Crossing the Jordan :: By April Kelcy

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles

The Jordan River was crossed in a supernatural way more than once. This did not escape the attention of slaves in America circa mid-1800s, and out of that history came famous spirituals such as “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “Every Time I Feel the Spirit.” Even the American folk song, “Michael Row the Boat Ashore,” that became especially popular in the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement has two verses that mention the Jordan, one of which has the exact wording of a verse in “Every Time I Feel the Spirit.”

It seems prior generations understood that the Biblical accounts of multiple crossings over the Jordan are both literal history and an overarching allegory for leaving behind the troubles of this earthly realm when this life is over and passing into the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

There may even be more. Perhaps these accounts also reflect and support one element of properly understanding the end times. That is, the trajectory of the Church differs from the timeline and trajectory provided for those Jews who have not yet recognized their Messiah. The Church, mostly composed of Gentile believers (but also including any Messianic Jews), will lift off in a pretribulation rapture. Most of the Jews who will be saved, however, will be saved during the tribulation. (Because He desires that no one should perish, there will also be both Jews and Gentiles saved during the tribulation, but the primary focus will be on the Jews.)

Additionally, I believe we can discover more about the law versus mercy and grace, especially in the account in Joshua of crossing the Jordan. There’s also the account in 2 Kings 2 of Elijah’s departure, which I may explore in a future article.

Where I begin:

“All scripture is God-breathed…” (2 Timothy 3:16). The key word is “all.”  That means every single word is there by design, and any details provided are also by design and are not random. So, I believe it’s useful when reading and studying the Word to also ask why certain specific words were chosen, or details were included.

Now, let us get into the story as it is told in Joshua, when he had become their commander, and the Israelites made that first supernatural crossing of the Jordan.

A Change of Season:

“Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel” (Joshua 1:2).

Moses was the receiver of the law. The law itself is permanent (Matthew 5:18). However, as individual persons, Moses and the initial group of Israelites that came out of slavery in Egypt were not allowed to enter the promised land due to fear, disbelief and rebellion per the account in Numbers 14. Aside from Caleb and Joshua, only those under the age of 20 were allowed to cross over and enter the land.

So, the crossing of the Jordan acts as a dividing line between an era of slavery and when the Israelites were lost, wandering in the scorching heat of the desert (an allegory for THIS world), and their prophetic entry into the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey (an allegory for heaven)—a symbolically clear point of demarcation between the old “home” and the new.

It seems entirely possible that the allegory is not just about a place, such as whether on Earth or in heaven, but it can be seen as an allegory as to time as well, and the character or purpose of each era—a contrast between being under the law or being under grace. In the time before crossing over, the law composed the dominant understanding of God and how to relate to Him.

Caleb and Joshua were the only two spies willing to see His goodness, believe His promises, and obey God’s direction to go into the promised land. Even though Yeshua wasn’t known to them yet, crossing over the Jordan was a preview of a new way of relating to God – when mercy and grace later became THE answer to our utter human inability to ever flawlessly keep His laws.

Let’s look further into the story of Joshua and the Israelites crossing over the Jordan to see what else we can observe.

There Was Already a Pattern of Obedience Connected to the Unlocking of Miracles:

God told Moses at the Red Sea: “… lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it” (Exodus 14:15). It was only after his obedience that “the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided” (Exodus 14:21).

In the initial crossing of the Jordan, the priests carrying the Ark were told, “… when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap…” (Joshua 3:13). The Word then indicates that as soon as they obeyed and their feet dipped “in the brink” of the river, the waters rose up “in a heap very far away” (Joshua 3:15-16). Therefore, here is another example of obedience occurring right before the fulfilling of a miracle.

Furthermore, since every word of scripture is God-breathed, it also seems valuable to notice that the heap of water was “very far away.”  Did you also notice that it was only the waters “from above” that stood in a heap, and that the heap was singular? Think about depictions you’ve likely seen of the parting of the Red Sea, with walls of water on both sides forming a narrow tunnel of passage and towering over them in height.

Although, here at the Jordan, these were not the generation that saw the parting of the Red Sea, they may well have heard the story and were likely aware that the Egyptians had been overtaken by the waters and drowned in the Sea. But in this case, when God put the dangerous waters at a distance, and only at the source end, with the other side simply continuing to drain away, it is an indication again of His mercy.  It had to have felt much safer. It was a visual representation of the command so often given throughout the Word, “Fear Not!”

The Stones of Remembrance:

In Joshua 4, Joshua was commanded by the Lord and obeyed the command to have a man from each of the twelve tribes carry a stone from the riverbed and put them together as an altar on the opposite shore (verses 1-8).  But in verse 9, Joshua himself also built an altar of twelve stones “in the midst of the Jordan,” and the Word says that “they are there to this day.”  So, there were TWO altars built, one IN the Jordan riverbed, and one on the opposite shore inside the promised land.

Placing stones of remembrance appears in other passages too, but their purpose is generally to remind both the witnesses to a divine intervention on their behalf – and the future generations – of the faithfulness of God. There’s something distinctive, though, about the altar IN the riverbed, because who could be expected to see it, hidden by the waters that later coursed back over it?

One thing is clear: The presence of those stones over the centuries in that exact place indicates something supernatural was, and is, at work. Water weighs close to eight and a quarter pounds to the gallon, and walls of moving water, even at shallow depth, have tremendous power. A larger flow of water in a tsunami, for example, can pick up a multi-story building and move it inland by miles! Just the normal currents of the Jordan could be expected to erode and, over time, ultimately wash away the stones in that altar, but even more so, given that scripture tells us the Jordan regularly floods and overflows in springtime.

There is one potential link between the two altars in this account of the initial crossing and prior instructions from Moses to Joshua. In Deuteronomy 27, Moses had told Joshua that after they crossed over the Jordan, they were to set up a stone altar, plaster it, write the law in the plaster, offer sacrifices on it, and more. Joshua followed these instructions later at Mount Ebal in chapter 8.

Given that few other clues come to mind to explain why there were two altars at this crossing, I believe we should likely assume the two altars are representative of the law and of the sacrificial system with which they were so familiar. But that assumption still doesn’t provide any explanation of why the second one IN the riverbed was needed. No one could see it after the waters returned; they couldn’t sacrifice on it. What are we missing?

It’s a bit like putting the pieces of a puzzle together, especially as they are related to the end times. In difficult sections of a jigsaw puzzle, it might seem like the coloration of a single piece is completely improbable as a fit in certain areas of the forming puzzle. Yet, we might ultimately discover that it turns out to be the exact point of transition between two or more main images. In the same way, and with some patience, maybe we can draw some connections from seemingly unrelated passages in the Word and/or church history, especially if we focus on images and references to water.

Daniel 9:26 tells us that “the end will come with a flood.” A flood of what? Genesis 9 tells us that, after Noah’s day, He promised not to again wipe out all flesh or destroy the whole earth with a flood. So, it can’t suggest a literal global flood again. While I don’t know what kind of a flood the reference in Daniel means, we know that the waters of the Jordan were in flood season before they were parted. It’s quite possible to picture those waters returning and flowing over the top of that riverbed altar after all people (and the Ark) had passed over.

The use of the word “flowing” immediately reminds me of this marvelous verse:

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb …” (Revelation 22:1).

This opening verse of Revelation 22 follows the description of the New Jerusalem that comes down from heaven. Remarkably, there are twelve foundation stones and twelve gates to the city in the New Jerusalem. Twelve foundation stones! Hang on; we’ll come back to this. But first let’s think again about the flowing of the waters of the Jordan as they returned to their place and washed over the riverbed altar.

So many Biblical references link water to LIFE! They also link to mercy and grace, as in this Biblically sound hymn by Robert Robinson in 1758:

“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,  Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.” [Public domain]

Streams of mercy! Here is how I suggest the pieces may fit:

  1. The altar in the riverbed represents the law.
  2. The stones do not get washed away because the law is permanent.
  3. The stones also do not get washed away because, according to Psalm 16:8, those who trust in the Lord will not be moved. (The stones may have identity, as we will discover later.)
  4. The return of the waters hides (covers) the believer in His care. (“Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.”)
  5. The return of the waters is representative of the cleansing flood. (“I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.”)
  6. The continual flow of waters is a reminder that His steadfast love never ceases and that His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22).
  7. When the currents overflow the stones, which are fixed in place permanently as is the law, the imagery is that of a flood overflowing with grace and mercy, a reminder of the promise of Psalm 23: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” 

            A prophetic significance to the twelve stones.

            God is a God of order. He does nothing without purpose. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. Every word and every detail He has provided in His Word has something to say about His character, about His provision for salvation, about His will and desires for us, and ultimately explains what to expect in the latter days.

            I don’t at all think that the two altars at the Jordan are an accident, nor do I believe that it is incidental that both are composed of twelve stones. I now finally call your attention back once again to the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:

            There are twelve gates to the city, and each of the gates is named after one of the twelve tribes of Israel. There are twelve stone foundations, each named after one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. It is clear from this that God has a place for both Jews and Gentiles in the New Jerusalem, no matter at what time in history they come to recognize and accept their Messiah. The presence of both at the end of days is a truth that reveals the error of replacement theology (in which some claim the church has replaced Israel).

            The second point relates back to the statement that God is a God of order and purpose. The sequences in which things unfold are worth noting, as well as the application of simple logic.

            Let me ask you a simple question. Would it make sense for you to build the frame of a house and hang the windows and doors before building its foundation? Of course not!  That is the equivalent of building a house on sand instead of the rock, something Jesus clearly warned about.

            What seems obvious, at least to me, is that the construction of the New Jerusalem supports a pretribulation rapture view. Quite simply, to function as a foundation (itself placed firmly on Christ, the Solid Rock), the church must arrive first. The framing and gates follow, in the final ingathering of the last remnant of Jews who come to know their Messiah during the tribulation. Also, the gates illustrate and highlight their importance in God’s plans, as His chosen, due to their genetic role in bringing forth the Messiah. No man can enter those gates without first coming to salvation in the Jewish Jesus. We are grafted in, and He, as the root and vine, has provided for both branches (plural!).

            One more clue to the Rapture in this crossing of the Jordan:

            “And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before” (Joshua 4:18).

            Did you notice that when they cross over the Jordan, the direction is UP? Did you notice that it didn’t say that the priests walked out on their own? Or even that they had control over their own feet? Remember, too, that they were carrying the Ark, so climbing would take extra effort as well as tremendous care not to drop the Ark.

            But that’s not how it sounds at all. It reads supernaturally. It’s a glimpse of what we can expect to happen in the rapture – a “lift-off,” so to speak, into the promised land. A supernatural force lifted those feet, something that can only be attributed to the Lord. The phrase “lifted up” is also in perfect sync with the pattern of the Galilean Jewish wedding and thus supports a pretribulation rapture, because when the groom came for his bride, the bride was “lifted up” onto a litter to be carried away to his father’s house.

            Some of you might be a bit confused given that in the account the priests are not only Jewish, but this also occurs long before Christ walked the earth. Some of you may be asking how these Jewish priests relate to the rapture of the Church.

            First, let’s stick to the basics: The cross of Christ remains central, and when the rapture comes, there will be Messianic Jews that fly away with us. However, those Jews who have not yet recognized Yeshua as their Savior will be left behind.

            But secondly, let us look at and remember 1 Peter 2:5, which informs us that all believers are “living stones” and that we are being built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.

            Peter goes on to say in verse 9: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light …” In other words, we shouldn’t let the fact that the priests in the story were Jewish discourage us at all from continuing to eagerly await the rapture of the Church.

            “To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:6).

             His love (and plans) for both Jews and Gentiles remain. Maranatha!

            ***  

            About the author: April Kelcy has had a longtime interest in prophecy and currently leads meetings both in person and remotely to encourage believers to have conversations about the end times. She retired to Spokane, WA, after a long career in emergency management in Southern California, where she specialized in all phases of preparing for, surviving, and managing recovery from large-scale disasters, with particular emphasis on earthquake disasters. For more information, you may email her at askelcy@gmail.com

             

             

            Incoming False Prophets, False Teachers, False Prosperity :: By Wilfred Hahn

            Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles, Uncategorized, Wilfred Hahn

            The Bible tells us that a time will come when commerce—the act of buying and selling—can be controlled worldwide. This facility will actually be invoked at one point during the Great Tribulation period: “He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:16-17).

            This is an oft-referenced verse, infamously misquoted and misinterpreted by Christians and unbelievers alike. It is the source of countless vain speculations about the identity of the “mark” and the “number.” However, the most critical error concerns the identity of who it is that actually brings in these controls. It is not the first beast with 7 heads, which is of the lineage that gives rise to the physical Antichrist.

            Rather, it is the second beast (which emerges from the earth and has two horns like a lamb—Revelation 13:11) that brings in commercial controls. This latter beast is commonly linked with the False Prophet, who is also mentioned in Revelation 16:13 (cf. 19:20; 20:10).

            I have always thought it telling that it would be a religious figure that ends up being the world’s last “economic guru.” A strange coincidence … that economics and religion would be in union? No.

            Political economics is the world’s greatest religion. As such, it is only fitting that a deceiving religious figure would preach and enforce such a final type of “prosperity gospel” to the entire world. Indeed, the value proposition of the False Prophet at that time may sound like this: “Take the number that is religiously endorsed from this preacher’s pulpit, and you will have prosperity.”

            At that time there will be such a crisis that people will likely respond as they did to Joseph in the third year of the famine: “[…] Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh” (Genesis 47:19).

            Why Global Systems Are Needed

            Money is the designated medium of Mammon. Its strategic significance in the cosmology of mankind is more than just being the chief temptation that qualifies “the love of money” as being “the root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Crucially, “money systems” also play a strategic eschatological role, as can no other form of earthly or spiritual rule. Why is this the case? There could be a number of reasons. But, very likely, a main one is that Satan and his hierarchy of fallen angels do not have the power of omnipresence as does God. Therefore, an inventive counter tactic is needed. Here, a global commercial and monetary system offers the next most potent control mechanism.

            Though Satan’s powers may have been curtailed during the Church Age, the spirit of the Antichrist has been busy. “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Many antichrists have been at work, inevitably coaxing the world to its globalized, humanist state. Its endpoint is already in view. The supporting technologies, the global organizational structure is nearly complete; the concentration of financial command nodes far advanced. Only one thing remains: The global imperative to pull it all together … the imperative of global “political economic policy.”

            Concentration of Financial Control

            Following, a few trends are outlined, which will provide the reader with some anecdotal evidence of how rapidly economic and monetary systems are converging and centralizing. We could cite countless more examples; however, here we only point to three of its telltale signs.

            1. Concentration of Companies. The 10 biggest companies in the world (measured by market value) account for 18.8% of total world company value. Ponder this, as it is unprecedented. Only 10 companies account for approximately one/fifth of total global value of $716 trillion as of March 13, 2026.
            2. Global investable assets are estimated to total between $250 to $300 trillion (equities, bonds, real estate, and alternatives). Institutional investors (pension funds, mutual funds, ETFs, insurers, sovereign wealth funds) collectively own 70 to 80% of US equities, and 40 to 50% globally. To further illustrate the high level of concentration, consider that just three money managers account for as much as 20% ownership of US stocks.
            3. Worldwide wealth concentration continues to increase to the highest levels in modern financial history. One report estimates that 0.01% of the population has three times the wealth of the bottom 50% of the world’s population. The EU World Inequality Report paints a picture of an economic order tilted toward a tiny, ultra-wealthy minority.

            Everywhere one peers, the forces of centralization can be observed, whether in North America or globally. Today, perhaps less than 10,000 people control the world’s money flows. Some have estimated a far smaller number … as low as 600. The signs of centralization are everywhere. A very small number of people can manipulate or control the world’s political/economic agenda.

            Global Systems Affect Cares of Entire World

            As the global gyrations of financial markets attest, never before has the entire financial world behaved so much as one monolithic culture, as is evident today in global capital markets. This is a direct, though not exclusive, result of the late-stage globalized commercial systems.

            Putting it all together, we crucially now recognize that the economic, financial, and psychological conditions of global markets have come to the point where a viral, media-generated chain can impact the sentiment of the entire world very rapidly.

            Globally interconnected commercial and communications systems, such as already observed today, demonstrate the powers of control that the False Prophet will one day exercise. Revelation 18:17 says, “In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!” Could this be a connection to the fragile financial markets that we see today?

            As the Bible says, the spirit of the Antichrist has been active these past 2,000 years, despite the fact that Satan did indeed lose some of his powers and freedoms. After Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given to indwell the members of the Church, Christ’s very body on Earth. Once this body has been removed—and along with it also the indwelling restrainer (the “Paraclete”)—the “beast” representing mankind’s complicit kingdoms, which has been obedient to the “spirit of the Antichrist,” will be superseded by “The Beast”—this being Satan himself in the form of a man, the 8th king (Revelation 17:8).

            The saints will not witness the Antichrist’s arrival. As the Bible says, only “the inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come” (Revelation 17:8b). This is consistent with the expectation that the Church will first be removed. The Beast will not come out of the Abyss until this “restrainer” is first withdrawn.

            In the meantime, Satan and his hierarchy of fallen angels have been busy transforming the minds of mankind to accept humanism and globalism. They now await the opportune use of the global web of financial and economic systems that achieves the next best alternative to “omnipresence” and worldwide power.

            Points to Ponder

            The day is very near when it will be possible for a global authority to completely control commerce worldwide. Already, it is technically impossible to live without money or a bank account. People that have attempted this must still rely on the charity and handouts of those that do have monetary income and bank accounts.

            While the technology and global systems stand prepared for this eventuality, the global “political” power structure is not yet in place. For example, such large organizations as the Bank of International Settlements, the World Bank, etc., have not yet had their levers of power given to a central authority. That development first awaits the emergence of the 10 kings. These final steps and events will happen very suddenly … once their time has arrived.

            Christians today, as everyone else, are already entrapped in a global financial system. While we enjoy its conveniences, we also suffer under the many materialistic temptations that the spirit behind these worldly systems incessantly proposes. Someday, these systems will be turned against the Tribulation Saints.

            Today, pre-Rapture saints are implored to enter a different kind of transaction. “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see” (Revelation 3:18). Those are the words of Christ to the 7th and last church, which exists even now just prior to His return. It is not an impulse purchase, an approach so widely promoted in our culture today. The gratification is not instant but eternal. The Apostles knew the cost of “gold refined by fire.”

            “Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (2 Corinthians 6:4-10).

            ***

            Wilfred J. Hahn is a global economist/strategist. Formerly a top-ranked global analyst, research director for a major Wall Street investment bank, and head of Canada’s largest global investment operation, his writings focus on the endtime roles of money, economics and globalization. He has been quoted around the world and his writings reproduced in numerous other publications and languages. His 2002 book The Endtime Money Snare: How to live free accurately anticipated and prepared its readers for the Global Financial Crisis. A following book, Global Financial Apocalypse Prophesied: Preserving true riches in an age of deception and trouble, looks further into the prophetic future.

            Do you have questions or other perspectives? You can contact Wilfred at: staff@eternalvalue.com.