For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive
— 1 Corinthians 15:22

We continue our journey from Egypt to the promised land. As I have already written, the crossing of the Red Sea is a type of two events in Jesus’ earthly life: His water baptism and His death on the cross. How can these two events both be the fulfilment of one crossing of the sea, and how can they be reconciled? As they say: “it all depends on where you look.” If you look at the children of Israel, none of them died walking across the bottom of the sea. And in Jesus’ baptism we don’t see anyone dying either. Yet by being baptised in water, Jesus was baptised into His death for all of us. [Rom.6:3] On the other hand, the whole Egyptian army perished in that sea. So on the cross Jesus, having become the embodiment of sin and of Egypt, died for all people.

In the same way, the temptations of the Israelites in the wilderness are a type of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, and also of His burial. One event is open and the other hidden. Just as the grain offering, which depicts the life and death of Jesus Christ in Leviticus chapter 2, was baked in an oven, brought from a pan and also from a covered pan, so Jesus’ temptations were both hidden and open. Just as the Jews wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, so Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days. Just as the whole generation of Israelites that came out of Egypt died in the wilderness, so Jesus was buried. Why? Because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption” [1 Cor.15:50] Flesh and blood, which are corruptible, cannot enter the promised land, the land of rest, which is eternal. That is why Jesus died in the flesh and rose again, to enter the land of rest for all of us.

“So am I in the land of rest or not? After all, I’m still in the flesh, right? Or is my spirit at rest, my flesh in the wilderness, and my soul swinging like a pendulum back and forth?” First, the flesh and the physical body are not the same thing. And second, errors will always arise if we look at ourselves in order to understand a truth. The truth is in Jesus, and it’s better to look at Him. It is written: “and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer“. [2 Cor.5:15-16] “We regard no one according to the flesh” includes ourselves. That is why it is written: “we are debtors; not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh…” [Rom.8:12] Jesus once lived according to the flesh and under the law, and then, being baptised into His death, He fulfilled the law and was led by the Spirit. So it is with us: we no longer live under the law, and so not according to the flesh, but under grace and according to the Spirit, because we are sons of God. [Rom.8:13-14]

When Joshua and the Israelites crossed the Jordan, there was no longer anyone among the people fit for war — which symbolises the flesh, which always wars against the spirit and is incapable of believing. Among the people there were only those who had been born in the wilderness. So Jesus, when He rose again, brought the whole new creation into rest, as it is written: “and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” [Eph.2:6] Raised us up — they crossed the Jordan; made us sit — He brought us into rest. Interestingly, the waters of the Jordan that came down from upstream stood still at the city of Adam, and those that flowed down were cut off. [Jos.3:16] This shows that when Jesus rose again, He justified everyone, starting from Adam. [Rom.4:25] Just as the whole people of Israel born in the wilderness crossed into the promised land, so all who are born in Christ have crossed over in Him into the land of rest. All means all!