You May Safely Cross Over

I

t was a very typical Monday morning.  I had originally planned to get up earlier than usual to allow myself a little more time to get ready for work, a second or third cup of coffee, and a pleasant, leisurely drive to work.  Well, you can guess what happened, right?  The alarm clock went off on time but I dozed just a few minutes longer than I should have.  There was no coffee and my drive was anything but leisurely.  The traffic was awful and felt more like an Indy 500 race than a leisurely drive to the office. 

 I got off the Interstate at my usual exit and began my way toward the university.  This street is always congested but this morning it seemed to be more so. This was probably due to the fact that I was running behind and wanted to get to the office.  As I made my way around the last bend, I noticed an older gentleman in an orange vest sitting at an intersection.  He had a bright red stop sign beside his chair and he sat there very calmly in the cool morning air. 

This man was one of many volunteers who work for the local school systems.  His job is to stop traffic until school children have safely crossed over from one side to the other.  The power this man yields is incredible.  No matter the color of the traffic light, if he is in the crosswalk with a child, all cars, trucks, vans, scooters, and bicycles must stop until he has safely delivered a little boy or girl to the other side of the street.

The Old Testament book of Joshua has a very similar illustration for us today.  The Hebrew children were poised, ready to enter the Promised Land and to rout their enemies before them.  On the eve of their entrance, God informed Joshua that he would provide safe passage for the people across the Jordan River. Joshua was to instruct the priests to carry the Ark of the Covenant before the people and the priests were to stand in the middle of the river.  What happened next is simply amazing!

Joshua 3:15-16 records this for us, “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, 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 (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.”

Wow!  Don’t you wish you could have witnessed this!!  Notice the condition of the Jordan River—flood stage!  Notice God’s instruction to the priest—step into the water!  Notice the course of the Jordan River—toward the Dead Sea!  Notice the results—the water upstream stopped flowing and the water downstream was cut off!  Now I ask you, what better illustration of crossing over our problems into God’s promise exists than this?  Outside the crossing of the Red Sea, nothing!

God had promised to be with His people and to provide for them.  When it came time to cross over into the land, the waters of the Jordan, even though at flood stage, posed no threat and were, in fact, inconsequential.  The priests took the Ark, the symbol of God’s presence, and entered the water.  When we take God into the middle of our trials the result is always miraculous.  If we enter the water when, how, and where He tells us, we find that we have safe passage from where we are to where He has called us to be.

In essence, God walked with the people, holding a stop sign, and the waters ceased their flow.  The waters upstream piled up while the waters downstream just drifted away.  Like the Jordan River at flood stage, a life without Christ who lovingly walks with us through all of life’s difficulties, leads to certain death and eternal separation from God.  However, when we choose to become a follower of Jesus, we are able to cross over and enter the promise of God’s love, mercy, and grace.  We are able to inherit the kingdom he created for those who choose to follow him.

Jesus, himself, spoke to this point.  In John’s gospel, Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24) 

What a wonderful promise this is.  Through our faith in Jesus Christ, we have crossed over the Jordan River, over the river of sin, over the river of death, and we have received life!  Just like the children in the crosswalk this morning, and just like the people crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land, we can walk confidently, secure in the knowledge that Christ Jesus walks with us in all of life’s difficult paths.  He looks at us and says, “You may safely cross over with me!”  Are you enjoying this kind of walk today?