Bible Commentaries

JORDAN’S BRINK

‘The brink of the water of Jordan.’

Joshua 3:8

To the minds of many Jordan stands as a type of death, and Canaan of heaven. This may be poetical, but it is not very sensible. At death the believer enters into rest, and his works follow him; but when the Children of Israel crossed Jordan their work was before them.

I. What does the Jordan represent to us?—Of what is the Jordan a figure? It stands for an apparent obstacle. It seemed as though Israel could not cross those flooded waters. Quite stopped. Beyond the Jordan lay their duty and their work. But between rolled the waters. Now, if you think about it, you will find that between us and every kind of duty there has always been a barrier. As, for example, when we knew we ought to tell the truth, it has always been difficult to do so. Punishment, shame, loss, or some other ‘Jordan’ has usually barred the way. When we have been urged to try for some prize, or post in life, we have always clearly seen the difficulty. Such hard work we never could do. That has been our ‘Jordan.’ When people ought to have sacrificed themselves to save others (from fire, or from water, or to nurse them through a fever, etc.) you may be sure they have always seen the danger and trouble, and have shrunk from it. That has been their ‘Jordan.’ A wide ‘Jordan’ flows between us all and the Spiritual Life. What Canaan was to Israel the Spiritual Life is to us. God bids us enter the Kingdom of God upon earth, His Spiritual Church, and conquer ourselves and the world for Him, just as He bid Israel cross over into Canaan and subdue it and its wicked inhabitants for Him. But we must first cross the ‘Jordan.’ What a wide stream it looks! How difficult! How impossible! That ‘Jordan’ is made up of all kinds of worldly advantages, all kinds of personal pleasures, all kinds of unwelcome self-denials. Besides which there are the opposition and sometimes ridicule of worldly friends. (This is more especially felt in India, or Persia, or China, etc., where the convert has to suffer the loss of all things. But it is also experienced here, at home.)

That Jordan must be crossed. The ‘young ruler’ dared not cross it. Nicodemus at first dared not cross it. Those Jews who loved the ‘praise of men more than the praise of God,’ dared not cross it. St. Mark, when he left St. Paul, frightened at the dangers of the missionary journey through Asia, once shrank from crossing it. But Paul himself crossed it; all the Apostles crossed it. (‘Left all and followed Jesus.’) Everybody who has been a true disciple has crossed it. One cannot do God’s work without crossing the Jordan. The faithful servant of God must go forward and cross over to live the life and do the work which God has for him to do.

II. How may we cross over Jordan?—Not by any unaided effort of our own. The host of Israel could never have crossed the flood in the face of a determined enemy. Have you ever made good resolutions? Have they been strong enough to carry you over all difficulties? You know how often they have failed. And if they have failed in ordinary matters, how much more in moments of great temptation? Jeremiah (ch. Joshua 12:5) asks, ‘How wilt thou do in the swellings of Jordan?’ If thou canst not cross the ordinary river, how wilt thou cross in time of flood? There is sure to come a time for all of us when we are dreadfully tempted. How shall we cross Jordan then?

Let us see how Israel crossed. First went the Ark of the Covenant. And God’s covenant is our assurance of help, too. What is that covenant? ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ As soon as the bearers of the Covenant actually touched the waters, the flood shrank back and a passage was made. And as soon as we resolutely apply the Covenant of the Promise to any difficulty of any kind that difficulty is conquered.

Difficulties vanish when they are bravely faced by those who are made ‘very courageous’ through their trust in Jesus Christ. Jeremiah (ch. Jos 49:19) describes an enemy as ‘like a lion from the swellings of Jordan.’ Have you ever met such a ‘lion’? Rushing out to increase a doubt or a hesitation, and suggesting all kinds of danger? ‘Christian,’ in the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” met two such lions. But when he came close to them they were chained. Our ‘Jordan,’ then, is our special difficulty in the way of doing right and following Christ. But where the Ark of the Covenant goes, there we may safely follow.

—Canon Dawson.

Illustrations

(1) ‘I like to think that for this new crossing there were new commands. You know the meaning of the imperative mood? This chapter is a chapter of imperatives. It is like a camp in the Transvaal, this chapter—we are wakened by bugle calls and ringing orders. Remove! Go! Sanctify yourselves! Take up! Pass over! These were clear words of command beside the river. And it was these fresh orders for the fresh experience that put new heart into the host of Israel. It is one secret of success in life to get new orders in the changing road. It is one blessing of living near to God that we get to hear His voice above the river. Speak out! blessed Commander, let me hear Thee! My life is a new thing, far more original than any poem, and all the experience of all the race will fail me. I need a new command upon the bank, if I am to serve and suffer as I ought.’

(2) ‘To get such a mighty host, with cattle, furniture, etc., across the river at the ordinary ford would have been the work of days, perhaps weeks, and a watchful enemy could easily have made it impossible. It seems, however, that the Canaanites felt so secure, because Jordan was in flood, that they did not make any attempt to resist the passage. That which made a seeming impossibility really became the agent of a glorious success when it was overruled by God. “That which is impossible with men is possible with God.” Duly note what extreme care was shown to convince the people that the waters were arrested by God for their sakes. Such an intervention the Canaanites never could have dreamed of.’