Fall on the Stone and be broken
“He that falls on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall it shall grind him to powder.” Matt. 21:44.
That stone represents Christ. “You are Peter, and upon This Rock I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matt. 16:18. Peter was not the rock. “Peter” means a movable stone, an unsteady stone. Peter was very faulty and far from infallible, even after his final conversion. The rock Christ was referring to was Himself. In the same context as falling on the stone, He referred to the corner stone of Solomon’s temple as Himself. Only upon Christ can the foundation of the church be laid, as Paul later wrote, “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1Cor 3:11. He was the Stone He was referring to.
But what else do we know was represented as a stone? The Ten Commandments. Why were they written on stone? Was it out of convenience─all God had in the Sinai wilderness was stones everywhere? Or was it providential that those stones were out there for Him to use?
Writing His law in stone has very great significance. It says His commandments are the great final authority. They were the perfect representation of the audible words that thundered down with lightning upon the people at the foot of Sinai and put them on the ground in pitiful little heaps. He spoke with power to leave His will indelibly traced on their memory. And so He would write those very same overpowering words indelibly in stone, to be the standard forever. Later it would be explained that if He could inscribe the transcript of His character in stone, He can impress His matchless charms in our hard hearts as well. Ex. 24:10 and Isaiah 64:1-3 hint that God melted the stone before writing in it. That does sound like God’s method, doesn’t it!
What’s the connection between Christ and the feared and authoritative Ten Commandments? It is that the merciful Son of God is just as immovable when it comes to righteousness. If a sinner tries to fight Him, he will lose. If he thinks his genius can outsmart or outmaneuver Christ, he is very much fooling only himself. Our Creator knows us inside and out. He sees our motives coming a mile away. Only the sinner and a fool would believe he is god enough and smart enough to outdo his Creator.
No, if we break the law, we will pay the price. Sooner or later, the punishment comes. We can run, but we can’t hide. The long arm of God’s law is unrelenting and firm as flint.
“I am the Lord; I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed!” Mal. 3:6. Doesn’t that sound authoritative?! It sounds down-right scary! Why would a God of love intimate that He might consume us? Isn’t He afraid we may never come to trust in Him? Doesn’t He care about my feelings? I have wrestled over this for many years. How about the instance in the wilderness, when the people listened to the ten scardey-cat spies to not go up into the land flowing with warrior giants and milk and honey, instead of trusting in God, the Lord of hosts? So, the Lord God of the Old Testament, the Lord Jesus in the New, told them, “As truly as I live, as you have spoken in My ears, so will I do to you. Your carcasses will fall in this wilderness, all who have murmured and complained against Me.” And the ten spies who turned the people against God, died immediately by a plague.
How is this a God of love? I mean, really, how can I trust that kind of God? What I want more than anything is to be able to trust in God. But when I read the Bible, all I see is one example after another of stern justice, from beginning to end. Trusting God is all I have to bring me the peace I’ve been looking for all my life. No doubt the same is true for everyone today. So why then does God paint for me such a grim, vengeful picture of Himself when what I need is a friend?
I have been a member of the church for decades, and, while I tried not to, I eventually thought of Christ as an obnoxious, overbearing, cruel monster. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who is in this same predicament. I believe many millions of Christians think of Him badly also, they just won’t admit to it. This is why they talk of everything else but Him. This is why so many deep-down are unhappy, lonely, unstable, and dysfunctional.
Everyone out in the world is looking for a friend, and many of them also see God as a monster, and they hate Him for it. Its true that big business or powerful positions or materialism has had the effect of eclipsing their need for trust and love, but all of that will be swept away, and then they too will have to come face to face with the worldwide misunderstanding of God in the Bible. Surely God knows all this. Then why so much harshness and toughness, rather than love and trust, in the Bible? “Shall not the Judge of all the earth shall do right?” Gen. 18:25.
The truth is that God does know all about trust and love. Isn't it His invitation, found in no other Book than His own, Matt. 11:28─ “Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jn. 6:37─ “All that the Father gives Me come to Me; and them that come to Me I will never reject.” Rev. 3:20─ “Hello! I stand at the door and knock: if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with Me.” Rev. 22:17─“The Spirit and the bride say come. And let him that hears come. And let him that is thirsty come. And whoever will, let him take of the Water of Life freely.”
It’s a loving God who sends us the scary things of His word. Ananias and Sapphire fall dead because they lied about their promise of donating money to the early church. Judas goes out and hangs himself because he knows it was the Son of God whom he had betrayed to be shamefully beaten and crucified, and all he could see was the final judgment and hell. The Lord Jesus couldn’t talk to King Saul anymore so the king eventually, in the heat of a battle and abandoned by God and Samuel and David, falls on his sword and dies. Like David’s command, “Fall on him,” against his enemy (2 Sam. 1:15), the Stone had fallen on them all, and ground them to powder.
When you read these things, you are forced to do something. What are you going to do? Either serve Him with fear and trembling, or rationalize it all away and pretend it never happened or never could happen to us. Either the Bible’s stern accounts of God’s treatment of sin helps us appreciate Him or it leaves a bad taste in our mouth. So what effect will it have for you?
He intends that we take Him or leave Him. Not that He is non-chalant about our relationship with Him. But He is not slack; He demands a decision be made for Him or against Him. He knows our perverse heart and doesn’t leave room for any lackadaisical third option, a non-chalance on our part. Whenever He came to town there was either a revival or a riot. He either got into their hearts and souls, or He got on their nerves really bad. No one was the same afterward. John proclaimed, “I indeed baptize with water, but One mightier than I comes after me; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire! Whose fan is in His hand and He will perfectly sift His floor. The wheat He will gather into His garner, and the chaff will He burn with fire unquenchable.” Lk. 3:16, 17. ─Indeed, strong language, definitely given in no uncertain terms.
So, when we read the strong language the Bible uses, what are we going to do? Turn away, let self rise up in rebellion, and say “I don’t want that kind of God,” and lose out on the kingdom to come which He will set up in spite of our decision not to be there? Or fear Him enough to wrestle with His words and sentiments that seem unloving, and keep wrestling with them, even if it takes decades, until we fall humbly at Christ’s feet and then trust Him and His word, and see love, the great love of God come shining through it all?
In the dark and for the first time praying with all his heart, “Jacob was left alone. And there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.” Gen. 32:24. That Man was the Lord Jesus. And Jacob wrestled with God until he fell on the breast of his supposed Enemy and, with a dislocated hip and broken spirit, begged for the forgiveness he had longed for all his life. It was the chastening he got that woke him up to realizing the goodness of the Lord God, and then the goodness of God brought him to repentance and surrender. Aren’t you glad Jesus is willing to take the time to wrestle with us and chasten us? And aren’t you glad He spanks us when He does? Aren’t you glad He followed Jacob all those years? If He did it for Jacob the deceiver, the cheat, the liar, the thief, then He will follow you and me too! He will follow until the great day of our final wrestling match, when we too will learn to trust in His love for us individually, and to trust Him forever.
He is wrestling with us today. That is why He left us all those apparently hard, harsh, seemingly callous sayings in His word. We are forced to do something with them. When we finally fall on His breast, it is because we have begun to see that all those threats are really warnings. The threats aren't final, if─if they have lodged in our minds. If they really bother us, His grace continues working with our hard hearts until He softens them. The day comes when we view that His threats are warnings─warnings being good; warnings meaning love. His callousness will be seen as toughness─and unrelenting, tough love is beautiful. It’s got to be tough to be enduring. And it’s only as we read the Bible, over and over, as it with life’s experiences washes our minds, that all which at first appeared to be rude and careless, begins to take the form of goodness and love in it all, through and through. This can only be the work of the Spirit of God.
Then it becomes apparent that the Lord God of the Old and New Testaments is so confident in His love for us, that He speaks His commands and His promises like a roaring lion. So He has the utmost confidence we will trust in Him. Only in full light of His continued justice can we truly trust and love Him, and only then do we fall before His great love and truly worship Him for His graciousness and kindness toward us.
I can never expect to talk anyone into the conviction of God’s love. Only He can do that as that person investigates God’s word for himself. But I can say that God can’t convince of His love if we will not go to the Bible and wrestle with God and with the rock-hard, tough-as-nails things He has said. What will it be, O searcher for truth? “We will not have this Man reign over us?” (Lk. 19:14). Or “I will not let You go until You bless me?” (Gen. 32:26). Eternity teeters for everyone on this very point.
If we will wrestle as long as it takes, the promise is that the daylight will one day break upon the heart and the night will give way to dawn, and we will be given a new name, “Israel” which means “he who struggles with God.” The victory is only for those who will wrestle, and the indolent are slowly ground to powder by the heavy weight of the law.
Fall on the Stone and be broken, or the Stone will fall on you and grind you to powder.
The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
That stone represents Christ. “You are Peter, and upon This Rock I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matt. 16:18. Peter was not the rock. “Peter” means a movable stone, an unsteady stone. Peter was very faulty and far from infallible, even after his final conversion. The rock Christ was referring to was Himself. In the same context as falling on the stone, He referred to the corner stone of Solomon’s temple as Himself. Only upon Christ can the foundation of the church be laid, as Paul later wrote, “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1Cor 3:11. He was the Stone He was referring to.
But what else do we know was represented as a stone? The Ten Commandments. Why were they written on stone? Was it out of convenience─all God had in the Sinai wilderness was stones everywhere? Or was it providential that those stones were out there for Him to use?
Writing His law in stone has very great significance. It says His commandments are the great final authority. They were the perfect representation of the audible words that thundered down with lightning upon the people at the foot of Sinai and put them on the ground in pitiful little heaps. He spoke with power to leave His will indelibly traced on their memory. And so He would write those very same overpowering words indelibly in stone, to be the standard forever. Later it would be explained that if He could inscribe the transcript of His character in stone, He can impress His matchless charms in our hard hearts as well. Ex. 24:10 and Isaiah 64:1-3 hint that God melted the stone before writing in it. That does sound like God’s method, doesn’t it!
What’s the connection between Christ and the feared and authoritative Ten Commandments? It is that the merciful Son of God is just as immovable when it comes to righteousness. If a sinner tries to fight Him, he will lose. If he thinks his genius can outsmart or outmaneuver Christ, he is very much fooling only himself. Our Creator knows us inside and out. He sees our motives coming a mile away. Only the sinner and a fool would believe he is god enough and smart enough to outdo his Creator.
No, if we break the law, we will pay the price. Sooner or later, the punishment comes. We can run, but we can’t hide. The long arm of God’s law is unrelenting and firm as flint.
“I am the Lord; I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed!” Mal. 3:6. Doesn’t that sound authoritative?! It sounds down-right scary! Why would a God of love intimate that He might consume us? Isn’t He afraid we may never come to trust in Him? Doesn’t He care about my feelings? I have wrestled over this for many years. How about the instance in the wilderness, when the people listened to the ten scardey-cat spies to not go up into the land flowing with warrior giants and milk and honey, instead of trusting in God, the Lord of hosts? So, the Lord God of the Old Testament, the Lord Jesus in the New, told them, “As truly as I live, as you have spoken in My ears, so will I do to you. Your carcasses will fall in this wilderness, all who have murmured and complained against Me.” And the ten spies who turned the people against God, died immediately by a plague.
How is this a God of love? I mean, really, how can I trust that kind of God? What I want more than anything is to be able to trust in God. But when I read the Bible, all I see is one example after another of stern justice, from beginning to end. Trusting God is all I have to bring me the peace I’ve been looking for all my life. No doubt the same is true for everyone today. So why then does God paint for me such a grim, vengeful picture of Himself when what I need is a friend?
I have been a member of the church for decades, and, while I tried not to, I eventually thought of Christ as an obnoxious, overbearing, cruel monster. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who is in this same predicament. I believe many millions of Christians think of Him badly also, they just won’t admit to it. This is why they talk of everything else but Him. This is why so many deep-down are unhappy, lonely, unstable, and dysfunctional.
Everyone out in the world is looking for a friend, and many of them also see God as a monster, and they hate Him for it. Its true that big business or powerful positions or materialism has had the effect of eclipsing their need for trust and love, but all of that will be swept away, and then they too will have to come face to face with the worldwide misunderstanding of God in the Bible. Surely God knows all this. Then why so much harshness and toughness, rather than love and trust, in the Bible? “Shall not the Judge of all the earth shall do right?” Gen. 18:25.
The truth is that God does know all about trust and love. Isn't it His invitation, found in no other Book than His own, Matt. 11:28─ “Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jn. 6:37─ “All that the Father gives Me come to Me; and them that come to Me I will never reject.” Rev. 3:20─ “Hello! I stand at the door and knock: if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with Me.” Rev. 22:17─“The Spirit and the bride say come. And let him that hears come. And let him that is thirsty come. And whoever will, let him take of the Water of Life freely.”
It’s a loving God who sends us the scary things of His word. Ananias and Sapphire fall dead because they lied about their promise of donating money to the early church. Judas goes out and hangs himself because he knows it was the Son of God whom he had betrayed to be shamefully beaten and crucified, and all he could see was the final judgment and hell. The Lord Jesus couldn’t talk to King Saul anymore so the king eventually, in the heat of a battle and abandoned by God and Samuel and David, falls on his sword and dies. Like David’s command, “Fall on him,” against his enemy (2 Sam. 1:15), the Stone had fallen on them all, and ground them to powder.
When you read these things, you are forced to do something. What are you going to do? Either serve Him with fear and trembling, or rationalize it all away and pretend it never happened or never could happen to us. Either the Bible’s stern accounts of God’s treatment of sin helps us appreciate Him or it leaves a bad taste in our mouth. So what effect will it have for you?
He intends that we take Him or leave Him. Not that He is non-chalant about our relationship with Him. But He is not slack; He demands a decision be made for Him or against Him. He knows our perverse heart and doesn’t leave room for any lackadaisical third option, a non-chalance on our part. Whenever He came to town there was either a revival or a riot. He either got into their hearts and souls, or He got on their nerves really bad. No one was the same afterward. John proclaimed, “I indeed baptize with water, but One mightier than I comes after me; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire! Whose fan is in His hand and He will perfectly sift His floor. The wheat He will gather into His garner, and the chaff will He burn with fire unquenchable.” Lk. 3:16, 17. ─Indeed, strong language, definitely given in no uncertain terms.
So, when we read the strong language the Bible uses, what are we going to do? Turn away, let self rise up in rebellion, and say “I don’t want that kind of God,” and lose out on the kingdom to come which He will set up in spite of our decision not to be there? Or fear Him enough to wrestle with His words and sentiments that seem unloving, and keep wrestling with them, even if it takes decades, until we fall humbly at Christ’s feet and then trust Him and His word, and see love, the great love of God come shining through it all?
In the dark and for the first time praying with all his heart, “Jacob was left alone. And there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.” Gen. 32:24. That Man was the Lord Jesus. And Jacob wrestled with God until he fell on the breast of his supposed Enemy and, with a dislocated hip and broken spirit, begged for the forgiveness he had longed for all his life. It was the chastening he got that woke him up to realizing the goodness of the Lord God, and then the goodness of God brought him to repentance and surrender. Aren’t you glad Jesus is willing to take the time to wrestle with us and chasten us? And aren’t you glad He spanks us when He does? Aren’t you glad He followed Jacob all those years? If He did it for Jacob the deceiver, the cheat, the liar, the thief, then He will follow you and me too! He will follow until the great day of our final wrestling match, when we too will learn to trust in His love for us individually, and to trust Him forever.
He is wrestling with us today. That is why He left us all those apparently hard, harsh, seemingly callous sayings in His word. We are forced to do something with them. When we finally fall on His breast, it is because we have begun to see that all those threats are really warnings. The threats aren't final, if─if they have lodged in our minds. If they really bother us, His grace continues working with our hard hearts until He softens them. The day comes when we view that His threats are warnings─warnings being good; warnings meaning love. His callousness will be seen as toughness─and unrelenting, tough love is beautiful. It’s got to be tough to be enduring. And it’s only as we read the Bible, over and over, as it with life’s experiences washes our minds, that all which at first appeared to be rude and careless, begins to take the form of goodness and love in it all, through and through. This can only be the work of the Spirit of God.
Then it becomes apparent that the Lord God of the Old and New Testaments is so confident in His love for us, that He speaks His commands and His promises like a roaring lion. So He has the utmost confidence we will trust in Him. Only in full light of His continued justice can we truly trust and love Him, and only then do we fall before His great love and truly worship Him for His graciousness and kindness toward us.
I can never expect to talk anyone into the conviction of God’s love. Only He can do that as that person investigates God’s word for himself. But I can say that God can’t convince of His love if we will not go to the Bible and wrestle with God and with the rock-hard, tough-as-nails things He has said. What will it be, O searcher for truth? “We will not have this Man reign over us?” (Lk. 19:14). Or “I will not let You go until You bless me?” (Gen. 32:26). Eternity teeters for everyone on this very point.
If we will wrestle as long as it takes, the promise is that the daylight will one day break upon the heart and the night will give way to dawn, and we will be given a new name, “Israel” which means “he who struggles with God.” The victory is only for those who will wrestle, and the indolent are slowly ground to powder by the heavy weight of the law.
Fall on the Stone and be broken, or the Stone will fall on you and grind you to powder.
The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
posted by David | 10:21 AM
3 Comments:
Interesting. I think it's true that people from different backgrounds relate to God in different ways. Those of us who had a harsh, abusive, demanding, angry parent will cringe to focus on God painted as vengeful and angry. Those who grew up with lax parents often migrate toward a stern God. I understand the justice aspect of God, but He IS love. We shouldn't question the judgements He dealt on those who were disobedient. However, He deals with many- and in many ways. He doesn't want us to come to Him because we are terrified of His awesome power. Whenever angels visited, their first words were "Fear not". Your premise, though true is very unsettling and causes me to want to look to myself & focus on my behaviors rather than looking to Jesus. I do not fear my Savior. I am in Him, because of His love & mercy- not because I fear Hell. Even EGW advises, "When faced with the choice to represent the Justice or Mercy of God's divine character, err on the side of Mercy". My focus is the love of God, because that is what draws the wounded.
Hello Trailady,
Thanks for your comment. I appreciate your spiritual leadership and we've been through so much of the same things that I identify with your thoughts on this subject.
I don't ever want to offend you or anyone. You are a very dear friend. But at the same time, this subject has subconsciously weighed heavily on me for decades and I didn't realize it. When I finally came out of the fog on Christ's apparent hard-handedness, I saw a love that is much deeper than I had ever imagined. I see a justice that is love and fair, as well as a mercy that is as enduring as His justice. If I can't accept His justice, I don't deserve His mercy. If I can't trust in His justice and appreciate it, then I don't really know His mercy to trust in it.
After decades of trying to see only His mercy, I found I had to dodge 90% of the Bible and ignore and skirt what was always in my way--His Law and justice. He finally had me in a corner and then I finally accepted that He can do what He will with His own, even warn and threaten and execute. Until a person loves Him for that, he can't really love Him. Now I don't mind telling of His power and justice. I'm not afraid of it anymore because I trust He will always blend His mercy in and plenty of it. And that's a beautiful thought.
Thanks again, Trailady. I will never forget your friendship.
One other thing, Trailady.... We should question God's judgments! That's why they are in the inspired record. God wants us to question Him, and investigate His motives. By turning a blind eye, we will never understand Him. Let's enter into the clouds and thick darkness with Moses, and see if God was righteous or not. If we dare.
Frankly, it was unavoidable for me. And I think many honest folks outside of the church see God the same as I did. Every time I turned around I saw judgment. Even in the Sermon on the mount! Even in Christ's parables! Where could I turn for a friend, except a few verses. That's not good enough for me! I want a friend who is consistently my friend. If God won't be that, then I don't need Him. So I lashed out at Him. He wants us only hot or cold.
Thus in my struggles I was forced to my knees. Then His Spirit healed me. I saw that He is my only friend and I was reconciled to Him. I saw that He was wrestling with all those people the whole time, as individuals and as a group. I saw His love.
And the angels said, "Fear not," because those special individuals had finally learned to respect God's judgment. They had learned to not be presumptuous with God, thus they were prepared to be blessed with a special messenger of mercy.
Trailady, this has been my experience.
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