The pile of stones Joshua 4:1-24
I really like the guy who prayed, “Dear God, so far today, I’ve done alright. I haven’t lost my temper, haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or over-indulgent. I’m really glad about that, but in a few minutes, I’m going to get out of bed and from then on I’m probably going to need a lot more help.”
“And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying, take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, and command ye them, saying, take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night. Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man: and Joshua said unto them, pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel: that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, what mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them; that the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the LORD spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the Ark of the Covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.
For the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until every thing was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over. And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the LORD passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people.
And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spake unto them: about forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the LORD unto battle, to the plains of Jericho. On that day the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life. And the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying, command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of Jordan. Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, come ye up out of Jordan. And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before. And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.
And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, when your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, what mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over: that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.”
When I was in the hospital a few weeks ago my son John dropped in a couple of times and he brought me a few books to pass the time. One of these was called “Chicken Soup for the Soul” and I enjoyed it so much that I went out and bought three other volumes by the same author when I got home. These books are filled with short stories and one of these stories was one I had read several times over the years and it was written by a man by the name of Robert Hastings and its called The Station. I didn’t know until I read the introduction in this book that Robert Hastings had been a Baptist pastor but he’s gone home with the Lord. So, here’s the story.
“Tucked away in our subconscious minds is an idyllic vision in which we see ourselves on a long journey that spans an entire continent. We’re traveling by train and from the windows, we drink in the passing scenes of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at crossings, of cattle grazing in distant pastures, of smoke pouring from power plants, of row upon row of cotton and corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of city skylines and village halls. But uppermost in our minds is our final destination; for at a certain hour and on a given day our train will finally pull into the station with bells ringing, flags waving, and bands playing. And once that day comes, so many wonderful dreams will come true.
So restlessly we pace the aisles and count the miles, peering ahead, waiting, waiting, waiting for the station. "Yes, when we reach the station that will be it!" We promise ourselves. "When we’re eighteen; win that promotion; put the last kid through college; buy that 450 SL Mercedes Benz; pay off the mortgage or have a nest egg for retirement." From that day on we will all live happily ever after.
Sooner or later, however, we must realize there is no station in this life, no one earthly place to arrive at once and for all. The journey is the joy. The station is an illusion; it constantly outdistances us. Yesterday’s a memory, tomorrow’s a dream. Yesterday belongs to history, tomorrow belongs to God. Yesterday’s a fading sunset. Only today is there light enough to love and live. So, gently close the door on yesterday and then throw the key away.
It isn’t the burdens of today that drive men mad, but rather the regret over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. "Relish the moment" is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24, "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles; instead swim more rivers, climb more mountains, kiss more babies, count more stars. Laugh more and cry less. Go barefoot oftener. Eat more ice cream. Ride more merry-go-rounds. Watch more sunsets. Life must be lived as we go along.”
So, if you’re one of these people who’s waiting for something great to happen, listen, something great could be happening right now but if you’re too focused on the future or too hung up on your past you might be missing it altogether.
Well, getting back to the scripture, I referred last week to Moses and the fact that he had experienced a similar miracle to the one that Joshua experienced when he led the people out of Egypt; and Paul comments on this in I Corinthians 10:1-11 and in the last verse he says, “Now these things were happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.” And the ‘things’ Paul is referring to, were all the punishments that happened to the Jewish people because of their sin. In other words, God rebuked the chosen people of Moses day for their immorality, idolatry and rebellion. And if we were to look forward to Joshua chapter 7 we’d see that He does the same thing with a man by the name of Achan who took a bunch of stuff he wasn’t supposed to and God had the people kill him as a warning to the rest of Israel and to a degree I think God still does the same thing today as we see people paying the price for their sin. You see, God doesn’t wink at or turn a blind eye at sin but sooner or later He deals with it. As the old saying goes, “The wheels of God’s justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.”
And as I said last day, as we look back and see the experiences of these people, we’re actually looking at examples for our own spiritual experience. Think about it, as we read these accounts we see they were slaves in Egypt and nothing would relinquish the grip of Pharaoh until God had sent the last plaque which was the death of the first born and this caused him to loosen his grip but at the same time the Jews were protected by the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. And then, once they had left Egypt; God not only opened the Red Sea but He also used the same miracle to drown the Egyptian army and the Jews never had to be afraid of the Egyptians again. (Because they were all dead.)
And think about how their experience parallels our salvation. We know that nothing we have ever done could save us but once we’ve accepted the salvation God offers through the shed blood of Jesus, we never have anything to fear as far as facing any judgment for sin is concerned. I mean, the penalty for sin is as powerless over our lives as the dead Egyptian army was over the lives of the Jews.
A few weeks ago I compared their entering of the Promised Land to living the Christian life and let’s face it; day after day they had to conquer a little bit more of the Promised Land and all this was done by faith in God’s ability and not trust in their own. But, did you know it actually took these two million Jews about 14 years to fully conquer all the land? It certainly didn’t happen overnight.
And this parallels the idea of maturity in the Christian life. We have to deny ourselves and daily take up our crosses as we surrender more and more of our lives to the Lord. Listen, it’s not a one time act but it’s a continuous, conscious act of surrender.
A few years ago there was a Christian group that originated in the western provinces and they taught a doctrine that was called ‘total sanctification.’ And the idea was, once you’ve been saved and filled with the Spirit of God, you never sinned again. Now, listen, I think that’s a great doctrine and I wish it were true, but the problem is, it’s not. All of us will wrestle with our sin nature until the time comes when we’re called to leave this earth and then and only then will we be totally sanctified.
And then as I ended last day I said that the key to living the successful Christian life is found in our exercising believing faith in the promises of God and that’s stimulated by our study and obedience to the word of God. And as I thought about how these promises give us victory I’ve also come to the conclusion that ignoring them will guarantee us spiritual defeat.
Let me explain what I mean by reminding you of the three promises I mentioned. The first one was; that God will always be with us. And that simply means that whether we’re aware of it or not God is always personally present in our lives. Now, listen, that’s a real comfort, if any of us are wrestling with any kind of loneliness or insecurity but it’s also a word of warning to those of us who are dabbling in any kind of sin.
You see, the promise of God’s presence isn’t limited to when we want Him to be there or when we stop to think about Him or spend some time in prayer, but; God is always with us all the time and knowing that ought to result in our thinking, talking and living as though God hears and sees everything we say and do; because He does. I mean; is there any time of the day or night that God can’t hear or see you? One of the keys to understanding the eternal nature of God is His omnipresence and that simply means, He’s always here, all the time. And when we’re conscious of the fact that God is present, we’re more likely to spend time talking to Him and drawing strength from His presence.
And then second, God promises to provide all of our needs and when I say all of our needs, we need to remind ourselves that it’s all of our needs and not all of our wants that He’s promising. Now, there are times when God also gives us our wants but there are no promises relating to them. Of course, I always say that if God provided all of my wants He’s also have to provide storage space because I often want much more than I could ever need. Now, am I alone in this or are some of you the same? And then there’s also the fact that some of the things we might want could even be harmful to our spiritual lives and God loves us so much He keeps these things away from us.
I think about how He provided the daily needs of the Jews while they were traveling in the wilderness for forty years and He told them, “Every morning just gather enough for the day and then twice as much on the day before the Sabbath” and yet some of them thought they knew better than God. And I can imagine some of them were packing extra manna into their Tupperware bowls or whatever they had and when they took it out and tried to eat it, they found it was rotten and disgusting, it was crawling with worms and probably smelled worse than old sandals that had been walking around the hot desert.
Why did God do that? I think He was trying to teach them to trust Him, on a daily basis. You see, if they could pack manna in 50 pound bags they could forget about God until they needed more. So, God said, what you gather today has to be eaten today and then twice as much on the day before the Sabbath. And listen, there’s application here for us; because the truth of the word of God is not to be stored up but we’re to take what we’ve learned and put it into practice and shared it with others.
Now, God doesn’t provide us with manna today but He still promises to provide all of our needs and if that’s true then we have to ask ourselves, why are some people so far in debt? Could it be that God has provided their needs but they already spent it on something else?
As someone said, “With all the easy credit available today, if you’re not hopelessly in debt then you just aren’t trying.” Let me just share a few simple facts about credit card debt which I’ve learned by personal experience and then I’ll come back to the spiritual part. And keep in mind there’s a big difference between a credit card and a debit card. The credit card doesn’t have to be paid right away but the debit card just takes the cash right out of your account.
First, did you know that we spend 38% more money when we’re using a credit card than we would if we were spending cash. And let’s face it; it’s easier to sign your name for a hundred dollars worth of anything than it is to hand over five twenties. And when you think about the fact that you don’t have to pay for it right away then the thing you’re buying actually seems cheaper. I mean, you’re walking out of a store and all you had to do was sign your name. So, you’ll spend more.
Second, it costs more money to use a credit card. We not only have to pay the cost of using the card but we also end up paying 21-24% interest on any balance that’s left over at the end of the month. And listen, if you’re spending 38% more with the card than you would if you were using cash then it won’t be long before you can’t afford to pay it off.
Third, this may only apply to people like me but it’s important, you also lose your bargaining power when you’re paying with a credit card. Did you know the store has to pay the credit card company four or five per cent whenever you put something on a credit card? (In other words, for every $100 you spend the store has to give the credit card company five dollars. Where do they get the five dollars? They add it to your bill.)
There have been times when my wife and I have offered a lower price for a piece of furniture by simply offering to pay for it with a cheque rather than a credit card. I mean, if we’re going to save him 4 or 5% then why shouldn’t he discount us 2%.
Fourth, you’re actually spending tomorrow’s money when you use a credit card and the bill doesn’t come in for a month or a month and a half. So, there’s no sense in saying you’re depending on God to provide your daily bread if you’re eating next Tuesday’s lunch. And if you’re spending tomorrow’s money today then it makes sense that you’d have nothing to spend tomorrow. Right? You’ve already spent it.
Fifth, if you use your credit card for a cash withdrawal you also lose the thirty days grace period you get with the card to begin with and you begin to pay interest not just on what you borrow but on your total bill from the minute you take any cash.
I remember when I learned this lesson the hard way. I had several hundred dollars on my credit card and I needed ten dollars cash, so, I used the card to get the ten dollars and it ended up costing me fifty dollars interest at the end of the month. Listen, it’s cheaper to deal with the mafia.
I remember when we came to the conclusion that we were simply wasting money with our credit cards. We sat down together and had plastic surgery. We cut up all our cards. We have a Visa card today but we hardly ever use it and we also decided that if we ever get to the point of paying interest on the account we’ll cut it up again.
And then there’s also a spiritual principal about handling our money in Luke 16:10-13. It says, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
This actually tells us that if we are in debt to someone then we are that person’s slave. He is our master. In other words, we’re no longer working for ourselves but we’re working for the person we owe money to and if we’re working for them then we’re not free to serve the Lord. I believe it ought to be the goal of every believer to be free of debt so they can serve the Lord with everything they have, after all, Romans 13:8 tells us to, “Owe no man anything.”
Listen, God is always with us and He promises to provide all of our needs and then the third promise we looked at was God’s promise to hear and answer the prayers that are prayed according to His will and we all know that a lot of the will of God is already revealed in His word. And again, this promise is a great comfort and encouragement for us to pray but it also reminds us that we need to pray. You see, God wants to hear us pray but He’ll only answer those prayers we pray.
Listen, it stands to reason that if we claim the promises we’ll have victory in our lives but if we ignore them then we’re bound to live lives of defeat and if we do then it’s no ones fault but our own.
Now, as we look at Joshua and those who followed him we see that one of the biggest struggles they had was before they crossed the Jordan they always seemed to want to go back to Egypt whenever the going got tough. And if we follow the analogy of their wilderness wanderings as being that part of our experience from the time we were saved until we come to the point of surrender to the will of God then many of us can relate to what they went through.
For many of us, when we were first saved we were still fascinated by the world and all of it’s stuff and most of us were afraid we might be missing out on something; but once we came to the place of wanting only to do the will of God then the world lost it’s attraction. And despite the struggles of the Christian life none of us would want to return to living without the Lord anymore than these Jews would want to leave the Promised Land and go back to Egypt. I mean, the worst day of being a Christian has got to be better than the best day of being a non-Christian.
And here we see that the Jordan River was a real turning point for these people because it’s here they leave the desert and all that it represents behind them and they’re totally dependant on God and His strength to confront their enemies and claim their land.
And as they came up out of the river they were at a place called Gilgal and it says they picked up twenty-four stones to make two memorials. And it might seem unusual but Joshua actually takes 24 verses to tell us about these two piles of stones. There were twelve they piled up in the water and twelve they stacked on the bank of the river. And I think these stones served several purposes.
I First, they were a memorial.
There are all kinds of memorials in our world. In every country of the world there are headstones or monuments that are set up to memorialize the lives of those who’ve gone before. There is the cairn which has a memorial plaque at Rockport and that’s meant to mark the landing spot for the very first Baptists that came to Canada. And for some their church building is a memorial because something or everything in their lives that was ever significant is associated with the building. And in the church we have a memorial act in the Lord’s Table and it’s purpose is to draw our attention back to Calvary. You see, a memorial is something that’s meant to remind us of the past.
And God’s ordering of this memorial was a solemn reminder of how easily we forget. I heard a story about a man by the name of Jesse and he had a really horrible memory. One day Jesse ran into a friend who he hadn’t seen for a long time. And after they said hello and Jesse said, "Hey Bill, do you remember what a bad memory I had?" And Bill answered, "Yeah, I certainly do." "Well, Jesse said, it’s not bad any more. I went to a seminar that taught us how to remember things. It was a great seminar, and now I have a wonderful memory." And Bill said, "Hey, that’s good news, what was the name of the seminar?" "Wait a minute,” Jesse said, “My wife went with me. I’ll ask her." He turned and saw his wife on the other side of the store and he said to Bill, "What’s the name of that flower with a long stem with thorns on it and it has a red bloom?" And Bill said, "Do you mean a rose?" "Yeah, that’s it, thanks," and then Jesse said, "Hey, Rose, what’s the name of that seminar we attended?"
Well, it’s obvious from the Bible that remembering is something that’s very important to the Lord because He knows we all tend to be forgetful and He uses the words "remember," "remembrance," and "memorial" more than 230 times in the Bible.
So, here Joshua wants the people to remember what happened and he also gives them three challenges here and the first one is: be ready to honor God. After crossing the river, God instructed the Israelites to select 12 men from the nation of Israel, one from each tribe and they were each to carry a rock from the middle of the Jordan River. They were to select a rock from the spot where the priests stood holding the “ark of the covenant.” And after picking their rock they were to stack them on the river side where they spent their first night. This was their way of reflecting on God’s blessings and honoring Him.
And the same principle is true for us. God expects us to honor Him with our lives. We honor God as we worship Him both publicly and privately. The word praise, which is another word for worship, comes from a Latin word meaning “value” or “price.” So, to give praise to God is to proclaim that He’s worthy. We honor God as we take communion together because when we do we’re proclaiming Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. We honor God when we follow the Lord in baptism and as we’re baptized we’re proclaiming that Jesus life, death and resurrection has given us eternal life. We honor the Lord by giving a tithe of our income and we honor the Lord when we serve other people. The fact is, honoring God is a life process.
And then the second lesson we learn from this story is that we all need to be armed for spiritual battle. And as we’ll see in weeks to come these people didn’t use any military weapons but they conquered their enemies through the power of God. So, in our spiritual battles we are armed with the word of God and prayer.
And then the third lesson is: to remember why we’re here. God’s purpose for His people is found in verse 24 and it indicates that God’s desire was that all these people would know Him and that they’d be used to spread the word to others. And we believe that a believer’s purpose is to know God and make Him known.
Listen, He just wanted you to go to heaven He would have taken you there already. So, he has a reason for your being here. So, we all need to ask ourselves, why am I here and what does God want to do with my life?
The place where they set up these monuments was called Gilgal and we all need a Gilgal in our lives. It’s a place where we can look back on as our point of personal surrender. It may be a church, a room or whatever. The location isn’t important but the act of surrender certainly is. And then each of us needs to reinforce that decision by learning to seek the Lord on a daily basis.
Soren Kierkegard, the 19th century Danish religious philosopher, told a story about a town where only ducks lived. Every Sunday the ducks would waddle out of their houses and waddle down Main Street to their church. They waddled into the sanctuary and sat in their proper pews. The duck choir waddled in and took its place, and then the duck minister came forward and opened the duck Bible. He read to them, “Ducks! God has given you wings! With wings you can fly! With wings you can mount up and soar like eagles. No walls can confine you! No fence can hold you! You have wings. God has given you wings and you can fly like birds.” All the ducks shouted “AMEN!” and they all waddled home.
We need to do like these Jews did and remind ourselves what God has done and is doing for us. It’s important to remember. Someone said, "A well trained memory is one that permits you to forget everything that isn’t worth remembering."
I believe that most of us have a good memory but not a well-trained memory. We remember things we should forget and we forget things we should remember. Like, that cutting remark that was made to us ten years ago, we remember it like it was yesterday. The lack of kindness someone did after we did so much for them; we try but we can’t seem to forget. The misunderstanding with someone we thought was a friend; we remember very clearly that we were right and they were wrong. The fact is, we have a great capacity to remember the wrong things.
But, that thoughtful and encouraging card we received when we were feeling down and forgotten, we forgot all about it. The time when someone cared enough to listen when no one else paid attention, we forgot that too. The time when someone forgave us when I knew we didn’t deserve it, that slipped our minds. Or the excitement we had when we first became a Christian, even that’s become a distant memory.
The fact is, we have very selective memories and God knows how easily we forget and that’s why He told Joshua to take the 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan River and to stack them up at the side of the river. They were to be a reminder of God’s great power in bringing the nation of Israel to the Promised Land. So, everyone would look and say, “Ah, now I remember!"
Back in Joshua 3: 17 it says, “And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.” The words “stood firm” seem to shine out like a neon sign from verse 17. It wasn’t enough for the priests to merely take the step of faith but they also had to maintain that step of faith. Some folks start well enough. They take the first step but they don’t always stand where they’ve stepped.
Have you ever wondered what would have happened if any of those priests suddenly decided that it was too difficult or too dangerous to stand there and hold the ark? Or what would have happened if one or all of them had looked upstream and thought about that wall of water and began to wonder, “what if” it let’s go?
I believe that thousands of lives literally hung on whether those men stood their ground in the midst of the Jordan. You see, if they let go of the ark and forgot about their responsibility to be faithful to God then all these people would have been drowned.
And in the same way, there are people today who are watching our stand for Jesus Christ and they’re either going to get saved or they’ll continue to reject the faith but if they do let’s make sure that it’s their fault and not ours.
I had the privilege of knowing Edith Johnstone for the last ten years of her life while she was living in the Drew Nursing home and I’m sure that many of you knew her as well. She was one of those people who always treated me like I was royalty every time I visited. I mean, not only was she always glad to see me and but she was always took the time to remind me she was praying for me and she’d often ask if there were any specific areas of my life she could remember.
I remember walking in one time and I thought I woke her from a nap but she said, “It’s alright, I was just going over my scripture memory.” And she was always memorizing scripture, even in her nineties. Did you ever think, ‘I’m too old for scripture memory; my mind just doesn’t work that well anymore.’ Well, for her it wasn’t something she felt she had to do but it was something she wanted to do.
And because she was living so close to the Lord she was always trying to reach one or two other residents with the gospel. One day she shared with me one of her frustrations. She had been praying for this one woman for several years and she shared the gospel with her several times only to have her come into her room one day and say, “I want to pray to receive the Lord.” And when they finished praying she said to Mrs. Johnstone, “There I’ve done it; now don’t bother me about it anymore.” Mrs. Johnstone knew this woman wasn’t saved but she was frustrated because she also knew there was nothing she could do about it.
And she always had something to share that she had learned from the scriptures. Sometimes it was an insight she got from the Daily Bread and other times it was a promise she received from the Lord about one of her grandchildren.
And there were others in the same nursing home who had also come from the same church and they had been raised in Christian homes and yet all they did was complain about their aches and pains or how nobody ever came to visit them. What was the difference? I think it’s easy to say that the one was really saved and the others just had a Christian perspective but we don’t know. I think the difference is, there are those who are growing and enjoying the Christian life while there are those who are simply enduring life.
I think that many people are simply becoming what they will be. There’s an old saying by a poet by the name of Robert Service that goes like this: "It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out, it’s the grain of sand in your shoe." So, there are some who enjoy the Christian life while others seem overwhelmed by the problems and concerns of life. So, where are you at today? Do people look at you and say, that’s a great example of the Christian faith or I wonder if they really know the Lord?
