You can ask, “Where is the God of Moses—the God who operated so powerfully in Moses’ day, the God of miracles, the God of redemption, the God who brought His people out of slavery?” “Where is the God of Joshua, the God of conquest who led His people into the Promised Land?” “Where is the God of Elijah?” “Where is the God of Elisha?” “Where is the God is Isaiah?” “Where is the God of any great character in the Old or New Testaments?” The answer is that the God of all these people is the same God to you. He does not change.

The third thing that was kept before the eyes of the people was His justice. This God was a God of judgment. You see, the picture of that ark with God symbolically dwelling between the wings of the cherubim over the ark, which contained the law of God, is a picture of judgment because here is portrayed as the holy God and righteous God, staring down upon the law, the expression of His moral character which every single human being has violated. That picture is a picture of judgment. It’s meant to strike terror into the hearts of sinful men and women. God’s standard of justice does not change; and God judges, and will judge all things in the end.

The second lesson is that the God who goes before us is the same God who has gone before His people at all times. That, too, was symbolized by the ark. He is the God of the exodus who had brought judgment upon the Egyptians, and who had parted the Red Sea, and who had led the people out with a strong hand. This was the same powerful, sovereign God now who was leading them into the Promised Land, just as He had led them out of Egypt.

The thing that is the most prominent, especially in chapters 3 and 4, is the presence of the Ark of the Covenant. Now we haven’t seen the Ark of the Covenant up to this point, but suddenly here it is as the focal point of the narrative. And it is mentioned again and again. It’s mentioned nine times in chapter 3, seven times in chapter 4, and four more times by the use of a pronoun. What was important about the ark? It was the focal point of the nation of Israel. It was where God symbolically resided among His people.

Imagine the intensity of the Israelites’ anticipation as they stood on the banks of the Jordan River and prepared to cross over and go into the Promised Land. Most were part of the new generation that had come from the one who had refused to believe God could give them the land. God had judged them by allowing them to wander in the desert for the 38 years until all of the old generation that were over 20 years old at the time had died. So it was a new generation that was going in, and they had been waiting for this moment for a long time.