Joshua 3:1

Joshua 3:1 says, 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.  Joshua and the people of Israel got an early start, and came to the Jordan, where they stopped before they passed over.  Once again, they were on the edge of the promised land.  In this life, we will always be camped on the edge of the promised land.  Though we can never pass over until we die or Christ returns, we must always be ready to go.  Verse two states, And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host;  They were camped there for three days.  Verse three declares, 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.  Then, the officers went throughout the host, the people of Israel, and said that when they saw the ark of the covenant and the priests bearing it that they were to follow it.  The ark of the covenant represented the presence of God.  Today, we need to make sure that we are following the will of God when we move to do something for Him.  Since the Holy Spirit is with us always, we must simply seek God's leadership in all that we do and not move on without that leadership.  Verse four adds, 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.  The people were told to keep a space between themselves and the ark of the covenant, and then to follow where it went, because they were going where they had never been before.  Though we do not have a physical separation between us and the Holy Spirit if we are followers of Christ, we still need to make sure that wherever we go, even if it is somewhere that we have never been before, that we are following the leadership of God.  Verse five proclaims, And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.  Joshua told the people to sanctify themselves, because tomorrow God was going to do wonders among them.  I believe that if we are going to see God do great wonders among us today that we as His people must first sanctify ourselves.  The lost people of the world are definitely not going to sanctify themselves before God, but we as Christians can never afford not to, and we can only be sanctified by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  Verse six adds, And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.  Joshua told the priests to take the ark of the covenant and pass over before the people.  Again, this represented God going ahead of them.  Verse seven declares, 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.  God told Joshua that as of that day He would begin to magnify Joshua so that the people would know that He was with Joshua just as He had been with Moses.  Earthly leaders may come and go, but God will always remain the same, and He will call people to various tasks in the world.  As followers of Christ, we simply need to follow those that He places in positions of authority through the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  Verse eight adds, And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.  Joshua was to tell the priests that when they came to the Jordan that they were to stand still in the Jordan.  They were now on the brink of passing over to the promised land.  We today will always be on the brink of the promised as long as we live.  We will not pass over into the promised land until God brings us there.