THE TWO CROSSINGS Part 1

The wisdom of the fathers

THE TWO CROSSINGS Part 1

The crossing of the Red Sea and the river Jordan, are set forth in Scripture as emblematic events, typifying the soul's exodus from the slavery of sin and its entrance into the fulness of the Spirit.

In 1 Cor. 10., Paul teaches that the crossing of the Red Sea was an act of faith sufficient to initiate them into the privileges of God's Church; where he shows how that "all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat," etc. This summing up of eating spiritual meat, the rite of baptism and the faith-act of crossing the sea, shows that God designed it to be an outward historic type of the soul's deliverance from the bondage of Satan and introduction into the kingdom of God.

Now if we turn to Heb. 4. we will see that Paul just as clearly teaches that the crossing of the Jordan is a type of the believer's entering into the "rest of faith," or full salvation. He says we enter by "promise" and "by faith." We which have believed do enter into the rest of perfect love; and he exhorts imperfect believers to labor, or more accurately to "hasten" to enter this Canaan. See verses 1-3-11.

With these New Testament torch-lights in our hands, let us go back to the Old Testament records of these two great crossings, and examine the contrasts between them, in which we shall find some of the differences between justification and entire purification.

DRIVEN AND DRAWN

The main thought that pressed upon the Hebrews in Egypt was to escape out of their unbearable bondage. They spent a hundred fold more thought and prayer on how to escape slavery, than they did on the glories of Canaan. A convicted sinner likewise thinks of his guilt and doom, but he can not think much of the glories and beauties of holiness; the Canaan of sanctification is not yet in range of his vision; he is occupied with the fetters of sin, and the impending doom. He is driven out of Egypt. The prospect of death, of judgment and hell — these solemn realities drive men across the Red Sea of pardon.

But the Israelites were drawn to Canaan. They grew weary of wandering, of tent life, of their food, etc., and they hungered and pined for the fixed houses and rest and solid food of Canaan. They were not driven by storm, but drawn by the superior advantages of the country. And the believer is not driven into perfect love by fear and wrath; but he is mysteriously and powerfully drawn to it by the deep inward wants of his experience. Growing tired of his inner wilderness life, he longs for a better experience. He finds the Canaan of holiness contains just what he most needs, and is drawn into it by a mighty soul thirst. Paul preached in consonance with this truth; he preached to sinners from the terrors of the Lord, but he led believers into sanctification, beseeching them by the mercies of God.

HASTE AND PREPARATION.

In Ex. 12. 33, we find that the exit from Egypt was in great haste. "The Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste," etc. How true to experience! When a sinner fully realizes his state of guilt and danger, he moves with utmost speed to calling on a Savior.

When they were to cross Jordan, there was more definite proceeding and preparation. Joshua i. II: "Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals, for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you. " Here there is thoughtful and definite preparation for a mighty step of faith, and not that hurry and terrific alarm that accompanied their exit from slavery. And so when a child of God is on the verge of making the great step into entire sanctification, there is a definiteness in his preparatory consecration, a deep, determined and thoughtful proceeding, which it was impossible to exercise when fleeing as a slave of sin from the wrath to come. to be continued

(from "White Robes" by G.D. Watson)