What Do These Stones Mean?

Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the LORD your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea when he dried it up until we had all crossed over. He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the LORD’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the LORD your God forever.” Joshua 4:21-24

AS SOON AS THE FEET of the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant touched the Jordan, the river instantly stopped flowing south toward the Dead Sea. Instead, the water piled up in a heap upriver so that the people passed through on dry ground. As they crossed through the Jordan, they remembered how the previous generation had crossed through the Red Sea forty years before. But Joshua did not want the remembering to end with that generation. He wanted future generations to know what happened there —to know that Yahweh’s hand is powerful enough to make a way for his people to enter into all that he intends to provide for them.

So Joshua gave instructions for building a memorial. The men were to take twelve stones from the dry riverbed to the camp in Canaan. The memorial would be a sign to ensure that the people of God would never forget how the Lord, on this remarkable day, worked to lead his people into promised rest.

In our sinfulness and weakness, we tend to forget the good things that God has done for us in the past. So God has also given us a sign —a memorial to remind us of what the Lord’s powerful hand has done to make it possible for us to look forward to life in his Promised Land. Instead of a stone memorial, we partake of a memorial meal in the bread and the cup. So when our children ask, “What does this meal mean?” we want to be prepared to tell them that God has given this meal “so all the nations of the earth might know that the LORD’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the LORD your God forever.”

Lord, thank you for the memorial sign you have given to your people and to our family, so that we will remember your saving work on the cross. We look forward to life in your land, enjoying your rest. Give us the words we need to teach our children the meaning of this meal, and give us the rest that is promised to us in it.