Joshua 4 -- We will stand in awe of Jesus

1 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, 3 and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.” 4 So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” 8 So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua;and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. 9 Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.
We have a very interesting memorial here. There are twelve stones on one side of the Jordan and twelve stones on the other side representing the 12 tribes of Israel and their crossing of the Jordan. At the beginning of this age the Israelites were saved from this evil age and were brought out into the wilderness. However, they still had the slave mentality and lacked faith in the Lord. So all those who were adults in Egypt died in the wilderness due to a lack of faith, except for Joshua and Caleb. These were all those who had grown up and spent their whole lives worshipping the Lord in the wilderness. For their entire lives they had the freedom to worship God as He commanded them in the wilderness. But now they are entering a new territory. This territory belongs to seven tribes that are already there, but they have been formed into an army of these twelve tribes. So we need to look a little closer at these twelve tribes because after 40 years they had become stones and a memorial was there. But they also experienced becoming river crossers, Hebrews, and there is another memorial of twelve stones that these ones who had been transformed in the wilderness had also come up out of the death waters.

Genesis 49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. 2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. 3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: 4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

Our political leaders are those who “were first”, they are generally taller, and in one way or another have “excellency of power” in the beginning. But they are unstable as water, slippery, easily corrupted. The founding fathers knew this and created a system of checks and balances to try and compensate for this failing.

5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. 6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self will they digged down a wall. 7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

After the kings and rulers we have had Generals and military leaders (Simeon) and also bureaucrats (Levi). They are both instruments of the government. They are famous for their secrets, the CIA, NSA, Secret Service, and all sorts of “classified documents”.

8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. 9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? 10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. 11Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: 12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

In the US the true power rests with the law, with the constitution. Judah represents your lawyers, judges and the legal system.

13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.

This is where finance and insurance industries were born and live. There is a reason why Wall Street and the Insurance industry is centered in port cities like NY and London.

14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: 15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

The service industry is a major component of the economy.

16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. 18 I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.

The media industry is a judge of the people. Talk shows, late night comics, even news commentators.

19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

This is the manufacturing industry. After a war they move in and rebuild the industry, during the war they are “overcome” with the war effort to build up the armaments.

20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

This is the food industry.

21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

These are your artists and athletes. Michael Jordan was a “hind let loose”.

22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: 23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: 24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel) 25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: 26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

Joseph signifies your scientists from which we get blessings from all of creation, whether astronomy, or oceanography, biology, genetics, etc. The blessings we get from modern science always exceeds that of our fathers. It is also true that scientists are always sorely grieved whether it is Galileo telling us that the Earth is not the center of the universe, or someone else telling us about climate change. But their bow which are the laws of the universe, they are strong.

27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

Benjamin represent engineers. They are closely related to scientists and if you remember Benjamin got twice the mess from Joseph that the others did. Engineers are the first to profit from scientific discoveries. They are essential in designing our weapons of war for devouring the prey, and they are essential for dividing the spoil (making improvements as they have in the automobile that cause you to continue to divide the spoil, selling more and more).

One last point, Joseph (scientists) got the double portion of the inheritance since he was the firstborn, so Israel blessed his two sons: Manassah and Ephraim. However, Israel made the younger greater than the elder. The scientific revolution began in Greece but it had two sons, one in Germany and then at the time of WWII the German scientists fled to the US and from that time forward the US has been the leader in science. German scientists are like the older brother to American scientists.

What these two memorials show us is God has transformed those rescued from slavery in Egypt into a new nation. We have many members, each has their own positive attributes as well pitfalls to beware. Think about the church, we have all kinds in the church. We have every tribe in the church. During the age of grace we existed in a wilderness. However, at the end of the age we cross the river into a beautiful land where we will bring in the Kingdom of the heavens and be a city on a hill where all the nations will be able to walk in our light.