This is the Memorial Day weekend and it is a special time for reflection and consideration for those that paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. This Memorial Day weekend we pause as a nation to honor and remember the brave service members who gave their lives in defense of our country. What we have witnessed on our college campuses lately causes one to wonder if this generation will value the important Memorial remembrance. It is essential that we pay respect to these memorials and that we give credence to Memorial Day. Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:3

 Memorial landmarks and memorial days are not foreign to the Bible in fact we can assume that our forefather carry on this Judaea Christian ethic. However in these days of controversy many memorials are being removed.

Theodore Roosevelt Statue – American Museum of Natural History, New York City

 Removed: January 2022

 Christopher Columbus Statues – Nationwide (Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, etc.)

 Removed: Primarily in 2020–2021

Francis Scott Key Monument – San Francisco, California

 Removed: Toppled by protesters in June 2020

We find a significant national memorial in the book of Joshua directed by God Himself. Today I want to preach to you “What Mean These Stones”. We all need memorials in our lives for they raise awareness to the cost of freedom and sacrifices made by other. The Communion is the greatest memorial in the church… These memorials speak to us that we …

I Preserves the Promises of God.

1. God miraculously parted the waters of the Jordan River so the Israelites could pass over this conduit and continue their conquest. God knew that at times the Israelites would face intimidating enemies and would need a reminder that He was powerful enough to protect them. The Israelites might be tempted to think they made a mistake entering Canaan. For this reason God instructed them to build a monument on the banks of the Jordan River. Whenever they returned to this spot, they would see the monument and be reminded of God’s awesome power. The Jordan is the last river to be crossed before the Promised Land.

2. This was the last great barrier. It was a big accomplishment. In the ancient near east, rivers were dangerous obstacles. There is no Old Testament word for “bridge” – a river has to be swum, negotiated or else crossed miraculously. In fact, bridges on the whole were very rare until Roman times… There were just a few, scattered here and there in the most powerful of the nations around, at key cities such as Babylon or on key trade routes. 

This marker designed by God himself would give them confidence to meet the new challenges they faced. Remember, the water stopped flowing just as the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant stepped into the water at the river’s edge. Then they stood in the middle of the river until the people had crossed safely into the Promised Land. We all need memorials in our lives for they…

II Cause Us to Remember

1. After setting up the memorial stones at their camp, the selected men also set up twelve stones in the middle of the river where the priests stood (4:9). When times were discouraging and even scary, the Israelites could see the memorial stones and remember the power and faithfulness of God. The memorials also imply that in the days ahead such miracles will be rare. This is important for us to remember today. The purpose for miracles has always been to authenticate God’s messengers or leaders during very critical times for His people.

2. Forty-thousand armed fighting men from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh led the Israelites across the Jordan as they followed the ark (Josh. 4:12-13). This was only a small part of the fighting men in these two and a half tribes. When the census was taken in the book of Numbers, there were more than 136,000 fighting men over the age of twenty in these tribes (Num. 26:7, 18 & 34). These stones spoke of their sacrifice and the men who die to possess the promise land. We all need these memorials in our lives for the …

III Promotes Instruction to Future Generations 

1. In Joshua 4:6-7 Joshua tells them, “In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What mean ye by these stones?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. That God was the source of your resources, of your victory of your success. Parents you are reminded of the responsibility for the communication of God’s Word and His calling on their children, generation to generation. Parents dare not and cannot relinquish this to others. God charges parents with this privilege and responsibility. Deut. 6:4-6

2. Christians are to be living stones of a holy temple, living memorials of the power of God. But we too face the threat of forgetting the Lord by forgetting our pilgrim character by a preoccupation with the world. – I Peter 2:11

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

Jesus knew the importance of memorials for our faith. By way of application, some of the things we are called to do regularly are forms of memorials. Weekly assembling ourselves together and taking the Lord’s Supper specifically are aimed at remembering Christ sacrifice just as were the various Jewish feasts and special days like the Passover.

3. These Memorials were a testimony to other nations (4:24a). Here God was again reminding Israel of her purpose as a nation of priests. America received greatness because she trusted the one true and living God. Memorials then cause us to remember the price paid for freedom.

The vast majority of the Founders and Framers of early America were unquestionably aligned with the Christian worldview, the Judeo/Christian ethnic. They went on record stating quite forcibly that America’s political prosperity, popular government, and even human happiness are dependent on the moral foundation of the Christian religion. After serving two terms as president of the United States, George Washington articulated in his farewell address to the nation the essential of morality to national survival. I quote just a few statements:

‘Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens”

There has been a revisionist history of our nation, one that has eliminate many of the artifact and landmarks that speak of a nation grounded on this Judeo – Christian ethic. Catherine Millard book speaking to the usurping of such things for the last 100 years…

Therefore, the church must intercede for America unlike any other period in our history. The consequences of failing to intercede now are unthinkable. We are God’s soldiers. Christians we are fighting an invisible war. Paul says in Ephesians that we battle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

 The Devil hates God and since we are children of God, he hates us. Jesus says he comes only to steal, kill and to destroy. He would desire to destroy any nation that exalts God and that includes the U.S.A.

Proverbs 14:[34] Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. — gospel