people of the Lord can pass over Jordan into their inheritance.  Romans 5:12 to

8:39 is seen in type and shadow here.

Thus the Red Sea passage sets forth our union with Christ in His triumph

over sin and death, and the Jordan passage our actual triumphal passage into

literal resurrection glory.  The reader may fill in many other parallels, for

example, the Lord's baptism in Jordan followed by His genealogy back to Adam,

and the calling of the twelve from the baptism of John, as witnesses, but these

details are somewhat apart from our theme.

It is noticeable that Israel pass over the Jordan `right against Jericho'.

Just as the passage through the Red Sea spread consternation among the natives

of Canaan, so also did the passage of the Jordan (Josh. 5:1).  It is here that

Joshua meets `The Captain of the Lord's host' (5:13-15).  This is the beginning

of the conquest of Canaan.  The first to fall is Jericho and its king, and in

the Lord's mercy the initial victory of this third phase is seen to be all of

faith.  Now follows a series of battles, interspersed with events, until at the

close of Joshua chapter 12 a halt is made and a list drawn up comprised of

thirty-one kings that had been smitten.

The record of Caleb and Joshua given in the books of Numbers and Joshua,

may throw light upon the position of those who, like these men of faith, press

on to the goal and overcome.  Sufficient, however, has been said to point the

direction for the child of God, that he may realize the past, the present and

the future of this mighty conflict with principalities and powers, who, like the

Canaanites, doomed to destruction, shall be turned out of their possessions in

the heavenlies, and who already, like Sihon and Og, seek to prevent us `passing

through'.  Let us not forget the solemn lesson of `then came Amalek', nor the

fact that Christ's triumph has travelled on ahead through all spheres, and is

the basis of our ultimate victory.  The power of His might in Ephesians 1:19 and

Ephesians 6:10 is both His triumph and ours.  Both Romans 5 to 8 and 1

Corinthians 15 link the doctrine of Adam, death, and resurrection victory

together, a truth so blessedly set forth in the heaped up waters of Jordan near

the city of Adam.

Immediately following the exhortation to put on the whole armour of God

comes prayer.  The statement with which this idea of prayer is introduced is

somewhat involved:

`With all prayer and supplication, praying in every season in spirit (Gk.

en pneumati), and thereunto watching with all perseverance and

supplication, for all the saints' (Eph. 6:18 author's translation).

The two words `prayer and supplication' have been rendered `supplication

and deprecation'.  That is, asking for what is good and deprecating what is

evil.  At the root of the former word lies the idea of a wish, at the root of

the latter a fear.  The one is the pouring out of the heart's desire, the other

the expression of a need.

`Praying in every season': like the preaching of the Word (2 Tim. 4:2);

prayer is not to be limited to any one season or occasion.  Paul when writing to

the Romans could call God to witness that `without ceasing' he made mention of

them in his prayers.  The solemn appeal to God as a witness prevents any idea of