THE INNER MAN RENEWED
THE INNER MAN RENEWED
It is a great comfort that in all the ups and downs here we are fitting for some particular place in the future temple. The hammering goes on here - not a sound of a hammer there!
It is very interesting to see how the new man advances concurrently with the old becoming defunct - as the outer man perishes, or is consumed, the inner man is renewed day by day. Morally, when I am weak then am I strong. The less I am as a man consciously, the more Christ, who liveth in me, is to me. There is great moral grandeur in this. We see it beautifully exemplified in Jacob’s last moments; he was very vigorous divinely; he blessed Joseph’s sons, he worshipped God - but as for himself he was a feeble old man, he leaned on his staff!
I was greatly interested lately in seeing that not only had Christ abolished death, but His life (who had abolished death) was given to us - a wonderful exchange which was never known until after Christ’s resurrection, for until then every saint through fear of death was subject to bondage.
Jordan is a type of Christ’s death. It is true that we died there with Him, but it typifies His death. It explains that I am free of everything, with which the old man is connected, in His death. Jordan is an aspect of Christ’s death, showing us that in His death He opened a full, clear way for us from all here into a new place - heaven. Hence the twelve stones in the river are where He was, and where we turn to at the Lord’s supper, while the twelve on the bank at Gilgal are an evidence that the crossing of the Jordan is over. Joshua, as has been said, is the spirit of Christ. I think your difficulty arises from limiting Jordan to the believer,
[p. 492] instead of seeing that it is a type of Christ’s death, by which there is a way opened out to us from everything here into a new place. We cannot reach the land but in a superhuman way. You must leave all human resources and, like Peter, walk upon the water. Divine power only can enable you to take one step of approach to Him. Death belongs to our side, life to His. Christ now lives to God and nothing else. In John 13 the Lord fits His own to be with Himself in the new place to which He was going. The place was the basis of all, for He had gone there; the place was the attraction for the heart. The ascending action is faith, you go up. Love in you brings the Lord down and there is an abode in you. This is the descending action.