Joshua 3-4

What's better than a winter walk on Homer Spit? Beautiful. (C. Torgerson photo)

BIBLE IN FIVEPastor Dave KooyersValley Bible FellowshipBox 433Boonville CA 95415http://www.slideshare.net/dkooyers www.ValleyBibleFellowship.org

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Matthew 10:8 …Freely you received, freely give.

Let's read Joshua 3

Israeli hiker discovers 3,500-year-old Egyptian seal in Galilee

• “A man out for an excursion with his family discovered a 3,500-year-old seal while hiking at the Horns of Hattin in the Lower Galilee, the Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday. While walking with his children, the farmer from Kfar Hittim spotted the engraved, beetle shaped object and called the Antiquities Authority in order to learn what was written upon it. Dr. Dafna Ben-Tor, curator of Ancient Egypt at the Israel Museum, identified the seal as a scarab amulet from the New Kingdom, the period stretching from the 16th-11th centuries BCE. According to Ben-Tor, the amulet shows “shows King Pharaoh Thutmose III seated on the throne” alongside the monarch’s name, she said. It was Thutmose, who ruled Egypt from 1379-1425 BCE, expanded his empire to encompass the land of Canaan, defeating a Canaanite army in Megiddo which is memorialized in huge bas-reliefs on the walls of Karnak temple in Egypt. The scarab in the shape of a dung beetle would have had cosmological significance in ancient Egypt and many are discovered during the course of archaeological digs. The mountains comprising the Horns of Hattin are well known for being the site of the 1187 battle in which Salah-a-Din defeated the armies of Christian Franks, bringing an end to the first Crusader kingdom…”

Curator of Ancient Egypt at the Israel Museum identifies seal as a scarab amulet from the New Kingdom, the period stretching from the 16th-11th centuries BCE.

3,500-year-old seal found by hiker at the Horns of Hattin in the Lower Galilee. (photo credit:COURTESY OF ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY)

Joshua 3:1, Crossing The Jordan• NAU Joshua 3:1 Then Joshua rose early in the morning;

and he and all the sons of Israel set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan, and they lodged there before they crossed.

• Many Christians and Christian hymns try to equate this crossing the Jordan to us entering into heaven, or salvation in Christ. The problem is, this story is about Israel, and they're going into a battle. The next 10 years or more are going to be a sword fight.

• Also, our mission is not to take the land by force but to present the gospel to lost sinners around us. NAU 2 Corinthians 5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Joshua 3:3, Special Circumstances Require Special Instructions

• NAU Joshua 3:3 and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God with the Levitical priests carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.

• NAU Numbers 4:1-15, Then the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 "Take a census of the descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi… 15 "When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them, so that they will not touch the holy objects and die. These are the things in the tent of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry…

Joshua 3:3, Special Circumstances Require Special Instructions

• NAU Joshua 3:3 …the Levitical priests carrying it…• God had given very specific instructions for the the

sons of Kohath alone to carry the ark, yet now he opens up his command to all the Levitical priests, “the whole tribe of Levi,” (Deut 18:1 "The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi…).

• This is just the first of many apparent contradictions to the Law that God will command as they take the land.

• Stay tuned, film at 11 PM!

Joshua 3:3, Special Circumstances Require Special Instructions

• NAU Joshua 3:3 …the ark of… God with the Levitical priests carrying it…

• Having the ark of God lead the way into battle suggests, according to Merrill F. Unger, “Preparations for a holy war of complete extermination of the enemy energized by satanic powers (cf. Eph. 6:10– 20)… Pictured are His people going through death with Him, being buried with Him, and coming out of the waters of death with Him into resurrection life. Passing through the Red Sea, the people secured a position of death-burial-resurrection when their redemption from Egypt was accomplished and salvation obtained…”

Joshua 3:3, the “ark”

• NAU Joshua 3:3 …the ark …• The word “ark” is used 10 times in this chapter.

Great emphasis is being placed upon the ark of God.

• The “ark of the covenant of the LORD your God” is a physical reminder of the presence of the Lord. Here it is showing the people that God, the Captain of the Lord’s host, the eternal Son, is going before them into battle to take the Holy Land.

Joshua 3:4, Distance Of 2,000 Cubits

• NAU Joshua 3:4 "However, there shall be between you and it a distance of about 2,000 cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”

• 3000 feet, 1/2 mile• Merrill F. Unger suggests, “Strict distance was to be

kept between the Ark (as illustrating our Lord going into the waters of death) and the people. (The fact is emphasize that our Lord had accomplished that work alone, cf. John 13:36.)…”

Joshua 3:5, Can't Wait For Tomorrow

• NAU Joshua 3:5 Then Joshua said to the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”

• Talk about eager expectation!• Jerusalem Inspiration, “Did you know that generally, miracles

require a partnership between God and man? Though ultimately God performs the miracle, He expects us to do our part to merit His intervention. Just as the soldiers in the times of Joshua sanctified themselves prior to encountering God's promised "wonders," so too, the soldiers in the IDF put forth their hearts and souls into their missions. With their huge effort, they experienced success in their goals, and countless reported miraculous salvations.”

Joshua 3:5, The Lord Does Wonders• Jerusalem Daily Ph

oto, This famous photograph features soldiers pondering the miracle of standing at the Western Wall upon entering the Old City during the Six Day War.

NAU Joshua 3:7Just As With Moses

• NAU Joshua 3:7 Now the LORD said to Joshua, "This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you.

• Another prophetic promise fulfilled;• NAU Joshua 1:5 … Just as I have been with

Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.

Joshua 3:14 The Priests Feet In The Water

• NAU Joshua 3:14 So when the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and when those who carried the ark came into the Jordan, and the feet of the priests carrying the ark were dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest), 16 the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho.

• God did no miracle until they stepped out in faith.

Joshua 3:17 Crossed On Dry Ground

• NAU Joshua 3:17 And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.

• God did this miracle many times.• NAU Genesis 1:9 Then God said, “… let the dry land appear";

and it was so.• NAU Exodus 14:16 …the sons of Israel shall go through the

midst of the sea on dry land.• NAU 2 Kings 2:8 Elijah took his mantle and folded it together

and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

Joshua 3:17 Crossed On Dry Ground

• NAU Joshua 3:17 …. all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.

• This would have been a huge number of people crossing the river. It probably took all day, and a wide swath across the dry river.

Let's read Joshua 4

Joshua 4:20A Memorial To All Generations

• NAU Joshua 4:20 Those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.

• NAU 1 Samuel 7:16, 10:8,15:21 "But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”

• NAU Amos 4:4 "Enter Bethel and transgress; In Gilgal multiply transgression! Bring your sacrifices every morning, Your tithes every three days.

Joshua 4:18, Flood Stage

• NAU Joshua 4:18 It came about when the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come up from the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks as before.

• The River Jordan was at flood stage when the Lord stopped the waters.

• The River Jordan is similar in size to our Navarro River.

Joshua 4:92nd Stone Monument

• NAU Joshua 4:9 Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day.

• There are 2 stone memorials.• William McDonald says, “The stones in the

riverbed speak of identification with Christ in death. Those on the west bank speak of identification with Christ in resurrection.”

Joshua 4:19Consecrate A Sacrifice

• NAU Joshua 4:19 Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho.

• God perfectly timed the Jordan crossing to coincide with the Passover celebration,

• NAU Exodus 12:3 "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers' households, a lamb for each household.

Joshua 4:23Israel The Consecrated Baptized Bride

• NAU Joshua 4:23 "For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the LORD your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed; 24 that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, so that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”

• NAU 1 Corinthians 10:1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.

Joshua 4:23Israel The Consecrated Bride

• In Jewish Jewels March 2013, "Yes. Israel was set apart unto God, as a consecrated bride. Israel was set apart to God when he brought his people to Mount Sinai and entered into covenant with her. She had passed through the Red Sea after being redeemed from Egyptian bondage in what must surely be the most dramatic awe-inspiring bridal mikvah of all time! Even today the bride cannot be legally married in Israel without having first been to the mikvah or pool of immersion. Consider the implication for Messiah's bride!"

So, in conclusion;

THEEND

• What we must learn to do, we learn by doing it (Aristoteles 384-322 B.C.)