Cross Over the Jordan
Part of the Occupy and Conquer Series, preached by Apostle Aje Pelser, Harvester Reformational Church, Cape Town.

Scripture Reading is Joshua 3,4.

The Significance of the Jordan
The Jordan is the place where:
Jacob passed over with two companies of people to meet his brother Esau. God told him to return to his country and his family, and He would deal well with him.
Jacob invoked the promise of Abraham that God would make his descendants as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude. Gen. 32:9-12
It was the place where God’s people crossed over into their promised land. When God told Joshua to meditate day and night in His Law, and that he would in so doing, observe to do what is written in it and make his way prosperous and have good success; the word for prosperous is:
Prosperous H6743 tsâlach tsâlêach (pronounced: tsaw-lakh’, tsaw-lay’-akh)
“to push forward, in various senses (literally or figuratively: –
break out, come (mightily),
go over,
be good, be meet,
be profitable, (cause to, effect, make to, send) prosper
Notice the apostolic quality of the word that includes “to send” and complete a mission.

The Jordan is the crossing where Elisha took on the double portion of anointing from Elijah and God answered him, he struck the Jordan river with Elijah’s mantle and the river parted just like in Joshua.
Jordan is also the place where Naaman the Syrian was healed of leprosy.
Jordan is the place of John the Baptist’s meeting with Jesus, where Jesus fulfilled all righteousness by showing us how to be buried with him through baptism. The place where the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and remained and rested with Jesus, the New Covenant Joshua that leads us into a promised land of rest in faith. Where God the Father said from heaven, “this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”
Jordan is not just a physical moment in history; it represents our crossing over in the purposes and calling of God for our lives in Christ Himself. You don’t have to go to the physical Jordan to get this revelation and access this blessed inheritance, God can take you through the spiritual Jordan today if you believe and you can be baptised into a whole new level of existence spiritually.
For you who have been baptised by Christ have also put on and been clothed with Christ.
You are baptised into a body of believers. Becoming a member of this church is not a certificate. God must add you, you need to be tested in your faith and your obedience and commitment to Christ must follow the presence of the Lord and enter the supernatural realm of crossing.

Highlights of the crossing
Joshua rose early, Josh. 3:1
We are going into a phase where the Lord will wake you and prepare you for crossing. You will have visions and supernatural experiences affirming God is with you.
You will fulfil the power of three days – the third day completes and resurrects all energy and purpose and broken dreams about your inheritance. Go through the death of burial in baptism and arise in newness of life. Rom 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Cleansing the Acacia Grove, Josh.3:1, Num. 25:1-9
There was a cleansing needed after the Acacia grove events of Numbers 25:1-9. Some of the men from Israel had been perverted by the women of Moab and participated in their sex-religion worship of Baal Peor. A plague occurred as a result and God judged the nation there until Phinehas the son of Eleazer acted boldly and stopped God’s judgment.

See the Ark of the Covenant Josh. 3:3
We are now with an unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord. In the Old Testament, only the priest could approach the holy Place and only the High Priest could access the Holy of Holies. Now we see and participate in the presence of God as children of God.
When we see – that is when we move. Jesus only did what he saw the Father do.
Follow in Jesus’ footsteps into your promised land, God is leading us into new horizons – we have not gone this way before.

Sanctification precedes Crossing
Jos 3:5 And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”
After Jesus’ baptism he was tested and then began to minister with signs and wonders following.

God began to exalt Joshua
Jos 3:7 And the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.
We have heard that the Lord has set His seal of approval on us as a church. We have been through an extended trial of our faith as a ministry and yet the Lord has continued to bless us and give us favour before God and man. We have received a fresh anointing for this time of crossing and have seen visions of angels with scrolls being unrolled and unsealed. The trumpet is sounding for us to cross over.

Every Place the Sole of your feet tread I have given you. Josh. 1:3; 3:13
We are to have our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. It is part of our warfare strategy to prepare in the Word and be equipped for the work of the ministry as Eph. 4 explains.
Jos 3:15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest),
Jos 3:16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam,
Look at where the waters were cut off – at Adam. Jesus is referred to as the new Adam – baptism restores the original relationship God wanted with Adama in the garden. The access point to intimacy with God and the tree of life happens when we cross through the waters with Jesus into our promised land.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, “THE FIRST MAN ADAM BECAME A LIVING BEING.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

They crossed over during the time of Harvest!
The Jordan usually overflowed its banks – they cross over during the tie appointed for their harvest. God has appointed a great harvest fro us in our new spiritual territory and He is taking us through together – all of us who have persevered and believed together and did not lose faith.

Twelve stones of memorial
Jos 4:5 and Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel,
Jos 4:6 that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’
Jos 4:7 Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”
We can see that it is the role of every patriarch and tribe leader to ensure the memorial stone is conveyed through generations. Tell of the glories of God and testify to generations to come. They will also then learn how to occupy and conquer through the word of their testimony, blood of the lamb and not loving their life unto death. Rev. 12:11

There are people in the Bible that have also been memorialized through their sacrificial giving – Mary who gave her precious ointment; the centurion who built a synagogue; Cornellius who gave alms and helped his community and prayed to God:
Act 10:1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,
Act 10:2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.
Act 10:3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!”
Act 10:4 And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.

We have told of specific families who have given to God’s work and have helped us reach 124 nations with the Gospel, build churches; release our message through Media; share the Life of Christ and build resources for the next generations.