From Egypt up to the river Jordan, the deliverance of the people is characterized by two great events, the Passover and the Red Sea, and in order to understand the third great event, that is, the crossing of the Jordan, it is well to get hold of the meaning of the first two. All three are types of the death of Christ, but its aspects are so rich, so various and so infinite that we need all these, and many others, in order to comprehend some of its depth and extent.
The Passover
The Passover shows us the death of Christ as a shelter from the judgment of God. “I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment” (Ex. 12:1212For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. (Exodus 12:12)). Now Israel themselves could be sheltered only by the blood of the paschal lamb placed between the people as sinners and God as a judge who was against them. The blood stops God, so to speak, keeps Him outside, and places us in safety inside. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” Only let us not forget that it is the love of God which provides the sacrifice capable of meeting His own judgment. Love thus spares the people, who could not of themselves escape judgment any more than the Egyptians.
Redemption
At the Red Sea we find a second aspect of the death of Christ, which is redemption: “Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed” (Ex. 15:1313Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. (Exodus 15:13)). Now if God delivers and redeems us, He is for us instead of being against us; indeed, it says, “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” (Ex. 14:1414The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. (Exodus 14:14)). The Passover stopped God Himself as a judge and set Israel in safety; at the Red Sea, God intervenes as a Saviour (Ex. 15:22The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2)) in favor of His people, who have nothing to do but to look on at their deliverance: “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord” (Ex. 14:1313And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. (Exodus 14:13)). In redemption, God acts as if the enemies which were against us were against Him.
The Needed Condition
But return to the Jordan. At the Passover atonement was made; at the Red Sea redemption was accomplished and salvation obtained, but here it is another question. In order to take possession of the land of Canaan, the people must be in a certain condition.
Between the Red Sea and the Jordan, Israel had crossed the desert, and this journey is divided into two distinct parts. In the first part, up to Sinai, it is grace which leads the people—the same grace which had redeemed them from Egypt and by which they experience the resources of Christ in the midst of all their infirmities. In the second part, after Sinai, Israel is under the reign of law, and it is then that they are proved, to know what is in their hearts. The trial only demonstrated that they were “carnal, sold under sin” and that their will was enmity against God, finally showing itself in open rebellion when it was a question of entering into possession of the promises.
The condition of Israel was an absolute obstacle to their entering Canaan. When they come to the end of their experiences in the flesh, they find the Jordan, an overflowing flood, as a barrier to their onward progress. The Red Sea hindered their escape from Egypt, the Jordan prevents their entrance into Canaan, and to attempt to cross it would be their destruction. Here we have a fresh type of death. It is the end of man in the flesh, and, at the same time, the end of Satan’s power. How can we, who are without strength, withstand it? It separates us forever from the enjoyment of the promises. “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:2424O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24)).
The Ark of the Covenant
But the grace of God has provided for it. The ark goes before the people; it not only makes them know the way by which they should go, but it associates them with itself in the passage. The priests, the representatives of the people, were to take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before Israel. It was indeed the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth (vs. 13) which was to pass on before them across Jordan, but not without them. The ark maintained its preeminence: “There shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure” (vs. 4). But as the eyes of the people were fixed upon it (vs. 3), they beheld at the same time the priests of the tribe of Levi who bore it. As soon as the soles of the feet of the priests rested in the waters of Jordan, the waters were cut off and ceased to flow. A power was there which was victorious over the power of death and which associated Israel with the victory.
If it was thus for Israel, how much more for us! All that we were in the flesh has found its end in the cross of Christ. We can say, I am dead to sin, dead to the law; I am crucified with Christ. My eyes, fixed on the ark—on Christ — see in Him the end of my personality as a child of Adam. But in Him also is a victorious power, now made mine; I am introduced in resurrection life in Him, beyond death, into the full enjoyment of the things which this life possesses: “I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)).
Death itself, of course, is not yet swallowed up: “When the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord were come up out of the midst of Jordan . . . the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before” (Josh. 4:1818And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before. (Joshua 4:18)). But when “this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15:54). Then Christ’s place, beyond all that which could hinder us, will be ours, even as to our bodies. But before the fulfillment of these things, we can already say, “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57).
A New Status
We find then in the Jordan, in a special way, death to that which we were in our former status and the beginning of a new status in the power of life with Christ, with whom we are risen. His death and resurrection introduce us now into all the heavenly blessings, and what we have just said explains the reason of our not finding enemies here as at the Red Sea. At the Jordan, the Israelites are not pursued by Pharaoh and his host, but the enemy is in front of them and does not begin to act until they have crossed the river.
Now they enter upon a new series of experiences. In the desert of Sinai the old man has been proved to be sin; then follows, in type, at the Jordan, the knowledge acquired by faith, that we have been taken out of our association with Adam and set in a new association with a dead and risen Christ. Finally, in Canaan, we have the experiences of the new man, though not without weakness and failure if there be a lack of vigilance, but with a power at our disposal, of which we can make constant use in order to be strong and to fight valiantly and resist the subtle wiles of the enemy.
H. L. Rossier, adapted