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TruthOrTradition.com
In the fall of 1972, while on a
tour of the Bible Lands, I stood on Mars Hill in Athens, Greece, where the
Apostle Paul preached his magnificent discourse recorded in Acts 17.
That was back in the days when
“pet rocks” were the rage, so as a memento I took home a palm-sized piece of
that rocky hill.
My rock knows only one command:
“Stay.”
And for the past 35 years on my
desk it has done just that. It is a faithful rock, and I can count on it to be
there for me.
A
rock indicates firmness, and a big enough rock indicates immovability and
permanence.
No doubt that is why one
insurance company’s symbol is the Rock of Gibraltar, a huge stone known for its
tendency to stay put.
The true “Rock” is Jesus
Christ, whom God raised from the dead and exalted as Lord and Head of the
Church, his Body.
If you have made him your Lord,
you are born again of God’s spirit and, via that gift of holy spirit, you have “Christ
in you” (Colossians 1:27).
You definitely have a piece of
the Rock.
What’s more, as a member in
particular of the Body of Christ, you are a piece of the Rock!
Because you have been born
again of “incorruptible” seed (1 Peter 1:23-KJV), you
are guaranteed everlasting life in Paradise.
That means that you will
forever be firm, immovable, and permanent.
But
what about now? The world is definitely a hard place in which to live.
How can each of us be a “rock”?
How can we exhibit the qualities of a rock in our practice of Christianity?
That is what this simple word
study of “rock” and “stone” is about.
We will see that we are to be “living
stones” who speak out in witness to “the Rock from which we were hewn,”
and that as we stand together on The Rock, we can rebuild the wall of truth
that tradition has torn down.
In
contemporary language, to be “rocked” is to be moved or swayed
powerfully with excitement or emotion.
And we in the USA know that if
something “rocks,” that means it is very impressive, remarkable, and
extraordinary.
Well, JESUS rocks, and as a “chip
off the Old Rock,” so can you.
As you walk with him, you can
powerfully move people to excitement and emotion by the testimony of your life.
The life of Christ within you
can be “manifest in your mortal flesh” to the end that people see how
impressive, remarkable, and extraordinary our Savior truly is.
A
record in the Old Testament shows that rocks were used to remind people of
God’s deliverance.
When the people of Israel had
crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, Joshua used stones to remind
the people of their deliverance from Egypt.
“4 Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom
he had appointed, a man from each tribe. 5 And Joshua said to them, ‘Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the
Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the
number of the tribes of the people of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in
time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were
cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the
Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a
memorial forever.
“8 And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up
twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the
tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua. And they carried them over with them
to the place where they lodged and laid them down there.
“9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the
Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the
covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.” - Joshua 4:4-9 English Standard Version
(ESV)
Passing over the Jordan
consummated God’s redemption of His people, Israel, from the land of bondage to
the land of promise.
In Joshua 4:1, note that “the
whole nation” crossed over, and thus each one had the opportunity to
partake of all that God made available there.
Today, each Christian has been
redeemed from the bondage of sin unto a life of limitless possibilities in
Christ.
Not all, however, are faithful
to continue walking the path of righteousness God has set before them. But you
can be.
The
stones were set up as a permanent memorial, a witness, to remind the people of
God’s deliverance and to inspire them to believe His promises for the future.
They were taken from the middle
of the Jordan and set in the camp of Israel, which was at Gilgal, in the
Promised Land.
A second set of stones was
taken from the middle of the Jordan and set down on the East side of the Jordan
to mark the place where the Priests had stood and where the miracle occurred.
As living stones, you and I
have been taken from the middle of a sick and dying world, so to speak.
We are still in the world, but
we are not of the world, and we are each to be a rock in a hard place.
As we build our lives on The
Rock, Jesus Christ, our faithfulness will inspire others to say of us as well: “They
are here to this day.”
Space
prohibits me from quoting much of Joshua 24, but Joshua gathered the people and
reminded them of how God had delivered them from the Egyptians and given them a
land of plenty.
He exhorted them to put away
the false gods they had served before and serve only Yahweh. They said they
would, so he made a covenant with them that day.
“26 And Joshua wrote these words in the
Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up
there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord.
“27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this
stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of
the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against
you, lest you deal falsely with your God.”
“28 So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his
inheritance.” - Joshua
24:26-28 English Standard Version (ESV)
Joshua set up the stone under
an oak tree, which in Scripture represents longevity, faithfulness, and
steadfastness.
The stone, however, would
outlast even the oak. He said that the stone was to be witness because it had
heard all the words of Yahweh. Yes, the stone remained as a reminder, but it
could not speak.
Each
of us once dwelt on the wrong side of the unbridgeable chasm between man and
God.
We decided to leave that
bondage and run to God’s heart, but we came to the edge of the chasm and could
not cross by ourselves.
We cried out to God, and He
snatched us to the safety of His side, putting us far above our spiritual
Adversary.
Let us now, therefore, put away
any gods we previously served, such as fear, pride, envy, lust, selfishness,
and serve the Lord as living stones of witness.
Throughout
the Old Testament God is often referred to as a rock, and that indicated a
place of safety and refuge.
In Exodus 17, when the people
of Israel were wandering in the wilderness and had no water, God told Moses to
strike the rock at Horeb with his staff, and water flowed out to quench their
thirst.
That is a clear prophetic
reference to the coming Messiah, and 1 Corinthians 10 expounds upon it.
Old Testament Examples
“10 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be
unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed
through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of
that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
“5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their
bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” - 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 New King James
Version (NKJV)
Jesus was not following along
behind the Israelites in the wilderness, but he would follow them in time, and
it was to the coming Messiah whom they were to look for their salvation.
Once again, we see that all the
Israelites were given equal opportunity to walk in newness of life, but most
did not do so, allowing themselves to be misled by their leaders and thus
turned away by spiritual deception.
Today, each member of the Body
of Christ is fully equipped to become like him and shine his light to the
world, and to do so we must stand upon the truth of God’s wonderful Word and
act accordingly.
“10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master
builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it.
Let each one take care how he builds upon it.
“11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is
laid, which is Jesus Christ.” - 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 English Standard Version (ESV)
Life’s principles declare the
truth of God’s Word.
Speaking
of an architectural foundation, The Encyclopedia Britannica states: “The
foundation of a structure generally seems to transfer the loads from the
structure to the underlying materials (such as soil or rock) which are known as
the foundation material.”
And the
Construction Handbook for Civil Engineers says: “A properly designed
foundation conveys all loads to the earth in such a manner as to prevent
unacceptable settling or breakup of the supported structure. This is
accomplished by spreading the load over a sufficient area.”
Jesus Christ is
a sufficient foundation for the Church because by his life he conquered all the
sins of mankind and by his death he paid the price for sin itself.
As the Mediator between God and
man (1 Timothy 2:5), he transfers our loads of human weakness
to God, His Father (and ours), who is the very bedrock of his own life.
In
case you want to study this more thoroughly, consider the following: when it
comes to how all mankind relates to Jesus Christ, each person will either
“stand
upon the Rock” as their sure foundation (Isaiah
28:14-16; Matthew 7:24-29 and 16:13-18), stumble over the Rock (Romans
9:30-33), or
“be
crushed by the Rock” (Luke
20:9-18).
Speaking of Israel at the
future Resurrection of the Just, God says in Ezekiel 36:26b that He will “… remove
from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
As Christians, our formerly
stony hearts have been flooded with God’s tenderizing Holy Spirit.
Though we are still “earthen
vessels,” we have the ability to faithfully manifest the heart of Christ to
the world.
In reality, God has done for us
something similar to what John the Baptist proclaimed to the unbelieving
Pharisees and Sadducees who were flaunting their Jewish heritage: He has given
us life as “children of Abraham,” figuratively speaking.
“9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as
our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up
children for Abraham.” - Matthew
3:9 English Standard Version (ESV)
Jesus said something similar at
his triumphal entry into Jerusalem when the Jewish people were praising God and
blessing Jesus as their long awaited king:
“38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of
the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
“39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher,
rebuke your disciples.”
“40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very
stones would cry out.” - Luke
19:38-40 English Standard Version (ESV)
We who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ are firmly standing upon The Rock.
Those who refuse to believe in
him stumble over The Rock.
Those who pledge their
allegiance to the Devil will be crushed under The Rock.
As you stand upon The Rock,
both he and our Father will back you up with their power.
The stones Joshua set up
because they had heard the words of the LORD could not speak.
Though called to be a nation to
minister to the world, Israel did not speak.
Now we, whose stony hearts have
been flooded with life, are the ones called to go forth and speak the truth in
love.
“2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts,
to be known and read by all.
“3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us,
written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not
on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” - 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 English Standard
Version (ESV)
1 Peter 1:18-2:3 is a stirring
section of Scripture regarding one’s new birth and subsequent growth by way of
wholeheartedly desiring the sustenance of the Word of God and a personal
relationship with the Lord Jesus.
Then come the following verses,
wherein the Jewish language communicated very well to Peter’s audience:
“4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the
sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual
house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
“9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the
excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” - 1 Peter 2:4-5,9 English
Standard Version (ESV)
It is we, the Church, who are
to declare the praises of our Father and our Lord.
And the greatest truth we can
declare is the Sacred Secret, which is that today it is available for anyone to
be born again of incorruptible seed and thus be a member of the Body of Christ,
fully equipped to manifest his life to the world, and guaranteed everlasting
life.
As Christians, we are “living
stones” built into a dwelling place for our God. He has placed His very
nature within us so that we can walk in fellowship with Him and light up the
world with His love and truth.
“19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you
are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of
God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ
Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows
into a holy temple in the Lord.
“22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling
place for God by the Spirit.” - Ephesians 2:19-22 English
Standard Version (ESV)
The Sacred Secret was the first
truth lost shortly after the death of the Apostle Paul in about 70 AD, and
since then much of “the wall of truth” found in the Church Epistles has been
torn down and replaced by the religious traditions of men.
God is counting on each of us,
like “rocks” who have heard the words of the Lord about the Sacred
Secret, to stand faithfully in this hard place, speaking forth the truth that
so many billions have never heard.
So, fellow members of the Body
of Christ, let us each cleave unto our Lord Jesus, put on the mind of Christ,
and faithfully stand together upon The Rock of Ages. Let’s rock!
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