Matthew 21:44
“And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”
This is quite a scripture. Both options seem to have a bad outcome. However, the latter is far worse. What do they mean?
First off, Jesus referred to Himself as the stone, the Chief Corner Stone. We’ve got two choices, do we fall on the stone voluntarily or does it fall on us? God calls us to do what He says. That’s what it means to fear Him. We go to Him and kneel before Him. He tells us to confess our sins and accept His Son as savior and lord.
As we come to God, that is the death of self. That is the first act in being broken. He is our boss. Luke 9:23,24 says, ‘And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, this is the one who will save it.”‘ We are to deny ourselves daily. That’s a continual choice of brokenness.
I know this sounds difficult, but it’s really not. At first, maybe. We see a hint of this in His Words. “whoever loses his life for My sake, this is the one who will save it”. Our being broken is the saving of our lives.
How is it our salvation? Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” When we are born again, Jesus comes and lives in us. He is the author of life. He knows and loves us best. Our lives become a fountain of joy and blessing.
If we don’t go to God and submit to Him, then we are living for ourselves. That is the most popular option. We are in our sins, living a life that is separated from God. ‘John 8:34 has this to say about that state, ‘Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”‘ This would surprise most. Granted, some people’s enslavement is more severe than others. I think of all the addictions. Most people don’t have those.
So how are the others enslaved to their sin? Romans 1:21 says, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened.” If one doesn’t accept Christ as lord and savior, they are rejecting Him. Our thinking gets warped and our hearts are darkened. True north is God’s way. If we are at sea and we are off course we can’t sense that. Our entire journey is getting more and more off track. We have no idea.
God will continue to draw us to Him. The more we reject Him, the easier it is to do that next time. Our hearts get darker and darker. Our spiritual senses are calloused against God and His ways. We think all is good. We may be happy and prosperous. We will one day pass away. The truth of our state will be instantly apparent. This is when the stone would crush that one. Actually it’s more the choice of the individual to not accept Jesus’ escape route.
Lord, You seek to draw all to Yourself. You use us to assist in that. Give us the wisdom to know what to say and the boldness to say it.
