This Lesson is a continuation of yesterday’s thought. The schedule Friday was jam-packed, hardly an hour to spare. But the Lord granted safety in all the miles traveled!

“And the LORD said unto Joshua, THIS DAY WILL I BEGIN TO MAGNIFY THEE in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.” Joshua 3:7

I have found nineteen times the King James Version of Scripture used the word “magnify.” And another 21 times it employs “magnified,” past tense.

And I believe, based on my research, this is one of only two times in all the Bible God is said to magnify a specific man, by name! (Solomon is the other man whom God “magnified.” According to 1st Chronicles 29:25 and 2nd Chronicles 1:1.)

By the way, we need to be familiar with Joshua 4:14 too. “On that day THE LORD MAGNIFIED JOSHUA in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.” God keeping His Word, as always.

God magnifies Himself in Ezekiel 38:23, when God and her allies attack Israel. God overturning them with great Power. “Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.” And rightly so.

Wow!

And furthermore, singularly, God magnifies His Word, a Living Entity for sure! “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for THOU HAST MAGNIFIED THY WORD above all thy name.” Psalm 138:2

Wow, again!

Many are said to “magnify themselves,” some even “against the Lord!” But invariably they will ALL be judged, brought low by the Almighty! I found a half-dozen examples of such wickedness, such pride.

And the very Theme of Scripture, in many ways, is: “O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.” Time and time again, particularly in the Psalms. I’ve used Psalm 34:3 here, as an example.

But, back to Joshua … WHY did God so specifically magnify that great servant?

His sincerity?

His love for God’s Word?

HIs place in divine history, as Moses’ successor?

His being such a clear “type” or “symbol” of Jesus?

His godly living?

We really do not know.

Perhaps “all of the above,” as they say.

Anyway, let each of us seek God’s Hand on our lives!

Jabez came close to asking God to “magnify” him! “And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!” 1st Chronicles 4:10

Oh … the rest of that verse … “And God GRANTED him that which he requested.”

What thought a single verse of Scripture can excite …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

It is 4:30 am here in my motel room.

And I am putting the “finishing touches” on the first little job of the day … packing to fly home this morning. From the Revival Meeting here in Manhattan, Kansas. At the Harvest Baptist Church, where the Lord has allowed me to preach verse by verse through another amazing chapter of Scripture!

Today’s Lesson Text will be Joshua 3:7. “And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I BEGIN TO MAGNIFY thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.” I am captivated by this sentence, Holy Spirit inspired as it is!

God “magnifying” a man!

I am currently running Bible references about this verb, “to magnify.” However, I have run out of time! Therefore, this Article will be continued later today … or if things become “impossible,” tomorrow morning.

Did God “magnify” anyone else in the Bible?

Does God Himself wish to be “magnified?”

Is anyone said to sinfully “magnify” himself, herself?

All kinds of thoughts (and questions) are flooding my heart!

Well, as I said, I will complete the Lesson later.

Meanwhile, I ask for your prayers as I travel today.

A two hour drive from here to the Kansas City Airport.

A two hour flight then to Atlanta.

An hour layover there.

Then a short trip home on a little twelve row airplane.

We live in a amazing world!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Just one verse this morning, Joshua 3:5, where God’s people were commanded: “And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”

And of course, we now know that among those “wonders” was the miraculous crossing of the Jordan River, by a whole nation, into the Promised Land. The last verse in Joshua 3 reports: “And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of (the river) Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over ON DRY GROUND, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.” I believe it!

The noun used for “wonders” (things like that “crossing”) is “pala” in Hebrew, meaning something like “marvelous, extraordinary, surpassing!” It can even mean “hard,” five times in the Bible anyway.

Yes, our God is THAT great!

But back to my thought (our verse) today … “Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”

God will do something great, in fact it’s plural, “wonders.” (Sounds like a Promise, doesn’t it? From our faithful, never-failing God!)

But … nonetheless … the people still were required a bit of effort!

“Sanctify yourselves!”

The verb here is “qadash,” meaning “dedicate, purify, prepare,” and is grammatically a “Hithpael imperative!” That’s the Hebrew “reflexive” form, something the Jews had to do for themselves! The “imperative” qualification means a “command” has been given, a “mandate” from the Lord.

Once more now, but this time applying it to our lives here and now. “Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”

God is still a wonder-working Heavenly Father!

He just might do “wonders” in our future days, according to his Grace and Mercy and Faithfulness! (Jeremiah writes of the Lord’s Mercy … “His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:23)

God can do it!

Question is … will we sanctify ourselves?

Will I live a “clean life” … thus expediting God’s Wonders?

Will I “dedicate” myself to Jesus … in order to better enjoy those “Wonders?”

Will I “separate myself” from some (however small) iniquity or sin … to better appreciate God’s Wonders? Maybe even to discern them!

“And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”

Maybe we as Preachers should ask our people again and again to so “Sanctify themselves!”

How?

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1st John 1:9

James is a “rough” Preacher, but still tells the truth. “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” Then he adds, still speaking to Christians:  “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.” James 4:8, one single verse.

Jesus was aware of this Bible Principle. He stayed clean so His people would be able to stay clean! Here’s our Lord praying to His Father: “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.”

Wow!

I feel like I should give an “invitation” after all that!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

“Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”

 

Joshua 3:1-3 reads, in part: “And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. And it came to pass AFTER THREE DAYS, that the officers went through the host; and they commanded the people, saying …”

The “chronology” of the Book of Joshua is intriguing! Puzzling to some scholars, in fact.

Remember Joshua 1:10-11 please. “Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for WITHIN THREE DAYS ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.”

(The three days involved with the spies, all of Joshua chapter 2, could have been enveloped into the “three days” of chapter 1, verse 11 … just shown above.)

Still, it looks like (to me anyway) that we have two three-day periods of time! The first three days, getting the people ready (supplies, “victuals,” food, etc.) to enter Canaan. Then the second three days subsequently transpired, after which Israel’s leaders (“officers”) informed the population of precise marching instructions as they entered the Land!

A total of six days, mind you.

Then … on the seventh day … the crossing of the Jordan River, miraculously so! “And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for TOMORROW the LORD will do wonders among you.” Joshua 3:5

Get this now, a “pattern” may be forming.

Six days … then a miracle! “And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) that the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.” Joshua 3:15-17, yes a clear suspension of the laws of nature! A supernatural event!

Wow!

Then, sequentially, the book of Joshua tells us the story of the “Fall of Jericho!”

But what preceded the Fall of Jericho?

Six days, a literal six-day block of time!

“And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.” Joshua 6:3 … six days of marching around the “doomed” city.

Then after that six day period … another miracle!

The Walls of Jericho … came tumbling down!!!

Get it?

See the pattern?

Six days … then crossing the Jordan, involving an obvious Act of God! (Actually two “three-day” units of time, totaling six days!)

Then immediately … six more days … followed by a seventh … when Jericho imploded, its walls!

What poetic symmetry!

Sounds like an Editor, a Master Writer, is composing this marvelous history of Israel, this Book of Joshua. Indeed, there is! And He is God the Holy Spirit!

The Bible is beautiful, even numerically!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

The very first verse of Joshua chapter 3 reads: “And Joshua rose early in the morning … and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.”

Joshua’s rising “early in the morning” latently suggests his leadership abilities. Eagerness, thoroughness, as well. The man is a “pacesetter.” (Also a picture of Jesus, however faintly, in this “early morning” practice. “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he (Jesus) went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” Mark 1:35) In the above verses both Joshua and Jesus were at their “work” very early!

But the more I study Joshua, the more I see a host of similarities between the way the Book (of Joshua) presents him as a proto-type of Royalty! Nearly, as a “King!”

God never (in His Heart) wanted Israel to have a line of Kings, a dynasty. He longed rather for the Nation to be a “Theocracy,” one led (ruled) by their Lord (the God of Abraham).

(And Oh, how Israel PAID for the Kings she had … for the most part anyway. Disobedience, or at least doing “less” than God’s Will, is always costly!)

Joshua cast in the mold of a King?

(I am only implying that the Holy Spirit, the Real Author of all God’s inspired Word, is quite the Editor as well! God certainly COULD have provided Israel amazing leadership, using men like Joshua, without every having to declare or institute a worldly Monarchy!)

Joshua as King, an intriguing thought.

Watch this.

A “command” from God for all Israel’s Kings … “And it shall be, when he (the King of Israel) sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them.” Deuteronomy 17:18-19, an emphasis on the Law, the Word of God!

Compare now Joshua commissioning: “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Joshua 1:7-8, see the parallels?

THE BOOK!

READ IT “all the days of thy life,” to the Kings.

READ IT “day and night,” to Joshua!

This fact too …

In Deuteronomy 17:20 we read this clause: “that he (the King) turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left.” Faithfulness required, steadiness of purpose, complete obedience!

Now look at Joshua 1:7 again: “Joshua, turn not from it to the right hand or to the left.” Obey God’s Law incessantly!

In both Texts (the royal one in Deuteronomy and the Joshua one here) a promise is made to the obedient follower of God. The king … “to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.” Wow! Then to Joshua the man of God: “that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.” Wow again!

Folks, I am finding dozens (not exaggerating) of these “points” where Joshua looks kingly, a royal leader of Israel. Under God’s Command, Authority!

In fact, I may go further with this thought later in the Joshua series. Anything that helps set the context for a portion of Scripture can prove extremely beneficial.

The Lord willing, another Lesson tomorrow morning …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell