"On Jordan's Stormy Banks" (No. 2)

IN our previous study of the Jordan we closed with God's people safely

across the Jordan and planted in the land of Canaan. There they were

confronted by the enemy. They had to fight for every foot of the country. So

it is with us. To reach the heavenly Canaan we must exert ourselves. We

cannot be "carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, while others fight to

win the prize and sail through bloody seas." God will give us the victory over

every enemy if we will work in conjunction with him.

People are prone to forget God. Thus it ever has been. Even these

Israelites, who had been delivered from cruel, galling bondage and delivered

into a country which was their own, gradually turned away from God. After

a few hundred years had rolled into eternity, they had become very largely a

nation of idolaters.

There was one old prophet who stood out for the old paths. So far as he

knew, he was the only one left contending for the right way of the Lord. He

was somewhat mistaken in this, but it does show the caliber of the man who

would stand up for thetruth even if he had to stand alone. A man who will not do this is not fit for

the kingdom of heaven. There can be no compromise with error. There must

be no sacrifice of truth.

Finally the enemy made it so uncomfortable for Elijah that he fled to the

rocky fastnesses of old Mount Horeb. The Lord asked: "What doest thou here,

Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:9.) The prophet's reply is pathetically sad. Hear it: "I have

been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have

forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with

the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."

(1 Kings 19:10.) When God's people forsake his covenant and dig down his

altars, there is not much hope remaining.

In our day the average religionist has forsaken the covenant of the Lord.

They know very little about what the Lord says, and seemingly care less. They

would almost slay the true servants of God. But. thanks be to God, there is a

great host who have not bowed their knees to Baal, even as there was a

remnant of seven thousand in the days of Elijah. There are many true

Christians in this old sinful world who would die rather than recant.

And so Elijah stood firm! And when his time came to leave this old world,

he was highly honored. The Lord took him up to heaven in a whirlwind. He

and Elisha were at Gilgal. Elisha would not leave the old prophet, saying: "As

the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth. I will not leave thee." (2 Kings 2.) So

the two prophets went together to Bethel. Here Elijah said to Elisha: "Tarry

here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho." But Elisha would not

leave him, and went with him to Jericho. When they came to Jericho, Elijah

repeated his former words, saying: "The Lord hath sent me to Jordan." But

Elisha would go on.

And so the two prophets came to Jordan. "And Elijah took his mantle,

and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither

and thither, so that they two wentover on dry ground." And so they marched over Jordan, where the Israelites

had marched over on dry ground more than five hundred years before. They

walked on together. Elijah said unto Elisha: "Ask what I shall do for thee,

before I be taken away from thee." What an answer Elisha gave! Hear it: "I

pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." In answer to this

request, Elijah said: "Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me

when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be

so." And they walk on across the plain of Moab. A whirlwind comes tearing

along. "And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that behold,

there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both

asunder: and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it,

and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen

thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and

rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from

him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan." With this mantle he

smote the waters of the Jordan, and again old Jordan divided her waters, and

he went over on dry ground.

Hundreds of years later another prophet came in the spirit and power of

the ancient Elijah. God's Old Testament closes with the prophetic declaration:

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and

dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the

children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite

the earth with a curse." (Mal. 4:5, 6.)

And about four hundred years after this prophecy was made, this Elijah,

who was John the Baptist, came; and where did he begin his mighty works?

"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea."

He was preaching along the banks of old Jordan where it had been crossed by

the Israelites nearly fifteen hundred years before. He was preaching where the

river had opened for Elijah and Elisha nearly nine hundred years before. That

section of country around themouth of the Jordan was called the wilderness of Judaea, extending up the

river for a few miles.

John preached, saying: "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

(Matt. 3:2.) The kingdom was not set up in the days of John, but it was "at

hand." And you will please note that John knew nothing about a "vestibule to

the kingdom," but "the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Some would have us

to believe that the kingdom was set up in the days of John the Baptist, but

John was dead and buried before the kingdom was set up. In fact, John was

dead and buried before Jesus said: "I will build my church." (Matt. 16:18.)

Even then the kingdom was yet future. So John was never in the kingdom.

And so Jesus could and did say concerning John: "He that is least in the

kingdom of heaven is greater than he." (Matt. 11; 11.) Even the very least in

the kingdom has blessings, privileges, and opportunities which John had not,

because he lived his life before the kingdom was established.

But there was no greater prophet than John the Baptist. He was absolutely

fearless. He could stand before the religious hypocrites of his day and say: "O

generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"

(Matt. 3:7.) He could stand before an adulterous king, who was living with

another man's wife, and say to him: "It is not lawful for thee to have her."

(Matt. 14:4.) Yes, he had the spirit of the Elijah of old. And this kind of

preaching caused him to lose his head. God's preachers are an unpopular

bunch—and they always have been, and they always will be!

But John was as humble as a little child. When God's Son came from his

home sixty-five or seventy miles up the river demanding baptism, John said:

"I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" (Matt. 3:14.) But

Jesus assured him that it was necessary for him to be baptized to fulfill all

righteousness. And so down the banks of the old Jordan they go. What a scene

as God's Son is lowered beneath the liquid wave! And thus were the waters of

Jordan broken again, andGod said: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matt. 3:17.)

And, dear reader, do not expect God to be well pleased with you until you

have done what that Son commands you to do, and one of the things is: "He

that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." (Mark 16:16.)