The Jordan River not only flows through the land of Israel; it also flows through biblical history.
Let’s pause to think carefully about this historic event. The holy ark, where God resided on earth, took its place in the river. What river? The Jordan, or Yarden, as the Hebrew has it, from yarad, meaning “to descend or go downwards.” And downward it goes! Just under 200 miles long (320 km), it falls 3,000 feet (950 m) from its sources on the flank of Mount Hermon to the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on the earth’s surface. As such, it’s often a picture of death leading to life. Recall the great gospel illustration with Naaman humbling himself in the river, then coming out of the water, “and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean” (2 Ki 5:14). Or Elijah crossing on dry ground, soon to be caught away “by a whirlwind into heaven” (2:11). But most significantly, we must link Israel’s crossing, when the water opened up for them, with the Lord’s baptism here by John. On that occasion the river didn’t open up for Him; He went under the waves. But “behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’” (Mt 3:16-17). Didn’t our Lord come to the lowest spot on earth? Yes, He did! Didn’t He come as the meeting place between God and man, like the ark? Yes, He did! Didn’t He enter death’s cold waters so that now we can walk through on dry ground, death having been defeated for us? Yes, He did! And through His death, didn’t He deal with the mighty floodtide of sin going all the way back to Adam? Yes, praise the Lord, He did! But there’s more to this story, as our next lesson will show, and it has to do with our death and resurrection!