"Long Live Rock!"

Who will live and win? Ecclesiastes says "for a living dog is better than a dead lion."

produced by static force llc sometimes things don't change.

Transcript

Long Live Rock!

by Eric Engelmann

All content © 2024 Static Force, LLC

When are we?

Like previous episodes, It’s a little after 600 BC.

Where are we?

Babylon.

Have we been here and now in a previous episode?

Yes. Last episode we talked about how Nebuchadnezzar dreamt about a humble rock.

Why are we here now?

In this episode, I want to tell my listeners how to live in honor. How to live a long time with God.

Some History

Adam and Eve were once glorious in the presence of the Most High, but they disobeyed and hid in a garden. The Most High sought them out. His presence and His promises destroyed the destructive path of their lives. Soon, Adam was calling his wife “Eve” – the mother of the living.

This episode is about living rock. King Nebuchadnezzar’s first dream starts with an awesome statue that can’t move. By the end of the dream, it’s replaced by a living rock that grows bigger than the statue. It looks like a mountain when it’s full grown.

By Way of Comparison

One way to summarize the dream – both the image and the rock competed for ground on the same stage. I’ll call this the arena of worship and attention. The dream started with only one player – the image made with the same technologies as idols. The dream ended with a rock cut from a mountain.

The image didn’t grow and didn’t move. It was not alive. The rock was alive. It lasted, grew and maybe changed its shape. It was also a multiplication of the mountain it came from.

In contrast, the image didn’t listen or hear or respond or get humble. The image didn’t move!

The image eventually dwindled and literally blew away like chaff. No life in it.

But the rock was a reproduction. It came from a mountain and grew into a mountain – similar to what it was cut from.

It won.

Scripture

Listen for indications that the rock in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was alive.

Verse 31 “You, O king, saw, and behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, *stood* before you; and its appearance was terrifying. 

Note: In this dream, the image's only trick is to stand and take up space!

Verse 34 You saw until a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them. 

The stone that struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

Note: Unlike the image, the rock grew!

The rock was not ashamed, it didn’t go hide, even though there was nothing said about how awesome, bright or terribile it was.

Skipping ahead...

Verse 44 “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, nor will its sovereignty be left to another people; but it will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever. 45 Because you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king what will happen hereafter. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”

That's the end of the passage.

The rock stood its ground and made the image just a bunch of memories. The dust from the image never grew and never reassembled. It was just blown off the stage.

The image started with awe and ended in nothing. 

I think the mountain that the stone was cut from represents God Himself. He took what was in himself – outside of earth – and reproduced Himself near the image to take over the earth.

I’ve said in an earlier episode that the stone was cut in the shape to support a wall. I said this because the stone was cut – and usually cut stones were parts of walls.

But of course no dead wall could hold this rock. It was living. It grew.

In the Future

In the future, Jesus, God’s Son, will be born. He’ll be different from all other men and will say that His kingdom is not of this world.

People who live because of Him will eventually live in honor – not be lost from memory.

All content © 2024 Static Force, LLC