THE RED SEA AND THE JORDAN
[p. 17] THE RED SEA AND THE JORDAN
Exodus 14: 26 - 31; Joshua 3: 13
I suppose every one here knows that the Red Sea and the Jordan are both types of the death of Christ; different aspects and different effects, but they coalesce. But it is important for us to understand what the death of Christ has accomplished. The first thing is, He died for us; the second, we died with Him. There are two parts: the first is between God and the sinner, the second is between the sinner and God. Very often we begin with the second, and that accounts for a great deal of the unhappiness of souls - they have not begun right. You have never entered into the effects of Christ’s death, consequently you are not enjoying what He has accomplished for you. I turn to Exodus 12: 13, where I get the state of the mass of christians in this world. You are sheltered from judgment. You have never got to chapter 14 at all, because like Israel you are occupied with looking for escape from judgment. The man in Exodus 12 is like a man in a lifeboat - he is working for the shore. Thus Israel takes three days to get from the 12th to the 15th chapter - a type of the three days when Saul neither ate nor drank, learning the full effects of the death of Christ. I do not agree with what is sometimes said, that you remain in Egypt. Egypt is the scene of judgment. What a christian generally does is to go to Babylon - the refinement and luxury of this world.
I think nothing has done more harm to souls than pressing them that they had peace because they had shelter. Peace and shelter are quite different. Shelter is that I will not be lost. God sees the blood; but that is a very different thing from what you get by the death of Christ. Here you are sheltered from judgment - [p. 18] not at all happy in the Judge; but what you want is to get out of the place of judgment. Therefore they were to eat the passover in haste.
Now in these verses of chapter 14 you have the power of the enemy. Peace is when you have crushed the foe. You believe that Christ was the paschal Lamb - that His blood was more effectual than the blood of bulls and of goats. Quite right; but do you believe that that blessed One went down into death and broke the power of the enemy? He has abolished death. It is not simply that you are sheltered under the blood, which is true. There was the judgment of man; Satan was a murderer, he took life from us; therefore the promise in the garden was that of the woman’s seed should arise One that should bruise the serpent’s head. Can you meet Satan and say, You are broken? The remarkable thing about our Lord’s life down here was that Satan knew Him. The very first time when He cast out an unclean spirit he says, You are the Son of God. The devils say, Do not send us into the abyss. It is all over with us. The Lord showed that as a Man He was able to deliver man from the power and thraldom of Satan. But that was not all. He entered into death - his stronghold, under the judgment of the power of darkness. Now turn for a moment to chapter 15, and you will see the effect. We are in a place where both the devil and the flesh are, and yet we are manifested as superior to both. This is the only place where you can show superiority. ‘We triumph in Thy triumphs, Lord’. It is a great thing for the soul to get hold of the simple fact that it is all clear upwards. The power is broken - between God and me there is nothing.
The first words of the song of Exodus 15 mark it:
“The Lord... hath triumphed gloriously”. Is that shelter? No, He has abolished death. “O death, where is thy sting?” Death is turned round now. There is nothing between God and you. You never [p. 19] get established till you enter simply into the assurance of this, that there is not a single disturbing element between God and you.
The Lord Jesus Christ has met the power of the enemy in death, broken his power, and risen out of death. I have peace because the enemy is crushed. Note this very remarkable expression, “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly”.
With a person who has got peace, the first thing is exultation. When the women get the song it pervades society. Secondly, you desire to exalt God here on earth. The third mark is in verse 17 - “Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance” - the new place. The prodigal was kissed, but he was not in the new place. Man was turned out of the garden, and until he is in the new place he is not right with God.
Now in Joshua 3 I come to how to settle between myself and God. My place is in the Father’s house. I am not there yet, but I have the joys of that place down here. I have no other real property. See Luke 16: 12 - “Who shall give you that which is your own?” That is my own. I pass from everything here to the new place. Is it all clear between you and God? If it is, you are over Jordan; not by your efforts - it is Christ’s work to get you over Jordan. If a poor sinner is to be saved from hell, you must propose him some place. What do you propose to the sinner? Heaven when he dies? No, heaven this minute. He gets a right to be out of one place and to be in another. Now, it is not a question of Satan, but of flesh. Turn to Romans 6: 8 - “dead with Christ”, and verse 11 - “alive unto God”. You get here that you are dead. Do you believe you died with Him? You say, I lost my temper this morning; how could I say I was dead? I asked you, were you dead with Him? That is true whether you believe it or not. Then how can you account for it [p. 20] that I lost my temper? You were not walking in faith. You were inconsistent with what your faith is. You never have accepted the fact that you died with Him, and you know it is not a clear matter between you and God. The prodigal says, I am not fit. The other side was that the Father kissed him. The Father is quite clear to come to him, but he is not quite clear to go to the Father. He began right, but we do not often begin right. The first thing you ought to settle is, How does God stand with me? A person says, I believe that I have died. Do you never do anything inconsistent? I do, but it is because I am not walking in faith. Then I judge myself for inconsistency. I do not judge the work of Christ. You cannot touch that point. I am dead with Him, and that is a fact, however I act up to it - not only as in Romans 6, but “dead unto sin”. I want the youngest believer here tonight to get hold of this - to get to his or her room and say, I am dead with Christ. I believe it, and yet I live so much after the flesh, I am inconsistent. I am right to be humbled, but I do not call in question what Christ has done. Read Colossians 2: 20 - “dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world”. Here you are over Jordan. I am out of every single thing that barred me out of heaven. If I accept Jordan there is not a single thing between me and God - every barrier is gone. I am quite sure there are hundreds who taste being over Jordan who have never accepted it. I have not to go through a single thing. There is no necessity for a prolonged death-bed if you really accept what Christ did. The rudiments are the ABC - I am out of the whole thing through His death. Why do you not thank God you are in heaven? Why do you not get to the other side of the pole? You are not so sure of the good side as that you are out of the bad side. Six hundred thousand men went out of Egypt, but only two got into the land. That is the other side of the [p. 21] pole. I am not like the children of Israel, because it is actually done for me. The power of Satan is broken; that is God’s side of the story - thank Him for it. Now what is your side? The old thing you have here is gone in the cross. Elisha took his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. He takes up the mantle of Elijah; he has a new power, he goes into a new place in a new style. The thief on the cross was divested of everything in a second. It may take you or me forty years. Why? Because we do not believe. There is not a single thing in this world to bar you from heaven, because Christ has died. A soul says, I will give that up; it is of the flesh. I knew a man in business to whom I said, You are not in that place of the Lord. He said, I know it, I will give it up in three months. The next day his horse rolled over him - he had to give it up.
Another case was of a man who took off his ornaments and sent them to a jeweller to sell them, but a burglar stole them. Tell me the most vital spot in a man’s history. As sure as life he will be touched in that spot yet.
I trust the Lord will make good to your souls the two points I desire to bring before you - not only that Christ died for you, but that the power of the enemy is broken, and there is no disturbing element between God and you. That is the peace of God. It is not simply that I am sheltered, but “the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more”. I do not expect to wear the flesh out, to attenuate it. It was an old heresy that the less flesh you had the more spiritual you were!
What I have insisted on is that I have died with Christ. You must press upon your soul the divine verity. You are dead - you have no right to be active. You are dead with Christ, and you are reviving that thing that has died with Christ, and if you do not judge yourself it will be your scourge. A man may [p. 22] wear out his brains in making a fortune - God sends him brain-fever, or softening of the brain. If you judged yourself you would not be judged. I want you to judge yourself, not the sin - everyone judges that who has any conscience at all.
The Lord, in His infinite goodness, lead our hearts to understand the greatness of the place that He has gained, the completeness of the deliverance which He has effected - that we are out of the place of judgment and in a scene of unbounded bliss that belongs to us.