I teach a Bible study on Tuesday evenings and we have been in the book of Joshua for a year-and-a- half. It’s an awesome book, full of Old Testament ‘types’ that give insight into New Testament realities. The theme we have been focused on is Possessing Our Possession. You see, God had already given Israel the land of Canaan and had defeated their enemies before Joshua led them in to possess it. Their destiny lied in the principles of taking the land as their inheritance. In the same manner for New Testament believers, Jesus has already blessed us with “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians !:3).”
Lately, however, in the Bible study, we have been focusing on a place in Canaan near Jericho called Gilgal. Gilgal was a place where Israel first camped when they crossed the Jordon. The Lord told Joshua to set up twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan River and to set them up as a memorial. In Gilgal, they were circumcised, observed the Passover, ate the produce of the land, and had a revelation that the Captain of Lord’s Host (Jesus) would be the one fighting their battles.
In short, Gilgal was the place from which all their campaigns were fought, and it was a place where they would come back and rest after a decisive battle. It represented a place of victory and rest. To New Testament believers, Gilgal correlates to the reality of our being seated with Jesus in the heavenly places. A place where “it is finished” and everything has been accomplished.Further, it’s a place where the enemy has been defeated and placed under Jesus’ feet, which means they are under ours as well. It’s a place of rest from which we live and face everything in life. It’s walking in union with the resurrection power and life of Christ.
To sum up, the Lord is always taking us back to ‘Gilgal’ to remind us of who we are in Christ (our identity) and to remind us of all that we possess in Him.