This is Monday evening, August 11, 1975, in Richmond, Virginia. The ministry is given through Brother Stephen Collins.
Joshua 3.
And Joshua rose early in the morning, and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel; and lodged there before they passed over.
And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp;
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.
Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go; for ye have not passed this way heretofore.
And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.
And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
Joshua 3:14-17.
And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over the Jordan, with the priests that bare the ark of the covenant before the people;
and when they that bare the ark were come unto the Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brink of the water—for the Jordan overfloweth all its banks all the time of harvest—
that the waters which came down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan: and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.
And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel passed over on dry ground, until all the nation were passed clean over the Jordan.
Joshua 4:1-14.
And it came to pass, when all the nation were clean passed over the Jordan, that the Lord spake unto Joshua, saying,
Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,
and command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of the Jordan, out of 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.
Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had appointed of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man:
and Joshua said unto them, Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take you up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel;
that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?
then ye shall say unto them, Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.
And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; and they carried them over with them unto the lodging place, and laid them down there.
And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests that bare the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there unto this day.
For the priests that bare the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan, until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over.
And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the Lord passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people.
Last night we mentioned that, before they went over into the promised land to possess their possession, there must first be the preparation of heart. They needed to see once again that the land they were going to occupy was not a land that had not been given to them. It was a land that had been given to them, even to their father Abraham.
But, on the other hand, they should also realize that unless they put their feet down and walk over every bit of the land, they did not really possess their possession. It was their possession, and yet they did not possess it until their feet set upon the land. In order to do that, a preparation of heart was necessary. God commanded them to be strong and very courageous.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, Christ is our possession. God has already given Christ to us, and yet, on the other hand, we need to possess our possession. We need to experience Christ in all that He is.
In order to possess Christ, to experience Christ as we should, our spirit must be strengthened. Therefore, you find Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus in Ephesians 3. He said that we may be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in our inner man—that is to say, our spirit.
Only when we are strong and very courageous, very daring, will we go forward and possess our possession. We need to have a certain kind of spirit, and this is the kind of spirit that God is looking for among His people.
We can call it the spirit of Joshua. We can call it the spirit of Caleb, because Joshua and Caleb had that kind of spirit. When the other people drew back in doubt and unbelief, Joshua and Caleb had a daring spirit.
If God be with us, our enemies shall be our food. They will even strengthen us, mature us in the conflict. So, brothers and sisters, among God’s people, this is the kind of spirit, the kind of heart, that is very necessary.
Now this evening we would like to go on a little bit further. The children of Israel encamped in the plains of Moab, on the eastern shore of Jordan. Actually, they could look over the River Jordan and see the promised land. Only the River Jordan separated the wilderness from the promised land.
In order to possess their possession, they had to cross the River Jordan. If they did not cross Jordan, even though they were on the east bank of the River Jordan and could see the promised land, they did not possess it. Crossing the Jordan is a must in possessing their possession.
In other words, they had spent forty years in the wilderness. Now they had come to the very border of the promised land. The last step out of the wilderness and the first step into the promised land was crossing the River Jordan.
Now, what does Jordan represent? Before we go into it, I would like to go back a little further. What does water represent in the Scripture?
You know, in the Scripture water represents something. Sometimes water represents death. The first time, actually, we see water in the Scripture, it represents death.
Why? In the book of Genesis, you remember, in the second verse of the first chapter, the first verse tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then, in the second verse, you find water, darkness, and ruin covering the whole earth. Why? Because it was a judgment. The earth entered into judgment; the earth entered into death. Water represents death in the first instance we find in the Scripture.
And, of course, we know later on that God again drowned the earth with the flood water. Sometimes in the Scripture water represents death.
Yet, on the other hand, we find in the Scripture that sometimes water represents life. Not only in the New Testament—you remember John 4 very clearly. There our Lord Jesus promised the Samaritan woman, “If you knew Who it is that is speaking with you, if you knew what He can give to you, you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.”
This living water will be in you as a fountain. It will spring forth into eternal life, and you will never be thirsty again. That is life.
Again, you remember John 7. On the last day of the feast, that is, the Feast of Tabernacles, our Lord Jesus stood and cried out, saying that if anyone thirst, let him come to Him, and He would give him living water. As the Scripture says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And He spoke of the Holy Spirit, Who was yet to be given.
So you find that water sometimes represents life. This is not only true in the New Testament. When you come to the book of Revelation, in the last chapter you find the river of living water coming out from the throne of God.
But even in the Old Testament, for instance in Ezekiel, you find Ezekiel seeing a river of water running out from the temple, going underneath the threshold and increasing in depth until one could swim in it. On both sides, you find trees that bear fruit, and in the water fish of all kinds. Life.
Water in the Scripture sometimes represents death, but at other times it represents life. Now, is there any contradiction? How do we know that water represents death? How do we know that water represents life? Of course, it depends on the context. You have to read the Bible and see the context.
When you read the context, then you come to know whether water in that particular text represents life or whether water in that particular text represents death.
Yet, brothers and sisters, there is no contradiction. Why? Because we find in the Scripture that there is a life that comes out of death. Here, then, the two sides are joined together.
Water represents death, but it also represents life. It is a life that comes out of death, and only the life that comes out of death is real life. Any life that enters into death and cannot come out on the other side is no life.
But a life that can enter into death and come out on the other side—that is resurrection life, and that is real life. This is the life that God offers to us in Christ Jesus.
Now, knowing what water represents, what is the relationship between the Red Sea and the Jordan River?
You know, even in Joshua, God said that He dried up the River Jordan so that they might go over the Jordan on dry land, just as He dried up the Red Sea and they went over the Red Sea on dry ground.
Again, you find in the book of Joshua that after they crossed the River Jordan, when they were in Gilgal, the reproach of Egypt was rolled away. In these two instances, you can immediately see that the River Jordan and the Red Sea are very closely related.
By crossing the Red Sea, the children of Israel came out of Egypt. By crossing the River Jordan, they entered into Canaan. One is out, and the other is in.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, so far as God is concerned, the coming out is for the entering in. In Exodus 15, after they crossed the Red Sea and the Egyptian army was drowned in the Red Sea, you remember they began to sing the song of Moses, the song of victory.
If you read Exodus 15, what do you find? You find that the first part of that song celebrates the crossing of the Red Sea—that is to say, the coming out of Egypt. That is the first part. But the second part speaks of entering into the promised land. The wilderness was not in that song.
So far as God’s purpose is concerned, if you cross the Red Sea, you will continue on to cross the River Jordan. There is no wilderness. But the wilderness is necessary for us, not for God.
In the sight of God, these two waters are one. Why? God took them over the Red Sea.
Actually, after the Passover, when the children of Israel marched out of Egypt, there was an easier way to depart from Egypt. It was the usual way of coming out of Egypt—by land.
When merchants wanted to trade with Egypt, that was the way they went. They went through the land of the Philistines. The children of Israel could have come out of Egypt through the land of the Philistines, and then they would have come to the land of Canaan.
But God did not take them through the land of the Philistines. Why? Because the Bible tells us that God was afraid—and He had reason to be afraid—that if He should take them by that way, when they met any battle they would be so discouraged that they would go back to Egypt.
In other words, they would not be able to leave Egypt permanently. The back door was still there, and they could go back.
So instead of that, you remember, God led them through the Red Sea. He led them through the Red Sea by the east wind. The Red Sea was opened up, and the children of Israel went through it. Then the waters came back.
After they crossed the Red Sea, even though they might have liked to go back, they could not go back. That was God’s way.
The Red Sea in the Scripture always represents baptism. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul, writing to the Corinthian believers, said:
For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
You see, the Red Sea is a type of baptism. Before the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, they were slaves in Egypt. They belonged to Pharaoh. They were Pharaoh’s property. Pharaoh could do anything he liked with his people. If he wanted to kill them, he could—and he did.
But after they crossed the Red Sea, under the cloud and by the sea—you remember the water stood on both sides, and there was the cloud over them—now that is immersion, is it not?
Here you find they were immersed. They went through it, and in going through it they were delivered out of Egypt and Pharaoh. Now they were baptized unto Moses. They belonged to Moses, and by belonging to Moses simply means that they belonged to God.
Is that not the meaning of baptism? Why must we who believe in the Lord Jesus be baptized? A lot of people ask this question.
The children of Israel escaped death not by baptism, but by the blood of the lamb. You know that night, the angel of destruction went through the whole land of Egypt to smite the firstborn. The children of Israel also had firstborn who could have been smitten just the same.
But God provided for them a way of salvation, and that was the Passover lamb. Every family took a lamb, and they put the blood on the doorposts and the lintel. Then they were in the house eating the lamb, and when the angel saw the blood, he passed over.
In other words, they were saved from death not by water, but by blood. Water cannot cleanse your sins. We are redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb, not by the water of baptism, before God.
So lots of people say, “Now, if you have already believed in the Lord Jesus, and you believe in the blood of the Lord Jesus, you are already Christ’s; then why bother with baptism? What is the use of being baptized?”
There is a reason. If you do not go through the Red Sea, you may think you are coming out of Egypt, but in the land of the Philistines you will meet conflict, and soon you will find yourself defeated. That is the reason.
A person may believe in the Lord Jesus and never be baptized. The back door is always open. If he meets any difficulty, he will go back to the world because he has never been baptized.
That is the reason why, in many heathen countries, if you believe in Jesus Christ, they will let you go. But once you are baptized, you are out. They consider you as out. As long as you have not been baptized, they still have hope for you because you have not been separated yet.
But once you cross the Red Sea, you belong to Christ. In Romans 6, you find, “Are you ignorant that those who are baptized are baptized unto Christ?” We are baptized into Christ. That is to say, we declare that we do not belong to the world anymore. The world is behind us.
So far as we are concerned, we are crucified; so far as the world is concerned, the world is crucified. Here is baptism. There is a separation. We do not belong to the power of darkness. God has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. We belong to Christ. That is our testimony, and that is the meaning of baptism.
How did they go through the Red Sea? God told Moses to stretch out the rod in his hand over the waters. It is almost as if he used the rod and smote the water—stretched it over the water and commanded it.
There Christ was typified. Christ was smitten by God for our sake. Because He died for us, we do not need to die, but we can live unto God. That is the crossing of the Red Sea.
Then what is meant by the crossing of the River Jordan? Now, dear brothers and sisters, remember that the River Jordan also represents baptism. But it is not two baptisms.
Some people say, “Is there not the Red Sea and the River Jordan? Therefore, a Christian can be baptized twice: once in the Red Sea and a second time in the River Jordan.” Now, brothers and sisters, when people interpret the Scripture that way, it is far, far away from the purpose of God.
So far as God is concerned, the Red Sea and the River Jordan are one. One is coming out; the other is entering in.
Therefore, in Romans 6, Paul continues to say, “Do you not know that when you were baptized, you were baptized unto Christ? You were baptized into His death, that you might be identified with Him in His death and burial and resurrection, that you may live in newness of life.”
When you cross the River Jordan, you leave the wilderness behind and step into the promised land. When you cross the Red Sea, you leave Egypt behind, but you step into the wilderness. When you cross the River Jordan, you leave the wilderness behind and enter into the promised land.
The emphasis of the Red Sea is coming out. The emphasis of the River Jordan is entering in. Why? Because the wilderness is a parenthesis. So far as God’s purpose is concerned, it is a parenthesis. So far as we are concerned, it is a necessity.
Why? Because we do not know our flesh. We have to be tested. We have to be humbled. We have to know what our heart is. We say we love the Lord. We say we will obey the Lord. We say we will keep His commandments. All right, try it out and see if we can do it—if we really mean it.
The whole wilderness is to prove one point: there is no good in our flesh.
After forty years of experience, there is the River Jordan. How did God bring them through the River Jordan? Not by stretching out the rod of Moses over the waters. No, but by the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
The ark plays a great part in the crossing of the River Jordan: the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth, the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
Of course, we know that the ark there represents the presence of God Himself. It represents God Himself. It represents Christ, of course, because the glory of God rested upon the ark. The glory of God rested upon Christ. So here you find the ark represents Christ.
It is the ark that entered into the water first. But the ark did not go in by itself. The ark was borne on the shoulders of the priests. The priests bore the ark, and they went ahead of the people.
Joshua told the people, “Whenever you see the ark begin to move, then remove from your place and follow the ark, but with a distance of two thousand cubits.” Why?
Because God said, “Do not get too close to the ark, but there must be a distance of two thousand cubits so that you may always have the ark in full view.” Why? Because you are going a way that you have never gone before. You need the ark to lead the way. Do not crowd it too much. If you get too close, you may go before it.
In other words, the crossing of the Jordan is by the ark, but the ark was borne on the shoulders of the priests.
The priests went forward, and then the children of Israel removed from their camping ground and began to follow, with the ark two thousand cubits ahead of them. When the feet of the priests stepped into the water, the water did not open up until the feet of the priests stepped into the water and got wet.
It was during the time of harvest. Of course, if you go to Israel today, you will find that the crossing place, supposedly where the children of Israel crossed, is very narrow today. But when it was the time of harvest, the Jordan overflowed both banks, and it became a very wide river.
Until the feet of the priests stepped into the water and got wet—just for a second—the water separated and stood up in a heap, cut off far ahead in the north by Zarethan.
The feet of the priests did not have any magic. It was not the feet of the priests. If a priest said, “Well, my feet can work miracles,” he would be a foolish person.
It was the ark. The power was in the ark, not in the priests. Yet you find that the ark was borne on the shoulders of the priests.
If the priests did not have faith, if the priests refused to step into the water until the water divided first, they would never cross the River Jordan on dry ground. The power was there, but they could not appropriate that power.
So, brothers and sisters, let us remember one thing: the River Jordan represents death. It represents burial. It also represents resurrection.
But it is the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord first. Yet, together with Him, we are included. You remember Ephesians: in chapter 1, we are told that God raised Christ from the dead, seated Him on high above, gave everything to Him, and made Him over all things.
Then in Ephesians 2, you find that we are quickened together with Him, raised together with Him, and seated together with Him in the heavenlies.
It is Christ, not us. There is no power in us. The power is in Christ. It is in His death, His burial, and His resurrection.
But when He died, He not only died for us; He died as us. When He was buried, He was not only buried for us; He was also buried as us. When He rose from the dead, He not only rose from the dead for us; He rose from the dead as us.
In the Red Sea, He is our substitute. In the River Jordan, He is our representative. In the Red Sea, it is substitution; in the River Jordan, it is identification.
So here you find, in the cross of our Lord Jesus, there is a Red Sea aspect and there is a River Jordan aspect. The Red Sea aspect is that Christ died as our substitute. Therefore, we do not need to die. We are delivered out of this world, and we belong to Christ.
But the cross has a River Jordan aspect, and that is to say, Christ died as our representative. When He died, we died with Him. Why? Because we are in Him.
He died, was buried, and was raised from the dead two thousand years ago. We have to keep that in clear view. Do not get too close to it. That view must be before us with such clarity.
Brothers and sisters, we need to see the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ clearly before us, because that will lead us into the new and living way.
We cannot die ourselves. When we come to see how ugly our flesh is, we abhor ourselves. We hate our flesh. We know there is no good in our flesh. We long to die.
Brothers and sisters, do not make any mistake and try to crucify yourself. Some people say, “Now, you need to die; therefore, try to die.” You cannot. You cannot. We cannot die.
We cannot afford to be dead, because we will be buried living. And of course, once we are buried, we cannot get out of there. There is no power in us. The whole power is in the cross of our Lord Jesus.
He died. He was buried. He has risen from the dead. Dear brothers and sisters, God put all of us in Him.
The ark entered into the river first. Then the waters divided. The ark stood in the middle of the waters, and the children of Israel passed by until all of them had passed over. Then the ark came out on the other side, and the River Jordan flowed back.
In other words, it is the cross of our Lord Jesus. He did it all.
The ark was borne on the shoulders of the priests. In other words, there needs to be priestly exercise. If you want to appropriate the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as your own, so that you may be delivered out of the wilderness kind of life and enter into the abundant life of Christ, then you need to be exercised in your spirit. That is priestly exercise.
You need to exercise your faith. You need to exercise your faith in the power of the ark, in the power of the ark in dividing the Jordan River, in the power of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
You need to be exercised. As you exercise and take a step of faith, you find indeed that you were dead with Christ and now are risen with Christ.
That is the way to cross the River Jordan. That is the way. Therefore, in Romans 6, we are told how we need to know that our old man was crucified with Christ, how we need to reckon ourselves as dead unto sin and alive unto God. That is priestly exercise by faith.
How we need to yield our bodies to Christ, that we may be instruments of righteousness unto holiness—these are priestly exercises.
But priestly exercise is always based upon the finished work of Christ. If there is not a finished work of Christ, we have no ground to exercise. But if there is a finished work of Christ, we ought to—we must—exercise.
It is not something that you just sit back and say, “Well, if it is done, then it is done,” you know. Then you just sit there passively waiting to see the River Jordan open up. It will not open up. You cannot cross over.
You need to be exercised in your spirit. Like the priests, you have to take a step of faith. You may get a little wet in the beginning, but just for a second.
That is the way you find you will get through the River Jordan. That is the end of the wilderness journey. That is how our life in the flesh terminates, and our life in the Spirit, in Christ, begins.
Now, brothers and sisters, there is something very important. When they crossed the River Jordan, God commanded Joshua to do two things.
One was that they were to pick up twelve stones from the plains of Moab. Every tribe would appoint one person to pick up a stone and put it upon his shoulder. It must have been a big stone, not a small one, not a pebble.
Everyone would pick up a stone. With these twelve stones, they would enter into the River Jordan on dry ground, to the place where the ark stayed, where the feet of the priests were stationed.
Then from underneath the ark, where the priests stood, they would take out twelve stones from the riverbed. They would replace those twelve stones. The rough stones from the plains of Moab would be put into the place where they took out the river stones.
They would bring the twelve stones from the riverbed over to the other side of Jordan and set them up there as a memorial. When the waters came back, those twelve stones that they took from the plains of Moab were buried forever under the water. The Bible says they are still there. They are there.
Now, what does all this represent? What is the meaning of all this? Of course, the twelve stones represent the twelve tribes of Israel.
The twelve stones they took out of the plains of Moab—what kind of stones were these? Stones from the ground in the wilderness, in the plain, by the hill. What kind of stones? Rough and rugged.
These rough stones that they took out of the plains of Moab represent Israel in the flesh. They represent their forty years of life. Yes, forty years of life were like these stones: weather-beaten, rugged, ugly-looking, no good.
But these stones were brought into the river and buried there forever. Forever. No longer to be seen, but we know they are there.
Every time you come to the bank and look into the river, even though you cannot see them, you know they are there. Now this is what baptism really means.
Every time you are tempted, every time you are tested, every time there is some difficulty in your spiritual life, then you look back and say, “One day I was baptized. That old man, my flesh, was buried there. It is an eternal fact. Even though I do not see it now, I know it is there.”
Brothers and sisters, when you realize that, it strengthens you. The old man is still there. It never got up. When you go back and look at it, you know it has nothing to do with you anymore.
Oh, brothers and sisters, that is the meaning of baptism. Baptism is done only once in your lifetime, and yet it is once and for all your life.
It is not something that you just do once and forget. You find the application is there forever. The Bible says it is still there. It is still there. You can look back.
When Satan comes to tempt you to get up, you look back and say, “Well, it is there—buried, no more.”
But thank God, out of the riverbed came twelve stones. The stones coming out from the riverbed are very different. The water washed them and refined them, and these stones must have been very smooth and refined.
Just like the pebbles that David picked out from the brook to kill Goliath. So here you find it means life out of death.
What was buried was our flesh, but what came out is Christ. Therefore, Paul said:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me:
and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
These twelve stones that came out of the riverbed and were put in Canaan as a memorial are a declaration that we now live not by our own life, but by the life of Christ. That begins the life in Canaan.
So, dear brothers and sisters, what we find in the book of Joshua is a type of what God is doing in Christ with us today.
Have we crossed the River Jordan? We have crossed the Red Sea, but are we still in the wilderness? Have we left the wilderness behind and entered into that life of abundance in Christ, represented by Canaan?
Have we crossed the River Jordan? Christ has already done it, but do you follow Him by faith? If you follow Him by faith, you appropriate His death, His burial, and His resurrection.
Then you may live unto God in newness of life. These are the preparations for entry into an altogether different life, on a higher plane.
So may the Lord use these words to open our understanding, that we may by faith enter into all that Christ has already done for us. Shall we pray?
Oh, heavenly Father, how we praise and thank You for Christ and for all that He has done for us. Oh, we do praise and thank You that in Him we are not only delivered out of the world, but we are delivered out of the flesh.
We praise and thank You that not only are we delivered out, but we are delivered into. It is our privilege today to live in newness of life, in the abundance of the life of Christ.
O Lord, we thank You and praise You, and by faith we appropriate it. In Your precious name. Amen.