"Our studies have given us a picture of the Promised Land: The wilderness too with its wanderings of heart and ignorance of God's ways has been depicted: the triumph of Rahab's faith in contrast with the tragedy of unbelief has encouraged our hearts to believe that God can bring us--even us--into the land which flows with milk and honey.
"Today we are to consider the crossing of Jordan, that great barrier which keeps so many shut out of it. His presence alone can effect that crossing--for, as the Psalmist bids us consider, it was at the presence of the God of Jacob, in Judah His sanctuary and Israel His dominion, that 'the sea fled and Jordan was driven back' (Ps. 114).
"The river Jordan is perhaps the most remarkable stream in the world. It rises 1,000 feet above the level of the Mediterranean and after running in an almost straight line for 150 miles it empties itself into the Dead Sea--1,500 feet below sea level. Its course is straight; its current swift; it is hardly navigable and has been little used for irrigation purposes. Unlike any other river on earth, it does not empty itself either directly or indirectly into any ocean. The Dead Sea is its goal. Its history is full of striking incident; it stands as a remarkable type of crises in Jewish history. All through the ages it has been held as a figure of death.
"As we watched the Israelitish host, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, separated from the world of Egypt by the Red Sea, now standing on the brink of Jordan's stream, after their long and weary wanderings through the wilderness, once more called upon to cross the waters ere their promised haven can be reached--we see in type the redeemed soul about to enter into 'the rest which remains for the people of God.' Death of the old man, or Crucifixion with Christ is the only portal--Mors Janua vitae. It means destruction, not of our own individuality, but of that other and strange personality--'the old man,' 'the body of sin,' 'the body of death,' 'the body of sins of the flesh,' not to mention its many other synonyms and titles--so close to us that at times St. Paul almost identifies it with our very self (Rom. 6:1-10) though, as a matter of fact, he is very careful to differentiate the two (Gal. 2:20).
"Let us turn then to the chapter which follows the story of Rahab's faith, Joshua 3, that we may learn our lesson there.
"As we read the chapter the outstanding feature of the story is the place which the 'Ark of the Covenant' occupies. The secret of that miraculous crossing is found there. Let us trace its place and purpose.
"(1) The Vision of Faith
'And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it' (Joshua 3:3).
'Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher [perfecter] of our faith' (Heb. 12:2).
'And John bare record saying . . . I knew him not: but he that sent me said . . . Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, . . . the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost' (John 1:32-33).
"The story of Israel's wilderness wanderings following on their redemption from Egypt is replete with the richest typology. There are seven illuminating types of the Lord Jesus--the Burning Bush, the Pascal Lamb, the Serpent Uplifted, the Smitten Rock, the Manna from Heaven, the Tabernacle, the Rod That Blossomed.
"While in the Tabernacle itself there are seven more: The brazen altar, the golden altar, the table of shewbread, the candlestick, the veil, the mercy-seat, and the Ark of the Covenant also speak to us of Christ and His saving, sanctifying, redeeming work.
"Of all these we cannot speak. The one, however, to which the Holy Ghost directs our attention is Christ, the Ark of the Covenant. This is the selected type to lead us over Jordan. Neither the Lamb, nor the Serpent, nor the Rock, nor the Rod are in the picture. No! the one that led the people in was the Ark of the Covenant. But what a type it is--The Word made flesh--God's covenant broken indeed by man is enshrined in Christ incarnate. 'The promises of God are all Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus' our Lord.
"The Israelites were bidden to look upon the Ark of the Covenant. Always hidden behind the veil and seen only by the High Priest, it is now brought forth. To it was the gaze of all now directed. So must our eyes be upon Him--the Faithful Promiser--for He is that (I Thess. 5:24) as well as the Faithful Witness (Rev. 3:14). He is our Surety; it is He that must lead the way over Jordan. The Word--the Promise in Christ--is our only stay as we step into the water of our Jordan. He has pledged that they shall not overwhelm. He has declared that when we go through the waters He will be with us. We are crucified with Him. The nails pierced His sacred hands and feet not ours, the thorns His head not ours, the spear His side not ours. Through His stripes we are healed. We died in Him--the suffering was His and not ours. The sting of death was felt by Him, not by us. The waters overwhelmed Him that we might be delivered.
"Our first step, then, is to look upon Christ, the faithful Promiser. He is for us the Ark of the Covenant. The devil will tempt us to ask of what avail is a promise to bring us through. Oh! beloved, remember the Covenant is in the Ark. The Word of promise is in Christ Jesus. Beware lest we despise the Word of Promise, because in so doing we despise the Promiser. Let us not look for some spectacular experience. Let our eyes be only unto and upon Jesus; for He is faithful that promised.
"(2) The Appropriation of Faith
'Joshua spake unto the priests saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people' (Joshua 3:6).
"Here we read that the priests were bidden to take up the Ark and bear it upon their shoulders.
"In the topology of the Tabernacle--representing as it does not only Christ himself but the believer also ('Know ye not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost?) the priests will represent all the faculties of our nature--the conscience, the will, the affections, the desires, the memory and the imagination, etc. If this be so, do we not see here the meaning of our lesson. Every faculty of our soul has to appropriate Christ, the faithful Promiser.
"The Ark had to be taken up and borne upon the shoulders of the priests--so too there has to be an appropriating faith. It is not enough merely to fix our gaze upon Him. Every faculty of our nature must go out in faith to lay hold of Christ and His Word. Let our memory remember His promise, let our affections be centered there, let our desires fasten upon Christ the living Word, let our will be determined to believe God.
"Christ is made unto us Sanctification--He is the pledge of God's presence and power to bring us in; He is the Ark of God's covenant.
"With what assurance the priests stepped forth as they felt the pressure of the sacred Ark upon their shoulders. So shall it be with us, if we lean upon Christ and Christ alone.
"Shall we confess like John the Baptist of old, 'I knew him not,' yea though standing close at hand--but shall we like John also listen to the word which bade him look and see and believe, and like John the Divine, say 'we have heard . . . we have seen with our eyes . . . we have looked upon . . . our hands have handled the Word of Life'--yea, the very Ark of the Covenant. Oh, for the boldness of a humble, lowly, and yet determined faith.
"(3) The Reassurance of Faith
'And Joshua said, Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the enemy . . . . Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan' (Joshua 3:9-11).
'John answered them, saying, . . . there standeth one among you, whom ye know not . . . the same is he that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost' (John 1:26, 33).
"As though the presence of the Ark among the people were not enough the Lord still further reassures by His servant and guarantees His mighty wonder-working presence.
"As John the Baptist of old bore witness to Christ--the prototype of this very Ark, before he went down into the waters of this same Jordan--'There standeth one among you, whom ye know not . . . the same is he that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.' So Joshua cries to the people, 'Come hither and hear the word of the Lord your God . . . Behold the ark of the covenant . . . hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you'--yes, you the feeble, carnal, unsanctified, restless, wandering ones--and this living God, it is He who will without fail drive out before you all the enemies in the land--yes, even the Jebusite, the last one always mentioned, the last one to be dethroned and cast out by King David, dwelling as they did in the very citadel of the Holy City.
"Let it not trouble us that as yet we see not His beauty, that we have to say, 'I know Him not': let us look in faith and only believe, but let us be sure that our faith is not in a theory, a truth, a doctrine, nay, nor even in our own faith itself. Let the Ark of the Covenant be the foundation of our hopes, our faith, and our assurance. If Christ be dwelling in our hearts by faith, if He be our only plea, then without fail will God himself do the rest.
"'The sea saw it, and fled, Jordan was driven back' (Ps. 114:3). It is He that rebuked the wind and the waves at Jordan's bank as well as on the lake of Galilee. 'The voice of the Lord is upon the waters.'
"'He turned the sea into dry land and they went through the flood on foot, there did they rejoice in Him.'
"(4) The Courage of Faith
'As the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water . . . the waters . . . were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho' (Joshua 3:15-16). 'And Jesus, when he was baptized, went straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending . . . and lighting upon him' (Matt. 3:16).
"At last the waters are reached--there is no Moses with his rod outstretched as at the Red Sea. No! there is something far better, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, pledge, not only of God's presence, but of His faithfulness and power, that, as He is going to stay the waters, so He will drive out the enemy before the face of His people. When the waters are crossed, they will flow back again once more and shut the people in with their enemies, but God--! A miracle is needed to convince them that all will be well, even under circumstances such as these!
"As I have already pointed out, the waters of Jordan symbolize death--the death of the 'carnal mind.' Oh! how we shrink from that experience. The old man hates to die. We fear that this will mean almost the dissolution of our very self. If the world and its ambitions, its pleasures and fashions, its wealth and name and fame, if these be taken from us, will life be worth living? The waters are cold and turbulent and impassable. We need not fear! The death of the old man means only the destruction of the body of sin; God takes nothing from us but what is harmful. And again I would repeat it, the powers--the willingness to die--is not ours but His. He has borne all the pain, the suffering, and the sting of death. It is not that we are crucified, but we are crucified with Him. It was not the feet of the priests that stayed the waters, but God; the flood was stemmed: it did not overwhelm: the people went over dry-shod.
"There is no suffering in this death, terrible as it seems likely to be. When in faith we dare to believe--all the terror disappears and we find that He has died and borne all the pain--we pass over on dry land. 'We cross the flood on foot and there do we rejoice in Him.'
"Oh! let us not fear to take the plunge. Like Naaman of old let us dip seven times in its waters. Like Elisha of old let us take the mantle of our Elijah and smite the stream. Like the Lord Jesus himself, let us enter the Jordan and submit to the Baptizer. Like the priests of old let us step into the swelling flood.
Oh! now I see the cleansing wave,
The fountain deep and wide.
Jesus, my Lord, mighty to save,
Points to His wounded side.
The cleansing stream, I see, I see,
I plunge, and, oh, it cleanseth me.
Oh! praise the Lord, it cleanseth me.
It cleanseth me, yes cleanseth me.
"(5) The Patience of Faith
'The priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan' (Joshua 3:17).
"Jordan was driven back. The waters stood in a heap, and as the waters below rushed on in their course to the Dead Sea, an ever widening way was formed between ithttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifs banks; and the people hastened across--a hundred--two hundred--five hundred abreast, while the priests stood right under the ever heightening wall of water unafraid, awaiting the signal to move on.
"No doubt their faith and courage were tested, but they encouraged themselves in God, and stayed their faith on His abiding presence. The Ark of the Covenant was on their shoulders while still ringing in their ears were the words, 'Hereby ye shall know the living God is among you . . . behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you . . . .'
"How true is all this to experience. One mightily used of God in leading souls into the promised land [Hester Ann Rogers] writes thus of her own entrance:
When I rose from my knees, Satan once more assaulted me with "Thou art going to face various trials and a cooling world, thou wilt lose the blessing." But instantly that scripture was given me, "He that keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth, the Lord himself is thy keeper."
"The Covenant in the Ark--the promise--was brought to her remembrance and so she overcame. The waters did not overwhelm her. She passed clean over Jordan into the promised land and the very waters which had kept her out, now shut her in; she could not go back.
Stayed upon Jehovah,
Hearts are fully blest,
Finding as He promised
Perfect peace and rest.
"(6) The Outward Testimony
'Take you up every man a stone upon his shoulder . . . that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant . . . when it passed over Jordan' (Joshua 4:5, 7).
"Stones still speak--the stone at Bethel, the tables of stone in Moses' hand, the stone in David's sling, the stones of the temple buildings, the stone at Lazarus' grave, the stone at the Saviour's tomb--these and many others preach everlasting sermons to us. And so here, where the Ark of the Covenant containing the tables of stone within, rested upon the shoulders of the priests, now stones of testimony are to be borne, and placed upon the river bank overlooking the once more turbulent tide of Jordan's waters, now flowing back in their accustomed course. What mean these stones? the enquirer asks; swift comes the answer, They are tokens of God's power. No engineer built bridges across the swelling flood; no shipbuilders plied their trade to make them boats; no strong swimmers helped the people across. No! it was God that brought them through. It was the Ark of the Covenant that stayed the wave. It is Christ and Christ alone that sanctifies the soul and stays the overwhelming waters. He tasted death for every man, and enables us to go over dry-shod. In other words, He saves; He does not help us to save ourselves--He does it all--He does the saving. Let this ever be our testimony. Let us see to it that the stones of remembrance are set up--that we testify not of our own engineering, nor shipbuilding, our valor or consecration, or good works, or strong endeavors. Let us ever say 'the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.' As the stones upon the shoulders testified of the Covenant written on the stones within the Ark, so let it be with us.
"Blessed stones of testimony, visible to all! May the token of testimony in our lives be so plain, that they shall constantly provoke the enquiry, 'What mean these stones?' And then let us hasten by our lips to tell of His power that stayed the proud waves of fear and unbelief, while we crossed over into the land of rest.
"(7) The Inward Testimony
'And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day" (Joshua 4:9).
"That place was a very sacred spot. The standing firm, unafraid and unmoved, enabled the whole host to go across dry-shod.
"Here too are stones of witness placed. I often wonder if these stones across the Jordan submerged at high tide, were not used as stepping stones for some perplexed and harried fugitive, seeking to get across the stream.
"As in Pilgrim's Progress, there were stepping stones across the Slough of Despond; and rightly instructed travelers could get through without sinking into the mud and slime of despair. So too, has many a defeated soul been enabled to cross the Jordan through the testimony of those who have gone before.
"The inward testimony is as important as the outward. God delights to plant these stepping stones within the soul--to mark the footprints of those who have stood firm, bearing the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders--so sacred in His eyes is the standing ground of faith and courage.
"Is this our experience? Are the words He planted within our heart--those wonderful words of assurance when we crossed the Jordan--are they 'there till this day'? Hallelujah if they are! May we like Mary of old 'keep them and ponder them in our heart' while the people 'wonder' and the shepherds 'glorify and praise.'
"May it never be said of us, 'Thou shalt be dumb . . . because thou believest not,' but rather may we hear the 'Well done' of our Lord, when in our soul He sets up the stone, 'Blessed is she that believeth for there shall be a performance of those things which are told her of the Lord.'"
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