“And Joshua_said to-the sons of-Israel,                                                                ‘Come–near here and hear the-words of-YHVH your-Elohiym.’                And Joshua_said, ‘By this you-know that God (the One) Living in-midst-of-you  (denotes “nearest you/in the center of you” ); Behold, (the) Ark of-the-Covenent of (the) Lord of-all the earth is-crossing before you” (denotes “before your face“)                                                                                                                         Joshua 3:9-10

    By the edge of the Jordan River Joshua called the people to draw near him in order for them to hear what the LORD had (what He possessed) to give to them.  This entire Jordan River occurrence, from Joshua 1 through to the end of Joshua 5, would become a sign to Israel, a declaration of truth to be unveiled to any who would heed Joshua’s beckoning to draw near to hear him tell them YHVH’s heart to them/for them.

   Joshua proceeded to reveal to them that, in their God about to cause them to inherit through His driving out the inhabitants of Canaan (the giants whom their fathers had greatly feared), the ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth was passing before them, before their faces, to cut off, all the way back to Adam (Josh. 3:16) the waters of the Jordan – the descending flow of life that eventually ended at the point of judgment (see Jude 7)

   … yet in the statement to “Behold, the ark of the Covenant”, they could not actually behold the ark of the Covenant.

   There is so very much to unfold before your eyes, Beloved, in the magnitude of this crossing; it is monstrous beyond what we have realized.  The entire prophetic statement of this event would stay a mystery to Israel for centuries, yet renewed in far greater significance in its partial fulfillment when John the Baptist showed up, most probably in the very region where Joshua would have led his people across into their Promised inheritance.

   It seems that by the opening of the kairos time to bring about the New Covenant, the LORD was intentionally bringing His people back to this place of the Jordan, for there was something they did not carry over the first time … (I just got it as I’m writing) …

   What they did not carry across with them  …  was an unveiled ark … for their ark of the Covenant was merely a type & shadow, and also only of the Old Covenant (thus why it had to be veiled).  This one did not allow them to live in the face of the LORD (that is, with them having an unveiled face toward the LORD –  “But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart … for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted.”  II Cor. 3 15, 14a / * see note below).   The Law kept the people in the place of themselves keeping a veil over their hearts – out of fear – so as not to be able to face the LORD their God … because the consciousness of one’s own sin was a daily living reality, most especially when in the hearing of the Torah, or in the presence of a Levite.  The temporal covering of the once-a-year temporal blood, set upon the type and shadow ark, did not remove sin consciousness; thus their standing before God was not an open faced relationship of liberty, rather a shy-away shame relationship because of how intense consciousness of sin would be the closer to the temporal tabernacle one came to be.

   However, the LORD’s heart for His people through the centuries was going to bring them all the way back to the Jordan river to reveal His Salvation in order to properly bring them into their intended inheritance … and He would bring this about by declaring His heart, His intent for them, through the name of the one sent to prepare – “John” – “Yochanan” in Hebrew – “YHVH’s Grace“!  Their inheritance, Beloved, our inheritance, was to be by the eternal working of an unveiled ark of the covenant.  And the only way for anyone to be able to lay eyes on THAT real ark had to be through a gifting, an unmerited gifting, of such a Holy God.

    The story of Christmas actually begins in front of the veil to the Holy of Holies, many moons prior to the birth of our LORD Jesus, where an old priest by the name of Zacariah, whose barren wife’s name is Elizabeth, was carrying out the proscribed priestly duty of offering one of the twice-per-day incense offerings with prayer (Lk. 1:8ff).

   I will not go into detail here, except to say that their names, Zachariah & Elizabeth, jointly mean “Yah-remembers God’s oath”.  And so He gives to them, even to all of Israel, “YHVH’s Grace”, a son (“son being “ben” in Hebrew, from the verb “bana” meaning, “to build”), sent to prepare the way of God’s Son, who Himself would be the purist, truest Revelation of Grace to Israel and to the world (See Zacariah’s explosive prophetic word over his son – Luke 1:63, 67-79 – esp. Vs. 72-73).

   Mark’s gospel opens up with declaring that “the beginning“ of the Good News of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, takes place right at the Jordan river; and he then proceeds to unveil this Good-News-beginning with John’s baptizing  in the Jordan River.

   It is the proclamation, sited in Mark 1:2-3, of both Malachi and Isaiah from the Hebrew Text, concerning John’s “messenger mission” that changes perspective as to exactly what this mission is … and it reveals the very intent of Almighty God’s heart towards mankind, differently than what or how we’ve understood, pointing utterly directly towards that purpose (ref. Mat. 3:13-15, Lk. 12:50, Heb. 2:9) even to the finished work of the cross of the One about to be baptized by this “Yochanan… God’s Grace-John” .

Mark 1:2b-3a (NASB)                                                                                                        “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,                                                     Who will prepare Your way;                                                                                              The voice of one crying in the wilderness,                                                                ‘Make ready the way of the LORD.’ “

   While the words ‘prepare’ & ‘Make ready’ are, in their two different Greek roots, construction terms, their Hebrew root (frm. Malachi 3:2 & Isaiah 40:3 – both use the same Hebrew verb) reveal how “Prepare/ Make-ready” is accomplished.  The Holy Spirit intentionally wanted the fullness, in the usage of the two Greek words, brought out; yet the single Hebrew word reveals how to bring about the two construction/building terms.  The Hebrew verb is “panah”, meaning “to turn (the face)”, the noun of this being “paneh” – the “face” as that which is turned toward (to look).

   Jesus, speaking of John, in Matthew 11:10 b, quotes in the hearing of the people the Malachi 3:1 prophesy, as shown in Mark 1 above, knowing John was called to literally turn the face of the people to face Him (not him).  John was a messenger anointed by God the Father in heaven to ready a people to be built facing the LORD – YHVH – face to Face in the Face of His Son YHVH-shua – Jesus.

“Jesus said, “… He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” ”                                                                                                  John 14:9 (NASB) (ref. also Heb. 1:3)

     But as stated earlier, the heart of Almighty God was that the people come into view … of the true Ark of the Covenant, because their greatest Promised inheritance could only be gained by passing in the open face of this Ark.  The LORD in heaven intentionally wanted  the people to see, to behold, to turn their faces to face His Salvation! (“Yeshua” in Hebrew – (see the last phrase of Ps. 91 in Heb.))

    The Father in heaven wanted His people first to behold His Jesus in the demonstrations of His lovingkindness (miracles, healings, etc) as well as to give their attention to His teaching.  And then, with captivated face and heart, He wanted them to alas see, with their eyes facing, the true Ark, with its blood offering AND Judgment/Mercy-Seat … the cross on Golgatha’s hill.  For here was the complete prophetic fulfillment of that first Jordan crossing, as well as the fullfillment of the missed prophetic statement of Jesus’ own baptism in the Jordan.

“…Jesus Christ, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith…                                                                                                                                                                                                  Romans 3:24b-25a (NASB)

     The word “propitiation” refers primarily to the sacrifice yet also to the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant.  The Entire blood of the Covenant for the true Mercy Seat as well as the Mercy Seat were on public display atop Golgatha – intentionally by Holy God’s doing – to demonstrate the cost of His own willing sacrifice, indeed, the depths of His very Heart, to give us unmerited lovingkindness – Grace from YHVH! … that we might come into face to Face relationship with this Holy God WITHOUT condemnation or even the fear of it! 

    The cross of our LORD Jesus Christ is the unveiled Ark, Beloved, with the eternal blood forever and always declaring us, those who have believed into Him, “CLEAN” / “FORGIVEN” / RELEASED FROM SIN, FROM SIN’S DOMINION … and giving us face to Face access, with the ripped veil of Jesus’s flesh, to Eternal God, our Heavenly Father.

    It is in this face to Face relationship, Beloved, as we behold (II Cor. 4:6) and thus increasingly believe (“Amen”) the revelation of the immensity of God’s real and true Goodness to us that we come into revelation of how great and magnificent are His promises, our Promised Inheritance (II Cor. 1:20; 2 Pet. 1:2-4).

  Let the eyes of your heart capture and be captured by the unveiled Ark of the Covenant, Beloved, the real One.  The revelation will show you ongoingly and increasingly, without ending, what “Finished” really means for you – how cut off our old Adamic root really is, (Rom. 6:6-7; I Cor. 5:17; Col. 3:3) how cut off utterly our place in eternal wrath and condemnation really are (Rom. 5:9; 1 Thess. 1:10), how lavish is the greatness of His Grace to us, yes, Dear One, how LAVISH is the wealth of His grace toward us (Eph. 1:7b-8a; Rom. 5:17).   Don’t be afraid to take hold of this Ark of this Covenant.  Don’t be afraid to live, to dwell, in the face of this glorious Holy Place where there is NO condemnation whatsoever from so amazing a God who has made Himself our Abba Father because of His Son’s willing, costly sacrifice.  Your heart will find out what is first Love, that it was never about you loving God, but about Him loving YOU and giving up His only Beloved Son to gain you.  What has been “theology” will sink the 18 or so inches from your head, and become living reality … and the Word will never again be merely a “theology book about God”.

   You will find with Jesus that Father God becomes your Best Friend!