God has revealed Himself as "the God of all grace; " and this not only in word, but in deed. He came where we were; that is, in all our sin and ruin-came to us in the person of His Son,-

" Came from Godhead's fullest glory
Down to Calvary's depth of woe."

Thus He put away sin, the sting of death, by the sacrifice of Himself; thus, through the grace of God, all is changed for those who believe in Jehovah-Jesus; even death is changed. It is death still, but its dress, its aspect, its character, is new. It comes in grace-comes in service. In no other capacity can it enter the household of faith. Hence, for the believer, "to die is gain; " it is "to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better" (Phil. 1:21, 23).

It should be clear that Christ bore the whole penalty of sin on the cross; and believers, according to the inspired Word, are seen as having died with Him -as being "dead with Him." If so, they must be beyond death looked at as a penalty, and therefore it must, as we have already stated, come in grace just to take off the fetter which keeps them in absence from the Lord. "Whilst we are "at home in the body we are absent from the Lord." "We . . . are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord " (2 Cor. 5:6-8).

The passing of the Israelites over Jordan on dry ground may be used, as it has often been, as a picture of the blessedness of saints in departing out of the body to be with the Lord till He come again, when the body will be redeemed by power-the same divine power which divided the Jordan; and thus in glorified bodies, they will be with Him and like Him, who laid down His life to have it so.

The passing over Jordan is thus given in the sacred records:

And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, the priests that bare the ark of the covenant being before the people; and when they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (for Jordan overfloweth all its banks all the time of harvest), that the waters which came down from above stood, find rose up in one heap, a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off; and the people passed over, right against Jericho. And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all Israel passed over on dry ground, until all the nation were passed clean over Jordan."

Such was the crowning intervention of Jehovah in bringing His earthly people into Canaan. Though Jordan was overflowing all its banks, yet the waters that came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap, a great way off, at a city called Adam:that is a great way from where Israel had to pass over, They passed over right against, or opposite, Jericho. According to a map of Canaan as divided among the tribes, the city of Adam was about fifteen miles above Jericho. The waters coming from above stood, and rose up in one heap at Adam-not allowed to flow further. Thus the bed of the river would soon be empty, not only to Jericho, but to the sea of the Arabah, now known as the Dead Sea, about six miles below Jericho.

So when the thousands of Israel passed over Jordan, there was no stream in sight. If they saw the waters at all, they saw them as they " rose up in one heap"-they saw them as a crystal mountain far in the distance-a witness that Jehovah was for them- that His hand was holding these waters till all was accomplished for which they were stayed. The nation could pass over on "dry ground" in all confidence, and without fear.

Those who thus passed over were in after days to say to their children, inquiring the meaning of the twelve stones set up in Gilgal, "Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you until you 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" (Josh. 4:21, 22).

The following beautiful little psalm also puts together what Jehovah did for His people at the Red Sea and Jordan; telling, too, of marvelous things in the wilderness; ascribing all to His "presence":

"When Israel went out of Egypt,-
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
Judah was His sanctuary,
Israel His dominion. The sea saw and fled:
Jordan was turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams,-
the hills like lambs.

"What ailed thee, thou sea, that thou fleddest?
thou Jordan, that thou wast turned back?
Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams?
ye hills, like lambs?
Tremble, thou earth,
at the presence of the Lord,-
at the presence of the God of Jacob :
Who turned the rock into a pool of water,-
the flint into a fountain of waters."

It is important to remark, that before the people could be led one step towards the promised inheritance they had to be redeemed to Jehovah by blood. He could only be the Leader of redeemed ones. See Ex. 12:and 15:13-18.

All this, gone over or hinted at, may be viewed as a type, or shadow, of the great salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. Though this salvation is one great whole, yet in its application it may be looked at in parts. When souls learn their deep need, and first trust in Jesus, they are cleared from their sins by His blood, have peace with God, are born again; yea, they are seen as having died with Christ, risen with Him, and seated in the heavenly places in Him (Eph. 2:6). Thus their calling is heavenly; yet in the wisdom of God they are detained a while in this scene of sin and sorrow. In this sense the wilderness has a place in His ways with His heavenly people, as it had with His earthly people. Hence the Lord, in praying to the Father, said, "I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil." The same intercession is continued above in the Father's presence, in response to which they are kept in this wilderness-"kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." Though as to their souls believers are saved, yet as to their circumstances they need to be saved all the way through to glory. And " He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Heb. 7:25). Should believers die before the coming of the Lord, they depart to be with Him, yet they wait for the day of full redemption.

But our subject is, the death of such–what death is to them. To them, in dying, there is no "Jordan's stream"-no "death's cold flood." There is Jordan-there is death; but "the stream"-"the flood"-the dark waters of death, rolled over the blessed Holy One when on the cross, enduring sin's judgment, thus rolling these waters back out of sight for those who trust in Him. So they "never see death "-they " never taste death " (John 8:51, 52). Jesus, "by the grace of God, tasted death." Thus the bitterness of death is past for those who avail themselves of this gracious provision. The bed of death's river is dry for them. In this sense grace, through the death of Christ, has "abolished death." The apostle uses this expression in his second epistle to Timothy-likely his last. He was then near martyrdom. His trial before Nero had been going on. He says, "At my first answer no man stood with me." Things were so dark in that great pagan court that even his friends fled. He knew what was coming. He says, " I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand." But though a violent death was before him, yet he could say, "Our Saviour Jesus Christ hath abolished death" (2 Tim. 1:10). Death, to him, though coming in that way, was only his "departure "-simply his dismissal from the body to be with his much loving and his much loved Lord. It was all grace, victory and brightness to him; and this not because he was an apostle, but because he knew Jesus as His Saviour. He says in the same epistle, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day." R. H.

(To be continued.)