Joshua 3:3-5(NKJV)
3and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.” 5And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
Crossing over Jordan was important to the Israelites because it put them in position to fulfill their destiny. Destiny is the purpose for which God created any person or group. For Israel to fulfill that purpose they had to be on the west side of the Jordan River. Nowhere else in the world would do.
For us to fulfill our corporate and individual destiny we also have to be positioned correctly. Sometimes that involves a physical positioning such as where we live. More often it involves a spiritual positioning. We need to be the kind of Christians that are able to fulfill our destiny. We need to have the right attitudes and lifestyle. This requires that we “cross over” some lines of decision and dedication in our lives. If we do not we will never be the church that our generation needs.
I want to spend the next few days looking at what God did in Israel’s life to prepare them to cross over the Jordan. There are a number of things that they needed to understand if they were going to cross over successfully. I believe we can learn from them.
In the above verses, the people are told that certain things must be done because “we have not gone this way before.” Crossing into the place of destiny puts us into unfamiliar territory. We will be doing things and going places we have not done or gone to before. This makes us a little uncomfortable, but there were some things Israel had to understand in order to deal with that. First of all the Ark of the covenant would go before them.
As we cross over into position to fulfill our destiny we need to know that the presence and power of God go before us. We do not go alone. If we had to depend on our knowledge or ability we would not be up to the task. We will encounter things that we have no experience in dealing with. However when we take comfort in the fact that the power and presence of God goes before us to prepare the way, we understand we can deal with we will face with complete success.
In the case of Israel, this was represented by the Ark of the Covenant. They did not move until they saw the ark move. We do not have a physical Ark to follow, we have something much better. We have the indwelling Holy Spirit who leads us and guides us. That inward presence is also the power of God that goes before us. We have the written word of God that we can look at with our natural eyes. When we read these powerful promises, we can be assured that God goes before us, just as surely as the Ark told Israel God and his power went before them.
The people were also given an instruction that always struck me as a little curious. They were told to keep a distance between themselves and the Ark. This was specifically because they had not gone this way before. It would seem to me that unfamiliar territory would mean that they should follow the presence of God more closely not be farther from it. However the opposite was true.
Now this does not mean that we should not stay close to God. However there is a reason for keeping this distance. Our church is built in a valley between the road and a river. As I studied this I found that the distance Israel was told to keep from the Ark was almost exactly the distance from our road, which is elevated, to the river behind our building. That distance is about ½ mile, or the 2000 cubits of the bible.
I pictured myself standing at the top of our driveway looking toward the river. I imagined the Ark being carried down to the river and the priests finally coming to its bank. As I lifted my eyes I understood why it was so important to keep the distance.
On the other side of our river are some fields, hills and another road. From where I stood at the end of the driveway I could clearly see the “promised land” on the other side of the river. If I was Israel I would have a clear view of the goal, my place of destiny. However I had a clear view of something else. I could clearly see the Ark at the bank of the river.
I believe there is more to this thought than I can convey here, but let me point out one important thing. This vantage point causes me to be able to keep sight of both the goal and the presence of God. It causes me to see the goal through the presence of God. I do not have to choose one focus or the other. I can easily keep both.
I believe we need to stay in God’s presence. I believe that presence is the key to winning the world for Jesus. However I believe we also need to be able to see the goals that God sets before us to accomplish the tasks. If our focus is too much on the goals we lose sight of God’s presence. We must be able to see both. We must see the goal through the prism of the presence.
When we take this approach, we won’t lose sight of what God wants us to do. However we will also be able to clearly see when we begin to deviate from the path the presence of God is leading us on. Many have abandoned the God’s presence to obtain the goals they know God wants them to accomplish. This generally leads to a compromise of His principles as well. If we are going to truly fulfill our destiny, it can only be done by keeping God’s principles and experiencing His presence.
See the goal. But don’t forget to keep your eyes on how it is accomplished. By doing both we will see God’s purpose for our generation come to pass.
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