“He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.’ ” – Luke 19:40 ESV
When Jesus came down from the Mount of Olives, the Saints, those that believe in Him, rejoiced and praised God with loud voices. “And when He was come nigh even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the might works that they had seen;” (Luke 19:37). Some of the Pharisees who were in the crowd told Jesus to rebuke the crowd for making loud noises. I think what they were really saying was, “It don’t take all of that,” or “Why are you making all that commotion, that’s not necessary,” or here’s another one, “Who are you to be rejoicing and praising God after what you did last week? or some folk revealed what they are thinking by their actions. Have you ever noticed that while some folk are standing up and waving their hands and rejoicing and praising God, that a certain percentage of the church congregation are still sitting and going through great pains not to make any sudden movements? Sometimes I think this is due to guilt. Sin will make you feel guilt and if a person did something that they feel was contrary to the Word of God and they have not resolved the conflict or have not confessed the disobedient behavior (sin) then they may have a difficult time freely praising the Lord during Worship services. It is possible that spiritually and subconsciously, John 4:24 may be in action during worship services, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
In the case of the Pharisees they hated Jesus as well as His believers and they wanted Him dead and His believers silenced. The Lord responded as magnificently as always, “…I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Luke 19:40). The bottom line is that somebody or something is going to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice. It’s either going to be people, or it’s going to be the rocks. One Sunday we should put a camera outside looking at the rocks so that when it’s time to rejoice and praise God and the people in the sanctuary decide to sit and not rejoice and praise God, then we can look and see something else rejoicing and praising God, and it could be the rocks outside.
The Lord lets us know that if we are quiet the stone will start shouting. Do you want stones to be rejoicing and praising God instead of you who the Lord has equipped to do it? Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again, I say, Rejoice”. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 says, “Rejoice evermore.” Revelation 19:9 says, “Let us be glad and rejoice…” The word rejoice is mentioned 253 times in the Holy Bible. The word rejoice means “To give joy to.” It is a transitive verb is characterized by having a direct object.
Rejoice is a word of action towards a direct object and for us that object is our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, and we need to show action when we worship and praise the Lod.
So, the next time we have an opportunity to rejoice let’s do it, without hesitation, so the rocks don’t need to cry out.
Submitted by Trustee Stanley Ridley