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!

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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