Cut and Uncut Stones

4    As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—

Peter’s use of the stone image should bring many Old Testament images to mind:

• the precious stones of Havilah, intended to be mined from the Land to glorify the sanctuary [1]
• the false stones of Babel (they had brick for stone)
• Jacob’s head on the altar stone, in a deep sleep
• Jacob’s raising of an altar stone in Bethel: “And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
• Zipporah’s sharp stone of circumcision
• Moses enthroned on a stone at the defeat of Amalek
• Israel’s altars of stone (one stone for each tribe) at Sinai and Carmel
• The precious stones on the breastplate of the High Priest
• The tablets of stone carrying the ten words
• The stones of the “Levitical” house in the city filled with plague
• The stones of judgment, the ground itself as a witness executing transgressors outside the camp
• The black and white stones in the ephod

We have two types of stones: uncut stones (altar, judgment – the Law) and cut, or precious, stones (glory and riches – Grace).

It was forbidden to use worked stones to build holy altars.

“If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it.” (Exodus 20:25)

These raw stones represent Adam, drawn “raw” from the Land, before he was cut and bloodied under the “raw Law” (stoicheia). Worked stones are Adams prepared to construct the “bridal” Temple. They are not decorative gemstones, but they are indeed precious.

The Jews (“men”) misjudged Jesus and rejected Him as a rough stone, when in fact He was precious. They looked on His outward appearance and found nothing to esteem. But He was already cut, a worked stone, a circumcised heart, the founding work on a Temple for the Spirit.

5    you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Jesus built a house for the Spirit, a “Mosaic Tabernacle” made of His disciples. He filled the house with fire at Pentecost, and it came alive. Once purified, it was ready to be decorated, robed as a bride.

Gemstones are also stones filled with fire — living stones — but they are not united by the mason. They are united on the body of the Bridegroom. These reflect the light of God, and so can enter into the tent, carried upon the High Priest. Adam was supposed to be robed in glory, not bloody skin.

The famous “gemstone” passage in Ezekiel 28 doesn’t refer to Satan. Nor does it refer precisely to the king of Tyre. It is prophetic sarcasm, aimed at the Edenic Sanctuary built by Solomon.

“You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created.” Ezekiel 28:13

The precious materials for Solomon’s Temple were mined and carried from Tyre. The “king of Tyre” here was the corrupt High Priest, who had capitulated to the false gods of Tyre, reversing the influence of Solomon upon king Hiram. It was reverse evangelism, just as Satan promised a false glory to Adam and to Jesus if they would capitulate to him.

But we have a faithful High Priest, a stone not worked by lawless men but cut by the finger of a lawful God, an Adamic altar stone “cut out without hands,” and glorified with Evian gemstones, stones mined and cut from the Land of Israel — His glorious offspring. Unlike Adam, He has no need to cover Himself and hide.

“Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.” (Hebrews 2:13) [2]

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[1] See Worship as Commerce.
[2] See Pilgrim’s Egress for how this “corporate salvation” is overlooked in Bunyan’s allegory.

Desert Trees for a Crystal House

Trees are elementary Bible symbols. James Jordan writes:

We have noted that God’s people are spoken of as trees. Genesis 2 sets up the connection by saying that both men and trees come out of the ground (Genesis 2:7, 9). We have mentioned already such passages as Psalm 1 and Judges 9, where trees symbolize men. An interesting sidelight on this symbolism is provided in Mark 8:24, where the blind man healed by our Lord initially saw men as trees walking.

Trees represent men, and trees are found in association with men. Such associations often convey imagery to us, and so let us briefly trace this imagery as it appears in Scripture. To begin with, of course, is the Garden of Eden, a planting of trees and also the first planting of humanity. Cast from Eden, man could only expect the scorching sun; it is a sign of God’s blessing whenever we find the righteous dwelling at groves of trees.

I recommend reading this entire chapter, Trees and Thorns (from page 81) in Through New Eyes: Developing a Biblical View of the World [PDF]. It is wonderful stuff.

The Tabernacle furniture was made of acacia wood.[1] It symbolised the wilderness. The tree was most common in stream beds. It pictured a godly man planted in the Word. It pictured Eden, an oasis garden supported by springs.[2]

Just as the saints plundered Egypt and Amalek, they plundered the waste places of gemstones and quality wood for the worship of God.[3] Eventually, these were brought into Solomon’s Temple, which was made of “Promised Land” timbers, cedar for the outer areas and olive for the holiest places.

The acacia wood was tried and tested in the wilderness, but it came out glorified, covered in fine gold. It was carried from the outlying lands back to Eden by the saints. The Tabernacle furniture always symbolised God’s plan for the nations. The gospel flows out as water for the nations, and the resulting glory of their kings is brought back to the Temple.[4] For every man, the wilderness test is the way to the judicial seat at God’s right hand.

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[1]  I need to fix this in my book!
[2]  The word “mist” in Genesis 2 should be translated “spring.” The symbolism of the Temple as a garden over a spring which sends rivers into the world can also be found in Psalm 24.
[3]  The Bible often pictures worship as commerce, “buying and selling.” See Gold, Onyx and Bdellium.
[4] Note that when there is a “backwash” of idolatry (sewerage) into the Temple, the children of the compromise, the “mighty men” of the wilderness, the sons of God in Genesis 6, Tyre and Sidon in Ezekiel, and the four empires from Daniel and Revelation, are destroyed in the “waters of Noah”. Each time, the Lord planted a new Eden and then wiped out the old one.

Picture: Water in the Wilderness by M. Mandel

Leaving Wilderness Behind

In Through New Eyes, James Jordan notes that the wilderness was Havilah, the place mentioned in Genesis 2 that was rich in raw materials. Israel stripped Egypt of her gold, then plundered the desolate places of hidden wealth. She came out of the desert with a High Priest clothed in gems, and a new generation of soldiers born of God’s threshing floor.

The manna began to fall just after the Hebrews’ victory over Pharaoh. As with Jacob, the Lord was faithful to provide for His chosen one. But perhaps, in covering the ground, there is also the idea of a firmament (this might sound strange to some readers, but I have found the concept is a frequent one). The wilderness is the place of the humble bread of priesthood, displayed in obedience to God. It was the next generation that would drink the wine of Canaan after obedience under Joshua.

A Memorial

The Lord commanded that some manna be put into the Ark as a memorial. Symbolising manna, the white stone is a memorial of faithful priesthood. Joshua’s crossing of the Jordan was memorialised by large, engraved, white stones.

And it shall be, on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. “You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the LORD your God is giving you, ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ just as the LORD God of your fathers promised you. Therefore it shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime. And there you shall build an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them. You shall build with whole stones the altar of the LORD your God, and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God. You shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before the LORD your God. And you shall write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law.” (Deut. 27:2-8)

Coming at the ‘Trumpets’ step of Israel’s journey from slavery to Sabbath, these white stones were a symbol of her corporate resurrection. Neither faithful Moses nor faithful Israel left a body to be found in the howling tomb. The dirty birds of the Covenant curse were empty-bellied.

From Gravestone to Topstone

The Hebrew bdl is the word used to describe God’s dividing at Creation. In post-exilic texts it is used to describe the division of the priesthood from the people, and sinners from the people. It is an act that brings about a new Creation. This is the word in the hand of Zerubbabel. It is not a plumbline. It is a metal stone symbolising a priestly division, a cutting in two that brings new life. What was the cutting in two? It was the future death of the Lamb that allowed Joshua to put on the Lord Jesus Christ in the heavenly court, under the very eyes of the very dirtiest bird, the Accuser.

Zerubbabel brought forth the engraved “altar” stone as a craftsman brings forth his chiselled work. As an altar stone, it was not cut by human hands, but engraved by the finger of God. Just as the prophets brought the stones of the Law down upon Israel under Nebuchadnezzar, so too this small white stone would be exalted. The two pillars of Solomon’s Temple (priest and king) were slain, but now replaced with a single element that was divided as priest and exalted as king. It was permanent bread from heaven that would never, ever be filled with worms, the very public face of the hidden manna in the lost Ark, and the Facebread hidden to all but the priests.

Flintstone-Faced

Ezekiel was promised a hard face so that he could face the hardened faces of God’s rebellious rulers. As a High Priest in exile, he was not given the golden forehead-plate with its seven holy eyes, but the real thing. The Bible speaks often of Adam’s face relating to priesthood. The ‘face of a man’ in Ezekiel 1 corresponds to the Table of Showbread in the north (always facing south). The account of Cain and Abel is structured according to the Creation/Tabernacle pattern, and at the Facebread step, the representative Man at the Altar, Cain’s face fell. He was no longer his brother’s keeper, his watchman. Ezekiel was made a new watchman because Israel’s priesthood had become like Cain.

Jesus also set His face like flint. As Facebread, it was covered in blood, first as the cursed brow-sweat, then with the cursed ground-thorns, Adam and Cain. He was set apart, cut asunder, as a bread fragrant with frankincense before God, then resurrected. An angel dressed in lightning-white sat on the stone to speak as a memorial. The howling waste of Sheol was empty, and so was the dirtiest bird, who like Herod and Haman and all those before, had anticipated a feast. He was a serpent exposed on a pole to disempower its fiery children, a man impaled by the emperor whose ungodly sons were also slain, a false god-voice devoured alive by death-eating worms on his stolen throne like overripe manna. There is no Sabbath without resurrection. All faces will be lifted to face God, and all faces will be covered – either in a bloody human firmament (Christ’s) or in a black hood, a veil. We are white stones, or whited sepulchres.

The Word is ‘Yes’

“Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for the Lord always came up in the left hand. They would close the gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open” (Jacob Neusner, The Yerushalmi, p.156-157).

Both Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds record these strange events. After the crucifixion, it is written that

1. the most important lamp of the Temple menorah went out every night despite every precaution. Judah’s Lampstand would be removed, and not shine in her any more. It was given to the witnessing Firstfruits church (Rev. 11:4; 18:23; 22:5).
2. the crimson thread that reportedly turned white if the Day of Atonement had been successful no longer did so
3. the Temple doors kept swinging open of their own accord. The Jerusalem Talmud states:
   ”Said Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai to the Temple, ‘O Temple, why do you frighten us? We know that you will end up destroyed. For it has been said, ‘Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars’ ” (Zechariah 11:1)’ (Yoma 6:3).
4. the Day of Atonement ‘lot’ that chose the goat for Azal, a black stone and a white stone, came up black every year between AD30 and AD70.

The scapegoat was chosen by lot, the Urim and Thummim engraved stones in the ephod – a miniature Ark worn by the High Priest. The Last Supper, as I have mentioned before, follows the feasts pattern, and at Atonement, Judas is chosen by Christ as the scapegoat. His replacement is chosen by lot, and then the Holy Spirit is poured out, after which we never hear of the lot again. Faithful saints are given the white stone by the Spirit, the Law engraved on tablets of flesh.

Zerubbabel’s exaltation of the white stone was a resounding ‘Yes!’ from the Lord. Atonement was accepted. The Temple of God would be completed and Israel’s resurrection would again turn the howling waste into a true vine and figleaf Feast of Tabernacles.

“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”  
2 Corinthians 1:20

If the Talmudic accounts above are true, and the black stone denotes that the atonement after the once-for-all death of Christ could never again be accepted, the white stone promised in Jesus’ letter to Pergamum takes on bloody connotations for the receiver. In context, it was written just before the biggest corporate massacre and resurrection of saints in history. They had received the Word-bread with thanksgiving. Now they themselves would be broken bread covering the ground in Herod’s howling waste. If the Herodian priesthood’s right hand would not be marked with the blood of the bdellium (divided) stone, it would be marked with the blood of the saints.

WHITSTON3