You Can’t Go Back — Joshua 4 (Session 6)

In this verse-by-verse study of Joshua 4, Reasoning Through the Bible looks at the memorial stones Israel set up after crossing the Jordan River. God commanded one man from each tribe to take a stone from the riverbed so future generations would ask what happened there and be told how the Lord brought His people into the land on dry ground. This chapter is about remembering what God has done and passing that testimony on. 

This session explores why God wanted a visible memorial, why teaching children mattered so much in Israel, and how believers today can intentionally preserve and pass on their Christian testimony. The discussion also highlights the priests standing firm in the Jordan, the importance of staying at the task God gives, and the repeated emphasis on Israel having passed over into the land. 

A major theme in this episode is that once Israel crossed over, the waters returned. The way back was closed. That becomes a vivid spiritual picture: when God brings a person into His salvation, there is no true going back to the old life. Believers may stumble, but they cannot be at home in the old wilderness the same way anymore. 

Topics in this episode include:

•  Joshua 4 study 
•  memorial stones 
•  teaching children about God 
•  Christian testimony for future generations 
•  priests standing firm 
•  passed over the Jordan 
•  no turning back 
•  salvation symbolism in Joshua 
•  remembering God’s faithfulness 

Reasoning Through the Bible is a verse-by-verse Bible teaching ministry committed to careful exposition, biblical context, and faithful application.

Questions discussed in this session:  

• Should we remind our children about what God has done for us? 
• What if we want to let our children make up their own mind about God?
• If God has us in a ministry, when should I stay and when should I go? 
• For the Christian, how are things different after we are saved? 
• Can we trust God to do what He promises?  

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:18

Hello

Welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible

Speaker 1 0:19

everyone . We'd like to welcome you back to Reasoning Through the Bible . Last time we finished up chapter 3 of Joshua and we're going through our study of Joshua Today . We're going to continue in chapter four . Glenn , you want to go ahead and start us off ?

Speaker 2 0:33

If you remember , if you've been with us , then Joshua is leading the people of Israel from the wilderness area where they were in the wilderness of disbelief . They wandered for 40 years , and he's leading them across the Jordan River into the Promised Land . And at the end of chapter 3 , the priest had carried the Ark of the Covenant , and we said that the Ark was a box that was covered in gold and inside of it one of the main things in it was the tablets of stone that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai that had the Ten Commandments in it . The priests carry this ark into the flooded Jordan River and the river dries up and the people of Israel walk across on dry land . And so at the beginning of chapter 4 , the priests are still standing in the middle of the dried-up river holding the ark , and that's where we pick up the story . I'll go ahead and read this is Joshua , chapter 4 , starting at verse 1 . Now , when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan , the Lord spoke to Joshua saying Take for yourselves 12 men from the people , one man from each tribe , and command them saying Take up for yourselves 12 stones from here , out of the middle of the Jordan , from the place where the priest's feet are standing firm , and carry them over with you and lay them down in the lodging place where you will lodge tonight . So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel , one man from each tribe . And Joshua said to them Cross again to the ark of the Lord , your God , into the middle of the Jordan .

Speaker 2 2:18

1 John , chapter 1 , verse 1 . Do these stones mean to you ? Then you shall say to them because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord . When Israel crossed the Jordan , the waters of the Jordan were cut off . So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever . Thus the sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded and took up 12 stones from among the middle of the Jordan , just as the Lord spoke to Joshua , according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel . That's where we explain what

The Memorial Stones of the Jordan

Speaker 2 3:06

happens with these stones . Really obvious . There , god chose 12 men , one from each tribe , and they get a large stone and they carry it a day's walk to the place where they were camping . And so , in verses 6 and 7 , what was the purpose of those stones ? It says very clearly .

Speaker 1 3:24

It was to be a memorial , so that when their children came and they would say , daddy , why are those stones there in the middle of the stream ? It's so that dad or mother could tell them . This is what happened whenever we came into the land that God gave us to come into , the water stopped . We crossed , or our ancestors crossed on dry land , and God provided a way for us to come into the land .

Speaker 2 3:51

So there's stones all over that land . What's the difference between what a stone looks like that's been in the middle of a river and the stones that are up on the land ? What would they look like ?

Speaker 1 4:02

They've been smoothed over like a river rock what we would call river rock today . They've been smoothed over like river rock what we would call river rock today . They've been smoothed over rather than having jagged edges .

Speaker 2 4:10

So if somebody took 12 large stones and carried them a day's walk from the river , it would be obvious what are river stones doing all the way up here ? And they would ask . He tells them the purpose of them is what you just said , and Joshua repeats it again down later in the chapter in verses 21 to 24 . He says a second time these are for a memorial for our children . So this brings us to a major teaching point .

Speaker 2 4:37

Teaching children was a recurring theme in God's commands . If you remember the Passover , one of the things in the Passover was if the child were to ask why do we do this ? And the older ones would answer them . And the Jewish people over time have a Passover ceremony and , steve , I don't know if you're familiar with it , but there's a point in the Passover ceremony where the youngest member of the family asked the oldest member questions and the older one would remind them this is when God brought us out of Egypt . So every year this Passover ceremony , part of it is to pass along to the next generation these things . Passing on to children was a very important thing .

Speaker 1 5:23

Yeah , I think in what it is , it's oral tradition . What we're reading are things that were recorded and put down While they were in Egypt . They didn't have this recorded . This was recorded not this Joshua wasn't , but the first five books Moses recorded that Creation , genesis and the Exodus story . That all came after they came out of Egypt . Well , while they were in Egypt they had oral tradition before things that happened with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob as far as coming into the land , and Joseph . Those were all orally handed down to them and that's how they kept together as a nation themselves .

Speaker 2 6:05

So while we have these things that are written oral , tradition of what you just described was very much a part of the nation of Israel . So would you say that's part of God's heart , is teaching our children about God and godly things ?

Speaker 1 6:20

Absolutely ,

Teaching Children God's Testimony

Speaker 1 6:21

and if we don't teach our children about it , then other people are going to teach them .

Speaker 2 6:26

There's a verse in Deuteronomy , chapter six , that says this and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart , you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way , and when you lie down and when you rise up . That's in Deuteronomy , chapter 6 . Passing on godly teachings and passing on to our children is a major theme . This is a place in Joshua , here , where it commands set up this memorial . It'll be there for generations to come and it'll be a reminder of what God has done for us . So what did we say again ? The symbolic meaning of crossing the Jordan was going from a wilderness of unbelief into the promised land .

Speaker 1 7:13

Going from this world into our spiritual world .

Speaker 2 7:18

Going from dead works of the law the law of Moses was dead into the promised land . Law of Moses was dead into the promised land , land of faith and great blessings . So for us today , is it important for those of us that are Christian parents , to tell our children what great things God has done for us . Yes , how would be a way for modern Christians to do that ? What would be a way for modern parents to be able to set up a reminder so that future generations would know ? Because I know I've done some research into some of my ancestors and some of them , all you really know is the birth date and the death date and the whole life is this dash in between . How can we , as Christians , do something where we could reach down , through the next generation and the generations after that , to where they'll remember about us in our Christian walk and our Christian testimony ?

Speaker 1 8:12

Well , I think we could take a lesson from what you mentioned as far as the Passover , but make some sort of an activity around the story , so that it's not just the story that they're remembering but the activity helps make them remember in regards to whatever story it might have been that impacted your life . And I think as well relaying major things that impacted your life that you know and the reason how you know that God is involved , but then also letting them know small things , maybe , things that are small to other people , but you have taken them to God and God has given you assurance , given you peace , but the small things are just as important as the large things . Yeah , I would agree .

Speaker 2 9:00

I'd say one of the ways is just sitting them down and telling them . A lot of times , sit your children down and say here's what life was like before I became a Christian and here's the things that God has done for me over my lifetime . And I just want you to remember these things . There's several ways that I could think of . One is to just write down your Christian testimony and just write it down and give it to your children and say I want this to be saved for future generations . This is what God has done for me in my life . So a diary or a journal Nowadays it's real easy to record things on our phone or our computers . Real easy to make an audio or video recording . Think of it if there was a recording of your great-great-grandfather that somebody popped up one day and said we found this recording of great-great-grandfather , great-great-grandmother , and they talk about what life was like for them and we're interested . Would you like a copy ? I think most of us would say sure , yeah , please tell me , and we'd look at these things .

Speaker 2 10:00

So , record your Christian testimony . Rituals and memorials , as done here in Joshua , are very powerful things . Well , here's another question , Steve . Sometimes I've heard this from parents . They say well , I want my children to make up their own mind about religion and so I'm not going to force my religion on them . What would be your response to that ?

Speaker 1 10:23

All of us ultimately make up our own mind . However , if they don't hear from you how you made up your mind and the things that you went through and the things that you reasoned out in order for your salvation , well , that's all part of them making up their own mind , because you can be assured that other people of the world are going to be telling them things . So if they're only hearing one side the worldly side world are going to be telling them things . So if they're only hearing one side the worldly side and they're not hearing a Christian view , especially from their own parents , then they're going to have a slanted view and a skewed view in regards to making up their own mind .

Speaker 2 11:01

I would agree . The way I would put it is what parent would tell a child well , you can eat anything you want . You can make up your own mind . They're going to eat ice cream and sugar cookies all day long and eventually the parent's going to say no , you need to eat some solid food , you need to learn how to get up in the morning and take care of yourself . And we teach children the things they need to get through life everything from education to work ethic , to everything else . Why not teach them the truth about the Lord , god ? And we don't let them make up their mind about whether or not they want to be a bank robber when they grow up . So why let them make up their own mind about whether their path with God is correct or not ?

Speaker 1 11:41

And if you have a loving relationship with God and God has blessed you and you have peace , why wouldn't you want your children to have that same relationship with God ?

Speaker 2 11:52

Exactly Now , at the end of verse 9, . There's a little phrase there that's going to pop up . We'll point it out as we go through this book . But he tells us that the stones are there to this day is the way he phrases it . We know some things about the writer of the book of Joshua . He was very familiar with the land Whoever compiled this , very familiar with the land where things were . There's a good double handful of times here where it says , oh , this is there to this day , this is there still . The writer was in the land of Israel that wrote this and was very familiar with what things were set up .

Speaker 1 12:30

Yeah , this wasn't written two or three or 400 years later . The writer wrote it at the time that he was there and actually experienced these events .

Speaker 2 12:38

And there's going to be one major one we're going to get to here in a while when we get to talking about Rahab again . In verse 10 , it says the priests stood in the midst of , just stood there for the entire time . So think of that . They're holding this ark . They're standing in the middle of a dried up river .

The Priests Standing Firm

Speaker 2 13:01

Large number of people have to cross . The stones were removed , things like that . This took a little bit of time . Their job was to stand there .

Speaker 2 13:12

Would it ever be the case that God would give us a job and say I just want you to just do this and just keep doing it ? And we think , oh golly , gee whiz , all these people are doing all this other fun stuff . All I'm doing is standing here holding something stuff . All I'm doing is standing here holding something . Well , everybody had a job and the priest's job was to stand there and hold the ark , even though you think they might have gotten tired of just standing there and want to go sit down and rest or do something else . What did God want them to do ?

Speaker 1 13:42

He wanted them to take care of the ark and stand there as a symbol so that the people could see it as they came by .

Speaker 2 13:51

So if you or I were doing a ministry and we feel like all I'm doing is standing still , everybody else is doing something , that's wow . That sure looks exciting . When should I decide to stop doing this ministry and go do something else ?

Speaker 1 14:05

Well , if God is telling you to do that in the first place , then you should do it until he tells you to move on to something else . Well , if God is telling you to do that in the first place , then you should do it until he tells you to move on to something else .

Speaker 2 14:14

Sometimes he wants us just standing firm standing firm .

Speaker 2 14:18

Then in verse 10 , it says the men did all that the Lord commanded them . They followed through and were careful to do everything , not leaving anything out . And the application , of course , for us is the same we need to do all that the Lord commands and not leaving anything out , and the application , of course , for us is the same we need to do all that the Lord commands and not leave anything out . The next section starts in verse 11 . As we go through this , steve , if you could start at verse 11 and just read down to 24 . And as we read this , notice how many times it uses the word passed over .

Speaker 1 14:46

And when all the people had finished passing over the ark of the Lord and the priest passed over . And when all the people had finished passing over the ark of the Lord and the priest passed over before the people , the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh passed over , armed before the people of Israel , as Moses had told them , about 40,000 ready for war , passed over before the Lord for battle to the plains of Jericho . On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel and they stood in awe of him , just as they had stood in awe of Moses all the days of his life . And the Lord said to Joshua command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan . So Joshua commanded the priests come up out of the testimony , to come up out of the Jordan . So Joshua commanded the priests come up out of the Jordan . And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the midst of the Jordan and the soles of the priest's feet were lifted up on dry ground , the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks .

Speaker 1 15:46

As before , the people came out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and they encamped at Gilgal , on the east border of Jericho . And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan , joshua set up at Gilgal and he said to the people of Israel when your children ask their families , fathers and times to come , what do these stones mean ? Then you shall let your children know . Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground , for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over , as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea , which he dried up for us until we passed over . Very interesting passage .

Passing Over with No Return

Speaker 2 16:42

Verse 10 , the people passed over in haste . Verse 11 , the people and the priest passed over Verse 12 , the two and a half tribes passed over Verse 13, . The people and the priest passed over Verse 12 , the two and a half tribes passed over Verse 13, . The 40,000 passed over .

Speaker 2 16:55

What's the significance did we say before in our previous study of passing over from the wilderness into the promised land ? To get to the promised land , what do you got to do ? You got to pass over . You got to take action . You got to move from a state of lost works into God's best . You have to cross over . You can't just stay in the wilderness and still be in God's best .

Speaker 2 17:21

We said before that the promised land represents salvation , of being in a right relationship with God . The application here is very clear you have to pass over . There has to be a point where you consciously say I want to turn my back on my lost works and I want to be in a right relationship with God . That's something that you have to pass over into God's best , or you're still lost in the wilderness . And then in verse 12 , the two and a half tribes were going to live outside the land . They came over to help fight . They had about 40,000 soldiers , but most of these were not really well-trained , experienced soldiers . But they had 40,000 that had weapons , and in verse 14 , god caused the people to revere Joshua . And then what happens in verse 16 and 18 , when the priests came up out of the river .

Speaker 1 18:13

So it's just the opposite of when they went in . When they went in , when the priests' toes touched water , the water upstream stopped . In fact , it stopped way upstream , and the water downstream dried up up and the ground dried up as well . This time as soon as they come up out and they touch the dry land . Then all the waters receded back in .

Speaker 2 18:40

And remember what did they say was in the land ? Initially , giants in the land . So now God does this miracle , dries up the Jordan River that you wouldn't have been able to cross and now you're in the promised land and the river flows back over you . What happened to the way back ? It just got flooded back . So if they get chicken and decide to run , what happens ? Nowhere to go , nowhere to go .

Speaker 1 19:03

Nowhere to go .

Speaker 2 19:04

Can't go back . But this is the land flowing with milk and honey . Why would you want to go back ? This is God's best . So the symbolism here again is just tremendous . We are saved when we repent from our lost works . That's wilderness years of Israel leaving the wilderness , crossing over into the promised land . Joshua's name means God saved . So we follow the Savior , who just happens to have the same name in the original languages as Jesus . We follow the Savior into salvation , into the promised land , and once you get there you can't go back . When we get to be a Christian and now we're a Christian , leaving the Christian life , can we ever go back to the way it was ? Can we ever go back to the way it was before we're Christian ? Can you ever go back and live the same way anymore ?

Speaker 1 19:55

So the same question applies . Why would we , why would we want to go back to the way that we were living before ? Why wouldn't we want to stay in God's best ?

Speaker 2 20:04

Remember there's a phrase that Jesus uses in the New Testament . In the original it says the dog returned to his vomit . So there are people who sometimes will become a Christian and then find themselves going back to their old ways . But what has changed ? And then find themselves going back to their old ways . But what has changed ? They're changed .

Speaker 2 20:23

Can we ever really go back ? It's like the prodigal son in the parable . There are people that'll wake up one day and they find themselves in a pigsty , but they're not happy there anymore and they want to go back to the father's house . So yes , there's Christians who will sin , but you can't be happy sinning anymore . There's no way to really go back to the way it was . And if you really have a taste of salvation , you have a taste of Jesus Christ , you have a taste of God's best .

Speaker 2 20:52

You don't want to go back . You may fail , you may fall , you may wake up one day and you're messing up , but you're going to hate it . You can't really go back to the way it was because you just hate that sin . Now you hate it . You don't want to go back . You may stumble and fall and find yourself doing some of the things with the old ways , but the true Christian wants to get those things out of their life . There's an old hymn , remember , where it says I have decided to . I'll save you the singing part I have decided to follow Jesus .

Speaker 2 21:25

No , turning back , no turning back .

Speaker 1 21:27

A question that might come up then that people might ask Glenn . Well , what about those persons that are professing to be a Christian but the life they're living is something that they're not bothered by , and they're habitually living this life ? That's a sinful life , one that's against God , and they're happy in it . They're saying they're a Christian but

True Faith Cannot Go Back

Speaker 1 21:51

at the same time , they're living a lifestyle that they're completely happy with . They're not remorseful about it . They openly say that they're happy about it . They even help other people to become happy in it and promote it . What would the thought be in regards to those people that say they're Christians but live that lifestyle ?

Speaker 2 22:10

The New Testament tells us that there are people inside of our churches that are not saved . So there are people who are in church for whatever reason and they're not actually a regenerated person that has a true salvation . So the problem is you and I . We can't look at somebody and say person number one , that's a true Christian that just happens to have fallen and they're putting up a good front , but inside they're just in turmoil because they hate the sin that they're doing . And then person number two that may be doing the same sin , but they're truly lost and they like that sin they're doing .

Speaker 2 22:48

We can't tell , I can't judge the heart thank goodness , but God can . All we can do is teach the Word of God and try to clean up our own lives . There's times where all of us find ourselves wondering oh my goodness , what have I done ? But at the same time , if you're a true Christian , you're going to hate those things . And I would just submit that if somebody is living a life of sin that doesn't line up with what the scriptures say , they have a legitimate question for themselves . They need to look themselves in the mirror and say am I truly a Christian ? And again , I certainly can't look at anybody and point to them and say that's truly saved and this one's not . That's a question for God .

Speaker 1 23:29

And while I agree that we can't do that , we can possibly help them by just asking that question to them why aren't you bothered by what you're doing ? And it's not up for us to answer that . It's a question , though , for them to answer for themselves , and I think that it would help to be able to make them question why is it that you're living that way and why is it that you're not feeling bothered about it ? And then let them ponder on that and let them think about that on their own .

Speaker 2 23:59

And lest anyone think I'm pointing fingers at other people been there , done that , got the t-shirt . I've been in situations where I knew I was not living what God wanted me to do and I can tell you from experience it's miserable . I had a professor once that just said if you think you can go after , you're a believer . If you think you can go , do what you want . His suggestion was just try it , see how far God lets you get . Yeah .

Speaker 1 24:23

And the same thing with me , glenn . I've been there and done that as well , and I was doing things , but I knew it was wrong and I knew that I couldn't continue it and I knew I needed to stop doing it .

Speaker 2 24:46

Once you're there and once you have that relationship , your life is changed from that perspective that you just don't enjoy doing those things that you used to once do before . That were things against God . Right Now , moving on , in Joshua , chapter four , verse 19 gives the date that they crossed the Jordan River and where they camped the 10th of the first month . Now , first of all , the first point here is that parables and myths don't have dates and real places like these things . But there's a real interesting application here . If you remember the story of when they were first leaving Egypt , remember that was the first Passover the death angel and the blood on the door , and God told them to be ready , have your staff in your hand , because you're going to leave suddenly . Well , that was back in Numbers , chapter 33 .

Speaker 2 25:29

It tells us that Israel left Egypt on the 15th day of the first month , the day after the Passover in Egypt , and then they were supposed to wander the wilderness . For how long ? Forty years , forty years , 40 years . So here we are again . That was 40 years earlier , on the 15th day of the first month . Here we are , on the 10th day of the first month . We're going to learn here in the next chapter that God's going to have all the men circumcised , which is going to take two or three days to heal , and then they celebrate the Passover . So how many years was it ? 40 years , down to the day . Yeah , they left Egypt the day after the Passover and they got here almost the day before the Passover . He just had to leave three more days to do the cleansing ceremony . So think of it , they wandered the wilderness . When he said 40 years , he meant 40 years and it was down to the day . Can we trust God when he gives his promises ?

Speaker 1 26:34

Absolutely , and he's got everything in control and being able to trust him knowing that he's got those things in control .

Speaker 2 26:42

So that's chapter four . We're going to wrap up here , but next time we'll be in Joshua , chapter five , and we're going to learn about three things . In chapter five , israel is going to get right with God with some things that they'd been ignoring . They're going to celebrate the Passover , and we'll talk about that , and then Joshua is going to meet a very special visitor , and we're talk about that . And then Joshua is going to meet a very special visitor , and we're going to talk about him next time .