Lesson 154 - Senior
Memory Verse
"Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him" (Psalm 33:8).
Cross References
I The Dividing of Jordan
1. Joshua comes to Jordan, [JOS:3:1-6].
2. The Lord encourages Joshua, [JOS:3:7-8].
3. Joshua encourages the people, [JOS:3:9-13].
4. The waters of Jordan are divided, [JOS:3:14-17]; [PS:114:5-7].
II Two Memorials
1. Twelve stones are taken for a memorial out of Jordan, [JOS:4:1-8].
2. Twelve stones are set up in the midst of Jordan, [JOS:4:9].
3. The people pass over Jordan, [JOS:4:10-13].
4. God magnifies Joshua, [JOS:4:14-18].
5. A monument is set up in Gilgal, [JOS:4:19-24].
Notes
Marching Orders
When but a young man, Joshua stood on the banks of the Red Sea and heard the words of Moses, "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD." He had seen Moses take his rod and stretch it over the sea. Joshua had walked along the dry path that God had hewed through the midst of the waters.
Forty years have gone by; Moses is now dead; and God promises Joshua, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee." Encouraged by these words from God, Joshua leads his people to the shores of Jordan and then instructs them, "When ye see the ark . . . go after it." Their eyes were to be focused upon the Ark, not on the per-son at their side or anyone about them. "See the ark" of the covenant of the Lord your God; be sure that the ark is your guide. Man is prone to wander, but the Ark of God will lead you on. Go after it!
Paul instructs us to look "unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." We must come to Him to be saved; we must abide in Him to continue in the way. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith - the Alpha and the Omega -- the beginning and the end. If we come to Him, remain in Him, and endure to the end, we shall be saved.
New Ground
The Israelites were told, "Ye have not passed this way heretofore." There was new territory ahead for them to possess. No one on earth has ever reached the heights, nor explored the depths, of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we keep our eyes upon Him and follow Him, He will lead us into territory that we have not passed heretofore.
The Divided Jordan
At the command of Joshua, the priests took the Ark of God and headed straight for the river Jordan. When the soles of their feet touched the water a mighty miracle took place. Oftentimes we, too, must, put our feet by faith in the brink of the river before God undertakes. We must step out in trusting faith, at times, into places we cannot see. But just as the water gave way and the river bottom dried before those bearing the Ark, so God makes a way for those who have faith in Him. "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee" (Isaiah 43:2).
As the priests marched to the middle of the river, the waters piled up in a heap on the upstream side. The waters below did not back up, but ran on down to the sea. In the middle of the bed of the stream the priests stood firm while all Israel passed over Jordan into Canaan. The priests continued to stand firm before the heaped up waters until a man chosen from each tribe picked up a stone from before the Ark and carried it to the place where Israel was to camp that night. Joshua then set up twelve stones in the very place where the priests were standing in the middle of Jordan. When the priests who carried the Ark reached the Canaan shore, the river again flowed down as before.
Monuments
At their first camp in Canaan the twelve stones out of Jordan were set up as a monument -- a monument, which told of a mighty miracle that God had wrought. The Psalmist wrote of this great event and said, "What ailed thee . . . thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, . . . at the presence of the God of Jacob" (Psalm 114:5 7). God wanted His name to be honoured in Israel, that in time to come when the children asked their fathers, "What mean these stones?" the fathers would answer: "Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over: that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever."
Two monuments were set up when Israel crossed Jordan: one on the bank on the Canaan side of the river, the other in the midst of Jordan. The one on the bank of the river spoke of a mighty deliverance and escape that God made for His people when He stopped the waters of the Jordan. The one in the midst of Jordan seems to tell of Jesus Christ who did not escape. He died for our sins. He was our Deliverer. The Psalmist cried, "All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me." Jesus died that we might enjoy the blessings of spiritual Canaan. One monument was on the shore where the children might ask, "What mean these stones?" The other was buried beneath the river where only the eye of God could see it. No man knows the depths that Jesus went through to purchase our redemption. Twelve stones were buried under the waters where no son would ask nor father could explain, "What mean these stones?"
A mighty miracle was wrought when God dried up the Red Sea and led His people out of Egypt, but no monument was erected there. God did not intend to have His people dwell in the wilderness or to go back to Egypt. No son of Jacob was to be there to ask, "What mean these stones?" God wanted His people to dwell in Canaan. This was the land that He had given them, and it was His will that they go in and possess it. This was that good land that God had promised, "a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills." "A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always up-on it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year" (Deuteronomy 11:12). It was here that God promised to "give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil" (Deuteronomy 11:14).
The Promised Land
When Israel left the bondage of Egypt they typified a sinner forsaking the world of sin. The night they left, the Passover lamb was slain, typifying Christ as the Passover Lamb. They were saved from death by the blood that was applied to their dwellings when the Lord passed through the land and smote the Egyptians. After their salvation they were symbolically baptised in water when they passed under the cloud and through the Red Sea -- a perfect type of water baptism by immersion ([1CO:10:1-2]).
God then led the Children of Israel to Mount Sinai that He might sanctify them wholly. He intended to write the Law not only on the tables of stone but also on the fleshy tables of their hearts. "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts" (Jeremiah 31:33).
But even though Israel drew back from God, through fear and unbelief, and as a result wasted years in wandering, the events that took place on Mount Sinai typify the experience of sanctification that God. has for all who will not draw back from His will for them.
God led the Israelites across Jordan into Canaan, the land of promise, and this typifies the third great experience God has for us, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The Christian, after being saved and sanctified, is ready to enter into his promised land the glorious land of plenty that is his through the experience of the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
God has given the former rain and the latter rain according to the prophecy found in [JOE:2:23-29]. On the Day of Pentecost, when the former, or early, rain was poured out, Peter said, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel" (Acts 2:16). He also stated, "The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:39). This Latter Rain is being poured out to-day. The call to enter into the blessings of spiritual Canaan is to all those who have been saved and sanctified.
Questions
1. What was to mark the way for Israel through Jordan?
2. What encouragement did Joshua receive from the Lord?
3. When did the waters of Jordan start to pile up?
4. Why were twelve stones taken out of Jordan?
5. What Christian experiences are typified by the travels of the Israelites?
6. For whose benefit was the monument erected in Gilgal?
7. Canaan is sometimes used as a type of Heaven. Why is it a better picture of the Christian overcomer's life here below?
8. How many times was the Jordan river parted?
9. Name all the Scriptural events you can that happened at the Jordan river.
10. Why are the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh mentioned separately here?