Joshua 4:12

Joshua 4:12 says, And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spake unto them:  The people of Reuben, Gad and half the people of Manasseh passed over ahead of the rest of the people of the other families of Israel.  These were the ones who were going to eventually stay on this side of the Jordan.  Even when we aren't planning to leave where we are permanently, we as followers of Christ, still have a responsibility to support other Christians as much as we possibly can,  We are all in the fight against evil in the world.  Verse thirteen states, About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the LORD unto battle, to the plains of Jericho.  Even though God had promised them the land, they were to be ready and willing to fight for it, under God's guidance and power.  We are assured of our heavenly home, but we must still be willing to fight against sin in the world today, under God's leadership and power.  Verse fourteen declares, On that day the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.  God fulfilled His promise to Joshua to make him like Moses in the sight of the people.  No one person will ever be indispensable in the work of God, and even if someone is seen as a great man of God, it is God Who should be glorified and not the man.  Verse fifteen states, And the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,  Then verse sixteen adds, Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of Jordan.  Joshua himself was not making the plans of how to defeat the enemy, but God was.  When we are engaged in spiritual warfare today, we must rely on God's leadership if we are to be victorious.  Verse seventeen says, Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up out of Jordan.  The priests had been in the Jordan as God divided the waters, but now they were to have another purpose.  When we have completed one task for God, we need to move on to the next one that He calls us to.  Verse eighteen declares, And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before.  As soon as the feet of the priests landed on dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their normal state.  There was no longer a reason for the water to be parted, because most of the people were not going back.  When we have been delivered out of a bad situation, there is no reason to go back into it.  Verse nineteen states, And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.  This tells us when the people of Israel passed over the Jordan, and that they camped in Gilgal, east of the border of Jericho.  They had yet to face any opposition.  There may be times in life when we seem to face very little opposition as followers of Christ, but we need to know that if we are faithful to God that the opposition will be coming.  Verse twenty declares, And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.  Joshua built the altar of the twelve stones taken from the Jordan at Gilgal.  Verse twenty-one adds, And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?  Joshua reminded the people that they were to be ready to tell their children what the stones meant when they asked.  We today must be ready to tell our children what the cross of Christ means to those who are saved.  Verse twenty-two adds, Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.  Joshua basically said that the altar signified the people of Israel passing over the Jordan on dry ground by the power of God.  Today, we must teach our children the meaning of the cross, that it represents God's delivering us from the power of sin and death.  Verse twenty-three continues, For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:  Joshua said they were to give all the credit to God, just as He had been given credit when they came out of Egypt.  God was still with them and at work then, just as He had been when they were following Moses.  As long as we are faithful to God, He will always be at work in our lives.  Verse twenty-four concludes, That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.  God did not demonstrate His power just for the children of Israel, but for the whole world to know that He is God.  God's work still testifies to Him today, and those who will not accept Him will always be without an excuse for not doing so.