<TITLE>07. Par 22-25</TITLE>L-22 And the poor beggar gathered up his rags again, and he fumbled around till he found his rock. But it--it was... Then the sun was shining across; it reflected a shadow. The sun had rose a little higher, was turning around.
So he goes out a little farther. We can see him feeling until he found a large stone again. And he set down and leaned back against the stone near the wall, where the sun had come around and give light on that side and warmth. It was awful cold that morning, so he pulled up his clothes around his shoulders again. And he begin to dream again. And he begin to think, "That other story that I liked so well that mother used to tell me, was just about five hundred yards from here, when Joshua, the great warrior, the servant of the Lord, the mighty one who succeeded Moses, the great general, stood on the banks just across. Oh, how I remember looking at the place when I was a little boy, setting upon the hills here when mama was rocking me, and she'd point her beautiful hand."
"And right yonder, Joshua stood, and the Jordan rolled back. And our people come over across the sea--or across the waters on dry land in the month of April, when the storms and--had been up in the mountains of Judaea, and all the--the bottoms are flooded with water. And the great muddy waters rolled. And God rolled them back. And they stayed there until two and a half million people crossed over." Amen.

L-23 Some of these days, I got to come down to my Jordan. You've got to come to your Jordan. Oh, I want Him to stay the muddy dirty waters of death, walk across on the wings of the Holy Spirit. Amen. He will send the morning star to light up the way.
"Just across the hill yonder, Bartimaeus, is where that happened. And then when Israel had passed over, the fear was upon Jericho, until the gates were all shut up. And they camped and put the ark of the Lord exactly in its place. And then they waited on the Lord."
That's a good thing to do. Move just as far as God lets you move, and then wait on the Lord. 'They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."

L-24 And they fixed everything in preparation, and then waited. And one day, the great mighty warrior, Joshua, the general, was walking out over against the walls one day, looking around. And he looked. Standing on a little hill, there stood a mighty looking Man with His sword out of the sheath, and up in His hands, and glistening in the sunlight. Joshua, being a warrior, jerked his own sword from the sheath and started to meet Him. He said, "Who are You! Are You for us, or are You for our enemy?"
Then the voice come back from the Stranger; He said, "I am the Captain of the Host of the Lord. I am the Lord's Captain over His Host."
The mighty Joshua threw his sword to the ground and jerked off his helmet, and fell on the ground with his hands in his face, and worshipped the Lord.

L-25 "Oh," said blind Bartimaeus, "I only wished I could've lived in those days. What if I'd have been standing right here then? And I'm--I'm an Israelite. I'm an heir of all those blessings. I--I... All those things belong to me. And if I'd have been standing here, I'd have spoke to the Lord's Captain, and He would've give me back my sight. And I would've went out and made an honest good living for my family. But alas, those days are gone. What happened to the Captain of the Lord's Host?"
Little did the blind beggar know that that same Captain was a hundred yards from him. It's when we think on Him is when He draws near. When our hearts are stayed on Him, the thoughts of our hearts are constantly upon Him, that's when He draws nigh unto us, when we draw nigh unto Him.
He shivered a little. He thought, "Oh, if I could've only seen that Captain." But coming right along the street, coming out of the gate, come that same Captain, only in another form.


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