Can God make a rock so big that he cant pick it up? (Genesis 29)
Genesis 29
Many people who have a negative view of God and Christianity have arrogantly and mockingly asked the sarcastic and illogical question; “Can God make a rock too big for him to lift?” Ok, tuck that thought away we are going to come back to it in a minute.
I was having trouble with thinking of something to write about chapter 29 of Genesis ( read the chapter and see what I’m talking about), So I decided to go by the motto of “when in doubt, point to Jesus” because it is all about him anyway. So, from this chapter I have picked out a few parallels that I am going to elaborate on. We see in chapter 29, Jacob is seeking for his wife and comes across a bunch of shepards and their flock of sheep at a well that is covered by a stone at which they would water their flock.
I believe the shepards represent pastors and spiritual leaders, while the sheep represents Gods people (Christians). In Johns Gospel, Jesus tells us that he is The Good Shepard and he tells the Samaritan woman at the well that he can give her living water, water that will quench her thirst indefinitely. He is talking about eternal life. The shepards were all gathered around with their flocks around the well but they said that they could not roll the stone away. A preacher can gather people around a well ( in church) but the best they can do is point to Jesus, they can not take away sin and give salvation. The Bible say salvation is The Lord’s. Which brings us back to our question; “Can God make a rock that he can’t lift?” The answer is yes, and this is why (stay with me). God created all things including righteousness and sin. There is no righteousness without sin to compare it to. By our choice we chose to live in sin and in doing so we took on a weight that we could never lift on our own. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. That is where Christ comes in, he takes the weight of our sin upon his own shoulders and takes our death penalty on himself. In taking our penalty he has defeated our enemies of Satan and sin. If we have accepted him and his death in our stead we are saved and escape from the consequences of our eternal torment in hell. However the is still one more enemy left to defeat. That enemy is death, which he defeated in his resurrection. Without his resurrection we are still salves of the grave and there would never be any resurrection for us. So this stone that that was too big for God to lift is sin. Since God is a Good Judge he had to convict us as sinners for the wrong that we have done him, but as the Good Shepard he has took the punishment on himself. So initially God could not lift the stone, but his Son could, 3 days after his death when he rolled it from the mouth of the tomb. The stone over the tomb represents our sin and how it separates us from God. In rolling away the stone Christ units himself back to his bride. The Bible teaches us that the church is the bride of Christ. It is on the cross that Jesus proposed to us and it is in the resurrection he marries us.
Many people who have a negative view of God and Christianity have arrogantly and mockingly asked the sarcastic and illogical question; “Can God make a rock too big for him to lift?” Ok, tuck that thought away we are going to come back to it in a minute.
I was having trouble with thinking of something to write about chapter 29 of Genesis ( read the chapter and see what I’m talking about), So I decided to go by the motto of “when in doubt, point to Jesus” because it is all about him anyway. So, from this chapter I have picked out a few parallels that I am going to elaborate on. We see in chapter 29, Jacob is seeking for his wife and comes across a bunch of shepards and their flock of sheep at a well that is covered by a stone at which they would water their flock.
I believe the shepards represent pastors and spiritual leaders, while the sheep represents Gods people (Christians). In Johns Gospel, Jesus tells us that he is The Good Shepard and he tells the Samaritan woman at the well that he can give her living water, water that will quench her thirst indefinitely. He is talking about eternal life. The shepards were all gathered around with their flocks around the well but they said that they could not roll the stone away. A preacher can gather people around a well ( in church) but the best they can do is point to Jesus, they can not take away sin and give salvation. The Bible say salvation is The Lord’s. Which brings us back to our question; “Can God make a rock that he can’t lift?” The answer is yes, and this is why (stay with me). God created all things including righteousness and sin. There is no righteousness without sin to compare it to. By our choice we chose to live in sin and in doing so we took on a weight that we could never lift on our own. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. That is where Christ comes in, he takes the weight of our sin upon his own shoulders and takes our death penalty on himself. In taking our penalty he has defeated our enemies of Satan and sin. If we have accepted him and his death in our stead we are saved and escape from the consequences of our eternal torment in hell. However the is still one more enemy left to defeat. That enemy is death, which he defeated in his resurrection. Without his resurrection we are still salves of the grave and there would never be any resurrection for us. So this stone that that was too big for God to lift is sin. Since God is a Good Judge he had to convict us as sinners for the wrong that we have done him, but as the Good Shepard he has took the punishment on himself. So initially God could not lift the stone, but his Son could, 3 days after his death when he rolled it from the mouth of the tomb. The stone over the tomb represents our sin and how it separates us from God. In rolling away the stone Christ units himself back to his bride. The Bible teaches us that the church is the bride of Christ. It is on the cross that Jesus proposed to us and it is in the resurrection he marries us.