Renting Rocks

Daily Devotional – I’m Normal.™  I AM Ministries

“To promote Godly living in a culture committed to destroying it”

Normal I AM

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Renting Rocks

Did you ever rent a rock? This may sound absurd, but don’t dismiss the idea until you have read how God feels about renting rocks. He doesn’t do it often, but when He does, He is sending us a message.

When Jesus gave up His Spirit, “the Earth shook and the rocks split.” (Matthew 27:5b). God caused the rocks to rent – they broke into pieces. This breakage resulted from the massive temblor, the likes of which the world had not yet experienced. It shook not only Calvary where Christ was crucified, but the entire nation of Israel and the surrounding countries. In an age when the science earthquake causes were mysteries, this was a terrifying and dramatic event. Still, the question remains – what message was God trying to send?

One thing God communicated was the horrible wickedness of Christ’s crucifiers. By trembling under such a load, the Earth testified to Jesus’ innocence despite His horrific persecution. Just as we might shudder when we see horror, so did the Earth. The quake also spoke to the lack of piety of those who persecuted Him. Never before had God’s entire Creation groaned and shook under such a burden as the Son of God crucified and the guilty wretches who crucified Him.

When the ground shook, it was in revulsion to the thought of opening its mouth to receive the Christ’s blood, so much more precious than Abel’s, which it had received and for which it was cursed (Genesis 4:11). It was as though the Earth would open its mouth and swallow up the rebellious zealots who put Him to death, as it had swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram for much lesser crimes (Numbers 16:31-34). The prophets used this word picture as an expression of God’s great displeasure against the wickedness of those who killed His messengers, “Will not the land tremble for this?” (Amos 8:8). On the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, it happened for real.

In contrast, the earthquake displayed the glorious achievements of Christ’s Cross. This mighty force signified the awesome, actually fatal, blow to the devil’s kingdom. The assault Jesus Christ made against the infernal powers was so intense the Earth trembled (Judges 5:4, Psalm 68:7-8). God shakes all nations when the Savior is nigh (Haggai 2:6, 21).

As easily as a man tears sheets of paper, God rent the layers of solid rock, and the hardest and firmest part of the Earth felt this mighty shock. Jesus had said if the children ceased to cry Hosanna, the stones would immediately cry out. Now, in effect, they did just that, proclaiming the glory of the suffering of Jesus. These inanimate rocks were more sensitive and responsive to the wrongs done to our LORD than the hard-hearted Jews were. Ironically, the Jews will one day be desperate to find a hole in the rocks, a cleft in the ragged rocks, so they may hide themselves from the face of Him who sits on the throne (Revelation 6:16). When God’s fury is poured out like fire, the rocks are thrown down by Him (Nahum 1:6).

Jesus Christ is our Rock, and God rending the rocks on Calvary pointed to the rending of our LORD, in whom we find shelter. It is in cleft rocks where we may hide, as did Moses in the cleft of the rock at Horeb, so the glory of the LORD could be seen (Exodus 33:22). It is said that Christ’s dove is hidden in the clefts of the rock, sheltered in the wounds of our Savior, the Rock rent. It is from clefts in the rocks that living water may flow, as it did for Moses in the wilderness when he struck it (Exodus 17:6). Today, we receive the Living Water of Christ when we cleave to Him.

God showed on the day of Christ’s crucifixion how normal it is to rent rocks. When we celebrate the memorial of Christ’s death, God wishes our own hard and rocky hearts to be rent. “I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 11:19).

Hearts can be harder than rock and are equally unyielding, and sometimes they need to be rent just as rocks shattered by a violent force. May our hearts be broken by the things that break God’s heart. Certainly God’s heart was broken on the day He watched His Son die. Don’t wait for the renting of rocks to open your heart. Be normal and open your heart to Him today.

In His love and service,

Jeff Myers
A servant of Jesus Christ

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