Why would the rocks cry out?
To get the answer let’s fast forward, past this familiar scene outside of Jerusalem and into the future, to a time that is not yet but is coming. When Jesus was surrounded by yet another multitude.
Text: Revelation 5:1-14
This is referring to the same Jesus who humbly sat on that donkey that Sunday long ago and was crucified the following Friday.
Why would the rocks cry out? Because Jesus is worthy of all praise, from everyone, from everything. He was then. He is now. And He will be forevermore. It’s not complicated. Jesus is worthy!
He is not only worthy. He alone is worthy.
• Acts 10 A Roman centurion named Cornelius had a vision, and an angel told him to send for Peter. When Peter arrived, Cornelius bowed before him and Peter said, “Get up. I’m just a man.”
• Acts 14 Paul and Barnabas healed a man in the city of Lystra who had been lame from birth. The people came out to worship them and they tore their robes. “We’re only humans, like you!”
• Revelation 19:10; 22:9 – John fell at the feet of an awesome-looking angel to worship him and the angel said, “Don’t do it. I am fellow-servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
But Jesus had a different response.
• In John Chapter 9 when Jesus healed a man born blind and the man testified about what Jesus had done. The religious leaders threw him out the Temple but Jesus found him and it says the man worshiped him. And Jesus received it.
And in our text passage He goes even further, “The rocks would praise me if people did not.”
• According to the Scriptures, in the presence of God,
o Psalm 114:6 – The mountains leap.
o Isaiah 55:12 – Trees clap their hands.
o Psalm 19:1 – The heavens “declare!”
o Matthew 8:27 – What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey Him.
o Zechariah 14:4 tells us “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.”
When Jesus said, the rocks will cry out, He was essentially saying, “I deserve this! Because I am the One.”
• He laid aside Hiis privileges but not His identity. He knew who He was.
Why is He worthy?
1. Because of who He is.
• John 1:3 – Through Him all things were made.
• Hebrews 1:3 – He is the exact representation of the Father’s nature.
• Romans 11:36 – For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever!
• Psalm 95:6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
2. Because of what He did.
• Revelation 5:9 – “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
• Philippians 2:5-11 “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
3. Because of what He is doing.
• He’s worthy because He is the author and finisher of our faith. He inspires our faith, sustains our faith and rewards our faith.
• My testimony. In the rubble of devastation, the Lord revealed to me that the best thing in life is not getting what I want but getting to know Him.
• That day was the beginning of the heart of my ministry today, which features the amazing grace of God and the riches of knowing Christ.
• He cares for us day by day in amazing and personal ways to confirm and reaffirm His love for us that was demonstrated by His death on the cross.
• May God open the eyes of our hearts to see His worthiness and may the awareness of His glory cause our hearts to cry out in praise. And may it fill us with a faith that causes us to reflect His glory to the world around us.
Leave a Reply