LWF : The Day of Miracles - Joshua 3:1-5
Today we'll look at what Pastor Adrian Rogers once preached about the possibility and purpose of miracles.
This study is for all of us who know that God has more for us yet there seems to be a dark river swirling between us and those opportunities.
LWF : The Day of Miracles - Joshua 3:1-5
Joshua is the Old Testament book that foretells of our New Testament victory.
Are you facing rivers of difficulty keeping you from your land of opportunity?
God has more for you. The God of miracles is able to see you through.
We know that our God is The God of miracles, but what does that really mean?
This study is for all of us who know that God has more for us yet there seems to be a dark river swirling between us and those opportunities.
Perhaps it is a river of doubt, or a river of weakness, or a river of fear, or a river of darkness, or perhaps some besetting sin or problem that is keeping you from receiving all that God has for you today.
Today we will study the God of miracles that’s able to see us through.
The truth is that if we abide in Him we will see that God wants to and can work in us and through us!
See Joshua 3:1-5
1 And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.
2 And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host;
3 And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of The LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it.
4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.
5 And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow The LORD will do wonders among you.
This passage could just as easily have ended with "sanctify yourselves for tomorrow The LORD will do miracles among you.
This is a story about our miracle working God.
There is a song that asks:
Have you any rivers that seem uncrossable?
Have you any mountains you cannot tunnel through?
Well our God specializes in the impossible. He has a thousand ways to make a way for us!
Today we will look at the POSSIBILITY of Miracles, and then the PURPOSE of miracles, and then we will conclude with The PREEMINENT Miracle.
1) The POSSIBILITY of Miracles:
Look again at verse 5: And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow The LORD will do wonders among you.
Now all a miracle is, is The LORD doing wonders. Sometimes people have difficulties believing in miracles, but you won't have any difficulties believing in miracles if you believe in God, Amen?
Because like I said, a miracle is simply The LORD doing wonders.
Oh what a wonderful God we have!
He isn't a prisoner of His own laws of nature.
Now some may say "Well there ARE the laws of nature, and the laws of nature cannot be broken."
You know it pains me when I hear people use that term, "the laws of nature".
They are not the laws of nature. They ARE the laws of God!
It is God that made EVERYTHING! God doesn't operate according to the laws of nature, but rather nature operates according to the laws of God, and we must understand this!
It is God that made nature, nature did not form itself, God made nature and they are God's laws and He can do anything with them that He wants!
The Almighty God made them!
Suppose a man builds a little model railroad. He has the bridges and the the trestles and the cross gates and bells.
And he has a little box back there from which he operates it all. You know some men do things like this as a hobby. My dad had a wonderful Lionel train display.
We’d set it up every Christmas. Last week my mom gave it to me, oh what memories.
So picture that little trains as it puffs and toots, around and around the track.
Yet we all know that man build all of it, he assembled it.
Now suppose that man who built the model railroad wanted to get up from his box and go over and pick up the train and turn it around on it's track.
Can he do that? Of course he can! He made it all!
Likewise, I want to tell you about our God who made all of this. He can leave the control box at any time He pleases and simply reach into His creation and do anything He pleases.
He put is all together!
Now the way that God usually operates His creation are according to percepts, certain fundamental ways; but any time that God wants to He may get up and step into the middle of His creation.
He is free to do it!
He doesn't need my permission to do it, He is free to do it!
Amen?
He can do ANYTHING He wants! Because He IS God!
Now some people ask:
How do you explain a miracle?
How do you explain the virgin birth?
How do you explain....
The point is that we DO NOT explain miracles!
Whenever we can or do they cease to be miracles!
Do you understand that???
Look to explain miracles we'd have to be able to explain God and we cannot explain God, quite frankly I am glad that I have a God that I cannot explain.
You know, I wouldn't have much confidence in a god that I could explain.
In fact I wouldn't have any in a god that you could explain!
So I am glad that we cannot explain miracles because we then cannot explain God, and you know there are a lot of things we cannot explain.
Einstein was said by some to be the smartest man of the 20th century, but I don’t agree but I won’t argue with that here. That’s another story for another day.
He said that he hoped he would finally understand what electricity is before he died.
Now we all know what electricity DOES but we really don't know what it IS, even Einstein admitted that!
We know how it operates, how it functions but we really don't know what it IS! Sure we say there are "electrons", and they have certain properties, but we could have just as easily called them "gremlins" with certain "behaviors" rather than "properties"!
None of this however means that we don't use electricity, so this lack of understanding doesn't mean we are all going to sit around in the dark until we do!
Likewise I don't understand all about miracles and what God intends to do, I just know that the scripture said:
"And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow The LORD will do wonders among you."
You know sometimes we get to these miracles and we are a little bit embarrassed about the Bible. So sometimes we may try to make them a little bit more explainable.
Men travel the earth and sea trying to find a fish big enough to swallow a man and keep him alive for three days because of the story of Jonah and the great fish.
You know men will say there is this shark with a gullet this and thus a size and this whale this and such a size that can do this and that as they try to explain it that way naturalistically.
However when we do that to a miracle we obliterate the miracle. Do you understand that?
If that "thing" can be done without God then it is no longer a miracle!
Look, God made it ALL and if God wanted to He could make a fish with a refrigerator and a living room full of furniture in its belly for Jonah if if so pleased The LORD.
You see with miracles we don't have to worry about whether it is "plausible", or "if it is possible", we just admit the fact that God IS and the possibility of miracles follow by default!!!
Then the next point to notice is:
2) The PURPOSE of Miracles:
Now not all of the purposes of miracles are given here in this chapter, but some of them are, and they are worth spending the time to study so we ought to look at them.
Now the first purpose of a miracle is:
i) To commence a PROGRAM
Notice in the last part of verse 4:
Joshua 3:4 "that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore."
So here God was starting to do something new for these people.
Up until this time they had been living in the wilderness but now they are getting ready to receive the promises of Canaan.
His Chosen People were entering into a brand new era, and whenever they do God seems to mark it with something miraculous to confirm it.
As you study miracles in the Bible you will find they seem to come in clusters. They typically mark the beginning of a new age.
For example, in the creation account, there were many miracles.
Then during the Exodus, again there was a cluster of miracles.
Then there were miracles surrounding the ministries of Elijah and Elisha.
Then of course, we have the numerous accounts of the miracles in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
And then we have all of the miracles centered around the lives of the Apostles.
Now we also ought to note that there were at times hundreds of years or more between these periods of miracles.
Then God steps in.
It seems that many times when God is preparing to move He initiates it with these clusters of miracles.
So this is why we can say God uses miracles to “COMMENCE a Program”.
He also uses miracles to:
ii) CONFIRM a Prophet
See Joshua 3:7 And The LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
So as He was with Moses, now God was going to be with another man named Joshua, and so God uses these miracle not only to commence a program, but to confirm a prophet.
God confirmed that Joshua was His man.
This same thing was done with the Apostles to confirm their words and works.
Look at what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:11-12
11 I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. 12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.
In effect, Paul says here that miracles are done by the Apostles as confirmations of their ministries. Now not every person needs miracles to confirm their ministry.
You know in my estimation the greatest confirmation of a ministry is not a miracle, but it is people being saved, and that’s NOT a cop out!
In John 10, Jesus said that there had never been a prophet greater than John the Baptist. In fact he was more than a prophet.
John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb!
Now notice what is also said about John the Baptist: John 10:41 And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.
So John the Baptist wasn't a miracle worker, but all things that Jesus spake of "This Man" were true, and then look at the next verse: John 10:42 And many believed on Him there.
So John the Baptist wasn't a miracle worker, he was a preacher!
What John the Baptist had the ability to do was to say, "Behold, The Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world."
And the Bible says that upon the testimony of John the Baptist, many came to salvation in Jesus Christ.
Now I want to tell you this with every iota of my being, I would rather we were able to do that than to raise the dead!
John did no miracle but many believed on to Jesus through the preaching of John the Baptist.
So not only does God do miracles to COMMENCE a Plan and to CONFIRM a Prophet but also to
iii) COMFORT a People:
See Joshua 3:10
10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
Here Joshua is talking about the miracle that God is about to do as the people are preparing for battle.
They were fearful and worried, and the miracle comforted them.
Letting them know that God will be with them as they entered a battle.
So miracles are used by God to commence a plan, confirm a prophet, comfort a people and to
iv) COMMUNICATE a Principle:
Look again at Joshua 3:10a And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites,...
So the point here is that God was with them to help them drive out the Canannites, the Hittites and the Hivites etc...
The principle here for us in the future is that God will be with us as He was with them in our times of need.
The principle is that there is a land of opportunity and a river of difficulty, and just as God saw them though that river God will see us through every river of difficulty, but not necessarily with a miracle!
The point is even without a miracle, God is with us. He is just as much with us, God is just as real on those days without miracles.
God said, I am going to be with you today in a wondrous way so that you will know that I am also with you when there are no miracles.
Now some people want a miracle a day to keep the devil away, but that's not how miracles operate, because when miracles become common place they cease to be miracles.
If you saw one everyday it would cease to be miraculous or supernatural and become merely NATURAL.
The principle here is that this was to be a memorial of the miracle.
See Joshua 4:6-7
6 That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? 7 Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of The LORD when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.
So God told them to take some stones and to build a monument to remember!
It's not that they had a miracle every day, but they had a memorial everyday!!!
They would look back to the miracle.
The miracle was to establish a principle that when we come to rivers of difficulty, whether there is a miracle or not God is still with the us!
Do you see the point here?
Sometimes in the midst of our troubles we want God to perform a miracle rather that standing on His power, truths and principles!
And when He moved the people through the River Jordan He established a principle that no matter what river of difficulty you may face He will be with you, and that’s an awesome truth to know!
So our very lives are to be miracles.
Everyday we are to live in the supernatural, we are to be supernaturally natural.
So far we have seen the POSSIBILITY of Miracles, the PURPOSE of Miracles, and now let's conclude with
3) The PREEMINENT Miracle:
See Joshua 3:11-17
11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of The LORD of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.
12 Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.
13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of The LORD The LORD of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap. 14 And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people; 15 And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water,( for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) 16 That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. 17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of The LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.
Now this ark wasn't a boat like Noah's it was more like a chest, or a piece of furniture.
Ark means a chest of safety, a repository.
So the priests carried this ark.
And then what happened?
Well, I believe this is one of the best examples in all of the Old Testament to a foretelling of the death, the burial and the resurrection of our LORD Jesus Christ!
That ark that symbolized to them God is actually a picture of The LORD Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is our ark of safety.
The gold of that ark spoke of His deity.
The wood of that ark spoke of his humanity.
So that ark represented our LORD Jesus Christ.
Now what does the River Jordan represent?
Well, the word "dan" from Jordan means "judgment".
The Jordan was the river of judgment and death.
It flowed from the Sea of Galilee down into The Dead Sea.
Symbolically and geographically it speaks of death and judgment.
So the ark speaks of Jesus, the Jordan of death and judgment, and that ark went down into Jordan and that ark came out of the Jordan.
Just like our LORD Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan, and then He came out of the Jordan.
Now did you know that Jesus was baptized on the River Jordan, at this very same spot described here in Joshua 3?
Study Bible History, go and tour the Holy Land and you will learn this to be true.
Folks, this wasn't a coincidence! This speaks of His death, burial and resurrection for our sins.
So when that ark of the covenant went into the waters of the Jordan, that river of death and judgment stopped flowing all of the way back to the city of Adam!
Praise The LORD!
The waters of death and judgment were stopped that the people of God might go through.
What a wonderful Savior we have and what a wonderful Bible He gave us!
Tucked away here in The Old Testament is a foretelling of the greatest miracle of all miracles.
It wasn't raising Lazarus, it wasn't going through the Red Sea, it wasn't opening the eyes of the blind or even the creation of the universe!
The miracle of all miracles is the death, burial and resurrection of our LORD Jesus Christ that enables us to have the new birth!
And here’s why:
I) it COST more that any other miracle.
This entire creation was spoken into existence by God's fiat command, yet the death, burial and resurrection cost God His only begotten Son.
So it cost Him His very Heart!!!
II) it also has the greatest CONSEQUENCES.
Did you know that coal is made of carbon, just as diamonds are, but oh what a transformation it is from coal to diamonds.
Yet that is nothing compared to the conversion and the transformation of a sinner upon placing his feet on The Rock and God freeing him from the power of sin!
Jesus died for us!
So this miracle is great because of it's cost, great because of it consequences and great because of:
III) it's CONFIRMATION.
Now please pay attention to this!
Some of you may be thinking that if God would only do one miracle for me, oh what a believer I would be.
Have you ever thought that way?
Oh LORD just do this, move that chair from here to there, or LORD do this or that, and then what a follower I'd be!
No friends, God doesn’t work like that and that is certainly not the confirmation we need.
Miracles like that are cheap and God will not perform magic to convince you.
The confirmation is the death, burial and Resurrection of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.
Now suppose you were to die.
And now your were standing before The LORD and He asked you "Jackie, why should you be permitted into heaven?"
And you replied, "Well an angel appeared to me, all white and shining. So I know I am saved.”
And then Satan who is standing there would point an ugly finger at you and laugh saying "Jackie, you fool didn't you know that was me?!?"
See 2 Corinthians 11:14-15
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
The point is that we are not saved because we had an angel of light appear to us!!!
Suppose you told The LORD "a great miracle happened in your life, you saw a ball of fire come down from heaven"
Satan can also do that!!!
See Revelation 13:13-14
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Did you know that miracles can deceive you?
Look what Jesus warned us in Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
So why is the new birth afforded to us by the death, burial and Resurrection of The LORD Jesus Christ such a great miracle?
The devil can say I appeared to you as an angel of light, I made that ball of fire fall from heaven to deceive you.
So we need something better than that, and here is what we have and what we can tell our LORD:
1 John 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
And then the argument is no longer with me and the devil, now it is between the devil and at the Word of God, and who do you think will win that argument?
So the greatest miracle is the miracle of our new birth.
Great because of it's cost, consequences, and confirmation!
Praise God that I know that I know that I am born again and saved.
Are you?
It took a miracle to hang the stars in the frimament.
It took a miracle to hang the moon in it's place.
But when He saved my soul, cleansed and made me whole. It took a miracle of love and grace.
There is a river of death and judgment flowing right now, and only The LORD Jesus Christ can stop it for you so that you can go on through.
Are you willing to let Him? That is the greatest miracle.
Today can be the first day of the beginning of your new life.
You can move out of the wilderness and go into the promised land!
SDG!
ken
bro...ken - now made whole in Jesus Christ!