Crystallization-Study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth
Message Three
Crossing the Jordan River and Being Prepared for Battle
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Josh. 4:10 And the priests who carried the Ark stood in the middle of the Jordan until everything was completed that Jehovah had commanded Joshua to speak to the people…. And the people hurried and crossed over.
2 Cor. 4:11-12 For we who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death operates in us, but life in you.
Word of Appetizer
Joshua 3 and 4 are on Israel’s crossing of the river Jordan; what’s the significance of crossing the river Jordan?
The Jordan River typifies the death and resurrection of Christ; the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord crossed over before the people into the Jordan; the Ark’s entering into and coming out of the Jordan indicates Christ’s death and resurrection; Israel’s crossing of the river Jordan typifies not the believers’ physical death but the believers’ experience of the death of Christ, in which the old man is terminated and buried; the believers’ baptism into the death of Christ, as the crossing of the Jordan River, leads the believers into the resurrection of Christ.
Spiritual Burden
We need to realize that our old man, our natural man, is not qualified to fight the spiritual warfare for the gaining of Christ; in Christ we are no longer the old man but a new man.
God put the priests in the place of death so that the Israelites would have a way to the land of life; the Lord is seeking for a group of people who, like the priests in Joshua 3 and 4, step into the water, that is, walk into death first; in the Lord’s recovery we need to die so that life may work in others.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Joshua 3:1 through 4:24 are on Israel’s crossing of the river Jordan; Israel’s crossing of the river Jordan typifies the believers’ experience of the death of Christ, in which the old man is terminated and buried.
Twelve stones were taken out of the Jordan, and another twelve stones were erected in the Jordan; the two sets of twelve stones signify that our old man has been buried and our resurrected new man is living and working with the Triune God as one.
The priests carrying the Ark of the Testimony stood firmly on dry ground at the bottom of the river Jordan until all the nation had completely crossed over the Jordan.
Although the Israelites had been disciplined, trained, and qualified, after crossing the Jordan they still needed further preparation before the attack.
The Experience of Life
The believers’ baptism into the death of Christ is the crossing of the Jordan River; in the aspect of burial, baptism is the termination of our flesh; in the aspect of resurrection, baptism is the germination of our spirit so that we are made alive in Christ with the divine life; in the new realm of resurrection we enjoy Christ as the all-inclusive good land in which we walk and even are being rooted and built up for the accomplishing of the economy of God.
Practice and Application
“Then death operates in us, but life in you”; we need to die so that life may work in others; hence, our dying is our working.
In the New Testament spiritual circumcision is the constant application of Christ’s death to our flesh; although in fact we have been baptized into the death of Christ and have been buried and raised with Him, in practicality we still must apply the circumcision of the cross to our flesh by the Spirit day by day.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1: The Jordan River typifies the death and resurrection of Christ (Rom. 6:5-6).
(Please explain that the crossing of the Jordan River typifies the believers’ baptism.)
T2: The Ark was a type of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God (Josh. 3:6, 8).
(Please explain the spiritual significance of “The Ark of God with the bearing priests took the lead to go into the waters of the Jordan and stood still in the waters”.)
Day 2
T1: The believers’ experience with Christ of the resurrection from death (Josh. 4:3; Rom. 6:3-4)
(What’s the meaning of taking the twelve stones out of the Jordan?)
T2: The old man of the believers should remain in the death of Christ (Josh. 4:9; Rom. 6:6).
(What’s the meaning of erecting twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan?)
Day 3
T1: God must first put us in the place of death before others can receive life (Josh. 3:17; 2 Cor. 4:12).
(Please explain the spiritual significance of “The priests were the first ones to go into the water and the last ones to come up out of the water.”)
T2: The work of God’s overcomer is to stand upon Christ’s death so that others can gain life (Josh. 3:17; 2 Cor. 4:10).
(What’s the meaning of “The priests carrying the Ark of the Testimony stood firmly on dry ground at the bottom of the river Jordan until all the nation had completely crossed over the Jordan”?)
Day 4
T1: Supply gives life to others (2 Cor. 4:10-12).
(Please explain according to your own experiences that we will minister life to others by dying.)
T2: This is not a matter of preaching or work, but a matter of the supply of life (2 Cor. 4:10).
(Please explain that if there is no reality behind one’s preaching, there will not be the supply of life. )
Day 5
T1: Seemingly Paul was a pitiful apostle in a pitiful situation (2 Cor. 4:8-10).
(Please explain that in 2 Corinthians 4, instead of talking about his work and accomplishments, Paul speaks of affliction.)
T2: Our dying is our working (2 Cor. 4:12).
(Please explain that the real work of the new covenant ministry is not a matter of working; it is a matter of dying.)
Day 6
T1: Circumcision means the constant application of the Lord’s death to our flesh (Josh. 5:3; Col. 2:11).
(Please explain the spiritual significance of the children of Israel’s being circumcised after the crossing of the river Jordan.)
T2: The intrinsic significance of Joshua 5 (Josh. 5:3, 10, 13-14).
(What are the further preparation the Israelites still needed before they attacked the Canaanites after crossing the Jordan?)
