This is a historic event
actually happened that the whole nation crossed the Jordan River on foot. It
took long forty years to cross the Jordan although they could have done forty
years ago. But it happened suddenly and irrevocably for the whole nation walked
through the Jordan on the dry ground as they did through the Red Sea on the dry
land forty years ago. No force can resist the nation’s crossing. No enemy can
stop it. No authority can cancel it. Prophet Isaiah says, “When I act, who can
reverse it?” (Isaiah 43:13b) It is like the woman’s travail, once get started
nothing can reverse it, even the woman herself in great agony and pain. That’s
what happened for the whole nation Israel crossed the Jordan on the dry land.
“Early in the morning Joshua and
all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they
camped before crossing over. After three days the officers went throughout the
camp, giving orders to the people: ‘When you see the ark of the covenant of the
Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from
your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you
have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand
cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.’” (Joshua 3:1-4)
It happened in the order God
commanded to Joshua. Early in the morning they set out from Shittim and went to
the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. After three days people of
Israel were told to set to move out and follow the ark of the covenant of the
Lord their God when they saw the priests were carrying it. Since they had never
been this way before they would know which way to go by following the ark of
the covenant of God. It is the symbol of the presence of the living God. So,
the people were told to follow him wherever he led them, keeping a distance of
about three thousand feet away. They could see the ark moving within the
distance.
“Joshua told the people, ‘Consecrate
yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.’ Joshua
said to the priests, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the
people.’ So they took it up and went ahead of them.” (Joshua 3:5-6)
Joshua prepared the heart of the
people to trust in the Lord who would do amazing things among them. The
consecration of our heart is only possible through the power of God in the
blood of Christ Jesus. The reason they were commanded to consecrate themselves
is that our God can work only in the believing people. In our Lord Jesus’ time,
there were so many sick and disabled people among whom only those had faith in
Christ were cured. Hebrews tells so pertinently why the people of God must
consecrate themselves.
“And without faith it is
impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he
exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
Then Joshua commanded the
priests to take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people. So,
they took it up and went ahead of them. The Lord God said something remarkable
to Joshua.
“And the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today
I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am
with you as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the ark of the
covenant: “When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the
river.”’” (Joshua 3:7-8)
God never exalts any person
because in whom there is nothing to be exalted. This is the moment for the
people of believing generation to enter God’s rest because the land of Canaan
stands for his rest in Christ. Natural man cannot enter into his rest on his
own because he is evil in the eyes of the Lord God. In Adam all man is
contaminated and influenced by the poison of evil. Man is lost and fallen
beyond self-recovery. It is impossible for man to save himself. It is not
possible with education, nor with wealth, nor with status, nor with any
authority and power of man. Man can be saved only through a mediator between
God and the fallen race. The Mediator is Jesus Christ. So, the people of Israel
then were entering the rest of God through Jesus Christ the Son. Joshua was
standing as the Son Jesus Christ. In fact, his name means “Yahweh is
salvation.” When God said to Joshua that he would begin to exalt him, it means
that the Father in heaven was pleased with the Son who obeyed him to the point
of death and exalted him above every name in heaven and on the earth and under
the earth.
“Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being
made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled
himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God
exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth
and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:6-11)
There is no other name which can
save and be exalted than the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. There is no other
way to come to the Father in heaven except through the Son Jesus Christ (John
14:6). So, all the people of Israel who were crossing the Jordan were baptized
into Christ Jesus. They were untied with Christ through the baptism in the
Jordan.
“Or don’t you know that all of
us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were
therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as
Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may
live a new life.” (Romans 6:3-4)
The priests who carried the ark
of the covenant were told to go and stand in the river when they reached the
edge of the Jordan’s waters. It indicates not a single person is not allowed to
enter his rest without through the death of Christ Jesus. Joshua commanded the
Israelites to listen and obey the words of their God.
“Joshua said to the Israelites,
‘Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. This is how you will
know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out
before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites
and Jebusites. See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will
go into the Jordan ahead of you. Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of
Israel, one from each tribe. And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of
the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing
downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.’” (Joshua 3:9-13)
This is how they will know that
the living God is among them and that he will drive out the seven tribes of
Canaan. They will know that the living God is in their midst when the ark of
the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of
them. It exactly reminds of the good shepherd who brings out all his own sheep
and goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice
(John 10:4). In this way, our Lord Jesus, the good shepherd laid down his life
for the sheep (John 10:11). As soon as the priests set foot in the Jordan, its
waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap. As Prophet
Isaiah foretold and prophesied, all who follows Jesus Christ shall be healed
and cleansed by his wounds (Isaiah 53:5).
“So when the people broke camp
to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of
them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the
priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the
water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a
great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while
the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was
completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests
who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the
Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole
nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.” (Joshua 3:14-17)
It happened exactly the same as
the Lord God told to his servant Joshua. It revealed and imprinted the presence
of the living God in the heart of the people who obeyed and crossed the Jordan
on the dry land. Christ Jesus was cut off completely and became nothing in
order to be the mediator and advocate for his people who believe in him just as
it was prophesied by Prophet Daniel Chapter 9 (Daniel 9:26).
Joshua Chapter 4 tells that
Joshua commanded the twelve men, one from each tribe, to take up twelve stones
from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests were standing, and
carry them over to the place where they stayed that night. It is a sign among the
Israelites (Joshua 4:6). When their children asked what these stones meant,
they would tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of
the covenant of the Lord. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of
Israel forever. Jesus Christ is the stone on which anyone who stands on it
shall not perish but have eternal life.
“So the Israelites did as Joshua
commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan,
according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told
Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them
down. Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan
at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood.
And they are there to this day.” (Joshua 4:8-9)
This memorial indicates our
changed life in Jesus Christ for those who are saved through the baptism with
Christ. The stone, Jesus Christ, is in the heart of believers through the
crossing of the Jordan. The wilderness life in barrenness and dryness has now
been passed over and entered into God’s rest in which overflowing riches of his
grace is available wherever and whenever in need. The Jordan stands for our
death with Christ. Since we have crossed over from death to life, there is no
condemnation in Christ Jesus. So, we have the reason to be changed and manifest
the changed life in our daily lives. Authentic Christians dare to love the
unlovely and forgive the unforgivable. That’s what we are called for. We’re
sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing our
inheritance in Christ (Ephesians 1:14).
“Now the priests who carried the
ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the Lord had
commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The
people hurried over, and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the
Lord and the priests came to the other side while the people watched.” (Joshua
4:10-11)
It wasn’t a picnic in crossing
the Jordan. Under the supervision of the presence of God represented by the ark
of the covenant of the Lord the people hurried over. It reminds of the Passover
night when the people ate the prescribed dinner they were really alert and ready
to leave at any time, not in a relaxed mood at all. They ate the meal in a hurried
and urgent way because the destroyer was passing over them on the night. Entering
God’s rest means that we’ve been dead and raised again in Christ. How can we
take it lightly when there is death involved?
“The men of Reuben, Gad and the
half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, ready for battle, in front of the
Israelites, as Moses had directed them. About forty thousand armed for battle
crossed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for war.” (Joshua
4:12-13)
A difference after the crossing
the Jordan is observed in comparison with after the crossing the Red Sea. There
was no dancing party celebrating after the crossing the Jordan because there
was a war ahead of them. We learn here a significant truth that entering God’s
rest is not the end of wilderness life and the beginning of free life but engaging
a war, Jehovah’s war.
“That day the Lord exalted
Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him all the days of
his life, just as they had stood in awe of Moses. Then the Lord said to Joshua,
‘Command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant law to come up out of the
Jordan.’ So Joshua commanded the priests, ‘Come up out of the Jordan.’ And the
priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the
Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.” (Joshua 4:14-18)
This is really a preview of our
Lord Jesus’ resurrection. The Lord God exalted Joshua in the sight of all
Israel and they stood in awe of him all the days of his life. It really speaks
for our Lord Jesus Christ who died and buried and rose from the dead. The
Father God exalted him above every name in heaven and on earth and under the
earth. The flooding waters of the Jordan was cut off which represents the death
of Christ. Now the Lord commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.” When
the priests came out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord
and set their feet on the dry ground, the waters the Jordan returned to their
place and ran at flood stage as before. Once we entered his rest, there won’t
be a way back to the wilderness life.
“On the tenth day of the first
month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern
border of Jericho. And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken
out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, ‘In the future when your descendants
ask their parents, “What do these stones mean?” tell them, “Israel crossed the
Jordan on dry ground.” For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you
until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had
done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He
did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the
Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.’” (Joshua
4:19-24)
God is our salvation and there
is no other way. The duty of mankind is to fear the Lord our God all the days
of our life.
“Now all has been heard; here is
the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is
the duty of all mankind.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
Prayer: Thank you Father in
heaven for your irrevocable act in the deliverance of your people through the
death of the Son Jesus Christ and in putting them into your rest. Thank you Lord
Jesus Christ who obeyed to the point of death by being cut off and becoming
nothing in order to save man from the fatal fall. Thank you for manifesting
your presence as the living and powerful God in their midst while your people
were crossing the Jordan on the dry land. We may fear the Lord our God all the
days of our life and always remember the presence of the living God in our
midst. In Christ’s name. Amen.
February 26, 2016
© 2015-2016 David
Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.
