Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the O Lord will do wonders among you" (Joshua 3:5). That was one of the greatest commands ever issued by a general, but it was more than an army order it was a call to the whole congregation. What emotions must have stirred in the hearts of God's ancient people when they realized that their wanderings were over and they were about to begin the conquest of Canaan! This command by General Joshua marked the end of one epoch and the beginning of an other. A whole generation had been reared in the concept that sometime they were going over Jordan. True, they had to wait. Moses had foretold that. But now they were about to possess the land. Enthusiasm gripped all hearts as this news flashed from tent to tent. True, they needed to prepare food for the hard days ahead, but Joshua's call here was not to prepare food but to prepare their hearts. "Sanctify yourselves," he said, "for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you."
Much had happened to these people during recent months. Both Aaron and Moses had closed their eyes in death. Their work had been given to others, and Israel was under new leadership. A few weeks before, this nation had lapsed into their greatest apostasy, right on the borders of Canaan. While Moses was busy laying plans for the possession and occupation of the Promised Land, Satan was busy also, determined to overthrow the purpose of God. Midianitish - women, defiant and subtle, had stolen into the camp, and many had succumbed to the sophistries of sin. "Israel joined himself to Baal-peor," is the way the Scriptures record it. A thousand picked men from each of the tribes were sent to destroy those who had disgraced and degraded the people of God. It was a dramatic cleansing of the camp. All this happened just before Moses left the camp to walk alone into the city of silence.
His last words were expressive: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. . . . Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord!" (Deut. 33: 27-29). Having made his farewell appeal to this people, he turned from them to climb Mount Pizgah's lofty height, and like a tired child he sank into the arms of God and fell asleep, never to return to the camp.
Now Joshua was the commissioned leader of the hosts of Israel. And to him the Lord said, "Moses my servant is dead; now there fore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people" (Joshua 1:2). Thus the divine objective was once again set before this people. Some months earlier Moses had said, "He brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in" (Deut. 6:23). They had left Egypt that they might go in and possess the land of Canaan. Now comes the call from their new leader, "Sanctify your selves: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you."
The time was right (forty years had elapsed, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Moses); the conditions were right (true, Jordan was in flood, but a divine hand was leading, and God often chooses the most difficult times to do His greatest work); now the people must be right (only a sanctified people could go over and possess the land).
To say that the experiences of Israel are typical of the experience of the Advent people is trite, but one important thing we as leaders must never forget. Like Israel, we have been brought out of the world for a specific purpose. For a hundred years God has been molding this movement to become a tool in His hand for the quick finishing of His work in the earth. Our denominational vocabulary includes expressions that might well have been heard in the Sinai desert. We speak of "entering into the kingdom," et cetera. And some of our members, like ancient Israel, are asking, "What is the cause of so long delay?" We have been .told that it is not God's will that the coming of Christ should be delayed so long, any more than it was His will that Israel should wander forty years in the wilderness. Unbelief, murmuring, and rebel lion kept ancient Israel from the Promised Land. Their sins blurred their vision and robbed them of the concept of their God ordained purpose. Regarding this the messenger of the Lord says: "The same sins have delayed the entrance of modern Israel into the heavenly Canaan. ... It is the unbelief, the worldliness, unconsecration, and strife among the Lord's professed people that have kept us in this world of sin and sorrow so many years." Evangelism, p. 696. What a startling statement! The implications of this are tremendous.
Since returning recently from the battle fields of Korea, I have heard some folks telling of the blunders of certain politicians and the lack of statesmanship that could permit such tragedies. But is there not something deeper than this? Had we as a people measured up to our real responsibility, we would have been in the kingdom long ago, God tells us. "If the Master should come," we are told, "so many would be found unready. God's unwillingness to have His people perish, has been the reason of so long delay." Ibid., p. 694. Could it be that the church's lack of vision and of heart preparation is responsible for the delay that permits these tragedies of our time?
"It was when the Israelites were in a condition of outward ease and security that they were led into sin." Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 459. That expression "outward ease and security" is significant. As a de nomination our ease and security in most lands were never more real than today. We have a wonderful organization, and we thank God for it. But it would not be difficult for us to settle right down now and become just another denomination. To do that would be tragic. That was never God's plan for this movement. As ministers we must keep before our people the vision of the near coming of the Lord and of our need of a preparation to meet Him. For "every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." Purity and holiness are essential if we ever expect to enter into the kingdom of God.
"The mind does not come down at once from purity and holiness to depravity, corruption, and crime. It takes time to degrade those formed in the image of God to the brutal or the Satanic. By be holding, we become changed. By the indulgence of impure thoughts, man can so educate his mind that sin which he once loathed will become pleasant to him." Ibid.
How subtle sin is! When Israel was at the very border of Canaan the nation lapsed into its greatest apostasy. Is that not a lesson for us? If ever a people needed to be alert, it is we who are standing on the very borders of the heavenly Canaan. Bearing the vessels of the Lord requires clean hands and pure hearts. When God cleansed the apostles of jealousy and selfish ambition, they were then candidates for the power of heaven. Those men lacked many things; they were poor, but they went through the world making many rich. They lacked institutions but not membership. Compared with ours, theirs was quite a loose organization. In fact, someone said, "We could probably teach the apostles many things about policies and reports." And that is doubtless true. But what they lacked in organization and material things they more than made up for by the power of God's Spirit that moved through them.
"That early church was born in a storm; it moved on in a cyclone; it swept the field like a tornado," are the words of Dr. Mel ton, a Baptist minister of our time. And that is true. But he added, "I never expect to see a church like that again." Well, I do, and I know 'you do, for the remnant church will be a replica of the apostolic church. The power that worked through them is the power that must work through us. The apostles could not do much for the world until God had done much for them. When they were changed, they changed the world. When their cowardice gave way to courage, their unbelief to flaming faith, their jealousy to genuine brotherhood, then it was that they turned the world upside down, and converts flowed into the church like a widening river.
To us as verily as to them the words of General Joshua come ringing down the centuries: "Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you." Like ancient Israel, our pioneers have closed their eyes in death. A new generation is today leading the movement, not only the second generation, but the third generation from the pioneers. And "third generationism" has imperiled many an other movement in the past. Do we have the clear vision of our founding fathers? Is the near coming of Christ just an old idea, or is it a living conviction? Upon the answer to that question may well hang the destiny of the movement. As in the days of ancient Israel, the time is right, the conditions are right, and by the grace of God we must be right.
