Sacramental Stones Text: Joshua 4:1-7
Introduction: The War on Memory
We live in an age of deliberate amnesia. Our culture is not just forgetful; it is actively at war with its own memory. Statues are torn down, histories are rewritten, and traditions are mocked as the relics of a less enlightened time. The goal of our secularist high priests is to sever us from our past, to create a generation of historical orphans who believe that wisdom began with them. A people without a memory is a people without an identity, and a people without an identity can be shaped into anything their new masters desire.
This is not a political problem at its root. It is a profound spiritual rebellion. To forget what has been done is to forget who you are and to whom you belong. And so it should be no surprise that when God performs one of the most spectacular miracles in Israel's history, His very first command is not to charge into battle, not to throw a massive party, but to stop and remember. Before they take one step further into the Promised Land, they must first build a memorial. God is in the business of embedding His mighty acts into the physical world, into stone and water and bread and wine, so that they cannot be easily forgotten. He commands us to build a world that testifies, a culture that remembers.
The crossing of the Jordan is the bookend to the crossing of the Red Sea. That first generation, delivered from Egypt, perished in the wilderness because of their unbelief. They forgot the Lord's salvation. Now, a new generation stands on the threshold of their inheritance. God parts the waters for them just as He did for their fathers, and this time, He commands them to build a permanent, physical record of the event. This is not just about stacking rocks. This is about building a future on the foundation of a remembered past. It is about the grammar of remembrance.
The Text
Now it happened when all the nation had completed crossing the Jordan, that Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying, "Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, and command them, saying, ‘Carry for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm, and carry them over with you and lay them down in the lodging place where you will lodge tonight.’" So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe; and Joshua said to them, "Cross again before the ark of Yahweh your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you carry a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, in order that this would be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.
(Joshua 4:1-7 LSB)
Stones from the Place of Power (vv. 1-3)
We begin with God's specific command to Joshua.
"Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, and command them, saying, ‘Carry for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm...’" (Joshua 4:2-3)
The first thing to notice is the location from which the stones are to be taken. They are not to be gathered from the riverbank. They must come from the very middle of the Jordan, from the precise spot where the priests' feet stood firm on dry ground. This is critical. The priests were carrying the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God's manifest presence and His covenant law. It was the presence of the Ark that held back the raging floodwaters. That spot in the riverbed was the epicenter of the miracle. It was the place where God's authority confronted the chaos of the fallen world and conquered it.
These stones, therefore, are not just stones. They are artifacts of salvation. They are chunks of riverbed that have been touched by the power of God. This is the sacramental principle. God does not leave His grace as a free-floating, abstract idea. He attaches it to physical things. He anchors His promises in the created order. He gives us water in baptism, and bread and wine in communion. He does this because we are not disembodied spirits. We are creatures of flesh and bone, and God condescends to meet us where we are. He gives us tangible reminders of His intangible grace. These stones were a physical testimony to an historical event. Our faith is not a myth or a philosophy; it is grounded in the historical fact of what God has done in space and time.
A United Testimony (vv. 4-5)
Next, Joshua executes the command, gathering the representatives.
"So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe; and Joshua said to them, “Cross again before the ark of Yahweh your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you carry a stone on his shoulder..." (Joshua 4:4-5)
The memorial is a corporate act. It is not Joshua's personal project. Twelve men, one from each tribe, are chosen. This signifies that the miracle and the memory belong to all of Israel. Every tribe has a stake in this story. They crossed over together, and they will remember together. This is a picture of the Church. We are one body, made up of people from every tribe and tongue and nation. The testimony to the work of Christ is not a private affair; it is the shared confession of the entire covenant community.
Notice also the labor involved. Each man must "carry a stone on his shoulder." These were likely large stones, heavy and awkward. Remembrance is work. Building a culture of faithfulness is hard labor. It requires effort to go back to the place of God's deliverance, hoist the memory of it onto your shoulders, and carry it into the present for the sake of the future. It is far easier to just drift along with the current of the age. But God calls us to the strenuous work of building memorials, of establishing traditions, of catechizing our children. It is a heavy responsibility, but it is a glorious one.
A Catechism in Stone (vv. 6-7)
Here we find the central purpose of the entire exercise.
"...in order that this would be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh...’" (Joshua 4:6-7)
The stones are designed to be a "sign." They are a question-provoking object. God is establishing a system of parental catechesis. He is building a trigger for the gospel story into the very landscape. The pile of stones is meant to be odd, out of place, demanding an explanation. And when the children inevitably ask the question, "What do these stones mean?" the fathers are commanded to be ready with the answer.
This is God's ordained pattern for education. We are not simply to download data into our children's heads. We are to build a world for them that is so saturated with the signs of God's faithfulness that they cannot help but be curious. Our homes, our weekly rhythms, our Sabbath observance, our family worship, these are our memorial stones. They ought to be distinct enough from the world that they make our children ask, "Why are we different? What does this mean?"
And the answer is always a story. It is the story of redemption. "The waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant." The Jordan, at flood stage, is a picture of death and judgment. The Ark, containing the law, is a picture of the presence and authority of God in Christ. When the presence of God entered the waters of judgment, the waters were defeated. This is a magnificent type of the cross. Jesus Christ, the true Ark, entered the floodwaters of God's wrath on our behalf. He went down into death, and by doing so, He cut off its power, creating a path of dry land for us to pass from the wilderness of sin into the promised land of eternal life. The crossing of the Jordan is a baptism. It is a picture of our union with Christ in His death and resurrection.
The final phrase is key:
"So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever." (Joshua 4:7)
This is not a temporary object lesson. It is a permanent institution of remembrance. The great acts of God are not meant to be forgotten. They are to be the bedrock of our identity, the stories we tell our children, and their children after them, forever. Our covenant identity is bound up in what God has done.
Conclusion: Heave Your Ebenezers
So what does this mean for us? We are not commanded to pile up stones from the local creek. But we are commanded to remember, and we have been given our own memorial stones by Christ Himself. They are called sacraments.
Baptism is our Jordan crossing. It is the sign that marks us out as those who have passed through the waters of judgment with Christ and have been brought safely into His kingdom. When your children ask why we put water on a baby's head, you get to tell them this story. You get to tell them that God conquers the power of death and brings His people into the promised land.
The Lord's Supper is our ongoing memorial. It is a sign that reminds us, week in and week out, of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus, broken and shed for us. It provokes the question, "Why this bread? Why this wine?" And the answer is the gospel story. It is the story of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Our task, as parents and as a church, is to heave these Ebenezers into the middle of our lives. We must build our homes and our churches in such a way that they are filled with signs and memorials of God's faithfulness. We must be ready, when our children ask, to tell them the story of what these things mean. We are in a war against the forces of amnesia. The world wants our children to forget. God commands us to remember. So let us go to the work. Let us hoist the great deeds of our God onto our shoulders and build memorials that will declare His glory to a thousand generations.