In this sermon, Brother Stephen Kong discusses the significance of the Israelites crossing the Jordan River in the book of Joshua. He emphasizes that this act symbolizes their separation from the world and their belonging to God's kingdom. Just as Moses used his rod to part the Red Sea, the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground, marking the end of their wilderness journey and the beginning of their new life in Christ. Additionally, Brother Kong mentions the importance of the twelve stones that were picked up from the plain of Moab, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, and how water is often used as a symbol of life in both the Old and New Testaments.

This is Monday evening, August 11, 1975, in Richmond, Virginia. The ministry is given through Brother Stephen Kong. May we read from the book of Joshua, chapter 3. Joshua, the third chapter. We begin with verse 1 through verse 6. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and they removed from Chittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. And it came to pass at the end of three days that the officers went through the camp, and they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then remove from your place, and go after it. Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Ye shall not come near it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go, for ye have not passed this way heretofore. And Joshua said to the people, Hallow yourselves, for tomorrow Jehovah will do wonders in your midst. And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and go over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people. Verse 14. And it came to pass when the people removed from their tents to pass over the Jordan, that the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were before the people. And when they that bore the ark will come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water, and the Jordan is full over all its banks throughout the days of harvest. The waters which flowed down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far by Adam, the city that is beside Zeritan. And those that flowed down towards the sea of the plain, the salt sea, were completely cut off. And the people went over opposite to Jericho. And the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan. And all Israel went over on dry ground until all the nation had completely gone over the Jordan. Chapter 4, verse 1. And it came to pass when the whole nation had completely gone over the Jordan that Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying, Take your twelve men out of the people, one man out of every tribe, and command them, saying, Take up hands out of the midst of the Jordan from the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you and lay them down in the lodging place where ye shall lodge this night. And Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed of the children of Israel, a man out of every tribe. And Joshua said to them, Pass before the ark of Jehovah your God into the midst of the Jordan and lift up each of you a stone and put it upon his shoulder according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel that this may be a sign in your midst. When your children ask hereafter, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall say to them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, when it went through the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. And the children of Israel did so as Joshua had commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan as Jehovah hath spoken to Joshua according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel and they carried them over with them to the lodging place and lay them down there. And twelve stones did Joshua set up in the midst of the Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant had stood firm. And they are there to this day. And the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that Jehovah had commanded Joshua to speak unto the people according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. And the people hasted and passed over. And it came to pass when all the people had completely gone over that the ark of Jehovah went over and the priests in the presence of the people. Last night we mentioned before they went over to the promised land to possess their possession there must be first the preparation of hearts. They need to see once again that the land that they were going to occupy was not a land that had not been given to them. But it was a land that had been given to them even to their father Abraham. But on the other hand they should also realize that unless they have put their feet down and walked over every bit of the land they did not really possess their possession. It was their possession and yet they were not possessive until their feet stepped on the land. And in order to do that a preparation of hearts was necessary. God commanded them to be strong and very courageous. Now dear brothers and sisters Christ is our possession. God has already given Christ to us. And yet on the other hand we need to possess our possession. We need to experience Christ in all that he is. And in order to possess Christ to experience Christ as we should our spirit must be strengthened. Therefore you'll find Paul's prayer for the church in Ephesus in chapter 3 of the Epistle to the Ephesians he said that we may be strengthened by the Holy Spirit. In our inner man that is to say our spirit must be strengthened by the Holy Spirit. And only when we are strong and very courageous very daring then we will go forward and possess our possession. We need to have a certain kind of spirit. And this is the kind of spirit that God is looking for among his people. We can call it the spirit of Joshua. We can call it the spirit of Caleb. Because Joshua and Caleb had that kind of spirit. When the other people drew back in doubt, in unbelief there you'll find Joshua and Caleb they had the daring spirit. If God be with us our enemies shall be our food. They will even strengthen us mature us in the conflict. So brothers and sisters among God's people this is a kind of spirit a kind of heart that is very necessary. Now this evening we would like to go on a little bit further. And that is the children of Israel they encamped in the plain of Moab on the eastern shore of Jordan. Actually they could look over the river Jordan and saw the promised land. Only the river Jordan separated the wilderness and the promised land. In order to possess their possession they had to cross the river Jordan. It was a must. If they did not cross the Jordan even though they were on just by the side bank of the river Jordan they could see the promised land they did not possess it. Crossing the Jordan is a must in possessing their possession. In other words they have had spent 40 years in the wilderness. Now they had come to the very border of the promised land. And the last step out of the wilderness and the first step into the promised land is crossing the river Jordan. Now what does Jordan represent? Before we go into it I would like to go back a little further. And that is to say what does water represent in the scripture? You know in the scripture water represents something. Sometimes water represents death. The first time actually we see water in the scripture it represents death. Why in the book of Genesis you remember in the second verse of the first chapter the first chapter the first verse tells us that God, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And in the second chapter you find water and rest and circle and covered the whole earth. Why? Because it was a judgment. The earth entered into judgment. The earth entered into death. And water represents death in the first instance we find in the scripture. And of course we know later on when God again drowned the earth with the flood water and that's death. Sometimes in the scripture water represents death. And yet on the other hand we find in the scripture sometimes water represents life. Not only in the New Testament. Of course you remember the New Testament in chapter 4 of the gospel of John which is very clear. Here our Lord Jesus promised the Samaritan woman if you know who is talking with you if you know what he can give to you, you will ask him and he will give you living water. And this living water will be in you as a fountain. It will spring forth unto eternal life. And you will never be thirsty again. That's life. And again you remember in the seventh chapter of the gospel of John, on the last day of the feast that is of the feast of tabernacles our Lord Jesus stood on a high place and he cried out and said if anyone thirst let him come to me and I will give him the living water. As the scripture says out of his belly shall flow rivers of and he speaks of the Holy Spirit who is yet to be given. So you find water sometimes represents life. And as I say this is not only true in the New Testament of course when you come to the book of Revelation and the last chapter you will find the river of living water coming out from the throne of God. But even in the Old Testament. For instance in Ezekiel you will find in Ezekiel, Ezekiel saw a water river running out from the temple going underneath the threshold and then increasing depth until you can swim in it. And on both sides you will find trees that bears fruit and in water fish of all kinds. Water in the scripture sometimes represents death. But at other times it represents life. Now is there any contradiction? How do we know that water represents death? How do we know that water represents life? Of course it depends on the context. You have to read the Bible and see the context. And when you read the context then you come to know whether water at that particular text represents life or water in that particular text represents death. And yet brothers and sisters there is no contradiction. Why? Because we find in the scripture that there is a life that comes out of death. So here you'll find it joins the two sides together. Water represents death but it also represents life and it is a life that comes out of death and only the life that comes out of death is real life. Any life that enters into death and cannot come out on the other side is no life. But a life that can enter into death and come out on the other side that is resurrection life and that is real life. And this is the life that God offers to us in Christ. Now knowing what water represents then our next question is this. What is the relationship between the Red Sea and the Jordan River? You know even in Joshua God said God dry up the river Jordan that you may go over the river Jordan on dry land just as He dried up the Red Sea and you went over the Red Sea on dry ground. Again you'll find in the book of Joshua after they crossed the river Jordan when they were in Gilgal and it is said the reproach of Egypt was blowed away. Now in these two instances you can immediately see that the river Jordan and the Red Sea are very closely related. By crossing the Red Sea the children of Israel came out of Egypt. By crossing the river Jordan they entered into Canaan. One is out and the other is in. Now dear brothers and sisters so far as God is concerned the coming out is for the entering in. So in Exodus chapter 15 after they crossed the Red Sea and the army were drowned in the Red Sea you remember they began to sing the song of Moses, the song of victory. And if you read Exodus chapter 15 what do you find? You'll find the first part of that song celebrates the crossing of the Red Sea that is to say the coming out of Egypt. That's the first part. But the second part they sing of entering into the promised land. The wilderness was not in that song. So far as God's purpose is concerned if you cross the Red Sea you continue on to cross the river Jordan. There is no wilderness but wilderness is necessary for us. Not for God. So in the sight of God these two waters are one not two. God took them over the Red Sea. Now actually after the Passover when the children of Israel marched out of Egypt there was an easier way to depart from Egypt and that was the usual way of coming out of Egypt. It was by the land. They usually came out of Egypt. That's where these merchants when they want to trade with Egypt that's the way they went to Egypt. By the land of the Philistines. They came out of Egypt went through the land of the Philistines then they will come to the land of Canaan. But God did not take them through the land of the Philistines. Why? Because the Bible tells us God was afraid and he had reason to be afraid. God was afraid that if he should take them by the land when they met any battle they would be so discouraged and they could go back to Egypt. In other words you would not be able to leave Egypt permanent. The back door was still there and you can go back. So instead of that you remember God let them through the Red Sea and he let them through the Red Sea by doing wonders. The Red Sea was opened up and the children of Israel went through it and then the water came back so after they crossed the Red Sea even though they would like to go back they couldn't go back. That was God's way. The Red Sea in the scripture always represents baptism. You know in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 Paul when he wrote to the Corinthian believers he mentioned to them in chapter 10 he said For I would not have you ignorant brethren that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea that is the Red Sea and all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. You see the Red Sea is a type of baptism. Before the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea they were slaves in Egypt. They belonged to Pharaoh. They were Pharaoh's property. Pharaoh could do anything he liked with his people. If he wanted to kill them he could. And he did. But after they crossed the Red Sea under the cloud and by the sea. You remember the water stood on both sides and here was the cloud over it. Now that's immersion isn't it? And here you'll find they were immersed. They went through it and in going through it they were delivered out of Egypt and Pharaoh. Now they were baptized unto Moses. They belonged to Moses. And by being belonging to Moses simply means they belonged to God. They belonged to God. And isn't it the meaning of baptism? Why must we who believe in the Lord Jesus be baptized? Now lots of people ask this question. The children of Israel escaped death. Not by baptism. By the blood of the Lamb. You know that night the angel of destruction went through the whole land of Egypt to smite the firstborn and the children of Israel their firstborn will be smitten just the same. But God provided for them a way of salvation and that was the Paschal Lamb. Every family took a lamb and they put the blood on the doorpost and the lintel and then they were in the house eating the lamb and when the angel saw the blood he passed over. In other words they were saved from death not by water but by blood. Water cannot cleanse your sins. We are redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb not by the water of baptism before God. So lots of people say now if you have already believed in the Lord Jesus and you believe in the blood of the Lord Jesus you are already cleansed then why bother with baptism? What's the use of being baptized? There is a reason. If you do not go through the Red Sea you may think you are coming out of Egypt but in the land of the Philistines you will meet conflict and soon you will find yourself back in Egypt. That's the reason. A person who believes in the Lord Jesus and never being baptized the back door is always open. If he meets any difficulty he will go back to the world because he has never been baptized. That's the reason why in many heathen countries if you believe in Jesus Christ they will let you go but once you are baptized you are out. They consider you as out as long as you have not been baptized they still have hope on you. Satan still have hope because you haven't been separated yet but once you cross the Red Sea you belong to Christ. In Romans chapter 6 you find brethren are you ignorant that those who are baptized are baptized unto Christ? We are baptized unto Christ. That is to say we declare we do not belong to the world anymore the world is behind us. So far as we are concerned we are crucified. So far as the world is concerned the world is crucified. Here is the baptism. There is a separation. We don't belong to the power of darkness. God has translated us into the kingdom of the son of his love. We belong to Christ. That is our testimony and that is the meaning of baptism. How did they go through the Red Sea? God told Moses to stretch out a rod in his hand over the waters. It is almost as if he used the rod and smote the water. Stretch over it. Command it. It typifies Christ was smitten by God for our sake. And because he died for us therefore we do not need to die but we can live. That is the crossing of the Red Sea. Then what is meant by the crossing of the River Jordan? Now dear brothers and sisters, remember the River Jordan also represents baptism. But it is not true baptism. Now some people say, is there not the Red Sea and the River Jordan therefore a Christian can be baptized twice. Once as in Red Sea and the second time as in River Jordan. Now brothers and sisters if people interpret the Scripture that way it is far far away from the purpose of God. Because so far as God is concerned the Red Sea and the River Jordan are one. Are one. One is coming out, the other is entering in. Therefore in Romans chapter 6 you remember Paul continues to say, don't you know that when you are baptized you were baptized unto Christ? You were baptized unto His death? That you might be identified with Him in His death and burial and thus in resurrection? That you may live in newness of life? The River Jordan. When you cross the River Jordan you leave the wilderness behind and you step into the promised land. When you cross the Red Sea you leave Egypt behind but you step into the wilderness. When you cross the River Jordan you leave the wilderness behind and you enter into the promised land. But of course the emphasis of River Jordan is coming out. The emphasis of Red Sea is coming out the emphasis of River Jordan is entering in. Why? Because wilderness is a parenthesis. So far as God's purpose is concerned it's a parenthesis. So far as we are concerned it is a necessity. Why? Because we do not know our flesh. We have to be tested. We have to be humbled. We have to know what our heart is. We say we love the Lord. We say we will obey the Lord. We say we will keep His commandments. God says alright try it out. And see if we can do it. If we really mean it. The whole wilderness is to prove one point and that is there is no good in our flesh. And after 40 years of experience the River Jordan Now that is the River Jordan. How did God bring them through the River Jordan? Not by stretching out the rod of Moses over the sea. By the ark of the covenant of the Lord. So here you'll find the ark play a great play in the crossing of the River Jordan. The ark. The ark of the covenant of the Lord. The ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth. The ark of the covenant of Jehovah. And of course we know the ark there represents the presence of God himself. Represents God himself. Represents Christ of course. Because the glory of God rests upon the ark. The glory of God rests upon Christ. So here you'll find the ark represents Christ. And it is the ark that enter into the water first. But the ark did not go in by itself. The ark was born on the shoulders of the priest. The priest bore the ark and they will go ahead of the people. And Joshua told the people whenever you see the ark begin to move, then you remove from your place. And follow the ark, but with a distance of two thousand cubits. Why? Because God said do not get too close to the ark, but there must be a distance of two thousand cubits. So that you may always have the ark in full view. Why? Because you are going so away that you have never gone before. You need that ark to lead the way. Don't crowd it too much. If you get too close, you may go before it. In other words the closing of the Jordan is by the ark. But the ark was born on the shoulders of the priest. The priest that bore the ark will go forward and then they will the children of Israel were removed from their camping grounds and began to follow with two thousand cubits, you know. And the ark would go two thousand cubits ahead of them. And when the feet of the priest stepped into the water. The water did not open up until the feet of the priest stepped into the water and got wet. And it was during the time of the harvest. Now of course if you go to Israel today you find the crossing where it was supposed to be where the children of Israel crossed. It was very narrow today. But when it was the time of harvest it overflowed both banks and it became a very wide river until the feet of the priest stepped into the water and it got wet just for a second. The water separated. And stood up in heat. And cut off way ahead in the north by Zeritan. The feet of the priest did not have any magic. It wasn't the feet of the priest. Now if a priest should say well my feet can work miracles he is a foolish person. It was the ark. The power was in the ark not in the priest. And yet you find the ark was born on the shoulders of the priest. If the priest did not have faith if the priest refused to step into the water until the water divided at first they would never cross the river Jordan or dry ground. The power was there but they could not appropriate that power. So brothers and sisters let us remember one thing. The river Jordan represents death. It represents burial. It also represents resurrection. But it is the death and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord first. But together we are together so you remember in Ephesians in chapter one we are told that Christ God raised him from the dead and he is seated high above and God has given everything to him and he is over all things. Then in chapter two you find we are quickened together with him. We are raised up together with him. We are seated together with him in the heaven. It is Christ not us. There is no power in us. The power is in Christ. It is in his death. It is in his burial. It is in his resurrection. But when he died he not only died for us he died as us. When he was buried he was not only buried for us he was also buried as us. When he rose from the dead he not only is risen from the dead for us but he is risen from the dead as us. In the Red Sea he is our substitute. In the River Jordan he is our representative. In the Red Sea it is substitution. In the River Jordan it is identification. So here you find in the cross of our Lord Jesus there is the Red Sea aspect and there is the River Jordan aspect. The Red Sea aspect is Christ died as our substitute. Therefore we do not need to die. We are delivered out of this world and we belong to Christ. But the cross has the River Jordan aspect and that is to say Christ died as our representative. When he died we died with him. Why? Because we are in him. We are in him. He died buried and raised from the dead two thousand years ago. We have to keep that in clear view. Do not get too close to it. That view must be must be before us in such clarity. Brothers and sisters we need to see the death and the burial and resurrection of Christ in clear view before us. Because that will lead us into the new and living way. We cannot die ourselves when we come to see how ugly is our flesh. We abhor our flesh. We hate our flesh. We know there is no good in our flesh. We long to die. And brothers and sisters do not make any mistake and try to crucify yourself. Some people say now you need to die therefore try to die. You cannot. You cannot. We cannot die. We cannot afford to be buried. It will be buried the living. And of course once we are buried we cannot get up again. There is no power in us. The whole power is in the cross of our Lord Jesus. He died. He was buried. And he has risen from the dead. And dear brothers and sisters God put all of us in there. The ark stood entering to the river first. Then the water divided. The ark stood in the middle of the water and the children of Israel passed by until all of them had passed over. Then the ark came out on the other side. And the river Jordan flowed back. In other words it is the cross of our Lord Jesus. He did it all. But the ark was born on the shoulders of the priest. In other words there need to be priestly exercise in us. If you want to appropriate the death and burial and resurrection of Christ as your own. So that you may be delivered out of the wilderness kind of life and enter into the abundant life of Christ. Then you need to be exercised in your spirit. That is priestly exercise. You need to exercise your faith. You need to exercise your faith in the power of the ark. In the power of the ark in dividing the Jordan River. In the power of the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You need to be exercised. And as you exercise and take a step of faith. You find indeed you were dead, buried and now is risen with Christ. That's the way to cross the river Jordan. That's the way. Therefore in Romans chapter 6 we are told how we need to know that our old man was crucified. How we need to reckon ourselves as dead unto sin. And as alive unto God. That is priestly exercise by faith. How we need to yield our bodies to Christ. That we may be instruments of righteousness unto holiness. These are priestly exercises. But priestly exercise is always based upon the finished work of Christ. If there is not a finished work of Christ we have no ground to exercise. But if there is a finished work of Christ we ought to. We must exercise. It is not something you just sit back and say well if it is done then it is done. You know. And you just sit back passively waiting to see the river Jordan open up. It will not open up. You cannot cross over. You need to be exercised in your spirit. Like the priest you have to take a step off. You may get a little wet in the beginning but just for a second. And just the way you find you get through the river Jordan. That is the end of the wilderness journey. That is how our life in the flesh terminates. And our life in the spirit in Christ begins. But brothers and sisters there is something very important. And that is you find when they cross the river Jordan God commanded Joshua to do two things. One is they will pick up twelve stones from the plain of Moab. Every tribe will appoint one person to pick up a stone and put upon his shoulder. Now it must be a big stone not a small one. Not a pebble. And everyone will pick up a stone and twelve stones. They will bear these twelve stones and enter into the river Jordan on dry ground to the place where the ark was stationed. The feet of the priest were stationed. And then they will take out underneath the ark where the priest stood. They will take out twelve stones from the riverbed. They will replace these twelve stones. The twelve stones in the riverbed will be taken out and the twelve stones they carry from the plain of Moab they will put into the place where they took out the twelve stones. And they will bring the twelve stones from the riverbed over the other side of Jordan and set it up there as a memorial. And when the water came back those twelve stones that they took from the plain of Moab were buried forever under the water. And the Bible says it is still there. It is there. Now what do all these represent? What is the meaning of all these? Of course. The twelve stones represent the twelve tribes of Israel. The twelve stones they took out of the plain of Moab. What kind of stones were these stones? Stones on the ground in the wilderness in the plain by the hills. What kind of stones? Rough and rugged. Rough and rugged. These twelve stones that they took out of the plain of Moab represent Israel in the flesh. They represent their 40 years of life. Their 40 years of life were like these twelve stones. Weather beaten, rough, rugged, ugly looking, no good. But these twelve stones were brought into the river and buried there forever. Forever. No longer to be seen. But we know it is there. Every time you come to the bank and you look into the river, even though you cannot see it, you know they are there. Now this is what baptism really means, you know. Every time when you are tempted. Every time when you are tested. Every time when there is some difficulty in your spiritual life. Then you look back and say, one day I was baptized. That old man, my flesh was buried there. It is an eternal fact. Even though I don't see it now, I know it is there. And brothers and sisters, when you realize that, it strengthens you, you know. I was buried, still there. It never got up. And when you go back and look at it, you know it has nothing to do with all brothers and sisters. That is the meaning of baptism. Baptism is done only once in your lifetime and yet it is once and for all your life. It is not something that you just do it once and forget it. You find the application is there forever. The Bible says it is still there. It is still there. You can look back. When Satan comes to tempt you to get up, you look back and say, well, it is there. Buried. No more. But thank God, out of the riverbed, twelve stones. And you know the stones coming out from the riverbed are very different. The water, wash it, refine it, and these stones must be very smooth and refined. Oh, just like the pebbles that David pick out from the brooks to kill Goliath. So here you will find it means life. What was buried was our flesh. But what came out is Christ. Therefore, Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. No longer live I, but Christ who lives in me. And I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So these twelve stones that came out of the riverbed and put in Canaan as a memorial. In other words, it is a declaration that we now live, not by our old life, but by life. And that begins the life in Canaan. So dear brothers and sisters, what we find in the book of Joshua is a type of what God is doing in Christ with us today. Have we crossed the river Jordan? We have crossed the Red Sea. But are we still in the wilderness? Have we left the wilderness behind and enter into that life of abundance in Christ represented by Canaan life? The point is, have we crossed the river Jordan? Christ has already done it. But do you follow it by faith? If you follow it by faith, you appropriate and it is cold death, cold burial, and cold resurrection. Then you may live unto God in newness. And these are the preparations for entering into an altogether different life on a higher plane. So may the Lord use these words to open our understanding that we may by faith enter into all that Christ has already done for us. Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee for Christ and for all that He has done for us. Oh, we do praise and thank Thee that in Him we are not only delivered out of the world, but we are delivered out of them. We praise and thank Thee not only we are delivered out, but we are delivered into. It is our privilege today to live in newness of life, in the abundance of the life of Christ. Oh Lord, we thank Thee and praise Thee, and by faith we appropriate it. In Thy precious name, Amen.