Chapter 4
The Israelites did not really die when they passed through Jordan; they passed through the place which, but for the ark being there, would have been death to them, and they got into a place of safety and blessing.
Suppose a child of God is dying. He sees how the Lord Jesus has gone down into the grave for him, like the ark standing in the midst of Jordan, and he says, There is no fear of death for me; the water is all gone, the Lord Jesus has put an end to death, He has broken its power. I have only to look at Him Who has risen out of death, for I go up to where He is alive for me. So what we call death for the Christian is only passing into life.
There is no fear of death to those who know that Jesus destroyed the power of death, and that He went up out of the grave to God’s right hand. The child of God follows Him by faith as Israel followed the ark.
How wonderful this all is! And this is why God said, “Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out the Canaanites,” and the inhabitants of the land. When the child of God knows that Jesus has risen out of death, he knows that God will without fail give him victory over everything that hinders him from entering into the joys of God’s own presence.
Israel learned that God was “the living God” when He destroyed the power of death; that was when the ark stood on dry ground in the midst of Jordan. God would have us never forget the death of Christ, and this is why He told Israel to take up twelve stones from the spot where the ark rested, and to put them in the land for a memorial forever.
“On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel.” He showed them how great Joshua was. And Joshua is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Captain of our salvation, Who leads us into the enjoyment of heavenly things by the Holy Spirit. He is made great to us in His death for He is the resurrection and the life. We know a little of His greatness when we first learn that He died for us, but we see Him greater and greater the more we learn about His death. He is magnified to us because He died and rose again. By faith the child of God has passed from death into life now in this world; in Him we have crossed the Jordan and have tasted the joys of heaven.
And surely we can taste the joys of heaven now here on earth, for Jesus is in heaven, and is it not a joy of heaven to know Him? We can speak to Him, and He to us. The way is open to heaven, and though we are not there yet, still our hearts can follow the One we love to where He is. We can go to heaven now by faith and be with Jesus there in spirit, and when we enjoy Him there, this is tasting the joys of heaven.
Of those twelve stones that Joshua set up in the midst of Jordan, where the ark stood, it says, “and they are there unto this day.” The Christian can look back to the death of Christ and say, There is the memorial of all my blessing. The cross is the spot where Jesus is magnified to me. The stones in Jordan have long passed from sight, but the remembrance of the death of our precious Saviour and Lord will abide for all eternity.
ML-05/15/1977