Theology by Geology

By Rev. Samuel Schuldheisz

I got a rock,” Charlie Brown said in his typical doleful manner. Whenever I watch It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, I find myself sympathizing with poor, dejected Charlie Brown. I would have felt the same way on Halloween if all I had found in my trick-or-treat bag was a rock instead of my favorite Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or King Size Snickers Bars. Unless you are an aspiring geologist, I think most of us would agree with Charlie Brown that a rock, at least one that is not polished or precious, is a rather lackluster thing to receive.

And yet, Scripture is a deep quarry of rocks and stones. Time and time again, from the minerals and boulders of creation in Genesis to the precious gems adorning the walls of the heavenly new Jerusalem in Revelation, God does some of His most incredible work around rocks, stones, and the boulders of the ground. Throughout Scripture, God uses the ordinary, hard, dusty rocks of His creation to be a sign of His blessing, protection, rock-hard promises, His steadfast presence, and His unshakable, gracious saving work on behalf of His people. You could even say that God gives us a lot of theology by geology.

After the flood, Noah built an altar of stone to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings upon it. There, the Lord declared His promise to Noah and all creation: “I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done” (Genesis 8:21). God met and blessed Noah at a stone altar.

When Jacob ran from his brother Esau he lay down to sleep on a stone pillow. While Jacob slept, he saw a ladder or staircase with angels ascending and descending, and the Lord Himself appeared. He promised Jacob land to settle in, descendants more numerous than the dust of the earth, and that by his offspring, all nations of the earth would be blessed. In the morning, Jacob took his stone pillow, anointed it with oil, and called the name of that place Bethel, or the house of God. A rocky headrest would serve to remind of God’s rocksolid promises.

In the wilderness, when the people of Israel thirsted, the Lord told Moses, “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink” (Exodus 17:6). A few chapters later, the Lord met His people Israel upon the gravel and dirt of Mt. Sinai. At Sinai, the Lord chiseled His words in tablets of stone—stones upon which the Lord delivered His Law and his Covenant to His people.

After the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River, 12 large stones were taken from the river for a sign to the people of Israel. When their children would ask, “What do those stones mean?” they were to tell how the Lord stopped the waters of the Jordan as the Ark of the Covenant passed through the river. Those 12 stones memorialized that the Lord saved the 12 tribes of Israel and brought them into the Promised Land.

In the days of Samuel the prophet, after the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Israel, he took a stone and named it Ebenezer (no, not Scrooge!), meaning, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” Not too long after, David slew Goliath with one smooth river stone. He hid in a rock-strewn cave when Saul tried to kill him. David even uses rocks to describe the Lord’s protection and rescue in Psalm 18:2: “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge.”

Many years later, the Lord sent Isaiah to declare to Israel, “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him” (Isaiah 51:1-2).

The Lord calls His people Israel a rock. Doesn’t sound very flattering at first, but it is descriptive. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: They were the foundation God laid for His people and His promise. Ultimately, however, it was the Lord Himself who was the bedrock, cornerstone, and terra firma beneath Israel’s feet. After all, Israel was a chip off the old rock of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, although not always in a good way.

The Old Testament is layered with the stubborn, stiff-necked, rebellious, rock-hard sin of Israel, and yet Israel’s foundation is firm, built on the bedrock of the Lord’s unshakable promises. Our history is no different. Within each of us is a heart of stone. Our sinful flesh is as black as obsidian and as hard as granite. And yet, through His prophet Isaiah, the Lord calls to us, His new Israel, to look not to ourselves nor at our stubborn, sinful hearts of stone. Rather, He beckons us to look to the Rock from which we are hewn: Christ our Cornerstone.

For it is Jesus who was in that rock that was tapped to give living water to Israel in the desert. It’s the same Jesus who raised Lazarus from his stony grave. Jesus was born to walk the pebbly, gritty soil of this fallen world for you, who was crucified on top of the stony mountain top called Golgotha for you, who became the stone that the builders rejected for us, crushed under the weight of our sin that in His dying and rising, we receive an eternal weight of glory. When He rose from the dead, He rolled away the boulder of His grave to bless us.

Throughout the Scriptures, the stones cry out and give us a theology by geology. God is the God of Noah, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, and of you. Jesus has taken our hearts of stone and given us new hearts built on Christ, our Rock and our Redeemer. Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit who has made us God’s house of living stones, built for His own habitation.

In Jesus, “I got a rock,” is no longer a message of despair. It’s a message of good news, comfort, and grace in Christ our Cornerstone, our Ebenezer stone, our Rock and refuge.

We are God’s house of living stones, Built for His own habitation. He through Baptismal grace us owns Heirs of His wondrous salvation. Were we but two His name to tell. Yet He would deign with us to dwell With all His grace and His favor. (Built on the Rock, LSB 645:3)

Rev. Samuel Schuldheisz is the pastor of Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Milton, Washington.