Crossing the Jordan – parable

This is a part of a list of modern day parables…

• Jesus goes to an orphanage
• Crossing the Jordan – parable
• Jesus’ fridge – parable
• Pick up stix – parable
• The Diving Board – parable

The post begins here…

I received this vision/revelation about 9 or more years ago (2005?)

The man came home from work at the same time each day. He was so grateful to have his home… an apartment high up with a great view over the promised land. He was grateful for his job, because he could feed his family… although he didn’t like his working conditions in the mines. The whipping was awful… but still… he contented himself that he could come home and look at the wonderful view of the promised land.

He said to his neighbour as they fired up their evening bbq outside their apartnments on their balcony: “Ah John… just look… the promised land. Just look at it! Right there! Isn’t it wonderful?”

John agreed. He also hated his life… constantly being beaten… constantly surrounded by filth, decay, death… but… he was grateful that he could come home and take in the breathtaking view of the promised land. “Yes David it’s an awesome sight isn’t it? We are so blessed!”

David’s wife and kids came to him outside on the balcony and they brought the latest edition of the weekly “Promised Land Magazine”.

John knew his one must be delivered too. The evil land owners were good like that, delivering the magazine to their apartments every week.

Both families marvelled at what they could see as the sun set… castg a wonderful golden glow over the land. Every night they would sing praises to God for the promised land. On sundays they would sing extra loud and extra long bursting with joy at His gift to them… right there… in full view.. across the River Jordan.

All the tenants of the apartments gasped in the evenings and chatted as they looked at the sheer majesty of God’s gift… the rivers of milk over there in the west… the honey in the east. How wonderful!

“It’s so lovely” John’s children said as they looked through the magazine. They tried to be excited about the magazine so that they can take their mind off the awful truth that tomorrow their father would again have to go to the mines and be beaten again.

Night after night the wonderful views of the promised land encouraged the tenants to keep going. The evil land lords were very kind to let them have such nice apartments facing the promised land.

Then one night David and John had got home from work and one of them spotted something down near the river’s edge.

John said: “David!” look at that nut “It’s Matthew! I think He is finally going to do it… he’s going to try and cross over into the promised land!!”

“What?” said David. “That fruitcake. He’s been saying he will do it for years. He won’t make it. No one ever does.”

The problem was that many have tried it before. But the evil guards always usually got them before they made it to the river’s edge. And if the guards don’t stop them then they always drown in the crossing. No one had got across in 2000 years. Or. No one they knew of.

They watched as Matthew ran towards the edge and the guards furious blew their whistles and tried to stop Matthew from entering the Jordan and crossing to the other side.

He dodged. He ducked. He got to the water. He dived in!

Up in the apartments all along the Jordan River’s edge the tenants began to come out onto their balconies and see what would happen to Matthew.

Matthew swam for all he was worth. But he began to sink. He knew the promises of God in the promised land and he wanted them so he swam harder. But he was still sinking slowly. Matthew was sick of the decay, sick of the death, sick of sorrow… he wanted the intimacy with God, the freedom. He swam harder but the harder he swam the more he was sinking.

The crowd began to gather near the shore. They talked excitedly. No one had made it as far across as Matthew had. Would he be able to swim all the way across? Would he make it?

Even the guards were watching nervously now. They suspected that even one of the captives got across it would create a profound hope that could not be suppressed… and they knew that hope gives rise to faith and love (Col 1:5)… if it spread to the entire population who would work in the mines then?

But Matthew was facing a problem. He knew many others had drowned and he was sinking no matter how hard he swam. He was sinking and now he was underwater. He was sinking more and more and running out of breath.

The crowds on the beach and on their balconies gasped. Matthew had always been a nice guy. So sad to see him go under. Such a waste of a life. If only he had listened to the elders. If only he had wisdom instead. If only he had read Proverbs more instead of reading Isaiah and the Gospels so much.

Matthew knew he was running out of air in his lungs. He couldnt swim any harder and it wasn’t helping at all. How had he got it so wrong? Didnt he hear from God? What had God said to him? With his last breaths he thought back to what God had said.

“I want to put every brick in place“… yes that is what He had said. And Matthew knew God had provided all along the journey as he (Matthew) simply trusted and declared that God’s words would come true.

And there it was. Matthew saw what he had been doing wrong. He stopped swimming. He floated. He simply believed God. He float up. He trusted God. He floated up to the surface and he could breathe again. He declared God’s words as if they were complete and done and finished. He floated forward towards the promised land.

The crowds went wild. A few of them sprinted towards the river. The guards began shooting and shouting in loudhailers. More began to run towards the water, eager to cross over into the promises instead of always just looking at the promises.

Matthew reached the other side calm and peaceful while putting all his effort into declaring God’s words as true. He turned and looked back and saw the commotion on the other side as the guards frantically tried to stop the human tide as the people realised how to cross the river into the promised land.