A few weeks ago, we ended our journey through 2024 and crossed over to a new year, 2025. In this month’s blog, I’d like us to think about this concept of crossing over – moving from one part, side, or year to another – by looking at a fascinating story found in the third and fourth chapters of the book of Joshua.

Historical Background
1. The nation of Israel had spent 430 years in Egypt. For some of those years, during the time Joseph, Jacob and Rachael’s son was alive they enjoyed peace, but several years after Joseph’s death, they were enslaved in Egypt. (Gen. 15:13).

2. Through Moses, God delivered them from the Egyptians and after the Exodus, they crossed the Red Sea on dry ground to continue their journey from Egypt to Canaan.
3. They spent some time (about a year) at Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments (the Law). Then they headed to Kadesh Barnea to enter the Promised Land; but 10 spies after scouting the land, convinced Israel that the inhabitants of Canaan were too strong for them to conquer and they should therefore, return to Egypt (Num. 13:25–33).
4. Because of their unbelief and disobedience, they were banned from entering the Promised Land. A two-week flight turned into 40 years of desert-wandering and eating manna until every person 20 years old, and older had died (Num. 14:20–25).
5. Then, after 40 long years of desert living, and some 500 years from the time God promised the land to Abraham and his covenant descendants, the time to cross over had come. Joshua and Caleb were more than 80 years old standing alongside a new generation of faith to take the Promised Land.
6. There is only one last obstacle, the rushing Jordan river swollen with spring rains, and overflowing it banks.

There are a several lessons from this Bible narrative of Israel’s crossing over the Jordan river into the Promised Land. I’ve chosen five of them to share with you.

• First, we must let God take the lead.

Joshua 3: 3-4 says, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.”

God commanded that the visible symbol of His presence and His character – the ark of the covenant – would show the way they must go by leading the way through the crossing. His people were to follow it. By leading with priests carrying the ark instead of soldiers, God declared that the key to Israel’s victory in the Promised Land would be essentially spiritual, not military. Only as they followed the representation of His presence would they be successful.  The same goes for us. We don’t know what 2025 holds so we must follow God’s lead. Resist the urge to take matters in your own hands because you have never been this way before.

• Second, there must be strict adherence to the conditions God sets.

While the miracle of crossing the Jordan River was wholly God’s, it was performed upon the fulfilment of certain conditions by the people. They were to sanctify themselves. Because this would be a spiritual battle, Joshua required Israel to make spiritual preparations in order to be successful. That means they were to separate themselves from common and filthy things to focus on the LORD, and to see what wonders the LORD would do among them.

Today, though we know that our battles are spiritual, we have become ultra focused on the physical.  We seem to be more concerned about what is on our plates than what is in our hearts and minds, but God has not changed his requirement. He is still saying to us “Be holy for I am holy.”  A few weeks ago, I ‘googled’ what is the opposite of holiness? You know what I found? Worldliness. So, if God is calling us to holiness, then we must shun worldliness.

Israel was also required to move in obedience to God’s commands concerning the crossing. They were to set themselves in array (group themselves in a certain manner), with the priests leading, keeping 2000 cubits, some 1,000 yards (1km) behind the ark. This was for at least two reasons. (a) To respect the holy nature of the ark of the covenant, and (b) To make it possible for all Israel to see the ark – to see that God was in it. We too must keep our eyes on Jesus in 2025.

Although Christians are not called to carry out the same physical acts like Israel, spiritual preparation is necessary for any life of ministry and service. We must make every effort to do so. As with Israel’s preparation, crossing over from sin to victory involves hearing and believing God’s Word and the discipline of obedience to that word.” There is no other way to move forward victoriously.

• Third, spiritual leaders must be faithful

Look at Joshua’s step of bold faith in verses 7 and 8 of Joshua chapter 3. “Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.” So, they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people (Joshua 3: 7-8). God told Joshua to command this radical step of faith, and Joshua sent the priests to walk across a swollen Jordan River, not because of foolish presumption, but as a man led by the LORD, and because of his experience. He was one of only two men who remembered the similar work God did in Isarel’s crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14).

Like Joshua did for Israel, leaders must encourage and instruct God’s people to hear and obey His words. The work of ministers and leaders is to hold forth the word of life, and to take care of the administration of those rules, orders, ordinances which are tokens of God’s presence and instruments of his power and grace. Though miracles may excite men, they cannot work faith in us, for “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

I must add that Israel followed the priests as far as they carried the ark, but no further; so, we too we must follow our ministers and leaders only as they follow Christ.

• Fourth, expect God to work in brand new ways for you in 2025

Notice that God’s work of stopping the flow of water at the Jordan River so Israel could pass through was similar to what He did at the Red Sea (Exodus 14: 21-22), but not the same.

The waters at the of the Red Sea were divided (Exodus 14:21-22) n contrast to the waters of the Jordan River which were cut off upstream, leaving a dry riverbed that was passable for Israel. From generation to generation, God’s work is in some ways the same and in other ways different or brand new for his glory, and as evidence of his faithfulness.

The waters of the Jordan stopped flowing the moment the priests’ stepped into them. God required the priests to take a step of faith, and then He acted. In the same way, God often asks us to take a step of faith before He moves. What step of faith do we need to take in our lives today as we face 2025?

As Israel crossed safely, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the river. For most of the year, the Jordan River was about 100 feet wide and only 3 to 10 feet deep. However, when the more than 3 million Israelites crossed, it was at flood stage, overflowing its banks. It’s said that the body of water that piled up would have been 20 miles (32 km.) long, 2 miles (3.2 km.) wide, and around 120 ft. (37 m.) high. What a faith-boosting experience![1]

Joshua 4:24, says “He [God] did the miracle at Jordan so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.” Readers, I assure you that no enemy can overcome God’s mighty power, and he wants to reveal this power to you in 2025.

• Fifth, memorialize your miracles

When the entire nation had finished crossing over the Jordan river, God ordered Joshua to set up a memorial. One man from each tribe was ordered to collect a stone from the bed of the Jordan river from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly and Joshua used these stones to set up a monument of remembrance at Gilgal, the place where they lodged that night.

The memorial was to be a sign among the Israelites so that when their children asked in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ The adults could tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Do we have memorials of our victories in Jesus, and do we share the significance of those victories with our children?

When God works miraculously for you, do what Israel did: find ways to memorialize the miracles for our children’s sake.

Reflection

As I close this blog, I want to ask what is the main point of Israel’s crossing of the Jordan?  The point is that Israel was called to cross over from wilderness living to the Promised Land, a land of freedom and prosperity. To do this, they were to fix their eyes on God and his presence, follow Him, and trust him to take care of them as he did the flood waters of the Jordan river.

As we have crossed over into 2025, we too are in the last leg of our journey through the wilderness ‘en route’ to the promised land or heaven itself. The challenge is we often find ourselves being stuck in “wilderness living.” No matter what we do and no matter how many times we “recalculate the route”, we seem to be right back where we started.

Perhaps we are experiencing a lack of fulfilment in our relationships, health, career, or purpose.  Maybe we have given up hope of things ever changing for the better, and have decided to tread those same well-worn, familiar paths of bitterness, hopelessness, cynicism and defeat.

I would like to urge you to pray that God would lead us to a place where we can spiritually cross over from the wilderness of defeat, disobedience and sin to a life of victory, obedience, and holiness in Jesus.

[1] Using the geographical layout of the land from where Israel camped [Adam] to the crossing of the Jordan site.