Impact - Day 23

Day 23 – Under the Water

Joshua 4:9  Joshua also set up another pile of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were standing. And they are there to this day.

By the end of the Jordan crossing, two altars had been erected. God requested the first. So, twelve men retrieved large stones from the river to build this monument. The importance of this altar is recorded in Joshua 4:21-24.

Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’  For the LORD your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea when he dried it up until we had all crossed over. He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the LORD’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the LORD your God forever.”

Much less is known about the second altar. As mentioned in verse 9, we don’t know if God commanded its construction or if anyone other than Joshua was involved. Honestly, it seems like a strange idea. The first altar will be seen, talked about, and valuable in telling the story of God. The second will soon be buried as the waters of the Jordan return to their flooded banks. Why worry about this hidden memorial?

An interesting historical detail provides a clue to the significance of the second altar. John, the Gospel writer, describes John the Baptist’s early work as occurring in “Bethany beyond the Jordan” (John 1:28). Some manuscripts use the name Bethabara, which means “the place of crossing.” This means Jesus was baptized right where the Israelites crossed the Jordan, near Joshua’s underwater altar.

Whether Joshua understood the meaning or not, the connection is powerful. He chose to leave something behind, to bury his past under the same waters where Jesus (the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Joshua) would be baptized as a symbol of His death and resurrection. This odd monument is an invisible reminder that God made a way for us to pass through the murky waters of our lives, leave the guilt, sin, and shame behind, and claim the life Jesus lived on our behalf.

1. What is your favorite way to store memories to share with others (photo albums, videos, keepsakes, etc.)?
2. Have you ever discovered something buried in the ground? What was it?
3. What would you like to bury in the depths of the sea where no one could retrieve it (Micah 7:9)? Why don’t you give that to Jesus to care for you?