Note: We were unable to post a message yesterday due to a long power outage related to a car accident in our neighborhood. It was my original intent to have two more messages from 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 but there's too much interesting material to cover in one message so I hope to get back to it. However we will not be posting messages next week. (see note below)

Message summary: Let us all personally make or reaffirm our covenant to serve and obey the Lord!

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“So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the LORD. ‘See!’ he said to all the people. ‘This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God’” (Joshua 24:25-27).

We were disappointed in losing our two large oak trees in our front yard. Both needed removal due to disease. They were probably planted soon after our house was built in 1986 since prior to that time our lot was on farm land. That’s pretty young considering the lifespan of an oak, but they became large stately trees over a relatively short period of time.  Some species of oak have a life span of 600 years and they may have had an even longer lifespan 4,000 years ago.

The church property where we lived in New England had a huge oak tree in the back. I often wondered if this tree might have been around at the time of the American Revolution or even at the time the first Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620, which was only 25 miles east of the church. Taunton, the town where we lived, was founded less than twenty years after Plymouth was founded. Our family had devotions under this large tree one night and I sought to teach the spiritual lesson found in the daily text.

An oak tree at Shechem is first referenced in Scripture in Genesis 12:6 where Abraham received assurance from God that He would keep His promises. Later, as Abraham’s grandson Jacob grew in his faith, an oak tree at Shechem was the place where Jacob’s family made a firm stand for God in burying their false gods under it (Genesis 35:4). And in our daily text many years later an oak tree at Shechem was the place where Joshua made a tangible memorial to the people concerning their covenant renewal to faithfully serve God. We wonder if this might have been the same tree.*

As Joshua’s life was coming to an end he called the people to Shechem and made a powerful appeal to serve God which includes a proclamation memorized by many Christians: “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord". We have often ended our prayers by reciting this verse together as a family. I am blessed when Ester adds the word “forever” at the end. Although it’s not in the original text I certainly believe it is a proper expression of commitment.

After Joshua made the personal proclamation and challenged the people to do the same, he took a large stone and set it up in a place clearly identifiable to the people, under an oak tree.  He said the stone would be a “witness against us".  The purpose of Joshua’s action seems to be that of a memorial that would remind the people of their solemn commitment to follow the Lord. The concept of a memorial is a pattern found throughout the Bible and would include "The Lord's Supper" when we "Do this in remembrance of Me".

Today, let us all personally make or reaffirm our covenant to serve and obey the Lord!

B e encouraged today! Hebrews 3:13