The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaffer: A Christian View of the Bible As Truth:2-5 by Francis A. Schaeffer

Author:Francis A. Schaeffer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Schaeffer, Classics, Christian
ISBN: 9780891073338
Published: 1982-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE Two Kinds of Memorials

What was happening as Rahab waited in that place of danger with her scarlet cord in the window? What occurred between the time the spies left her and the time Jericho fell?

Soon after the spies had returned to the east side of Jordan and reported to Joshua, Joshua sent officers among the people to prepare them for the great moment of crossing. The ark of the covenant of the Lord was to lead the procession. Because the ark represented the presence of God, there was to be between it and the people a space of 2,000 cubits (about 3,000 feet, or well over half a mile). Finally, Joshua himself told the people, “Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you” (Josh. 3:5).

God said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee” (Josh. 3:7). After this encouragement, God told him how to instruct the priests who would bear the ark. When they came to the brink of the Jordan, they were to stand still in the water. Then the people would know that God was really with them because as the priests’ feet touched the river, the river would be rolled back. Why? Because “the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan” (Josh. 3:11). Joshua promised the people that “as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand upon an heap” (Josh. 3:13). Though it was the time of flood, the water would stop.

This was, of course, a continuity with what they had experienced when they came out of Egypt, and Joshua, Caleb and those who were children then would have remembered that event well. Now they were going to see a sign which paralleled the parting of the Red Sea. Though God gave the same sign as he had with Moses, in order to establish Joshua’s authority with the people, there was obviously something much more important at work than either Moses or Joshua. There is a continuity of the power of the Lord. In both cases, the power of the Lord was there.

The First Kind of Memorial: Two Piles of Stones

When all the people had passed over the Jordan, Joshua obeyed some important instructions from God.

The LORD spoke unto Joshua, saying, Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, and command ye them, saying, Take here out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night.

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