Crossing the River

Crossing the River

 

God made a promise to Abraham that He would be with him and bless him.  And also that He would be with Abraham and Sarah’s children down through the ages and bless them.  And give them their own land – the “Promised Land”.  (Genesis 12) God promised to do all of this if Abraham’s children would follow Him.  The year that God made these promises to Abraham was approximately 2091 B.C.

 

In approximately 1406 B.C. Joshua led Abraham’s and Sarah’s children- the Jewish people- into their “Promised Land”, fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham!  One of the promises made so many years before.  

 

 The first five chapters in the book of Joshua in our Bible tell the story of how God held back the Jordan River and led the whole nation of Israel safely across it on dry land and over to their “Promised Land”.  Many of the lessons the Jewish people learned during those days as they followed God into their inheritance – their “promised land” - are lessons that we too can learn as we Christians follow God into our inheritance or our “Promised Land” – our new life in Christ.

 

As the nation of Israel was camped across the Jordan River from their promised land, God spoke to Joshua and promised him that He would be with him as He was with Moses.  God continued promising Joshua that He would cause the Jewish soldiers to win every battle that they would fight in taking their land from the wicked Canaanites. God called Joshua to be strong and of good courage and to be careful to obey all of the law and not turn from it to the right or to the left.  (Joshua 1:1-9)

 

Joshua called the officers of the Israelites and commanded them to tell the people to get packed and ready because in three days they would be crossing the Jordan River and entering the land God was giving them.  The Israelites were divided into twelve tribes because their new promised land had been divided up between the twelve tribes.

 

 But since two and a half tribes had been given land on the east side of the Jordan River, they could start getting settled onto their land immediately.  But Joshua commanded the fighting men in those two and a half tribes to go across the river along with the other tribes to be there and help their brothers fight and conquer the rest of the land. (Joshua 1:12-15) And the tribes that didn’t need to fight for their land gladly agreed to fight with their brothers. (Joshua 1:16-18)

 

The priests were ordered to carry the Ark of the Covenant ahead of all the people across the river.  And the people were commanded to keep a distance between themselves and the Ark of the Covenant since the presence of God was there. All of the Israelites and their leaders obeyed Joshua and promised to do whatever he commanded them to do since they knew that God was commanding him.  Their obedience was a sign of their faith in God.  And God was pleased with their faith as they stepped out on His Word counting on Him to lead them. (Joshua 3:17) .  

 

Scripture says that the nation of Israel crossed over the Jordan River during Passover. Passover occurred back in Egypt when Pharaoh refused to let all the Jewish slaves go. God finally sent the plague of death over each home in Egypt, which caused Pharaoh to change his mind and free the Jewish people from slavery. The Jews were instructed by God to sacrifice lambs and to sprinkle the blood on their doorposts on the night the plague would come.

 

On that dreadful night when the angel of death flew by, he “passed over” each home where he saw the blood of the lamb sprinkled on the door. Each year after that, down through thousands of years, the nation of Israel has celebrated what God has done for them in freeing them from slavery in Egypt.  And today Passover is still celebrated each year by Jewish people.  

 

Christ, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed – or crucified - during the yearly Jewish celebration of Passover.  He was crucified at the same time that the lambs were being sacrificed during Passover.  Scripture declares Jesus to be “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”.  (John 1:29) The Bible tells us that Christ, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed for us and that because His blood was shed for us, death – eternal death – will “pass over” us. Of course, we must believe in Christ as our Savior and accept His sacrifice for ourselves.

 

I do not know the significance of why Scripture says that the nation of Israel crossed the Jordan River at the exact time of Passover that year. I don’t think the timing happened accidentally.  There is a lesson there somewhere.  God had to intervene and protect the Jewish people from drowning as they crossed the river.  In crossing the river, the children of Israel were leaving their wandering in the wilderness and crossing over into their new life in their new land. This is another picture of God stepping in to save His people.  To give His people a new life.   

 

Scripture says that the Jordan River was at flood stage when it was time for Israel to cross it. The many thousands of Israelites, along with their wagons and little children and infirmed folk and animals would not be able to cross.  But the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant with all the nation of Israel headed out toward the river, anyway, knowing that their God was leading them. Their faith in God kept them going. The priests got to the Jordan River first and kept walking out into the water, getting their feet wet. Sometimes God asks us to get our feet wet before He rescues us. 

 

But then as the priest’s walked into the turbulent waters, the Bible tells us: “the water from up stream stopped flowing.  It piled up in a heap a great distance away...while the water flowing down to the Sea of Arabah (the Dead Sea) was completely cut off.  So, the people crossed over on dry ground opposite Jericho.  The priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the River Jordan while all Israel passed by, until the whole nation had completed crossing on dry ground.” (Joshua 4:15b-17)

 

God commanded Joshua to get twelve strong men to pick up twelve large stones from the middle of the Jordan River where the priests had been standing on dry ground and place the heavy stones on the other side at a place called “Gilgal” as a memorial to their miraculous river crossing.  Also, they were to place twelve large stones in the middle of the Jordan River where the priests stood on dry ground with the Ark of the Covenant. (Joshua 4) These stones were to be a memorial for the people of Israel, forever reminding them that God had stopped the river waters so that they could cross over into their inheritance. 

 

God’s people back then and every Christian today cannot possess our inheritance until we “cross the river”.  Bible scholars find metaphors and hidden truths for us today in this Bible story of how God, so long ago, held back the waters of the Jordan River so that all of Israel wouldn’t drown but could cross over.    Some say that crossing the river is a metaphor for walking in the energy of the Holy Spirit. Others think it is a metaphor for death.  It is a picture of leaving your wandering in the wilderness of self-effort behind in order to walk with “Joshua” whose name means “salvation” or “Jesus” across the river.  

 

Some Bible scholars believe that crossing the Jordan River is an illustration of the two truths taught by Paul in Romans 5-8.  And illustrated by the two memorials of the twelve large stones, - one placed in the middle of the river and the other placed on the shores of the promised land.  The one memorial was “buried” under the water.  And the other one was “raised to newness of life” on the other side – but taken from the river’s middle.  Deep river, my home is over Jordan.   

 

These “pictures” are believed to be the New Testament believer’s baptism: unity with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. (Romans 6) An illustration of a believer’s death/new life. God holding back the waters of eternal death so we can reach the other shore.  Every Christian must leave the old nature behind and get his or her arms around their new identity in Christ.  Every Christian must learn to walk in accordance with their new position in Christ.  And every Christian must try to die to self and live the new life in Christ.  We must walk with faith in God as “men and women made new” in Christ and no longer wandering in the wilderness of sin and self..

 

Galatians 2:20 says It like this: “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.  And the life that I now live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  Every Christian must “cross the river” where God causes us to  walk on dry ground right through the middle of the waters of death.