Joshua 5:7  And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.

Joshua 4:1-10  (1)  And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying, (2)  Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, (3)  And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night.

(9)  And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.

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THE STONES that were removed from where the priests’ feet stood in carrying the ark that opened the Jordan SPEAK OF THE YOUNGER GENERATION WHO WERE ENTERING THE KINGDOM.

The stones that were laid there at the place of their feet IN THE JORDAN speak of the ELDERS who never made it into the Kingdom Land.

• It is like THEIR DEATHS were said to occur there, for it was only after they died that Israel could cross into Canaan, and the Ark could open up the River.
• That means the ARK standing in the opened River MARKED THE DEATHS OF THE ELDERS, so to speak.
• The children were distinctly said to BE IN THE STEAD of the elders who died.

They replaced the elders.

They entered the KINGDOM when the elders should have done so.

• Even way back at this time we see a picture of what happened in Christ’s time when He was rejected and the Kingdom was given to another nation and removed from the religious leaders of Israel.

Mat 21:43 (43)  Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

(AD70 saw the ELDERS DIE – the law-keeping followers of MOSES – AND CHRIST CAME IN THE POWER OF HIS KINGDOM!).

It was like Canaan was taken from the elders and given to the younger generation.

The CROSS offered people TWO CUPS OF WINE.

• This represents TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE in relation to the CROSS, and their OPPOSITE DEALINGS FROM GOD BECAUSE OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO THE CROSS.
• When Israel would crucify the Lord, Jesus said they would fill the cup of the measure of their fathers who slew prophets.
• And Israel would have the guilt of all blood shed on the earth.

Matthew 23:32-35  Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.  (33)  Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?  (34)  Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:  (35)  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

Revelation 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

Jerusalem was a faithful city.

Isaiah 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

God accused Jerusalem of being a WIDOW – slew her husband, Christ.

Lamentations 1:1  How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

Like Jerusalem refused to accept that since she rejected Jesus and did not believe He was Her bridegroom, and said she was instead a queen.

Revelation 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.


Revelation 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

Revelation 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Revelation 18:24  And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

Revelation 18:24 says the harlot city had within her all the blood shed on the earth after her death which is what Jesus said Jerusalem was guilty of in Matt 23:35.

We continue to read of Jerusalem DRINKING FROM A CUP.

Revelation 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

Revelation 16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.


The ONE CROSS afforded ONE PEOPLE the CUP OF WINE OF WRATH.

• THE OTHER PEOPLE THE CUP OF BLESSING.

1 Corinthians 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

The cup of BLESSING is a cup of WINE also, but it is not wrath.

• It’s the blood of Jesus Christ, the new testament was in His blood, or it was instituted by HIS DEATH on the cross.

The cup of wrath or cup of blessing both extend from the CROSS.

• Israel’s rejection of Christ climaxed at the cross while our faith in Him climaxes at the same cross.
• BUT IT MEANS WRATH FOR THEM AND BLESSING FOR US!
• THE SAME CROSS.
• This is the reason the stones were both removed from the place of the ARK in the Jordan as well as PLACED at the place of the ARK.

It all focused around the cross.

• The one cross was a means of blessing to the Church and cursing to that generation of Israel at that time.

It was the downfall and destruction of one people who missed the kingdom and the uprising of another who inherited it instead!

Numbers 14:3  And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?

Numbers 14:31  But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.

SIMILARLY we read Jesus say….

Matthew 27:25  Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

Luke 23:28-30  But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.  (29)  For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.  (30)  Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.

God did indeed raise up stones as Children of Abraham as signified by the STONES at the Jordan where ISRAEL REMOVED 12 and took them out of Jordan and put 12 other stones where the 12 were removed.

• STONES OF REPLACEMENT!

Joshua 5:6-7  For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not shew them the land, which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.  (7)  And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.

The circumcision is directly related to YOUTH REPLACING THE ELDERS.

JUST LIKE THE STONES!

THE CROSS DID IT ALL.

He REPLACED PEOPLE who SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN THE KINGDOM, with others BY THE CROSS!

• And he made these others into children of Abraham BY THE CROSS.

Galatians 3:6-10  Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.  (7)  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.  (8)  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.  (9)  So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.  (10)  For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

And we see the concept of BLESSING AND CURSING.

• The elders spoke of the unbelieving Jews who religiously rejected Jesus and the cross.
• The younger speaks of the BLESSED people who accepted Jesus INSTEAD OF THE UNBELIEVERS, and took their place they should have had in the Kingdom!
• It is the difference of LAW opposed to GRACE!

The replacement stones were set up in GILGAL where the youth were finally circumcised  after having never been circumcised after their births during the journey.

Joshua 5:7  And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.

PASSAGE INTO THE KINGDOM occurred when the elders doubted and discarded the Kingdom and DIED, when the youth were circumcised and ENTERED.

Circumcision is spiritually said to occur when BODY OF SINS OF THE FLESH are removed.

• That elder group represented the BODY OF THE SINS OF THE FLESH that had to be removed.
• The elders DIED IN THEIR SINS.
• I am glad that I will not die in my sins since JESUS TOOK MY SINS!

GILGAL MEANS rolling.

• As the youth were circumcised, the sins were rolled away.
• The reproach of Egypt was rolled away.
• The ELDERS were the reproach of Egypt.
• They DIED and this was related to the CIRCUMCISION of FREMOVAL OF FLESHLY SINS.

THE REPROACH OF EGYPT.

Some say Egypt taunted them that they could not be involved in Passover nor circumcision due to their disobedience.

• But it seems more likely that THEY WERE LIKE EGYPTIANS WITHOUT CIRCUMCISION until this was finally removed when they were circumcised.
• It is like WE ARE NO DIFFERENT THAN THE WORLD with carnality and sinfulness, until we get that circumcised from our lives and ENTER KINGDOM LIVING!

Romans 11:17-23  And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;  (18)  Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.  (19)  Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.  (20)  Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:  (21)  For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.  (22)  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.  (23)  And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.


Let us ever remain HUMBLE and THANKFUL for inclusion as Children of Abraham.


And there is a CURSING for Law, and a BLESSING for faith!

• Those under Law could not accept Jesus, and crucified Him, and were cursed.
• We crucified Him, too, but not purposely, but because of our sins, and it is only said that we crucified Him but for a very different reason!
• Our crucifixion of Him was like OUR OFFERING FOR OUR SINS TO BE REMOVED!
• AND THAT WAS IN FAITH, and AWARDED US A BLESSING, to be children of Abraham.

Like the ARK LATER STOOD BETWEEN BLESSING AND CURSING.

Deuteronomy 27:2-4  And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister:  (3)  And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee.  (4)  Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister.

Deuteronomy 27:12-13  These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:  (13)  And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

No Law on GERIZIM and BLESSING!

• Law was on EBAL WITH CURSING!

Romans 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Romans 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Galatians 3:23-25  But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.  (24)  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  (25)  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.


Deuteronomy 27:12-13  These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:  (13)  And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

On mount Gerizim (now Jebel-et-Tur) were stationed the descendants of Rachel and Leah, the two principal wives of Jacob, and to them was assigned the most pleasant and honorable office of pronouncing the benedictions;…

• While on the twin hill of Ebal (now Imad-el-Deen) were placed the posterity of the two secondary wives, Zilpah and Bilhah, with those of Reuben, who had lost the primogeniture, and Zebulun, Leah’s youngest son; to them was committed the necessary but painful duty of pronouncing the maledictions (see on Jdg_9:7)

The children of the FREEWOMEN, Leah and Rachel, stood where the blessings were, except for Leah’s youngest son Zebulun and Reuben who lost the birthright.

• Leah’s youngest son Zebulun and Reuben plus the sons of the handmaids were on Mount Ebal.
• They had six trobes on each mountain and this division showed favour and disfavor, depending on the circumstances of the 12 children who became the tribes, including their mothers if they were free or not, and their personal lives, whether they had favour or not.

It’s just like the picture of Abraham’s sons’ two mothers.

Galatians 4:22-23  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.  (23)  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.

Those born of Sarah represent the children of the freewoman, IN THE CHURCH.

• Those born of Hagar represent those in bondage UNDER LAW.
• And Paul said those Jews under law who persecuted the church were like Ishmael, Hagar’s son, who persecuted Isaac the son of Sarah.

So even in this picture of who stood on which mountain  of blessing or cursing shows the same picture of FIRST CENTURY JUDGMENT in reaction to Jesus and the cross.

And while John was BAPTIZING AT JORDAN where these two sets of stones were the memorial – the people who doubted and died and the younger who believed and entered the KINGDOM -- , and the ARK stood in symbol of the crucifixion of Jesus…

The ark was where John BAPTIZED, and the Ark had blood of atonement on it which speaks of Jesus…. So the entire picture shows baptism pointing to Jesus’ death and the blood of atonement pointing to Jesus’ death.

Romans 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Romans 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Colossians 2:11-12  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:  (12)  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

This ties the ARK with BAPTISM pointing to JESUS.

Joshua 8:33-34  And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.  (34)  And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law.

THE ARK WAS BETWEEN BOTH MOUNTAINS.

• Cursing on one Mountain and Blessing on the other!
• Which side of the cross are you on?
• The elders died in the wilderness this side Jordan and the youth lived in the promised land the other side of Jordan!
• THIS IS WHERE WE CAME FROM!
• THE CUTTING OFF OF ONE PEOPLE AND THE OTHERS WHO ROSE UP INSTEAD.
• IT WAS ONLY THE UNBELIEVING THAT WERE CUT OFF, THOUGH.

Romans 11:1-2  I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.  (2)  God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,

Romans 11:7  What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded

Romans 11:11  I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.