“Stood Firm On Dry Ground” (Joshua 3)

“Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan” (vs17).

Obedience involves believing on Christ for the cleansing and removing of sins, for reconciliation with God accomplished by Someone Else, and receiving the benefits of His one act as why all grace is yours. This path of righteousness must be followed; it is the only way to avail with God, by believing that Christ SUCCEEDED and He's rightfully gracious. We read, “and they commanded the people, saying, When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before” (Joshua 3:3-4).

The blood of Christ is a sin-conquering payment, so that WRATH cannot hurt us. His death, the sin-bearing atonement that He made, is enough for God's wrath to be pacified and the way to blessings be on “dry ground” of no condemnation. His death means that we have paid and will not die! We read again, “And Joshua said, By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canannites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites (all the enemies of sin and fear) and the Amorites and the Jebusites: Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan... And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap” (vs10-13).

This wasn't anything short of miraculous: the raging flood of God's wrath on sin, the wrath that punished Christ, that flooded the world and rained brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah, this FURIOUS wrath of God is pacified, so that He has PEACE for all who believe. Hear John who says, “And He Himself is the propitiation [appeasement] for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Joshua wrote, “So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho” (vs14-16).

Augustus Toplady said it best:

From whence this fear and unbelief?
Hath not the Father put to grief
His spotless Son for me?
And will the righteous Judge of men
Condemn me for that debt of sin
Which, Lord, was charged on thee?

Complete atonement thou hast made,
And to the utmost farthing paid
Whate’er thy people owed;
How then can wrath on me take place
If sheltered in thy righteousness,
And sprinkled with thy blood?

If thou hast my discharge procured,
And freely in my room endured
The whole of wrath divine,
Payment God cannot twice demand—
First at my bleeding Surety’s hand,
And then again at mine.

Turn then, my soul, unto thy rest!
The merits of thy great High Priest
Have bought thy liberty;
Trust in his efficacious blood,
Nor fear thy banishment from God,
Since Jesus died for thee.

Lastly, this gospel isn't wishy-washy; it is sure. They stood “firm on dry ground”, and we are safe in Christ completely. There is no partial wrath for the past; it is ALL washed away, all forgiven, all gone, and all appeased by blood. There is nothing for you but God's hand from here on out. Take it by faith, “Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan” (vs17).