MIF 13:3 (May-June 1981)
The Two Memorials
(Joshua 4)
Twelve stones were brought from Jordan and erected in Gilgal. The fathers were to tell their children of the safe passage they had through the river. This was a miracle brought about by God.
The child of God today has passed through the waters of death on to resurrection ground. Let this great deliverance wrought by God for us be our family subject at our tables with our dear children. These twelve stones would be seen by the passing crowds when the waters were low. They were there to demonstrate God’s power, love and grace. We cannot forget our salvation and the Rock of safety which is ours. “On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” May we never cease to magnify God’s grace (see Psa. 40:2).
The presence of the Ark alone restrained the piled up waters. Thus the Son of God, our Great Saviour, stands between us and whatever would overwhelm us, especially sin and death. Do not reject Christ Jesus; in rejecting Him you reject your only salvation from sin and judgment.
Christ Jesus, the true Joshua, has been on the cross for us, and now there is a pathway by which the sinner can be saved or ransomed by faith and go into the heavenly city dry-shod with his sins gone and himself free from judgment. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). I hope all my readers are sheltered by the precious blood of Christ. Remember, you are either sheltered by the blood or exposed to the horrors of eternal judgment.
The twelve stones set up at Gilgal teach us another lesson. The stones in Jordan tell me of Christ’s death for me; the stones in Gilgal tell me of my death in Christ. In the one I learn that my sins have been put away through the work of Christ; in the other I see that the power of sin has been broken forever.
It is one thing to know that our sins are forgiven, while another thing altogether to know that our body of sin has been “done away” (Rom. 6:6), its rule gone, its dominion ended. We must believe this just as we have accepted Christ’s death for our sins and learn the wonderful truth, “Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body” (Rom. 6:12).
I believe God and rest on His Word.