At flood stage, the ark went into the river first and held back the waters until every Israelite crossed into the inheritance on dry ground.
The Shadow
Forty years after the Red Sea, a new generation stood at another impossible water: the Jordan at flood stage, between them and everything God had promised. The order of the crossing is the sermon. The ark of the covenant, the throne of God's presence, went in first, carried into the riverbed while the water was still running. The moment the priests' feet touched the edge, the flood stopped, heaped up far upstream. And then the ark stood there, in the middle of the place of drowning, until all Israel crossed over on dry ground — until all the people had crossed completely over. Not one Israelite touched the flood. The Presence absorbed the river so the people could walk into the inheritance.
The man leading them was named Joshua — in Hebrew, the same name as Jesus. A Joshua brought them in where Moses, the law's mediator, could not.
The Fulfillment
The pattern holds its shape all the way to the gospel. Between God's people and their inheritance runs a flood no one survives, and the Presence of God went in first. Jesus stood in death's riverbed and stayed there until the way was open. He tasted death, Hebrews says, for everyone. The crossing is not partial: all the people, completely over, dry ground. And Hebrews presses the Joshua connection itself: if Joshua had given them rest, God would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains a rest for the people of God — entered not by fighting the water but by following the greater Joshua who already stood in it.
Him All Along
Your inheritance is not on the far side of a flood you must survive. The Ark went in first, the waters stood down, and the crossing He opened does not close behind the strong swimmers and in front of the weak ones. Everyone in Him crosses on dry ground. That is what it means that He tasted death for you: the river was already stopped when you got there.