Note Card: Crossing Jordan

Written on a 4x6 note card by Stan Julin.

April 20, 2000
Why did John baptize in Jordan, specifically?  Why did Elisha say that Naaman should dip himself in Jordan?  What was there about that muddy stream?  

 It pictures Christ, who humbled himself to come down for a while, first to be a Galilean (600 feet below sea level), tabernacling among us, and then descending to the lower parts.  (The lowest part of the earth, [is] the Dead Sea, 1300 feet below sea level, from which the only exit is straight up in vapor form.)


If we want life, we must be baptized into Christ - his death, burial, and resurrection.  If we want cleansing, we must choose that mysterious "inferior" stream.  No, Naaman, you may not wash in "them" and be clean.  ...only in the muddy stream of Christ's humiliation.