Year 7, Day 189: Joshua 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Twelve stones to build an altar from God, taken from the river Jordan.  These stones serve as a permanent reminder to the people that the Lord allowed them to cross over on dry ground.  These stones remind the Hebrew people that God is with them.  For generations – as long as God’s Word was told and now is read – people hear the witness of God’s work.

This is another great lesson for us to learn.  Why does God desire to have the altar built?  God knows the short attention span of human beings.  We see something happen, and we are all abuzz about it for a few hours, maybe even days.  A week later, and life is back to normal.  A month later and the fire that once blazed within us now smolders.  A year or two goes by and we remember having a fire within, but we cannot remember what it felt like.  Eventually we even forget the details of what once was a great moment in life.  As experience comes in, the past fades back in time and memory.  God knows this.  We need to have reminders to help us remember what God has done for us.

In another direction of thought, do you hear how Joshua connects the crossing of the Red Sea with the crossing of the Jordan?  When God led them out of Egypt, they passed through the waters and went from being slaves to freedom.  As God is leading them into the Jordan, they pass again through waters and their identity once more changes.  Now, they are going from wanderers to people with a home.  Granted, there is still more work to do – there always is.

What this signifies is that we see water being a symbol of a change in identity.  When we pass through the water, something changes in us.  It isn’t so much our nature that changes, but our identity changes.  The Hebrew people are still Hebrew people.  But their identity changes from slave to wanderer to people with a home. 

The same thing is true with us in Christianity.  When we pass through the water of baptism, our nature doesn’t change.  We are still sinful people capable of sin.  But when we pass through the water, our identity changes.  We go from being enemies with God to being claimed by God.  Starting with the very first steps of the Hebrew people in the fulfillment of God’s plan, we see that water plays an important role in our identity.

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