The Mission of God (4)

The Mission of God

“What do those Stones Mean?”

Joshua 4:1–24 (ESV)

1 When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, 3 and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’ ” 4 Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. 5 And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

8 And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there.

9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.

10 For the priests bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people passed over in haste. 11 And when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the Lord and the priests passed over before the people.

12 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the people of Israel, as Moses had told them. 13 About 40,000 ready for war passed over before the Lord for battle, to the plains of Jericho. 14 On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life. 15 And the Lord said to Joshua, 16 “Command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan.” 17 So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.” 18 And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before.

19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.

20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. 21 And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”

Big Idea Memorials to the Lord’s glorious deeds are reminders to future generations of the Lord’s faithfulness to his promises.[1]

Remembering the Past

The Bible has a lot to say about remembering the past. Much is said in Scripture about not forgetting what has gone before. But the difference is that the Christian does not remember or reminisce out of some desire to return to days gone by or to relive the years of their childhood. Remembering is not for the purpose of complaining that things now are worse than they were then. The purpose for biblical remembering is to remind us that the God who acted back then is the same God who acts now. In other words,

Remembering is not designed to transport you back into the past but to prepare and equip and encourage you for the future!

we spend very little time remembering these days we are very much attached to the present the now the what is happening on social media. God is not only concerned that we remember but he is concerned about what we remember- what we remember when end up defining who we are and how we live. If we remember who God is and what he has done on his mission we live one way and if we forget him/ if we replace his story with our story and put ourselves in the center of the story then we live life quite differently. As we will see....

Memorials are for the living, not the dead, to contemplate and reverence the Lord God.

Although they are tributes to God’s works in the past, they call for change in the present.

The awesome power of God inspires fearful submission by the nations (Josh. 2:9–11; 9:24) and obedience by his people (Deut. 31:12–13). The passage also shows the necessity of the Lord’s presence for victory (Exod. 33:14–16; Josh. 1:5; 3:7). Israel’s defeat at Ai is directly attributable to the absence of God’s favor (7:12).[2]

Allow me to briefly remind you of how we got to this point in our story.

It all began in chapter two when Joshua sent two spies into the city of Jericho to search out the land and to gain information on the size and strength of the enemy.

Upon their return, Joshua commanded the people to keep their eyes fixed on the ark of the covenant, the place of God’s presence and power.

As the priests stepped into the flood waters of the Jordan, it parted, much as did the Red Sea some 40 years earlier, allowing the people of Israel to enter the promised land on dry ground.

Before they made their way across the Jordan, God told Joshua to instruct 12 men, one from each of the 12 tribes, to pry loose from the river bed a large stone, to hoist it upon their shoulders, and to carry it to Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.

Although nothing is said explicitly in the text, I can’t help but imagine that it was a time of incredible celebration and thanksgiving.

There surely must have been dancing and singing around their campfires. They had, after all, waited for this day for centuries! They probably looked again and again upon the 12 stones that were set up as a memorial, running over and over again in their minds what had just happened,

shouting aloud: “God did it! He really did it! Praise be to the Lord God Almighty, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; indeed he is the Lord over all the earth!”

Verse 19 says this all occurred on “the tenth day of the first month.” What makes this significant is that it was

on the tenth day of the first month, some 40 years earlier, that the first Passover Lamb was selected and slain that led to their deliverance out of Egypt.

There is one issue that needs to be addressed before I go any farther.

Was there only one pile of stones set up, or two? According to v. 9, “Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.”

It seems most likely that there were indeed two memorials established that day.

In addition to the memorial of 12 stones set up by the people at Gilgal, Joshua also took it upon himself to create a second monument of 12 stones, placed in the Jordan River.

As the water would occasionally recede, Joshua would return and look upon the stones and be reminded yet again of what God had done.

What was the purpose for these piles of stones?

Why did God issue such a command, and why did Joshua repeat the act at his own initiative?

There appear to be two reasons, two goals if you will.

(1) There was the long-range, global purpose that is articulated in vv. 23-24. These stones stood as a testimony “so that all the peoples of the earth” might know that “the hand of the Lord is mighty” and so that Israel would continue to “fear the Lord your God forever.”

The peoples of the earth needed the memorial as a testimony to the existence and nature of the one true God.

The last verse of the chapter strikes this note:

“He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God” (v. 24).

“The stones were to tell the other nations round about that this God is different. He really exists; he is a living God, a God of real power who is immanent in the world.”

Francis Schaeffer

Each miracle happened so all the people of the earth could know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and his children are to fear him forever.

i wonder if that is me? Do people look at my life and glorify God? Do they see God for who he is by the way that i live? Am i a living testament, a living memorial to the glory of God

That is the purpose of every believer. The Westminster Confession asked a question, “What is the chief duty of man?” The answer is, “To glorify God and to enjoy him forever.”

This is our mission. This is why we live. And this is the story we unite to regularly tell anew and in eternity.[4]

(2) It was designed to serve as a reminder to their children and grandchildren of the power and faithfulness and goodness of God in fulfilling his promise to his people.

This is stated twice, first in vv. 6-7 and again in vv. 20-22.

The fact that the children will ask about the meaning of these stones indicates that there would be visitations to the site at Gilgal in years to come.

I can envision many in Israel taking a family vacation to Gilgal National Park where parents would walk along the banks of the Jordan and gradually make their way to Gilgal to the monument of 12 stones.

“Daddy, what are these stones for?”

This would provide the perfect opportunity for a father and mother to tell the story of God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt and his parting of the waters of the Jordan River as he proved faithful to his covenant promise.

The generations to come would need this memorial, since children easily forget the faith and instructions of their parents.

This reason is emphasized in the story, both at the beginning of chapter 4 and at the end.

Joshua 4:6–7 (ESV)

6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

What will your children remember most about you?

What will they remember mattered most to you?

are there things in your life that are testaments to your faith?

What are you doing to preserve and sustain in the hearts of your children and grandchildren the knowledge of God?

What are you doing to keep them mindful of his faithfulness?

there are a hundred ways every day that i can live and speak of God’s faithfulness or leave it unspoken

What are you teaching them that will build into their value system a reverence for God and confidence in his Word?

Let’s think about this in more depth.

Why is there this stress on remembering in the Bible?

One of faith’s most devastating enemies is forgetfulness and one of faith’s most powerful allies is memory. its all over our nation and our society it just takes one generation A couple of illustrations will suffice.

1. We are commanded to remember God’s ways and acts and deeds in order to overcome despondency and hopelessness and doubt.

This is clear from Psalm 77. This psalm was written by a man named

Asaph who was deeply confused,

struggling with doubts,

wondering aloud whether God really loves him,

whether God really cares,

whether God will ever draw near to him again.

A brush with despair.

Psalm 77:4–9 (ESV)

4 You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 5 I consider the days of old, the years long ago. 6 I said, “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.” Then my spirit made a diligent search:

7 “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? 8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

How does Asaph emerge from this pit of depression and disillusionment?

He remembers! He consciously calls to mind who God is and what God has done. When he is riddled with anxiety - he remembers

Psalm 77:11–15 (ESV)

11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. 12 I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.

13 Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? 14 You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples. 15 You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

Note the action verbs: “remember,” “ponder,” and “meditate.”

Asaph doesn’t passively wait for God to renew his faith. He takes action!

He plots out a strategy and then pursues it!

He fights to regain his faith!

Where do we see God’s deeds?

In what way are his mighty works and wonders available to us?

In his Word!

We remember and ponder and meditate as we read and reflect in his Word on all he has done.

When you find yourself in the sort of doubt and despair that Asaph experienced, set yourself to remember who Jesus is: sinless Son of God.

Reflect and remember and ponder his character: kind, gentle, meek, loving, compassionate, approachable, tender-hearted, gracious, merciful.

Dig deeply into the Word that tells of his sacrifice:

his determination to endure the shame and suffering and horror of Gethsemane and the abuse of the Roman guard and ultimately abandonment by his Father, all for you.

This is how the Spirit awakens faith and strengthens you for tomorrow.

2. We are commanded to remember in order to fuel our worship and love for God and gratitude for all he has done.

Psalm 103:1–5 (ESV)

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Here David preaches to himself. He takes his soul in hand and says:

“Don’t forget all that God has done!

Don’t forget the multitude of his benefits!

Don’t forget how he has forgiven all your sins!

Don’t forget that he is the God who heals your diseases!

Don’t forget that he has redeemed your life from the pit!

Don’t forget that he crowns you with his steadfast love and showers on you his mercy when all you deserved was death and hell!

Don’t forget that he alone can satisfy you with good and renew your youth like the eagle’s!”

As Martin Luther, the great Reformer, famously put it, “We only advance by going backwards.” As we advance in Christ, we do so by remembering. When we sin, we must always return to the fact that we have been baptized—not simply baptized in water but baptized in Christ.

When Satan tries to accuse us because of sinful acts we have committed yet repented of, we must tell him that we have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.

We must tell him and ourselves that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

· We must tell ourselves that even though we may be prodigal sons and daughters, we can go back home to the Father’s house, not as hired servants but as sons and daughters.

· God saves us through faith in the Son and sends us the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead in the subsequent rolling away of the stone so that we may declare his excellencies to a world that does not know him.

3. We are commanded to remember so that we might pass along to the coming generations the truth of God and his Word and the glorious ways in which he delivers his people.

Psalm 78:1–8 (ESV)

1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, 3 things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. 5 He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, 7 so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; 8 and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Every generation of Christian men and women has the biblical responsibility to pass along to the next generation the mighty and merciful acts of God.

Start today to set in place a way by which you can pass along to your children the truths of God’s Word and the memory of the wonderful things he has done in your life.

Identify the places and the times and the special objects that are associated with those moments when God showed up powerfully to save you, to deliver you, to encourage you; those times when he spoke powerfully to you and showed you his kindness in Christ.

Mark those moments. Preserve those times. Save those objects.

Establish monuments or memorials like Joshua to which in future years you can return with your children and remind them of what it tells you about God.

Look at how David said the same thing in Psalm 145.

Psalm 145:4–7 (ESV)

4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. 5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. 6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. 7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

David doesn’t merely speak to the next generation or teach the next generation, although that is certainly a good thing.

He says that one generation shall “commend” God’s works to the next.

Commend ought rather to be translated, “praise”! David doesn’t envision dry and lifeless communication of facts.

He’s talking about celebration! He’s talking about exuberant and passionate and joyful communication of God’s deeds from one generation to another.

Conclusion

What happens when God’s people fail to remember; when they simply forget?

To see this we need to move forward in the history of Israel to Judges 2:6-15. Listen carefully to what happened after the death of Joshua.

Judges 2:10–15 (ESV)

10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers.

And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord

or the work that he had done for Israel.

11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.

12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt.

They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.

13 They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.

14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them.

And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.

15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.

Although the first few generations who entered the land remained faithful, as time passed they failed to pass along to the next generation the remembrance of what God had done. Soon, their memories began to fade.

It came upon them gradually, but evidently the command to remember was ignored and the memory of what God had done for Israel disappeared from their collective consciousness.

How did this happen?

The explanation is simple but devastating: parents failed to recall to mind what God had done; in turn they failed to tell their children, who in turn had nothing to say to their children about the mighty exploits of God and his goodness and faithfulness. Simply put:

Spiritual amnesia led to apathy that eventually led to apostasy.

we have so much more to remember than the people of God here. We have the cross of Christ that stands in History as living memorial to the love and grace of our Heavenly Father. Choose to remember who he is and what he has done. It will not only change your heart it will work in you to change how you live and the words that you say and how the next generation reveres the God that you love.

Are we prepared to talk about the things that matter most in life? Are we prepared to talk about the things in our life that point to the greatness of our God?

May God help us. Save us from talking about ourselves and embolden us to speak of Him.

[1]Mathews, K. A. (2016). Joshua (M. L. Strauss & J. H. Walton, Eds.; p. 30). Baker Books: A Division of Baker Publishing Group. [2]Mathews, K. A. (2016). Joshua (M. L. Strauss & J. H. Walton, Eds.; p. 33). Baker Books: A Division of Baker Publishing Group. 1Schaeffer, Joshua and the Flow of Biblical History, 87. [3]Boice, J. M. (2005). Joshua (p. 40). Baker Books. [4]Smith, R., Jr. (2023). Exalting Jesus in Joshua (D. Platt, D. L. Akin, & T. Merida, Eds.; pp. 69–70). Holman Reference.