Ark Bearer: What God Asks of You Before the Promise

A generation facing its promised land

In Joshua chapter 3, Israel is finally within reach of the promised land. After forty years in the desert, a new generation camps at the edge of the Jordan. God is about to perform a spectacular miracle: open the river at flood stage so the people can cross on dry ground. But before that miracle, God asks them to do certain things. Not side matters. Things that will determine how they receive the promise.

In this message, David Pothier opens Joshua 3 to 5 and lets you hear what God was asking of his people then, and what he still asks today of anyone standing before a blessing, a calling, a door God is about to open. The title of the message sums it up in three words: ark bearer.

Message outline

1. Carrying the ark

2. Consecrating yourself

3. Circumcising your heart

1. Carrying the ark

"Joshua said to the priests: Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass on before the people." (Joshua 3:6) The word carry keeps coming up in the text. The ark, that chest of gold, represented God's presence in the middle of the people. God wanted the priests to first put their feet in the Jordan, carrying his presence, so the miracle would kick in and the whole people could cross.

The question God is asking you today is simple: what are you carrying? What do people see you carrying?

For some, when people look at you, they see your confidence, your creativity, your drive at work. Those are good things. But they are not an ark. You are called to carry the presence of God.

And often, what people see instead is your stress, your fatigue, your burdens, your frustrations. Frustrated with your coworker, with your spouse, with your kids who "don't see you," with your employer, with the church. David Pothier says it bluntly: being frustrated with "the church" does not really exist, it is always frustration with someone. A brother, a leader, a pastor. And if you are never frustrated with the church, it is probably because you are too far removed from it, too comfortably settled at home with your own little thing.

Holiness and church are not two separate things. Your sanctification runs through your place among God's people. And that place shows in what you carry.

2. Consecrating yourself

"Joshua said to the people: Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you." (Joshua 3:5) Before the miracle at the Jordan, before the conquest of Jericho, before anything else, God asks for a work of consecration.

It is not that God is transactional, "be holy enough and I'll give you the blessing." No. It is that God does not want the blessing to destroy you. It is possible for your talent or your ambitions to bring you to a level your character is not able to carry. We have seen it so many times: men of God, well known figures, pastors, preachers who reached a level their character had not caught up to. Big shoes on small feet, you end up falling.

That is exactly what will happen in Joshua chapter 7: Ai. One man, Achan, had secretly kept some of the plunder, and the people got crushed. A work of consecration had not gone deep enough. When God is about to do a deep work in your life, he will ask for a deeper work of consecration first.

3. Circumcising your heart

In chapter 5, before even attacking Jericho, God asks Joshua to circumcise the entire army. It is an act of absolute trust: for several weeks, these men will not be able to fight. The Canaanites are panicking, it is the perfect moment to attack, and God says: no, circumcise yourselves first.

Why? Because physical circumcision was only the sign of a deeper reality. God says it through Moses: "Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked." (Deuteronomy 10:16) And yet, reading the Old Testament, you see a people who circumcised their bodies without ever circumcising their hearts. The outward appearance of piety. The religious gestures, the rituals. But the heart did not change.

So God announces something staggering through the mouth of Ezekiel: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you." (Ezekiel 36:26-27) In other words: you are able to circumcise your bodies, you are not able to circumcise your hearts. So I am going to come down. I am going to become one of you. I will be born in Bethlehem, grow up in Nazareth, heal the sick, cast out demons, give my life on a cross, and rise again on the third day. And I will send my Spirit to change the heart of those who believe.

You are not able to change your own heart. Your job is to cut off the flesh, to say no to what you know needs to be cut off. God's job is to change the heart. You have to trust him for that. As David Pothier tells it about his son Nathan, terrified at the idea of getting a shot at the doctor's office, who finally looked up at his father and simply said: "I trusted dad." That is the Christian life.

Key takeaways

• Before every blessing, God asks you to carry his presence, not your stress or your frustrations.
• Consecration is not a bargaining chip, it is preparation so the blessing does not destroy you.
• Physical circumcision was the sign of a circumcision of the heart that only God can perform.
• Your part is to cut off the flesh. God's part is to give you a new heart.
• Being truly engaged in the church includes experiencing frustrations there, and staying anyway.

Personal application

• When people look at you today, what do they see you carrying? God's presence, or your fatigue and burdens?
• Is there an area of your life where God is asking for a deeper work of consecration before entrusting you with more?
• What is God asking you to "cut off" this week, in your thoughts, your words, your habits, the way you live out your sexuality?
• Are you frustrated with "the church"? Can you name the actual person behind that frustration and go talk to them?
• Where exactly do you need to, like little Nathan, look up and tell God: "I trust you"?

Verses cited

• Joshua 3 · the crossing of the Jordan
• Joshua 5 · the circumcision at Gilgal
• Joshua 7 · the defeat at Ai and Achan's sin
• Deuteronomy 10:16 · "Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart"
• Ezekiel 36:24-27 · the heart of flesh and the new Spirit

FAQ

What does "carrying the ark" mean today?

Under the old covenant, the ark carried the visible presence of God. Under the new covenant, that presence lives in the believer through the Holy Spirit. Carrying the ark today means letting that presence be the first thing people perceive when they look at you, rather than your stress or your frustrations.

Why does God ask for consecration before the blessing?

Not because he is "transactional," but because a blessing bigger than your character will always end up destroying you. Consecration adjusts your character to the size of what God is preparing for you.

What does it mean to "circumcise your heart"?

It is the image, present throughout the Old Testament, of a heart finally opened, sensitive, obedient to God, as opposed to a hardened heart that practices religion on the outside without changing on the inside. Ezekiel 36 announces that God himself will do this work by giving a new heart and his Spirit to anyone who puts their trust in Jesus Christ.