The Wrong Side of the River

The Wrong Side of the River


Recently during our Sunday evening service Pastor was reviewing the message from the morning service, which he had not been able to finish due to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The message had began in Joshua chapter one but was tied in to many other passages concerning the children of Israel. As confirmation regarding where God has had me, he used this to show how we, the believers are compared with the children of Israel; in fact Peter uses the same terminology that Moses used when he calls us a royal priesthood, a chosen generation, and a special people. Paul speaks of us being grafted in to the vine, but if He did not spare the natural vine, how much more will He not spare us. As you read both Old and New Testaments you can see the harmony between the two and see the behavior of Christians today in the actions of the children of Israel; and that is what we see as Joshua is preparing to cross the river Jordan and enter into the promise land.

In Numbers chapter 32, we see;

Num 32:1 Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle;

Num 32:2 The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying,

Num 32:3 Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon,

Num 32:4 Even the country which the LORD smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle:

Num 32:5 Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan.

John speaks of this in I John;

1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

We today are doing the same thing. We have the promise but we are not willing to cross over the Jordan because we have great possessions and the land where we are is good for those possessions. We might have truly placed our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ but the moment we reach the river Jordan we refuse to cross over to serve Him. As you look further on in chapter 32 of Numbers you will see the arrangement they made with Moses. They would send their men at arms over the Jordan to help subdue the land if they could but build cities and sheepfolds for their families and their livestock.

I want you to think about this for a while. In order to justify our disobedience to Him, in spreading the gospel we willingly give our tithes and offerings to missionaries and ministries, but when times get rough those are the first things we stop giving to. After all we need to worry about our own families on this side of the river and as long as we have peace on this side of the river, as long as we have success on this side of the river we are content but when things start to get rough, when neighboring kingdoms begin to invade, when famine begins to hit, we call our men at arms home to help. Oh, we might go down to the edge of the river but we will not cross over because we might get our feet wet or muddy. You see we were there when the priest began to carry the ark across and God began to push back the waters. We saw the wall begin to get higher as the ground began to dry. We saw our brothers and sisters begin to walk across on dry land but it wasn’t enough to cause us to follow because the land on this side was good for our own purposes and we continue to do the same thing today. Oh, we receive some blessings but we never achieve the richness of His blessings because we refuse to cross the river. We refuse to sacrifice our own wants and desires required to receive the full inheritance that awaits us and therefore the ones who we send across the river to help, receive our blessings, they receive the rewards that God had intended for us and thereby we will stand before Him empty-handed, achieving the promise by the skin of our teeth only. John tells us of those who receive the inheritance, saving their lives only. He tells of the tears that will be shed for a thousand years because of the lack of service to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and the countless numbers of lives that were lost because we refused to cross the Jordan.

I am reminded of the movie “The Mummy” in 1999 with Brendan Fraser. During one of the scenes the boat that they are on catches fire during a battle. There are two groups attempting to reach the destination of a dig, as the boat starts to sink both groups jump into the river and swim for safety. We see them both reach land when one hollers out, “O’Connell, it looks like we have all the horses.” O’Connell replies, “Benny, it looks like you’re on the wrong side of the river.” Benny looks around and realizes that they are on the wrong side. We have all of our possessions, we go to church every Sunday and we holler out, it looks like we got all the horses, to a lost and dying world, thinking that if they could just be like us, then they wouldn’t have the problems they have, but Jesus his calling back, your on the wrong side of the river, to be in complete obedience to me you have to leave everything over there and cross over in order to receive the full inheritance I have in store for you.

He never promised them that it would be easy, in fact He told Paul that He would show him all that he must suffer for His name sake, but his inheritance would come not here but when he reached his final destination, when he would see Him in heaven, the true promise land. The difficulty is not found in the task but in the completion of the task. There was just as good of pasture on the other side of the Jordan but it was what might await them there that kept them from crossing. They had already won some battles over here, they had already defeated some of their enemies and those who they had not done battle with had known what happened to those who they had defeated but those on the other side probably did not know nor would they give in without a battle and they might just lose what possessions they already had, so the thought was why risk it? The early church experienced the same thing, just as we do today and the one thing that has plagued us has been the infiltration of the enemy and our unwillingness to remove him from the church because after all it sounds good. It is enough to just send our men at arms while we stay here where the battles have already been fought and then as Samson watched as the Israelites went into the city of Gaza without any judgment falling upon them we watch as the world slowly moves into our churches and sets up housekeeping and before you know it we are walking into their gates without being noticed because they have seen our kind before. Oh, and by the way did you know that so and so goes to church on Sundays? Then before you know it the power is gone and the enemy has your eyes put out and you spend the rest of your life going around in circles amusing the crowd until one day He returns and exacts His judgments upon the earth.

It is true that those who crossed over eventually disobeyed God and He allowed them to fall into captivity; it is true that many of the early churches disobeyed and allowed false teachers to spread their deceits without hindrance and it is true that many once strong churches have all but lost their power, it is equally true that God will exact His judgment upon all, judging us by His standards and not ours.

“It looks like we got all the horses.” “It looks like you’re on the wrong side of the river” Ask yourself, which are you hollering?