Title: Those Who Cross the River
Contents
The LORD said to Joshua, "From this day on, I will make you great in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. You shall command the priests who carried the ark of the covenant, saying, 'You When you come to the water, enter the Jordan.'" Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come, listen to the word of the LORD your God." And he said, "The living God will dwell among you, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgasites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. By this you will know that he will surely drive out the peoples from before you. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth goes before you into the Jordan, and now choose twelve men, one from each tribe, from among the tribes of Israel. When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the ark stop treading on the water of the Jordan, the water of the Jordan, the water that flows from above, will be cut off and stand up.” (Jos 3:7-13)
If you want to enter the welfare of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey that God promised, you have to cross two rivers. The first river that the Israelites crossed from slavery in Egypt toward the road to Canaanite welfare was more like a sea than a river, but they had to cross the Red Sea. In the end, we had to cross a river called the Jordan River, and these two rivers make us believe that there are two rivers in front of us as we go toward the welfare of God in Canaan. Anyone who wants to enter the land of Canaan cannot enter without crossing these two rivers.
Our denomination has chosen 'the preaching church' as the theme of this year's general assembly. A church that truly preaches, it seems to be referring to our Chodong Church. But before our cause of preaching, there are two rivers, the Red Sea, and the Jordan River, which we must cross. First, I see a large crowd of Israel standing by the Red Sea, 600,000 men and women, and 2 million women and children. And you will see that they are carrying, carrying, carrying, and leading the moving items they brought out of Egypt, sheep, goats, etc., on their backs, regardless of age or gender. Today, there are large boats and other means of transportation to cross the river, but in the old days, people had to cross the water anyway, so it was impossible to cross a large river with this luggage. There are 600,000 men over 20 years of age who can fight in war, women and the elderly, sheep, cattle, and very large livestock. It should be noted.
It is the fact that today, if we really want to leave Egypt to create a new history and take over Canaan, we have to throw away everything we have in this river. It is said that when Jesus' disciples tried to become disciples, they left their nets, their boats, their parents, and the town they loved, and followed them. It is the core truth of the act of faith that a person who cannot resolutely give up what he has cannot use or maintain what he has rightly. Therefore, through the incidents of the manna and the golden calf during the 40 years in the wilderness, it clearly shows how much material attachment leads to the destruction of the nation, and as a result, they undergo severe hardship and provide living education.
We are seeing before our eyes how troubled the so-called America is, the world's most prosperous society. Even in our country, we see that those who are stingy in sharing and collecting only are unaware that the day of their destruction is near. We are now seeing the time has come when the word of the Lord, who said that there are blessings for the poor, will come to light. They forsook what they had in the Red Sea, so they realized how great God's power is, and the fact that God provides all food, meat, and spring water to the people who obeyed God. Those who lived with all their heart, learned that God is always in charge of food, clothing, and drink, and the fearful lesson that the golden calf is an idol and cannot be God, and that those who worship the golden calf will perish. will be If this faith is not experienced in our lives today, we are not qualified to enter Canaan.
The second river is the Jordan River. Now, for 40 years in the wilderness, the fact that the nation of Israel should throw away material things was firmly established. However, if we wanted to cross the Jordan River and enter the long-awaited Canaanite welfare, we still had to cross the river, and in order to cross the river, we had to throw away what we had. What is that? The nation of Israel lost their great leader, Moses, on Mount Nebo. All the grown-ups who came out of Egypt were lost except for Joshua and Caleb. What is that? It becomes the most brilliant religious tradition, history, and pride of a nation and man, and it is only possible to cross the river that enters Canaan only by completely throwing away all its stains.
Not only that, but the people of Israel melted and blended into that people's faith, including the religious ideology and culture of other peoples who lived in the wilderness for 40 years. But when crossing the river, they crossed the river with only the ark of the LORD. In other words, it means to completely throw away all exotic ideas, religions, cultures, etc., and to completely abandon everything except the Word of God, pure faith, gospel truth, and the way of the cross, and as the Apostle Paul said, all those things were thrown away like wrath. Those who cling to old ideas, old cultures, and old religious conventions cannot create new cultures and new beliefs.
So what are we going to take with us? Only the word of God. Because Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey, is not empty. There are already powerful peoples in the land. In other words, in this world the church must enter, there are already science, philosophy, thought, and technology. But the only thing we must bring into is the gospel, the word of God, that is, the cross of Jesus Christ. When the church enters this generation, the one thing it will bring is the love of the cross, and that is only the word of God. Just as the gospel has changed us, it will also change North Korea, change this society, and even change the world. Amen.