PASSING OVER JORDAN
PASSING OVER JORDAN
FI We have been looking on three previous occasions at three aspects of the death of Christ: the passover, the Red Sea and the brazen serpent. This is the fourth aspect we have in view. I suppose that all these four definite settings have relation to the death of Christ as reached by us in all our exercises.
JT The passover, the Red Sea and the brazen serpent, and now Jordan, give us a fourfold presentation of the one great truth. Now we have come to the great barrier between us and the heavenly inheritance. It is how we go over in this chapter. Joshua had been encouraged by Jehovah in chapter 2 by the tidings of the spies. The way is clear for faith; the spies said to Joshua, “Of a surety Jehovah has given the whole land into our hands, and even all the inhabitants of the land faint because of us” (verse 24). It was a complete testimony. It is a question of faith, not of sight. The commencement is rising early, so that our vision is clear, and our sensibilities keen. It is a principle you get all through Scripture. It is one of the greatest things that is in view here, so that every beclouding element must be guarded against. There is a certain denial in rising early. The Lord Himself speaks of it as applying to Himself, reminding us of the need of it. Self-denial comes into it, but it implies clarity of vision. We want to think clearly of what is before us, to disallow everything that is beclouding, and have clear vision. So it says, “Joshua rose early in the morning”. We cannot cross until we come to the Jordan. It is not a thing to be dealt with beforehand.
FI There is a space of time: they lodged at the Jordan.
JT The lodging is the next thing. He and all the children of Israel “lodged there before they passed over”. They are to study carefully each step. How much enters into this spiritually. There is a loosening of all natural links. It is a solemn matter whether we can pass over. It implies a relinquishing of all that is natural, the end of human life here, as we are in the flesh, so that all natural links are relinquished for the moment. Hence the carefulness with which we approach the matter.
CK Would you say that the last aspect, the brazen serpent, was preparatory to this?
JT It was to release the spiritual element in us. It is a change of man really. Typically, the brazen serpent is the end of what is so incorrigible, the flesh. They spake against Moses and against God, and there was nothing but destruction for them apart from the brazen serpent being lifted up, and as they looked at it there was life. The flesh is utterly incorrigible. The serpent speaks of the Lord dealing with that judicially. After that the springing well comes in, positive support in the Spirit, and it says they sing to it: “Rise up, well! sing unto it: Well which princes digged, which the nobles of the people hollowed out at the word of the lawgiver, with their staves” (Numbers 21:17,18). It is in the power of the Spirit only that we can go over Jordan. It is a spiritual matter. After the Spirit is brought in typically, they go straight on their journey until they come to Shittim.
CK So the very order of these experiences is instructive.
JT Quite so.
ER It is the recognition of the Spirit; the earnest of the inheritance in a believer.
JT Yes, it includes that. “Now he that establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God, who also has sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:21). “The earnest of our inheritance” is included here. They have tasted it already; it is worth going in had not passed this way before.
JT That is stated, “Ye have not passed this way heretofore”. These points are most important because we are apt to deal with these matters as doctrine, whereas it is intended to be something experimental. When we come to Jordan we pass over; we do not pass over before, though we may talk about it as now. They lodged there before they passed over. The matter is to be considered. Lodging means that you are on the way, but you are where you can consider what is before you.
JE Would you say a little as to the fact that they are now with Joshua; it was Moses before?
JT Moses is the direct authority of God. To understand Joshua you have to go back to Exodus 17, where he is first mentioned. He is a military leader there. That is Christ, but Christ as understood secretly in our souls, as overcoming Amalek, the flesh in us. He has been becoming dominant, until he has complete control. Now he is in control, and Jehovah says to him: “This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee”. That is, Christ becomes more and more. Moses never went over Jordan. Joshua is marking another view of Christ, from a different outlook. Moses is more public, representing authority. Joshua is the spiritual leader which takes us into Canaan. It is not even Aaron. It is another view of Christ which increases in the believer’s soul experience.
ESH Does it commence by overcoming Amalek? That is where we first hear of Joshua.
JT Moses is there too, but in an intercessory character. Joshua is the warrior. It is Christ apprehended in a distinct way. It extended back so far [p. 224] as forty years before. Thus Joshua is to be understood.
ER Is the great point to have true spiritual association with Christ in His present position as intercessor?
JT Moses is not Joshua. They run along together for a long time, but Moses is not there now. He is dead. That is the finish of his service. We have here to see what this new leader means. We are not left to learn what he means until he is actually in the position to lead us over Jordan.
Ques What is the thought in “at the end of three days”?
JT That is a period of exercise. Three is always full testimony in the way of something that is needed here. It would be that you have ample testimony for what is needed in the lodging place. It is a question of spiritual care. So that in John 20 the doors were shut through fear of the Jews. No natural or religious element is to come in.
Ques Is the third day connected with resurrection?
JT It is not three days and three nights. The Lord lay in the earth three days and three nights. Three days is connected with visibility. It is a question of seeing. What have I learned in all those forty years since I came out of Egypt? I have learned a good bit about Moses, but he is dead. I have also learned about Aaron, but he is dead too. Joshua has been with us all these forty years since he fought against Amalek at Rephidim. He was dependent on the intercession on high. There it is Satan is overcome in the leadership of this man. He is a qualified warrior there. The conflict was severe, up and down, up and down, but Joshua overcame. I refer specially to the young. There are times when you felt you would give the whole thing up. You say ‘The enemy seems to be overcoming me’. What preserved you?
[p. 225] You confess in the office or your workshop. What a help it is to have the consciousness of some support at a critical time like that. Moses on high is praying, but there is also a man leading me, and I cannot help but remember him. What happened there was written for a memorial in the book, and rehearsed in the ears of Joshua. It was never to be forgotten what happened that day.
JE The ark is very prominent in this chapter.
JT The ark is another view of Christ. If I am asked about my christianity, is this a matter of history? But what about my spiritual history; not the countries I have visited, not the business I am engaged in? Can I take account of spiritual history? Look back and see; I am past the Red Sea and Sinai. Have I passed this and that exercise and come to Shittim?
ESH Do we not see how the Lord has been helping us all along when we review the way?
JT In the wilderness, it is Moses, the authority of Christ. But in the quiet hours of the night, what have I? Have I spiritual experience, can I remember Rephidim? This is Joshua.
FI That would all take place on the wilderness side of Jordan.
JT It is the building up of the spiritual being, so that I can cross Jordan. It is not a day, but forty years’ history.
Ques “The officers went through the camp”. What do they represent?
JT These are all points of the greatest importance. These officers are keen persons, and they have authority. It all shows what intent occupation there was with the thing on hand. There was one thing before them, to get over Jordan, and they say, “Ye have not passed this way heretofore”. It would be the Spirit’s work in us, I think. We help each other [p. 226] in an authoritative way, admonishing one another. It is the “one thing” as in Philippians 3.
AHB It is the thought of going after it.
JT It is a living thing. The ark was not alive, but the priests the Levites bring in what is living. It is a living movement when you see that. You are not following another, but you go after it when you see it. It was quite a good distance ahead, two thousand cubits. It needed quite good eyesight.
ER The Lord said in John 13 “What I do thou dost not know now, but thou shalt know hereafter”.
JT It can only be undertaken as Christ has died and risen, and gone into heaven.
JE Going back a little, I should like to ask what part the spies take in this movement.
JT It is an additional thing which ought not to be needed, but it is God’s provision at this juncture. He provides all that we need. The spies are the provision of God, because they bring out the work of God. Rahab sends them out “another way”. It was the way of faith.
JE We may hear about going into the land, and yet not take the journey.
JT Yes, you may stay in Shittim, and talk about going over Jordan as we are tonight, but you must come to Jordan before you can pass over.
FI The officers were persons who had desire to go over. Ministry is no use to persons who have no desire.
JT It is when they are by Jordan that the officers speak, so that there is nothing left undone.
LHM I was wondering whether the epistle to the Colossians would not become the test to us as to whether there was a spiritual condition to go over. We should challenge ourselves as to where we stand.
JT Colossians is the epistle which answers to this. It has been called the epistle for entering the land.
EB “If therefore ye have been raised with the Christ, seek the things which are above” (Colossians 3:1).
JT Chapter 2 is that you are circumcised in putting off the body of the flesh (verse 11), that is the mind, but the Spirit supports you in it. Then it goes on to say “buried with him in baptism, in which ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead”. Faith exists in the soul. Quickening is a normal thing, it represents saints now ready to go over.
ER Before they went after the ark, they had to remove from their place. Is there any significance in that?
JT It was as much as to say, the ark is before you. They had become accustomed to Joshua and the moving of the ark, so they had been brought up to this. Now Christ comes before us spiritually leading us. It is the education earlier that makes us equal to it.
FI That is the education between the entering into the power of God as seen in the Red Sea and the power now seen in relation to the ark.
JT Rahab spoke of what God had done at the Red Sea, but she said nothing about the work of Joshua. She represents the work of God by itself, but our acquaintance with Joshua and the ark is a further period of the work of God.
ER In a sense it is our history. The occurrences which befell them in the wilderness all make one history.
JT That is so. How much have I learnt of it all the way? If I have not learnt I am at a disadvantage. What is so needed for young christians is to build up spiritual history. Public history is apparent, but spiritual history is secret. Now Christ has become known to you in a secret way. You pray to your Father who is in secret, that is the point,
[p. 228] when no one is looking at you. Now you are going to overcome things which no one knows but yourself. If we only had access to heaven, we should see all those things we regret so often afterwards.
H We ought to be more acquainted with heaven than we are, for the simple fact that Christ is there.
JT We know the public history of the saints, but it is my secret history that counts. God knows all about it. It is all kept up there. There is no hiding at all in heaven.
ER Do you think we ought to place it before all young souls, and particularly our own hearts, that heaven is our place?
JT That is the point of the greatest importance to all young christians, to begin to make secret history, and not be content with what the brethren know about us.
AH Then you would be ready for regulation.
JT If you begin to move along with Moses and Aaron, you are ready for the officers to regulate you. The officers may be any brother or sister who may be used to regulate you.
EW After such spiritual experience you would trust the flesh less.
JT That is right. You are learning all the time to distrust the flesh. It is a constant thing. You may think it is done once for all but it is not. A brother may help you by what he is saying, but what is it doing? No one knows it but yourself.
ESH By habitually getting into the presence of God, you will learn what the flesh is.
JT “To know him, and the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:10), learning the power of God, learning yourself and overcoming the flesh. “Who shall deliver me out of this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). That is Joshua.
I believe that most of us live in public history, but secret history is what tells. Now I know Christ in a [p. 229] spiritual way, as helping me, giving me victory after victory over the flesh.
FI That brings you to Joshua in relation to the ark.
JT The ark had had a great place in the camp. As the people moved in that way, it took the brunt of things. And as you learn Christ in that way, you learn Joshua.
Rem “That ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).
JT Romans deals with the wilderness side, Colossians deals with crossing Jordan, that is, you face the fact that you have got to die, to die now, to be in association with Christ. So that you go over on dry ground.
Ques Would Isaiah 53:2 come into this? “He shall grow up before him as a tender sapling, and as a root out of dry ground”. He was ready to accept death, whether in life or in death.
JT That is the idea.
FI I understood you said that Romans was connected with the public side.
JT Romans deals with our death, but in Colossians you are raised, you are out of death.
EB The Lord said, “The flesh profits nothing” (John 6:63). The more we ponder that blessed Man, would we not see the worthlessness of the flesh, and would not the Lord become more and more to us?
JT Yes, John 6 would come in here. It is association. The ark goes on, and it never moves from its position until all are over. It is a question of faith in the power, so that the waters are driven aside. They are cut off, “the waters of the Jordan, the waters flowing down from above, shall be cut off, and shall stand up in a heap”. There is no death there. It is faith, by the working of God. There is no death [p. 230] in the assembly.
ER In passing over they all witnessed the fact.
JT They have the evidence that the power is there. The waters are cut off.
ER We have to learn it practically for ourselves.
JT Really death does not exist in the assembly. It is abolished. It is the power that works in you, the same power that is in Christ.
JE Perhaps you would say a little about “the ark of the covenant”.
JT It is Christ as the power and glory of God. It was a small vessel, two and a half by one and a half cubits. It was not large. It was greater than what was visible. The “half” would imply there is more than what could be seen. What Christ is is always more than can be seen. The queen of Sheba had heard of Solomon’s glory, but when she came to see him, she could say, “The half ... was not told me” (1 Kings 10:7), and the Lord says to the woman in John 4, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”.
FI The ark represents the power and glory of God. We cannot compass that. It is greater than we can take in.
JT Gethsemane is where you see this coming out. The dimensions are what He was. On the cross He could cry with a loud voice and dismiss His spirit. No natural man could do that. When they came to Jesus, they saw He was dead already. The Lord had breath enough to cry with a loud voice. The centurion says, “Truly this man was Son of God” (Matthew 27:54).
ER He was taken by surprise.
JT Yes.
Ques Where do “the priests the Levites” come in?
JT It is a great thing to see what this means. The priests the Levites are the living part of it. It is all one idea. The Lord in Gethsemane shows the moral power, but on the cross there was the loud voice. He had said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). He has done that Himself. He has annulled death.
ESH There was a distance of two thousand cubits.
JT It makes you reverential as you look ahead. It is three thousand feet ahead of you, but in passing over, Christ becomes more and more. It is not only the death of Christ, but the resurrection of Christ. The Jordan is overflowing its banks today, as much as ever, the graveyards are as full as ever, but this is all to do with faith, this passing over.
FI How do you understand that, seeing death is out of view?
JT It is our death and resurrection with Him, in Colossians; not simply that I am baptised. Romans is in view of the future, but Colossians is the present, and then you get the quickening.
ER There could be no association apart from resurrection.
JT So that on the first day of the week, when they see Christ risen, death is abolished.
AHB I should like to ask about the last verse.
JT The death scene is changed. It is not actual, it is a question of faith. The Spirit makes it good to me by faith. It makes what I believe real, because it is the power, as I am rooted in Christ (Colossians 2:7). It is the Spirit in us that enables us to grasp this. All Israel went over on dry ground. That is the position we are in. In the next chapter you get the twelve stones carried up; that is the beginning of our history now. Our spiritual history starts there. The saints do not come out of the wilderness, they come out of Jordan. The two thousand cubits is to remind you of the greatness of Christ. The twelve stones which were taken out of the bed of Jordan and carried over to the place where they first lodged point to their beginning there (chapter 4:3). The [p. 232] twelve stones which Joshua set up in the place where the priests had stood in the midst of Jordan were to show they had been there (chapter 4:9).
ER “Strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:16).
JT Ephesians takes up Colossians, and amplifies all that; “Raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus” (chapter 2:6).
EW The twelve stones taken out of Jordan are set up as a monument, a perpetual reminder.
JT In the fourth chapter, you get “Take you twelve men out of the people, one man out of every tribe, and command them, saying, Take up hence out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the lodging-place where ye shall lodge this night”. That is a figure which applies to ourselves, the twelve being the total, set up in power, as risen with Christ. “The power which works in us” was there. “What ailed thee ... thou Jordan, that thou turnedst back?” (Psalm 114:5). It is a question of power.
ESH This works out practically in us by the Spirit in the way in which we abstract ourselves, and take up the interests of Christ.
JT Have we got into our souls the idea that what God has effected is in Christ, that He is in heaven now, a risen Man? That is a fact, and faith holds to it; we are risen “through faith of the working of God” (Colossians 2:12). That is the thing to get hold of in our souls, “according to the power which works in us”. So long as we do not get the touch of power, we may talk about it as we are tonight, but it cannot be effectual. “Your life is hid with the Christ in God”.