Upon This Rock…

My pastor was preaching this past Sunday about the wonder of Christmas, as told to us by the Scriptures and as played out in modern life. He referred to a well-known Christmas passage in Isaiah–chapter 9, verse 6. Isaiah prophetically says this about Jesus Christ, who would come centuries later: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulders. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

I remember being drilled on how to harmonize these words by the choral director in college, as we prepared to perform Handel’s “Messiah” at Christmastime years ago. Handel was inspired by this very passage, and others, when he penned his famous work; but I have never noticed the nuances of meaning in Isaiah 9:6 until just this past week.

“…and the government will be upon His shoulders.” Whose shoulders? Jesus’s, of course. This is yet another declaration of the authority that Jesus possesses, the authority that He alone stripped from the devil at the Cross. This verse reminds me that Jesus alone is the foundation. He is the bedrock. The government (all authority, dominion, power, order) is built upon Him. No church is the authority, no denomination is the authority, no man is the authority–no matter how great, how favored, or how holy a person may be… They are not the foundation, the ultimate authority.

Throughout history, there have been very powerful and influential men and women of God who have confused authority. Entire nations and civilizations have been both built up and torn down due to authority confusion. One example of a most grave and deadly misplacement of authority is found in the misinterpretation of Matthew 16:18, which reads: “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” As many students of history know, this is the key text around which the Roman Catholic belief of papal authority and apostolic succession is built. The interpretation of this verse (and its context) as a transfer of authority from Jesus to Peter has been one of the most history-shaping and history-shaking ideas of the last 2,000 years. It is the classic example of authority confusion, and it has, unfortunately, led to the deaths of multitudes and, much worse, the eternal damnation of a countless mass of humanity. (I realize this is a very strong statement. I would be glad to substantiate it to anyone who cares to ask.)

The entire message of the New Testament flies in the face of the idea that the church of Jesus Christ is built upon anyone or anything except… Jesus alone. He alone is the foundation, the Rock–and no other. Peter himself, hailed throughout history by billions of misled followers as the first pope, made the issue of authority abundantly clear when he wrote the following in First Peter chapter 2: “And you come to him, the living Stone–rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him–you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood… For in Scripture it says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the very cornerstone,’ and, ‘a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.’ … But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation…”

Hallelujah! Aren’t you glad to know, from the pen of Peter himself, writing under the supernatural inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that there is one Rock, one Stone… and He is the chief cornerstone, that which all of Christianity and the entire Body of Christ is built. And aren’t you glad to know during this Advent season that anyone who puts their faith in Jesus becomes one of those “living stones,” a member of His holy priesthood!

“…and the government will be upon His shoulders.”

~ by Adrian Schoonmaker on December 5, 2007.