I had a little joke with myself that things have been a little quite so far in 2012 and thinking about this to myself I was tickled that this maybe a new trend.
That's kind of enough about my personal thoughts but I felt a word brewing up inside in the last week or so as God highlighted different things that have happened so far this year. On Friday the Lord spoke to me and said that this year would be a season of 'separation'.
We usually regard 'separation' as being quite a negative term that promotes separation as being from something and rather religious in that it dictates to us what we can't do. This is not what I mean.
In the last week or so God has been highlighting who are to be in Him and speaking to me about about the need to be separated for higher purposes. In regards to the word separation what He is saying is the Separation is not from something but it is to something, namely Him.
January so far has been a bit of a struggle for me. Generally I get the sense for many reasons it's the one month most of us would like to skip over, reasons I've heard give:
All this apparently add's together to make some day in January as the most depressing day of the year when most people will kill themselves.
January in particular is not a good month.
I felt it was good timing that this word came now instead of at the beginning of Jan. We can often regard the time of transition as time orientated and I felt the Lord say what has gone so far is part of the process. As I said I've found January to be difficult, just plain tiring more than anything but for no apparent reason.
Oddly enough so far this year, I've found myself doing some of the things I not only did last year but did and felt really blessed with the presence of the Lord and that's not what I've felt this year when doing the usual routine.
Is doing the usual stuff enough though?
I felt the Lord say that generally this year would be a year where we could no longer do the things that we did in the last seasons because He is pouring out his grace and mercy on new things in this season. The grace and mercy we had is not for this season.
I retrospect it feels like I've been pouring yesterday's mercy in today and it's clearly not been working.
It is a new season and we must transition into the things He is doing in this season and not do the things we did in the last season but seek our daily bread.
For me so far it's been a time where, in the context of what I will talk about, it's a kin to the time the Israelites were living in the desert where they were constantly on the move except I've felt like I've got up out of my tent only to find the ark has gone and my pals have crossed the Jordan.
This is something I have spoken of before and leads ultimately to the idea of 'Crossing Over' which I will largely revisit.
Talking with others I believe I'm not the only one, so it is not just me who's finding it tough but generally those I'd consider to be forerunners. In regards to 'crossing over' it was the forerunners, that is the priest's carrying the ark that, were told to walk 2000 cubits in front of the people with the presence of the Lord. This is just short of 1km, it's far enough to separate them from the people. If something were to happen the people were far enough away to be safe from any consequences but near enough so they would not loose sight of them. It's scary being a forerunner but is also a lonely experience.
The priest's were those of the people that were tasked with walking into the Jordan first and getting cold feet until all those that wanted to pass beyond the Jordan, even before the Jordan had dried up and was in a fit state to walk across and all in flood season.
For today's priest's and forerunners the time of preparation is over. Labels are sometimes not to helpful, others are, if we truly want to be forerunners then the rubber has to hit the road at some point in that we have to be those that run with what God is doing first and literally fore run. It's simple in that if we are not in front of the other main body of people running with what God is saying today we cannot truly be a forerunner.
I believe what this means today for true forerunners is that they must operate in less not more grace and mercy than they had in the season of preparation. Primarily I believe if we are to carry the very presence of God then we truly must know not just his presence but know Him in this season. God is calling forerunners to walk by faith not by sight. Some of the grace and mercy we had before is not covered in this seasons because in that season it covered the lack of intimacy but in this season it is only intimacy with the Lord that will get us through. Like me you may have felt tired at points so far but we must look at this as Grace to achieve all that God has for us.
We may feel like why me Lord if that's you but it is a gift from God because we cannot be in the Jordan with the same lack of intimacy or we will not achieve what God has called us to do.
This was chiefly the difference between the leadership generations of Moses and Joshua. There is much we can learn about what God is doing by reading the Exodus story.
Chiefly for Moses time Yahweh acted on behalf of the Israelites, often despite their murmurings In Joshua's time the Lord acted on their request, namely their intercession and their worship. I believe this pattern is reflected in the rest of the Old Testament in that when the Israelites were faithful to this Covenant they lived in peace and prosperity and when they strayed the opposite and ultimately apostasy crept in until exile.
In Moses day miracles were plentiful. If God wanted to act he did something in front of the Israelites, most of the time actually despite the Israelites. The Red Sea was divided in front of them, it took no faith to believe it because seeing was believing. Numerous miracles were performed be they the manna, the water coming from the rock, the cloud and the fire, the snake.
The story of the 40 years in the wilderness is an interesting story. I think we often tend to disparagingly look upon those Israelites as foolish, yet I think today many of us fit perfectly into the same pattern of chasing miracles and asking for today's miracle and murmuring chiefly because we do not have the faith to believe it.
The Joshua generation that is about to be birthed in the church will seek many of the same things as the Moses Generation. Namely God to supernaturally act on behalf of His People but will be satisfied enough just with knowing and having His Presence. I believe that the mark of this generation would be satisfaction in Him even if there were no signs, miracles or manifestations, knowing Him should be enough because it is enough!
For Joshua there were no signs. The miracle at the Jordan of it's damning upstream needed the faith of the priests to walk out, literally cold feet syndrome, because the Jordan damned well upstream out of where they could see it and they had to act in faith before God would begin to damn it up. I don't know about you but I prefer crossing the Red Sea.
A word that keeps coming back to me time and time again from different sources is that in a generation God is changing the definition, face and expression of Christianity across the earth. Many talk about an emerging church, I'm not entirely sure what that means but as far as I can make out this is not the true church that I see that God has called to cross the Jordan bur rather a counterfeit version.
If I wanted to repeat this word more succinctly it would be that this season is a season of transition, it is a transition where primarily what God is calling us to is greater intimacy with Him. Our one desire should be the same desire that David stated in Psalm 27:4
Ultimately we live between the two seasons, the past of wandering around in the wilderness for a generation, only living because of the provision of God and the future walking into or 'crossing over our Jordan' into the promised land, which ultimately lead to Jerusalem and Zion. Our final destination today is the same – Zion.
Walking into Zion not only needs faith but some action on our part. As Co-Heirs with Christ God is requiring that we rule and reign with Him as friends and partners not slaves. This requires a more proactive approach than we have been used to. Today we are a rather reactive people, friends means we have some say in the matter, even with God.
This process is a Holy process, where we are called to be a Holy Nation and a Holy Priesthood. God is currently consecrating His People in the Wilderness, Sanctifying Us. The ultimate purpose is to be wholly and holy separated to and for Him.
The times in this season are harder than the time of groaning in the wilderness seeking the next sign or manifestation. We are learning to in the word of Paul:
The new priesthood will understand the powerful combination of Worship and Intercession. This is why the present day night and day prayer ministry is important to what God is calling us to be. If we are to truly be separated to Him then we must be separated from what we did in the old season. Today therefore we are to seek the new bread and the new wine of the coming Kingdom, we will not understand this new wine and new bread until we realise the bread and wine of the old season is not something we should seek in this season.
What does this mean? Many today in the Church neither understand what the night and day prayer movement is about or the need for it. Do we literally pray 24 hours a day? The night and day prayer movement fundamentally believes that what God is calling us to be we must be whole heartedly devoted to, 99% is not enough. God is truly separating us for Him and that if this is true the first thing he will do is separate us from the things we do that get in the way. But to see it as focusing on the get in the way stuff is not understanding the change process we are in.
I love the fact that Paul mentions therefore. In Romans 11 Paul is talking about the saving of Israel as a nation and the in grafting of the old and the new into the Kingdom, we know this happens in the end times. Could it be that Israel will be saved if the Church truly follows the pattern of Romans 12 worship - I believe so. There is no greater model of this than night and day prayer.
It is also a pattern of the new and the old wine. God's will is that no-one gets left behind.
Anything that gets in the way, namely the flesh, gets in the way of not just His Purposes but our High Calling in Christ.
The Israelites were given Circumcision in the desert as a sign of this. All those born in the wilderness were not circumcised so Joshua (ch 5) circumcises the nation God tells Joshua in v2
God is calling His people to make the same dedication today. Just like the Law that was carved in stone God is not calling us to make the same outward sign but is calling us to re-circumcise our hearts unto Him.
In Moses time the Israelites in the wilderness were still a people in slavery. Despite the fact the Israelites were not in Egypt under captivation they stilled lived out the patterns of slavery and treated God as if He was Pharaoh, they needed someone to tell them what to do. Something I've pointed out before is that the Israelites wandering's in the desert were following the cloud and fire - that is they were under the direct direction of God. It took a whole generation of time for God to knock the spirit of Slavery out of them.
I love Joshua 1-5, it's one of my favourite chunks of scripture as it teaches us the chief principles of walking into freedom between the old and new seasons - namely what I call crossing over. I never mentioned these principles before so thought I'd briefly go through them.
Principle 1: Moses is Dead
Joshua 1:2
For the new thing to be born the old must die. The purpose of death is not death itself but that the old must die before the new must be born. Nature has a lot to teach us about the dying process. As Jesus said in John 12:24 a grain of wheat must die before it can produce a fruit.
Moses stands for the old season, it does not necessarily mean literally a figure but the patterns of the old season must die before the new can be born. For those of you who know me you'll know I'm rather fond of the term ' paradigm shift', this is what we need. Our site is actually dictated by our thinking, to see the new thing we need freedom from the patterns of processes of the old thing.
Principle 2: Be strong and courageous
v5-11
Times of change call for not just strength but courage, strength is needed but courage is the greater ingredient as without courage strength is useless. We must learn to be a people of courage, it is a key ingredient to the new thing that the Israelites were being called into. God here is asking his people to be courageous in their faith. They hadn't needed courage of any sort before in their wanderings. Courage signifies the difference between the old and the new ways of living which is why it is mentioned three times.
Note despite the new order, Joshua is commanded to do all that Moses taught them.
Principle 3: The Joshua leadership confirmed
v16 - 18
Simply Joshua's leadership is affirmed and confirmed. It is literally a case of the King is dead long live the King. The leader, whether that be Moses or Joshua, is recognised because of the authority they walked in as the new Moses, Joshua was afforded the same respect Moses was.
Principle 4: God's new thing is partly done in secret.
2:1
The original 12 spies sending was very public. Joshua was of course part of that failing but he decides to send 2 spies secretly. It has been said these two spies could have been Pharez and Zareh, Tamar's sons from Genesis 38. Whether this is so the story in Genesis 38 notes the differences between the old and new and provides a good story if so, chiefly the old order constrains, the new order living in the old order exists for the seed to bear fruit beyond the religious confinement. The scarlet cord is paralleled in both stories and marks salvation.
Much of the new thing that God is doing will be done in secret, we tend to treat the Kingdom like it is a more righteous human democracy yet the Kingdom is not a democracy, I tend to think of it as a theocracy.
Some of the partakers of the new Kingdom would have been religious outcasts under the old - namely Rahab & Tamar.
Principle 4: Follow the priests.
Joshua 3
This is the actual crossing over story so I've included it and highlighted the more important elements in italics, it is so rich:
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. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits[a] between you and the ark; do not go near it.”
5 Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”
6 Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them.
7 And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. 8 Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’”
9 Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. 10 This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. 11 See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. 12 Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”
14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 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, 16 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 (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
I've mentioned this before but have just highlighted the important elements.
Principle 5: Take a stone as a reminder of the crossing over experience.
12 were commanded to each take a stone out of the Jordan. The stone is a remembrance of the experience but also testifies of what God did at the Jordan to the next generations/
Principle 6: Taking of the ground starts and ends with Worship
The angel of the Lord said to Joshua in 5:15 Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.. This will characterize what God is doing in the people who take the promised land.
One more thing before I finish.
Part of the Elijah mandate of restoring the hearts of the Children to their father's and the father's to the children will be on those that have crossed over. It's tempting to promote those we consider to be Moses to be part of something past and finished.
I can see this being used as a word of out with the old and in with the new but I want to in fact promote the opposite, I believe particularly those in the older generation have a clearer part to play now in what God is doing. We must respect our father's whether that be spiritual or physical if we want all to be well with us.
In fact from a recent experience I can say where we fail to respect our church father's what we call church will begin to fall apart at the seems because maturity is what holds the whole thing together, I do not mean necessarily church authority per se but those of the older generation. The older generation have a destiny today in what God is doing as much as the rest of us, this isn't about age but heart.
Our final goal is the story of what happens in Revelation. Lest we forget this desination is secured. Namely the church becomes as Jasper, which is a sort of blood rich colour, signifying we, the bride, become like him in the glory of his sacrifitce. I believe we can only fulfil our destiny by truly understanding the church as Bride. I believe the church is currently only operating in around 3% of this Knowledge, I certainly know I am lacking. When we do we will walk in all the authority we need.
I was listening to this song around new year time and thought it would make a perfect New Years resolution, the lyrics go:
Audra Lynn, Vow
I think there is no greater vow that today we can make, the day has indeed come.
That's kind of enough about my personal thoughts but I felt a word brewing up inside in the last week or so as God highlighted different things that have happened so far this year. On Friday the Lord spoke to me and said that this year would be a season of 'separation'.
We usually regard 'separation' as being quite a negative term that promotes separation as being from something and rather religious in that it dictates to us what we can't do. This is not what I mean.
In the last week or so God has been highlighting who are to be in Him and speaking to me about about the need to be separated for higher purposes. In regards to the word separation what He is saying is the Separation is not from something but it is to something, namely Him.
January so far has been a bit of a struggle for me. Generally I get the sense for many reasons it's the one month most of us would like to skip over, reasons I've heard give:
- Post Christmas blues
- The darkest month of the year
- Receiving of your credit card bill
- Early new year optimism quickly wear's off and turns to pessimism
All this apparently add's together to make some day in January as the most depressing day of the year when most people will kill themselves.
January in particular is not a good month.
I felt it was good timing that this word came now instead of at the beginning of Jan. We can often regard the time of transition as time orientated and I felt the Lord say what has gone so far is part of the process. As I said I've found January to be difficult, just plain tiring more than anything but for no apparent reason.
Oddly enough so far this year, I've found myself doing some of the things I not only did last year but did and felt really blessed with the presence of the Lord and that's not what I've felt this year when doing the usual routine.
Is doing the usual stuff enough though?
I felt the Lord say that generally this year would be a year where we could no longer do the things that we did in the last seasons because He is pouring out his grace and mercy on new things in this season. The grace and mercy we had is not for this season.
I retrospect it feels like I've been pouring yesterday's mercy in today and it's clearly not been working.
It is a new season and we must transition into the things He is doing in this season and not do the things we did in the last season but seek our daily bread.
For me so far it's been a time where, in the context of what I will talk about, it's a kin to the time the Israelites were living in the desert where they were constantly on the move except I've felt like I've got up out of my tent only to find the ark has gone and my pals have crossed the Jordan.
This is something I have spoken of before and leads ultimately to the idea of 'Crossing Over' which I will largely revisit.
Talking with others I believe I'm not the only one, so it is not just me who's finding it tough but generally those I'd consider to be forerunners. In regards to 'crossing over' it was the forerunners, that is the priest's carrying the ark that, were told to walk 2000 cubits in front of the people with the presence of the Lord. This is just short of 1km, it's far enough to separate them from the people. If something were to happen the people were far enough away to be safe from any consequences but near enough so they would not loose sight of them. It's scary being a forerunner but is also a lonely experience.
The priest's were those of the people that were tasked with walking into the Jordan first and getting cold feet until all those that wanted to pass beyond the Jordan, even before the Jordan had dried up and was in a fit state to walk across and all in flood season.
For today's priest's and forerunners the time of preparation is over. Labels are sometimes not to helpful, others are, if we truly want to be forerunners then the rubber has to hit the road at some point in that we have to be those that run with what God is doing first and literally fore run. It's simple in that if we are not in front of the other main body of people running with what God is saying today we cannot truly be a forerunner.
I believe what this means today for true forerunners is that they must operate in less not more grace and mercy than they had in the season of preparation. Primarily I believe if we are to carry the very presence of God then we truly must know not just his presence but know Him in this season. God is calling forerunners to walk by faith not by sight. Some of the grace and mercy we had before is not covered in this seasons because in that season it covered the lack of intimacy but in this season it is only intimacy with the Lord that will get us through. Like me you may have felt tired at points so far but we must look at this as Grace to achieve all that God has for us.
We may feel like why me Lord if that's you but it is a gift from God because we cannot be in the Jordan with the same lack of intimacy or we will not achieve what God has called us to do.
This was chiefly the difference between the leadership generations of Moses and Joshua. There is much we can learn about what God is doing by reading the Exodus story.
Chiefly for Moses time Yahweh acted on behalf of the Israelites, often despite their murmurings In Joshua's time the Lord acted on their request, namely their intercession and their worship. I believe this pattern is reflected in the rest of the Old Testament in that when the Israelites were faithful to this Covenant they lived in peace and prosperity and when they strayed the opposite and ultimately apostasy crept in until exile.
In Moses day miracles were plentiful. If God wanted to act he did something in front of the Israelites, most of the time actually despite the Israelites. The Red Sea was divided in front of them, it took no faith to believe it because seeing was believing. Numerous miracles were performed be they the manna, the water coming from the rock, the cloud and the fire, the snake.
The story of the 40 years in the wilderness is an interesting story. I think we often tend to disparagingly look upon those Israelites as foolish, yet I think today many of us fit perfectly into the same pattern of chasing miracles and asking for today's miracle and murmuring chiefly because we do not have the faith to believe it.
The Joshua generation that is about to be birthed in the church will seek many of the same things as the Moses Generation. Namely God to supernaturally act on behalf of His People but will be satisfied enough just with knowing and having His Presence. I believe that the mark of this generation would be satisfaction in Him even if there were no signs, miracles or manifestations, knowing Him should be enough because it is enough!
For Joshua there were no signs. The miracle at the Jordan of it's damning upstream needed the faith of the priests to walk out, literally cold feet syndrome, because the Jordan damned well upstream out of where they could see it and they had to act in faith before God would begin to damn it up. I don't know about you but I prefer crossing the Red Sea.
A word that keeps coming back to me time and time again from different sources is that in a generation God is changing the definition, face and expression of Christianity across the earth. Many talk about an emerging church, I'm not entirely sure what that means but as far as I can make out this is not the true church that I see that God has called to cross the Jordan bur rather a counterfeit version.
If I wanted to repeat this word more succinctly it would be that this season is a season of transition, it is a transition where primarily what God is calling us to is greater intimacy with Him. Our one desire should be the same desire that David stated in Psalm 27:4
One thing I ask from the LORD,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
Ultimately we live between the two seasons, the past of wandering around in the wilderness for a generation, only living because of the provision of God and the future walking into or 'crossing over our Jordan' into the promised land, which ultimately lead to Jerusalem and Zion. Our final destination today is the same – Zion.
Walking into Zion not only needs faith but some action on our part. As Co-Heirs with Christ God is requiring that we rule and reign with Him as friends and partners not slaves. This requires a more proactive approach than we have been used to. Today we are a rather reactive people, friends means we have some say in the matter, even with God.
This process is a Holy process, where we are called to be a Holy Nation and a Holy Priesthood. God is currently consecrating His People in the Wilderness, Sanctifying Us. The ultimate purpose is to be wholly and holy separated to and for Him.
The times in this season are harder than the time of groaning in the wilderness seeking the next sign or manifestation. We are learning to in the word of Paul:
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. (Romans 8:26)
The new priesthood will understand the powerful combination of Worship and Intercession. This is why the present day night and day prayer ministry is important to what God is calling us to be. If we are to truly be separated to Him then we must be separated from what we did in the old season. Today therefore we are to seek the new bread and the new wine of the coming Kingdom, we will not understand this new wine and new bread until we realise the bread and wine of the old season is not something we should seek in this season.
What does this mean? Many today in the Church neither understand what the night and day prayer movement is about or the need for it. Do we literally pray 24 hours a day? The night and day prayer movement fundamentally believes that what God is calling us to be we must be whole heartedly devoted to, 99% is not enough. God is truly separating us for Him and that if this is true the first thing he will do is separate us from the things we do that get in the way. But to see it as focusing on the get in the way stuff is not understanding the change process we are in.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
I love the fact that Paul mentions therefore. In Romans 11 Paul is talking about the saving of Israel as a nation and the in grafting of the old and the new into the Kingdom, we know this happens in the end times. Could it be that Israel will be saved if the Church truly follows the pattern of Romans 12 worship - I believe so. There is no greater model of this than night and day prayer.
It is also a pattern of the new and the old wine. God's will is that no-one gets left behind.
Anything that gets in the way, namely the flesh, gets in the way of not just His Purposes but our High Calling in Christ.
The Israelites were given Circumcision in the desert as a sign of this. All those born in the wilderness were not circumcised so Joshua (ch 5) circumcises the nation God tells Joshua in v2
Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.
God is calling His people to make the same dedication today. Just like the Law that was carved in stone God is not calling us to make the same outward sign but is calling us to re-circumcise our hearts unto Him.
In Moses time the Israelites in the wilderness were still a people in slavery. Despite the fact the Israelites were not in Egypt under captivation they stilled lived out the patterns of slavery and treated God as if He was Pharaoh, they needed someone to tell them what to do. Something I've pointed out before is that the Israelites wandering's in the desert were following the cloud and fire - that is they were under the direct direction of God. It took a whole generation of time for God to knock the spirit of Slavery out of them.
I love Joshua 1-5, it's one of my favourite chunks of scripture as it teaches us the chief principles of walking into freedom between the old and new seasons - namely what I call crossing over. I never mentioned these principles before so thought I'd briefly go through them.
Principle 1: Moses is Dead
Joshua 1:2
For the new thing to be born the old must die. The purpose of death is not death itself but that the old must die before the new must be born. Nature has a lot to teach us about the dying process. As Jesus said in John 12:24 a grain of wheat must die before it can produce a fruit.
Moses stands for the old season, it does not necessarily mean literally a figure but the patterns of the old season must die before the new can be born. For those of you who know me you'll know I'm rather fond of the term ' paradigm shift', this is what we need. Our site is actually dictated by our thinking, to see the new thing we need freedom from the patterns of processes of the old thing.
Principle 2: Be strong and courageous
v5-11
Times of change call for not just strength but courage, strength is needed but courage is the greater ingredient as without courage strength is useless. We must learn to be a people of courage, it is a key ingredient to the new thing that the Israelites were being called into. God here is asking his people to be courageous in their faith. They hadn't needed courage of any sort before in their wanderings. Courage signifies the difference between the old and the new ways of living which is why it is mentioned three times.
Note despite the new order, Joshua is commanded to do all that Moses taught them.
Principle 3: The Joshua leadership confirmed
v16 - 18
Simply Joshua's leadership is affirmed and confirmed. It is literally a case of the King is dead long live the King. The leader, whether that be Moses or Joshua, is recognised because of the authority they walked in as the new Moses, Joshua was afforded the same respect Moses was.
Principle 4: God's new thing is partly done in secret.
2:1
The original 12 spies sending was very public. Joshua was of course part of that failing but he decides to send 2 spies secretly. It has been said these two spies could have been Pharez and Zareh, Tamar's sons from Genesis 38. Whether this is so the story in Genesis 38 notes the differences between the old and new and provides a good story if so, chiefly the old order constrains, the new order living in the old order exists for the seed to bear fruit beyond the religious confinement. The scarlet cord is paralleled in both stories and marks salvation.
Much of the new thing that God is doing will be done in secret, we tend to treat the Kingdom like it is a more righteous human democracy yet the Kingdom is not a democracy, I tend to think of it as a theocracy.
Some of the partakers of the new Kingdom would have been religious outcasts under the old - namely Rahab & Tamar.
Principle 4: Follow the priests.
Joshua 3
This is the actual crossing over story so I've included it and highlighted the more important elements in italics, it is so rich:
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. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits[a] between you and the ark; do not go near it.”
5 Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”
6 Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them.
7 And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. 8 Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’”
9 Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. 10 This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. 11 See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. 12 Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”
14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 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, 16 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 (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
I've mentioned this before but have just highlighted the important elements.
Principle 5: Take a stone as a reminder of the crossing over experience.
12 were commanded to each take a stone out of the Jordan. The stone is a remembrance of the experience but also testifies of what God did at the Jordan to the next generations/
Principle 6: Taking of the ground starts and ends with Worship
The angel of the Lord said to Joshua in 5:15 Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.. This will characterize what God is doing in the people who take the promised land.
One more thing before I finish.
Part of the Elijah mandate of restoring the hearts of the Children to their father's and the father's to the children will be on those that have crossed over. It's tempting to promote those we consider to be Moses to be part of something past and finished.
I can see this being used as a word of out with the old and in with the new but I want to in fact promote the opposite, I believe particularly those in the older generation have a clearer part to play now in what God is doing. We must respect our father's whether that be spiritual or physical if we want all to be well with us.
In fact from a recent experience I can say where we fail to respect our church father's what we call church will begin to fall apart at the seems because maturity is what holds the whole thing together, I do not mean necessarily church authority per se but those of the older generation. The older generation have a destiny today in what God is doing as much as the rest of us, this isn't about age but heart.
Our final goal is the story of what happens in Revelation. Lest we forget this desination is secured. Namely the church becomes as Jasper, which is a sort of blood rich colour, signifying we, the bride, become like him in the glory of his sacrifitce. I believe we can only fulfil our destiny by truly understanding the church as Bride. I believe the church is currently only operating in around 3% of this Knowledge, I certainly know I am lacking. When we do we will walk in all the authority we need.
I was listening to this song around new year time and thought it would make a perfect New Years resolution, the lyrics go:
Farther I desire that they also whom you have given me maybe with me where I am. This is what the cross was to Jesus. Not a duty that must be fulfilled but a divine vow that He anxiously desired and earnestly longed to give. He did not go through life dreading it but rather longed for it knowing that it was His calling and purpose in life as a man on earth at that time to betroth a fallen harlot back to himself.
I knew that he wanted me to express this to his beloved how he joyously yearned to get to the cross looking forward to it as bridegroom longs for his wedding day and that upon spilling His blood in recompense it was in every sense His greatest testament and vow of love to us.
Now he asks that we make a vow of like kind, that His love would not be scorned but rather joyously returned. We are the joy set before him and know we must set Him as the joy before us so take up your cross and make your vow.
For justice carries mercy and mercy acts in love and love is what defines the means by which the justice does.
And thereby I have come here that true love may be known for joy is set before me and at last the day has come...
Audra Lynn, Vow
I think there is no greater vow that today we can make, the day has indeed come.
Note: I got up this morning to post something else which flows nicely from this - about Breakthrough but instead picked up a book and randomly flicked and read this:
The Greek New Testament word for holiness is hagios which means "to be set apart."
