Falling Rock or Rock Falling

“Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” (Mt 21:43-44 AV)

 

There are different ways of looking at this.  The first and most important is there is no third option.  Either you fall upon the Rock or the Rock falls on you.  There is no choice where you and the Rock never interact.  This is a misnomer.  To think we can decide to do nothing concerning the Rock as assume there are no consequences is not a reality.  The Rock demands we fall on Him or He will fall on us.  The Rock, of course, is Jesus.  Another application is the warning of the previous verse.  If Israel does not do with the Rock as they have opportunity, then the Rock will go to other nations who will respond to His invitation.  This is exactly what happened.  The Pharisees, lawyers, and Sadducees did not feel worthy of salvation.  They deceived the nation who crucified Him.  So, the Rock went to the Gentiles who fell upon the Rock.  However, there is a third application I wish to consider more closely.  That is, falling upon the Rock will break the one who falls upon Him.

The Greek word here for broken is very interesting.  Thayer’s says the word means, “to break to pieces, shatter”.  However, Strong’s says the word for broken means, “to crush; to dash together, that is, shatter”.  What I noticed was that Strong’s does not mean to dash asunder.  As in shattering and scattering.  Rather, the implication is when dashed to pieces, it becomes part of the Rock.  In part or in whole, that which falls upon the Rock is assimilated into the Rock.  Conversely, the phrase, “it will grind him to powder” has the idea of winnowing away.  Like grinding barley or wheat to remove the seed from the rest so the wind can take it away, the idea here is if the Rock falls on the unrelenting individual, it is for the purpose of separation, not incorporation.  When we speak of a brokenness, we speak of complete and total surrender.  This illustration which the LORD uses for salvation goes deeper than mere surrender.  He is expounding the truth that salvation means we are incorporated in Christ.  We become one in Him.  Jesus said as much in the gospel of John.  But I think the Spirit wants us to go even deeper.  We mustn’t stop with the application of salvation.  This principle goes deeper into the heart of sanctification.  A continuing act of falling upon the Rock in every area of life that we and Christ might become one in all things.  That we might be totally and completely in Him.  Not just so that we can have forgiveness of sin and a home in heaven, but a brokenness that leads to complete assimilation is all areas of life.  Where the will is totally surrendered with no reservation.  This is what the Spirit is saying to us.

When we speak of brokenness, it is difficult to come up with an adequate life experience that illustrates just what that means.  Salvation is the only instance that I can think of where the LORD had totally broken me.  Since then, I have been trying to get back to it.  About the only example that comes to mind is throwing a snowball against a bolder.  My son and I used to do that when we got bored.  We would hunt all morning and not see a thing.  There was a bolder or two on my father-in-law’s mountain, so we would practice pitching.  That snowball would hit and stick in that bolder.  Depending on the weather, it would either melt off the rock or into the rock.  Coming back in the afternoon, we could still see where the snowballs hit.  There would be a big round wet patch that remained.  It was too cold for the melting snowball to evaporate.  But to warm for it to remain snow.  The snow had assimilated into the bolder.  The rock remains eternally unmovable.  The snowball is the item that had to fall upon the rock.  The bolder remained unchangeable.  The snowball took the form of the one who made it.  To every individual snowball, the bolder was the same.  The snowball must yield to the unchangeable nature of the bolder if it wished to be incorporated into its being.  The same is true of the saint.  Brokenness means complete and total surrender.  There is no part that can be held back.  The result is assimilation into the divine nature.  It can happen no other way.