Never Forget

Joshua | Joshua 3:1-4:24

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Will be in the book of Joshua again this morning. Specifically, if you're using the Bibles that you find in this room, I think it's page 168 in those Bibles. Well, imagine for a moment, if you could, that the year is 2051. It's the fall season in New York City, and a young couple is visiting from out of town with their seven-year-old son for a long weekend together. They've never been there before, but the weather on this beautiful fall day makes for the perfect conditions to walk around all day long and take in all the various sights and sounds all around them. For hours, they slowly make their way from the autumn colors of Central Park into the dense commercial heart of Midtown and then through the older neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan. Eventually, after several miles of walking, they find themselves stepping onto a plaza that feels different from the other sights that they had seen that day. Hundreds of people are gathered around, but rather solemnly in comparison to the hustle and bustle of the rest of the city. As they make their way toward the center of the plaza, the three of them notice the sound of rushing water, and their son comments that it sounds like a waterfall. Finally, after getting through the crowd, they see this breathtaking sight of two giant square holes in the ground made of granite and bronze. Continuous streams of water are pouring down all four sides of both holes and then disappearing into dark openings at the center, almost like it just goes on forever into the depths of the earth. Along the edges of these giant squares, they see names carved into the bronze railings on each side, so many names. And standing beside some of those names are visitors with flowers and photographs and cards. Some of them wiping tears away from their eyes. After a few minutes of silence and just kind of taking it all in, the little boy turns to his parents and says, What is this place? His parents look at each other, both of them feeling the weight of his question. And they tell him that these two giant square holes are the spots where two towers of the World Trade Center used to stand. And they gently explain to him the events that took place there 50 years prior on September 11th, 2001. And they tell him that neither of them were born yet when it happened, but that his grandparents had told both of them stories about sitting in their classrooms at school watching the events unfold live on television. They also explain to him that those names carved into the bronze railings were the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives. And they tell him that on every September 11th, family members and friends gather together at that memorial to remember their loved ones, and every single one of those names gets read out loud to honor everybody who died that day. And then after all the names are read aloud, when the sun goes down, on every September 11th, two massive spotlights shine directly up into the sky in the exact place where the two towers used to stand. While attempting to process everything that he is seeing and hearing, this little boy notices a small bouquet of flowers that somebody had left behind with a small handwritten note attached to the bouquet with just two words on it. Never forget. Those two words perfectly summarize the motivation behind memorials. The reason why New York City spent over one billion dollars on the 9-11 memorial and museum is because they wanted to make sure that for generations to come, New Yorkers and Americans would never forget what happened there that day. Well, similarly, in the passage of scripture that we are covering this morning, God instructs his covenant people to build a memorial in a specific place, a specific location, so that for generations to come, they would never forget what happened there that day. A couple weeks ago, we started a new sermon series in the book of Joshua. And so far we have seen that the Lord chose Joshua to replace Moses and instructed him to finally and officially lead God's people into the promised land of Canaan. And so Joshua sent spies into the land to go check out the situation there, and they met this woman named Rahab who showed them incredible hospitality, protected them from the officers in Jericho, and even made this personal profession of faith, saying she believed in the God of Israel. And so the spies returned to Joshua with this promising report saying that the inhabitants of the land have heard about the mighty acts of the Lord. They heard about the exodus out of Egypt and all that the Lord did for them. They heard about some of his mighty acts in the wilderness and all that the Lord did for them, and they are terrified of the Israelites because of everything that they have heard about their God and what he has done for them. And so now, with that promising report providing a little bit of boost of confidence for this task at hand, Joshua is feeling ready to now move forward and lead the people into Canaan. Now the next part of the narrative is one long movement that spans two whole chapters. So we are covering chapters three and four today. And in doing so, here is what we're going to see together. In chapter three, we see God's people crossing the river, and in chapter four, we see them constructing a reminder. So first, Joshua leads the Israelites across the Jordan River in a very careful and specific way. And then second, God gives them instructions for building a memorial in that specific place. Crossing the river and constructing a reminder, all of which has something to teach us this morning about living lives of remembrance. So we'll start with the first six verses of chapter three, as the Israelites prepared to cross over the Jordan River and enter into the promised land. Beginning in verse one. Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Shinem, and they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. At the end of three days the officers went throughout the camp and commanded the people, As soon as you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before. Then Joshua said to the people, Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. And Joshua said to the priests, Take up the Ark of the Covenant and pass on before the people. So they took up the Ark of the Covenant and went before the people. Alright, so after forty years in the wilderness, and a whole generation of Israelites dying off, and after Moses' death and burial, and the official commissioning of Joshua, and after spying out the land one last time, God's covenant people are now ready to officially inherit the land that was promised to Abraham all those years ago. They are primed and ready, and at this point, the only thing left standing between them and the land is the Jordan River. And so after receiving that good report from the spies who were helped out by Rahab, Joshua now moves the nation's camp a few miles west from Shinem to the land to in the plains of Moab to now the very edge of the Jordan River, and they set up camp there for three days. So they are officially ready now to kind of make their big move into the land. And at the end of three days, Joshua sends his officers all throughout the camp to deliver instructions for how exactly they're going to do this. How are we going to move forward? What is our plan of action? And those instructions are purposely in keeping with the law that God had delivered through Moses. Numbers chapter 4 details the fact that it had to be the Kohithites from the tribe of Levi, many of whom served as priests, to have the job of transporting the tabernacle's holy items anytime the Lord would cause them to relocate throughout the wilderness. And due to the fact that the Ark of the Covenant symbolized the presence of God among his people, that meant that they had to transport that specific item with extreme care. They had to cover it up so that they couldn't look directly at it. They had to carry it on poles so that nobody could directly touch it with their bare hands. And so the instructions going around camp are very much in keeping with these laws about the holy items, specifically that it had to be the Levitical priests who would be the ones to carefully carry and transport the Ark of the Covenant across the river. And as soon as they did so, as soon as they set out on their way, that was everybody else's cue in the nation, to pack up camp and follow them. But the way in which they were to follow them is also specified. They're instructed to keep a distance from the priests and the ark of about 2,000 cubits, which is a little bit over half a mile. It's like 3,000 feet. And the reason for this was probably twofold. First of all, due to their sin, they couldn't get too close to the presence of God, which is what the ark symbolized. So this is partially for safety purposes, but secondly and primarily, verse 4 says that they needed to keep this distance in order that they would know the way that they needed to go. In other words, they were about to head into unfamiliar territory. And there was a specific route that they were going to take across the Jordan River. And so by staying back about half a mile, the people were going to get a good look at the path that they were going to traverse together. But at face value, that sounds a little bit odd because if you kind of envision looking a half a mile in the distance, it might seem like it would be difficult to clearly see the priests and the ark that far away. Like I have really bad eyes, so like if I took off my glasses, I can barely see your lovely faces, let alone a half a mile in the distance, the ark and the priests. So it seems like that might be bizarre to have to see that far away. And under normal circumstances, that might be true, but these weren't normal circumstances. Because what we're going to see in a few minutes is the exact way in which the Lord was going to take them across the Jordan was going to be so incredible and such a massive sight that standing half a mile away was actually the only way to get a good, full-pictured view of everything that God was about to do. If they were standing too close to the action, they actually wouldn't get the full picture of the miracle and the massive majestic work that the Lord was about to do. They needed to stand back about 3,000 feet to see in full everything that God was about to do for them. He was about to do something unlike anything this generation of Israelites had ever witnessed before. Which is why Joshua tells everybody, consecrate yourselves. For tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Under the old covenant, to consecrate yourself meant to prepare yourself both physically and spiritually for the Lord to do something powerful among you. Sometimes that powerful thing was the forgiveness of sins through the sacrificial system. Other times it was a mighty work on behalf of his people, but this consecration typically involved ceremonial washing combined with abstaining from certain activities to ready your heart for God's work. And under the new covenant in Christ, we don't practice this exact same kind of consecration with the washing and everything like that, because all of those practices were foreshadowing the perfect cleansing we would receive by grace through faith in Jesus. However, I do think that the evangelical church today, in many ways, has lost its sense of spiritual consecration. So just taking the Sunday gathering as an example. Many believers have chosen to forsake the gathering altogether, even though the New Testament clearly instructs us not to do that. But even for those of us who do participate in the Sunday gathering, I would venture to guess that a lot of the time we kind of just waltz right in here casually, not even really preparing ourselves for what we're about to do. We just walk in without any sense of spiritual consecration whatsoever, without any sense of spiritual preparation. And the reason that we do that, it's so easy to do that, is because, on the one hand, it is a beautiful truth that through the gospel we are freely welcomed into the covenant people of God without needing to clean ourselves up because it is the blood of Jesus that cleans us up. And that's a beautiful truth. But on the other hand, it is still true that God is infinitely holy. And we should never be casual about waltzing in and worshiping an infinitely holy God. Instead, we should consecrate ourselves for worship. We should wake up on Sundays and spend time in prayer and confession and repentance and ready our souls for what we're about to do together. So that we can enter into the public gathering of the church with hearts prepared to receive biblical instruction and gospel encouragement, and hearts that are expectant to see the Lord do something among us. Consecration is still something that God's people should practice, even if it looks slightly different than it did in Joshua's day. But we'll keep moving here. And as chapter three continues, the Lord reminds Joshua once again, as he did in chapter one, that he will be with him as he was with Moses. And in response to that, Joshua gives all the people the following instructions. He says, This is how you will know that God is really with us, and that he is really going before us, and that he really is Lord of all the earth. When the priests enter the Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant, as soon as their feet touch the water, here is what's going to happen. All of the water in the Jordan will stop flowing, and the stream that normally flows down from above will just pile straight up in the air like a giant heaping wall. See, the Jordan River flows downward from the Sea of Galilee in the north to the Dead Sea in the south. So Joshua is telling them that when the priests step into the river with the Ark of the Covenant, all of the water that would normally flow downward from the north is going to suddenly stop and form a giant pile of water upstream. And once that happens, the priests who are transporting the ark, they are going to stand in the middle of, stand in place in the middle of the river so that while they're standing there and the water is stopped upstream, the whole nation can cross the Jordan without needing to worry about any rushing water taking them away. So that's the plan of attack for getting across the Jordan. And we'll continue reading in verses 14 through 17. So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water. Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. The waters coming down from above stood up, stood and rose up in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarathon, and those flowing down toward the Sea of Erabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan. So, of course, everything goes exactly the way God said it would go. The priests set out, everybody follows them from a distance, and as soon as the ark enters the river, the water upstream completely stops, and the whole nation passes over the Jordan without any issue. And this is already amazing as it is. But the narrator wants us to actually fully understand another level of just how amazing this is. So he adds this brief little statement at the end of verse 15, which is probably in parentheses in your Bible, and it says, Now the Jordan River, now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. There's that little parenthetical statement there at the end of 15. And the reason that statement was included is because the narrator is emphasizing the fact that this event took place during the most dangerous time of the year to attempt to cross the Jordan River. During harvest season, the melting snow from Mount Hermon caused the Jordan to overflow and flood the entire area and created very turbulent waters. So the river was deeper and wider than normal, the current was stronger and more aggressive than normal, and the water was spread beyond its normal footprint into all of the floodplain, all of which made for a very dangerous situation. One commentator writes that this river that Israel faced was no placid stream, it was a raging torrent, probably a mile wide, covering a mass of tangled brush and jungle growth. So this event would have been amazing enough during any time of the year, but during this time of the year it was that much more amazing because the conditions seemed insurmountable. No nation in their right mind would attempt crossing the Jordan River during this time of the year. And yet it was in the midst of these conditions that God took this raging watery chaos and instantly turned it into a calm and clear pathway for his people to walk across. And that makes it clear why God wanted all of them to stay 2,000 cubits back. We're told that the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, is what the text says. So the Israelite people, by keeping that half a mile distance back, they were given this unbelievable view of all that God did that day. They were standing far enough away to see the full picture of this massive river piling up into a heaping wall multiple miles upstream so that they could cross over the Jordan down here on dry ground. And those two words, dry ground, are meant to make the reader think of the Exodus out of Egypt. Because in the same way that God parted the Red Sea for that first generation of Israelites in the wilderness so that they could cross over on dry ground and finally be free from slavery, likewise here he is stopping the Jordan River for the second generation of Israelites in the wilderness so that they can cross over on dry ground to finally be home in the land of promise. So the forty years of wandering are bookended with similar miracles for God's people because both times they passed over these large bodies of water on dry ground. Alright, so in chapter three, we saw God's people crossing the river. And now moving into part two of the narrative, we see them constructing a reminder. As we continue with verses one through seven of chapter four. When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, and command them, saying, Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priest's feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight. Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. 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, that this may be a sign among you. And when your children ask in time to come, what do these stones mean to you? 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. Okay, so we we don't know exactly how long it took for the entire nation to cross over this river. Many scholars estimate a population of a couple million people who crossed over the river that day. So most likely this event probably lasted several hours while all of the men, women, and children passed over with all of their belongings and livestock. So even if they were moving rather quickly, it would be difficult to do it much faster than that, which means the priests were probably positioned with the ark in the middle of this river for several hours so that the whole nation could quickly cross over. But when every last person was finally safe and sound on the other side of the river, the Lord told Joshua, choose one man from each of the twelve tribes who would each be given this task of retrieving a stone from the ground of the Jordan River nearby where the priests were standing. And specifically it says to choose a stone and put it on your shoulder and carry it to the other side. So these were not small rocks that you could just grab and pick up and carry in your hands. These were like miniature boulders that they had to lift up out of the ground and hoist up on their shoulder and carry across to the other side. So Joshua probably handpicked the biggest and strongest men that he could find because this was a very physically demanding assignment. But after grabbing these twelve stones, each of them needed to carry one on his shoulder to the other side of the river, specifically to the spot where they were going to camp that night, and then pile all of these stones up and construct a memorial in that place. And Joshua says, When your children ask you in time to come what this means, what is the significance of this thing with all of these stones? You should tell them everything God did here today. Tell your children that the waters of the Jordan that normally this time of year come through like a torrent river were cut off, and the Ark of the Covenant entered the water so that everybody could safely walk across together. What's interesting, just really quick, is that in the next paragraph, we're actually told in verse 9 that Joshua also built a small mini memorial by himself. It's easy to miss this detail, but it says in verse 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. So apparently, in addition to the larger memorial with twelve stones, Joshua also made a little mini memorial right in the spot of the river where the priests were standing. It doesn't say why, and it's never mentioned again. It just says it here, and this is the only thing we know about it. Maybe he wanted to designate the exact spot where the Ark of the Covenant was located during this miraculous event. Maybe he wanted to remember the very location on the ground where the presence of God stood and provided this miracle. But we're not really given any commentary on it. It just says that he does this. So he builds this mini memorial with these small stones in the middle of the river, and they build this larger memorial with twelve stones on the other side of the river, and then the priests finally finish crossing with the Ark of the Covenant, and as soon as they step onto the shore out of the river, all of the water of the Jordan comes crashing back down into place and overflows all the banks once again, just like it did before. And then chapter four ends this way in verses 19 through 24. 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. And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. And he said to the people of Israel, When your children ask their fathers in times to come, what do these stones mean? Then you shall let your children know. Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground. 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, when he dried up for us until we crossed over, so that all the people of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, and that you may fear the Lord your God forever. Now remember, out of the two million or so people who crossed the Jordan that day, only two of them were left from the original Exodus generation. Joshua and Caleb were the only ones who survived all forty years in the wilderness and were allowed to enter into the land, which means they were the only ones that day who witnessed this precise kind of miracle now happen twice. They were there forty years prior when they crossed over the Red Sea, and they're there this day to cross over the Jordan River. Which is why in verse 23 Joshua says, The Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, just like he did at the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over. So Joshua was given the privilege of seeing the Lord protect and provide for his people in miraculous ways from the exodus out of Egypt to the entrance into Canaan. And that being the case, he was also keenly aware of the significance of the date on the calendar of this particular day. Verse 19 says, the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. As modern readers, we blow right by that detail. Doesn't mean much to us. Maybe it's just a casual timestamp, but it's not really that important to the story. No, it's massively important. Because the tenth day of the first month was Israel's anniversary of the Passover. That was the day when God brought the final plague upon Egypt to deliver his people out of slavery and passed over the houses of everyone who had put the blood of a slaughtered lamb on the doorposts of their house. And then the Lord told Moses in Exodus chapter 12, This day shall be a memorial day. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout all your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. So not only did Joshua have the privilege of crossing over the Red Sea on dry ground and the Jordan River on dry ground, but in addition to that, he had the privilege of being present for that mighty act of God on the very first Passover night in Egypt, and also being present for this mighty act of God on the 40th Passover outside of Egypt.

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There were multiple layers to the significance of this event that took place.

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And so just like the at the 9-11 memorial in New York City, where we're 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 50 years from now, a little boy might be there with his parents and ask them, What is this place? Likewise, the Lord commanded Joshua to build this memorial so that for generations to come, Israelite children would ask their parents, what do these stones mean? What is this place? And they would be sure that they would never forget what God did for his people there that day. See whether it was the old covenant thousands of years ago or the new covenant in Christ today, it still remains true for all of God's people that we need regular reminders of our redemption. We need regular reminders of our redemption. You and I are prone to forgetfulness. In the hustle and bustle and the ups and downs of everyday life, we are prone to forget the faithfulness of God, the providence of God, the power of God, the presence of God. It is easy to forget his love and his grace and his kindness toward us when we are in the grind of life. And that being the case, we need regular reminders of our redemption. Just like they did back then. There's a funny movie from the early 2000s called 50 First Dates. Adam Sandler plays a guy named Henry who falls in love with a woman named Lucy, who's played by Drew Barrymore. But when he meets her for the first time, Henry does not know that Lucy suffers from short-term memory loss. She was in a car accident about a year before meeting him, and ever since then, her memory just completely resets every single night while she's sleeping, back to the same day before her accident took place. And because of that, in order to have a relationship with her, he has to pursue her all over again every day as if they were meeting for the first time. In fact, there's a scene where Lucy's dad tells her that Henry is her boyfriend, and she looks over at Adam Sandler and he just says, Sorry, I'm not better looking. But eventually they wind up getting married, they start a family together, and every single morning, the first thing Lucy does when she wakes up is she watches this short video that reminds her about who she is and everything that has happened to her since the day of her accident. Because if she does not do that, she will not know who she is, she will not remember any of it. I just spoiled it for you, you're like 20 years too late. So there is a sense in which you and I we wake up every morning with short-term gospel memory loss. Every night while we sleep, our our minds and our flesh completely reset. And it is so easy to start the day completely forgetting who we are in Christ, completely forgetting everything God has done for us through Christ. And because we have that tendency, it means we need to be reminded constantly. God's people have always needed to be reminded constantly of who we are and what he has done, which is why historically the church has emphasized and prioritized three types of memorials for the Christian life, at least. Daily, weekly, and yearly memorials for the Christian life. So our daily memorials are things like prayer and reading and meditating on scripture. Our weekly memorials are gathering together for corporate worship under the preaching of God's word and receiving communion together and observing baptism together. Our yearly memorials are certain seasons on the church calendar, like Advent, where we reflect together on the birth of Christ, or Holy Week, when we reflect together on the week leading up to the death and resurrection of Christ. All of these things are Christian memorials that the Lord uses in us on a daily, weekly, and yearly basis to make sure that we never forget the gospel. That we never forget the best news in the world. That the Lord of all the earth came down to earth and walked among us. And similar to how the presence of God in the Ark of the Covenant held back the waters so that his people could freely enter the land of promise and receive that gift. The true presence of God and the person of Jesus held back and absorbed God's judgment toward our sins so that we could freely enter into his gospel promise and receive his gift of grace. And similar to how those twelve sons of Israel carried these heavy stones to a specific place where a memorial was built as a reminder of God's mercy, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, carried a heavy cross to a specific place and laid down his life as the embodiment of God's mercy. And three days later, the heaviest stone of all, which locked and secured death and the grave, was rolled away as Jesus secured his victory over sin, death, and the grave.

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This is the best news in the world.

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And for those of us who've been born again and who believe this and who have received forgiveness and redemption through Christ, even though it is the best news in the world, and everything in life pales in comparison to it. We still wake up in the morning with this short-term gospel memory loss, completely forgetting all that Christ has done and who we are in Him. And the only way to intentionally combat our forgetfulness is to devote ourselves to the daily, weekly, and yearly memorials of the Christian life. The daily memorials of prayer and scripture reading, the weekly memorials of the corporate gathering and the preaching of God's word and communion and baptism, the yearly memorials on the church calendar of things like Advent and Holy Week. It's not just that these things are a good idea. It's that God's people actually need them. We need them in an age that is full of distractions like the demands of our work or the stresses of a busy schedule or the pressures of a fallen world or the seductions of digital media. You and I need these memorials so that we and our children and our children's children never forget the gospel.

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So that we never forget the best news in a world full of bad news.

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But the beauty of God's grace toward his children is that on the days when we do forget, on those days when we do suffer from that short-term memory loss of the gospel. Just like Henry pursued Lucy all over again every single day in 51st days, Jesus pursues us all over again every single day on our way to our eternal land of promise. And I thought it would be fitting to close with that as well. David writes, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with goods so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.