Joshua 4:15-24
Then the LORD said to Joshua, 16 "Command the priests carrying the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan."
So Joshua commanded the priests, "Come up out of the Jordan."
And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.
On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, "In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God."
In the past, people set up memorials to remind themselves of certain events and certain incidents of the past. This is not unfamiliar to those who grow up reading a lot of fairy tales from all over the place. In China, there was this rock that talks of a woman who became a stone (talk about stoning there) at a cliff while waiting for her husband to return. This was meant to remind people of faithfulness. In the USA, the statue of liberty was there (though a gift from France) to remind the people (if they still remember) the values that the Founding Fathers fought for. In Singapore, of course you have the 'chopsticks', the statue of Raffles and all sort of funny things to remind us of our heritage.
Likewise, God wants to constantly remind us of His power. He wants to remind the whole world of what He is able to do. In the NT time, He left behind the empty tomb which most people would know and have access to at that time. In Joshua's time, there was the twelve stones. How about in our time? I was just thinking as I was typing this post, is our church serving as this tangible reminder of God's goodness and power? What do I mean by this?
I am currently musing, people normally see church as a building that stands somewhere with a cross on top. Fits the pattern of church in most part of Singapore. But does it remind them of God, other than for the people who serves in these church? Or even for the people who worship in these congregation, does it? If we think about the church, the church is the bride of Jesus, and the church is supposed to be Jesus' representative and ambassador in this world. The congregation of people in the church is supposed to be the tangible proof of God's reality. Each life changed is one miracle. This I think I have talked about in a previous post. But I mean, do our lives show these transformation in our marketplace, in our school, in our other sphere of influence? I see ourselves as the stones but the stones are only effective as the reminders if they were seen and being told about. I just wonder how shiok it would be if people are constantly awed by the transformation that God has in us and are curious to find out because of this.
I would certainly want to see testimonies on God in our lives flying all over the places. People ought to recognise these testimonies as blessings from God. And indeed, we need to tell people about them. We need to claim His past, present and future blessings in our lives so that we can tell people about all these wonderful things that He has done for us. We need to pray that God will continue to bless our lives and make sense of what is happeneing in our lives so that people will know what He is doing in our lives. Our lives need to serve as a testimony for people to witness. That's why Jesus told us to be His witness.
So Joshua commanded the priests, "Come up out of the Jordan."
And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.
On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, "In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God."
In the past, people set up memorials to remind themselves of certain events and certain incidents of the past. This is not unfamiliar to those who grow up reading a lot of fairy tales from all over the place. In China, there was this rock that talks of a woman who became a stone (talk about stoning there) at a cliff while waiting for her husband to return. This was meant to remind people of faithfulness. In the USA, the statue of liberty was there (though a gift from France) to remind the people (if they still remember) the values that the Founding Fathers fought for. In Singapore, of course you have the 'chopsticks', the statue of Raffles and all sort of funny things to remind us of our heritage.
Likewise, God wants to constantly remind us of His power. He wants to remind the whole world of what He is able to do. In the NT time, He left behind the empty tomb which most people would know and have access to at that time. In Joshua's time, there was the twelve stones. How about in our time? I was just thinking as I was typing this post, is our church serving as this tangible reminder of God's goodness and power? What do I mean by this?
I am currently musing, people normally see church as a building that stands somewhere with a cross on top. Fits the pattern of church in most part of Singapore. But does it remind them of God, other than for the people who serves in these church? Or even for the people who worship in these congregation, does it? If we think about the church, the church is the bride of Jesus, and the church is supposed to be Jesus' representative and ambassador in this world. The congregation of people in the church is supposed to be the tangible proof of God's reality. Each life changed is one miracle. This I think I have talked about in a previous post. But I mean, do our lives show these transformation in our marketplace, in our school, in our other sphere of influence? I see ourselves as the stones but the stones are only effective as the reminders if they were seen and being told about. I just wonder how shiok it would be if people are constantly awed by the transformation that God has in us and are curious to find out because of this.
I would certainly want to see testimonies on God in our lives flying all over the places. People ought to recognise these testimonies as blessings from God. And indeed, we need to tell people about them. We need to claim His past, present and future blessings in our lives so that we can tell people about all these wonderful things that He has done for us. We need to pray that God will continue to bless our lives and make sense of what is happeneing in our lives so that people will know what He is doing in our lives. Our lives need to serve as a testimony for people to witness. That's why Jesus told us to be His witness.
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