God's Hand - Not Ours - Joshua 4:1-5:1

Sermon Series: Great Leader, Exceptional Follower

Have you ever known someone who got really excited about watching one of the bigger awards ceremonies that take place during the year, like the Oscars or the Grammys?  I’ve heard of people who get really excited on those nights and who even host Oscar or Grammy parties at their homes where they invite friends over and watch the award ceremony with them.  I don’t think that I would have much fun at one of those parties – mostly because I’m not a fan of those kinds of award ceremonies.  I get bothered by the acceptance speeches.  The individuals who win the awards always have a list of people that they want to ‘thank’ but very few of them actually sound genuine and sincere while giving thanks.  Most of those celebrities (and probably most of us) are more consumed with themselves.  They are excited that they are being made much of and out of a sense of obligation write some of the names down that they feel obligated to mention who may or may not have played a significant role in what he/she accomplished.  But the reality is, those individuals winning those awards probably spend little time during their normal work weeks being grateful for what others have taught them or for skills that they helped them acquire.  With the exception of the time those individuals set aside to write those names down, those individuals probably spend little to no time at all remembering those or thinking about those who have played an important part in their lives.

That scares me quite a bit!  Why you ask?  Because what those award winners are guilty of doing to those who have played an important part in their lives is what I’m often guilty of myself.  Too often I’m guilty of forgetting the role that God has played and continues to play in my life.  Too often I forget the amazing things that He has done on my behalf.  And there are times when the only time I spend thinking about Him and giving Him thanks is when I feel obligated.  Forgetting to remember and recognize God’s hand and goodness would be something that the Israelites (like us) would always wrestle with.  And in our passage this week the author of the OT book of Joshua recalls for his readers a time when God addressed that with the Israelites.  The author if Joshua will continue this week to focus on the crossing of the Jordan River, but in chapter 4 specifically we will see the hand of God from two different perspectives.

First we’ll see the author emphasize that in crossing over the Jordan River God’s hand, not the Israelites’, made a way (vs. 1-14).  The text of chapter 4 covers a lot of the same content that we looked at in chapter 3 last week.  So from a content perspective we aren’t going to see much new.  But while we may be looking at the same ‘coin’ if you will, we’ll be looking at it from a different perspective – or from the other side.  So keep a couple of things in mind as we approach our text this week: First, remember that the author of this book isn’t always concerned with chronology.  He is more concerned with theological reflection – keeping the eyes of His readers fixed on God.  So there are times in the author’s account that he doesn’t tell things in order of how they transpired – he tells things in a way to force the reader to see God and to see what He is up to.  Second, remember that the author is pointing us to another side of the coin.  While you may recognize the event from our study last week, don’t tune out this week.  The crossing of the Jordan was a very significant event in the life of God’s people and has a great deal to reveal to us about God.

Chapter 4 has a very distinct structure to it that will shape the way we examine the text.  There seems to be a clear transition that takes place between verses 14 and 15.  Verses 1 through 14 deal primarily with the Israelites “crossing over” the Jordan River.  Up until verse 15 the Israelites have always been outside of the promise land looking in.  And at the end of this section we see the response of the Israelites to God’s presence and hand with them making a way for them.  Verses 15 through 5:1 deal primarily with the Israelites “coming up out of” the Jordan River.  From verse 15 on the text proceeds from the perspective of the Israelites being in the land.  And at the end of this section in 15:1 we see the response of the nations to God’s presence and hand with the Israelites making a way for them.

The one thing that stands out above all else in chapter 4 is the emphasis on recognizing and remembering the presence of God and the power of His hand in the crossing of the Jordan River into the promise land.  It was God alone who was giving His people their promised inheritance and the people needed always to remember that.  So chapter 4 begins with God giving instructions to Joshua – something that was already anticipated for us in 3:12 and which will continue to anticipate the successful crossing of the Jordan into the promise land.  God instructs Joshua to, “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’”  God knew something about his creation.  He knew that people were incredibly prone to forget Him and to forget the things that He had done for them.  So there are times throughout the OT that we see God instructing His people to mark it down – to create a marker that will cause them to remember God and the times that He demonstrated His great might, power, and grace among them.  This is what God had in mind here as we begin chapter 4.  Listen as Joshua gives an explanation for why God has commanded them to do this in verse 5.  “And Joshua said to them [the twelve appointed men], ‘Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you.  When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.  When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.  So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.’”  If God’s name was going to be continuously made great among the Israelites then they had to remember well what God had done for them.  Forgetting the grace and power of God in their lives could spell disaster for the Israelites.  By forgetting God’s incredible miracle and the means by which they came to take possession of their inheritance the Israelites might suffer some weighty consequences.  One of the things that often comes about when we forget how God has worked in our lives in the past is that we become very prideful.  When we forget what was done for us we sometimes slip into thinking that it was a result of our own efforts that got us where we are.  Once pride sets in and we continue to forget about the work of God among us we lose any sense of gratitude toward God.  There is no reason for us to have any gratitude toward Him when in our minds all that we have accomplished is a result of our own efforts.  And lastly, when we forget how God has worked in our lives we lose our sense of dependency on God and we become independent and self-reliant.  Pride, lack of gratitude, and lack of dependence are not God-honoring qualities.  So God wanted the Israelites to remember what He had done for them.  He wanted them to have a physical marker that would help them remember the great power of God that was put on display for them, to make a way for them to take possession of their inheritance and so that they would have the assurance that they needed that God was the living God and that He was dwelling among them.

When we get to verses 8 and 10 and following, the author takes a break from looking forward with anticipation.  In verses 8 and 10 we find a couple of very encouraging verses.  While we are often quick to condemn the Israelites for the times when they blow it by acting in disobedience and/or lack of faith, there are times when the Israelites respond well.  God, through Joshua, has just given the Israelite nation the command to remember Him and what He had done by setting up a memorial which would help the people remember.  Then verses 8 and 10 tell us about their obedience as they are crossing over.  “Then the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua.  And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there . . . For the priests bearing the Ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua.”  Verses 8 and 10 let us know two things very clearly.  Joshua must have been following God exceptionally well because the people are obedient to Joshua’s command which the end of verse 8 tells us was exactly what the Lord had commanded Joshua.  So as Joshua was leading the people, it wasn’t a leadership marked by his own initiative and direction.  Joshua was being an exceptional follower – he was being obedient to all that God had commanded him.  We also see in verses 8 and 10 that not only was Joshua exceptional in his following of God but that he was leading the people of Israel to be exceptional in their following as well.  Verse 8 begins by telling the reader that on this particular occasion Israel did well in their obedience.  They did “just as Joshua commanded.”  They didn’t leave anything out or add anything to Joshua’s instructions.  But as Joshua told the people exactly what God had communicated to him the people were responding in exceptional obedience doing all that their shepherd had instructed them to do.

The first section in chapter 4 comes to a conclusion in verses 11 through 14.  Verse 11 tells us that all the nation of Israel passed over the Jordan in obedience to God.    Then the priests, having been faithful in their obedience to remain in the midst of the Jordan, followed the people out.  We also see a statement about the two tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh and their obedience to go before the rest of the Israelites armed for battle.  The Israelites were faithfully following their shepherd Joshua, who was leading them to faithfully follow God’s plan.  God’s hand could clearly be seen in the way that He was making a way for the people – the Jordan River had stopped flowing.  The mighty hand of God and the presence of the living God were clearly making a way for the people.  But while God was making a way for them to cross over the Jordan, the people still had to be completely obedient to do it.  And in keeping the promise that God had made to Joshua in 3:7, verse 14 tells us that God, “exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.”

When God calls us to do something, He will make a way for us to do it.  But at the same time, we still have to be completely obedient and do all that God has called us to do.  Reality check time.  The church today is often quick to pass judgment on the Pharisees in the NT.  We are quick to condemn them for their legalism and for their non-existant faith in Jesus.  And I think we are equally guilty of passing judgment on the Israelites in the OT.  We are quick to condemn them for their lack of obedience to God and for their continuous idolatry.  But far too often we look more like the Pharisees of the NT and the Israelites of the OT than we ought to.  There are times when the Israelites did well.  We see one of those times here in this passage.  God gave them a command to construct a memorial that would help them recall who He is and what He had done for them, and the Israelites were obedient to all that God had commanded them to do through Joshua.  So here’s a question I want us to consider this week: “Are we being exceptional in our following?  Are we being obedient to all that God has commanded us to do through our shepherd Jesus?”  I wish the answer to that question was yes.  But if you all are anything like me then I know that isn’t the answer.  More often we want to grab hold of one or two instances in which we were obedient to God and let those times speak towards our overall obedience.  And believe me, I’m not discounting those times of obedience.  But I am asking you to consider – are there times when you know that you should be obedient to something but you don’t do it because it isn’t convenient?  Are there times when you know that you should be obedient to something but you don’t do it because quite honestly you just don’t feel like it?  I can tell you that both of those statements are true for me.  They are.  And I’ve got a hunch that they are true of you too.  So then the next question is what’s our response to that?  Do we just shrug our shoulders and say, ‘oh well.’  Or do we repent for our past disobedience and make a greater effort in the days ahead to ask God to empower us so that we might be obedient to all of His commands and in great faith respond in obedience to all that God has called us to?

The second perspective we’ll see the author of Joshua emphasize in chapter 4 is that in coming up out of the Jordan God’s hand, not the Israelite’s, is recognized (vs. 14:15–5:1).  In verse 15 we see a very distinct change, both in terminology and in perspective.  As we mentioned earlier, prior to this point in the text the perspective of the author has always been outside the promised land looking in, and the terminology that has been used is “crossing over” the Jordan.  But after verse 14 the perspective of the author is that of being in the promise land and the terminology that will be used is “coming up out of” the Jordan.  Listen to verses 15 through 18.  “And the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Command the priests bearing the Ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan.’  So Joshua commanded the priests, ‘Come up out of the Jordan.’  And when the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the sole of the priests’ feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before.”  

Then in verses 19 through 24 we see again Joshua leading the Israelites to recognize the hand of God in the events which have just transpired.  “The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.  And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.  And he said to the people of Israel, ‘When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’  For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”  Notice the emphasis Joshua places on God and His hand when helping the Israelites understand what the twelve stones symbolized.  The memorial wasn’t just a reminder that the Israelites had crossed over the Jordan into the promise land.  It wasn’t just a reminder of where the Israelites crossed the Jordan.  And it wasn’t a reminder of anything the Israelites had done to cross over the Jordan by their own efforts.  The memorial was a reminder that God’s mighty hand had been present with the Israelites and that it was only by the work of His hand that the waters of the Jordan had been held back and the Israelites were able to cross on dry ground. 

The stones would serve as a reminder to the Israelites for generations to come of what God had done.  But in crossing over and coming up out of the Jordan in such a miraculous fashion not only would the Israelites recognize the mighty hand of God, but the nations dwelling in the promise land would also recognize the mighty hand of God and fear His great power.  Verse 24 says “so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty.”  Then this section concludes with 5:1 which says, “As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.”  The kings of the people dwelling in the promise land would not recognize the might and power of God if the Israelites had attempted to cross the Jordan and got washed away or drown in the flooding waters.  The kings of the people dwelling in the promise land would not recognize the might and power of God if the Israelites had not been able to cross over the Jordan.  But because the Israelites not only began to cross over the Jordan, but actually crossed over on dry ground and came up out of the Jordan into the promise land the kings of the nations dwelling in the promise land were forced to recognize the hand of God and fear His power.

When God lays out His plans for us as individuals and as a church He will make a way for us to do what He calls us to do.  But at the same time God calls us to complete obedience.  He calls us to do all that He has commanded us to do as He is making a way for us.  God stopped the waters of the Jordan River so the Israelites could cross over, but the Israelites still had to do the walking.  So we need to walk in obedience to what God has called us to do, believing that we will accomplish all that He has called us to do because He is going to make a way.  But once God’s plan is fulfilled we need to always be able to look back and say to others that it was only because of God’s presence and hand that we were able to have success.  We can’t forget the role that God has played and the works that God has done for us.  And we can’t remember Him only in those times when there seems to be an obligation to remember Him.  We need to always remember God’s presence among us and God’s hand in helping us accomplish His plan – because that’s one of the means by which those around us will come to recognize God’s hand and fear Him and His mighty power.

There is one area in particular that we as believers in Christ need to excel in this.  It’s in rightly expressing our dependence upon God and the role that He has played in our salvation.  Many believers in Christ like to talk to others about the importance of church attendance and the importance for living for God.  Then we like to give examples of how we are doing this in our own lives.  But when we do that we communicate to a lost world that the salvation we claim isn’t a gift of grace from an incredibly loving God – we communicate that it is a payment we deserve for something that we have worked for and continue to work for.  As believers in Christ we need to always be stressing the role that God has played in our salvation.  We need to communicate our state of helplessness and hopelessness when we were apart from God.  We need to communicate God’s initiative in pursuing us and that salvation by faith was His plan.  We need to communicate that it was only because His hand was at work in sending His Son, Jesus, causing Him to bear our punishment for sin in our place and becoming our substitute that we are able to receive God’s gift.  We must always be quick to recognize and point to the mighty hand of God in our salvation.  When we leave God out of our salvation story, we communicate to those who are far from God that there is hope in themselves.  And Scripture is clear – there is no hope for us apart from the mighty hand of God in our lives.  We need Jesus for salvation.  Others need Jesus for salvation.  And we as believers need to be more intentional about making that clear!

Small Group Questions for Discussion: