we ever doubt Him, ever turn away from Him?
Let’s just soak it all in my friends, with this song and tomorrow we’ll come back and call those priests to come up out of the Jordan riverbed!
Today’s Scripture is Joshua 3:14-4:10.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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