Joshua 4

Twice during my years of ministry, I’ve been chosen to succeed distinguished and godly leaders and carry on their work. I can assure you that it wasn’t easy to follow well-known Christians who sacrificially poured years of their lives into successful ministries. I can identify with Joshua when he stepped into Moses’ sandals and discovered how big they were!

When I succeeded D.B. Eastep as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Covington, Kentucky, I remember how his widow and his son encouraged me and assured me of their support. I recall one of the deacons, George Evans, coming to the church office to tell me he would do anything to help me, “including washing your car and polishing your shoes.” I never asked George to do either of those things, but his words expressed the encouraging attitude of all the church staff and leaders. I felt like a raw recruit taking the place of a seasoned veteran, and I needed all the help I could get!

Nearly a quarter of a century later when I succeeded Theodore Epp at Back to the Bible, I had a similar experience. The board and headquarters staff, the leaders in the overseas offices, the radio listeners, as well as many Christian leaders from all over the world, assured me of their prayer support and availability to help. When you feel like a midget taking the place of a giant, you appreciate all the encouragement God sends your way.

What a new leader needs is not advice but encouragement. “To encourage” literally means “to put heart into.” General Andrew Jackson said “one man with courage makes a majority,” and he was right. As God’s people today face the challenges that God gives us, we would do well to learn from the threefold encouragement found in this chapter.

We’ve just examined the faith of an individual, Rahab, and now the focus in the book of Joshua moves to the faith of an entire nation. As you study, keep in mind that this book deals with much more than ancient history—what God did centuries ago for the Jews. It’s about your life and the life of the church today—what God wants to do here and now for those who trust Him. The book of Joshua is about the victory of faith and the glory that comes to God when His people trust and obey. British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli said, “The world was never conquered by intrigue; it was conquered by faith.”

In the Christian life you’re either an overcomer or you’re overcome, a victor or a victim. After all, God didn’t save us to make statues out of us and put us on exhibition. He saved us to make soldiers out of us and move us forward by faith to claim our rich inheritance in Jesus Christ. Moses said it perfectly: “He brought us out … that he might bring us in” (Deut. 6:23). Too many of God’s people have the mistaken idea that salvation—being delivered from the bondage of Egypt—is all that’s involved in the Christian life, but salvation is only the beginning. Both in our personal spiritual growth and in our service for the Lord, “there remains very much land yet to be possessed” (Josh. 13: nkjv). The theme of the book of Joshua is the theme of the book of Hebrews: “Let us go on” (Heb. 6:1), and the only way to go on is by faith.

Unbelief says, “Let’s go back to where it’s safe,” but faith says, “Let’s go forward to where God is working” (see Num. 14:1–4). Forty years before, Joshua and Caleb had assured the Jews, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” That’s faith! But the people said, “We are not able!” That’s unbelief, and it cost the nation forty years of discipline in the wilderness (see Num. 13:26–33). “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—your faith” (1 John 5: nkjv).

One of the joys of my Christian life has been the study of Christian biography, the lives of the men and women whom God has used—and is using—to challenge the church and change the world. The Christians I’ve read about were all different in their backgrounds, their training, their personalities, and their ways of serving God; but they had one thing in common: They all believed God’s promises and did what He told them to do. They were men and women of faith, and God honored them because they believed His Word.

God hasn’t changed, and the principle of faith hasn’t changed. What seems to have changed is the attitude of God’s people: We no longer believe God and act by faith in His promises. His promises never fail (Josh. 21:45; 23:14; 1 Kings 8:56), but we can fail to live by the grace of God and not enter into all that He has promised for us (Heb. 3:7–19; 12:15). God has “brought us out that He might bring us in,” but too often we fail to “enter in because of unbelief” (Heb. 3:19).

In Joshua 3 and 4, God illustrates for us three essentials for moving ahead by faith and claiming all that He has for us: the Word of faith, the walk of faith, and the witness of faith.

The Lord was in control of all the activities at the Jordan River that day. He told the priests when to enter the river and when to leave and go to the other side. He told the water when to roll back and when to return. Both the water and the people obeyed Him, and everything worked out as God planned. It was a day that glorified the Lord and magnified His servant Joshua (v. 14).

Two heaps of stones were set up as memorials of Israel’s crossing of the Jordan River: twelve stones at Gilgal (vv. 1–8, 10–24), and twelve stones in the midst of the river (v. 9). They were witnesses that God honors faith and works on behalf of those who trust Him.

The stones placed at Gilgal were carried over by twelve previously selected men, one from each tribe (3:12). When these men reached the midst of the river, they each picked up a large stone and carried it about eight miles to Gilgal where the nation camped for the night. Gilgal was about two miles from Jericho and excluding the Transjordan was the first territory in Canaan claimed by Israel for their inheritance. In later years Gilgal became an important center for the nation Israel crowned their first king at Gilgal (1 Sam. 11); there David was welcomed back after Absalom’s rebellion was subdued (2 Sam. 19); and Samuel thought Gilgal important enough to include it in his “ministry circuit” (1 Sam. 7:16). There was a “school of the prophets” at Gilgal in the days of Elijah and Elisha (2 Kings 2:1–2; 4:38). Gilgal was important to Joshua because it became his camp and center of operations (Josh. 9:6; 10:6, 15, 43; 14:6).

This heap of twelve stones was a reminder of what God did for His people. The Jews were great believers in teaching the next generation about Jehovah and His special relationship to the people of Israel (4:6, 21; Ex. 12:26; 13:14; Deut. 6:20; see Ps. 34:11–16; 71:17–18; 78:1–7; 79:13; 89:1; 102:18). To an unbeliever, the heap of twelve stones was simply another stone pile, but to a believing Israelite, it was a constant reminder that Jehovah was his or her God, working His wonders on behalf of His people.

But also note that Joshua put an obligation on the Jews to fear the Lord and bear witness of Him to the whole world (Josh. 4:24). The God who can open the river is the God everybody ought to fear, love, and obey! Israel needed to tell the other nations about Him and invite them to trust Him too. The God of Israel cares for His people, keeps His promises, goes before them in victory, and never fails. What a witness to give to the world!

It’s unfortunate that this memorial at Gilgal gradually lost its spiritual meaning and instead became a shrine where the Jews sinned against God by worshipping there. The prophet Hosea condemned the people for worshipping at Gilgal instead of at Jerusalem (Hos. 4:15; 9:15; 12:11), and Amos echoed his warnings (Amos 4:4; 5:5). Unless we teach the next generation the truth about the Lord, they will turn away and start following the world.

Joshua set up the monument in the midst of the river (v. 9); and to the Jews, it must have seemed a strange thing for their leader to do. After all, who but God could see twelve stones heaped together in a riverbed? We aren’t told that God commanded Joshua to set up this second monument, but it’s likely that He did. At least, He didn’t reproach him for doing it.

The monument at Gilgal reminded the Jews that God had opened the Jordan River and brought them safely across into the Promised Land. They had made a break with the past and were never to think of going back. The monument in the depths of the river reminded them that their old life was buried and they were now to “walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:1–4). (When we study Josh. 5, we will see the spiritual significance for the Christian today of the establishing of this monument and the circumcising of the new generation.)

Meanwhile, whenever the Jewish children asked about the twelve stones at Gilgal, the parents would explain the miracle of the crossing of the river. Then they would add, “But there’s another monument in the middle of the river where the priests stood with the ark. You can’t see it, but it’s there. It reminds us that our old life has been buried, and we must live a new life in obedience to the Lord.” The children would have to accept this fact by faith, and if they did, it could make a great difference in the way they related to God and to His will for their lives.

These two heaps of stones were the first of several stone monuments that the Jews put up in the land. In obedience to Moses’ instructions, they also set up the two “stones of blessing and cursing” at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim (Deut. 27:1–8; Josh. 8:30–35). They raised a heap of stones over Achan and his household (7:25–26), and at the close of his life, Joshua set up a “witness stone” at Shechem (24:24–28; Judg. 9:6). The two and a half tribes that lived east of the Jordan set up a “great altar” to remind their children that they were a part of the nation of Israel, even though the river separated them from the other tribes (Josh. 22:10ff.).

There is nothing wrong with memorials, provided they don’t become religious idols that turn our hearts from God, and provided they don’t so link us to the past that we fail to serve God in the present. Glorifying the past is a good way to petrify the present and rob the church of power. The next generations need reminders of what God has done in history, but these reminders must also strengthen their faith and draw them closer to the Lord.

God brings us out that He might bring us in (Deut. 6:23), and He brings us in that we might overcome and claim our inheritance in Jesus Christ. Because God’s people are identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6; Gal. 2:20), they have “overcoming power,” and the world (6:14), the flesh (5:24), or the devil (John 12:31) need not defeat them. In Jesus Christ, we are overcomers (1 John 5:3).

If you want to claim your spiritual inheritance in Christ, believe the Word of faith and get your feet wet! Step out in a walk of faith, and God will open the way for you. Surrender yourself to the Lord and die to the old life (Rom. 6), and He will bring you into the land and give you “days of heaven upon the earth” (Deut. 11:21).

The Israelites were now in the land, but they were not yet ready to confront the enemy. There was still some spiritual preparation necessary for the people and for Joshua.