Living Stones

“And Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Jehovah has helped us until now.”(1Samuel 7:12)

Mizpeh is where Jacob came and dwelt with Laban his uncle, caring for his sheep. It’s the place where Jacob labored for Rachel and Laban gave him Leah. Jacob was required to work another seven years for Rachel. This was where Jacob and Laban made an agreement about the sheep that would become Jacob’s. Each time Jacob agreed to take the obvious lesser sheep, but God multiplied those until Jacob was wealthy. Symbolically Mizpeh represents safety and protection in relationships.

Shen means craig or to sharpen. And it’s between these two towns that Samuel erects a memorial to the Lord’s victory against the Philistines while they were camped by the town of Ebenezer. He called the memorial Ebenezer meaning “stone of help.” It’s where the Lord miraculously delivered them from the Philistines by thundering a great noise and the Israelites were able to defeat them. (1 Samuel 7:10)

Some believers still make memorials of great victories God has brought them through. I have seen a small decorative fence on which are notes of the victories, bowls of rocks or sand in which are memorials commemorating such events. I personally have a large vase of tiny shells on which are stones to remember the Lord’s victory in and for me. They are displayed for a personal remembrance to remind me to thank the Lord for what He has done and what He has brought me through. I remember that He is willing and able to do great things for me. And it reminds me to give thanks. 

As a culture and society this isn’t done too much anymore except that statues are erected for great men such as for Martin Luther King and big national memorials such as the Lincoln and Washington memorials. Memorials have been erected for events such as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial for the soldiers who died in the conflict in Vietnam and the memorial built to remember the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers. All these are memorials in the United States. There are memorials is other countries also that are famously known and significant to the citizens of that country. There’s the “Motherland Calls” sculpture in Russia which is the Stalingrad memorial, the Menin Gate war memorial in Belgium, the Cenotaph empty tomb memorial in London, the Yad Vashem holocaust memorial in Israel, the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and the Pearl Harbor National Monument in Hawaii to name a few international memorials. Tourists visit these memorials and remember the person or event. And others tear down the memorials as if they can erase history. History develops a nations into what it is. And although the memorial may be torn down by war or different regimes, what a nation has become cannot be erased. It’s a product of its history.

Memorials have been a way of remembering people or cultures even from ancient times. There’s the Megalithic monuments of Alcalar in Portugal, the Mohenjo Daro site in Pakistan and the first pyramid ever built in history built by the vizier Imhotep for the king Djoser in ancient Egypt, the  Step Pyramid of Djoser which are just a few of the ancient monuments and memorials built by ancient peoples. Memorials are a visual concrete way of remembrance. The memorials to the Lord though, are mostly found in Israel, where the people of God constructed these to remember how the Lord has helped them. Why do we need these memorials? ...because we forget. I encourage everyone to make victory memorials of the goodness and help from the Lord so not only you can remember but know that the Lord is always near and will help you again. The Israelites made stone piles for memorials.

When Jacob was running from his brother and had the dream of a ladder to heaven, he received the promise of Abraham. He made a memorial there with a stone pile and named it the House of God. “And Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone which he had put at his head, and set it as a memorial pillar, and poured oil on the top of it. And he called the name of that place The House of God. But the name of that city was Luz at first.” (Genesis 28:18-19) When Jacob fled from Laban with his wives, Rachel and Leah, Laban caught up with him, but they made a covenant. They built a memorial of their covenant with a stone pile and named it. “And Jacob said to his brothers, Gather stones. And they took stones and made a heap. And they ate there upon the heap. And Laban called it in Syrian, Heap of the Testimony, and Jacob called it in Hebrew, Heap of Testimony. And Laban said, This heap is a witness between you and me this day. Therefore the name of it was called Heap of Testimony, and Watchtower, for he said, Jehovah watch between you and me when we are absent from one another.” (Genesis 31:46-49) When God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, Jacob built a stone memorial. “And God went up from him in the place where He talked with him. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone. And he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.” (Genesis 35:13-15) When the Israelites crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, Johua had them build a stone pillar as a memorial. “And the sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded. And they took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, as Jehovah spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they stayed, and laid them down there; even the twelve stones Joshua lifted up in the middle of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant, stood. And they are there to this day.” (Joshua 4:8-9) These are just a few examples of memorials built in the Old Testament.

And those of us who are believers are memorials. God’s Word is wonderous and illustrates God’s sovereignty. He is in the past, present and future at the same time. It wasn’t a coincidence that the Israelites built stone memorials. In the New Testament, we learn that we are living stones, memorials of God’s goodness, mercy and love. And we are built together as a altar when we gather as royal priests to offer the sacrifice of praise. This happens in our worship services. Some people think that we only sing songs, but it’s our eternal responsibility and honor as the royal priesthood to offer praise and worship. This altar of living stones offering the sacrifice of praise has a Corner Stone. The Corner Stone on which this sacrifice of praise is built on is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. “For having been drawn to Him, a living Stone, indeed rejected by men, but elect, precious with God; you also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore also it is contained in the Scripture: "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner Stone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him shall never be ashamed." Therefore to you who believe is the honor. But to those who are disobedient, He is the Stone which the builders rejected; this One came to be the Head of the corner, and a Stone-of-stumbling and a Rock-of-offense to those disobeying, who stumble at the Word, to which they also were appointed.” (1Peter 2:4-8) Paul writes something similar to the Ephesians. “Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom every building having been fitly framed together, grows into a holy sanctuary in the Lord; in whom you also are built together for a dwelling place of God through the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19-22) God the Holy Spirit dwells in us. When we gather as the royal priesthood, God, the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit inhabit the temple, the house of worship that the royal priesthood build together in their unified worship. This is why corporate worship is so important. It’s such a holy time.

In times past, it was a reverential time. Today, we are more lax and people talk, move about, go in and out of the sanctuary, ignorant of what a holy and special time this is for us as the royal priesthood. We can actually be witnesses of the manifestation of God during this time. We could see healings and resurrection of lives. We could even feel the weight of His presence, a tiny bit of heaven, but we are not all unified. Some bring their children and fuss with them at a time they should be in worship. Children should be receiving instruction for the time that they will come to worship the Lord as part of the royal priesthood. The people are not instructed and don’t know what a holy time this is. It’s a shame because we miss out. The Lord has invited us into a supernatural holy time and instead we “just sing songs.”

The end of this is that God is pleased with memorials of His glorious works because they point to the church, the witnesses, living stones and the altar built by our worship to Him and built on Jesus our Savior, our Lord and God.

Let us pray;

Father God, holy and worthy are You of all worship, of every witness and memorial to You and to Your marvelous works. Great are You. There is no other God, nothing on earth, in the heavens or seas that compare to Your greatness. I love You Lord. May every memorial I make point to Your goodness, to Your grace, every favor and blessing You have poured out to me. I pray for the church Lord, the universal church that calls Jesus Lord and God. I pray that we may recognize the holiness and supernatural encounter with You in our worship. Lord You made this a possibility. It is Your desire for us to reach this understanding. Help us my Lord and my God. Help us to leave this worldliness that hinders us. Forgive us our sin Father in the Name of Jesus. Help us to have our minds renewed each morning, cleansed and washed by Your Word so we can walk in the Spirit, led of the Spirit and moved by the Spirit. Help us to revere Your Name and Your Presence in our worship and become that altar of the sacrifice of praise You want us to become. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.