As believers in Christ, we are called by God to take the good land, the all-inclusive Christ; for this, we need to realize that our old man is not qualified – we need to be buried in the death of Christ and be resurrected with Christ to become a new man in Christ for the fighting of the spiritual warfare. Amen!
This week we come to a further crystal found in the book of Joshua, that is, Crossing the Jordan River and Being Prepared for Battle.
Up to this point, God’s people are ready to enter and possess the good land and to face the enemies by engaging in battle. However, before they can actually go in, they come to the river Jordan, which they have to cross before entering the good land.
The record of crossing the river Jordan and being prepared for the battle are very important matters with much spiritual significance.
In their history, the children of Israel had to pass two bodies of water: when they left Egypt, they had to cross the Red Sea, and now, forty years later, they had to cross another river, the Jordan River.
It is very significant to compare the crossing of these two bodies of water.
The crossing of the Red Sea happened when God rescued His people out of Egypt; at that time, they were a motley crew of people, a crowd rushing to get out of Egypt.
Moses was there with them, under God’s order, and he was one with God to cause the Red Sea to part, so the whole people marched across it.
As they went on to the other side, the Egyptian army followed them, and God closed the sea back, and the Egyptians were drowned in the sea.
God’s people were delivered from the worldly power, and all of these were buried under the Red Sea; now Israel was free to be ushered into a journey to travel with God in the wilderness.
The Red Sea became a separating line to cause God’s people to be separated from everything of the world, the past; now they have a new beginning with God in the wilderness.
In those forty years in the wilderness, God gave them His law, His word; also, there was the tabernacle as God’s travelling, movable, dwelling place, and there was the priesthood with the sacrifices for God’s people to enjoy and participate.
God fed His people with manna from heaven every day, quenched their thirst with the water from the cleft rock, and they went on their journey.
This is a picture of our Christian life; we crossed the Red Sea, buried the past, and we’re journeying with God.
Now, at the end of forty years, the people of Israel came to the border of the good land, and they were about to enter into the land promised to them to build the solid and large temple of God on earth, and they were about to engage in battle as they have never experienced before.
At this point, God brought them to another River, Jordan; before they were able to enter into the good land to possess it so that they may bring in God’s kingdom and defeat His enemy, God wanted His people to cross the river.
The Jordan River doesn’t signify the destroying of the worldly forces (as it was with the Red Sea) but it signifies the dealing with the self, the natural man, and the old man, by their experience of the death and resurrection of Christ.
The result was that a new Israel was brought on the other side, a resurrected Israel, and this new Israel could take the land. Just the destruction of the worldly forces is not adequate enough to prepare them to possess the good land; they needed to cross Jordan, where the old man, the natural man, will be fully buried and terminated, and a new people is brought forth to engage in the spiritual warfare to possess the land and establish God’s kingdom.
Being one with God by bearing His Testimony to Move and Walk with Christ and Take the Good Land
Joshua 3:1 – 4:24 is a record of the people of Israel crossing the Jordan River. When the people of Israel saw the Ark of the Covenant of their God and the Levitical priests bearing the Ark, they set out from their place and followed it (3:3, 6).
The ark was a type of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God (Exo. 25:10-22).
At this point in time, after crossing the Red Sea, passing through the wilderness, enjoying the manna and drinking from the cleft rock, having the tabernacle, being dealt with by God, the people of Israel was ready, equipped, and trained for battle.
They were ready to cross the River Jordan to take the land under the leading of the Ark, the embodiment of God, the testimony of God.
When the Ark of God went with the children of Israel, the Triune God went with them, taking the lead and thus being the first to step into the water (Josh. 3:8, 11).
The water of the River Jordan signifies mainly the death and resurrection of Christ; the Ark is Christ Himself taking the lead to get into the death water.
Christ was crucified – He accomplished an all-inclusive death into which we enter and are baptized.
As the Ark of God with the bearing priests took the lead to go into the waters of Jordan, they stood still in the waters, and the waters stopped (see Josh. 3:3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17).
We are the priests of God, and the Ark is on our shoulders; the testimony of God, even the embodiment of the Triune God, is with us.
He takes the lead, and we follow, and where He goes, we also go.
Just as the priests were one with the Ark to step into the river Jordan, so we want to be one with the Lord and bear His testimony to move and walk with Christ, even to enter into death and resurrection, and to take the good land.
That the Ark was on the shoulders of the priests indicates that, in type, the priests who bore the Ark became one entity with the Triune God.
The people of Israel were formed as an army, the Ark was taking the lead, and the priests were one for the testimony of God; this was a very good situation, showing the preparedness of the people to take the land.
We need to be such ones, those who are prepared and equipped to enter the good land, those who bear the testimony of God by being one with God to move and walk with God, to take the good land.
We and God need to become one corporate person – a corporate God-man so that God walks in our walking, and we walk in God’s walking.
This is how God moves today – He doesn’t move by Himself and in Himself, but He moves in the principle of incarnation, by gaining man’s cooperation.
The spread of the Lord’s recovery today is not by human endeavour and zeal; it is through Christ’s move together with His bearing priests, those who bear the testimony of Jesus wherever they go.
He and we, we and He, we walk together as a corporate man, and God moves in our move, as we move in His move.
We need to be absolutely one with God so that we may walk in His walking, He may walk in our walking, and He may move in us and through us on earth for the spread of His kingdom.
Lord Jesus, show us that we are organically joined to You – we are one with the Lord in spirit. Hallelujah, in our union with Christ, His experience becomes our experience, and all that He is becomes our enjoyment and experience. We want to remain in this organic union with You so that You may move in our move and we may move in Your move. May our walking be Your walking, and may Your walking be our walking today. Make us the priests who bear Your testimony, those who are one with God to spread the kingdom of God on the earth.
Experience Christ in His Death and Resurrection to be a new man Fighting the Battle for the Good Land
We need to realize that, even though God has given us the all-inclusive Christ as the good land, our old man, our natural man, is altogether not qualified to fight the spiritual warfare for the gaining of Christ.
It is only the new man, the resurrected man with Christ, that can take the land. Hence, we need to have the experience of crossing the River Jordan by experiencing the death and resurrection of Christ.
The Jordan River typifies the death and resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:23-24; 3:15).
The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord crossed over before the people into the Jordan (Josh. 3:11).
The Ark’s entering into and coming out of the Jordan indicates Christ’s death and resurrection (v. 15; 4:11).
Israel’s crossing of the river Jordan doesn’t typify the believers’ physical death but their experience of the death of Christ, in which the old man is terminated and buried (Rom. 6:3-6; Gal. 2:20).
Some believers think that the crossing of the Jordan signifies our spiritual death, for them to go to heaven; however, this is not logical, for according to the type in the Old Testament, after crossing the river, the children of Israel still had to deal with the enemies in Canaan.
Crossing Jordan refers to the believers’ experience of the death of Christ and His resurrection.
When we are baptized, we are baptized not only to be terminated but also to be brought into the death of Christ; we are joined to Christ in His death, and we are raised with Christ in His resurrection to be a new man, a new creation.
We were buried with Christ through baptism into His death, in order that, just as Christ was raised, so also we might walk in newness of life.
If we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, we will also grow with Him in the likeness of His resurrection.
In the organic union with Christ by our faith in Him, what He passed through, we also pass through.
According to typology, therefore, the Jordan River denotes the death of Christ into which we, the believers, have been baptised (Rom. 6:3-4).
This is so that our old man may be buried in Christ’s death so that we may become a new man in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17); it is only the new man that can take the good land and fight the spiritual warfare.
We may be ready to enter into the possession of Christ as the good land, just as the children of Israel were; however, we need to realize that we can’t gain the victory in our old man.
We may have some enjoyment of Christ, we may take Him as our daily food, drink Him as the living water, enjoy His presence here and there, and touch something of being built up in Christ to express Him.
But for us to enter into the possession of the good land and fight the spiritual warfare, our old man is not qualified: it needs to be put to death and buried, for only the new man can take the land.
After crossing the Red Sea, we are qualified to live the Christian life; after crossing the Jordan River, we are qualified to deal with the old man, the natural man, and the self.
As long as our natural man still remains, it is impossible to possess the good land in full and to deal with the enemies.
God desires that we, His people, would gain the good land for Christ; He wants to prepare a people for the bringing forth of Christ.
This is related to the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose; for this, we not only need to live a good Christian life and be spiritual, but gain Christ for Christ, be prepared to be a people for the bringing forth of Christ, and deal with the enemy.
In type, the children of Israel were buried in the death of Christ and then they were resurrected in the resurrection of Christ to become a new man in Christ for the fighting of the spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-20).
We need to realize the utter impotence of our old man to take the land or fight the spiritual warfare; when we see this, we will simply be joined to the Lord in spirit to experience His death and resurrection, so that our new man may come forth and go on to enjoy Christ and fight the battle.
If we’re not clear what it means for the old man to be terminated and the new man to be germinated, we have no idea what is spiritual warfare; only the new man can engage in battle.
As long as we remain in the old creation, in the natural life, we have nothing to do with taking the good land or spiritual warfare.
We need to realize that our old man, our natural man, is not qualified to fight the spiritual warfare for the gaining of Christ; in Christ, however, we are no longer the old man but a new man (Eph. 4:22-24).
Through baptism, we have been put in Christ’s death, and we have been separated from the world and the satanic power of darkness.
We did not die directly – we entered into Christ’s death through baptism.
Now we need to remain in the reality of His death, allowing Him to put to death our old man so that the new man may come forth to take the land and fight the spiritual warfare.
Lord Jesus, cause us to realize that our old man, our natural man, is not qualified to fight the spiritual warfare to gain Christ. Oh Lord, may we see that we have been baptized into Christ and into His death so that our old man, our natural man, would be put to death, and the new man may come forth to be one with Christ in taking the land and fighting the battle! May we remain the reality of our baptism today so that the old man would be terminated and buried, and the new man would fight the warfare to gain Christ as the good land! Hallelujah, in Christ we are no longer the old man but a new man!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Joshua, msgs. 4-5, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 3, Crossing the Jordan River and Being Prepared for Battle.
- Hymns on this topic:
– By the cross discern the spirit / And the Jordan River cross; / Enter then the Land of Canaan, / And enjoy Christ thru the cross. (Hymns #748)
– We’re released, and now we build the house of God; / His tabernacle is our true abode. / Forty years of oldness left in Jordan’s tide, / Fight we for Canaan on the kingdom side. / Salvation’s Captain sounds the trump of war; / City by city, take we more and more, / To gain His kingdom, enter into rest. (Hymns #1271)
– In death’s waters I am buried, / For with Christ my Savior, I have died; / Now the world cannot pursue me, / For its power here is nullified. / I with Christ have risen too, / Out of death with Him I walk and live; / Now the Spirit life supplies / And His strength exhaustless unto me doth give. (Hymns #936)
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