The more deeply we ponder the typical instruction presented in the river
Jordan, the more clearly we must see that the whole Christian position
is involved in the standpoint from which we view it. Jordan means death,
but, for the believer, a death that is _past_--the death we have gone
through as identified with Christ, and which, through resurrection, has
brought us on the other side--the Canaan side--where He is now. He,
typified by the ark, has passed over before us into Jordan, to stem its
torrent for us, and make it a dry path for our feet, so that we might
pass clean over into our heavenly inheritance. The Prince of life has
destroyed, on our behalf, him that had the power of death. He has taken
the sting from death; yea, He has made death itself the very means by
which we reach, even now, in spirit and by faith, the true heavenly
Canaan.
Let us see how all this is unfolded in our type. Mark particularly the
commandment given by the officers of the host. "When ye see the ark of
the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing
it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it." The ark must
go first. They dared not to move one inch along that mysterious way,
until the symbol of the divine Presence had gone before.
"Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand
cubits by measure: _come not near unto it that ye may know the way by
which ye must go_; for ye have _not passed this way heretofore_." It was
an awful flood ahead of them. No mortal could tread it with impunity.
Death and destruction are linked together. "It is appointed unto men
once to die; but after this the judgment" (Heb. ix.) Who can stand
before the king of terrors? Who can face that grim and terrible foe? Who
can encounter the swellings of Jordan? Who, except the Ark go first, can
face death and judgment? Poor Peter thought he could; but he was sadly
mistaken. He said unto Jesus, "Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered
him, Whither I go, _thou canst not follow Me now_; but thou shalt follow
Me afterwards."
How fully these words explain the import of that mystic "space" between
Israel and the ark. Peter did not understand that space. He had not
studied aright Josh. iii. 4. He knew nothing of that terrible pathway
which his blessed Master was about to enter upon. "Peter said unto Him,
Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thy
sake."
Poor dear Peter! How little he knew of himself, or of that which he
was--sincerely, no doubt, though ignorantly--undertaking to do! How
little did he imagine that the very sound of death's dark river, heard
even in the distance, would be sufficient so to terrify him, as to make
him curse and swear that he did not know his Master! "Jesus answered
him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for My sake? Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied Me thrice."
"Yet there shall be a space between you and it." How needful! How
absolutely essential! Truly there was a space between Peter and his
Lord. Jesus had to go before. He had to meet death in its most terrific
form. He had to tread that rough path in profound solitude--for who
could accompany Him? "There shall be a space between you and it: come
not near to it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go; for ye
have not passed this way heretofore."
"Thou canst not follow Me _now_: but thou shalt follow me _afterwards_."
Blessed Master! He would not suffer His poor feeble servant to enter
upon that terrible path, until He Himself had gone before, and so
entirely changed its character, that the pathway of death should be
lighted up with the beams of life and the light of God's face. Our Jesus
has "abolished death, and brought life and incorruptibility to light by
the gospel."
Thus death is no longer death to the believer. It was death to Jesus, in
all its intensity, in all its horrors, in all its reality. He met it as
the power which Satan wields over the soul of man. He met it as the
penalty due to sin. He met it as the just judgment of God against
sin--against us. There was not a single feature, not a single
ingredient, not a single circumstance, which could possibly render
death formidable which did not enter into the death of Christ. He met
all; and, blessed be God, _we are accounted as having gone through all
in and by Him_. We died in Him, so that death has no further claim upon
us, or power over us. Its claims are disposed of, its power broken and
gone for all believers. The whole scene is cleared completely of death,
and filled with life and incorruptibility.
And hence, in Peter's case, we find our Lord, in the last chapter of
John, most graciously meeting the desire of His servant's heart--a
desire in which he was perfectly sincere--the desire to follow his
beloved Lord. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young,
thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou
shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird
thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake He signifying
by what death he should glorify God." Thus death, instead of being the
judgment of God to overwhelm Peter, was turned into a means by which
Peter could glorify God.
What a glorious change! What a stupendous mystery! How it magnifies the
cross, or rather the One who hung thereon! What a mighty revolution,
when a poor sinful man can, by death, glorify God! So completely has
death been robbed of its sting, so thoroughly has its character been
changed that, instead of shrinking from it with terror, we can meet it,
if it does come, and go through it with song of victory; and instead of
its being to us the wages of sin, it is a means by which we can glorify
God. All praise to Him who has so wrought for us! to Him who has gone
down into Jordan's deepest depths for us, and made there a highway by
which His ransomed people can pass over into their heavenly inheritance!
May our hearts adore Him! May all our powers be stirred up to magnify
His holy name! May our whole life be devoted to His praise! May we
appreciate the grace and lay hold of the inheritance.
But we must proceed with our type.
"And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the
covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of
the covenant, and went before the people. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that
they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee." Joshua
stands before us as a type of the risen Christ, leading His people, in
the power of the Holy Ghost, into their heavenly inheritance. The
priests bearing the ark into the midst of Jordan typify Christ going
down into death for us, and destroying completely its power. "He passed
through death's dark raging flood, to make our rest secure;" and not
only to make it secure, but to lead us into it, in association with
Himself, now, in spirit and by faith; by-and-by, in actual fact.
"And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the
words of the Lord your God. 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 Canaanites.... Behold, the ark of the covenant of
the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan."
The passage of the ark into Jordan proved two things, namely, the
presence of the living God in the midst of His people; and that He would
most surely drive out all their enemies from before them. The death of
Christ is the basis and the guarantee of everything to faith. Grant us
but this, that Christ has gone down into death for us, and we argue,
with all possible confidence, that, in this one great fact, all is
secured. God is with us, and God is for us. "He that spared not His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things?" The difficulty of unbelief is, "How shall
He?" The difficulty of faith is, "How shall He _not_?"
Israel might wonder how all the hosts of Canaan could ever be expelled
from before them: let them gaze on the ark in the midst of Jordan, and
cease to wonder, cease to doubt. The less is included in the greater.
And hence we can say, What may we not expect, seeing that Christ has
died for us? There is nothing too good, nothing too great, nothing too
glorious, for God to do for us, and in us, and with us, seeing He has
not spared His only-begotten Son, but delivered Him up for us all.
Everything is secured for us by the precious death of Christ. It has
opened up the everlasting flood-gates of the love of God, so that the
rich streams thereof might flow down into the very depths of our souls.
It fills us with the sweetest assurance that the One who could bruise
His only-begotten Son, on the cursed tree, for us, will meet our every
need, carry us through all our difficulties, and lead us into the full
possession and enjoyment of all that His eternal purpose of grace has in
store for us. Having given us such a proof of His love, even when we
were yet sinners, what may we not expect at His hands now that He views
us in association with that blessed One who glorified Him in death--the
death that He died for us? When Israel saw the ark in the midst of
Jordan, they were entitled to consider that all was secured. As our Lord
also said to His disciples before leaving them, "Be of good cheer, I
have overcome the world;" and, in view of His cross, He could say, "Now
is the prince of this world cast out." True, Israel had, as we know, to
take possession: they had to plant their feet upon the inheritance; but
the power that could stem death's dark waters, could also drive out
every foe from before them, and put them in peaceful possession of all
that God had promised.