Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the chapter that we read,
Joshua chapter 3, and reading from our text just part of verse
4. The last part of verse 4, For
ye have not passed this way heretofore. The whole verse reads, Yet there
shall be a space between you and it, that is the Ark of the
Covenant, 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 here to form." Joshua 3, the last
part. of verse 4 and the Lord is pleased
through this word to give direction to his people in going in a way
that they have not walked before the children of Israel, the people
of God, a literal people but they are also a spiritual people
and a typical people The people that at this time, where our
text is, was fourteen hundred and seven years before Christ. Forty years before then, they
had left Egypt and they had been wandering in the desert for those
forty years. 38 years before this time, they'd
been in the very spot again, but this time they had refused
to go into Canaan. They hadn't believed the Lord
could deliver them from the Canaanites. They rebelled against the Lord
and his servants, and the Lord sent them back into the wilderness
for those 38 years. that all of that generation might
be consumed in the wilderness and so they come to this place
now and there were many of them that would have as children have
remembered coming out of Egypt but there were many that had
never known that never known going through the Red Sea all
they would have known was the time of going through the wilderness
they would have known what it was to follow the fiery cloudy
pillar and every time that it moved from over top the tabernacle
that they were to follow that that had many changes, many moves
in the wilderness but this time it was different and it is at
this point then that the Lord gives some extra and very specific
directions and guidance as to how they should proceed at this
point. The point that they are at was
at an end of their wilderness journey. It was to close that
chapter of their lives that 40 years was now at an end and also
it was then going to be a beginning they were to enter into Canaan
they were to possess that land that had been promised to Abraham
and to his seed that they should go in and dispossess the inhabitants
of it and that it should be their inheritance And we have this
position that they are at, at this time, Israel, literally
so. It may be in other ways that
we may find ourselves in the same positions, in Providence,
in a path where we have not been before. It may be as well in
a spiritual way, venturing out into a path as a new Christian,
or maybe it is in fresh paths of trial, or of tribulation,
a change as seen in that way. Or it may be in the equivalent
here, coming down to the end of our lives, end of this life
as a pilgrimage, and looking forward to a heavenly Canaan,
and yet there is death like a narrow sea that divides that heavenly
land from ours. Whichever way we may, from the
directions that we have here, glean that instruction and help
from the Lord in how to proceed at this point, really at any
time like this, It should also be a time that we raise an Ebenezer. We don't read at this specific
time that they did. Other times in the history of
Israel they did. But it is a remembering before
we venture on what the Lord has done and the helps that the Lord
has helped us with and the blessings that we have had. And certainly
in Deuteronomy the Lord had charged the people through Moses, thou
shalt remember all the way the Lord thy God hath led thee these
forty years in the wilderness, to prove thee, to try thee, to
know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst serve the
Lord thy God or no. They were to remember It was
not to be forgotten. And here they are then on the
threshold of going over Jordan and entering into the promised
land. So I want to then look at God's
direction, His guidance for His people at this specific time. I want to look in three points. Firstly, the way before Israel
and applying it to us. begin with them, what was actually
before them. And then secondly, God's direction
to his people, the specific points that are found in this chapter
as direction. And then lastly, our comfort
in the passing through the Jordan of death, having that prospect
before us. There is comfort in this passage,
especially concerning that time So I want to then look firstly
at the way that was before Israel and applying that to us Firstly it was a major change
that was in their lives and we may think of it too is when there
are major changes in our lives. Our lives are not all the same. However long they are, there
are those times that are identified as a major change. We think of
Abraham, how that he was called by God to leave Ur of the Chaldees
and to go into a place which God would tell him off, which
he knew not of. He went out, not knowing, we
are told in Hebrews 11, not knowing whither he went, but he went
out, and he went out by faith, a major time in Abraham's life. We think of Jacob, and how many
times are marked in his long life, and yet really when we
think of the 137 years that he lived, They're not many times, but they
were major times. The time when he was in his 60s,
that he left his home the first time, and left his parents, and
to see his mother no more, and to go again where he hadn't been
before, and to find Laban, and to enter into that path. How the Lord met with him and
blessed him at Bethel, the Lord made that time. a special, a
blessed time and yet Jacob was fleeing because of how he dealt
with his brother and deceived his own father. We think then
later on when he came back from Laban and then he had Esau coming
to meet him, wrestled with the angel, I will not let thee go
except thou bless me. The fear of his brother and the
wrestling for the blessing and for help at that time a very
major time in his life in one sense a very real prospect of
death or of the coming to an end of a promise in a way not
at all glorifying to God and how many of the Lord's people
sometimes have been so tempted that in spite of the Lord's promises,
reassurances and helps that this looming trial and this adversary
shall extinguish all and prove that all their religion had been
but as a vapour. The trials that Jacob had, the
trials that you and I have will be very real trials and his wrestling
was a real wrestling. And then we think of the time
when he went down into Egypt, convinced by seeing the wagons
that Joseph, his son that he thought had been dead for 20
years, was alive. The spirit of Jacob revived and
Israel said, Joseph, my son is yet alive, I'll go and see him
before I die. And you know, as he went that
first night, the Lord met with him and blessed him. And he said
to Jacob, fear not to go down into Egypt. I will be with thee,
I will go with thee, I will bring thee up again." Of course, dear
Jacob, the way he came up out of Egypt was in a coffin, but
his family, his children and their children's children, they
came up as promised into the land of Canaan again. But it
was a big move, a big thing for Jacob to leave that promised
land that had been promised to Abraham, his grandfather, and
then to go down into Egypt. And yet he was promised and met
by God that he would come again. And so those major times in his
life, many, many years would have gone by with nothing major
happening. within those major times, and
each time the Lord met with him, met with him at Bethel, met with
him at Penuel, met with him at Beersheba, met with him in those
major times. Then we have later on, after
this time, We have the children of Israel that were to go down
into Babylon and then they were to come up again out of Babylon. Major times in the history of
the children of Israel and before this time they'd had the leaving
of Egypt and now the entry into the Promised Land again. It does
us well to notice those major times in the Word of God and
in our lives, and to be in expectation as the dear saints of old had
blessings at those times, saw the Lord as they didn't see Him
other times, had helps that they didn't have other times, that
we should be in an expectation of that as well in those major
times. in our lives. So this was, in
their life, a major change, and maybe identifies such times in
our lives as well. The second thing is that it was
a new way and therefore an unknown way. Our text says, For ye have
not passed this way heretofore. The Lord knew it, they knew it,
And they were having to walk this way, a new way, very much
in our dispositions. For some people it is not such
a trial as others. For others it is a great trial
and a very difficult thing. And the Lord knows, He knows
that unknown way, and that provision is made in the way and in the
word for it and we notice here then this specific aspect of
the time in Israel's lives and we need to notice as well in
our lives where it is an unknown way I thought thinking on this
word of my own parents when we were I was four and a half and
had two siblings younger than me, and in 1965 we went over
and emigrated to Australia. My father had never been there,
my mother had never been there. It was a new way. And then when
we were married, my dear wife also We were married over here,
but then went back for six years there. She'd never been that
way, never been to Australia. She had to walk that way. And
then when we emigrated back here in 1996, it was a way that was
in one sense a new way, completely uprooting of everything that
we had in Australia and moving back here to England and so we
know something about a new way and an unknown way and venturing
by faith and if you're walking in that way you say it is new
and it is unknown that you be encouraged in this way and especially
if it is in a in a spiritual sense and you think of the children
of Israel and the Jews when the apostle was writing to the Hebrews
in Hebrews he was showing them how that they could lay aside
the types and the shadows how they could look unto the Lord
who was the great anti-type how they were to follow him who had
fulfilled all of those types and they need not be concerned
that they should leave off the Passover and the sacrifices and
all the ceremonial law which was the Gospel in their day and
hear and obey the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. These types we can look back
on and glean much precious promises and guidance in the light of
the Gospel we rejoice that we are in a gospel day and in that
clear light of seeing our Lord in these times that they had
here. The third thing was, it was a
way of leaving some behind and what I mean is this, that of
the 12 tribes of Israel, Reuben, and Gad and half the tribe of
Manasseh, they requested their portion on this side of Jordan. It wasn't to be over Jordan. But their menfolk were to go
over Jordan and to fight for their brethren to obtain that
promised land. But they were leaving behind
their wives, their children, their flocks, their herds, you
might say with no protection, but they had the protection of
the Lord. It was a big thing for those
tribes to leave all of their dependents and to go over and
fight. We have this in chapter 1, which
is verse 12, speaking to the Reubenites, the Gadites, the
half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua spake to them, Remember the word
which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you, saying,
The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you
this land. Your wives, your little ones,
and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave
you on this side, Jordan, but ye shall pass before your brethren
armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them. was a path of living and a path
of separation in that way. Many of the children of God have
had to walk this path. Dear Jacob knew what it was to
leave his home. He knew what it was, in the case
of Ruth, to leave her people and those that she knew of Moab
and to go into a land that she did not know before as a stranger. She says to Boaz, why takest
thou knowledge of me, seeing that I am a stranger? And she
had to leave her sister-in-law, and her mother, and father, and
her gods, and go into that land. And so there is a sense of that
leaving. The Lord says that we are to
leave in a, sometimes in a literal way, but certainly a spiritual
way, that father and mother, brother, sister, and to follow
after the Lord. They left all and followed Him." We're not to remain, as it were,
in saying, what shall this man do? Or await for someone else. But to venture after the Lord. And in many, many cases, that
will be a leaving. Lot knew what that was. Most
solemn leaving. To leave a people in Sodom, knowing
that that city was going to be destroyed and those of his loved
ones that were left there were going to be destroyed a hard
thing but the angel having mercy on him took him by the hand brought
them outside of the city and so this with the children of
Israel here was a time of a time of leaving some behind and then
it was also a time of expected adversaries. Yes, in a type,
Canaan was the promised land, a land of rest, but they were
to possess it by war, they were to go in, and this is where types
don't follow through in every particular, of course, but they
were to go over and they were to go over armed and to fight. And we would remember that 38
years before, it was the fear of these Anakims, the giants
that were in the land, it was the distrust of the Lord that
caused them to turn back and to be sent back into the wilderness
and destroyed. Let us not lose the sight that
they are in the same position that the generation before them
have actually distrusted and disobeyed the Lord, and those
things that were before them now were too much from before
that former generation. Sometimes we might look back
on our fathers or grandfathers and mistakes they made, fears
that they've had, where they kept back, they drew back, they
weren't able to venture. And we stand in a place and we
think this is a place where my forebears made shipwrecks, They
made errors here. Let me not make the same errors.
Of course, Paul in Hebrews 11, he uses the occasion of the disobedience
of children of Israel again and again to bring gospel warnings
that we should not be disbelieving as they were, that we should
believe, that we should trust the Lord. And while it is today,
that we should follow him. And so with the children of Israel
here, The place that they were in, where they were, was expecting
adversaries. And you know, we must expect
that. There are many adversaries. When
the children of Israel came back from Babylon, you think, so clearly
it was. Cyrus had given the command,
it was in the Lord's promises, but it didn't mean to say they
didn't have adversaries. They did. They had Tobiah, they
had Zanballath, They had those that were constantly, the Samaritans
of the land, opposing them in what they were doing. And we
can be sure of this, in the world you shall have tribulation. The
Lord says, I've overcome the world, but in the world you shall
have tribulation. And we are to anticipate that,
but not be discouraged and not hold back, but to be encouraged
in the Lord as we stand like the Israelites did in this position
and being mindful of the position that they are in. So then having
a look and considering what position they were in and thinking how
that then may apply to our position and our lives and what may be
before us. May we see then the need of the
direction, the guidance, the teaching that is in this portion
for them and that it might be in it for us too. So then secondly I want to look
at God's direction for his people here and may we look at his direction
for us as well and I bring before you seven points that are set
before us in this passage. The first is this that they were
to wait for the Lord We read that in verse 2, that it came
to pass after three days that the officers went through the
host. They had to wait. You know, the
Lord said when he was upon earth, your time is always ready. My time is not yet. There is
a thing with us, especially when The major things in our lives
we like to rush in and do things and we might want the Lord to
put his seal upon it, his approval upon it, but there's a sense
where we must be doing and it's a good thing to stop and consider
and wait. The Lord has said that he that
believeth shall not make haste. is to be noted when the children
of Israel came to the Red Sea then it was that the Lord gave
them two commands the first command was stand still and they had
to stand still it wasn't for very long and here we're only
talking three days but then the command was very clearly given
saying to the children of Israel that they go forward And there
was really a demonstrating their willingness to watch and to wait
for the Lord to go before and not rushing headlong. We think
of the time, I think it was David or Jonathan, was to wait for
the time to rise up to go against the Philistines and the Lord
gave them direction to wait until they saw the goings in the tops
of the mulberry trees. When they saw that, then they
were to rise up. And we want to, even at times
like this, there was to be an order of time, not just a rushing
headlong. I find with myself sometimes
you can wait on the Lord, you fear the Lord's given you a direction
what to do, and then it's as if you'd say to the Lord, I know
what to do now. I don't need any more direction. You leave it to me. I'll take
it from here. I used to be like this when I
was an apprentice, fitter and turner. My boss used to start
to teach me something. And as a young lad, I'd think,
well, I know it now. I can see what I have to do. And it'd almost brush off his
further teaching and say, let me do it now. I'll take over. And many times I found out I
didn't really know at all. I needed more instruction. And
so however much we might think while we know the way before
us, don't take over from the Lord. Wait for the Lord's hand
and to see His hand going before. It was like when we find in the
Word of God three days, it points us to our Lord. It points us
to Calvary. Our Lord was crucified. What a day of sorrow that was.
And even the third day, the beginning of that day was sorrow. The end of that day, then were
the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. How good it was. They waited the third day. How
different than the first. And so here we have a reminder,
wait for the Lord after three days. The second direction was that
they should sanctify themselves. Verse 5, And Joshua said unto
the people, Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do
wonders among you. Sanctify, set apart for a holy
use. You know, whenever we come to
the house of God, we should stop and Who are we coming before? It
is not just to treat the Lord's day as any other day, or the
Lord's house as any other house, or the occasion as any other
occasion. The Apostle Peter, when he says
to the people of God, if any man speak unto one, if anyone
ask you of the reason that is of the hope that is within you.
He says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready
always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason
of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Very often
I've found it in a workplace or the people of the world will
notice we do things that they don't do and we don't do things
that they do And they'll ask, why? What is your hope? What is your belief? Sometimes
it might be in mocking, sometimes it might be in derision, in circumstances
very different than a holy atmosphere. And the thing is to stop before
we answer and think, I am to speak of the things of God. They
may take them trifling, but for me, these are solemn, real, sacred
things. and just to stop and consider
and in our own frame and mind to be brought into a frame of
mind suitable to be able to answer graciously, soberly and in a
righteous God honouring way and it is in this way that we are
to sanctify the Lord God not just go rushing on and not thinking
well this is actually a sacred time a time that is set apart
when the children of Israel came to Mount Sinai again they had
to be sanctified they had to wash their clothes they did here
they did not come at their wives they were doing things that were
speaking and reminding themselves you are coming in an attitude
of worship this is a time a special time, you know, to just go headlong
from your lives, rushing into the service of God, not forgetting
whose presence we're coming into. God is greatly to be feared in
the assembly of the saints, to be had in reverence of all them
that are about him. And when we are faced in these
positions in our lives, may we really sanctify the Lord God
in our hearts. I am one of the Lord's people.
I desire to be one of His. This is a major time in my life. I seek His direction, His guidance,
His help, and seek that all that we do in our worship, in our
closets, in the house of God, and our behavior might be, as
it were, becoming as that time. It's not that we shouldn't other
times walk in that way, but in these special times The children
of Israel had to do it. When Jacob went back to Bethel,
he said again to his people, put away the strange gods, take
off the earrings. He was preparing themselves for
worship, getting rid of all that might detract from the worship
of the true and triune God. Sanctify yourself. That was the
second direction. The third was a space had to
be made. We are told that there is to
be in verse four, yet there shall be a space between you and it.
That is between the people and the Ark of the Covenant. The
Ark of the Covenant, a box some four foot long by two foot wide,
two foot deep, poles each side carried upon the shoulders of
the Levites, the mercy seat on top of it with the cherubims,
and whenever it was moved it was covered over with the veil
from the tabernacle. I never saw the Ark, all the
glory of the gold as it was in full view. It was to be veiled
as the Lord Jesus Christ was veiled in flesh, the Godhead
see, and yet over the top of it all was to be covering up
the grace of the Lord which was so abundant even to his adversaries
and so there was to be a space and there's several things that
come from this and want to lead to the fourth point but to just
notice on this in the Old Testament there was always to be a space
at Mount Sinai they could not come near here they could not
come near at first there was to be a space later they are
brought near but this is contrasted in the New Testament that ye
are brought nigh by the blood of Christ and in the types there's
a distance in Christ there is a being brought nigh Paul contrasts
this in Hebrews 12 saying you not come unto the mount which
might be touched or burned with fire, but you come unto Mount
Sion, to the church of the living God. And there is a distinct
difference, like there was with the veil in the tabernacle. The
veil was there showing that the wains of the holiest was not
yet made. When the veil was rent, it was
when Christ died. The wains of the holiest was
then made. but the vial being there was
signifying something. So the difference here, the separation
is also signifying as well. You see it afar off, there was
to be a space. Those dear Israelites, they looked
by faith to Christ that he should come. They drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them. That rock was Christ, a true
spiritual Israelite. walk by faith, not seeing just
the types and the signs, but seeing Christ himself who is
to come. The fourth erection is that they
should clearly see our Lord lifted up in the type of the Ark. In the verse of our text we are
told, when you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your
God and the priests of Levi's bearing it, then you shall remove
from your place and go after it and what i felt is this it's
not following a people but it is following the lord and where
the lord is lifted up and this should be especially with whenever
we move in providence our first thing should be where shall we
worship where shall we meet with the people of god Where shall
we hear the words of the Lord? And that is the thing too. Look,
we want to see the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up. We want to
see Christ preached. We want to see Christ and Him
crucified. And when we see the Levite, when
we see the ministers lifting Him up, then that is where we
go after. we go after we go to the place
where Christ is preached and lifted up and that should be
the important thing with us when Elijah was to go to death over
Jordan again and he had Elisha with him and they moved from
one place to another and each time they came to a place It
was with the sons of the prophets. And those sons of the prophets,
they said to Elijah, knowest thou not that the Lord shall
take thy master from thee this day? He said, I know it, hold
your peace. But each place that they went,
they came to the Lord's people. We should never contemplate a
move, especially in Providence, where it shall separate us from
the people of God, where we shall not be fed, where we shall not
see Christ lifted up on the pole of the Gospel. But where we see
that, and where we see the Lord's servants doing, we are to go
after it. And what our aim is, is we're
drawn to Christ. The Lord says that no man can
come unto me except my Father. Draw him, and I'll raise him
up at the last day. Well, we won't be drawn to Christ
if Christ is not preached. He says, if I be lifted up above
the earth, will draw all men unto me. And this would be set
forth here. The children of Israel, they
were to see this ark lifted up on the shoulders of the Levites. David, years later, was reproved
because he Follow the example of the Philistines in putting
the Ark on a cart instead of on the shoulders of the Levites.
No, Christ must be preached. It must be through the authority
of declaration of the Word of God that the Lord is lifted up
and we are to go after that and to please God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that belief. So there is our fourth
direction. And then the fifth one is this,
to follow the Lord and set forth in the Word and the ministry. They were to pass over and go
after the Lord and to be directed by the Lord and they were to
pass over, the Ark was to be taken up and they were to follow
after that. Well, the Apostle Paul says,
be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ. We only follow a man as far as
he follows Christ. But our ways are to be directed
by the Word of the Lord. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet,
a light unto my path. And we're to be instructed through
the Word of God and through the ministry of the Lord. It shall be in that way the Lord
speaks to his people, directing them. in the way that they should
go. Thou shalt hear, when we turn
out of the way, the word behind thee, saying, This is the way,
walk in it, when you turn to the right hand, when you turn
to the left. And the Lord shall himself go
before his people. I will instruct thee and teach
thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine
eye. Be ye not as the horse or as
the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with
bit and bridle, lest they come nigh thee. We are to have ear
to that still, small voice of the Lord, a tender conscience,
and listening to the word of the Lord. It's one of the marks
of a sheep, isn't it? My sheep, they hear my voice,
and especially at such times as this. When we expect that
the Lord's blessings shall be at such a time, it very often
comes through His Word. And as God spoke to Jacob, as
God speaks to His dear people through the Word, may we again
listen at such a time as this. And then, sixthly, there's an
expecting for the Lord to appear in providence and in grace. In the verse following our text,
Joshua said unto the people, sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow
the Lord will do wonders among you. Will do wonders among you. We mentioned before those major
times in the lives of Abraham and of Jacob and of others. And
there were wonders that were done, marvellous things that
were done, and we are to expect that, we are to look for that.
One said, he that will watch providence shall never lack a
providence to watch. It's sad when we see even of
those, the Lord's people, and they are, if not in word, yet
implying things are just happening by chance. They're not hearing
the voice of the Lord. Yet we read at the end of Psalm
107, that whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they
shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. We are to watch,
and even in the smallest circumstance, the timing, the things that are
happening. Why, when Elijah was praying
for rain, and he was sending his servant to go look toward
the sea, His servant came back with nothing, nothing, seven
times. But then the last time, there
riseth out of the sea a cloud like a man's hand. And immediately,
Elijah, he recognized this. The Lord was to do wonders. The
Lord was to bring the rain. And the Lord did. We are to not
have small thoughts of the Lord. in providence and in grace and
what the Lord has accomplished at Calvary and accomplishing
with his people, the Lord will do great things. When, and not
think meanly of him, when the prophet went to the king of Israel
and told him to strike the arrows into the ground, he struck but
three times and the prophet was angry with him. He said, if they
had but struck five times, He said if they had struck three,
they would only defeat the Syrians three times, but if they had
struck five, they would have utterly destroyed them. How we
can easily limit the Holy One of Israel and think that He will
not do great things. But in major times of our lives,
in times when, like the children of Israel here, where you have
not passed heretofore, the Lord is doing something, the Lord
is acting. So we have that great expectation that we will see
the Lord's hand in providence, we'll receive the Lord's blessing
in our lives. And you know those that see,
those that watch, those that wait for the Lord. We think of
those when the Lord rose from the dead. Dear Mary, remaining
at the tomb, how blessedly rewarded when the Lord appeared to her. Thomas, he wasn't there with
the disciples when the Lord came the first time. He had to wait
another eight days. May we be of those that are really
watching it to be a time of blessing. And then in the seventh place,
remember to record the Lord's goodness. This was made provision
in their direction before they went over and after when they
came over The stones had to be taken from the bottom of Jordan. They had to be raised up the
other side of Jordan. Stones had to be put in the centre
of Jordan. Why? So that their children in
time to come were to ask, what mean these stones? And they were
to be explained that God brought them over Jordan. That's why
they were there. It was a way of remembering of
what the Lord had done. We are so prone to forget the
Lord's goodness. We are so prone to pass over
things, and not give the Lord the honour and glory due to His
name. And we are reminded in this,
as we walk an unknown way, that here those things we should not
let His blessings lie forgotten in unthankfulness and without
praises die. If they had to remember all the
way the Lord had led them in the wilderness, so they had to
remember the end here. and passing through Jordan. And so they are given these directions
in the way that they should go. What is central in it all is
the Ark. What is central in it all for
us is the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not to lose sight of Him.
We're not to be like dear Martha, because there's so much to do
and so much busyness that we're cumbered with much serving and
that we don't sit at the feet and hear the Lord how easy that
could be at a time of major change and yet may we not lose that
time to be a time of blessing a time when we come apart and
have time apart if the Lord prospers and blessings our way That time
in worship, the time with the Lord is never wasted. It's the
most blessed time, most needful time. It's needful that we see
the Lord and we see Him going before us. Do we have the sweet
blessing of the Lord in our heart? Can we see His steps going before
us? Do we have glimpses in the gospel
of our Lord suffering for us as the ark of grace, he who has
fulfilled the law for us, he who has passed through death
for us. I want to look then at the last
point of how it is to be a comfort especially in passing through
death or the prospect There are four things I bring
before you as a way of comfort here. The first is this, we see Christ
enter the waters, and those waters are stopped up. What a sight
it must have been, Jordan overflowing all his banks, all that time
of harvest, and there the Levites, they come with the ark on their
shoulders, their feet dip in those waters, and those waters
stop up. They cease to flow, all upon
one side, and there is dry land. When we see our Lord Jesus Christ,
and we see Him at Calvary, and we see how death, death was dealt
a death blow, the first ever time that it should be so, that
one went into death and came up out of it, that death had
to part, it had to cease, it had to stop, an empty tomb, the
Lord Jesus Christ wrought at Calvary, that conquest over sin
and death and hell, bruising Satan's head, and making a way
a way that death shall lose its sting and death shall be a passage
for the people of God to glory and we see that He hath given
assurance unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead
this is the thing, the very first thing that the children of Israel
had to see here before ever they moved they saw what the ark did
They saw what the Levites did in bringing the Ark there. And
may it be our delight, our privilege in the ministry to set forth
that Christ is that new and living way, that it is through Him that
He had that power over death to deliver His people from death
and to save them who through fear of death for all their lifetime,
subject to bondage. The Lord Jesus Christ willingly
laid down His life, He had no sin in Him, and rose again for
our justification, made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. And it is then a
comfort in the prospect of death to see the Lord Jesus Christ
rising from the dead. Because I live, He says, shall
live also. The second thing is that we see
a way made for us. The children of Israel here,
they not only saw the ark and saw the water stopped up, but
they knew that way was for them. It wasn't for someone else. It wasn't for another nation.
It was for them. And it's a blessed thing to view
our Lord, to view the Gospel, to hear the Word of Christ and
say, this is for you, this is for us, this is not for someone
else. This is for you. The Gospel is
to be preached in all the world for witness. Preach the Gospel
to every creature. He that believeth and is baptised
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. That way is open. and it's open
to the people of God, it's open to those that see, that see by
faith the Lord opening that way, that have it shown to them, that
are brought into this position to see it so. Blessed are your
eyes that see. It's a blessed thing to have
our eyes open to the Gospel and the wonderful way of provision
that the Lord has made. for sinners. Yes, for sinners. You think of the Israelites,
how they provoked the Lord through the wilderness. They weren't
a perfect people by any means. We are sinners. But the Lord
Jesus Christ came to save sinners and make a way for them. And
He did. And they saw it so. May the Lord
then give us in that point a blessed faith and embrace it that this
way is made for me. The Lord says, I go to prepare
a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you unto myself, that there,
where I am, there shall you be also. A way for us, our comfort
in the prospect of death. Christ did not die for himself,
did not make a way just for himself. He is the firstfruits, and it
is for his people, it is for those that he is revealed to,
passing through death in this way. But then thirdly, though
he was seen afar off at first, we may expect to see Christ clearly
at death. Remember there was a space between
them, over half a mile, in a practical way, it needed so that everyone
could see the Ark that there was to be a space between them
and as we said before a typical as well difference between Old
Testament and New Testament but the Ark, the priests, they stayed
in the center of Jordan and the children of Israel then would
all file past it so they started off with seeing him at a distance
or seeing the Ark at a distance But when they're actually in
Jordan, then it was very clearly seen right next to it. And I've
often thought of this. Many of the Lord's people wonder
how it will be with me in the swelling of Jordan. I have such
small views of Christ. I see Him afar off. I see from
far thy beauteous light, you say. And yet how will it be in
Jordan? Well, we have a little glimpse
of it here. Dying grace in a dying hour. Christ seen more clearly,
not before, but in the time of need. Oh, how needful it is for
that to be so. I remember once going to preach
and praying the Lord would give me sweet meditation upon my text
along the way to preach. And as I meditated and as I went,
I did have sweet meditation, real liberty. But when I came
to preach, yes, I was able to preach as I had prepared and
set forth the word, but I didn't feel the sweetness. And I thought,
if only I prayed, I might have the sweetness in the actual hour
and delivering the word rather than on the way to it. And yet
the Lord does give those graces and helps on the way. But in
the prospect of death, it is a sweet thing to think. that
in that time of need, He will appear, He will strengthen, He
will bless me, as the children of Israel saw the ark close at
hand. We think earlier on with the
type of the serpent, there must have been those that saw that
lifted up serpent a long way away, hardly saw its features,
but those that looked, they lived. So dear friends, don't be discouraged,
don't despise the day of small things. If you but see, faintly,
the glory, suitability and blessedness of Christ, it's the reality,
it's what you really see in Him, and feel that none but Christ
shall do my soul good, and He is the only One whom I am resting
on, trusting on, in passing through Jordan. Well, the last point,
just briefly, is that Christ shall be there for all the people
of God. In verse 17, the last verse of
this chapter, is emphasized again and again that the people of
God, all the Israelites, passed over on dry ground until all
the people were passed clean over Jordan. Not a hoof shall
be left behind, none shall be left behind, The Lord is there
for all of his dear people, the weakest as well as the strong. There was none that halted along,
that were thought, well, I'm going to be left behind. All
of them were brought safely over. And this is again to be our comfort
in the prospect of death. When this mortal life shall cease,
when our pilgrimage shall end, then to enter into rest, into
the promised land, be brought over, that death, like a narrow
seed, divides that heavenly land from ours. May the Lord bless
these words, may we see in this type, may we see in this unknown
way, ye have not passed this way heretofore, may we see real
direction, comfort and help, certainly in death, none of us
have walked that path before, He shall always be at way. He
hath not passed this way heretofore. That they may prove along the
way the blessings that are set forth here. May the Lord add
His blessing. Amen.