Sunday, May 30, 2021
Today we remember those who died in service to this country to allow us to live in freedom. Their sacrifice while serving in the military needs to be remembered. Our civil freedoms came to us at a huge cost. Depending upon the source you use, that cost included the deaths of over 1,316,771 men and women who died while serving their fellow citizens.
This Memorial Day holiday began as recognition of those who died during the Civil War in the 1860’s. It has been modified over the years to include all the men and women who gave their lives while serving this country beginning with the French and Indian War and the War of 1812 and continuing up to today.
As we begin our thoughts today, let us take a moment to thank God for their physical sacrifice for us.
Establishing memorials like this holiday is actually an action that is sanctioned by God in scriptures. There are many places in the Bible that instruct people to create memorials so people can have a visual reminder of some event or person God had brought into their lives. And there are many kinds of memorials mentioned in the Bible—Days & Feasts; Offerings of Money, Incense, Meat, Grain, Water, Bread, & Oil; Monuments & Pillars; Records Kept in Books. Let’s take a few minutes to consider several questions that could be asked about establishing memorials.
Joshua 4:1-3,6-9 NLT [1] When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, [2] “Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe. [3] Tell them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight.'” [6] We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ [7] Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.” [8] So the men did as Joshua had commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the LORD had told Joshua. They carried them to the place where they camped for the night and constructed the memorial there. [9] Joshua also set up another pile of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were standing. And they are there to this day.
Why does God tell us to establish memorials?—To remember people, places and events that have made an impact on our lives. For example, in the above passage we just read, when the people of Israel crossed the dried up Jordan River into the Promised Land, they were instructed to build two stone pillar memorials. One was to be on the shore of the river, and the other to be in the middle if the river. The memorials were to remind the people of God’s powerful work in bringing them to the Promised Land.
We also establish memorials in order to learn from the past so we, hopefully, won’t make the same mistakes and can make better decisions.
Numbers 16:39-40 KJVS. [39] And Eleazar the priest took the brasen censers, wherewith they that were burnt had offered; and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar: [40] To be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the Lord ; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the Lord said to him by the hand of Moses.
Korah and a large group decided to burn incense before God. They were disobeying God’s instructions that only descendants of Aaron were to do that. God destroyed them and had the priest create a memorial of metal plates that were used to cover the altar. The covering was to remind Israel to choose to obey God, instead of disobeying Him and going their own way.
Can memorials hurt us? When memorials become idols, they can hurt us.
2 Kings 18:4 KJVS. [4] He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
When the memorial becomes more important than why it was established, it can hurt us. In the case of Nehushtan, the people were offering sacrifices to the bronze serpent that had been used by God to heal snakebites that were plaguing the people in the wilderness wandering. It had become an idol and a stumbling block to their relationship with Jehovah. They had forgotten it was a temporary fix for a sinful situation. The people wanted to keep the symbol of God’s mercy because the symbol had become more important to them than God’s mercy.
How can memorials help us? Memorials remind us of our heritage—what makes us who we are. The memorial established in our first scripture from Joshua 4 was to be set as an everlasting memorial so the people could remember how their God had brought them into the Promised Land. That memory became part of Israel’s identity.
Memorials also give us goals for our future. Memorials not only help us us remember the past, they also help us to have goals for the future. We strive to be like the people associated with the memorial. We strive to have the same qualities that brought those people a reputation important enough to be remembered.
As we celebrate this Memorial Day, we do so to remember the patriotism of those who gave their lives defending freedom on behalf of this nation. We remember their willingness to sacrifice everything, even their lives, so we could remain free. We remember their role in making us a free nation.
We have statues, pillars and other monuments dedicated to their memories. Just as there exist memorials to their sacrifice, we have memorials to the greatest sacrifice of all, the sacrifice of Jesus, who died so mankind could be forgiven of sins and be born again spiritually.
We need to always remember what Jesus did when He gave up everything in heaven to come live as a human and die as a perfect sacrifice in our place so death, hell and the grave could be conquered eternally. Let us thank God for our physical freedoms that came at the high cost of men and women who died in military service. And let us thank God for Jesus and His sacrifice that provides an opportunity to anyone who believes in Him to have spiritual freedom.