In Joshua chapter 4 we are taken back to Exodus 15 where Moses wrote a song of victory with the opening stanza as “I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!” This is a song of redemption of how the Lord delivered the people out of the hands of an oppressor. Ah but in Joshua 4 my friend we have two monuments one seen in the land of promise the other hidden under the Jordan.
1. The one on the land of promise at Gilgal (which name means rolling or wheel) and this one speaks of movement forward into the victorious Christian life. It is for this reason that it is visible and to be both visited and spoken of to next generations.
2. The second one lay under the Jordan out of view but never to be forgotten as it spoke of two things that though hidden ought to always remain. The word Jordan is a combined word that means “Jor” or spread and “Dan” or judging, thus it speaks of self judging:
a. Death to the self centered life and a renewed trust and obedience to the living God.
b. The full emersion in the Holy Spirit (River of Life) empowerment to enter into more of His presence in our lives.
The monument at Gilgal was to be a sign that spoke of God faithfulness, His goodness and greatness to keep that which He has promised His people. Combined these two monuments remind the believer of this truth: To move forward or have momentum in our Christian life we are going to have death to the self centered life! But it is equally interesting that to do so they needed to move forward by faith…John the Baptist said something similar “He must increase, I must decrease!”