MONDAY 26th
Joshua 4
NIV (v21-22) – ‘He said to the Israelites, In the future when your descendants ask their parents, What do these stones mean? tell them, Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’
ESV (v21-22) – ‘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.’
After the people of Israel had gone through the river Jordan, they were instructed to choose twelve men who were to take twelve stones from the Jordan and place them near to where they had crossed at Gilgal. They were to become known as the ‘Memorial Stones’, for each time the children were to ask their fathers what do these stones mean, the reply would be given ‘that Israel had passed over on dry ground, for the LORD God had caused the water of the Jordan to dry up’. It was a constant reminder or memorial of the faithfulness of God toward them as a people. But not just a memorial for Israel, verse 24 says it was ‘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.’
I guess we all like memorials, things, activities, celebrations etc. which are memorials throughout our life, a date that we recall every year to remember our birthday, an anniversary etc. an activity we try to participate in every year, something that takes place as a result of a previous happening or event and which we recall and recount.
Jesus instituted the greatest memorial of all when he took not twelve stones, but twelve men and sat down at supper with them. They were in the process of going through a special memorial, the Passover, the annual feast in which the people of Israel commemorated their deliverance from out of Egypt, and the protection they had had because of the blood being applied on the doorposts and lintels of their homes. And while celebrating Jesus turned it into a new memorial which would become one of the two sacraments of the Christian Church, that of the Sacrament of Communion, the other that of Water baptism.
The words of Jesus himself while sat with the disciples and as he broke bread and passed it to them, and took the cup and passed it to them was this, ‘This do in remembrance of me’
Jesus was about to go through the awful agony and pain of the Cross, he was about to fulfil his Fathers will so that we who were in our bondage to sin would be able to cross over to the place of our deliverance and freedom, and as a means of remembering, or memorial, Jesus put into action this simple yet profound practise of what we call coming around the Lord’s table. And this we do however often we do it, in remembrance of him. A memorial that we have crossed over because of the hand of the Lord God in bringing about our redemption. A memorial that we have only crossed over because the Lord Jesus Christ was willing for his body to be broken and for his life blood to be shed, a memorial that we may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty to save, and that we who have come to faith may fear the LORD our God forever. When we come each time to partake in communion, it is to remember HIM and all he has done for us, while at the same time looking forward in anticipation that he who died, also rose again and is ascended and seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, and he is coming again, coming to complete our wonderful, amazing salvation. Surely this is worth remembering!