Thanks for the Memories
Joshua 4
Exodus 12:14a (NLT)
“This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord.”
Ecclesiastes 12:1a (NIV)
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth
2 Timothy 2:8 (ESV)
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel,
1 Corinthians 15:1–2a (ESV)
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved
Luke 22:19b (ESV)
“Do this in remembrance of me.”
Joshua 4:1–7 (ESV)
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 priests’ 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. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those 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.”
1. The Importance of the Question
Joshua 4:5b–6 (ESV)
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. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’
Joshua 4:21 (ESV)
And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’
Deuteronomy 6:6–7 (ESV)
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
2. The Power of Your Answer
Joshua 4:6b–8 (ESV)
When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those 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.”
3. The Purpose of the Moment
Joshua 4:19–20 (ESV)
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.
Joshua 3:15a (NLT)
It was the harvest season, and the Jordan was overflowing its banks.
Joshua 4:23 (ESV)
For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over
Joshua 4:19 (ESV)
The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month.
Joshua 4:23–24 (ESV)
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, 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.”
