How to Be a Stone

In Luke 3:7 and 8, John the Baptist rebukes the people of His day, saying,

" (7) Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (8) Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance and begin not to say 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I say to you that God is able of THESE STONES to raise up children unto Abraham."

Apparently, John enjoyed a reputation among the people as a prophet, and so many were coming to him for baptism without really understanding his message of repentance. I cannot imagine any modern evangelist insulting the people coming for baptism!

But John knew that divine judgment was coming--and, indeed, Jerusalem was surrounded by the Roman armies precisely 40 years to the day after John was executed. Both events occurred at Passover, one in 30 A.D. and the other in 70 A.D. And so, John's "insult" was based on the fact that the people were "vipers" fleeing the fire, rather than true repenters seeking God. In other words, they wanted to freedom from Rome, but did not want to do what was necessary to obtain that freedom.

His words proved to be true when they followed their religious leaders and rejected Jesus as Messiah. In fact, John had just prophesied of His coming in the previous verse, for we read in Luke 3:6, "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God." The word for "salvation" has been translated into Greek, of course, but the Hebrew word is Yeshua, which was Jesus' name. John was simply continuing the prophecy of Simeon found in Luke 2:30. It was given when he saw the Lord's Messiah and heard Him named: "For my eyes have seen Thy Yeshua."

John, then, presents repentance (a change of heart and mind) as a requirement for escaping the divine judgment.

Secondly, we are introduced to another idea that identifies "these stones" as children of Abraham. Perhaps John pointed to literal stones on the ground nearby, stones that went largely unnoticed and were considered to be worthless, inconvenient, and even harmful. Many in the multitude coming to John thought of themselves as "chosen" and worth more to God than other ethnic groups. John dispensed with that idea, hitting them where it hurt most--their racial pride.

Stones often represent people in Scripture. Daniel's Stone Kingdom is a corporate body made up of people (little stones). In the same way, the New Covenant has a corporate Temple made of living stones, and each living stone is an individual temple in itself. You are the temple of God, but in the bigger picture, you are just one living stone in a corporate temple that He is building.

Today, there are many people who want freedom from Mystery Babylon's captivity, much like we find in John's day. But God will not set us free until the people repent, for the captivity itself is meant to bring us to the place of repentance. We must recognize where our fathers went wrong and understand how they rejected God even in the midst of their religious activity.

The bottom line is that the divinely sealed ones, those with the sign of the cross in their foreheads, are those who manifest this change of heart and mind to conform to the principles of the Kingdom that is coming. The little stones must be microcosms of the big Stone. They must change until they are in agreement. Physical descendants of Abraham have been given the first opportunity, and in that sense they were favored. But physical descent is not what God requires to be a stone in His temple. It is the character of Christ that He requires.

God is raising up an AMEN people, those who are in agreement with Him. Jesus was the Amen of God, as we read in Rev. 3:14, "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God."

Jesus was the Amen, because He did only what He saw His Father do, and He said only what He heard His Father say. His whole life was one big AMEN, a double witness on earth to what was already in heaven. He was a "true" witness in that He accurately did and said what He saw and heard. He was a "faithful" witness in that He did not refrain from doing and speaking what He saw and heard.

This is the power of creation itself, "the beginning of the creation of God," as John writes. In the first creation in the book of Genesis, the Father spoke, and Christ said "So let it be," which is the meaning of AMEN. "Let there be light," (Gen. 1:3) resulted in light by the law of the double witness. John 1:1 says,

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

The Word is not only "with God," but is also God Himself. It is a great mystery how God could separate Himself into two locations at the same time in order to provide for Himself a double witness. I do not claim to understand it, other than to say that I believe He is omniscient, having the ability to fill all things and be everywhere at the same time while remaining undivided.

As at the beginning, when He created the heavens and the earth, so also will it be in the creation of the New Heavens and the New Earth. That creative power comes through the law of the double witness, and the creators this time will be a body of Amen people, the body of Christ.

The fact that the coming Amen of God includes not only the Head (Christ) but also the Body (overcomers) is seen in Isaiah 65:16, 17,

" (16) That he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of AMEN; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of AMEN . . . (17) For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth."

The KJV translates "Amen" by the word "truth." But the Hebrew word for truth is amet, not amen. "Amen" is used in the New Testament whenever Jesus said, "verily, verily." It is the NT equivalent of the OT "Amen, Amen" and was a legal statement of agreement. The point is that PEOPLE in the earth will bless and take oaths by the God of Amen. This is, in turn, connected to the creation of the new heavens and new earth.

These are the "stones" that God is raising up to be the seed of Abraham. John's point was to show that genealogy is not everything. He can raise up seed for Abraham from any source, because He is not limited by genealogy. He looks upon the heart, and wherever He finds the character of Christ, He sees another Son in the making. These people are compatible with Him. They do not fight Him or His plan.

The day will come when the whole earth, represented by the four beasts around the throne, will say AMEN (Rev. 5:14). The plan will then be completed, for all enemies will then be reconciled to Him. But meanwhile, God is raising up a limited body of people to show the rest of the people by example how to come into agreement with Him--and demonstrate the benefits of such agreement. Let us strive to be part of that smaller number, so that we have the pleasure of dispensing the blessings of God to all families of the earth.