Let’s look deeper into the spiritual side of all the things that happened to the Israelites at the gilgal. Could what happened to them also be significant to Christian’s lives today?
As you read through the scriptures you might notice that stones always seem to represent bedrock truths.
KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS
Remember how The Ten Commandments were written down on stone?
This wasn’t an accident. They were written in stone because stone isn’t very easy to destroy. The commandments were given to us as a gift from God that would endure forever and ever.
BELIEVING IN THE ROCK
Jesus once mentioned to Peter that He would build His Church upon a Rock.
Even Peter’s name means “rock.” Peter was expressing to Jesus that he had faith and believed that Jesus was The Son of God. The belief that Jesus is Messiah (which Peter expressed) is the foundation stone of The Church of God.
This is the truth that founded Christian faith. This truth is represented by a “rock” or a “stone.”
THE RIVER OF LIFE
Think for a moment of where the stones of the gilgal were taken. It was The Jordan River. To be more specific, the stones were taken from where the Ark of The Covenant was standing within The Jordan River.
This old river speaks to us of great spiritual significance.
The People of God were able to cross over into the Holy Land because of the Jordan River. Those of us who belong to The Church and follow Christ might think of The Jordan River as a picture of the way of crossing into the life called Christianity. This is true because the Jordan River represents a type of baptism.
The Jordan River was where John The Baptist baptized people who had repented of their sins. Jesus gave us this example. He too received baptism in The Jordan River. Jesus had not sinned; but he was setting the example of what we who have sinned should follow. For one to truly repent and ask to be forgiven of their sins; they must believe in Christ. It was at the baptism of Jesus in The Jordan River that God announced to the world that Jesus was “His Son in which He was well pleased.” We were instructed to “follow him.”
Since that day; people who believe in Christ have been repenting of their sins in prayer to him and following him in His example of baptism to announce their faith in Messiah.
THE RAINS OF TRUTH
The Jordan River is filled with the waters that form from the heavy rains which come twice a year to The Holy Land. This rain nourishes the crops and brings food for nourishing the people.
Water/rain represents God’s truth flowing into our lives. These are the basic foundational truths that nourish our spirits and bring us closer to God’s way of life. God’s teachings from the scriptures become rivers of truth that flow like living waters through out lives.
LIVING STONES
The stones that form the gilgal were taken from a river that provides life. In the spiritual realms of God’s Kingdom we know that river flows from God’s Throne in heaven. It represents a sacred circle that forms the basic beliefs of Christianity. Becoming a living stone is what provides us the miraculous passage from the world into the heavenly realms of God’s Kingdom. This is so comparable with The Israelites crossing the Jordan River. We pass from the former life of slavery and death into the new place of freedom and life.
Eventually we become the living stones that are provided from The River of Life that makes up God’s Kingdom.
Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Revelation 22:1)
FACING THE BATTLES
Crossing the Jordan into the gilgal is only the beginning of new life in God’s promises.
There are still battles to fight.
God’s army has things to conquer.
The gilgal is our military base of operation.
When those stones from the river of basic truth surround us; we live so much better. We gain strength from them. They give us the power to choose life over death. It is good to train for battle within the stones of the gilgal.
The first part of coming into the Christian way of life is usually always full of battles that must be fought by depending on the stones of our faith; and most of all the ROCK of Christ.
These special stones that surround THE ROCK are waiting for us when we first walk into that door of salvation; at our spiritual place of the gilgal. We are one living stone in a body surrounded by many others.
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4-5)
GAINING A FOOTHOLD
It is in the gilgal that we are able to gain a foothold against our enemies.
The land in the gilgal is surrounded by stones placed in a footprint-type shape. It represents stepping into a new place, a more holy place, the place that God has destined for us to arrive at for training for battle.
We begin in the low ground on the banks of the river. We come to the lowland and the gilgal. Here is where we learn how to move further into the land. This place leads us to know how to move into a higher place later.
The Temple in Jerusalem is on a much higher elevation than the gilgal.
After we gain the basics and fight the battles we need to fight; God’s Holy Temple will be our eventual destination. In the gilgal we learn how to leave any idols behind. The foundation of our spiritual life begins.
Our journey to becoming mature, well-developed Christians begins at the stones of the gilgal.
THOUGHTS FOR TODAY’S BATTLES
Is it possible that The Church is about to cross a spiritual Jordan River in order to defeat the culture wars that we are being presented with today?
Could it be that we need to return to those stones of truth, the tablets that contain the ten commandments, that were carefully positioned by the priesthood inside the Ark of the Covenant which was held over those stones of the riverbed rocks representing God’s truths that brought Christianity’s footprints firmly into our own lives?
Have we done what those stones were placed there to remind us to do?
Are we teaching our children the foundational truths of our faith?
God is still directing this battle. Are we listening to our great commander?
Joshua was honored there at the gilgal; he represented Jesus. Are we following our honored and adored leader into the next place that God has commissioned us to go?
Permit the stones of the gilgal to refresh your memory.
Let the living stones of God’s Church rise up and conquer the land for God’s glory and honor.