Passing Through Jordan - A Question

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 6
 
Question: How are souls to be encouraged to pass through Jordan that is, to lay hold of being “crucified with Christ,” dead to this present, evil world and risen and alive in Christ?
Answer: I do not think they ever do until they have got sick of themselves and are glad to get rid of themselves. We cannot get into Romans 8 by jumping over Romans 7.
It was the “good report” [see Ex. 3:8 as an example] of the land that started them off. But now the question is, How are people to get across the river Jordan [into that good land of promise] when they find its waters overflowing all the banks?
That is what people find out with their bad tempers or anything else; they cannot get rid of it, though they wish it were a thousand miles off. If a man is running a race in earnest and wearing a beautiful cloak, he will soon throw it off. If he has a belt around him full of gold and must swim a river, he will throw it off or it will drown him.
The way to get into positive liberty is to say, “I am crucified with Christ.” Well then, Christ does not care for beautiful garments or gold or anything else; they are of no good to Him!
“Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” That is to say, I died with Him and I am risen with Him, and then, He lives in me. To sum it all up, we find that “Christ is all, and in all.” He is all objectively, and He is in all in living power.
J. N. Darby (Notes and Jottings, adapted)