Context

Let’s read the full text of the Israelites' crossing of the Jordan. If we do, we’ll become more aware of the context. With a grasp on the context, we'll then be able to extract the important themes from the passage. In particular, we want to examine five reasons why God wanted to bring the Israelites through the Jordan River.

Joshua 1:1-3

After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.

Joshua 3:1-17

Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people:

“When you see the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it.

Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.

But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the Ark; do not go near it.”

Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”

Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the Ark of the Covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them.

And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses.

Tell the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’”

Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God.

This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites.

See, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the Earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you.

Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. And as soon as the priests who carry the Ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the Earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”

So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them.

Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing.

It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

The priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

Joshua 4:1-24

When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the Ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you.

In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down.

Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.

Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the LORD had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over, and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the LORD and the priests came to the other side while the people watched.

The men of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, ready for battle, in front of the Israelites, as Moses had directed them. About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before the LORD to the plains of Jericho for war.

That day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him all the days of his life, just as they had stood in awe of Moses.

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Command the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant law to come up out of the Jordan.”

So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.”

And the priests came up out of the river carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.

On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’

For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over.

He did this so that all the peoples of the Earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.”

Baptism

An amazing event. An amazing reading. An amazing picture of baptism.

Yes, in case you didn’t notice, the crossing of the Jordan is another Old Testament prefiguration of baptism. The crossing of the Jordan is just like the crossing of the Red Sea. That's why Joshua said ‘Yahweh your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea...’ (Joshua 4:23; LEB)--and we know that the Red Sea crossing was a baptism!

God gave the new generation a chance to experience what their parents experienced, the power of a spiritual washing in water. Likewise, God gives the opportunity of baptism to every new generation. The baptism your parents received does not count for you. You yourself have to experience baptism.

The crossing of the Jordan demonstrates that God gives the opportunity to be baptized only when a new generation is mature enough to understand what they are doing. People who are baptized are entering into a covenant, so they must understand the commitment they are acquiring.

Three Insights into Baptism

What new insights about Christian baptism can we glean through Joshua's crossing of the Jordan? For one, a covenant sign is present in baptism.

1. A Covenant Sign

The Ark of the Covenant was the sign for the Israelites. It stood in the middle of the waters until they had passed.

What is our covenant sign? The Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism, solemnifying and sanctifying his experience, proving that God affirmed Jesus' example, so God responds to our baptism by sending the Holy Spirit. That's why Peter said:

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).

Just as the crossing of the Jordan would have been incomplete without the Ark going before the people and waiting in the midst of the River's causeway until all had passed, so our baptism in water is incomplete until we have the sign that God is with us: the gift of his Holy Spirit.

After Philip evangelized the Samaritans and had baptized many men and women, Peter and John visited Samaria to make sure that the sign of the Holy Spirit was upon each one.

... when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the Good News of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women... When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.

When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:12-15).

The Spirit writes God's commandments on the tablets of our hearts. The Ark merely contained the commandments on tablets of stone. We are part of a greater covenant than the Jews of the Old Testament. Therefore Christian baptism is greater than the crossing of the Jordan.

2. Priestly Presence

Secondly, the people fully identified with their priests during their baptism in the Jordan. Likewise, the meaning of our baptism is to fully identify with Jesus as our High Priest. We have to follow his example, go where he goes, and pass closely by him.

We are making a covenant with God in baptism, therefore someone needs to intercede for us. We need a mediator to pray for us so that our sins might be forgiven. That man is Jesus.

We are buried with Jesus when we descend into the waters. The Israelites were buried with their priests at the Jordan River, being under water's level as they passed through the middle of the river bed where the priests were standing.

Christian baptism is a picture of Jesus' death and burial. The Lord's greatest accomplishment is pictured in our baptism so that we have become fully identified with him in it! We stand right where he has stood: in the depths of Death.

... do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the Dead through the glory of the Father, so also we may live a new way of life.

For if we have become identified with him in the likeness of his death, certainly also we will be identified with him in the likeness of his resurrection (Romans 6:3-5; LEB).

3. Access to the Promised Land

Thirdly, the Israelites stepped directly into the Promised Land after passing through the waters. They reached their goal! It took them 40 years to get to the Promised Land, but they got there! Although it had not yet been conquered, it was theirs.

That’s what happens to us when we are baptized. We step into the Kingdom realm, although we have only begun to fight for it. We are baptized and are immediately registered as citizens of God's Kingdom. God grants us citizenship although our conquest has only begun.

In baptism, we are not yet ruling over the land God has promised us. We have simply laid a claim to it. Many battles lie ahead of us, so we need to muster up courage! Don't forget what we just read:

The men of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, ready for battle, in front of the Israelites, as Moses had directed them. About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before the LORD to the plains of Jericho for war (Joshua 4:12-14).

We're at war! The Joshua passage above is reminiscent of the words of Christ, reminding us of the valor we have to have if we'll persevere till the end:

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force (Matthew 11:12; NKJV).