a. First, God told Joshua to be strong and courageous because he would have to take the land (1:6).

b. Secondly, God told Joshua to be strong and courageous because he would have to obey God's law (1:7).

c. Thirdly, God told Joshua to be strong and courageous because the Lord would be with him (1:9).

In the midst of this charge to Joshua, there is also a charge and a call to the two and a half tribes which had chosen lands on the east bank of the Jordan to be their inheritance.

This is the story of the two and a half tribes who took God's second best. In Numbers 32, these tribes looked at the land to the west of the Jordan River and they said to themselves, "This sure is a lot better than the wilderness." And so, they sent representatives to Moses and asked for this land as their inheritance. This was God's second best. It was to cost them dearly.

How many girls have I seen who married the first guy who came along and who, in doing so, got God's second best. Don't take second best. And don't BE second best.

A lot of Christians have trouble accepting the fact that there is a prostitute in the Bible. Not only that, but in the New Testament she is praised.

Not only is she praised, her name is found in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5). She is said to be the mother of Boaz and the wife of Salmon.

Some commentaries have tried to suggest that Rahab was only an innkeeper. But that isn't true. This woman was a prostitute. She was an ISHIH ZONAH - a woman of harlotry.

There is a lesson here. It is that the church is not a gathering for good people. The church is a hospital for sinners. We say we believe that, but our actions often show that we don't. We become proud of our own righteousness.

Rahab lied through her teeth. And yet, she is praised in the New Testament and held up as an example of faith. How can we reconcile this?

Rahab is never commended for her lying. She is commended for her faithfulness. The heros (and heroines) of the Bible are real people who had real problems just like you and me. They are not stained-glass saints. They are real people.

David is described as a man after God's own heart. He was the greatest king of Israel. His reign was considered the golden age. He wrote beautiful songs of worship to the Lord. There are a lot of good things that the Bible tells us about David. But the Bible never commends him for his affair with Bathsheba.

Peter was a great apostle. He stood up for the faith and was imprisoned for preaching the gospel. Jesus gave to him the keys of the kingdom. But they Bible never praises Peter for denying Jesus.

We live in a fallen world. That means that sometimes decisions are grey. Sometimes it is not a decision between good and bad. Sometimes it is a decision between two bad things. Sometimes you have to decide which is the worst.

This does not mean that I believe in situational ethics. The Bible does not teach that the end justifies the means. Wrong is still wrong. But it DOES teach that I live in a fallen world. Sometimes I may have to choose between what is bad and what is worse.

However, it is important when making such a grey decision to never call it anything less than sin.

The Exodus from Egypt had taken place 40 years earlier. But it had not been forgotten. It was still the topic of discussion in Canaan. They recognized that the God of Israel had devastated the greatest and most powerful nation on earth.

Rahab had come to believe in the God who divided the Red Sea and who preserved the Israelites in the wilderness.

And so, she seeks to join herself to the covenant community. She asks for salvation both for herself and for her family.

The very rope that provided a way of escape for the two spies would also be the sign of salvation for Rahab and her family.

Matthew tells that Rahab was a part of Jesus's genealogy through Joseph, which was His claim to the throne of David.

Also a part of that genealogy was a Canaanite woman named Tamar. When she gave birth to twins, the midwives tied a scarlet thread to the hand of the firstborn. It was this same firstborn whose descendants later went on to sit on the throne of Israel.

The use of this cord also has strong similarities with the covenental sign of Passover, that of the blood on Israelite houses on the night of the slaughter of the firstborn in Egypt (Exodus 12:7, 13, 22-23).

There is a scarlet cord running from Genesis to Revelation. It is the picture of the shed blood of the Messiah of Israel.

Archaeologists tell us that as far back as we can go in human history, man has always felt that something ought to be sacrifices as a substitute and as an appeasement for sin. It is rooted in all of society. God has given a universal consciousness of the need for a sacrifice. It all comes to focus upon a hill called Golgotha where a Jewish carpenter turned rabbi was nailed between two crossbeams.

Joshua had picked his spies carefully. He had learned form his previous experience. Forty years earlier, 12 spies had been sent into to land of Canaan. Only 2 had returned with a positive report. This time, only 2 spies are sent. I can't help but wonder if 10 others were interviewed and told, "Don't call us, we'll call you."

The land of Canaan had not changed. The people were not any shorter. The walls of the cities were not any lower. But these spies knew that they could win. Sometimes we need to be told that we can win. We look at our situation and it seems to be hopeless. That is when we need a word of encouragement. That is when we need to be told that we can win.

They came to the Jordan.
It was flooded.
God stopped the waters.
They crossed over.

The ark of the covenant is mentioned a number of times in this chapter. The Hebrew word for "ark" is 'ARON. It is the same word which describes the coffin into which the body of Joseph was placed (Genesis 50:26). It describes a box or a chest. In modern Hebrew, it is used to refer to a closet.

The ark was a wooden box overlaid with gold. It was the symbolic representation of the presence of God among His people. Inside the ark were the tablets of the Law. The ark was covered with a top of pure gold. It was known as the "mercy seat." This was the throne of God.

As the Israelites prepare to enter into the land, it will be the ark which leads them. For the past 40 years, they have followed the presence of God in a pillar of fire and a column of smoke through the wilderness. Now they will continue to follow the presence of God. But now it will be in the form of the ark.

They are instructed to keep a distance of about 1000 yards from the ark. There is to be no familiarity with it.

We would have been making little arks and selling them as souvenirs. We might have been tempted to place the ark in a fence and set out television cameras around it and charged an admission to come and see it.

If there is a danger in American Christianity, it is that we tend to forget that we worship the God of the universe. He is not Santa Claus. He is not sweet. He is not a genie in a bottle that you rub and get three wishes. He is not a sweet little old man who is slightly hard of hearing. He is GOD.

The phrase "consecrate yourselves" is translated from HITHKADASHU - the Hithpa'el imperative of KADASH, to make holy. The Israelites were called to be holy - set apart to God. They were cut out from the rest of the world and separated to be a special people. They ate different food. They wore different clothes. They worshiped a different God.

We are called to be different. We have been sanctified - set apart to God.

Notice that the passage does not say that the waters were parted, but that the upstream waters stopped flowing (the downstream waters continued on their way, leaving dry land).

What is more, the location at which the waters stopped is the city of Adam. This city was located 16 miles upstream, near the point where the Jabbok flows into the Jordan.

At this point, there are high clay banks reaching some 40 feet over the river. This area is subject to landslides. During an earthquake in 1927, these banks collapsed, damming the river for a period of nearly 24 hours.

As the Israelites crossed through the dry riverbed of the Jordan, Joshua had two groups of stones set up. They were a group of memorial stones. They were to be a constant reminder of the power of God which was able to stop the waters of the Jordan so that they could cross over.

Remembering is important. Nostalgia can be good. It is good to remember God and His faithfulness. We need reminders. The Lord's Supper is such a reminder. The real danger in Christianity is that we forget. That is how we fall into sin.

Every time a Jew walked past that stack of rocks, he would be reminded of the power and the goodness of God.

There were actually TWO stacks of rocks. The first group is seen in verse 8. They are twelve stones taken from the riverbed and placed outside the river.

But there is also a second group. This group is seen here in verse 9. This group is also composed of twelve stones. But they are not placed outside the river. They are placed "in the middle of the Jordan."

Seems like a funny place to place memorial stones, doesn't it? After all, who is going to see them at the bottom of the river?

Let me suggest that, in the same way that the first group was to remind the Israelites of the faithfulness and the power of God, so also this second group of stones would also be a reminder to the Israelites.

But when would they see this second group? Only in the dry season when the level of the river lowered. During the dry season, when the crops were in danger of dying and the people were praying for the coming rains, these stones in the middle of the river would become visible. They would be a reminder that God is faithful - even in the dry season.

Notice that the people went across QUICKLY. Why quickly? Why did they hurry? I think that it was because they were afraid. These people had grown up in the desert and I don't think they knew how to swim. They were afraid to cross the Jordan. But they crossed anyway.

It is okay to be afraid to cross the Jordan. But it is not okay to stay on the wrong side.

When the Israelites saw the miracle of the Jordan River, they were impressed. They thought that the reason God had done this was so that they could cross over. That was one reason. But there was also another. It was so that the other nations would see the miracle and they would fear the Lord.

Do you see the application of this? WE are some of the nations who have heard of that miracle. And WE should fear the Lord as a result.

The covenant sign of circumcision had been given to Abraham. When the Israelites had come out of Egypt in the Exodus, they had reintroduced this covenant sign. But there is now a new generation. And they had not partaken in the sign of the covenant. They are called to do so now. This was a sign of their FAITH (Romans 4:11).

This event put the army of Israel in a vulnerable position for several days. And to make matters worse, they were right under the shadow of Jericho. But when you are obeying the commands of the Lord, it is okay to be vulnerable.

God's army had taken the sign of the covenant (circumcision) and now ate at the Lord's Table (Passover). These preparations were necessary for them to go forth and to conquer the land.

The church today has a similar preparation to undergo. We must take the sign of the covenant (baptism) and eat at the Lord's Table before we can take the sword of the Spirit forth to conquer the nations.

When the people moved into the promised land, were circumcised, and partook of the Passover, the manna stopped. There is a principle here.

God helps those who can't help themselves. God also helps those who can help themselves, but He helps them in a different way.

When I was a new believer, everything just seemed to fall into my lap. I would walk up to someone and ask, "Do you want to meet Jesus?" and they would answer, "Yes, will you tell me how?" I didn't know anything about apologetics. I wasn't particularly good at explaining my faith. But that was okay because God could use me where I was.

But I want you to know that it isn't as easy as it used to be. Nowadays God sends me the agnostic and the hardened atheist. Why? Because He knows that I can handle it.

Joshua issues a challenge to this unknown warrior. It is in the form of a question: "Whose side are you on?" Joshua knew that it is impossible to remain neutral in God's battles. You always choose sides. And even if you try to remain neutral, the truth is that you have chosen a side.

The captain of God's army does not say that he is on Joshua's side. Rather it is Joshua who is on HIS side. Here is the principle. The battle is the Lord's. It is HIS conflict. And we are merely soldiers under His command.