Ryan King - Geography Of The Holy Land - Class 4 - Hermon To The Dead Sea

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Morning, my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. This morning, in our consideration of the geography of the Holy Land, we’d like to make a journey from north to South, or more specifically, from top to bottom. We’ve mentioned in our studies that the geography of the Holy Land in the Land’s attributes reinforce the principles of the truth.

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   And one of the first principles that we have to come to grips with in a knowledge of the truth is is that man is mortal, that we are heading down towards death, and that apart from the offering of the Lord Jesus Christ and our identification with that, there can be no hope for mankind.

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   And that is reinforced, brothers and sisters, by the principles of the land. On a journey from Mount Hermon to the Dead Sea, we just look at some of the topography of the land. Here. Mount Hermon is all the way up in the north, right at the top. Here it’s 9000 feet above sea level.

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   It sticks out in the land of Israel like a head. But the moment that you come down from Hermon and the waters of the Jordan River are formed by the melting snows of Hermann, the land begins to descend. So you start at the top, and you go down and down and down and down.

5. 1:37

   And it’s a journey from Hermann to the Dead Sea that emphasizes the principle of man’s inevitable decline. He starts up here at the top. Very good. God made man upright, but man sought out many devices, and that’s going to be reinforced on our journey this morning from Mount Hermon to the Dead Sea. Mount Hermon is 9000 feet roughly above sea level. The Dead Sea, which is not quite on this map but it is a little bit lower than here, is the lowest point on the Earth’s surface, 14192 feet below sea level. So we go 11,000 feet down from there, down on this little map here to there to the Dead Sea.

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   It reinforces the important principle that we all must come to grips with that we are mortal, that we are dying, and that without the Lord Jesus Christ there can be no hope for mankind. So if we come to Psalm 133, we’d first like to identify the significance of Mount Hermon.

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   In Psalm 133, which we have in the words of the hymn that we just sang, we see the significance of Mount Hermon. Mount Hermon, significantly, is aligned with the head of the high priest, and we know about the head of the high priest. The high priest was the ideal Israelite. All of the garments which he wore bespoke holiness and righteousness, and particularly the the mitre of the High Priest. Whereupon were the words HOLINESS to Yahweh inscribed? And Herman is linked with the thinking of the High Priest, which was holiness to Yahweh in Psalm 133 We read in this very short Psalm, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

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   Unity. Now what’s that like? What’s this unity like? Well, he gives 2 examples. He says it’s like the precious ointment that ran down upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard that went down to the skirts of his garments. Now, the first thing that we need to understand about that verse is, is that the word skirts does not mean skirts.

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   As we understand it, the word skirts there is the word collar. So it ran down the head onto the beard. It went to his collar and it stopped. The same word is used if you just keep your hand in Psalm 133. Come back to Exodus 28. It’s used for the top of the robe of the ephod of the High priest. The oil went down to this particular point and it stopped. Exodus chapter 28 and verse 31.

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    Appropriately, there were seven particular pieces of material in Aaron’s garments, and one of them was the robe of the ephod, which was all of blue, All of blue. Speaking of righteousness intact, verse 31 of Exodus 28. And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue, and there shall be a hole in the top of it.

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    That word, their whole is our word. Skirts in Psalm 133. In the midst thereof it shall have a binding of woven work round about the whole. The collar of it, as it were the whole of a Hoberjon, that it be not rent. So this robe of the ephod was taken, and it was stitched, and it was stitched to the collar so that it could not be torn. And the oil, as it was put upon Aaron’s head, it ran down the head, onto the beard, to the collar and stopped. Now what did the body of the high priest represent? Well, it represented the nation.

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    It represented the ecclesia, which was to be connected to the head of the high priest. And because the robe of the ephod was created in such a way that it could not be torn, the anointing oil, although it stopped at the collar, it united head with body. And the Psalmist says that’s unity. How are we ever going to have unity in our collegius or in the brotherhood at large?

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    It’s only if the body has the thinking of the head. And the Psalmist says that’s unity. Well, he gives us another illustration. Come back to Psalm 133, Psalm 133, he says in verse three as the dew of Herman. And you can cross out the words in italics that descended upon the mountains of Zion.

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    For there Yahweh commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. You know, it’s a simple fact of geography, brothers and sisters, that the dew of Herman doesn’t get anywhere near the mountains of Zion. You know, the mountains of Zion are right down the central spine, as we’ve seen in our studies. Mount Herman. Here the dew comes off of Herman, goes down and forms the Jordan River, which is several, 100 feet below sea level.

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    It gets nowhere near the mountains of Zion, just like the anointing oil which was poured down Aaron’s head got to the collar and it stopped. It didn’t get to the body, it got to the collar and it stopped. But because the robe of the ephod was connected with the head, it shared in the benefits of the separation of the head.

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    And so it is with Mount Hermon. The dew that falls upon Hermon is then taken and it’s passed down to the body so that the rest of the land shares in the benefits of what’s going on up here at Mount Hermon. And the the the Psalmist here says that’s unity, so that if the land were ever detached from Herman, it couldn’t enjoy any of the blessings that come from off of its mountain. And if we were ever to detach ourselves from our high peace, high priest, brothers and sisters, we could never, ever share in the benefits that come from his thinking being separated.

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    How is it that brethren dwell together in unity? Only by having the thinking of their high priest might I say brothers and sisters. And it may sound like an oversimplification, but it’s true that most ecclesial problems begin when people do not think like Christ. If we all thought and acted like our head, we would be a harmonious group. But of course, sadly, often that’s not the case. But that’s how we get unity.

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    So the mountain of harmony is aligned with the high priest of Israel. He was anointed upon the head. And as that dew ran down the beard, the beard being a symbol of maturity, it gave every appearance of being like Mount Hermon. You know, if you were to look at the land of Israel and you were to see it as a body with the the Negev in the South, with the Hill Country in the middle, If you were to look at the land of Israel and you were to to picture it as a body, where’s the head?

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    Well, the head of the land of Israel is Mount Hermon, right here. It could be seen from 30 or 40 miles away, and it sticks up there like a head. And the beauty of that head was meant to remind the land of the beauty that goes on in the thinking of our high priest, which is holiness unto Yahweh. Do you know what the name Herman means? Well, actually means the nose.

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    It’s linked with the Hebrew word for nose coat. So it’s like a head. This is the ideal, This is purity, this is unity. This is where man in the beginning was. He was in harmony with the Elohim. But of course we know that they lost that. And that’s what the River Jordan is going to tell us all about. South Herman with its Whitehead, is likened to the high priest wearing his mitre.

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    It’s blue lace, and you see these little laces of blue is like the robe of the Ephod, and Herman’s triangular strips of snow give every appearance of the beard of maturity. You know, when the snow covers that mountain and the snow is there, even in summer, it looks for all the world like a frosty beard that’s been saturated with the anointing oil that comes from heaven And their brothers and sisters is the ideal, the head of our high Priest, from which unity and separateness and heavenliness can be derived. Now the interesting thing about Herman is it has two other names in Scripture, and they’re both significant. They come to Deuteronomy Chapter 3, Deuteronomy Chapter 3. The Gentiles gave Herman a couple of other names, Deuteronomy Chapter 3 and verse 8, and we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites, the land that was on this side of Jordan from the river of Arnon onto Mount Hermon, which Hermon the Cydonians call Sirion and the Amorites call it Shenyun.

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    So the Gentiles gave Herman these other names, The Cydonians called it Sirion and the Amorites call it Shenir. And again, when names like that are specified, brothers and sisters, the record is inviting us to grab our concordance and to check the meanings of the names. Well, it just so happens that Sirion comes from the same root as the word Haberjan that we just read in Exodus 28, used in respect to the collar of the EFA.

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    And the word shenir, which means to clatter or to glisten, is just like the high priestly garments. The word Sirion means to glitter, which when you looked at the high priest and you saw all those beautiful garments, it would remind you of the glitter and the beauty of Mount Hermon. So Mount Hermon is linked, brothers and sisters, with the ideal, the thinking of our high Priest, which we if we want unity in our lives and unity in our colleges, we must embrace and assimilate to. Now there was one other famous event that took place at Mount Hermon, and this gives us the key indicator to what Herman stands for.

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    It’s over in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 17, Matthew chapter 17, the Lord has just told his disciples that they’re going to Jerusalem. He’s going to be taken with wicked hands, crucified and slain. Well, God wanted to counterbalance that, and he counterbalanced that in the very next section of Matthew with a Transfiguration. The transfiguration was the glory which would follow the suffering.

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    And Matthew, chapter 17. And after six days Jesus taketh, Peter and James and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart. Now what was that particular mountain? Now where was the Lord on on this occasion? Well, if you just back up to Matthew chapter 16 and verse 13, we’re told quite clearly where he was. He was in the coast of Caesarea Philippi, which Caesarea Philippi is just below Mount Hermon. So if the Lord was in Caesarea Philippi and he wanted to ascend into a very high mountain, there’s only one mountain in that area that it could be, and that would of course be Mount Hermon.

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    And there in Mount Hermon he had the vision of the transfiguration where his face, Matthew 17, verse two did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the light. It’s just like these meanings up here for hermit to to glitter, to clatter. Like the beauty and the glory of the high priestly garments, the disciples saw the Lord in his immortal glory. So the record of Luke says that no fuller on earth could ever attempt to white them like that because these were the garments of immortality which the garments of the high priests spoke of.

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    So in Herman, brothers and sisters, we have the ideal where man was in the beginning and harmony with the Elohim in fellowship with his God. But of course we know that man does not remain in that condition. His thinking is corrupted by the world. His thinking begins to lead him into sin, and the wages of sin inevitably will produce death. And So what starts up on Mount Hermon is this glorious picture of these melting snows which form the river Jordan descends down and down and down until finally it reaches the Dead Sea. But that decline, brothers and sisters, doesn’t always happen. Immediately you look at some of the area around Hermon. Look at the water.

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    This is taken from Caesarea Philippi. You see the dew melts on Hermann. Those dews flow down that large mountain and it forms the river Jordan. This is a picture of Caesarea Philippi called today Banias. It’s where the River Jordan starts and it’s a glorious piece of territory. You can go for a hike in this area and the water is Aqua blue.

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    It’s like the waters that you’ll see either in New Zealand or out West in British Columbia. And it speaks about where man started. This is just down the hill, Same park, this beautiful Crystal Clearwater. That’s the River Jordan at its origins there in Banias. As the dew comes off of Hermann and it flows down that mountain, it is crystal clear. Here’s another one just right down the hill there at Banius. That’s the beginnings of man.

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    He begins in the beginning in harmony and fellowship with his God. You know, just like when we’re born, you know, there’s, there’s this bundle of joy in your arms. But as Brother Roberts points out, it’s also a bundle of propensities. And those propensities, of course, will will be reminded of as we go down the river.

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    So that’s man’s beginning. Now let’s go about 20 to 25 miles South. And this is where what it is at the top. That’s about 25 miles South.

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    This is around Bethsaida. This is the the bridge Highway 888 goes right over and you can already see the water has changed. It’s now brown. It’s now murky over a short distance of about 30 miles to the South. The water is brown and it’s murky, indicating man’s sure and certain decline. You know the word Jordan means the descender.

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    It starts in all of its beauty and elegance, but it goes down and down and down into death. This is the land, brothers and sisters, reminding us of the principle that we all know to be true. That man is mortal, that we are dying. We think that life goes on and on and on. It it doesn’t.

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    We we’ve got to accept our condition and the nature that we inherit. And the Jordan River here reminds us of that. Just show you where we’ve come from. We were just up here at Caesarea Philippi. This is Bannius. Where those pictures were taken from. Here’s Mount Hermon. And this last picture that we saw is right about here near Best.

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    Say it right as the Jordan River is about to go into the Sea of Galilee, where it is already about 500 feet below sea level at Galilee here, So we’ve gone from 9000 feet above sea level to about 500 feet below in just the space of about 25 miles. Man’s decline is sure and it is certain.

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    And the Jordan River, as you may know it goes into the top of the Sea of Galilee here and then it comes out the bottom down here. So we’ll have a thing or two to say then about the the Sea of Galilee. Here’s the river Jordan, best say it where the picture, the last picture was taken is up in here and it sort of winds its way down in into the top of the Sea of Galilee. And this is already about 500 feet below sea level. So there must be then some significance to Galilee, because Galilee is is on this journey downward towards the Dead Sea. What was Galilee of course known for? Well, it was backwards territory. It was where the people sat in darkness. Galilee signifies the ring, and you can see sort of the ringed shape to that.

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    Lake Galilee in the scriptures has about four different names. It’s called the Sea of Galilee, which means the ring. It’s also called Kinereth, which means harp. You can see kind of the harp shape to this particular lake. But it’s also called something else. If you come to John Chapter 21, it’s called something else.

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    You know Galilee is a very interesting lake. It’s it’s like a bowl. There are hills all around it and sometimes the wind gets sucked into a vortex so that the the sea can be very, very calm one minute and then 10 minutes later it’s very, very turbulent. You remember the disciples experienced that on the lake. They were out there.

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    The Lord pushed them out. He went into one of these mountains to pray. And then all of a sudden the lake became very stormy, very turbulent because of this. The way that Galilee is placed, it’s like a bowl with hills on either side. It’s like the nations that are casting up mire and dirt that are prone to storm, that are prone to difficulty, and it’s the Lord Jesus Christ alone that can calm that particular sea. In John chapter 21 it’s called something else. In verse one after these things, Jesus showed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberius. So it’s called Galilee, it’s called Kinneret, it’s called Genesaret, and it’s also called Tiberius, which was the name of the Emperor representing by that the Sea of Nations, the Roman emperor Tiberius, the river Tiber that flows through Rome. It’s also the name of this particular sea. And the major city today along the Sea of Galilee is Tiberius, which is right here on the western side. So it represents the Sea of Nations. We’ve come down from Herman the Ideal. The water was glorious in blue.

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    Now it’s dirty, it’s murky, it’s casting up mire and dirt. It’s the Sea of the Nations, the River Jordan, meaning descender representing man’s sure and certain decline. Well, here’s the river as it comes out from the Sea of Galilee. We were just at the top where it went into the Sea of Galilee. Now it’s coming out of the bottom. I think we’re beginning to see some of the significance for which Jordan stands, brothers and sisters. It stands for the flesh.

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    And there were three men in the Scriptures that were manifested to Israel coming out of this river. And it was at this particular river, which represents the flesh and all of its ugliness, that God chose to manifest these men to Israel. And those men were Joshua, Elisha, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s look at the first case in Joshua chapter 3.

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    We’ll look at these three men and then we’ll explain why these three men in Joshua Chapter 3. Moses has passed off the scene and now it’s time for his replacement to be magnified. But there there may have been some in the nation, brothers and sisters, who had doubts about that. So when it came time for Joshua to be magnified in the sight of all Israel, this is what God wanted them to do.

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    Joshua chapter 3 and verse 7. And Yahweh said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel that they may know, which of course implies that there were some who doubted that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. And thou shalt command the priest that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, when you’re come to the brink of the water of Jordan, you shall stand still in Jordan. So you see what God was doing here. By these instructions to Joshua, Joshua, this day I’m going to magnify you in the sight of all Israel. Now go and tell the priest to put their feet in Jordan. And when the ark goes across verse 11, Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.

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    That ark, of course, represented the leadership to which Joshua was connected. And when that ark goes over Jordan, you will be magnified in the sight of all Israel. Now the phrase there, the Lord of all the earth. In verse 11, you’ll know that it’s in small print. It’s not in small capitals as it is in verse 7, where of course it is the Hebrew name of our Heavenly Father, He who will be.

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    But the word Lord in verse 11 is a dog, the ruler of all the earth. This day, Joshua, I will magnify you in the sight of all Israel. The ruler of all the earth will go over Jordan. So Yahweh manifested his acceptance of Joshua to Israel by connecting him with going across the river Jordan. Let’s come to the next example in Second Kings 2, who begin to see why God would manifest men by getting them across this river.

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    Second Kings Chapter 2 Elijah is about to depart and there are 50 aspirants for the job. 51 If you count Elijah and his successor now is going to be manifest, And in order that his successor might be manifest, they were taken down to the River Jordan, Second Kings, Chapter 2 and verse 12 Elijah saw it, and he cried. My father, my father the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof, and he saw him no more.

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    He took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back and stood by the Bank of Jordan. So the mantle changed at precisely the same spot where Moses leadership was succeeded by Joshua. And it says verse 14. He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and smote the waters.

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    And they said, where is Yahweh, elohim of Elijah? Where is he? At Jordan. And when he had smitten the waters they parted, hit her and thither and Elijah went over. And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said the spirit of Elijah doth rest upon Elijah, and they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

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    So when Elijah was manifested to Israel at the river Jordan, and it became apparent to all that Yahweh was with Elijah, they bowed themselves to the ground before him at the river Jordan. The third case is in Matthew chapter 3. Now we’ll we’ll tie all these together after looking at this very famous reference in Matthew chapter 3.

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    John, of course, has been baptizing and it’s time for the Forerunner to end his course. Even after John was in prison, there were still disciples following after John. So there was some reservation in their minds as to whether they should continue to follow John, or whether they should follow the one whom John ran before. And so they went down to the river Jordan. Verse 13.

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    Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John. Now that’s the same journey that we’ve just traversed from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. Verse 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, the water of Jordan, And, lo, the heavens were open unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him, or as the Greek is remaining on him. And lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

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    At the river Jordan there was that manifestation, that this was the one that they now were to follow. So with Joshua this day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all, all Israel. Where is Yahweh Elohim of Elijah and Elijah went over? This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Now why brothers and sisters, those three men? Well, Joshua Yahashua is of course the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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    Jesus is but the Greek equivalent, and it means the salvation of God. And Elisha also means the same thing, the salvation of gods. They had very similar names. And why was it that they were able to get through that river? Because it was God’s salvation that was at work in all three of them. And because they were able to get through that river and to be manifested out of that river which so stood for the flesh. It was apparent then to all that this was the one that God had chosen, in whose authority there would now be vested. So Jordan, brothers and sisters, stands for the flesh and it’s come from Mount Hermon.

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    Man begins upright. But man of course, has sought out many devices. He’s he’s gone down the way of sin. And that is what the Jordan speaks of. This is an overhead shot of Jordan as we make our way towards the Dead Sea. And what does it look like? Looks like the winding of a snake, doesn’t it? If you look at Jordan on a map between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, you’ll see a lot of this. It’s like the winding of a snake. It’s the serpent thinking, going down and down and down into death.

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    If the water was dirty up there, north of the Sea of Galilee, it gets even dirtier. As the water approaches the Dead Sea, the waters of Jordan become more stagnant and turgid, demonstrating man’s inevitable destiny. The water begins to flow slower and slower and slower. It gets dirtier and dirtier and dirtier. And isn’t that the way man gets? You know, the longer he goes on, he just gets more and more disgusting.

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    These people in the world that think that they’re, you know, glorious in their appearance and and they’re all macho, well, you know, in God’s eyes they look like that disgusting, grotesque. This is our nature, brothers and sisters. How are we spending our time? Do we realize that this is what we really are? And that apart from the salvation of God that is offered in Yahashua, there can be no life at all for us? It demonstrates man’s inevitable destiny. So we’ve come from there to there in a very, very short distance.

57. 31:58

    Look at the water. You see why Naaman wanted no part of it. Look at that. It’s brown, it’s dirty. And it was also brothers and sisters in the days of the prophets. Jordan, quite appropriately, was a very dangerous place. You know there’s references we won’t we won’t look at. But in Jeremiah chapter 49 and verse 19, Jordan was noted for having lions. Matthew, Chapter 3 John the Baptist was drawing on the language of the territory when he warned, O serpents and generation of Vipers who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

58. 32:41

    You know, Jordan every year overflowed its banks. It overflows its banks all the time of harvest, we’re told, because the melting snows on Hermann when they melt in the summer, they they send that water cascading down the mountain and it flows down the river Jordan and into the sea of Galilee and then out the bottom and it overflows its banks.

59. 33:03

    And of course you, if you’ve ever seen a river overflow its banks and then recede, you’ll see that when it recedes, it leaves behind all the mud and all the debris and all this bracket. And of course, what would happen is as that began to dry, it became a resting ground for snakes and for all sorts of harmful creatures.

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    So that in the books of the prophets in Jeremiah and in Zechariah, they warn people about that. Jordan, you know, if you look down from the hills of Judea upon Jordan, it looks like a a very, very nice place. You can see some green, you see the winding of the water all the way through there, and it looks like a glorious place.

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    But when you get down in there, when you get bogged down in there, it can become very, very difficult. I’d like you to turn to that one reference we have on the screen in Jeremiah chapter 12. Jeremiah chapter 12.

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    Jeremiah had about a 40 year prophecy. The 1st 17 years or so was with King Josiah where Jeremiah had royal protection. He didn’t have to worry as much about persecution because as long as Josiah was king, he had some royal protection. Then tragically, Josiah has taken him to death. And Jeremiah 12, Jeremiah’s complaining about his lot, complaining about the evil doers. You know, for the 1st 23 years of Jeremiah’s prophecy, not one single prediction he made came to pass. And he’s complaining in Jeremiah chapter 12 about his lot righteous art thou, O Yahweh, Jeremiah 12 verse one when I plead with thee, yeah, let me talk with thee of thy judgement. You see the margin for talk in verse one. Let me reason the case with you.

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    Thou hast planted them verse 2. Yet they have taken root. You know you’ve you’ve promised that all of these things are going to come to pass upon these evil doers. Yet they continue to take root. They continue to prosper. Please let something happen. Verse 4. How long shall the land mourn? And the herbs of every field, whether for the wickedness of them that dwell therein?

64. 35:21

    And he’s complaining with God about his law, and God responds to his complaining. And you know, this is so different, brothers and sisters, to how we might respond in narclesias to someone who’s complaining. Look at what God says in verse 5. If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, how are you going to contend with horses?

65. 35:44

    And if in the land of peace, if in the days of Josiah you found it hard going wherein thou trustest they were thee, how are you going to get along in the swelling of Jordan? In other words, God’s telling Jeremiah here we’re just getting started. If you think it’s difficult in the days of Josiah, when you were running on flat level ground, grow up your loins. Now, Jeremiah, because we’re running against horses, you’re going down into the swelling of Jordan, where you’re running against Jehoiachim and some evil kings and some wicked Princess. And you’ll see how the swelling of Jordan is linked with probably some of the hardest experiences that we could have in our lives.

66. 36:27

    And that is when our own family rebels against us. Verse 6. For even thy brethren and the House of thy father, even they that have dwelt treacherously with thee, yeah, they have called a multitude after thee. Believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee, because his own brethren now not just the people in the ecclesia, his own brethren now will be fighting against them.

67. 36:52

    And how is that compared? To what analogy does God give Jeremiah? He says it’s just like the swelling of Jordan. Jordan was a difficult place. It was a dangerous place. In the times of the prophet there were lions, there were snakes. And Jeremiah, if you found it hard running on flat level ground in the days of Josiah, what’s going to happen when Josiah is gone and you’re down here in the swelling of Jordan, Jordan ever stood, brothers and sisters, for the flesh and all of its savagery and all of its difficulty?

68. 37:27

    What’s going to redeem us from that? Because this is where we’re going eventually. Here’s the River Jordans that goes into the Dead Sea. So we’ve come from life, from beauty, all the way down now into death. If you see on this little map here, this is where this photograph is taken from right here. We’ve come all the way from up here. Mount hermon life, beauty.

69. 37:54

    But it’s come down and down and down, down this Serpentine course until finally it goes into the Dead Sea. And when it goes into the Dead Sea it’s stagnating. I think they even use machines now in some parts of the land to push the water along because it’s so difficult. And this is man’s in down here in the bottom having made its way to the Dead Sea. Man’s ultimate end is now realized in death in the lowest parts of the earth.

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    And that’s where we’re all going, brothers and sisters. We all have to come to grips with that at some point that this is the reality of the nature that we bear. So what’s going to deliver us from that? What’s going to get us out of the waters of Jordan? Get us a cross into the promised land?

71. 38:49

    If we come to Joshua Chapter 3, we’re told exactly what that is, because we all know what happened in the days when the children of Israel crossed in Joshua Chapter 3. And this is part of why Joshua was magnified in the sight of all Israel. Joshua Chapter 3. And this is when Jordan was in flood.

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    OK. If you’ve seen photographs of Jordan in flood, it’s it’s a lot wider than it is in the pictures that we just showed. In order for the people to get across that something had to happen, some miracle had to take place that that they might be able to Passover into the promised land. And we’re told about that in Joshua chapter 3 and verse 14. And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents to Passover, Jordan and the priest bearing the ark of the covenant before the people.

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    And as they came to bear the ark, they were coming to Jordan. And the feet of the priests that bear the ark were dipped 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, so that would be these waters here, these waters that come down from above, stood and rose up upon a heap very far from the city of Adam. So as the Jordan River made its way down into its shore, and certain death right in the middle, appropriately there’s a city called Adam, from whence all men have derived their mortality By one man.

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    Sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men because all have sinned. And there was a city here called Adam, almost as if to explain the reason why the Jordan is in the condition that it is in. And it says there also in verse 16 that is beside Zaratan and those that came down from the sea of the plain.

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    The word is Arabah. So the waters that came down from the sea of Arabah, this little line here is right about where they were when they crossed. So the waters that came down from the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, they were cut off and the waters that came from above were pushed back beyond Adam to a place called in verse 16.

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    Zaratan and Zaratan means distress, one of the effects of our mortality. The waters were able to be pushed back beyond Adam. Now what does the Ark of the Covenant represent? How did they transport the Ark of the Covenant? By the way, what did they put over top of it? When they transported it, they put the veil. That was how the Ark was transported. They put the veil over the ark of the covenant. So as it would have gone over the the dry stream of Jordan, the veil would have been draped over the top of that ark. Now that veil, Paul says in Hebrews chapter 10, represents his flesh, his flesh.

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    And so it’s by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and only by that, that the waters of Jordan, which surely and certainly are heading down into death, can be pushed back beyond Adam, back beyond our current distress, so that we can be changed for the Kingdom of God. And apart from any sort of identification with our High Priest.

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    The sure and certain sentence of death could never be reversed. But the Lord Jesus Christ, through his sacrifice, has the ability to drive those waters back beyond Adam and change us for the Kingdom of God so that then we can Passover, as the people did in verse 17, onto dry land, into the Promised land, and into immortality itself. It’s marvelous, brothers and sisters, how the land is able to demonstrate some of these glorious lessons, lessons that we all know to be true.

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    We all know the principle that man is mortal, but the land and its pictures and its geography is there to remind us of our condition. Let us never think that time will just go on and on. If we’ve got things that we need to do in the truth, let’s not say well, we’ll do this When circumstances look right to us, they may never look right to us.

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    This is our end. It’s by coming to grips with that, that you use your time wisely, that you don’t waste time, that you feel uncomfortable when you are wasting time, and the waters of Jordan remind us of that. In conclusion, let’s just look at one other case that happened at the Jordan Second Kings Chapter 6, and this is appropriately, with Elijah, the man of God.

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    So we’ve seen the three men, Joshua, the waters were driven beyond Adam, back towards Hermann where Manch was meant to be in the beginning. And now we see a case with Elijah. You know, Elijah had an event that happened at the river Jordan too, when his servants were cutting down trees. The sons of the prophets, the ecclesia of the day, was beginning to expand, and they had to make extra accommodation for them.

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    So they had to go down to the Jordan, and they had to cut down some trees. And 2nd Kings, chapter six, we read in verse one the sons of the prophets sent unto Elijah. Behold now the place where we dwell with these two straight for us, the halls too small. Let us go.

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    We pray thee unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there where we may dwell. And he said, Gogi verse five, they begin to cut down the wood and says, But as one was felling a beam the axe head fell into the water and he cried. Alas, master, if it was borrowed and Elijah says, well where did it fall?

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    He showed him the place and he cut down. That is Elijah cut down a stick and cast it into there. And the iron did swim, therefore said he take it up to thee, and he put it in his hand and he took it. Now, if you ever wondered, brothers and sisters, what that story is all about, this man is just out, you know, cutting down wood, and the axe head flies off and it lands in the Jordan and it’s lost. You know, looking at that water, it’s understandable why he couldn’t find it.

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    So what does that represent? What does the Jordan represent? Well, the Jordan represents, doesn’t it? The flesh in all its ugliness, in all its grotesqueness. And it’s Elisha, the man of God who was able to recover that which was lost in the Jordan. Those people that are lost in the world are able to be recovered by the influence of Elijah, the man of God. Now the word that we want to focus on is Word. In verse 6, when he’d been shown the place, it says that he cut down a stick.

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    Now that word there stick. It’s probably one of the only times where this word is rendered by that phrase stick. What’s the very word that’s used throughout the law for the word tree? And it’s the word used, for instance, in Deuteronomy where it says cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. So it’s by the Lord’s sacrifice, by identifying ourselves with the Lord’s offering upon the tree that that which is lost is able to be recovered.

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    And you know, the reaction of this man as Elijah shows him where it is in the water, has got to be ours. It says, verse 7, take it up to thee. And he put out his hand and he took it.

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    The redemption that the Lord Jesus Christ has offered us, we don’t deserve. We’ve we’ve lost it in the Jordan. It’s been borrowed, but it’s through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in his offering

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    that we can be recovered. And our reaction is to reach out and take it, to take hold of it and grasp hold of it and never let it go. Because it’s the only way that we’ll ever get across that Jordan, the brothers and sisters, our consideration of the land is not yet complete.