Scripture focus: Joshua 3:3-4
Disclaimer: Please forgive any typographical, grammatical, and/or content errors in the following notes. They are not meant to be an exact transcription, but rather a helpful guide for those who appreciate the written word along with the spoken word. If you have any questions on what was taught, feel free to reach out on our ‘Contact Us’ page.
Sermon Text: Joshua 3:3-4
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. 4 Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length [⅝ of a mile, ~10 football fields]. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”
Setting the Scene
The Israelites number approximately 3.5 million people (over three times the amount of people living in the Lehigh Valley!) This is a huge mass of people and livestock clamoring to get as close as allowed to the ark by the banks of the Jordan during flooding season. It must have been one muddy mosh pit of people. Verse 4 tells us they didn’t know where they were going because they hadn’t been there before. No longer would they have a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night leading them, but it would now be the ark of the covenant in front.
What did the ark look like?
Picture a box similar in size to a large catering cooler for storing drinks. It could fit right in the bed of a pickup. It was completely covered in pure gold and displayed beautiful workmanship reflecting the Garden of Eden and the throne room of God.
The contents of the ark and what they mean
The ark of the covenant and its contents are so rich in meaning! When we are diligent students of the Word, we’ll learn to dig through multiple layers of meaning in certain texts. There is a concept of duality – two sides to the same coin of meaning. Each side of the coin will demonstrate some aspect of God’s character. When we use the text to pursue a better understanding of what either side of that coin means, it will oftentimes lead us to have a better understanding of God’s overall character. What does this have to do with the ark of the covenant? On one side of this coin of meaning, all of the contents of the ark highlighted the faithfulness of God to His chosen people. On the other side of the same coin, each of these items were designed to remind the Israelites that the intention of a man’s heart is evil from his youth (Genesis 8:21) and the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9). Praise God for 2 Timothy 2:13 – if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself. Let’s take a deeper look at the three items in the ark and what they mean:
- Aaron’s budded staff – Power
Moses used this staff during the 10 plagues of Egypt and the splitting of the Red Sea. Scripture tells us the staff blossomed with flowers and almonds. It represents the absolute power of God, even over nature and the Aaronic priesthood that had been established for God’s people.
It was Moses’s own fear and pride that rendered him incapable of taking on God’s mission for his life alone. He didn’t trust the Lord enough so the Lord brought Aaron alongside. The reason Aaron’s staff budded was as a result of the Israelites complaining that they wanted to go back to Egypt. The rebellious uprising was dealt with when the ground swallowed them up, consumed them by fire, or killed them by plague (see Numbers 16-17).
- Jar of manna – Provision
This jar was meant to represent the Lord’s provision for His people. For 40 years God provided manna for the people to eat (as well as quail and water and durable clothing).
This jar reminded the Israelites that they were incapable of trusting in the Lord for the minimal sustenance needed to sustain their life. It was provided to them after the Exodus 16:3 grumbling – “and the people of Israel said to them, ‘Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’”
- Stone tablets of the Ten Commandments – Precepts
This is a clear representation of the law of God. This was how the Lord wanted his people to conduct themselves.
These weren’t the original stone tablets. Moses came down from the mountain, witnessed the people worshiping the golden calf, and smashed the tablets.
The Good Shepherd
Yes, the contents represent God’s power, provision, and precepts, but the Lord didn’t want them to forget the full story – the part they played. There are 87 references of the Lord bringing the people out of Egypt. The contents also reminded the people that they were slaves – helpless captives. The wilderness was a barren desert but the Israelites were placed there to know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. God surrounds them with death in order for them to know that He is life. God points out who once owned them and where they came from to remind them that they now have a better hope for tomorrow because of who they are and where they’re going. God has given them the ark of the covenant to show them just how powerless they are to do this life on their own, but reminds them that it’s His very presence that will go before them. God bringing them out of Egypt physically only took a matter of days, but to have Egypt leave their hearts took a generation.
In the desert is where it was that they learned what it was to have the Lord be their shepherd. Wherever the Lord would go that’s where his sheep would go too. Apart from the shepherd they would be lost and only find death, but with the Lord there was an abundance of life. They didn’t need to worry about where their next meal was going to come from or what wolves may be lurking around the corner. He even gave them His word so that they might recognize his voice and know where to go. Isn’t God good? According to the rabbinical tradition, the desert is where this group of refugees became people of the law.
When studying this text my mind kept going to Psalm 23. I was trying to put myself in the Israelites’ miraculous sandals so I’m going to read Psalm 23 from the MIV – Mark’s Imaginary Version, but I want you to go to Psalm 23 and read along in your bibles so you can see what I’m doing…The Lord was their shepherd, they had nothing to fear. His presence leads them to the edge of roaring waters and as his presence passed them by they found peace in knowing God was still in control. He restored their souls. As they entered into their land of promise he will lead them in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though they spent the last 40 years wandering through the valley of the shadow of death they have learned to fear no evil for He has been with them. It is by His word and His might they are comforted, knowing He will go before them. Even now the Lord is preparing a testimony of his might in the presence of the Cannanites. He has chosen these people to be a witness of all, their cups are overflowing with grace and mercy. Surely goodness and mercy will follow them all the days of their life in as much as in their heart they do not stray from the law. And they shall dwell in the confidence that the Lord will lead them forever.
The Separating Distance
Yes, the Lord was their shepherd, but there was a distance, not just in today’s text but between God and His creation, specifically between God and man and you don’t have to go very far into the Word of God before you see this manifest. The first mention of separation between God and man was not in Genesis 3 with the fall, but from Genesis 1 during the second day of creation when God separates the heavens from the earth. This was the only day that God did not call good in all of the creation story. This was the first time God had put distance between himself and the world
Psalm 115:16 reads, “The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man.” And yet God still walked in the garden among Adam and Eve, that was until of course sin had entered into the world in Genesis 3. When this sin came into this world it was etched in our very own DNA, all being from the seed of Adam our hearts would be filled with fear, and pride. And our eyes would be naturally taken off of God and look only at ourselves and we become aware of our own nakedness before him. Even this, like all things, was done unto the glory of our God and King. Just like the desert wilderness was designed to expose the evil lurking in the hearts of the Israelites, this was all done in order that God’s character would be put on full display.
If we never knew the sin in our hearts, would we ever begin to understand the mercy of our Lord? How about his unyielding grace? What about His immense patience for us? Praise God that our own foolishness does not take away from His wonderful wisdom. The fruit of the sin that came into the world was fruit that led to death. God being life, would not yoke or attach himself to death but he chose to draw death out of our hearts so he can defeat it once and for all.
Have you ever been taught that the garden was not perfect? Not that it wasn’t good, God clearly declares that in His creation of it. But it was not perfect because it was not finished. God had not yet made his home with man. We only have the smallest snippet of a snapshot of what that desired fulfilled will look like in Revelation 22:3-4 which says, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Come, Lord Jesus! How amazing will this be, church? To be eternally and perfectly united to our God who is life himself. The last stanza of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ puts it so beautifully:
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.
God is holy, and He is perfect. Amen?! But we are not, hence this necessary distance.
Psalm 5:4 says, “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The prophet Isaiah puts it this way in 59:1-2 –
Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
The Distance Solution: Part I
But the Lord in his boundless wisdom had a perfect solution for this problem of sin and separation to which there are two parts. The first part of this solution was His law. The law that the Lord gave to his people through Moses was absolutely perfect. Jesus even said in Matthew 6:17-20, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The Hebrew people had tried to fulfill the law, believe me they had tried. But ultimately it was impossible. For the purpose of God’s perfect and Holy law was one that was designed to draw the sin out of the heart. Paul in Romans 7 puts it like this, “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”
Church, we have become so jacked up, so far distorted from what He made us for, yet He still chooses to go before us, just like He went before His people at the Jordan. We read in Ezekiel 20:6, “On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands.” How incredibly patient our Lord is for us?!
The Distance Solution: Part II
But what does that mean for us? After all, we look to the Israelites as a representative picture of ourselves, human nature, our sinful tendencies, but we are not Israel. We are not people of the Law. It is not the Old Covenant that we were brought into, but rather we are under a New Covenant. The new covenant we are living in today is part two of the solution that He had put into place before the foundation of the world was set.
Hebrews 8:13 says, “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” And a few verses earlier in that same chapter reads, “But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.”
Now we must look to the life of Christ, who is the mediator of our new covenant, in light of the old covenant that we have been learning about with the Hebrew people now encamped at the Jordan. Right at the start of Jesus’s earthly ministry, he gets baptized by John the Baptist. A little fun fact for you is that most scholars believe that this baptism took place in this very same spot of the Jordan River that we see the Hebrew people camped at in our text today. Which would make the time he spent in the desert immediately after his baptism the very same desert.
Jesus’s temptations of power, provision, and precepts
During these 40 days Jesus will spend in the wilderness we are going to see Satan systematically try to pervert and corrupt the perfect and incorruptible representation of God – not the Ark of the Covenant this time, but rather what the ark was pointing to, Jesus Christ. Satan will do this by attacking the three specific areas that represent the very presence of the Lord that we spoke of within the contents of the Ark of the Covenant: His Provision, His Power and His Precepts.
There are some cool parallels that we can draw between the temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11) and where we are in Joshua right now as well as apply them to our own lives. Satan doesn’t come up with new tricks. What he does here with Christ is very similar to the lies he will whisper to try to steal our joy, kill our hope, and destroy our testimony.
Matthew 4:1-4 – Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Remember we read Deuteronomy 8 earlier? Here’s a fun little fact about the book of Deuteronomy: it was the book Jesus quoted most in the gospels. Here, Jesus uses the Word to combat the lie that Satan is whispering to him attempting to bait Jesus regarding his Father’s provision.
Matthew 4:5-6 – Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
Pause here for a second and realize what Satan is doing. Of course God can do this! He is the all-powerful sovereign of the universe. What a vain demonstration of the power of God this would be. So Jesus once again responded with scripture from the book of Deuteronomy 6:16 – Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’
Matthew 4:7-11 – Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
The last trick that Satan played was an attempt to have the very Word of God break his own word, the perfect law, or as we have been calling it here today, his precepts.
Distance Cycles – the Old Covenant
The people quickly allow fear to dominate their minds so they turn aside from God. God puts more distance between Himself and the people. The people then atone for their sins and turn back to Him. God’s presence draws near again. God wants to take them into the promised land and fear once again dominates their minds and prevents them from being obedient. God distances Himself again, declaring it would be Joshua and the next generation that will go instead. He will go before them and He will give them the land, but they have to be faithful and careful to follow the law, meditating on it day and night, not letting it depart from their mouths, to be obedient. And then He will bless them richly, chiefly with the only blessing that is really worth anything – His presence.
Drawing Near – the New Covenant
Now in the New Covenant, we are given Jesus, the son of God, born of Mary conceived of the Holy Spirit, not from the seed of Adam, who spends his whole life while being fully man living under perfect submission to the will of the Lord through the perfect law that was given through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. He spends forty days in the desert fasting! Certainly one layer of significance behind the 40 days, other than it being a long time to go without food, was that it represented the 40 years God had the people spend in the wilderness before crossing the Jordan. Here we see the truth that the author of Hebrews was writing about in chapter 4:15-16, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
First Things First in the Promised Land
Now after Jesus Christ victoriously conquered the wilderness through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and the word of God, what did he do? He started his ministry with a bang and was healing so many people night and day and teaching everyone about who God was and… No! That is not what we read. That may just be what we would have expected him to do.
He recruits! We read in the gospel accounts about how Jesus, right after his time in the desert, walked along the Sea of Galilee and called to Peter, Andrew, James and John while they were in their boats in the water saying to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” He came to his would-be disciples in the middle of their own wilderness of life meeting them where they were at – even in the middle of a sea, which to the Hebrew mind represents chaos (which many of you have heard Matt teach about before he has to go on any family beach trips.) Christ, who conquers the wilderness and is already walking in the promised land, shows us by his actions the first thing that we should be focused on…
Who can we bring with us? Who can we extend the same invitation that the Lord has extended to us?
The promised land that is on the other side of that Jordan, does not only represent heaven. No, the promised land represents the life of a Holy Spirit filled believer, living a life under submission to Jesus Christ and his teaching. In order for the Hebrews to cross the Jordan they need to be led by the presence of God from a distance. In order for you and I to have crossed this Jordan, we need to put our faith in the identity and atoning works of Jesus Christ that through him we too will have victory in our wilderness and then we will we be justified before a holy and pure God able to begin our walk by faith in the promised land.
I love that the first actions we witness Jesus doing after leaving the desert was to show others how to be victorious in the wilderness and inviting them along his journey of victory allowing them to witness what a life yielded to the spirit of God looks like! What a picture of Christ living out his own great commission – “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Victory! And Wooden Boxes.
You want to know the big difference between the old covenant and the new? It is the fact that there is no longer any separation between us and God! The veil has been torn! Christ has done it! It is finished! “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” That means that where we go, we bring with us the very presence of God! Just try to wrap your mind around that! This is what the people of the old covenant have been waiting for generations for!
Ezekiel 36:27 says, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” The people of the law tried so hard to follow God’s perfect and holy law but they could not do it. It was impossible. They needed the very Spirit we have in our hearts poured through God the Father through the atoning works of Jesus Christ. We have become the ark of the covenant through our faith in Jesus Christ and the placement of the Holy Spirit in our heart!!! Our lives are just wooden boxes – the contents of which point to Jesus Christ!
You want to know what it looks like to live a holy spirit filled life? Look to Christ, look at his life, learn his commands and while you learn it teach others to do the same. It is only through his personal invitation to follow him, as we are in the chaotic seas of our own lives, to abandon our nets, be ready to leave the wilderness behind, and come follow him. That is when he gives to us a new heart, that becomes the home of His holy spirit, the very spirit of truth, to be our helper where the Lord will lead us into a work of consecration or sanctification for our lives as new creations in him. Just like the Hebrew people, we must remember that we are being led by the provision, the power and the precepts of our victorious King and Lord Jesus Christ who went victoriously before us in the wilderness and even now is victoriously going before us into the promised land. While keeping our eyes on Jesus, let’s never forget our season in the wilderness that brings us to the point where we need to make a decision to follow Christ.
Now positionally speaking, yes, there is no more distance between us and God. Praise God for that! But practically speaking, my friends, it is a journey. And once you have accepted Christ’s invitation to follow him into and beyond the Jordan River that is when the consecration or sanctification process will begin. And verses 5 and 6 of Joshua 3 is where we will pick up in the next message in our series in Joshua where there will be a heavy emphasis on consecration. Today we’re going to close by reading Psalm 23 together. As we read I pray that with respect to God’s truth spoken in today’s message, that there might be a certain emphasis on this text in your hearts to serve as an encouragement, that it is Lord who has called us and is shepherding us with His power, provision, and precepts in the promised land.
Corporate Reading:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.