When Israel was ready to cross the Jordan into the Land of Promise, God gave Joshua some last-minute commands.
Jos 3:3-4
(3) “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. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”
I LOVE this! "You have never been this way before. You need to follow ME!" Paraphrase... mine.
The priests, however, were the ones assigned to carry the ark. I want you to imagine being one of these four men. You have the very Presence of God upon your shoulder (in case you're wondering, this was a physical representation of what is now a spiritual truth). Even worse, this box you are carrying weighs, in my estimation, somewhere in the vicinity of 300-350lbs. It's a wooden box overlayed inside and out with pure gold, covered with a solid gold lid ornamented with solid gold cherubim. Inside are the stone tablets... not feathers. The ground is not paved, but stony, washed, and rutted. To boot, your instructions as a priest: you will approach the Jordan and step into it.
Jos 3:8
(8) And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”
Okay. That should not be a problem. It's me and my three good friends bearing the exceedingly heavy box that IS the PRESENCE of GOD... while 2 million sets of eyes watch us from the rear... what could go wrong? Oh...
"...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 Jordan is running at flood stage. You'd like me to step in that? With this?
But you see, that is our job. We are the Kingdom of Priests. We stand in the gap - or the Jordan. We prepare a way when there is no way because that is what we do! It is our commission! If the situation does not appear to be impossible, then we really aren't needed. Our walk is one of a different kind of faith. Taking that first step... well... nobody else would dare. But because we will, others can cross over into the Promise.
Jos 3:17
(17) 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.
