Israel Crossing the Jordan - The Twelve Stones (Joshua 3-4)

this teaching is about the people of Israel crossing the Jordan River and setting up 12 memorial stones in Joshua chapters 3 & 4 welcome to the Christian bro code YouTube channel I'm your bro dr. Mario Escobedo if you're a regular here thank you so much for coming back and if you're new welcome I hope you'll consider subscribing this channel is all about your growth let's get into the teaching now as I like to do before I dive into the passage I like to set it up with some context so let's look at some context for Joshua chapters 3 & 4 by this point we're talking about the history of Israel the nation of Israel by this point Moses had died Moses had been Israel's leader for quite some time by this point he's died and now Joshua is the new leader for the nation of Israel the people of Israel at this point in the story or in their history they find themselves on the eastern side of the Jordan River let me pull up a map so you can get a better idea of what that means now here's a map of the ancient Near East when we talk about Old Testament geography and politics typically we refer to this region as the ancient Near East now look at this here we have Egypt way over here the length of the Nile River is essentially Egypt the Delta region up here in the north that's where the people of Israel would have been in slavery then the Sinai desert right here that's where they would have wandered for 40 years and now under the leadership of Joshua they find themselves right about here on the eastern side of the Jordan River let me zoom in so you can get a better picture of that so this is that area zoomed in just north of the Dead Sea the Dead Sea is this area right here that body of water lowest place on the face of the earth and the people of Israel would have been camped somewhere around here can't be exact about it but we know that that's where they were this area right here that's the Jordan River it's in the Jordan Rift or the Jordan Valley and on this side this is the Promised Land for all intents and purposes this is the Promised Land the people of Israel are on this side and now what they need to do is they need to cross over to the western side of the promised land or of the Jordan River in order to inherit and take possession of the promised land now let's start reading in Joshua chapter 3 so that we can get into the story about them crossing the river and then the whole idea of then 12 memorial stones this is this is how Joshua chapter 3 starting in verse 7 this is how it reads the Lord said to Joshua today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel so they may know that I'm with you as I was with Moses now that was key that was important Josh was taking over Israel's only and most significant leader up to that point and so now Moses is gone and Joshua has to fill his shoes how is he gonna do that are the people going to receive him where the Lord has a solution for that he's going to do something to demonstrate to the people of Israel that Joshua was indeed the selected individual to lead the people of Israel verse 8 tell the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant when you reach the edge of the Jordans waters go and stand in the river so those are the instructions to the priests and to the people of Israel look what happens next we're gonna jump down to verse 14 so when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them now we're gonna look at verse 15 there's some important information it may not seem important at first but it is check it out verse 15 now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge the water from upstream stopped flowing it piled up in a heap a great distance away at a town called Adam in the vicinity of xerath and while the water flowing down to the sea of ära ba that is the Dead Sea we saw that on the map just a little bit ago was completely cut off so the people crossed over opposite Jericho now before we move on let me point out some things here number one it's interesting that it notes that the Jordan is that flood stage during all harvest this is important this is an important detail because what it lets us know is the following that when the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River it wasn't at a time when the river was shallow the water was significantly deep if it's during the flood season it means that the Jordan River wasn't just deep it means that more than likely the water was overflowing it was coming out over the edge or the bank of the river so we're not talking about water that was ankle-deep maybe not even knee deep or waist deep we're talking about water that was significantly deep as far as rivers go it was deep because it was during the season of flood stage so we know that we're talking about some pretty deep water at this point we also have some geographic reference points of where the water was cut off and where it stopped flowing too so let's see that on the map it mentions that verse that we just read it mentions a domme which is about 15 miles or so north of where the people of Israel would have crossed that's where the water was piled up that's where it stops so there was a significant distance between where the people of Israel were and where the water started to pile up and then it says that it cut off all pretty much from 'adam all the way down to the Dead Sea there was no longer a flow of the water so those are important details to note most significantly for me and I'm gonna I'm gonna come back to this when we talk about the 12 memorial stones is the depth of the water I think that's an important clue and there's it's just not coincidental that the Bible included that detail so let's go on we're gonna read now in verse 17 we're getting we're getting to the crossing and to the the point of why these memorial stones so this is what verse 17 says the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground now for sure this is almost like a flashback to the Red Sea the crossing of the Red Sea notice how God said I'm gonna do something Joshua so that the people of Israel will know that I've chosen you there's not gonna be any doubt and so it's interesting that for Moses a significant a watershed moment for Moses was the parting of the Red Sea well God is doing something very similar here not identical but very similar with Joshua and that was definitely intentional on God's parts that the people of Israel would recognize wow this is really really similar to what happened with Moses this guy is definitely God's chosen because who else does this I mean who does that who's able to stop water under whose leadership does that happen what happened under Moses and now it's happening under Joshua so that's a significant deal that detail that takes place there the water stops and the people of Israel are able to cross over on dry land now we're gonna jump over to chapter 4 okay here's we're gonna start talking about those memorial stones chapter 4 starting in verse 4 here's how it reads so Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites one from each tribe he had done that previously but he didn't tell them what he was gonna use them for and then in verse five and he said to them go over before the Ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan so the priests after all the nation has crossed the priests are still standing in the middle of the river bed where the jordan water had stopped the waters of the Jordan had stopped so he tells these twelve men go over there to the middle of the Jordan each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites to serve as a sign among you let me pause there because look at what the little detail that's included there that it says that each of you should take up a stone and then where is it and put it on his shoulders so we're not talking about a grapefruit-sized stone we're not talking about something the size of a softball or the size of a baseball we're talking about something that was big enough and heavy enough to have to hoist onto a shoulder we're not talking about something the size of you know the huge rocks that we see at Stonehenge for example not that big but we're not talking about something small either it was something big enough that it to be carried needed to be hoisted on to the shoulders of these men carried out from the middle of the water over to where they were and that's what they're gonna do and and you've got 12 men one of them representing each of the tribes of Israel so this is what Joshua instructed them to do and what's interesting notice right there at the very end that this was to serve as a sign among you and in the in the the second part of verse 6 we're gonna discover exactly what that sign is for look at what this says in the future now here's the sign here's the significance of these memorial stones and the sign in the future when your children ask you what are these stones mean tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord when it crossed the Jordan the waters of the Jordan were cut off these stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever all right now here's here's the payoff here's what we're getting to about these memorial stones I want you to picture this this portion of the passage from the perspective of the children who are asking what do these stones mean because imagine this you're walking with your kids by the side of the Jordan River and all of a sudden you see this pile or this arrangement of 12 pretty large stones and the kids will say well well well what do these stones mean and this is an opportunity for the parents to start into that conversation of what those stones mean and here's I'm imagining what the conversation may have looked like well those twelve stones came from the middle of the Jordan River and I think the kids reaction may have been something like what that's impossible like there's no man who is strong enough who can jump into the Jordan River go down to the bottom where the stones are these big stones would have been in water under water pick up a stone be able to swim back up to the surface and then take the stone to the edge of the riverbank that's impossible and then I mean not just take into consideration no one can do that underwater hold your breath that long pick up a stone under water it's gonna weigh you down and then what about the flow the current of the river I mean dad okay like you've taught me some pretty incredible stuff before but this takes the cake how in the world are you telling me that these twelve big stones were taken from the middle from the floor of the river Jordan that doesn't make any sense and here's the opportunity for the dad for the mom for the parents to talk about what God had done and so when the kids are questioning or asking how is it possible it's impossible that these came from the floor the the riverbed of the Jordan River that couldn't have happened oh wait I left out a little detail you see what happened is that the water of the Jordan River stopped flowing see when the the priests came with the Ark of the Covenant and they stepped in the water it stopped flowing now you're too young to remember this or may you weren't even born when this happened but I saw this with my own eyes we all crossed from that side of the Jordan to this side of the Jordan on dry ground and when the water was still stopped Joshua sent 12 men to pick up these heavy stones from the bottom of the riverbed and bring them to the bank of the river or bring them back to our camp that's how it happened see this was an opportunity two things number one for the people of Israel to remember because that's what God said this is to serve as a memorial to the people of Israel forever this is something these stones served to remind the people of Israel of this miraculous occurrence of how God crossed them over to the promised land so that they could start taking possession of the promised land so this was huge it was a reminder for those who were there and for future generations of what God had done but I also see this as a conversation starter it was an opportunity for parents to tell their kids about the miraculous deeds of God and how he brought the people of Israel into the Promised Land it was a conversation starter yeah it was for them to remember and for generations beyond them to remember but any time they would have walked by the banks of the Jordan or the camp where they set these up and they would have seen those stones it was a conversation starter dad what do those mean mom what do those mean and that's where they would have said well let me tell you what God did and so a reminder and a conversation starter now what what does that mean for us now today I think we need some memorial stones and I'll say that in quotes we need some memorial stones objects are things that will remind us of what God has done in our past now understand me I'm not talking about idols I'm don't misinterpret me I'm not talking about things that we would worship or venerate no not at all that's not what these stones were for I'm talking about things that remind us of what God has done for us in the past let me give you an example my sister-in-law is she's my wife's sister she has a set of glasses in her house she and her husband and in fact here's a picture of these glasses this family my sister-in-law and her husband they've had these glasses for at least 30 years at least 30 years okay and you see those glasses and there's I mean they're nice glasses there's nothing wrong with them but to hang on to a set of glasses for 30 years drinking glasses for 30 years that's pretty incredible but there's a reason behind it now I don't know if you can see but these glasses are from water burger water burger is a hamburger chain restaurant of a hamburger chain here in Texas and so as I asked them about this why do you have these glasses and why have you had them here for so long they're in their cupboard they're not stored away in the garage anywhere know that like they're in their primary cupboard in their pantry and they said well here's what it is when we were first married we couldn't afford to buy drinking glasses and so at that time there was a promotion being run by water burger and if you would buy a meal or a hamburger you would get a free glass and so they were telling us what we had to do because money was so tight what we would have to do is that we would go to water burger we couldn't buy drinking glasses of our own so we would buy a meal we would split the meal between us that's how that's how bad things were economically we needed to split the meal between us and we would buy them here we would share it but we would get a drinking glass and little by little we went creating our set of drinking glasses and they would tell us we kept these glasses or we've kept these glasses for so long to remind us of God's faithfulness to remind us that even in those times when stuff was really tight financially speaking when it was just really tough God didn't abandon us God remained faithful God continued to provide any yeah it reminds us of the testing of our faith and how we had to trust in God during that time that's why we keep these drinking glasses around III heard that the first time and I've heard them tell us that several times but the first time I heard that I was blown away and I have to imagine that at several points in those thirty years their kids have probably told them something like why do we still have those glasses shouldn't we buy some new drinking glasses why are we hanging on to them and it serves as a conversation starter for sure it reminds the the parents the grown ups of why they have those drinking glasses but it also serves as an opportunity for them to tell their kids let us tell you why we still have those drinking glasses it's a memorial stone it's an opportunity for them to share with their kids and now their grandkids because they still have them and their grandkids see those glasses it's an opportunity for them to share with their kids and their grandkids what God has done and how they continue to how they can continue to trust that God will continue to provide and God will continue to be faithful why do we know that well it's a reminder that we have these memorial stones we have these things to remind us of God's faithfulness in the past and that he will continue to be faithful for us in the future and so I want to ask you this question you can or rather I want to I want to leave this big idea with you you can use memorial stones and I say that in quotes you can use memorial stones to talk to your family about what God has done in your life undoubtedly God has done some pretty incredible things in your life and I'm sure that you have something you've hung on to something that reminds you of what God has done in your life my wife and I we have those things around our house as well that remind us of God's faithfulness when I was growing up or when she was growing up or in the time that we've been married and we used those opportunities or those objects as quote memorial stones to talk to our daughters about God's faithfulness about how God has provided time and time again throughout our years and undoubtedly you have stories and experiences of what God has done in your life and how God has demonstrated himself faithful in your life have you taken the opportunity to share those stories with your kids have you brought that object out and maybe shown it to your kids and said hey kids you know what this is Oh dad why do you still have that why are you still hanging on to that dad get rid of that it's old it's ratty it's whatever it might be but you take that opportunity and you say let tell you why I'm still hanging on to this and you tell them the story it serves as a reminder for you and it serves as a starter a conversation starter so that you can tell your kids about how God has been faithful in your life you can use quote memorial stones to talk to your family about what God has done in your life and so I want to end with with this question do you have an object that you hang on to because it's a reminder of something God did in your life I'm not talking about something again it's not an idol it's not a talisman it's not anything of that sort it's something that you hang on to because it reminds you of God's faithfulness do you have something like that I know I do my wife and I we do do you have something like that if so let me know in the comments tell me tell me what that is what that means to you and and how it reminds you of how God has been faithful and start considering how you can use that as a conversation starter for your kids hey there are a whole lot more teachings just like this one here on the Christian bro-code YouTube channel first thing I'd love to invite you to do is tap on the button below to subscribe that way you never miss out on the new teachings also check out over there on the side of the screen those are some teachings you can access right now I know that they will help you learn and they will help you to keep growing until next time god bless bro

Channel: Equipped! With Dr. Mario Escobedo

Views: 43,574

Rating: 4.8447609 out of 5

Keywords: Israel Crossing the Jordan, The Twelve Stones, Joshua 3-4, joshua crosses the jordan river, joshua crossing the jordan river, israel crossing the jordan - the twelve stones, Crossing the Jordan river and the twelve stones, joshua crosses the jordan and the twelve stones (joshua 3-4), israel crosses the jordan, israel crosses the jordan (joshua 3-4), israel crossing the jordan - the twelve stones (joshua 3-4), crossing the jordan river, cross the jordan, cross the jordan river

Id: n_uV--S_nFk

Length: 19min 3sec (1143 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 22 2018