Unveiling the Connection Between Joshua and Jesus: Insights from the Jordan Crossing
The Apostles as Stone Masons
A little known point is that the name Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua. It’s like how my name, Alexander, is Alejandro in Spanish. So every time that you read the book of Joshua, you can replace his name with the name Jesus in your mind. This actually bears interpretive fruit.
In Joshua 3-4, the Israelites cross over the Jordan on dry land. Yes, this is similar to the Red Sea crossing. This time, however, Moses has died and Joshua is put in charge of all of Israel. But instead of Joshua parting the Jordan, the river is parted when the priests carry the ark of the covenant across. These priests stop in the middle until everyone is crossed.
Something quite interesting happens in the background. The Lord asks Joshua (i.e. Jesus) to appoint 12 sons of Israel to gather 12 stones from the Jordan and carry them on their shoulders to the other side to set up as a testimony to the Israelites and to the whole world that they would know all that the Lord had done at the Jordan for Israel.
He said to the sons of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall inform your children, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the Lord your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed; that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may fear the Lord your God forever. (4:21-24)
Jesus and his disciples are baptized in the Jordan, and he then appoints the twelve to be his witnesses (Acts 1:8). Their testimony and writings form the foundation of the church’s remembrance of all that God has done in Christ (Ephesians 2:20).