In closing this series of brief papers on Gilgal, we must turn our thoughts to the practical application of that which has been engaging our attention. If it be true--and it is true--that Jesus died for us, it is equally true that we have died in Him; as one of our own poets has sweetly put it:
"For me, Lord Jesus, Thou hast died And I have died in Thee: Thou'rt risen--my bands are all untied, And now Thou livest in me. The Father's face of radiant grace Shines now in light on me."
Now this is a great practical truth--none more so. It lies at the very foundation of all true Christianity. If Christ has died for us, then, in very deed, He has taken us completely out of our old condition, with all that appertained to it, and placed us upon an entirely new footing. We can look back from resurrection-ground on which we now stand, into the dark river of death, and see there, in its deepest depths, the memorial of the victory gained for us by the Prince of Life. We do not look forward to death; we look back at it. We can truly say, "The bitterness of death is past."
Jesus met death for us in its most terrible form. Just as the river of Jordan was divided when it presented its most formidable appearance--"for Jordan overfloweth all its banks all the time of harvest"--so our Jesus encountered our last great enemy, vanquished him in his most fearful form, and left behind, in the very centre of death's dark domain, the imperishable record of His glorious victory. All praise, homage, and adoration to His peerless name! It is our privilege, by faith and in spirit, to stand on Canaan's side of Jordan, and erect our memorial of what the Saviour, the true Joshua, has done for us.
"And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, Take you twelve men out of the people, _out of every tribe a man_. And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, _out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm_, twelve stones; and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging-place where ye shall lodge this night. Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, _out of every tribe a man_. And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God, into the midst of Jordan, and take you up _every man of you_ a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel: that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be _for a memorial_ unto the children of Israel for ever" (Josh. iv: I-7).
The great fact was to be seized, and practically carried out by the whole assembly, "of every tribe a man"--"every man of you a stone upon his shoulder," a stone taken from the very spot where the priests' feet stood firm. All were to be brought into living personal contact with the great mysterious fact that the waters of Jordan were cut off. All were to engage in erecting such a memorial of this fact as should elicit inquiry from their children as to what it meant. It was never to be forgotten.
What a lesson is here for us! Are we erecting our memorial? Are we giving evidence--such evidence as may strike even the mind of a child--of the fact that our Jesus has vanquished the power of death for us? Are we affording any practical proof in daily life that Christ has died for us, and that we have died in Him? Is there aught in our actual history, from day to day, answering to the figure set forth in the passage just quoted--"every man of you a stone upon his shoulder"? Are we declaring plainly that we have passed clean over Jordan--that we belong to heaven--that we are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit? Do our children see aught in our habits and ways, in our spirit and deportment, in our whole character and manner of life, leading them to inquire, "What mean ye by these things?" Are we living as those who are dead with Christ--dead to sin--dead to the world?
Are we practically freed from the world--letting go our hold of present things, in the power of communion with a risen Christ?