Over the River

Then we come to another order of things: He leaves that part and goes over the river Jordan "where John at first baptized; and there He abode." Now we move into another place. We find a gathering-place entirely outside of what we had before. The Gatherer is removed; the Gatherer is not where He was. We have to lay hold of that, and what is so marked is that He went beyond Jordan, that is, the other side of the river of death.
We shall not find ourselves truly gathered except on the other side of the river. Crossing over the river represents the believer's dying with Christ and being raised with Him. If we have not applied this truth to ourselves, we shall find the outward gathering-place is rather a source of stumbling to our souls, and nowhere will you find such discomfort. We are not gathered here rightly on earth, if our souls have not, in spirit, gone through the river of death.
In Rev. 5, all have crossed the river then. The Lord Himself has crossed the river. He has passed through death; He is alive there, and there is no living Christ except across the river. This is a powerful truth. As for us, we shall not carry the grave clothes of this world on the other side of the river; we shall all be clothed with incorruptibility.