We are considering the
greatness and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ as represented in
the ark of the covenant, and we now leave the wilderness and come
to the crossing of the Jordan. Thus we have open before us the
Book of Joshua, especially the first three chapters. Here we are
in that great forward movement of the ark from the wilderness to
the land - and let us keep in mind all the time that we are not
thinking so much of the ark as we are of the testimony of Jesus.
We are not living some thousands of years ago, we are living
today. We are told that "whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning" (Romans
15:4), so that what we are concerned with is what the Lord Jesus
means to us today, and that is all centred in the ark of the Old
Testament.
Warfare
in View
There is one thing of which we
must take note right at the beginning. This movement from the
wilderness, through the Jordan and into the land, was entirely
with warfare in view. It is necessary for young Christians
especially to recognize this, but if the older ones are wondering
why there is so much conflict in the Christian life, we had
better remind ourselves at once that that is the nature of the
testimony of Jesus. If we are really associated in heart with the
testimony of Jesus we are going to find that we are committed to
warfare. Perhaps we know the fact of conflict, but we very
often have questions about it, and even think sometimes that
because of the conflict things are all wrong. I think it would be
right to say that any Christian who knows nothing about conflict
has not really entered fully into the meaning of the Christian
life. Of course, we all sing very heartily "Onward,
Christian soldiers!", but we have some very big questions
when we find ourselves in the battle. The journey of the
testimony of Jesus is therefore a journey of warfare.
I remember hearing a very
famous preacher put it this way: On Sunday morning the Christians
go to church and sing "Onward, Christian soldiers!"; on
Monday night they go to the theatre; on Tuesday night they say:
"We will have a cocktail party"; on Wednesday night
they decide to go to the pictures; on Thursday night they play
cards at home; on Friday night they go off and visit some of
their friends; on Saturday night they say: 'Now, what shall we do
tonight?' - and on Sunday morning: "Onward, Christian
soldiers!" Now, that may not be true of any of you, but a
Christianity that only sings about Christian soldiers and never
goes into the battle is not true Christianity.
So I remind you that when we
come to the Book of Joshua there is a movement entirely with
warfare in view. In chapter one the Lord is preparing Joshua for
the battle, and the word which constantly occurs is: "Be of
good courage." 'Courage' is a great word in that chapter!
Joshua was a man of courage before - all his history shows him to
be so - but this new movement needs more courage than ever
before. The ark is moving on to new ground, and there are many
great enemies to this testimony.
In chapter two the Lord
commands that they send out their spies in order to take the
measure of the people, so that the people of Israel might really
recognise what they are up against.
So in chapter one there is the
preparation of the leader and the people for war, and in chapter
two the being quite intelligent as to the kind of enemy that they
have to deal with. Then, with those two things done, in chapter
three the ark comes to the foremost place. So chapter three is
our present occupation, for it is the ark, or the testimony, with
which we are occupied.
The
Superlative Sign
In chapter three, verses 10 and
11, we have: "And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that
the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive
out from before you the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the
Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite,
and the Jebusite. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of
all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan." The
superlative sign of victory is in the ark passing over into
Jordan.
It says: "Jordan
overfloweth all its banks all the time of harvest" (3:15),
which means that at that time Jordan would normally be in a state
of flood. I think you are familiar with the fact that Jordan
always speaks to us of death, and that in the Bible it is always
a figure of death, so that when the ark entered the Jordan at the
time of flood, it represents the Lord Jesus moving into death at
its greatest and fullest. When Jesus entered into death, death
was at its full floodtide. I think it is important for us to
remember that the death of the Lord Jesus was in relation to
death in all its fullness. Jesus in His death took death in its
absolute power.
Human judgment would have said:
'It would be very much better if this whole thing had been
arranged at the time when there was no flood in Jordan.'
Naturally this would have been an argument against the wisdom of
God, but He, who was in charge of this whole matter, arranged
that it should be just then, at that time. It was a part of His
Divine wisdom and plan to have this thing just when normally
Jordan overflowed all its banks.
You see, God knew what He was
doing. He was giving a great illustration of what the death of
the Lord Jesus really does mean. The Cross of the Lord Jesus was
not something that just touched the shallow waters of death. You
remember that John said about Jesus: "Behold, the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29),
and Paul said: "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
Therefore sin with death in its fullness is represented here.
Jesus entered death at the flood. He has taken the full measure
of death. There is no degree or aspect of death that Jesus has
not dealt with in His Cross.
There is a difference here from
that which happened at the Red Sea, for when they passed through
that the waters stood up like a wall on either side of them, and
when the Egyptians entered into that passage the wall fell on
them. At the Jordan the waters did not stand up like a wall. We
are told that it began right away up the Jordan at the city of
Adam, and it was there that God cut off the waters. "The
city of Adam has been placed 16 miles up the river, and it seems
probable that a stretch of 20 or 30 miles of the river bed was
left dry" (Amplified Bible). I am tempted to dwell upon that
for a long time, for I think we could make a lot out of that word
'Adam'! However, in the Cross of the Lord Jesus, God went a long
way back to deal with death. The entering of the ark, or the
entering of Jesus into death, meant that the waters were cut off
a long way back - "Far back at Adam" (3:16).
The
Greatness of Christ's Death
Dear friends, the Lord Jesus
has done a very great thing in His Cross, for He has dealt with
death a long way back. That is the backward work of the Cross. I
am so glad that the Lord Jesus had dealt with sin and death
before ever I came into this world! We have come into something
that He did long before we had a life on this earth. I have heard
of some young Christians being asked the question, when they have
been baptized: 'When were you crucified with Christ? When did you
die with Christ?', and they have answered: 'When I was baptized.'
Oh no, it was a long, long time before that. We have come into a
very far-reaching victory of the Lord Jesus over death.
Now that brings us to the ark
carried by the priests. This is an interesting point, for a
change has taken place. It was the Levites who carried the ark
through the wilderness, but now it is not the Levites. It is the
priests, and this has its own particular meaning. What is the
special function of the priest? It is to deal with sin. It is the
priests who have to take the blood of atonement, and by that
blood cut off the power of sin.
Now here we have a very
interesting thing. We said that the Cross of the Lord Jesus went
a long way back. If you look at the fifteenth chapter of the Book
of Genesis, at verse 13, you will find that God is speaking to
Abram, and telling him of the future history of his seed -
"Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a
land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall
afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they
shall serve, will I judge." 'That nation' was Egypt. Then
God says to Abram: "And in the fourth generation they shall
come hither again" (verse 16), and that is the land of
Canaan, where Abram was at that time. Now, in that 16th verse,
there occurs this little phrase: "For the iniquity of the
Amorite is not yet full." What does that mean? The Lord's
people could not possess that land of promise while the Amorite
was there, or until the Amorite had filled up the cup of
iniquity, but when the Amorite had filled it up to overflowing,
then God would bring Abram's seed into the land and destroy the
Amorite. You will have noticed that the Amorite is mentioned as
one of the seven nations in the land, and several times in this
Book of Joshua the Amorite is used as representing all the
others. Whatever was happening in Egypt during the four hundred
years, God was watching the Amorite. He was watching the people
in the land and seeing the cup of sin become more and more
filled. When it became full of iniquity, God said: 'The
day has come. Now is the time for My people to occupy the land.'
So the River Jordan overflowing all its banks represents sin at
its fullest, and the ark moving into the Jordan says: 'The day of
the Amorites is finished.' Sin and death at the flood are now
to be judged. That is why the priests carried the ark, for the
priests are the people who have to do with sin.
Man's
Weakness and God's Power
But there is another side to
this. It is the side of Israel. There was the side of the Amorite
and all the other nations, but there was also the side of Israel,
and what does that side represent? Surely it speaks of human
weakness. These people had failed terribly in the wilderness, and
had proved themselves to be a very weak people. Everything here
at the Jordan speaks of human weakness. Look at the Jordan! What
a powerful thing it is! Look at all those nations in the land!
What powerful forces they are! In other words, what is man in the
presence of sin and death? What can man do when he meets the full
power of sin and death? How weak we all are before those great
forces of evil! If these nations in the land represent 'the
principalities, the powers, the world-rulers of this darkness and
hosts of wicked spirits' (Ephesians 6:12), what can we do before
those awful powers of evil? Why, those powers have only to do a
little thing to us and we go to pieces! Satan has only to attack
us in one small way, and we feel how helpless we are! So, on the
side of Israel, it was a picture of human weakness faced with
terrible powers. But the ark goes right in, and from this time
onward all the powers in opposition will have to give way. Jesus
has gone ahead of us and has met all the powers of evil in His
own person. So the ark does represent the greatness and the glory
of the Lord Jesus! He stands for us in the midstream of all
adversity, and in all our weakness He becomes our strength. The
ark stands in the midst of the flood and holds the ground in
victory.
The Look
of Faith
Do you notice that
it is commanded that there shall be a space of two thousand
cubits between the ark and the people? There is a great distance
between the Lord Jesus and us. It is what He has done for us. So
the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews says: "Looking off
unto Jesus the author and perfecter of faith" (12:2). Death
focused all its forces upon Him, and He focused His superior
forces upon death. That is why the Apostle wrote those words with
which we are so familiar: "The exceeding greatness of his
power to usward who believe" (Ephesians 1:19). Jordan, as
the mighty power of sin and death, may be very great. All the
principalities and powers in the heavenlies may be very great.
But the Apostle says: 'the power which is for us exceeds all
those powers'. It is the perfect work of a perfect Person for us.
We have a perfect Person who has done a perfect work, and has
gone on before us, like the ark. Of course, it is a question of
faith; if we believe that we shall come through. One generation
never went through the Jordan, and the writer of the Letter to
the Hebrews says: "They were not able to enter in because of
unbelief" (Hebrews 3:19). This is the generation of faith.
We ought to spend some time
upon that, because there is a very interesting thing here, but
will leave that for another time.
But let us remind ourselves of
the thing with which we are really occupied: the greatness and
the glory of our Lord Jesus. I think you are beginning to agree
that this ark represents something very wonderful. It is not just
an Old Testament object, it is an everlasting truth. It sets
forth what Jesus Christ is, and what He has done, and it has very
much more yet to say to us.