Joshua replaced Moses as the leader of the Israelites
just when they were about to enter the promise land. After thirty days of
mourning for Moses’ death, the Israelites moved their camp to Shittim. In
Joshua 3, we see the Israelites leaving Shittim and arriving at the banks of
Jordan (Josh 3:1). On the fourth day, in preparation for the crossing of the
Jordan river, Joshua gave instructions to the people. Joshua admonished them: “Consecrate
yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (Josh 3:5).
In Consecrate Yourselves I: Cleansing, we
said that this command was not something new to the Israelites (see. Josh 7:13;
Num 11:18-20). Its first occurrence is found in Exodus 19:10-11, 14-15, “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to the people and
consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people…’ 14 After Moses had gone
down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. 15 Then he said to the people, ‘Prepare yourselves for
the third day. Abstain from sexual relations’.”
The clues to understanding what it means to
be consecrated are found in the repeated statements in the verses. The first
group is “Have them wash their clothes… they washed their clothes” (19:10, 14).
Consecration, in relation to the command to wash, means two things: first, it
is about acceptable offerings, and second, it is about getting rid of the old dirt
accumulated in ourselves. Basically, it is being clean. In the crossing of the
Jordan, they were about to enter the promise land. It was time to get rid of
the filth of the wilderness.
The second group of statements crucial in
Exodus 19 are: “Be ready by the third day” (19:11)… and “Prepare yourself for
the third day” (19:15). This group includes the terms “be ready” and “prepare”
(19:11, 15). At first sight, consecration and preparation seem to be two
different things. Moses told the Israelites to consecrate themselves, and how
would they do that? By spending three days in preparation. To consecrate is to
prepare.
This does not sound much, right? What does
preparation and getting ready have to do with consecration? What does setting
ourselves apart or offering ourselves have to do with preparation? How is doing
preparation an act of consecration? They do not look very related at all. But
the Scripture is clear. First, to be consecrated is about preparation. God is
basically saying, “I have set you apart. Now go. Your first task is to
prepare.” This might look like it is about equipping. It looks as if this means
that we have to prepare ourselves today because there is a big mission that God
wants us to do or accomplish someday. This looks like going to the seminary
because you are preparing to do something. But if we look at God’s commands in
relation to consecration, the Isralites were to prepare because God was doing a
great thing the next day. God’s command was not, “prepare yourselves because
you are doing great things tomorrow.” The command was “prepare yourselves,
because tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”
Have you ever experienced being so thirsty,
but finding out that all cups in the house are dirty? Or you need a pen for an
exam, then realized that you forgot to bring one to school? Or you went out of
the house and then realized that your cell phone battery has only 5% left, and
you need to make some phone calls?
The Lord has amazing plans for us and through
us. His requirement: prepare yourselves. This is an important word for us. I
believe that the Lord has great things planned for your school, for your
workplace, for your family, and for your neighbors. God wants to do amazing
things. But the question is: are God’s people ready? Let me just ask a few
questions about our being set apart as God’s people in relation to our
preparedness:
- If a schoolmate asks us about our faith, are we ready to give a response? Peter wrote that we must “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet 3:15). We cannot say, “I am sorry but I do not also know. My faith is weak like yours. Let me come back to you in three years, after I finish my Master of Divinity.”
- If a workmate asks us for counsel, are we ready to give a Word of promise? Paul wrote: “Be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Tim 4:2).
- If drug addicts and prostitutes and all kinds of sinners come flocking into our church right now, are we emotionally and socially ready to receive them? If the poor, the dirty, and the smelly come flocking to our church today, are we socially and relationally ready?
The fact is: many believers are not ready to
experience God’s amazing work among them. They have not set apart themselves so
that when God’s amazing work begins, they might be the first ones to raise
suspicions. Paul was right, “In a
large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood
and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. 21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be
instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared
to do any good work” (2 Tim 2:20-21). We must face the question: Have we consecrated
yourselves for the Lord, and are ready to be useful to the Master?
May God forbid that our
workmates, schoolmates, family, and neighbors are being deprived of
experiencing God’s amazing redemptive work, just because we are not ready. It is not about our work. It is about God’s
work, but we must be prepared for whatever the Lord might do through us and
among us.
Secondly, related to consecration as
preparation is the call to focus. Consecration
as preparation is about focus. It is like a student preparing for the final
exam. He knows that what is at stake is so big, affecting the present and the
future, that he consecrates himself to the task only of studying. Even though
it is good to exercise, or communicate with friends, or bond with family
members, he fixes his eyes on his books in order to meet what is ahead.
Therefore, one of the meanings of
consecration is to be focused or to be single-minded. In Mount Sinai, the
Israelites were to spend all their time in preparation for their meeting with
God. In Jordan, they were to spend all their time and effort in preparation to
cross the river and enter the promise land. To be consecrated is to be fully
devoted to God or to something. “Consecrate yourselves” means “Devote
yourselves to one task.” Think of nothing else. Do nothing else.
This is a timely advise for us today. It is
easy to be distracted. Have you ever wondered why having sexual relations was
specified as something they should abstain from in Exo 19:15? It is because it
can distract them from their preparations. They were asked to be single-minded
and abandon their fleshly desires in the meantime. There is something profound
here. Sex is not bad in itself. It is good. So God asked the Israelites to stay
away even from good. Consecration is not only getting rid of dirt in our lives.
It is also giving up even the good things in our lives that may hinder us from
loving and serving God.
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