“And_ Joshua_said, “In- this you-know that El Chay [(the) Living_God] (is) in-midst-of-you, … Behold, (the) ark of-the-covenant of-(the)-Lord[Adon] of-all the-earth is-crossing-over before-you [denoting, “before-your-face”] into (the) Jordan …” ” and when those who carried the ark came into the Jordan, … the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off.” Joshua 3: 10a, 11 (Frm. Mssrtc Heb. Txt.) Joshua 3: 15a, 16a (NASB)
The power and significance of this event in Joshua 3 through 5 still reverberates to our day, yet very, very pointedly to & through the cross of our LORD Jesus. These early pages of Joshua almost scream out, in their bold prophetic declaration, the entirety of the finished work of the cross of Christ … beginning from Jesus’s baptism in Mark 1:9.
Joshua, I think, understood the weightiness of both history and geography in exactly what was this crossing – the name & meaning of this river, this river’s final destination, and thus what the significance was of specifically the Ark of the covenant of the LORD, of the Lord of the whole earth, in cutting off the waters of this river “a great distance away at Adam”. This river is not as mighty in appearance as the Red sea or even the Euphrates. Yet this opening, and on one side only (in contrast the Red Sea being heaped up on both sides) is most probably more significant in denotation, in ramification, in prophesying, as it pertains to his people, the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, than was even the Red Sea’s being opened for them in their leaving the slavery of Egypt forty years earlier.
The Jordan River flows to the lowest place on earth, at which end were then (and still are) the scorched remains, the scorching reminder, of what is Divine wrath upon those who ultimately reject God’s great kindness – His mercy and grace. The very word “Jordan” denotes, “descending”, which verb, from which it is derived, is used above in v. 11: “the waters which were flowing down (“yor’diym” in Hebrew) from above”. The Jordan flows from out of the Sea of Galilee, a body of water in & around where there is an abundance of life, of sustenance for life, but whose outflow river descends and so ends up in a dead sea, literally. The very tale of the Jordan is the tale of life (B.C.) of those born into the bloodline of Adam, ever descending through life to that ultimate judgment, a tale of life to death, that death clearly denoting “judgment/wrath.”
“Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them … are exhibited as an example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.” excerpt frm. Jude 7 (NASB)
Jude’s words are from two thousand years ago … showing clearly that the sons of Israel surely had known the significance of that region of their land. The book of Genesis was written by Moses, the one with whom Joshua spent many hours, especially in the presence of the LORD. Joshua, keeping his eyes often in the pages of Moses’ writings (Joshua 1:8), would have known the account of Genesis 19.
Jesus, as a boy growing up Jewish and in that land, would have heard of these accounts from both Mary & Joseph and the sabbath day synagogue meetings. Yet also, knowing who He Himself was, having come from the Father in Heaven, the “El Chay [Living God]” of Joshua 3:10 (Ref. Lk. 2:40, 46-49), He would know, and would come to know later as a Man, the prophetic fulfillment of Joshua’s early chapters through His own life.
The treasure hidden is seen in Mark’s gospel, Ch1:
v1 “The beginning of the gospel [Good-News] of Jesus Christ [YHVH-shu’a – YHVH-saves / Anointed-One] the Son of God.”
v4 “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.”
v9 a“And it came about in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.”
We often read these verses quickly, not seeing by the English the nugget buried right in front of our eyes … because it is revealed in the Greek text & grammar. While it is that the English reading basically says the same thing, that the people and then Jesus were both baptized by John in the Jordan, the Greek text reveals separate details, which, when I first saw this some years ago, I was in awe of God for three days (literally, sometimes while driving, doing so w/ both hands in the air to Him).
In v4 the Grk. word for “in” is “en”. Everything that follows this preposition is part of the indirect object, meaning that what follows is merely clarification to the point being made. It is not necessarily insignificant, it just isn’t the direct object of the statement. In Mark 1:4 it means this; the point of this statement is the people’s baptism, which happens to be taking place in the Jordan. It is by no means insignificant that this baptism of the seed of Israel is going on in this River, yet it is still not the point.
Not so with Jesus’s baptism. The Grk. word for “in” in Mark 1:9 is “eis” (sounds like “ice”), and technically is better understood as “into“. What follows “eis” is all a part of the direct object, meaning this: The point of Mark 1:9 is not Jesus’s’ baptism, rather more fully, is Jesus’s’ baptism into this river very specifically, intentionally! Jesus was not being baptized as the people in order to repent and receive forgiveness … there was never sin in Him; He needed no cleansing.
“Eis” denotes not merely the position (of one) as does “en”, rather the entrance into the position. Jesus was intentionally, very intentionally, being baptized into this river, the “descender” river, prophetically of Golgatha’s cross to come, to judgment, to wrath – death – in order to cut off, on our behalf, the reason for the existence of the law of sin in the Adamic nature of man.
Jesus, the sacrifice of Himself to the cross, cuts off, by His death, the root cause & reason for sin in mankind, all the way back (“a great distance away”) to Adam! (Gen. 3, esp. V 15; Rom. 5:10-20; I Cor. 15:21-22; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 2:14).
The Jordan’s baptism of Christ Jesus, Beloved, was a benchmark being set into this age, openly signifying Jesus’s commitment before His people, (though they did not see this), that He willingly was come to be a sin offering, hence gracing any who would “cross in front of the ark” to gain inheritance (Joshua 3:17): it was a prophetic finger pointing towards Golgatha that He would let be spilled His blood, the blood He would place upon the True and Living ark of the Covenant in Heaven, which would declare “Finished judgment! Received wrath for man, a long way back … to Adam!” (Ref. Heb. 9:7, 11-14, 24). The Alpha and Omega, the Aleph and Tav, was bracketing His life’s ministry as a Man with the whole plan of God to save us, by His starting and ending that ministry as a Lamb to receive the sin of the world, to become the sin offering for you and I.
“The next day he (John) saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” ” John 1:29 (NASB)
One of Jesus’ final words from the cross … “Tetelestai” – “Finished!” (Jhn. 19:30). This Greek word carries the more full definition, “It has been completed!” Jesus utterly dealt with, and so rolled all the way back to Adam, the very reason death even exists, even the very issue of wrath, of judgment.
Paul wrote in Romans 6:3-4
“… as-many-as were-baptized into[eis] Christ Jesus, into[eis] the death of-Him we-were-baptized. We-were-co-buried, therefore, to-Him through baptism into[eis] death, in-order-that just-as Christ_was-raised from-out-of (the) dead through the glory of the Father, thus also we, in newness of-life might-walk.“
For those of you who have never been water baptized, I encourage you to do so. You will experience a glory, a resurrection glory, for walking in newness of life in this life. Baptism as a Believer is not as the baptism of John, rather the baptism, as it were, of Joshua, where the testimony of the blood on the Ark of the covenant in Heaven, the ark which is a judgment seat become for us a Mercy Seat, testifies that the ultimate wrath for Adam’s sin is no longer our destiny, that the river is not a descender river to death, but one that rises up, “springing up into eternal life” (John 4:14).
To all of you who have believed and have been baptized into Christ Jesus and into His Holy Spirit, the hope of GLORY, of resurrection glory, has been poured out in your hearts through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit inside of you testifies to you, not of you missing the mark of the glory any more, rather of the resurrection glory which Father God now sees upon you in His Son. The testimony of the finished work of the cross, of the speaking blood upon the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant in heaven, is the glory for you to gaze at in the Face of your Risen Savior who sits on that throne. Stop looking at your shortcomings, Beloved, and turn your gaze upon Christ Jesus post-cross. For this is where occurs the transformation you so dearly long for.
And this is where is, where rests, the revelation of inheritance. You’ve already crossed the Jordan, Precious child of God.
You are so loved, deeply loved, Beloved, by your heavenly Father.
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