THE DEATH OF CHRIST AS THE WAY INTO OUR INHERITANCE
Joshua 3:14-17; 2 Chronicles 5:2-14: 6:1 (to “Solomon”); Philippians 3:3
I was thinking, beloved, about the death of Christ from the point of view of our going into our inheritance. The Red Sea, as the brethren know, relates to deliverance from Egypt, and the Jordan to our entrance into the inheritance. We go in because we want to go in. It was different when Israel came out of Egypt. That was deliverance from Pharaoh and all his host. They were represented at the cross; Pilate representing government, the high priests and the Jewish hierarchy representing the religious element, and then the people representing the mass. All were under the power of the devil, and Jesus was alone there. What a contemplation! Matthew and Mark bring out the sufferings of Jesus, the abandonment, and all that related to the clearing of sin from before the throne of God; the three hours of darkness, the cry “why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt.27:46 and Mark 15:34) and all the awfulness of what was involved in that. All that the enemy had brought in through sin and the fall of man is symbolised by the Red Sea, and it was all swallowed up completely. So the children of Israel went through the Red Sea on dry ground. Think of the immensity of it, beloved. Well over a million people went through the Red Sea; it is a very extensive area. God’s power made the way for them through the Red Sea. So we are in type driven out of Egypt; we are glad to be out of it because we have been held in bondage, and we feel the awfulness of the bonds as subject to every whim of the devil.
But when it comes to the Jordan, we are concerned about getting into the inheritance to live with God in the area of His love, to dwell in God, to dwell with God. I was thinking about that as the hymn was sung last night. Soon it will be rest for ever; we will enjoy the fulness of divine rest, but now it is a time of walking with God. Israel had walked with God through the desert up to this point, and a change was taking place. God said to Joshua, “This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel”, Josh.3:7. That is, Christ is magnified before us, and as we look at the type here, we can understand the increased influence of Christ; we can grow in our appreciation of the intrinsic greatness of Christ. The ark was a small chest with four men carrying it, but what a wonderful contemplation Christ is, as we see in John’s gospel. We are speaking now about the Son of God going into death, and annulling him who had the might of death (Heb.2:14). All the power of Satan was there, all his wiles, all his craft, but it says here that when “the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (and the Jordan is full over all its banks throughout the days of harvest), the waters which flowed down from above stood and rose up in a heap”.
What wonderful power was Christ’s as He went into death. I marvel at that verse in John’s gospel, “he went out, bearing his cross, to the place called place of a skull”, John 19:17. So “the waters which flowed down from above stood and rose up in a heap, very far, by Adam”. There is plenty of room, beloved, to get across. We have scope here, and it is up to us whether we want to cross or not. The ark was holding back the waters; think of the immensity of that even in a literal way, in order that so many people could go over. It was not the generation that came out of Egypt; it was a new generation. For us, it is the new man, indigenous to heaven, belonging there and anxious to get there. It is the work of God in ourselves, beloved, and we need to think about what this means for us. Every one of Israel would go past the ark; they would see it, and they would see the priests standing there. The two thousand cubits of distance emphasise the greatness of Christ. Think of how Christ personally went to war with the enemy; it says, “Jehovah is a man of war; Jehovah, his name”, Exod.15:3. Outwardly, weakness was seen at the cross, but then “the foolishness of God is wiser than men”, 1 Cor.1:25. And so we get across. It says that, “all Israel went over on dry ground”, but there is more, it says, “until all the nation had completely gone over the Jordan”. That will happen at the rapture, but the wonderful thing is that it is open to us now to enter into heaven by the Spirit. That is what the land is, the enjoyment of life with Christ in glory. Heaven is where He is.
In 2 Chronicles, this is what we are to touch, and we do touch it. How long we are sustained in the experience of it relates to how well we have gone over Jordan. The testimony is over Jordan, the ark is over, the tabernacle is over; we are at the house and the ark is in its place. A brother used to say that the wilderness was not its place, the midst of the Jordan was not its place, but this is the place of the ark, speaking of Christ as central to the house of God. He has built this house Himself. How great the assembly is; every stone and every feature is a manifestation of the handiwork of Christ. There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone. You do not need the priesthood here, you do not need the manna here. There are circumstances where all these elements and features are necessary, and services are necessary; but as we read through the chapter, things become unofficial. We need to be reverent, but if we are in this place rightly, these things will be spiritually and characteristically true of us.
So what is official recedes. The priests could not stand to do their service. The priests were not numbered according to their courses; “the priests could not stand to do their service because of the cloud”. What is official in this sense does not belong to the glory because we are touching the house, and that is why I read the first sentence in the next chapter, because sonship can speak. How great these things are, beloved. We sang,
‘And Eshcol’s grapes the story tell
Of where Thy path doth lead’. (Hymn 271)
This is the time of the first grapes; it would stir up in our hearts the anticipation of what the whole harvest will be. All this is available to us, beloved, because the Spirit of God is the earnest of our inheritance, and we are awaiting “the redemption of the acquired possession”, Eph.1:14. I mention these things because the death of Christ is the most wonderful contemplation and food for our souls, and it leads us right to the very heart of God.
May it be so for His name’s sake.
Word in meeting for ministry, Aberdeen, Scotland
4 February 2014
J.A. Gardiner