God's power demonstrated through man's obedience

Joshua 3:15-17 (NIV)

Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off.  So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 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 passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

According to The NIV Study Bible p.292, the Jordan River was 80-100 feet wide at Jericho most of the year, but during the spring flood it was as wide as a mile.  There were fords where people could cross in shallow water, but there were too many people who needed to cross to use these small fords.  How many people?  Numbers 26:51 mentions 601,730 adult males, adding all the numbers of the 12 tribes.  No mention of women and children but there easily could have been on the order of 2 million people needing to cross the Jordan.  The Lord performed another miracle, as Joshua said He would in Joshua 3:5.  As soon as the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant touched the water, the Jordan River stopped flowing and all these people were able to cross it safely.

Perhaps the general population learned more about the Ark of the Covenant after watching the movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, than anywhere else.  The movie showed the power of God that emanated from the Ark.  That power was demonstrated in this passage of Joshua by the parting of the Jordan River.  The purpose for the Ark was to symbolize God’s visible throne on earth and the covenant He had made with His people. The Hebrew word for Ark (aron) refers to a chest or coffer.  Exodus 25:10-22 describes God’s instructions to Moses for how the ark was to be constructed.  It was a chest 2 ¼ feet in height, 2 ¼ feet in width and 3 ¾ feet in length that contained the tablet of stones inscribing the Ten Commandments carried by priests from Mt. Sinai to the Promised Land.  Since the Ark was overlaid with pure gold, both inside and out and had gold moldings around it with gold rings near the feet through which poles were placed to carry it, it required four priests to carry it.  The Ark was either destroyed or taken away by Nebuchadnezzar when the Babylonians destroyed Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem in 586 BC.  The Ark is never mentioned again until Rev 11:19 where John’s vision indicates that the Ark has returned to the Temple.  

Not only does God work miracles when they fit His will, but also He works miracles when His people live by faith in Him.  These Israelites either had seen or were told about the parting of the Red Sea 40 years earlier so they were willing to be obedient.  On page 27 of Rick Warren’s book on “Purpose-Driven Life” he makes a statement that really struck me and I hope will do the same to you…….”Instant obedience will teach you more about God than a lifetime of Bible discussions”.  Think about this and resolve to be obedient when you reach a decision point.  God rewards obedience, test Him on this; He is faithful if you are.