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The command "to come up out of Jordan" is also significant. The people, as well as
the priests with the ark, "came up out of Jordan" (4: 19). And the next occurrence of the
word is descriptive of victory: "And the people shall ascend up" (6: 15). It is the same
triumphant word that is used in such passages as:--
"God is gone up with a shout" (Psa. 47: 5);
"Thou hast ascended on high" (Psa. 68: 18).
And also in that tragedy of presumption when the ark was not with the people and
"they presumed to go up unto the hill top" (Num. 14: 44).
With Christ, we stand firm, we ascend, we triumph. Without Christ, all is vanity,
failure and destruction.
Of all the significant features, however, that are associated with the crossing of the
Jordan, the one that we must now consider is surely of the first importance:--
"And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that
bare the ark were dipped ('baptized', LXX) in the brim of the water (for Jordan
overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest), that the waters which came down from
above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan;
and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were
cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho" (Josh. 3: 15, 16).
There is marginal reading here of the Massoretes that suggests as the true meaning:
"Very far off, at the city called Adam." As a piece of topographical information the
passage has little value, for the site of the city called Adam is unknown, and the site of
Zaretan is only a conjecture. Its significance lies in its typical teaching, which becomes
clear when we read it in the light of such passages as I Cor. 15: 22, Rom. 5: 12, and the
passage in Col. 2: 12 which refers to baptism (closely associated with circumcision, as
we find also in Josh. 4:). Here is set forth in wonderful type, the canceling of the
condemnation that comes down to us from Adam. This condemnation has one natural
end, the death and destruction so vividly set forth by the Dead Sea into which the waters
of Jordan run. The passage sets forth in type the burial and the resurrection of the saints
by virtue of union with the Son of God. The priests are a type of Christ, the ark is a type
of Christ, and Joshua is a type of Christ. Each sets forth one special aspect of that great
work wherein the old man is reckoned dead and buried, and the new man put on.
We had hoped to have dealt with the four sections contained in the structure. We have
found, however, that one alone has been of sufficient fullness to demand all the space at
our disposal. We commend this section dealing with the ark and with Adam to the
people of God, believing that a prayerful study will yield rich food for the spirit, and
provide new matter for praise and thanksgiving.