The Ordination of a River: God's Public Endorsement Text: Joshua 4:14
Introduction: The Necessity of Appointed Authority
We live in an age that is allergic to authority. Our modern democratic sensibilities want to flatten every hierarchy and make every man his own pope, his own king, and his own god. The spirit of the age is the spirit of Korah, who stood before Moses and said, "You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?" This is the constant refrain of rebellion, from the garden to the present day. It is the egalitarian lie, the refusal to acknowledge that God not only establishes order but also establishes men to lead and govern within that order.
But God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, and therefore of order. He does not save a rabble; He saves a people, an army, a nation, a church. And an army needs a general. A nation needs a magistrate. A church needs elders. God's method throughout all of redemptive history has been to work through covenant heads, through appointed representatives. He dealt with Adam, with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses, and now, as Israel stands on the precipice of the Promised Land, He deals with Joshua.
The problem is that a transfer of leadership is always a precarious moment. The people had followed Moses for forty years. His authority was monumental, forged in the plagues of Egypt, tested at the Red Sea, and confirmed at Sinai. Now Moses is gone, and Joshua, his minister, is in his place. How will the people know that God's hand is on Joshua as it was on Moses? How will this new authority be established, not in the mind of Joshua, but in the hearts and minds of the entire nation? God does not leave this to chance. He does not rely on a committee vote or a popularity contest. He orchestrates a public, undeniable, and miraculous confirmation. The crossing of the Jordan is not just a military maneuver; it is an ordination service, with the riverbed as the sanctuary and God Himself presiding.
In this one verse, we see the culmination of this divine act. God is not just getting His people into the land; He is establishing the leadership that will guide them in that land. He is teaching them, and us, a crucial lesson about the nature of legitimate authority. It is not grasped, but given. It is not manufactured by man, but magnified by God.
The Text
On that day, Yahweh magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel, so that they feared him, just as they had feared Moses all the days of his life.
(Joshua 4:14)
The Divine Magnification
The verse begins with the source of the action: "On that day, Yahweh magnified Joshua."
"On that day, Yahweh magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel..." (Joshua 4:14a)
The first thing we must see is that Joshua did not magnify himself. Ambition that seeks its own glory is a disqualification for true leadership in God's economy. The man who campaigns for the office, who angles for the position, who subtly promotes his own resume, is revealing that he is unfit for it. Godly authority is not taken; it is bestowed. God had already told Joshua He would do this. Back in chapter 3, God promised, "This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you" (Joshua 3:7). God makes the promise, and God fulfills the promise. Joshua's job was not to make himself look big, but simply to obey the commands God gave him concerning the ark and the priests and the river.
To "magnify" means to make great, to lift up, to cause to be held in high esteem. God put Joshua on a divine platform. The miracle of the Jordan parting was the visible evidence of God's invisible anointing. It was a public relations campaign run by the Almighty. When the people saw the waters stacked up in a heap, they were not simply seeing a marvel of nature. They were seeing God's signature on Joshua's commission. They were being told, in no uncertain terms, "This is my man."
And notice the audience: "in the sight of all Israel." This was not a private revelation. Godly authority must be publicly recognized. This is why ordinations and installations are public services. The authority is from God, but it must be acknowledged by the people. God did not whisper to each Israelite individually that Joshua was in charge. He performed a mighty act that the entire nation witnessed together. This created a corporate knowledge, a shared understanding that bound them all to respect Joshua's leadership. It cut the legs out from under any future grumbling or rebellion. Anyone tempted to challenge Joshua would not just be challenging a man, but the God who had so clearly and powerfully endorsed him.
The Proper Response: Fear
The result of God's action was a specific, intended reaction in the people.
"...so that they feared him, just as they had feared Moses all the days of his life." (Joshua 4:14b)
Now, our modern, sentimental age hears the word "fear" and immediately recoils. We want to replace it with softer words like "respect" or "revere." And while those ideas are included, we must not blunt the force of the original word. The fear spoken of here is not a cowering, terrified dread of a tyrant. But neither is it a flimsy, polite respect you might give a distant uncle. This is the kind of fear that is born of awe. It is the recognition that this man is God's representative, and to trifle with him is to trifle with God.
This fear is a holy and healthy thing. It is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the foundation, and the fear of the Lord's anointed servant is the proper outworking of that foundation. When the people saw the Jordan part at Joshua's command, they understood that the power of Yahweh was with him. Therefore, to disobey Joshua would be to disobey Yahweh. This fear produces order, discipline, and obedience, all of which were absolutely essential for the military conquest that lay ahead. An army that does not fear its general is no army at all; it is a mob, and a mob cannot conquer Canaan.
The text makes a direct and crucial parallel: "just as they had feared Moses." This was the entire point. God was establishing a continuity of command. He was showing them that the authority that had led them out of Egypt was the same authority that would lead them into the Promised Land. The office was continuing, even though the man had changed. This is a principle of covenant succession. God's covenant promises and covenant structures do not die with His servants. He raises up new men to carry on the work.
This fear was not based on Joshua's natural charisma or his military genius. It was based entirely on the manifest presence of God with him. The people feared Moses because they saw God speak with him face to face. They saw the plagues. They walked through the Red Sea. Now, this new generation has its own Red Sea moment. They have seen the power of God at work through their new leader, and it produces in them the same holy fear. This is the basis of all true spiritual authority. It does not rest on personality, but on the power of God publicly displayed and recognized.
The Greater Joshua
As with all such accounts in the Old Testament, this is not just a history lesson about ancient Israel. It is a signpost, a shadow, pointing forward to a greater reality. Joshua's name in Hebrew is Yeshua. In Greek, it is Iesous. Jesus.
Joshua is a type of Christ. He is the captain of the Lord's host who leads God's people into their inheritance. But where Joshua led Israel into a temporary, earthly promised land, the Lord Jesus, our great Yeshua, leads His people into the ultimate inheritance of a new heaven and a new earth.
How did God magnify His Son, Jesus? He did not part a river of water, but He parted the river of death itself. At the baptism of Jesus, the heavens were opened, the Spirit descended like a dove, and the Father's voice thundered from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). This was God magnifying His Son in the sight of all Israel. On the Mount of Transfiguration, He was magnified again before Peter, James, and John. Through His mighty miracles, healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead, the Father publicly endorsed the authority of the Son.
But the ultimate magnification came at the resurrection. By raising Jesus from the dead, God the Father declared with ultimate power that this Jesus, whom men had crucified, was both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). The resurrection was God's public vindication of His Son, magnifying Him not just before Israel, but before all of creation, before every principality and power in the heavenly places.
And what is the proper response to this magnified Son? It is fear. "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). We are to "serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way" (Psalm 2:11-12). This is not the fear of a slave, but the awestruck, loving, and obedient fear of a son for a great and glorious Father, and of a soldier for his mighty Captain.
God established Joshua's authority with a miracle so that Israel would follow him into Canaan. In the same way, God has established Christ's authority with the resurrection so that we would follow Him into the New Jerusalem. To reject the authority of Joshua after the Jordan crossing would have been madness. How much greater is the madness of those who see the empty tomb and yet refuse to bow the knee to the magnified Son of God? God has made His endorsement plain. The evidence is in. The only question is whether we will respond with the holy fear and faithful obedience that He rightly commands.