Before crossing the Jordan River, Israel was given instructions to carefully follow the ark of the covenant at a distance. “Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before” (Joshua 3:4).

Earlier this Summer, as Christy, Isaac, and I were returning from Oklahoma, we encountered a traffic stoppage on I 70 and decided to turn off and take a different way home. We paid careful attention to the directions given by our Google Maps app as we were led over roads and through towns we didn’t know. We got home, but we had never gone that way before.

Jesus took on the task of returning mankind to God. Through His suffering in the flesh, He consecrated a “new and living way” to God (Heb. 10:20). Prior to His suffering, He proclaimed, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). It is impossible for us to blaze our own trail across the gulf created by our sin. We must strive to enter the narrow gate and walk the difficult way that leads to life (Matt. 7:13-14), knowing that we have not passed this way before.

As each of us approaches the time of our passing from this life, we must likewise remember we have not passed this way before. We must then trust God to lead us across the Jordan as we enter our eternal rest.