“About 40,000 ready for war passed over before the Lord for battle, to the plains of Jericho.” – Joshua 4:13

Scripture reading: Joshua 4:10b-14

By faith in the gospel that Joshua proclaimed, the people followed the ark of the LORD into the river, into death, and God brought them up out of the river, into the land of rest. Our Joshua says, Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My Word and believes Him Who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. That’s the gospel: by faith, you died, and you rose again, with Christ.

That is what God promised you in your baptism, and what He says to you when you eat the bread and drink the wine of the Lord’s Supper. Do you not know, asks Paul in Romans 6, that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried, therefore, with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Israel passed over the Jordan, prepared for war, to claim the inheritance that God had given them. Paul says that’s what you have to do: consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus . . . present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life . . . sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace. That is God’s promise to you in Christ.

Suggestions for prayer

Pray for the Spirit’s help to live by faith in Jesus Christ, so that in your behavior, it becomes evident to God, to your neighbor and to yourself that you have died and been raised to life with Christ.

This daily devotional is available in a print edition you can buy at Nearer to God Devotional. Rev. Dick Wynia is the pastor of the Vineyard Canadian Reformed Church in Beamsville, Ontario.