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Camping at Gilgal

We have now crossed the Jordan River. Curiously, by our circumstances, which followed that pattern, we learned that when the Israelites crossed the Jordan on the 10^th day of the first month, there was such a multitude that not all of them were able to cross before sundown. Our revelation says that 17,300 of them technically crossed the river after sundown (i.e., the next day).

The Meaning of 17,300

This does not make any real difference, other than the number suggests victory (17) and Gideon’s army (300). The length of Noah’s ark was 300 cubits (Genesis 6:14, 15) and appears to be the biblical number for preservation of the righteous. It is built upon the number 3 (divine fullness; perfection) and is also reflected in the number 30 (dedication for rulership).

The main thought is that we are victorious, because “we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). The Hebrew letter shin had a numeric value of 300. This letter means “teeth” and signifies consuming, devouring, conquering. That was why Joshua urged the people to enter the land, telling them that the giants were no problem to God. After all, “our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). Even giants are burned by that all-consuming fire. So Joshua insisted that “they are bread for us” (Numbers 14:9 KJV).

This manner of speech is built upon the meaning of the letter shin. Unfortunately, the Israelites at first did not have the faith to enter Canaan at the beginning of their wilderness journey. They had to await the Jordan crossing 38 years later (Deuteronomy 2:14). But we ourselves, by following the example set by the Israelites, have learned the obedience of faith and have now crossed the Jordan. My own journey began 40 years ago as a modern pattern of this wilderness journey.

Gathering 12 Stones

The Jordan signifies the river of death. Jordan means “descending” (from Mount Hermon to the Dead Sea). When the priests carrying the Ark stood in the midst of the river until all the people had passed over, they were picturing a time of death in the grave. They were standing in the gap, so to speak, on behalf of the rest of the people. The Ark itself represented Christ, who is the glory of God, in His time in the grave.

Gathering the 12 stones from the midst of the Jordan signifies the resurrection of divine government—those called to rule and reign with Christ. When these stones were set up in Gilgal (Joshua 4:20), it prophesied of the establishment of the Kingdom by means of Christ (the Ark) and the resurrected ones.

Gilgal was literally the first place where the Ark was set up in the land of Canaan. The name means “wheel” or “circle.” They placed the 12 stones in a circle as memorial of resurrection, when “the waters of the Jordan were cut off” (Joshua 4:7). In other words, death was cut off, and this was followed by circumcision, the cutting off of the flesh (in a circular motion).

Biblically speaking, this signified the manifestation (birth) of the children of God. To bring forth a child requires two parents, male and female. Many think that sonship is about the sons of God and do not consider the importance of the female (daughters company). Men beget; women give birth. It takes both to bring forth a child, and this applies in the spirit as well.

Christ Himself, though He was a man, was both male and female from a spiritual standpoint, where there is neither male nor female (Galatians 3:28). He fulfilled all the sacrifices in the law, whether they were male (Leviticus 4:23) or female (Leviticus 4:28). Burnt offerings were of two kinds: male (Leviticus 1:3) and female (Numbers 19:2, 5).

Jesus was the Passover Lamb, “an unblemished male” (Exodus 12:5), and He was crucified on the Mount of Olives where the ashes of the red heifer (female) were stored. We conclude from this that both male and female are represented in Christ, and both are necessary to bring forth the sons of God. It is only when both male and female are properly represented and allowed to fulfill their godly roles without oppression or suppression that the children of God are brought to birth.

In the story of Israel’s Jordan crossing, the stones in the river represent the daughters (female) company, for they, like the priests carrying the Ark, had remained a long time in the riverbed (death) to fulfill the law of the red heifer that was a burnt offering. On the flip side, the bulls (male) also had to become a burnt offering, because both men and women must experience the death of the flesh/old man to qualify for resurrection. 2 Corinthians 4:10, 11 says,

¹⁰ always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. ¹¹ For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

I have friends and fellow heirs who portray prophetically the “red heifer” company, godly women whose calling has taught me the prophetic significance of the female role in the law, especially in this matter of the Sonship message. God has used them to reveal by example the importance of the female side of Sonship in order to establish a more balanced view.

The 12 stones in the circle at Gilgal represented, in part, a womb in which the Ark was placed to portray the birth of the Son of God and the sons of God. Prophetically speaking, we are now camped at Gilgal and are witnessing the birth of the Kingdom.

Three Days of Circumcision

Joshua 5:3 tells us that after the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, the men of Israel were circumcised at Gilgal. We then read in Joshua 5:8,

⁸ Now when they had finished circumcising all the nation, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed.

This healing took place for three days—the 11^th, 12^th, and 13^th days of the first month. Then they kept the Passover at Gilgal on the 14^th day (Joshua 5:10).

In 2022 the 14^th day of the Hebrew month is April 15. So we are now in a 3-day circumcision pattern. This can take many forms, of course, but Moses Himself foresaw a New Covenant application (Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:6), where God would circumcise the hearts of the people. This is the primary application today on an individual level. On a group level, it is a time of separation, weeding out those who are fleshly from those who have New Covenant faith.

My purpose for teaching the word all these past years has been to prepare your hearts for this Jordan crossing, so that you can be overcomers in every way. It is interesting, then, that the Israelites qualified for entry into Canaan on account of their faith, even though none of the men born in the wilderness had been circumcised prior to the Jordan crossing.

This shows that faith is the great qualifier—not one’s own perfection. The same lesson is seen in the story of Abraham, who received the promise long before he was circumcised. Hence, Paul tells us in Romans 4:9-13,

⁹ Is this blessing then on the circumcised or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, “Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” ¹⁰ How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; ¹¹ and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, ¹² and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised. ¹³ For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be the heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

This is an important point for all who feel imperfect and inadequate. If you feel imperfect and unqualified, “I more,” as Paul would say. Know that it is our New Covenant faith that qualifies us in spite of our imperfections. We have been imputed righteous, for on the basis of faith God calls what is not as though it were (Romans 4:17 KJV).

Faith is the currency of heaven.