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the victory (3:, 4:). It is most suggestive to read that at the crossing of the Jordan the
waters,
"stood--rose up in one mound a great way off, by the city ADAM, which is beside
Zarethan, and they which were going down to the sea of the waste plain, the salt sea,
failed--were cut off, and the people passed over right against Jericho" (Josh. 3: 16
Rotherham).
Stanley translates the passage, "High up, far away in Adam, the city which is beside
Zarethan". It seems too clear a type to be put down to mere coincidence that the waters
that flowed down from Adam to the salt sea (called to-day The Dead Sea) should be so
completely cut off. The stream of sin and death which started its course in Eden by
one man must be arrested before the people of the Lord can pass over Jordan into their
inheritance. Rom. 5: 12 - 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 triumphant 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 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 that have been
touched upon in Fundamentals of Dispensational Truth, until at the close of 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 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 phases of this mighty conflict with
principalities, and powers, who, like the Canaanites, are doomed to destruction, who 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 traveled on ahead through all spheres, and
is the basis of our ultimate victory. The power of His might in Eph. 1: 19 and 6: 10 is
both His triumph and ours. Both Rom. 5:-8: and I Cor. 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.
(Mystery16, pp.138-143).
The mystery of the gospel and its ambassador (6: 18 - 24),
(Mystery16, pp.145-153)