by Kevin Burton
A philosopher once defined “nothing” as “that which rocks dream about.”
That makes sense, drives home the point. Rocks don’t dream as far as I know. But talking rocks, now that’s a thing.
Or at least could be, if need be.
The story is told, “the triumphal entry,” in Luke 19. Jesus is headed to Jerusalem, riding on a borrowed donkey. The masses respond with praise and adoration.
“And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; saying, ‘Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.’”
“And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, ‘Master, rebuke thy disciples.’ And he answered and said unto them, ‘I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out’” (Luke 19: 37-40 KJV).
One of the two articles on the website gotquestions.org that speak to the rocks crying out says that this statement is “most likely” not to be taken literally. I don’t agree with that.
Men have free will. But God has ordained that certain things will happen at certain times. I always took the rocks crying out statement to mean that at this time, God said there would be praise, and that if for some reason people wouldn’t do it, rocks would.
It is much, much easier for rocks to speak than for the will of God to be thwarted. If God can make rocks out of nothing, can he not make them speak?
But I am also convinced that we shouldn’t be tripping over this question.
My go-to Bible commentary is by the late Dr. Warren Wiersbe. I grew up listening to him on Back To The Bible on radio. He was also pastor of the Moody Church for a time.
In Wiersbe’s treatment of Luke 19: 37-40 he doesn’t even mention the rocks. Maybe he speaks to that elsewhere is his writings. I don’t know.
But here is what he does say in his commentary on the triumphal entry:
“This is the only time Jesus permitted a public demonstration on His behalf, and he did so for at least two reasons.”
“First, He was fulfilling prophecy and presenting himself as Israel’s king. (Zech. 9:9).
The second reason for this demonstration was to force the Jewish religious leaders to act. They had hoped to arrest him after the Passover (Matt 26: 3-5) but God had ordained that His son be slain on Passover as the “Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” ( John 1:29, 1 Cor. 5:7).”
“When they saw this great public demonstration the leaders knew that they had to act, and the willing cooperation of Judas solved their problem for them (Matt. 26:14-16).”
So, this was Jesus moving events in the direction of the cross, toward your salvation and mine. Big, world-changing events were taking place. If we fixate on rocks, it must mean we have rocks in our spiritual heads.
“The rocks will cry out” points to the reality that all creation, even inanimate objects like rocks, is made to glorify God (Psalm 19:1; Colossians 1:16), reads part of the other post pertaining to the rocks on gotquestions.org.
“Human praise is essential because of who God is and what He has done, but even if it is withheld, creation will fill the void, fulfilling its purpose to honor God (Genesis 1:27). The concept of rocks crying out is a vivid reminder that everything in creation is meant to glorify God, and humans, made in His image, have a unique responsibility to praise Him (Psalm 148).
“We, believers, are called to actively participate in worship and to live for God, which reflects His glory.”
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