The time had come for the crossing of the Jordan into the Promised Land. Joshua gave the officers final instructions and they told the people how it would work (vs 2–4). Then Joshua gave the most important instruction to the people (v 5): they needed to be holy and pure, to sanctify themselves at this vital time (see also Exodus 19:10–15).

In the wilderness God had told Moses to make the ark of the covenant (Exodus 25:10–22), the sign of God dwelling with his people. Now the ark played a vital part in the crossing of the Jordan. The priests were to step out into the river carrying the ark (v 13). When they did, the river would be cut off. The priests were to stay with the ark at the edge of the river until everyone had crossed. The priests had to step out in faith and get their feet wet so that everyone else could cross with dry feet (vs 6,8). Put yourself into the priests’ shoes. What might you have been thinking? What other occasion might it have reminded the people of?

The miracle of the river crossing is vast (vs 15,16). What does this tell us about the power of God at work on his people’s behalf?

‘Not that I have already obtained all this … but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.’¹

The wanderers are being moulded into a people of God and they have become a ‘nation’ (v 17). They were not meant to wander in the wilderness. They were meant to take up their inheritance, but that took a walk of faith. Such journeys command obedience, the people being instructed to ‘move out’ (v 3) leaving the known behind. They don’t know where to go, not having been this way before (v 4), but God knows. He commands the Ark, his presence, to be the marker to follow. When we walk by faith, we walk into that which we don’t see or know, but we trust God’s leading. 

If we are to walk with God, then preparation is essential, just as the Israelites are commanded to ‘consecrate themselves’ (see v 5) to be ready to meet with the Lord Almighty. Though that may generate some trepidation, it also demands expectancy, for in the consecration they can expect amazing things. This account reveals to us a people who have journeyed through failure, struggles and disobedience and yet God, being a covenant God, has been faithful. Here is the time to cross over, to move out of the desert into the Promised Land. That too will be filled with challenges – but this is not just running away from slavery in Egypt. No, this is advancing forward to lay hold of the land God has already prepared for them to inhabit as a nation. The people must move in obedience, as must the priests stand, not at the river’s edge, but in the river: they must brave its waters before they turn dry! We are called to walk by faith and in obedience. When we do this, when we are obedient to God’s will, we will see amazing things as God is glorified in our lives.

Have we settled in the desert, wandering aimlessly without purpose? Take some time today to consecrate yourself with the expectation that God will do amazing things tomorrow (v 5).

¹ Phil 3:12