That all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever. (Joshua 4:24)

Our Twelve Stones

The crossing of the Jordan River was a powerful statement for Israel and their new leader, Joshua, son of Nun. Like the crossing of the Red Sea, God showed His power when the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant dipped the edge of the water; the waters that came down from upstream stood still and rose in a heap. The act of dividing the Jordan River was proof of God’s promise to drive out the people of the land. God instructed Joshua to have the priests bearing the ark of the covenant stand still in the midst of the Jordan, letting the children of Israel pass over on dry land. After the people crossed the Jordan on dry land, the Lord instructed Joshua to take twelve men who would gather twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan. These men would carry the twelve stones across the Jordan to where they would lodge that night.

Joshua set up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan as a sign and memorial to the events of the Red Sea forty years earlier and the crossing of the Jordan River before the conquest of the land. Twelve stones represented the mighty hand of the Lord and brought about fear in the minds of those who saw the stones as a reminder of the Lord’s greatness. God wanted the people to have a memorial to remember the great things done through divine grace and mercy. Israel did not deliver itself from Egypt. The promised land was given to the Hebrews by the hand of God. No man could claim the power to possess the land without the will of God. The twelve stones became a memorial of the inability of man to save himself and the divine power of God to carry out His will.

A memorial is established to turn the mind back to a person or an event. Twelve stones served the purpose of turning the hearts of the people back to how God delivered them. The stones remained for a long time to remind Israel of the grace of God. Jesus became the symbol of hope and grace when He offered Himself as the lamb before the slaughter. He was the metaphorical twelve stones reminding all men they could not save themselves. Only through God’s divine will and the grace of a loving Father can man find salvation. The Bible is a grand memorial declaring all God has done for His glory. Reading the text of holy writ tells the story of God’s deliverance. The conclusion is determined that man could not save himself. It took the grace and mercy of God for man to find salvation.

The Lord’s Supper is a direct memorial to the reminder that man could not save himself, and there is nothing man can do to repay the debt owed to the Father in heaven. Like the twelve stones, the Bible and the Lord’s Supper are testimonies that all the people of the earth may know the hand of the Lord is mighty, and there is a need to fear the wrath of God. The Bible is the mind of God revealed to man to understand who God is and what purpose man has on earth. God created man to glorify Him. The Bible reveals this glory. Taking the Lord’s Supper is a proclamation that God loved the world and sent His only begotten Son. It is called a memorial because it will remind the child of God of His saving grace. Israel crossed the Red Sea and the River Jordan by the power of God. The child of God is forgiven of his sins by the power of God.

No one can argue ignorance on the final day. All the peoples of the earth can know the will of the Father. The Bible teaches the fear of God. As memorials, the Bible and the Lord’s Supper declare the message of God to give His only begotten Son as a sacrifice to save them from their sins. There is nothing more God will give the world than the revelation of His word and the revelation of the Word, Jesus Christ. These memorials testify that God is mighty. He is powerful. The Lord is full of love and grace. Embrace the twelve stones of God’s memorial contained within the pages of the Bible and the remembrance of the death of Jesus.