Gilgal, which signifies “rolling” or “rolling away,” is Israel’s center of strength all through the conflicts recorded in the Book of Joshua. They returned to Gilgal, whether after victory or defeat, and from Gilgal they went forth to battle.
At their circumcision “the Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of this place is called Gilgal [rolling away] unto this day.” It might have been expected that God would have declared Israel free from the reproach of Egypt after He had cast their enemies into the depths of the sea or immediately upon His bringing them over Jordan into Canaan, but no, He required them to be circumcised first.
At Gilgal Jehovah Himself rolled the reproach away, and Israel stood before Him in the blessing wherewith He had blessed them. Pharaoh had said that if they got out of Egypt, they would be shut in the wilderness, and truly it had seemed as if they would wander and die there. At Gilgal in Canaan they were before Jehovah as His army, His nation on the earth, according to His accomplished purpose. They were His purchased people situated in His promised land, and marked out by Him for Himself from the nations surrounding them.
Christian Position
Here we see a picture of what God has wrought with Christians today; we are established in His grace, which is in itself the prime element of our strength. God has accomplished His purpose toward His redeemed in Christ and has planted them who were of the land of bondage in the heavenly places in Christ. Through Christ He has removed from them every single thing His eye saw in them that was contrary to His own mind, for His people are seen as dead with Christ. He has made them in Christ exactly in accordance with His mind, for they are risen with Christ, seated in Christ on high, and Gilgal is our place of strength. In whatever way the world may be viewed or in whatever way the flesh as the principle of evil is regarded, in Christ (who is risen from the dead and has gone up on high) the reproach is rolled off God’s redeemed people by God Himself. He Himself pronounces them free, for it was not what Israel said of themselves, but what Jehovah declared respecting them, that rendered Gilgal their center of power.
The Memorial
It was at Gilgal the twelve stones from the bed of the Jordan were pitched for the memorial, which declared not only the divine power which had arrested the river, but which also reminded Israel of the depths where the ark of the covenant had stood for them. And here it is in spirit that the true practical spirit of circumcision is carried out by God’s saints; true mortification of self is found where there is true heart-dwelling in the memory of Jesus’ death. As Israel beheld these memorial stones, they would, of necessity, consider the place where the ark had been for them. And abiding in the memory of Christ’s death for us, we, being risen with Christ, are, practically speaking, in the place of power, for we cannot overcome the foe for God unless we ourselves are in subjection to Him.
Members Mortified
The believer knows well enough that though he is seated in the heavenly places in Christ, yet unless he mortifies his members which are on the earth, he has no practical power for his daily life. The knowledge of our death with Christ and our mortifying of our desires cannot be dissociated in practical life. We are not in the Jordan; we are taken out of it, but the memory of Christ’s death for us needs to be ever in our hearts if we would live truly for Him. A saint may know his position in Christ from the Scriptures, yet be living a very untoward life as a Christian. But such would not be the case if his heart was occupied with Christ’s death for him, by which his sins were put away and in whom he is raised to the new life. The Apostle says, “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)). The memory of Jesus’ dying love was always before his soul. As our hearts gaze, as it were, upon the memorial stones, we say to ourselves, He went into death for us; we died with Him, and by the power of the Holy Spirit we are enabled to put to death our pride and our ways which once we loved.
Two Great Witnesses
Two great witnesses mark the camp of Gilgal: the twelve stones taken from the bed of Jordan, the memorial of God’s work in bringing them into the promised possession, and circumcision, the witness that nationally they were absolutely Jehovah’s own people. The teachings of these two figures give precisely the two great elements of Christian blessing and strength. First, in Christ ascended, the Christian is brought into all the privileges of all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places; second, by identification with Christ in His death he is, as a fallen child of Adam, dead and buried out of sight before God.
From the stronghold of divine grace the Christian soldier needs to be continually going forth and returning; the twelve stones and the circumcision made without hands (Col. 2:1111In 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: (Colossians 2:11)) must ever be before his soul; he needs to be again and again strengthened for his warfare by the faith of the truth of his being a member of the body of Christ and by the faith of the truth that he has been crucified with Christ.
The effective soldier of Christ is girded about with divine realities, he is braced up in heart by God’s Word as to what real blessing is, and his energy for warfare lies in being in the Spirit as to the truth. The powers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places are the foes, and by dwelling in heart in the faith of being blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ, we fight the enemy in the field he occupies. To slacken the girdle of truth is to give Satan an advantage. Do not give up a single truth God has given us, for if we fail in practically putting our own desires to death, we surrender our spiritual strength, and our courage will fail.
H. F. Witherby, adapted