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Rev. Langerak is pastor of the Southeast Protestant Reformed
Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
It is easy to overlook the lowly
stone. But Scripture does not. In it, stone represents spiritual realities as
commonality (II Chron. 1:15), a fool’s wrath (Prov. 27:3), danger ( Ps.
91:12 ), end of man ( Job
28:3 ), and terrified, lifeless,
natural, and inhumane hearts ( Ex.
15:16 ; I
Sam. 25:37 ; Ezek.
11:19 ; Job
41:24 ). But it is especially their
permanence that is special in the kingdom. More interested in show than
substance, the children of men make their kingdom from brick ( Gen.
11:3 ). God builds with stone. The
corner of His kingdom is Jesus, the living stone made without hands, rejected
of men but chosen of God and precious ( Dan.
2:34 ; Matt.
21:42 ). He said that His Father
didn’t give stones for bread ( Matt.
7:9 ) and could raise up children
from stones ( Matt.
3:9 ), and that if people didn’t
praise Him the stones would ( Luke
19:40 ). For three days He lay
encased in stone, only to spring free ( Lam.
3:53 ). Upon Him is built a
spiritual house of elect stones—each solid, lasting, formed in the quarry of
this world, but very alive ( I
Pet. 2:4 ff.; I
Kings 6:7 ).
Stones represent God’s use of lowly means such as the Word and discipline to
maintain the antithesis and preserve the covenant from threats within and
without. Stones were formidable weapons in the hands of the skilled (I Chron. 12:2). David toppled that uncircumcised monstrosity Goliath
with one. Uzziah developed cunning engines to hurl
them on those who laid siege to God’s city (II Chron. 26:15). Sometimes, God simply hurled the stones himself ( Josh.
10:11 ). The Egyptians sank like
stones in the Red Sea ( Ex.
15:5 ). As a great stone cast into
the sea, Old Babylon fell, a fate that awaits the New Babylon (Jer. 51:63; Rev.
18:21 ). And Jesus is the ultimate
stone; those who fall upon Him are humbled and saved, but those upon whom He
falls are ground forever into powder ( Matt.
21:44 ). The accursed were buried
under stones ( Josh.
7:26 ; II
Sam. 18:17 ). Stoning freed the
congregation from the guilt of another. Therefore, it was reserved for sins
of which they might easily become partakers by “silence and connivance,” such
as blasphemy ( Lev.
24:14 ), adultery ( Deut.
22:21 ), Sabbath desecration ( Num.
15:33 ), soothsaying ( Lev.
20:27 ), idolatry ( Deut.
17:5 ), promoting apostasy ( Deut.
13:6 ), and rebellion by riotous
children ( Deut.
21:18 ff.). But apostates used
stones on the righteous ( Heb.
11:37 ). Almost stoned were Jesus
and Moses ( John
10:31 ; Ex.
17:4 ). Stoned but spared were David
and Paul ( II
Sam. 16:13 ; Acts
14:19 ). Killed was Naboth, for trying to preserve his heritage ( I
Kings 21:13 ); and for their
testimony, the prophet Zechariah (II Chron. 24:21) and deacon Stephen ( Acts
7:59 ).
Stones represent the unconditional character of God’s covenant. On the one
hand, they testify of the church’s covenant unfaithfulness. They witnessed
notorious evil: Adonijah’s rebellion ( I
Kings 1:9 ), Saul’s treachery ( I
Sam. 20:19 ), and Joab’s murder of his cousin ( II
Sam. 20:8 ). Israel turned
them into high places, worshiped stones as their father, and learned from
stones (Jer. 2:27; Hab. 2:19). On the other hand, stones witness to God’s everlasting
covenant faithfulness. With his finger God wrote the “words of the covenant”
on two stone slabs to teach that men could (and would) break them, but the
covenant itself was unbreakable ( Ex.
31:18 ; Ex.
34:28 ). Stone monuments testified
of this truth to succeeding generations. Jacob set up two in Bethel, one each time God confirmed the
covenant ( Gen.
28:13 ; Gen.
35:9 ff.). Israel set up stones to
remember God’s covenant promise ( Josh.
4:7 ), God’s covenant law ( Deut.
27:8 ; Josh.
24:26 ), their covenantal unity ( Josh.
22:34 ), and God’s defense of the
covenant ( I
Sam. 7:12 ).
Finally, stones reveal the grace and purpose of God’s sovereign election in
the covenant. God made some stones precious, beautiful, and rare. The church
was carried into the presence of God as gems set in the garments of the high
priest ( Ex.
25:7-8 ; Ex.
28:9 ff.). Precious stones make up
the King’s treasury (I Chron. 29:8; II Chron. 32:27) and cover His crown ( Zech
9:16 ). Mere rocks when in darkness,
they burst forth in radiant beauty when infused with the glorious light of
God’s perfections (II Chron. 3:6). The consummate gem, Jesus, glows like a rainbow ( Rev.
4:3 ). And His church, the New
Jerusalem, is where the glory of God forever glitters on crystalline walls of
the righteous, pearly gates of patriarchs, and a foundation of twelve
apostolic gems ( Rev.
21:11-21 ).
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