Crossing the Jordan
Joshua 3
Joshua 3
Joshua 3. Having learned from the two spies that the people of Canaan were afraid of the Lord and of Israel, it was now time to cross the Jordan and enter the land. In this chapter, we have the instructions to Joshua and to the people concerning crossing the Jordan, and the record of their passage. In addition to being an incredible demonstration of the power of God in on behalf of His people, this chapter also is full of typical teaching concerning the death and resurrection of Christ, and of our death and resurrection with Him.
Typical Teaching in the Jordan. The Red Sea and Jordan have the same general thought, the one at the beginning of the wilderness and the other at the end.1 The Red Sea delivered Israel from Egypt and the power of Pharaoh; but Jordan brought them into the land of Canaan. The crossing of the Jordan speaks of the death and resurrection of Christ in which we have died with Him and are risen with Him in New Creation23 and linked with Him by the Holy Ghost.
The main difference between the Jordan and the Red Sea is that the Red Sea is a matter of judicial reckoning, the rod of Moses figuring prominently, therefore it speaks of the death of Christ for us in terms of dealing with sin and bringing us into a position of righteousness. The Jordan is not a matter of justice but of glory, and hence the Ark of the Covenant is prominent, rather than the rod. The Jordan is our death and resurrection with Christ, and represents the sweeping aside of all that man glories in, of self and of the world, all that the old life was connected with, and bringing the believer into that place which Christ alone is worthy of, a heavenly glory, in the power of a new (resurrection) life.4
The Jordan does not refer to the believer’s physical death and going to heaven. Israel crossed the Jordan into a scene of conflict with the Canaanites. There is no warfare in heaven! There is warfare in the heavenly places, which is the sphere the Jordan opens into.
The truth of the Jordan is; (1) as a man I am dead, that is, I have passed out of the condition belonging to this world,5 and (2) I am risen with Christ in New Creation, where now not just my hope is in heaven, but I am sitting down in the heavenlies in Christ, where He is glorified! Coming out of the Red Sea I am walking (a stranger and pilgrim); coming out of the Jordan I am sitting (down in heavenly places). I am leaving Egypt in the Red Sea, I am entering Canaan in the Jordan. Chronologically, when someone believes the gospel they positionally cross both the Jordan and Red Sea, however, often the practical apprehension of the truth of the Jordan comes later.
In the wilderness we are a redeemed people with heavenly hopes, but still in an earthly scene where we have earthly responsibilities. But in the sense that we have come through the Jordan, we have passed out of the whole condition of responsible man in the world (godly or ungodly) because we are dead (2 Cor. 5:14; Col. 3:3). Our condition of being “earthy” is done, now we are “heavenly”. We are not the same genus or species any more, we are a New Creature created in Christ Jesus.
The Ark Going Before (3:1-8)
CHAPTER 3
1 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.
v.1 Camping at the River. The people would camp at the edge of the river Jordan before crossing it. Jordan was the border of the land. There were special instructions that must be heard before they crossed.
2 And it came to pass at the end of three days, that the officers went through the camp; 3 and they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then remove from your place, and go after it; 4 yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Ye shall not come near it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go; for ye have not passed this way heretofore.
vv.2-4 The Officers to the People: The Two-Thousand Cubits. The ark was to go before the people into the Jordan, and there was to be a space of 2000 cubits (ten football fields) between the people and the ark. This space marks a difference between the ark and the people. The ark speaks of Christ, and the people are a picture of the believer. The crossing of the Jordan is our death with Christ, but while we do not suffer, Christ suffered immeasurably. Christ must go first, and we must keep a respectful distance. Peter failed in this. He thought he could follow the Lord directly; but he was wrong, see John 13:36. Peter did not understand the 2000 cubits. He never could have dreamed that the very sound of Jordan in the distance would frighten him so badly that “he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man.” Yet Peter would follow; the Lord said “Thou canst not follow me now: but thou shalt follow me afterwards.” The Lord would have to go first, meeting death in its darkest form, so that for us, Paul can say “O death, where is thy sting?”
5 And Joshua said to the people, Hallow yourselves; for to-morrow Jehovah will do wonders in your midst. 6 And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and go over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
vv.5-6 The Priests. The priests were to carry the ark, and they must cleanse themselves before this great event. The Lord would “do wonders” in their midst. As Moses’ rod played a critical role at the Red Sea (Ex. 14:16) here it is the ark that plays a vital role at the Jordan. Moses’ rod (righteous judgment) was used in the crossing of the Red Sea, but there is no rod at the Jordan, simply the ark going down before us into the river. That is because this aspect of the work of Christ is not so much bearing our sins where Jehovah lifted up His rod; but being made sin for us, going down into the place where we were. It is not as in Romans to deliver us from Satan, but to bring us into the heavenlies to accomplish the purposes of God. The Jordan pictures the opposite of what happened in Eden. In the garden, Adam was driven out of earthly Paradise because in him, sin was complete. Now we have been brought into the heavenly Paradise by Christ, the Second Adam, because righteousness is complete in Him. But in order that we might be made the expression of what God is (righteousness) Christ had to be made the expression of what we are (sin). This is the meaning of 2 Corinthians 5:21.
7 And Jehovah said to Joshua, 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. 8 And thou shalt command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, stand still in the Jordan.
vv.7-8 The Lord to Joshua. As the Lord was with Moses (at the Red Sea, etc.) so he would be with Joshua (at the Jordan, etc.). Joshua is a type of the risen Christ in the power of the Holy Ghost. The priests carrying the ark into the Jordan typify Christ going down into death for us, and breaking its power. Joshua would be magnified before the people.
Joshua’s Instructions to the People (3:9-13 )
9 And Joshua said to the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of Jehovah your God. 10 And Joshua said, Hereby shall ye know that the living GOD is in your midst, and that he will without fail dispossess from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites. 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going over before you into the Jordan.
vv.9-11 Proof of God’s Intention to Bless. The ark going into the Jordan told the people that (1) the living God was among them, and (2) the victory over the Jordan was proof that the inhabitants would be driven out for the enjoyment of their inheritance. Why? Because “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things” (Eph. 4:9-12). Christ, in rising from the dead, came up as a victorious conqueror who, returning home, gives gifts as a token of His victory. The resurrection of Christ was a token of His intention to bless us with “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places”. We owe everything to the death and resurrection of Christ.
12 And now take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe.
v.12 Representatives. Joshua told the people to chose a representative from every tribe. We find in ch.4 that these representatives would takes stones from the river and place them on the far side as a memorial.
13 And it shall come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of Jehovah, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan, the waters flowing down from above, shall be cut off, and shall stand up in a heap.
v.13 Jordan to be Cut Off. When the souls of the priests feet touched the water, the Jordan would be cut off, they would stand upon a heap. This is a picture of the sufferings of Christ.
The Passage of Jordan (3:14-17 )
14 And it came to pass when the people removed from their tents, to pass over the Jordan, that the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were before the people; 15 and when they that bore the ark were come to the Jordan, and 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), 16 the waters which flowed down from above stood and rose up in a heap, very far, by Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan; and those that flowed down towards the sea of the plain, the salt sea, were completely cut off. And the people went over opposite to Jericho.
vv.14-17 The Passage. The River Jordan was at its worst when Israel went down into it. “For Jordan overfloweth all its banks all the time of harvest.” The waters “which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam.” This would speak of the end of Adam, and the putting off of our Old Man in the sight of God. God will have Adam out of His sight forever. For those who believe the gospel, our link with Adam is broken at the Jordan. However, many reject the gospel. Yet this purpose will be completed after the Great White Throne, when those who refuse God’s offer of salvation are eternally separated from God.
17 And the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan. And all Israel went over on dry ground, until all the nation had completely gone over the Jordan.
v.17 On Dry Ground. The ground on which the priests stood, and on which the people walked, was dry ground! It was a complete work, just as the work our Lord accomplished in going into death for us. But the great point here is identification with Christ in death and resurrection – our death and resurrection with Him – as the twelve stones in the next chapter will illustrate. All of this is positionally true for us. May we come into the practical knowledge of what it really means!
Thy life is now beyond the grave;
Our souls Thou hast set free;
Life, strength and grace in Thee we have,
For we are one with Thee.
Oh teach us so the power to know
Of risen life with Thee;
Not we may live while here below,
But Christ our life may be.
- Darby, J.N. The Red Sea and Jordan. Notes and Comments: Volume 2, p.130
- “We have no justification in Ephesians, but a new Creation – we are what God makes us in Christ, His workmanship; we were dead, Christ in grace comes down there for us, accomplishing the work of redemption, and putting away sin, and we and He are all raised up into a new place.” – Darby, J.N. Baptism. Notes and Comments: Volume 2.
- This is what Jordan prefigures: not redemption, completed at the Red Sea, the figure of His death and resurrection for us, but our death and resurrection with Him and our place in Him on high before we are actually with Him. – Kelly, W. The Epistle to the Hebrews.
- Here we do not read of a rod stretched over the waters. The rod was used at the Red Sea; for it was the sign of judicial authority, and so it appropriately appears on that occasion. Judgment fell upon Christ in order that we should be delivered. In the passing out of Egypt it was a question of God’s power grounded on His righteous judgment. … But at the river Jordan there are new wants. Judicial authority has fully run its course. It is not merely a question of Christ bringing us out from the judgment of God by His own bearing it, but of what Christ going down into death entitles us to enter into according to the rights of His work and the glory of His person. Christ, dead and risen, having perfectly glorified God on the cross, could not be adequately glorified short of heavenly glory. … The symbol of His person in death and resurrection as entering into that place which alone suits One so glorious. Where is it? Heaven alone suffices. … But Christ, if He goes there, will not be severed from us. This is therefore what the ark represents. It is the fullest witness of the glory of Christ that could be found in Israel as a type… The object of God’s doing so is to deliver us from the false glory of the world, in order that all that is of man, all that occupies his heart, or that could be an object here, should be left behind us. – W. Kelly. Lectures Introductory to the Old Testament.
- “In a word, Jordan is death as ceasing to belong to this world at all, and entering into heavenly places, as belonging to them, with an ascended Christ. The Red Sea is death as redemption and deliverance, leading us to live to God in this world, and “if” remains. The Red Sea is deliverance into a responsible life in this world, though, if life be there, we shall reach the goal; Jordan is dying to it, and entering into Canaan as united to Christ.” – Darby, J.N. Baptism. Notes and Comments: Volume 2.