“He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”I must ask myself if I am willing to fall on the stone and be broken to pieces. The stone that Jesus refers to in this passage is himself. He does not mince words, but states emphatically that each of us will be broken in one way or the other. I believe this passage is true for believer and non-believer alike.
Mathew 21:44
One of the great tragedies of the modern church is that many come to accept atonement without counting the cost. If we fall on the stone, accepting the atonement before God which was purchased by the blood of Christ on the cross, we will – we must – be broken to pieces. All of our possessions, our desires, our goals and ambitions - all that we are must be winnowed. We must separate the wheat from the chaff in our lives once we have fallen on the rock and been broken to pieces. The gift of salvation is free but it will cost our worldly selves greatly. To be an effective Christian we must be willing to completely purge the pieces which are not in conformance with God’s will.
The passage was probably meant to address the position of the believer as apposed to the non-believer. The one who professes faith in Christ is the one who has fallen on the rock. He has opted to die to himself while he yet lives. The other on whom the rock falls is the non-believer. When he departs this world, the rock will crush him. He will be crushed by eternal separation from his maker and eternal damnation.
But still, the second half of the verse has some application for the professing Christian as well. If we come to believe in Christ without falling on the stone, God will eventually crush us spiritually in some manner. This is because God cannot use us until we submit to his will.
It is a daily choice that we need to make. Will we fall on the stone and be broken today, or will we stubbornly wait for the stone to fall on us?
