Week #9 It s Time To Get Your Feet Wet Joshua 3:1-17 Presented Live on September 28, 2014

Transcription

1 I. Introduction and review Week #9 It s Time To Get Your Feet Wet Joshua 3:1-17 Presented Live on September 28, 2014 A. Have you ever considered receiving a rather magnanimous inheritance 1. Spending your inheritance 2. As the time comes close to receiving that inheritance, you start to get a little anxious 3. You start to make plans as to what you might do with the money or property once you get it 4. Dreams you may have had all of your life are now about to come true 5. That s how the Israelites viewed the other side of the Jordan 6. All they had to do was to cross it and claim their inheritance 7. There was great excitement among God s people B. The only thing that stood between them and their inheritance was that river 1. But it was spring harvest time in the Promised Land 2. This time period corresponds to our March-April time of the year Page 1 of 7

2 3. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? 4. They were going to get to share in that harvest, even though they didn t plant it or cultivate it 5. But at harvest time in the spring, the Jordan River always flooded [see 3:15] C. The Jordan River and its changes 1. The Jordan River does not flood like that anymore 2. This river contains about 3% of the water it used to have flowing between and sometimes over its banks 3. Today it discharges into the Dead Sea about 30 million cubic meters per year 4. But about 100 to 200 years ago it discharged about 1 billion 300 million cubic meters of water per year into the Dead Sea 5. There are some pictures of the Jordan at flood stage [photo] 6. But consider the effect on the Dead Sea [photos] II. Joshua and the people now leave Shittim and approach the Jordan River opposite Jericho [3:1-6] A. Its harvest time and the river is flooded with the spring thaw 1. It is impassable for the majority of the people and their possessions 2. What are they going to do 3. What is Joshua s plan 4. To approach the river and then wait on God to direct them Page 2 of 7

3 5. The only way to cross the Jordan river is by faith B. Joshua plans to lead the march into the Jordan River with the Ark of the Covenant 1. This is something that the Israel cannot afford to lose 2. The ark was the throne of God in the Holy of Holies 3. But Joshua was used to the Ark leading the people a. Numbers 10:33 Thus they set out from the mount of the LORD three days' journey, with the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD journeying in front of them for the three days, to seek out a resting place for them. b. Numbers 14:44 But they went up heedlessly to the ridge of the hill country; neither the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD nor Moses left the camp. C. Joshua tells the people to consecrate themselves 1. What does that mean? 2. vd;q' qadash {kaw-dash'} a. Meaning: 1) to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to be set apart, be consecrated 1a2) to be hallowed 1a3) consecrated, tabooed 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to show oneself sacred or majestic 1b2) to be honoured, be treated as sacred 1b3) to be holy 1c) (Piel) 1c1) to set apart as sacred, consecrate, dedicate 1c2) to observe as holy, keep sacred 1c3) to honor as sacred, hallow 1c4) to consecrate 1d) Page 3 of 7

4 (Pual) 1d1) to be consecrated 1d2) consecrated, dedicated 1e) (Hiphil) 1e1) to set apart, devote, consecrate 1e2) to regard or treat as sacred or hallow 1e3) to consecrate 1f) (Hithpael) 1f1) to keep oneself apart or separate 1f2) to cause Himself to be hallowed (of God) 1f3) to be observed as holy 1f4) to consecrate oneself b. Grammar: Hithpael (Reflexive) and imperative c. The idea is to be separated to God and from sin and sinful influences (1) God is holy and to be separated to God, we must be separated from unholiness, sin and unrighteousness (2) What does that mean? (3) How would you do that if you were consecrating yourself? 3. Why should they have to do that? a. Because tomorrow they will be in the presence of God and He will display His power (1) the word translated wonders we should understand as miracles (2) Does the condition of the people have anything to do with God exercising His power (3) Matthew 13: He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom Page 4 of 7

5 and these miraculous powers? 55 "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 "And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" 57 And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household." 58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. III. God s direction [3:7-8] A. God speaks to Joshua 1. We are not told how or when 2. Why not? because God wants us to focus on the words He says not on anything else 3. God not only tells Joshua what He is going to do, but also the effect it will have on Joshua B. Joshua then tells the people ahead of time about God s plan why? 1. In order to build their faith in their God 2. He learned this from Mosses [see Ex. 14:13] IV. What did God do? A. The Jordan flows from north to south B. Normally at this point it is 5 to 12 feet deep and about 100 feet wide 1. But during the Spring harvest season, the river overflows its banks and Page 5 of 7

6 becomes up to a mile wide C. God stopped the waters of the Jordan about 16 miles north of where the people were crossing near a town called Adam in the area of Zarethan 1. At this point there are extremely high banks 2. Consider the archaeological evidence 3. Seismographic possibilities D. Consider the priests with the Ark 1. They had to stand in the middle of the river while the people crossed with everything that they had 2. There were over 2 million people 3. That is quite a feat of endurance V. Final thoughts: A. Go back and compare what God said to Joshua and what Joshua told the people 1. Did he leave anything out 2. Why would he do that 3. He was determined to magnify the Lord and not himself in the the sight of the people 4. Joshua had learned that a true spiritual leader focuses the eyes of God s people on the Lord and His greatness and not on the Lord s leader here on earth B. Is it time to get your feet wet? 1. You can read the stories in abreviated fashion of most of the characters Page 6 of 7

7 we are studying in Hebrews That is a passage all about the faith of some of the greatest men and women of God history has seen. 3. But notice something about the faith that chapter extolls 4. Their faith was not a passive feeling or condition 5. Their faith was an active force 6. That is because godly faith always leads to action C. Do you want to arrive at the Jordan at the time of the harvest when the river is overflowing its banks or in the summer when the waters are low and the flow is gentle, and it not harvest time? Believer s Bible Class, & Douglas W. Brady Page 7 of 7