Evening capital., 1895-08-24

stearns.
8. "And JoshUa said unto the people,
Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord
viii do wonders among you. I" Moses died,
and his body was buried. Joshua sue
cecded him, and having led the people TO
the river Jordan they are now about 10
p:rs over into The he,<-t of the land Of
promise, but hows for 1t was harvest time,
and Jordan oyerilowed his banks (verse
15. When the Lord leads His people into
a difficulty, il is that he may show His
power and be glorifled in them. The one
thing for the people Is 20 sanctify them-
selves, or put away every semblance OF
evil, as on the night when they came out
of Egypt they put away all heaven out Of
their houses
s. Take up the ark OF the covenant ard
mass over before the people,. = The ark Is
mentioned ten times in this chapter. Ii
was the symbol of His presence, and His
presence was everything Instead of jour
neying in the midst of them, as ordinarily,
il now went ahead of them, and there was
to be about half a mile between it and
them, that they might know the way 10
90. for ''they had not passed this way
heretofore" tyerse q. We must take care
to follow Jesus closely and fully, for it
may truly be said of each day, Ye have
not passed this way heretofore.
a. THAT all Israel may know that as l
was with Moses SO ! VIII be with thee. :
Therefore He would magnify Joshua and
He did (chapter iy, 14), and Joshua, was
honored because of God with him. 1t was
God that was rnagniflcd but Joshua was
the chosen earthon vessel. The same thing
was seen in Gal i, 16, "a, when in Paul
Christ was revealed, and God was glori-
fled Paul's ambition was that Christ
should be magniiied in His body whether
by life or by death (Phil. |, 20).
s. "Stand still in Jordan" The priests
bearing the ark were to step into the water
ere it would divide oversees 13, 15), not
as at the Red sea when the waters divided
ere the people came close to them. He
guides us often one step at a time, and wa
must take one step ere we see the next
one, and sometimes we must step right
into the waters. "When thou passest
through the waters will be with thee. >
o. "Come hither, and hear the words Of
the Lord your God . This is the great
and fundamental thing-to hear what God
has spoken. Whatever mouth or hand the
Lord may use, it is God Himself who
speaks and works. 1t was SO in Christ
(John xiv, 10); it was so in the prophets
(Heb |, /, 2; III Pet l. 2D; it will be so
still in every vessel that is wholly His
(Math. K, 90; Phil. ii, 13).
TO- "The living God is among you, and
He will without fail drive out from before
you the Canaanites, " etc. All other ma
tions worshiped idols, the works of mems
hands, but the popularity of Israel was
that their Lord was the true God, the liv-
ing God, the King of eternity (Jer. X, 10).
The dividing of Jordan and every other
mighty work Of God in Israel was that
Israel first and then all the people of the
earth might know the hand of the Lord,
that it is mighty, and fear the Lord God
forever (chapter iv, 24).
IL "Behold the ark of the covenant of
the Lord of all the earth passeth over be-
fore you into Jordan / think this is the
first time that in connection with the ark
the Lord Is called "the Lord of all the
earth" /" But He is frequently called by
this name as we go on in the book Cps
lxxyii, s.; Isa liv, 8; Mic. iv, 13; Zech
iy, IA; vi, 81. In Gen. xiv, 19, 90, He Is
the Mos High God, possessor of heaven
and earth.' His purposes of grace are
worldwide, and they are worldwide in
connection with Israel, for see Isa xvii,
6; Mum. xiv, 20, 81.
l2. "Now, therefore, take you 10 men
out of the tribes of Israel, out of every
tribe q man." The story of these 12 men
is found in the first nine verses of the
next chapter. Their commission was TO
take each man a stone out of the midst of
Jordan and set them up in the first resting
place in the land. This they did at Gill
gal, and Joshua also set up 12 stones in
the midst of Jordan, where the feet of the
priests stood (chapter iv 8, 20). The 12
under the waters of Jordan and the 12 at
Gilgal are very suggestive of our union
with Christ in death and resurrection. Old
things passed away; all things become
new (II,Cor. V, ~.
13. 1T shall come to pass" This verse
gives the promise and assurance. The next
three give the fulfllment. To make the
promise as real as possible we must imag-
Inc ourselves on the margin Of a rushing
river in the time of freshet, and as we
gaze upon the mighty waters one among
us says that as soon as the feet of certain
men, duly appointed, shall touch the wa
ters the river will divide, the upper waters
piling up in a heap and the rest flowing
away, leaving the bed of the river dry.
Could you believe a word like that?
1916 "And it came to pass" What
God SAYS is as good as done for the Lord
of Hosts hath sworn saying, Surely as
have thought, so shall it come to pass, and
as 1 have purposed, SO shall it stand lisa.
xiv, 24). And see Jer. xxxii, IL, in refer
ence to nothing being too hard or wonder
full for the Lord. 1t came to pass exactly
as the Lord said it would, and the people
passed over righ.t against jericho. The
people OF Jericho had heard how the Lord
had divided the Red sea for Israel (chapter
ii. 1Ol. but now they saw for themselves
the mighty power of the God of Jacob.
Yet Rahab and her house were the only
ones who prcfitcd by the lesson. Some pco-
pie talk about the laws Of nature as If God
bound Himself always to be subject to and
work only under control Of these laws.
But by what law will river cease to flow
and pile its waters up In heap and stay
SO for a timer Instead of laws let US con-
slider Him who controls and is superior to
all laws; who does as He pleascs in heay-
en-, earth and sea Cps. cxxxv, %, and has
perfect control of fire. air, earth and sea-
Say Lord control me, too, for Thy glory.
II. 1.-THE priests that bear the ark Of
the covenant of the Lord stood firm on
dry ground In the midst of Jordan. They
did this until all were clean passed over,
and everything was finished that the Lord
had said (iv, 10, ID. Even If they march
ed a hundred abreast there would be over
five miles OF them TO Tass over, and even
though they hastcd tiv, I0l it would take
r,,a,,xs bor4rc Observe its words tiISnti1