We
have identified the soul as that part of man upon which
the work of sanctification must be performed—it must go
through the death, burial, and resurrection process to
become like Christ. We have also seen the extent to
which we must go through it—we need a complete
transformation. So then, how exactly does the process
work? First, we are put to death, crucified by the same
Father that put Jesus Christ on the cross. It is not
something we do or work out on our own; we cannot
crucify ourselves. Some people have resorted to all
kinds of obscene practices to accomplish this by
themselves, such as observing lent, crawling on one’s
knees up the stairs of some so-called holy place,
walking on glass, being nailed to a cross, and many
other such efforts to afflict their own selves. However,
these efforts do not lead to any spiritual growth,
because they are all man’s effort to accomplish what
only God can do. If we look at God’s servant, Job, he
did not bring about his own troubles; they were brought
about through Satan, who was given the permission, and
was under the direct oversight of God. God allowed evil
men to crucify Christ, but as we have seen, it was in
the complete program and purpose of God, and by His
sovereign will and permission that they did so.
Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou
considered my servant Job, that there is none like him
in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that
feareth God, and escheweth evil?
9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear
God for nought?
10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his
house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou
hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is
increased in the land.
11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he
hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he
hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not
forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence
of the LORD.
Acts 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the
rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and
against his Christ.
27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom
thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with
the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered
together,
28 For to do
whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to
be done.
As we
have said, we were identified with Jesus as He hung upon
the cross, but that was the work of God that
accomplished our eternal salvation, not our soul’s
sanctification. But now our Heavenly Father begins to do
this same work upon us in a spiritual sense that He did
to Jesus in a literal sense. However, the means by which
God crucifies us are not just spiritual, but they
involve very real physical and mental sufferings as
well. As a Christian, we cannot spiritualize, deny, or
explain away the sufferings that God so clearly designs
for us to go through. To say that God has nothing to do
with real world sickness, pain, and other kinds
of suffering, denies the Biblical record and God’s
omnipotence.
Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which
speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art
rebuked of him:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as
with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth
not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are
partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which
corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not
much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits,
and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after
their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might
be partakers of his holiness.
11 Now no
chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but
grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the
peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby.
Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross
daily, and follow me.
Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto
me, and I unto the world.
2
Cor 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure
through the abundance of the revelations, there was
given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above
measure.
8For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it
might depart from me.
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee:
for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most
gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I
take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's
sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Phil 2:25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you
Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and
fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that
ministered to my wants.
26 For he longed after you all, and was full of
heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been
sick.
27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death:
but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me
also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose.
However, since God is not merely interested in causing
us physical pain for the purpose of crucifying our
flesh—that would be an exercise in futility—why then
does God cause us physical suffering for our spiritual
benefit? The answer is—because God is dealing with the
soul of man concerning the ways of the flesh, and He
uses those things which are dear to us, things which are
a part of our daily lives, to cause us to suffer and die
to the ways of the flesh. Generally, it can be whatever
we treasure in this life. The list could include
material things, our health, our family, ideals which we
hold, relationships, natural occurrences, and
interactions with other humans. Things which, when God
touches them, leave us wounded, suffering, and hurt
physically and psychologically. Lastly, and more
importantly, He uses those things which strike at the
heart of our religious beliefs and faith, things which
cause us to question God, His love, and His ways. God
uses all of these things because they are what make our
flesh happy, contented, and willing to just go on with
our worldly lives. What He must do is to destroy these
affections until the only thing that matters to us is
Christ.
1
Pet 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a
season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more
precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried
with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and
glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye
see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory:
9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of
your souls.
Gal 5:24 And
they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts.
Phil 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I
counted loss for Christ.
8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord:
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,
and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Job 16:11 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and
turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder:
he hath also
taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me
up for his mark.
13 His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my
reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my
gall upon the ground.
14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth
upon me like a giant.
Job 19:6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and
hath compassed me with his net.
7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry
aloud, but there is no judgment.
8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and
he hath set darkness in my paths.
9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown
from my head.
10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone:
and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.
11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he
counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.
12 His troops come together, and raise up their way
against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have
put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed
in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian,
bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Now,
there is what we might call two stages to this spiritual
dying process. The first might be described as the
enlightenment stage. We have already mentioned that the
experiences of the children of Israel were a picture of
what the Church, the New Testament believers in Christ,
will go through. Israel, in spite of the miracles that
they had seen God perform in Egypt, and His faithfulness
to them in protecting them and providing for them, had
at first refused to believe God when they were told to
go in and conquer the Promised Land. Although the land
was everything that God had promised it would be, the
people were fearful of the inhabitants of the land—who
to them were giants living in great walled cities; but
they were looking at the situation through the eyes of
their flesh, and not with the eye of faith. We are told
that “they that are in the flesh cannot please God,”
and although they were the redeemed people of God,
they were still living after the flesh. When we look
within ourselves for the strength to obey God, it makes
us afraid, because we see no way that we can face our
spiritual enemies and win. As young believers we are
used to doing things in the strength of the flesh, and
have not yet realized the resources we have in Christ.
We are too accustomed to looking within ourselves for
the wherewithal to overcome our enemies. However, that
is the very reason the flesh must be crucified. We must
be made to see, that in ourselves we have no strength.
Everything about our flesh must be destroyed, so that
when we look inside ourselves we see nothing, and are
forced to look to Christ.
Deut
1:19 And when we departed from Horeb, we went through
all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by
the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our
God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.
20 And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of
the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us.
21 Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before
thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy
fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be
discouraged.
22 And ye came near unto me every one of you, and
said, We will send men before us, and they shall search
us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we
must go up, and into what cities we shall come.
23 And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men
of you, one of a tribe:
24 And they turned and went up into the mountain, and
came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.
25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their
hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word
again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our
God doth give us.
26 Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled
against the commandment of the LORD your God:
27 And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because
the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the
land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the
Amorites, to destroy us.
28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have
discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and
taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to
heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the
Anakims there.
29 Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of
them.
30 The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall
fight for you, according to all that he did for you in
Egypt before your eyes;
31 And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that
the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son,
in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this
place.
32 Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your
God,
33 Who went in the way before you, to search you out
a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to
shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by
day.
34 And the LORD
heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware,
saying,
35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil
generation see that good land, which I sware to give
unto your fathers,
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but
to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God:
for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Because of Israel’s unbelief they were made to wander in
the wilderness of sin and self for forty years. God had
to lead them through that barren land that was filled
with trials and temptations, until the death of the
first generation that had come out of Egypt. When the
children of those that had died were finally brought
again to the border of the land flowing with milk and
honey, they were ready to, by faith, cross the river
Jordan. Now, the first generation represented the old
man and his affections, strengths, beliefs, and
attitudes which we bring into our new life in Christ.
This self-life must be destroyed by the trials God
brings upon us. The ways of the old man must be
abandoned before we will cross the river of our
Jordon—which is death to self; and then cross
into our Promised Land—the new life in Christ. The
second generation, who crossed the river Jordan, were a
picture of the new man; who, after the death of the old
man—which is coming to the end of the ways of the
flesh—has by faith become aware of the victorious life
which he has in Christ.
Num 14:1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice,
and cried; and the people wept that night.
2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses
and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto
them, Would God that we had died in the land of
Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
(They spoke
their own judgment.)
3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this
land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our
children should be a prey? were it not better for us to
return into Egypt?
4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain,
and let us return into Egypt.
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all
the assembly of the congregation of the children of
Israel.
6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of
Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land,
rent their clothes:
7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of
Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to
search it, is an exceeding good land.
8 If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us
into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth
with milk and honey.
9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye
the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their
defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us:
fear them not.
10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones.
And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of
the congregation before all the children of Israel.
11 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this
people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they
believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among
them?
12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit
them, and will make of thee a greater nation and
mightier than they.
13 And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians
shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in
thy might from among them;)
14 And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this
land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this
people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that
thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before
them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a
pillar of fire by night.
15 Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man,
then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will
speak, saying,
16 Because the LORD was not able to bring this people
into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he
hath slain them in the wilderness.
17 And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be
great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
18 The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy,
forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means
clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth
generation.
19 Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people
according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou
hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
20 And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy
word:
21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled
with the glory of the LORD.
22 Because all those men which have seen my glory,
and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the
wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and
have not hearkened to my voice;
23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto
their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked
me see it:
24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another
spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I
bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed
shall possess it.
25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the
valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the
wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
26 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron,
saying,
27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation,
which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of
the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
28 Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as
ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and
all that were numbered of you, according to your whole
number, from twenty years old and upward, which have
murmured against me,
30 Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning
which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb
the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
31 But your little ones, which ye said should be a
prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land
which ye have despised.
32 But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in
this wilderness.
33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness
forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your
carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
34 After the number of the days in which ye searched
the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye
bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall
know my breach of promise.
35 I the LORD
have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil
congregation, that are gathered together against me: in
this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they
shall die.
1
Cor 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should
be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the
cloud, and all passed through the sea;
2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in
the sea;
3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they
drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and
that Rock was Christ.
5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for
they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we
should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as
it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and
rose up to play.
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them
committed, and fell in one day three and twenty
thousand.
9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also
tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and
were destroyed of the destroyer.
11 Now all these
things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the
world are come.
Heb 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose
house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the
rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will
hear his voice,
8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the
day of temptation in the wilderness:
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my
works forty years.
10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and
said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have
not known my ways.
11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my
rest.)
12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you
an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living
God.
13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called
To day; lest any of you be hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold
the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit
not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
17 But with whom
was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that
had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into
his rest, but to them that believed not?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of
unbelief.
2
Cor 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for
thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in
distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then
am I strong.
Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former
conversation the old man, which is corrupt according
to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another,
seeing that ye have put
off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in
knowledge after the image of him that created him:
The
ways of the old generation were dominated by legalism
and the works of the flesh. The experience of Mount
Sinai, and the giving of the Ten Commandments, along
with all of the attached sacrifices, cleansings, rules,
and regulations, had not been seen for what it was—a
picture of what God would do later through Christ.
Rather than looking at all of these ordinances by faith,
they made them their own system of righteousness by
works. Despite their many attempts to obey God, the
first generation was always falling short, and
constantly under the wrath and judgment of God. They
would not enter the land of blessing because they lacked
the faith to do so. They failed to trust God, and the
fear and weakness of their flesh prevented them from
going in. Because they could not see beyond the written
law, and by faith grasp the promises of God’s presence
and power, they failed to trust and obey God. Moses
represented the law, which, because of the weakness of
Israel’s flesh, they could not obey; therefore, Moses
could not lead the children of Israel into the Promised
Land. Moses would die before entering Canaan, and a new
leader would arise in his place.
Rom 9:30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles,
which followed not after righteousness, have attained to
righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
31 But Israel, which followed after the law of
righteousness, hath not attained to the law of
righteousness.
32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but
as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at
that stumblingstone;
Deut 4:20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you
forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be
unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.
21 Furthermore
the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware
that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not
go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth
thee for an inheritance:
22 But I must die in this land, I must not go over
Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good
land.
Heb 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being
left us of entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it.
2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto
them: but the word preached did not profit them, not
being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as
he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall
enter into my rest: although the works were finished
from the foundation of the world.
4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on
this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his
works.
5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my
rest.
6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter
therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered
not in because of unbelief:
7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David,
To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if
ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
8 For if Jesus
had given them rest, then would he not afterward have
spoken of another day.
9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of
God.
10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath
ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
11 Let us labour
therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall
after the same example of unbelief.
The
wilderness was a land of struggles, trials, and
failures, but the Promised Land was one of victory and
rest. Our land of blessing is where we find rest in
Christ, and come to the end of our struggles to please
God through our own efforts. Only Joshua, who represents
the Lord Jesus, could lead Israel through Jordan into
the new land. It is quite interesting that the New
Testament name for Jesus is the same as the Old
Testament name for Joshua, and their names mean
Yahweh is salvation. To enter the Promised Land,
Israel had to cross through the Jordan River. For them
to do so God miraculously caused the water to heap
up, and they crossed over on dry ground. The water
of our River Jordan is the Living Waters of God’s
Spirit, who opens the way for us to enter our promised
inheritance in Christ. It is His work within us who
brings about our death to self and opens our spiritual
eyes to behold Christ. It was the Priests of the Lord,
who carried the Ark into the waters of Jordan, that made
a way for the people to go over. Our High Priest, Jesus,
by His sinless life and blood atonement, bore the Ark of
the New Covenant—He fulfilled all that was required to
save His people. He stepped into the waters of Jordan
alone—the river of judgment—and bore the awful
judgment of God against His people. In that land, Joshua
found the Captain of the Lord’s hosts already there to
fight for them. Jesus, as the Captain of our salvation,
has not only prepared the way for us, but stands with us
in our Promised Land, ready to fight for us.
Josh 1:1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of
the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto
Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,
2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over
this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land
which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread
upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the
great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the
Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down
of the sun, shall be your coast.
5 There shall not any man be able to stand before
thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I
will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee.
6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this
people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land,
which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
Josh 3:5 And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify
yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among
you.
6 And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up
the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the
people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and
went before the people.
7 And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I
begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that
they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be
with thee.
8 And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark
of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink
of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.
9 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come
hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.
10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living
God is among you, and that he will without fail drive
out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites,
and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the
Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all
the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.
12 Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes
of Israel, out of every tribe a man.
13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of
the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD,
the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of
Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from
the waters that come down from above; and they shall
stand upon an heap.
14 And it came to pass, when the people removed from
their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests
bearing the ark of the covenant before the people;
15 And as they that bare the ark were come unto
Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark
were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan
overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)
16 That the waters which came down from above stood and
rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that
is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the
sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were
cut off: and the people passed over right against
Jericho.
17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of
the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of
Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry
ground, until all the people were passed clean over
Jordan.
Josh 5:13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by
Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and,
behold, there stood a man over against him with his
sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and
said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?
14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of
the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his
face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him,
What saith my lord unto his servant?
15 And the captain of the LORD's host said unto
Joshua, Loose
thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou
standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let
him come unto me, and drink.
38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath
said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water.
39 (But this
spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him
should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given;
because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Phil 2:13 For it
is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of
his good pleasure.
Matt 11:28 Come
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest.
1
John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the
world: and this is the victory that overcometh the
world, even our faith.
Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high
priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son
of God, let us hold fast our profession.
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in
all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of
grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help
in time of need.
Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower
than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with
glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should
taste death for every man.
10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and
by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto
glory, to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings.
Jesus, in these verses, is Joshua, who although
he led Old Testament Israel into their Promised
Land, never brought the nation as a whole into
the rest promised to them in Christ, but even
today they live in unbelief.