We often lose a great deal of the practical value of the teaching that is given us in the Book of Joshua from thoughts that we have probably received from the days of childhood. Thus the crossing of the Jordan is often thought to mean passing the boundary that divides between earth and heaven when we die_that is, entering into the heavenly Canaan through death. I do not doubt that we have in the Book of Joshua a picture of passing over the boundary of death and entering into Canaan; but it is not when we leave this world, but while we are still in the body. It is that which God has given us in the resurrection of Christ, and in His present taking possession of the heavenly places for us. And what will make this plain to all is that when we get to heaven, we do not have to fight with the Canaanites, nor with anything answering to them. Fighting is not the business of heaven; but it was the special business of the people who passed over Jordan. It was more their business than any other thing. It was not so much the work before them in the wilderness. There, the great lesson was dependence upon the living God and the learning of self. There, God was proving what the hearts of His people were; and, what was infinitely better, the people were proving, or ought to have been proving, what the living God was who had taken His place in their midst.
The wars that Israel had in the wilderness were comparatively few, whereas when they crossed the Jordan, for a time there was nothing but war. The crossing of the Jordan, therefore, does not mean the literal death of the body, but the death of Christ and our union with Him. We are even now planted in heavenly places, and that for the purpose of our wrestling "not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [or heavenly] places" (Eph. 6:12).
Now there is a good deal of the meaning and power of this lost by the children of God from the idea that the main part of our conflict is with ourselves. That is not at all the case. Self-judgment is a different thing from conflict. Daily self-judgment is most right and needful_the constant review of our ways and judgment of self and of the flesh. But there is a
restless, indefatigable, subtle enemy that makes it his main business, not merely to entice the Christian into sin through the flesh, but, by darkening the truth, to hinder souls from enjoying the fulness of the blessings of God’s grace and God’s glory in His beloved Son. That is the main work of the devil as far as the Church is concerned, and that is the special thing which we have to watch against. We may examine and judge ourselves day by day, and it is a very right thing. But if the soul is ever so careful about that, it is not enough. It may, at the same time, be hindered from the full enjoyment of the Lord Jesus. The main reason is this:the Lord has put before us an inheritance of blessing_"all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). But we are slow to take advantage of it. We think, perhaps, that it is presumption, or that it would be more practical to be dwelling upon our ordinary duties in life. But this would not be enough, because it is not Christianity. It is not the measure of what the Lord has called us to now.
There are certain things that all saints from the beginning of the world have walked in. It never was right at any time for a saint to lie, or to be dishonest, or to do anything immoral. In all dispensations there are certain moral duties that necessarily are inseparable from life in God. But this is not Christianity. A saint may do all that, and yet not enjoy what I call Christianity. To be thoroughly Christian is to enter into the calling that is now ours through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is what is represented by the crossing of the Jordan by the children of Israel. It presents the same death and resurrection of Christ that had been previously depicted in the crossing of the Red Sea, though from a different point of view. The death and resurrection of Christ as seen there is Christ separating us from the world_Christ bringing us out of Egypt. But all that may be, yet we may not have the least enjoyment of our heavenly blessings.
We may thank God that we are delivered_that we are not going to be cast into hell. But is that enough? It is not. If we stop short there, if we do not enter further into our blessings, Satan will be sure, at one time or another, to gain a complete victory over us, as he did over the Israelites. For instead of their conquering and driving out their enemies, we read of Canaanites, Perizzites, Jebusites, etc., who kept their possessions in peace in spite of Israel. And so it is with many a child of God. They are kept in evil that does not appear to be such, and is not considered so because it is not moral evil. There are many so-called religious practices that are sins, and these are what the Christian ought to have his eyes open to. The Lord works this in us by giving us to know that we have a heavenly inheritance.
The Lord Jesus, by His death and resurrection, not only has brought us out of Egypt and into the wilderness, but into heaven itself in spirit. We are even now seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We have now the stamp of heaven upon us, and God desires that we may walk in the sense of this great privilege, making advances, gaining victories, and wrestling what Christ has given us out of the hands of the enemy. We ought to be seeing what the inheritance is that the Lord has assigned to us, and whether our worship and our walk are really according to God and suitable to the place in which He has set us. If you make morality your standard, you will be sure to fall below what you propose. Whatever we put before us as our criterion, there will always be a falling short. If we have Christ risen and Christ in heaven as our object, we shall prove the power of His resurrection, not only in lifting us up when we are conscious of our exceeding shortcoming, but in strengthening us "to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14).
In the beautiful scene in Joshua 3, we find that the people passed dry-shod over Jordan. And what made it so remarkable was its being the very time when the river was overflowing its banks; it was fuller then than at any other season. So in the death of Christ there was the fullest possible outpouring of God’s wrath; and upon His beloved Son, sin_our sin_has been judged to the uttermost. And, as in the type, they passed over as if there had been no Jordan at all, so, in the reality for us, there remains no judgment, but fulness of blessing. We are passed from death unto life, and are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
And now, when they have entered the land, what do we find? The manna ceases_they must eat of the old corn of the land. The food that had sustained them in the wilderness does not any longer suffice. And what is the old corn of the land? It is Christ, as the manna also was; but Christ in another way:it is the food of resurrection. The corn of the land was the fruit of the seed that had been sown in the land, and that had died and sprung up again. It was Christ in resurrection. The Lord grant that our souls may feed upon Him thus! To say that Christ thus known is too high for us_to be content without enjoying Him thus_is to be content without Christ.
(From The Bible Treasury, Vol. 3.)
FRAGMENT
Canaan-possessors, safe in the land,
Victors, confessors, banner in hand;
Jordan’s deep waters evermore behind,
Cares of the desert no longer in mind.