So last night I was reading through the book of Joshua, and was just blown away by how rich that text is with gospel allegory.  I was so encouraged, that it was difficult for me to stop reading.  I even woke up early this morning, excited about how God would continue His revelation there.  It’s amazing the gift we have to be on this side of the cross in time.  We can read the Old Testament books, and see how everything was pointing to Christ.  The Old Testament depictions of God are so very helpful, because they display vividly God’s holiness and justice, but also his mercy and love.

I have to say, my own emotions ran the gambit as I read through Joshua 3-4 (the main text for today’s WFTD) and then onward through Joshua; at times, frozen in the fear of the Lord, our God, who is an all consuming fire, who in perfect holiness, unleashes holy wrath against sin, and at other times, amazed with joy that given the sin of man, God has made a way for us to be reconciled to Him to enjoy Him forever.  Although I am not a vocational preacher, this is one time where I wish I could preach this, rather that write, because it is that good; it has that much richness to produce brokeness from sin, and joy in Christ.  I will settle, however, to by God’s grace lift Christ up to you from His Word, and exhort you to make your own study of this text.  I have an eager expectation that God will work in you through this text as He has done in me.

What is the gospel?  The Gospel is that man through the sin of Adam, was separated from God, dead in our trespasses; but God, being rich in love and mercy, made a way for us to be reconciled to Him, through faith alone in the righteousness of His son, the work of Jesus Christ on the cross to bear our sins, and the power of His resurrection.  Now, let’s look at Joshua.

A quick background on where we enter into Joshua 3.  Moses has lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, through the wilderness (40 years), and Moses has now died.  Joshua, has been appointed by God to lead the people of Israel across the Jordan into the promised land, and now is giving instruction to the people from the Lord.

Joshua 3:1-5 – “Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.  At the end of three days the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, “As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it.  Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”  Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”

I’ve got about a hundred different things I would love to point out here, but my first and primary task is to show you the gospel of Christ here.

1)  The people of Israel represent those who would place their faith in Christ – believers, who are saved by grace alone through faith alone, in Christ alone.  Romans 9:6-8 – “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.”

2)  The people waited for 3 days before crossing over the river.  Jesus Christ was crucified, dead and buried for 3 days, before He rose from the grave, giving the hope of salvation to all who would believe on Him.  Mark 8:31 – “And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

3)  The people would had to look on the ark to know how they were to cross into the promised land.  The ark was made of acacia wood, overlain with gold symbolizing the God-man Christ.  It contained the Word of God, the 10 commandments, just as Jesus Christ is the Living Word.  (John 1)

4)  A new way was made for the people of Israel into the promised land, a way that none had ever been before; a way that none of them could have gone before.  John 14:5-6 – “Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

Now Joshua continued to give instructions to the people of Israel:

Joshua 3:9-17 – “And Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God.” And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites.  Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan.  Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man.  And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”  So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.”

5)  In explaining this last (most important) piece of the gospel, my encouragement is to read slowly, and pray fervently, that God would guide you into all truth.  That’s my way of saying I hope you’re hungry, cause this is gonna be meaty.  When it says that the waters of the Jordan rose up in a heap at Adam, cutting off all the water beyond, that is a picture of Christ, the second Adam, heaping up all of the sin from Adam to us forever, and taking it upon Himself.  Whereas Adam sinned, and all mankind was judged guilty in Him, everyone found in Christ is declared righteous, as He is righteous.  There will be no unrighteous people in Heaven, and God’s righteousness is perfect, unlike any that fallen man could ever muster.

Romans 5:12-17 – “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.  But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.  And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.  For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”

Each of us, are born into iniquity.  Psalm 51:5 – “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,and in sin did my mother conceive me.”  None of us does good, or seeks after God.  Romans 3:10-12 – “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”  Our sin, and God’s righteous wrath against us is set from our birth; we are not sinners primarily because we sin (actions) we are sinners because, as descendents of Adam, we are sinners (being).  Thus we are born cut off from God, without any hope, with only the fearful expectation of the wrath of an all powerful God who we have offended infinitely every moment of our life.  It is only when one feels the weight of their lostness, that they will know the weight of the glory of God in Jesus Christ and all that He is for us.

Let me say it this way; if I tried to cross the Jordan, my feet would be wet.  The ground that all of Israel walked across on was completely dry.  God did, for Israel, what they could not do on their own.  They would not even have been able to begin, they can only boast in the Lord.  My “righteousness” is like filthy rags before a holy God.  If you have no fear of God, you do not know Him.  He is an all consuming fire.  If you do know the fear of the Lord, then you can fully delight in our risen Savior Christ.  Matthew 7:13-14 – “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, andthose who find it are few.”  Jesus is the way, a way you have not passed before, but He is the way to truth and life. 

Grace and Peace,
Adam