15.3 All the People
© 2017 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
I am deeply moved by these lines from Joshua 3:17 and 4:10. Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan. – So the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished.
We see that God is pinpointing specifically here that He intends a time and a ministry when those who bear in their full knowledge the Covenant written upon their hearts will STAND FIRM inside of life laid down and love poured out UNTIL every single person whom the Father has given to Jesus has passed through everything God means by the cross into all the life of Christ.
Everything Finished. Until all the people had crossed completely – Until everything was finished. And remember, this spot of ground on the bottom of the Jordan IS the Holy of Holies through this passage because where the Ark is, that is the Holiest.
Give me a place to stand and I can move all things. Upon firm we stand (from the seventh most important verse in the Bible). – You have not gone this way before (Joshua 3). – We do not know what we are (1 John 3). – But we see Jesus (Hebrews 2). – We are partakers of Christ as we STAND FIRM upon our confidence (Hebrews 3:6 & 14).
Establishing the Word. Let’s consider how everything fits. Much of what is found in possessing all that is Christ pertains to Kingdom. Our purpose in Covenant is to establish the legal (Word) foundation for the expression of Christ through us. In the next session, “Gestation,” we will explore the formation of Christ, conceived of Life, in the womb of the Church. Then, we will spend three sessions discovering how this Covenant of Symmorphy binds us together as believers, as the witness of Christ together. This session is “Symmorphose,” the Action of God binding us with Jesus and Jesus with us as one Pperson together, sharing the same form.
God’s Heart. This picture of the Ark of the Covenant standing firm upon the bottom of the Jordan until every believer belonging to Jesus has passed over into the possession of all the fulness of Christ was not in my mind when I began writing this session. Yet that picture so fills my mind now that it seems to be God’s whole present purpose in this Symmorphic Covenant. Indeed, this picture gives us the passion of God’s Heart.
We have said, “Give us a place to stand and we will move God,” yet God is not “reluctant.” Rather, the burning passion of His Heart can be revealed through us only as we take full possession of that Heart – and entirely by faith.
An Example. My son has just been hired as a full-time college instructor at the local community college – teaching electrical technology. He has only a two-year degree and three years of experience in the field; thus it is entirely the grace of God upon him that has opened this door. Teaching college was my son’s original goal, though he had thought this goal was several years in the future. I know (and he knows) that he is fully capable; he would not have been hired except that those making the decision could see that clearly. Yet now that he has leaped abruptly from working every day at electrical installation to being entirely in the college environment, he is feeling quite overwhelmed.
Wisdom for My Son. Here is my wisdom for my son, wisdom gained from years of the same types of experiences, leaping into something with all confidence even though it is all brand new. There is no better way to learn anything than to teach it to others. Sure, you have to hit the ground running, but so what, wing it. No, you don’t know what you’re doing, but act like you do and your students will think you do. And then scramble, draw into yourself your subject matter in every way you know how, and transform it in the way that fits you fitting your students. When your grand ideas fail, do it differently, until you see the light turn on in your students’ minds. Regardless, it is you who will be the one who learns.
Standing Firm Regardless. This is exactly God’s program for us. We are that Ark of the Covenant standing firm upon life laid down and love poured out, Christ Jesus Himself living now as us. We don’t have a clue what that means, but we see all these precious people whom Jesus loves passing by on their Way through death and into Life. They look at us as they pass by and they see the Covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ, written upon our hearts, entirely by our faith that God is. We don’t have a clue what any of it means, but we stand firm in full confidence as they connect with Jesus inside themselves.
Learning Christ. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matthew 11:29-30). We learn Christ best as we teach full union with Him to others. We learn the Covenant as we are the Covenant for others.
Those whom He pro-knows He pro-determines them symmorphic with the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. – That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being symmorphosed with His death. – Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be symmorphic with His glorious body, according to the energeia by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
An Adjective. Paul invented the word, “symmorphos,” in early AD 58 as he was writing to the Romans while in Corinth. His use of the word here, I now see, was in the adjective or descriptive form.
(Oh dear, I’ve said all along that it is a verb, when in fact, it is in adjective form twice and a verb only in being symmorphosed with His death. That will have to be altered all through in the second revision of these texts. However, even as an adjective, symmorphic carries in itself the concept of present and continuous action.)
Then Paul used the word five years later when he was in Rome writing to the Philippian church, twice in the same chapter. Read through the three references above several times.
Crossing the Jordan. All three references to symmorphy we equate with two things, first our taking possession of all that is Christ, and second, our ensuring that every believer in Jesus takes possession of all that is Christ. At the same time, let’s position these three references to symmorphy regarding the crossing of the Jordan into the promised land.
Only one reference refers to the crossing of the Jordan – being symmorphosed with His death. Paul refers here to an established, completed, continuously effective action. We do not explore the depths of our symmorphy with His death except to see ourselves always there; rather, we go forward from the Jordan knowing that IT IS FINISHED.
Remember Me. After the children of Israel had crossed over the Jordan, God had them build a memorial by which to remember. Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm. – When your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord (Joshua 4:3 & 6-7).
Here is our memorial in the New Covenant. And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). – Remember that we have already passed through death.
The Land of Christ. This is one of the great crimes of Nicene Christianity, placing death and the cross ahead of the believer in Jesus instead of behind them. We stand firm in the finished work of the cross until every believer sees death behind them and sees themselves only inside of all that is Christ.
Notice in Philippians 3:10 that Paul positions three aspects of our taking possession of all of Christ belonging to us, and then, almost as an afterthought, he says, “having already passed through the Jordan.” That I may know Jesus. – That I may know the power of Jesus’ resurrection. – That I may know the fellowship of Jesus’ sufferings. (Having already passed through the Jordan).
We Teach Knowing Jesus. The only way really to learn something well is to teach it to others. Thus we divide this course in which our brethren are enrolled, this course of Christ which we teach, into four parts. We teach knowing Jesus. We teach knowing the power of His life as the only life we are. We teach sharing with Jesus the sufferings for His Church, that is, being the Mercy Seat. And we teach that all of it is based on having already crossed the Jordan, now living only inside of all that is Christ. This last lesson is recurrent because our brethren tend to wander back into, “Oh me, oh my,” and we gently turn them around to see that Christ is all that they are.
The Seal of the Covenant. Let me add this. I now understand how to place two things that happened immediately after passing entirely through the death of the Jordan, circumcision and the cessation of manna.
The circumcision that took place at Gilgal in Joshua Chapter 5 signifies the disavowal of all human attempt to “be righteous” before God. It is the cutting of the seal of the covenant – I will never again take responsibility for myself away from Jesus. And he (Abraham) received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised (Romans 4:11).
And the cessation of the manna happened because now the children of Israel could eat all that the life of Christ was for them. – Eat My flesh and drink My blood.
Understanding the Seal. Paul called the circumcision of Abraham the seal of the covenant, that is, Abraham’s signature alongside of God’s signature which was the blood of the sacrifice.
Here is what that means. Over the last few weeks, I have passed through great internal difficulty. I have been heavily discouraged, frustrated with God, and feeling deeply sorry for myself. Even more, I have regretted, with expletives, writing all this stuff about a “God” who never seems to show up as He says in my life. Yet NOT ONCE has any shadow of separation touched my consciousness, but in every moment, I have seen myself only together with my Father sharing all things with me.
I am circumcised with the circumcision of Christ; I have no story of any wicked self.
Image and Body. Then Paul used symmorphy twice in adjective form, symmorphic with the Image of Christ, that is, as the revelation of Father, the express image of God’s Person, AND symmorphic with the glorious Body of Christ, which is the Church, the fullness of Jesus who fills all in all (Ephesians 1).
Symmorphic with Image; symmorphic with Body.
Technically, these two expressions are the same, image and body. The difference is found in their focus. The first focus is on Father making Himself known through the Church, a family of people walking together in love. The second focus is on the Church, making the Father known to all as a family of people walking together in love.
Our Symmorphic Union Together. The Covenant for God is that God desires a Body. Yet this Body God obtains for His own expression is a many-membered Body, a family of people walking together in love.
For God to have His Body, then, there must be a coming together into Christ. This Body is not organized, but living. It is not geographized, though it has many local expressions. This Body of God is the full expression of the Holy Place, God’s Jerusalem, His Face made visible to all creation.
We want to find, then, the full Covenant basis for our life together as believers as the physical body of Christ, first as the gestation of the child in the womb, and then as the Holy Place. We want to know our symmorphic union together.