Jesus is the Stone
When Jesus came into Jerusalem on that grand entry day now called “Palm Sunday,” He was greeted with praises and adoration by the people, who lay palm leaves and their clothing before Him. The religious leaders were not pleased and demanded the disciples to have Him quieten the people down. Here is the response of Jesus: “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out” (Luke 19:40).
At the last great day of the Festival of Dedication, Hanukah, Jesus, the Rock of our salvation, stood outside the Temple and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38).
Are the rocks, the elements of nature, that is, crying out today in their own language? Romans 8:19-23 tells of that crying out of the physical elements of creation and why:
“For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God, for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”
One future day there will be a new heaven and a new earth according to Revelation 21:1:
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.”
Records show that there has been a marked increase in earthquakes of all sizes, storms of all kinds and of increased destructive intensity. I recently wrote about how these weather patterns have been blamed on the activities of man, that is, “climate change caused by human activity.” Almost overnight, it seems, man has created gigantic changes in the weather by increased carbon gas. What a great way to deceive people who do not want to believe that God is sovereign and that He is very present in our world today!
Satan, the great deceiver, has found a perfect way to hide the declared activities of nature that are happening. We are not to believe the prophecies of the Bible, that great upheavals of physical elements will preface the coming of the Lord to bring judgment upon a world that wants to forget that God even exists.
Not only is there the notion to not think about the judgment of God that is coming, but the notion to set up a change in worldwide economic well-being by returning society to the survival challenges of two centuries ago—no use of natural resources available, except wind and solar power. Who can operate a vehicle on wind power, or even solar power, and do it in the abundance demanded by the population of the earth today?
Those prophecies in Luke 21 are not idle comments that Jesus made. They are already happening, as I pointed out above. In a prior article, I told of the giant ocean storm that was closing in on Hawaii (of course, man caused, right?) and how at least one church group actually prayed to the God of heaven and earth to cease the intensity of the storm and turn it away from its course that was set to hit the island, head-on. Then, before it closed in, the storm slowed down and turned away from the islands. The criticisms and hate mail the pastor got before then were totally silent when their prayers were answered. No one in the “God is no-where” crowd wants to acknowledge there is, indeed, a “God who is now-here.” The truth is too painful.
When Daniel wrote in chapter 2 of his prophecy, he identified that fourth kingdom; it was to be like iron, but partially of iron and partially of clay. Then he writes this:
“As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure” (Daniel 2:43-45).
The Stone that crushes the kingdom is the Christ of Calvary, who came at the time of that fourth kingdom in Daniel’s vision. (As John looked backward from his historical position, it was the sixth kingdom in chronological order.) Jesus spoke often of “the kingdom of heaven” and the “kingdom of God” that Daniel foresaw in the future, and is one day coming to pass.
That Stone is the one of whom He spoke in Hebrews 1:1-2: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son….”
That Stone is Jesus, the Christ, pictured as the final conqueror of the kingdoms and their source of power and authority—Satan. That Stone has the final say-so.
That Stone is the chief cornerstone the builders did not recognize and left it out of the temple they were building. Why would God allow that to happen, one might wonder? Perhaps it is a foretelling of the day that temple worship without the Cornerstone is more acceptable as a false, works-based belief, preferable to faith in Jesus, the Christ. But the Scripture says, “the just shall live by faith,” not works.
When Jesus stood on the steps of the temple, as told in John 7:37 above, He was crying out, “Salvation is not in there, it is out here with Me! Come to Me and drink the water of life.”
The creation that He made cannot help but cry out praises to Him and respond as He commands—roaring of the seas, shaking of earthquakes, rain, hail, wind and snow storms sound off in anticipation of His return and the redemption of those who have believed in Him.
Mankind’s finite mind cannot fully grasp the power of the very presence of the Creator, as incidents in Scripture indicate. One day, though, mankind will cry out in that Presence that Jesus Christ is Lord, for Philippians 2:9-11 tells us this:
“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
These thoughts bring to mind that age-old hymn, “Rock of Ages.” It starts like this: “Rock of Ages, cleft for me; let me hide myself in Thee….”
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