Part 4
“… the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, and command them, saying, ‘Take up for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm, and carry them over with you …’ ”
So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed … one man from each tribe; and Joshua said to them, “Cross again to the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder…” And these twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.” Joshua 4:1b, 3a, 4, 5a, 20 (NASB)
My heart is bursting, Beloved, to share with you all that is jumping off of the pages of these early chapters from of book of Joshua.
Having read Joshua chapter 3 almost a week ago in the middle of night, I finally turned the light off in the living room and headed back to bed. I had barely laid down when the Holy Spirit began to unveil Jesus from the above verses, and I jumped out of bed, excited and bursting at the seams, if you will, doing everything I could to keep from shouting. As I opened this passage again this morning, it seemed that the Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ words of John 16:14, kept glorifying Jesus by taking more of Him and disclosing it to my heart.
The LORD has been laying a foundation for us as He is being unveiled in these nuggets, taking us back to the foundation of the finished work of the cross of Christ Jesus our LORD. Paul had declared to the Corinthian believers (I Cor. 2:2) that he determined not to know anything among them except Jesus Christ, and Him (lit. “having-have-been”) crucified.” (The last verb is in the perfect passive tense – showing utter completeness of action … {with ongoing present-tense ramifications}). Towards the end of his second letter to the Corinthians he writes of his concern that the church there was being beguiled away from this simplicity of knowing Christ (II Cor. 11). The LORD is bringing the bride of Christ back to the simplicity of the gospel again in this hour, back to a proper foundationing of Christ and Him crucified, that we might not be, in the days ahead, blown about by the winds of so much stuff going on in the world, nor by the beguiling of what sounds like Christian doctrine, (“enticing words” Paul wrote in Col. 2:4), but is actually contrary to the finished work of the cross. Our foundationing into this cornerstone of Jesus Christ & Him crucified, in learning and letting be woven into the fabric of who we are – as believers in our believing – in what all this means, as a daily grace-truth reality for this life in this life – in our everyday faith within our secular lives throughout the week – will consequently be the solid, even unshakable, rock upon which our house will be built; it will thus stand without waver, without shaking, in the days ahead, the ever solid light house to which the world will clearly see JESUS, Christ Jesus our LORD, in the dark storms … and they will accordingly come willingly into the sanctuary we have built, the very strong tower of our LORD Jesus who lives very much alive in our hearts as King of kings and Lord of lords.
- “According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, … But let each man be careful how he builds upon it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
I Corinthians 3:10-11 (NASB)
The grace of God given to Paul to lay the foundation of Jesus Christ is a grace based upon the revelation of Jesus Christ in His resurrection glory – having have been crucified, now raised from the dead, and ascended to heaven and seated upon the universe’s highest throne. I know this is a lot of wording, and so often taken for granted as an, “of course I believe this”; but I honestly believe in my heart, and I say this because of how I was for the better part of almost three decades since I believed into Jesus, and then also by what I have for so long been hearing out of the mouths of so many believers, that the largest majority of true believers in Jesus Christ, most probably on a global scale, that even though we say we believe the statement written above as the explanation of Jesus in His resurrection glory, in truth do not recognize, do not see, in their doctrinal belief, Jesus Christ post cross! Most of us would be as the two on the road to Emmaus, (Lk. 24:13ff) not having recognized Christ Jesus in the finished work of the cross and now before us in resurrection glory. We have not seen Jesus and the finished work of the cross within the context of the majority of the Old Testament, but simply recognize Old Testament stories; and then we try to glean life lessons for ourselves, sometimes tying something of Jesus into at least the prophecies of Him … yet all the while not recognizing throughout the finished work of the cross of Christ. Too many of us have not come to the REST of the finished work of Jesus’s cross, but strive in our faith to obtain what Jesus already purchased with His own life, with His shed blood. What we have believed in our heads, very few have believed as a true cornerstone reality in the heart. Even so, this is changing en masse globally in this hour, and I am overjoyed to see and hear what is taking place within the Kingdom of God, within the Bride of Christ, the church, throughout various nations of the earth.
After forty years of wandering, the last place the LORD has Moses to lead the people within the wilderness was to a plain, an open area near Mount Nebo called Shittim, not too far east from the Jordan river. Moses gives his final instructions and then prophetic words to Israel. Deuteronomy chapters 29 through 34 takes place in this final phase. Moses would ascend Mount Nebo, passing away on top of the mountain after having looked abroad over into Canaan. Israel would mourn for him for thirty days. After this the book of Joshua begins, the people still being in Shittim (Abel-Shittim – Meadow of the Acacias – the wood used in the tabernacle, for some furniture pieces as well as for the side boards, all of which was overlaid with gold, was made from acacia trees- i.e. Ex. 36). Chapter three begins with Joshua leading the people from these plains to the very edge of the Jordan River, where they camped three days. It is in this time, right at the Jordan’s bank, that the people are instructed to keep their eyes from this day forward upon the ark of covenant. Beloved, let these words sink into your heart … everything beyond this point is predicated upon keeping eyes upon the ark of the covenant. From this point on, in your reading the scriptures, Dear One, keep the eyes of your heart on the Ark of the Covenant, of the New Covenant. You will never again see the scriptures the same way. And you will suddenly find yourself being Holy Spirit led in your daily life in ways you never thought, the very Word of God coming alive throughout your daily lives in this secular world. For in this instruction, in this active faith-looking on our part is the revelation of the finished work of the cross, the glory of grace, the unfading glory of the resurrection.
- “And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over ahead of the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people. Now the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. ” ”
Joshua 3:6-7 (NASB)
This is the word of the LORD to the leaders of the church right now. This is the revelation of the LORD Jesus in this hour across the earth. Almighty God is going to bring about, through His Holy Spirit, an exaltation of our Joshua, our LORD Jesus, in the eyes of His people, both the church and natural Israel, as the unveiling of the ark of the New Covenant is lifted up for the church and also for the world to see.
The whole crossing of the Jordan, what the Holy Spirit is going to speak, in the unveiling of Jesus and the finished work of the cross, in what takes place in this crossing, absolutely pivots upon the command of verse 6 to lift up the ark of the covenant. Leading the saints into their promised inheritance is foundationed upon this taking place in the church right now. It is a lifting up, in the eyes of the saints, the revelation of the blood of Abba Father God’s Lamb, His offering sacrifice on behalf of mankind. There is no crossing, no inheritance to be accessed, without this lifting up taking place. Scan the early chapters of Paul’s Epistles, especially Ephesians and Colossians, they are rooted in upholding the revelation of the finished work of the cross in declaring what is the blood of Jesus to the saints. The successive chapters of each respective epistle cannot be properly spiritually appraised apart from setting these early declarations/unveilings of the first chapters pertaining to the work of the cross and the blood of Jesus. The grace to receive the instruction of the epistles is given in the Holy Spirit’s opening revelation of this within the first chapters of these letters. The saints today will easily glean from the instruction of the LORD in the revelation first of the work of the blood of Christ. For it is an exaltation of the work of Christ that brings about a true faith-trust to believe in the work of grace, in revelation of the heart of Abba Father God who cheerfully gives us freely our inheritance in Christ. Oh Dear leader, the saints will not run in loose living in their faith walk because of the pure word of Grace. They will not be able to run in licentiousness when the living blood of their Redeemer is ever set before their eyes. They will, rather, see increasingly the greatness of their forgiveness, the cost of their redemption, and they will fall in love with their LORD again and again, deeper and deeper (Lk. 7:47a) … and will fall out of love with sin.
The priests of the line of Aaron’s second son, Kohath, lift the ark by its poles up onto their shoulders and head straight for the overflowing Jordan river. As they step with the soles of their feet into the waters of the Jordan, the river suddenly heaps up, north from them, “a great distance away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan ;” (v 16). The priests did not stop at the edge, though. The ground suddenly is dried up and they keep moving forward, in the awed view of the Hebrews.
- “And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan …” Joshua 3:17a (NASB)
- “And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.”
Joshua 3:17 (NASB)
Once the entire nation crossed over, YHVH speaks again to Joshua.
“… the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, and command them, saying, ‘Take up for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm, and carry them over with you …’ ”
So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed … one man from each tribe; and Joshua said to them, “Cross again to the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder…” And these twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.” Joshua 4:1b, 3a, 4, 5a, 20 (NASB)
I will not take time to explain all that could be taught; except to tell you what the Holy Spirit spoke to me and showed me. One man from each of the twelve tribes of Israel pulled out, from where the feet of the priests stood who had held there in the middle of the Jordan the ark of the covenant a stone and lifted it to his shoulder and carried it out to where they would settle their first night in their now realized promised inheritance. The Hebrew word for “stone” here is “eben”. It’s meaning is greater than just merely a “stone”. “Eben” is derived from the root word “banah”- “to build ”. Which takes me to the verse that came to me in the middle of the night, which, I just found out, uses the word Hebrew “eben” .
- “Therefore thus says the Lord God (Adonai YHVH), Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone (eben), a tested stone (eben) (lit. “a stone tested”) A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.”
Isaiah 28:16 (NASB)
Look again, Beloved, from where each appointed man took up their stone … They were picking up to set up the cornerstone of Christ Jesus, the very testimony of Christ Jesus and Him crucified. Each man’s stone was set up in the place called Gilgal, where the reproach of Egypt, not the wilderness, but Egypt, which reproach these men’s father bore in the wilderness, was finally rolled away with the circumcision that took place here. Moreover they celebrated Passover. The entire prophetic testimony of the cross of Christ Jesus is carried out to the T in the totality of this crossing in the view of the ark of the covenant.
Yet there is more to say, pertaining to the sum of the stones taken up. Recognizing that “eben” is rooted in the verb “to build”, the building foundation that was to take place was the foundation of which Paul spoke,
“According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, … But let each man be careful how he builds upon it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
- I Corinthians 3:10-11 (NASB)
I’m telling you, Beloved, with the intensity of my spirit that THIS re-laying a foundation of Christ Jesus and Him crucified is the global working of the Holy Spirit in this Kairos/Chronos time in history.
The issue of twelve stones having been brought out from the Jordan’s middle, from the place where the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the Covenant of YHVH, is integral for us to see.
I will not go into the explanation, though there is an amazing revelation of Christ Jesus as our eternal High Priest and what the work of His cross means in this standing; On the breast piece of the High Priest’s garments, called the ephod, were twelve stones, precious stones, set onto a square pouch which had gold on the front plate, worn over the heart, each costly stone having engraved into it a name from each of the sons of Israel. (See Ex. 28 et al )
This part touched my heart the most in revealing the issue of the foundation, the building stones, in what the perfection of the finished work of the cross of Christ manifests in us in grace-glory as the church.
- “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem (Jerusalem literally means “foundationed peace”) coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
- And one of the seven angels … spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I shall show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” … And he … showed me the holy city… the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, … The foundation stones of the city were adorned with every kind of precious stone” Excerpts from Revelation 21 (NASB)
The foundation stones are the foundation of Christ Jesus. The preciousness of each stone is made so, having been wrought as such through sufferings of Christ Jesus. Each one of us is set a precious stone with our engraved names to His heart before Almighty God. The light of God does not reveal our sin, Beloved, but the perfection of the work of His cross through the purity of the gold underneath reflecting the light of the glory of God’s grace in spectrums of color this world’s eyes are longing to see. It is imperative for each one of us to have our foundation set as a foundation from off of the Cornerstone laid by God. We must have the solidity set in us as a church as it pertains to what the finished work of the cross of Christ means to each individual in having wholly dealt with our sins and making us holy sons and daughters of the living God. (Ref. I Pet. 2:4-7a)
We are not changed by doing, Beloved. We are changed by beholding. The church has spent long enough trying to change, trying to be/do good enough, trying desperately to keep the tenants of the Law in order to appear “Christian” before the world and before each other. That time has ended. It’s time to stop trying to do, even to stop and just ongoingly behold. The glory of each precious stone is the glory that will glow out of each one of us as we give ourselves to alas behold Christ Jesus our LORD in His resurrection glory. The clarity of undefiled gaze into the light of pure grace in the face of Jesus will bring about a tranformation, an effortless work, but a work beyond our comprehension by God’s Holy Spirit, which will thus cause the bride of Christ to reflect her LORD in such true glow of real Holy righteousness that will resonate an unheard song in the ears and the eyes of the lost of the nations of the earth of true grace and mercy from the Holy God and Father who ripped the veil for anybody, any sinner, to freely enter the Holy of Holies uncondemned. The solidity of our faith, of our foundation in Christ Jesus in a shaking world will become more and more evident first to ourselves and then to others around us the more and the longer we behold the glory of our Risen LORD and the less and less we give our ears and our hearts to the mixture of Law and Grace messages.
- You are so loved, Beloved. Mark Dingemans
kairos – (Kahee-ros’) – Strong’s concordance defines this word: “an occasion, I.e. set or proper time.” The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible (NASB) defines this word; “season, time, but not merely as a succession of moments, which is chronos,” [from which we derive the English word ‘chronology’]. “Kairos, however, implies not the convenience of the season, but the necessity of the task at hand, whether the time provides a good, convenient opportunity or not.” This must be understood. Strategic times of the Lord do not necessarily imply good or convenient times. We are in Kairos times. Maybe not good or convenient times, but definitely strategic, opportune times because of the season we are in. We must have “ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches,” (Rev. 2:29), so as to respond correctly to the Kairos time.
* Some Scripture for this letter is taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, (c) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Other references translated from Grk. Txt as presented in T. Newberry’s Englishman’s Greek New Testament, Zondervan Publishing – 1982- originally published in London, Eng. 1877