Intermediate Level, Block 5—Occupying the Land
Week 44
Crossing the River Jordan
Point to Emphasize: We need to be those who know that our God is real, true, living and active.
Reference Reading: Joshua 3—4
Memory Verse: He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you, which your eyes have seen. (Deuteronomy 10:21)
Story Sample
After the spies returned from Jericho, the children of Israel needed to cross the River Jordan to enter the land. How do you think two million people could cross a river without some of them drowning? There were no bridges they could use. When a river is flowing high it is even riskier. Sometimes there are rocks and logs that you could use as a natural bridge. But, after a heavy rain those rocks and logs are covered with algae, making them slippery. Think about it. We are talking about two million people, plus the things they were carrying, crossing a river! It was almost impossible for all of them to be crossing a flowing river. That would take a miracle! Let us see what they did.
First, Joshua instructed the priests to carry the ark of Jehovah into the river. The ark represented God, so when they entered the water that meant that God went with His people. When the feet of the priests who carried the ark stepped into the waters of the Jordan, the waters that flowed down from upstream stood and rose up in a heap a great distance away. The priests stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until all the nation had completely crossed over the Jordan and unto dry ground. It must have taken a very long time for two million people, including children, older ones, and weaker ones, to cross over the river with all the things that they were carrying. I believe that the priests must have been so happy about the miracle God had performed, even though they had to hold the ark there until the very last one had crossed.
Then Joshua chose from among the people twelve men, one man from each tribe, and asked them to take twelve stones from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm in the middle of the Jordan. Those stones were to be brought over and laid down in the place where Israel was going to camp that night. Joshua also placed twelve different stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark had stood. After this, the priests who carried the ark came out of the Jordan, and when their feet touched the new land, the waters of the river Jordan returned to how it had been before they entered in.
After this, Joshua erected in Gilgal the twelve stones taken from the Jordan by the twelve representatives of the twelve tribes, as a memorial testifying of Israel’s crossing over the river by God’s miraculous deed. What a wonderful miracle this was! It was also the first miracle performed by God for Israel as they entered the good land. Such a miracle surely was a sign to the children of Israel that their God was real, true, living, and active.
Many times in your lifetime you will witness things that will happen that are just impossible to explain. You might see great things happening, such as people saved from a natural disaster. You might witness people surviving from a car accident. These events are somewhat big. But you might also see smaller things happening as well, that they are just as hard to explain. For example, years ago we were painting the parking lot where the church meets for a children’s camp. The forecast said it was going to rain. We saw the dark clouds approaching. However, the clouds parted and there was rain to our left and to our right, but there was no rain falling on us. We were able to finish painting the parking lot on time! [Storyteller, insert your own example of a big or small miracle you have seen.] When we see things like this happening, there is nothing to say except: “Wow! God is real. He is working on our behalf!”
According to the dictionary, a miracle is a surprising event that can’t be explained by science, so is therefore considered the work of the divine (God). It looks like even the dictionary agrees that a miracle is something God does. Sometimes we will see things that we can’t explain, but we need to believe that God is real, true, living and active. God can do whatever He says He will do, no matter how impossible it seems.