Our reading is on the second page of your hymn sheets. It is Joshua chapter 3 and we'll read from verse 3 to verse 17. So this is the children of Israel come right to the end of their wilderness journey. They're about to cross Jordan.

So from verse 3. And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priest the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go, for ye have not passed this way heretofore.

And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.

And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God. And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the Living God is among you, and that He will, without fail, drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth, passeth over before you into Jordan.

Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man. It shall come to pass as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand upon a heap.

And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents to pass over Jordan, and the priest bearing the ark of the covenant before the people. And as they that bear the ark will come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bear the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest, that the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is, beside Zaretan, and those that came down toward the sea of the plain Even the Salt Sea failed and were cut off, and the people passed over right against Jericho.

And the priests that bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

as far as the reading of God's Holy Word. And you see highlighted on the front of the sheet and in verse 4, the words, For ye have not passed this way heretofore. As we begin a new year, it is a path that is unknown to us. There may be many things we do, but we have done this last year, but it is a year that God hides his providence, hides what is before us. It may be a year that we are called to pass from time into eternity. And so when we come to this portion, there is a lot of types here, a lot that is a real instruction to us. I want you to think of three things. Firstly, the uniqueness of the way. before the children of Israel that brings Joshua to say, for ye have not passed this way heretofore. And then secondly, how they were to know the way, and then thirdly, a way that we must, like them, go, that is, following Christ.

And firstly, the uniqueness of the way before the children of Israel. For 40 years they had been in the wilderness and they had moved many times. This was not the first time, of course, that they were moving from one place to another. But this was a time unique in that it wasn't from one place in the wilderness to another place in the wilderness. This was a place where they had not walked ever before. It was a completely new path. And it was again something that was a miracle. It was a way by a miracle.

Now I know of course you might say they had the miracle of the manna sent down from heaven, the water out of the rock. They had many miracles. Their shoes did not wear out, their clothes did not wear out. All through the wilderness they had miracles. but here it was a special need. They had the river, they had Jordan, and it flowed its banks at this time of harvest, and they were to go through that river, and they were going to go through on dry land, on dry ground, a way that they had not walked before. Yes, the generations before them that came over the Red Sea, they'd gone through on dry land there, but all those above 19, they'd all perished in the wilderness. So there would have been some that had gone through the Red Sea. But it was a way that they were now going out of the wilderness, out of the place they'd been in for that 40 years. And not only out, but they were going into the Promised Land, into Canaan, that which was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were on the threshold of going into that land, and the promises were being fulfilled 430 years before God had promised this to Abraham, and now it's coming come to pass. A very unique path, a way they had not walked before.

But how were they to know the way? Think of this in our second place. Firstly, it was to see the ark. It was to see what the ark set forth, which was Christ. In the ark was the Aaron's rod that budded, the first life that was set forth there, showing who was the trial, who was the priest, the high priest. There was the pot of manna that was to be there, the bread of life. And inside the ark was also the tables of stone, unbroken, the completed, fulfilled law of God. And this was borne on the shoulders of the Levites. They were to see that, they were to see the ark and to ensure that everyone did see it, then there was 2,000 cubits, that is 3,000 feet, that is just over half a mile away, the arc was to be. So for some of those, when they first saw it, it was only a speck, they would hardly see it at all, but that arc was what their eyes to be on. And then when they saw it, they were to see it going before them. They were to see that ark first going into Jordan, and then the waters parting, and then it standing and staying in the midst of Jordan. And then they were to follow after it. They were to follow after it.

Now this is a way that we also must go. So it's good for us to understand what is being set forth here. The wilderness is like being called by grace to walk in this world as a Christian, a stranger and pilgrims in this world. The river of Jordan, it sets forth as death because that stands as that narrow sea between this world and the promised land of heaven. And we must go through death to get into heaven. But we have the ark, we have Christ set forth and we are to see Him first going into death and the waters of death cut off. We are to see Him as it were in a great distance away So hardly expect, many of the Lord's people are troubled that they don't see Christ clear enough, they don't believe clear enough, they'd like to see Him more, they'd like to know more of Him, and their desire is that they might have those blessings to make Him very real, very near, very precious to them.

But the thing with the children of Israel here, though it was so far off, they were to follow after it. When each one of those children of Israel got themselves to the river, then the ark was very close, because it was in the middle of the river. It hadn't stayed that half a mile in front of them. It had stayed in the middle of the river until all of the children of Israel had passed over, so they were passing by it, they were walking by it, they were singing, and the waters were stayed up because of the ark.

You know, we see Christ crucified, we see Him dead, we see Him buried, we see Him risen from the dead, and we believe and we know that He has taken away the sting of death. He has gone before us into death. And He will ensure, like the children of Israel, that we also shall be brought through. And though now we might think, well, we can hardly see Him, we have trouble believing, He shall give dying grace in a dying hour. We need always remember that. A lot of you will have proved you have been given grace to help in time of need. When you've had time of trouble, you've had need spiritually, need providentially, the Lord has given you grace and help in time. Not beforehand, but in that very time of need. And that is always with His people. He doesn't give them a store and stock to go with.

And so, in view of death that is before us, in view of that way which we have not walked before, we have to remember the Lord is the same. He will give for that great trial grace to help. And He, the One that we've followed in the way, that we've seen in the way, we shall see closer up at that time. And it is He that brings us safely over the Jordan of death.

This must have been also an amazing thing for the adversaries. We read here that it was very close to Jericho. We are told that Rahab, who was given faith to believe that this was the people of God and to embrace them, and she said we have heard of what the Lord did in drying up the Red Sea. They remembered 40 years before their enemies had, those in Jericho had. What must they have felt, when not only was this same people coming to Jericho, But they see the same miracle or equivalent to it with the river and they're going over on dry land. They must have been in terror to see that.

But you see what the Lord conquered at Calvary. He conquered Satan. He conquered death. He conquered hell. He rose from the dead. And this is for the people of God, for their comfort and their joy and their assurance. and what the Lord has done.

Now it would be a blessing this year, as we begin this year, keep Christ in view. Keep Christ in view. However small your faith feels to be, however far off He seems to be, however little you might know or see, yet keep Him in view. You think of the Greeks, they said, sirs, we would see Jesus. And Jesus is the way, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. And so may we with a hope, hope beyond the grave, as our earthly tabernacle, as that weakens, as that dies, may our inward man be renewed day by day as we continue to look unto the Lord and to follow Him.

We'll give you further meditation upon this through the day and may it be our hope to be brought safely through death, be landed safe on that promised land.