THE LIVING STONE

Illustration created by Leonard V Johnson

by Leonard V Johnson

Earlier this year, I gave some sermons on angels. “What Are Angels?” and “Angels Revealed.” Are angels only a figment of people’s imagination ── a myth, a superstition? And, if they truly exist – where did they come from? Why are they? What is their purpose? 

Turn with me in your Bible to the 6th chapter of the Book of Genesis. What utter ignorance people have made from this one chapter! “Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them.” So, this was long before the Great Flood that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves. Again, there are a lot of people who believe, teach, and preach that those sons of God were fallen angels. Be sure to watch our sermon, “Giants On Earth In Those Days,” to find out the amazing truth of God! I covered all that in that sermon. But, the Eternal One said, “’ My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’” 

So, “there were giants on earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”

And so, a great many people ── truly, not properly understanding God’s living word ── have just made up fanciful stories concerning the first few verses of chapter 6. They query, does this mean that the angels that sinned married women and they had children, and their children were giants in those days? This has been a significant issue with so many people.

Angels, of course, are spoken about all throughout God’s living word ── for instance, in the 104th chapter of the Book of Psalms ── 

“Who makes His angels spirits, …” – Psalm 104:4.

And, the Apostle Paul uses this Scripture to teach us in the New Testament ── 

“And of the angels He says: ‘Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.’” – Hebrews 1:7.

Which truly means that the LORD God created them. Angels are created beings.

We also see ── by thoroughly and rightly studying God’s living word ── that angels are neither male nor female. They do not reproduce. They are individually spirit beings, each and every one separately created, not born. “Who makes His angels spirits.” 

In the Old Testament, it assumes the existence of angels – except for that one passage we just read. Now, in my home library, I have several books on angels, or that speak of angels ── but none are inspired by the LORD God. Such as the Book of Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, On the Origin of the World (which is Gnostic in origin), the Apocalypse of Adam, and so forth.

The Living Stone

Now, when were angels created? Turning in our Bibles to the Book of Job, chapter 38 ──  

“’ Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.’” – Job 38:4.

Now, there are some people ── and of course, it is but a theory, there is no proof of this ── that believe that the Prophet Job was the actual architect and builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza. And that here in this verse, he might have just completed it.

Now, the Prophet Isaiah was inspired to record for us in chapter 19 ── “In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border. 20) And it will be for A SIGN and for A WITNESS to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; …” – Isaiah 19:19-20. This is certainly something to think about! The Great Pyramid of Giza is often considered a pillar of ancient Egyptian civilization.

I find it interesting! The Great Pyramid was the world’s tallest human-made structure for more than 3,800 years. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Many of the casing-stones and inner chamber blocks of the Great Pyramid fit together with high precision, with joints, on average, only 0.5 millimeters wide! 1 

The sides of the Great Pyramid’s base are closely aligned to the four geographic cardinal directions, deviating on average 3 minutes and 38 seconds of arc, or about a tenth of a degree. A great many people believe that the Great Pyramid was divinely inspired. It certainly makes you wonder! I certainly would not discount the possibility of that – at all. 

But, anyhow, I will not discount it or just throw it away, because of any improbability – the Great Pyramid has been estimated to be some 4,600 years old. The point I wish to get to is this: At completion, the Great Pyramid was cased entirely in white limestone, and was once topped by a capstone known as a pyramidion. 

In God’s living word, it refers to our Lord Jesus Christ, who came unto His own ── the Jewish people ── and His own received Him not. He was rejected. He is referred to as the living Stone (1 Peter 2:4-5). And here is a capstone that ── without its capstone, the pyramid is incomplete ── was either removed, destroyed, never finished, or rejected. 

So, does the Great Pyramid symbolize in symbolic form ── symbolically, of course ── the living stone? Going as far back as some 4,600 years? Does it symbolize the Church of which our Lord Jesus Christ is the living Head and His completion of it? Of course, the Church of God is going to be made perfect ── the chief cornerstone being placed upon it. Well… It’s just something to ponder.

The LORD God is speaking to the Prophet Job, and remember, this was a man who was “blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” Yet, he was by no means perfect. The Prophet Job certainly sinned, because we read in the Book of Romans, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Except our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Yet, Job was so blameless and was such an upright man at that time, that the LORD had asked Satan the Devil, “’ Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, …?’” Satan retorts, “’ Does Job fear God for nothing? … stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!’” – cf. Job 1:8-11. So, what was wrong with the Prophet Job? He had become PRIDEFUL. He had his own goodness ── his own goodness ── which is but filthy rags to God. He became puffed up with the wrong kind of PRIDE. And that kind of pride and vanity is a terrible sin to commit. The Prophet Job was one of the hardest of His servants to ever bring down to repent of this wrong pride and vanity at that time.

The Prophet Job was likely the most blameless and upright man who ever lived. Question: Do you know who the most wicked man who ever lived was? And, maybe I’ll speak on this at some point. Maybe do a sermon on this subject. But, the most wickedest man who ever lived, who possibly committed ── in God’s view ── more crimes, and was an accessory to murder and even more things that were evil in the sight of the LORD God more than any other man who ever lived, before the LORD God began to deal with him, and brought him to the lowest depths, and who repented quickly. It was a whole lot easier to bring this man to repentance than the Prophet Job, who was likely the most blameless and upright of men. 

But here was the LORD verbally punishing Job. Again, verse 4 in Job chapter 38 ──

“’ Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.’” 

The Prophet Job had come to be self-righteous and questioning of the LORD God’s justice. In his discourse with the LORD, he pridefully had said, “’ As God lives, who has taken away my justice, And the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, 3) As long as my breath is in me, And the breath of God in my nostrils, 4) My lips will not speak wickedness, Nor my tongue utter deceit. 5) FAR BE IT FROM ME That I should say you are right; …’” – Job 27:2-4, 5.

“Far be it from me” is often used to introduce a statement where the speaker is about to criticize or offer unsolicited advice while attempting to distance themselves from that action. 

So the LORD, in essence, was saying, ‘Yeah, maybe you did build for Me a mighty pillar at the edge of Egypt ── that will be considered the greatest of the Seven Wonders of all time! And a sign and a witness to the world! But I created the whole earth. I stretched the line upon it. I fastened its foundations!’ 

The Prophet Job began to think of himself as all that and a bag of potato chips! 

Yes. My friends, we all need to stop, look at ourselves in the mirror, and sort of compare ourselves to the LORD God, critique ourselves, and bring ourselves to size and come to understand and realize that we are but minuscule in size compared to the LORD God. So, the LORD brings the Prophet Job down to size, “’ Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.’”       

He asks, “’ Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6) To what were its foundations fastened? …’” 

     

And here notice ── “ …’ Or who laid ITS CORNERSTONE, 7) When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?’” 

Here, ‘the morning stars’ is referring to angels. And, the ‘sons of God’ is referring to the descendants of Seth (cf. Genesis 4:25, 26). The morning stars sang together ── certainly because they witnessed the beautiful creation of the EARTH! And, of course, that’s figurative language. The Earth doesn’t have a cornerstone. ITS CAPSTONE is, figuratively speaking, our Lord Jesus Christ. The final capstone. 

Again, the “morning stars” are angels ── and we can see this in the Book of Revelation, you see angels as “ …’ The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, …’” – Revelation 1:20. And the word stars for angels is used in several places throughout God’s living word.

Well… let me ask you thus ── Have you ever read in your Bible ── and you have to go to your Bible to find anything out about angels, because angelologists certainly do ── that angels are spirits. They are wholly composed of spirit, not physical matter. And one cannot even see an angel unless the angel manifests himself. Of course, even today in this “enlightened” world, many claim that angels are but superstition. And, I saw a short clip on YouTube trying to explain to its viewers why gravity is a lie! And, 1.1 million people are actually watching this garbage! I don’t know about you ── but to me, gravity feels pretty real! Yet, you can’t see gravity. Of the 4 fundamental forces of nature, gravity is the most intuitive one. We experience gravity every second of our lives. 2

Have you ever read in your Bible about an angel of God unhappy? Or, an angel of God that complains, or is filled with fear and worry, bored with life ── and doesn’t want to live any longer? Well… other than the blockbuster movie with Nicolas Cage, City of Angels, you haven’t! A fictitious angel that wanted to give up immortality for a human female.

Have you ever pondered, or have you ever heard a sermon concerning angels, if you’ve ever thought about the state of mind ── involving happiness or sorrow ── of angels? That is, angels are always happy ── as in angels are often depicted as joyful, especially in the context of the LORD God’s joy. They rejoice over one repentant sinner, “’ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’” – Luke 15:10. Also, that angels of God participate in divine celebrations, such as the glorious announcement of the birth of our Savior, where they praise Him and declare His glory.

You know why? Because angels are ministers of the LORD God. They are part of the government of God. They are God’s ministers. The Hebrew and Greek words for angel both mean the same thing – a messenger or agent.

Now… angels have free will. They are free moral agents. And, some angels sinned ── “For God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to [tartaroo] and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment.” – 2 Peter 2:4. And they were considered angels up to that point; now they are considered demons or devils. As in Matthew 9:34, KJV – “ … He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.” As in “archonti tōn daimoniōn.” Demons are angels that have sinned and are against the government of God. I, personally, have seen, heard, and felt the workings of demons throughout my life. I wonder if you ever have; maybe you have and didn’t realize it.

Another thing I want to add before we get back to the subject at hand. There is a large percentage of people, who many would call insane or mentally ill ── many of whom are now walking freely on our city streets ── are actually demon-possessed. An evil and vile demon has possessed a person. Again, psychologists and other professionals would certainly laugh at this, because they refuse to acknowledge the existence of Satan the Devil, or his demons, or anything spiritual for that matter. They have no gift of the perception of spirits.

So, returning again to the Book of Genesis, chapter 6. Does this mean that angels saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose? 

Turn with me, if you will, to the Book of Hebrews. Let us take a look at this really quickly. Hebrews, chapter 1. It speaks about our Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, whom God has appointed heir of all things ── 

“has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom also He made the worlds” – Hebrews 1:2.

And the word “worlds” certainly means the heavens and the earth. The whole universe. He is heir to it all! And, “worlds” can also mean ages ── verse 3 – “who being the brightness of His glory an express image of His person, …” It’s like how some people say that I look just like my father. “ … and upholding all things by the word of His power, …” The NEB translates this, “ … the Son who is the effulgence of God’s splendour and the stamp of God’s very being, and sustains the universe by his word of power.” 

Typing up this article, I came across two words. Impeccability and Peccability. I actually had to look up their definitions ──

Impeccability: This view asserts that Jesus was incapable of sinning due to His divine nature. 

Peccability: This view holds that Jesus had the ability to sin but chose not to. 

Was Christ Jesus human, or was He Divine? Or was He both? It’s IMPORTANT to know the TRUTH OF GOD on this vital subject. Your very life depends upon it!

Have you ever stopped to think about this? Well… in truth, our Lord Jesus Christ had to prove by His life on this earth that He could be entrusted with this awesome power. Our great High Priest had to be VICTORIOUS over Satan! One question that is hotly debated among theologians is: If Jesus couldn’t sin, why come to the earth? And, of course, dear brethren, the LORD God has blessed us with the living truth of God concerning this matter.

And ── glory be to the LORD God ── God willing, we’re going to be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. The firstborn of many brethren, and Him being our Elder Brother, the firstborn by a resurrection from the dead, we are to share His glory and share His inheritance, being co-heirs and followers with Him! But, and keep this in mind ── I have spoken about it in such sermons as “‘Least In the Kingdom From Heaven’” and “You Were Born To Rule!” ── that you must learn how to rule rightly and wisely with power. We must prove to the LORD God that we can rule with justice and mercy in godly character before we are given such power to rule.         

In closing, I’d like to tell you about A Morning Bible Study. Faith Required For Salvation. And, we also have this in PDF format for your convenience. As well as a sermon by the same title. What is faith? Why don’t you have faith? What kind of faith saves you? I hope and pray that you either read, listen, or watch this important subject ── Faith Required For Salvation. An online booklet that I have written and published online, Many Convincing Proofs. It’s a mighty important subject. In it, I cover 21 points that Jesus is the Christ. If you haven’t already, go and read that immediately.

So, until next time, this is Leonard V Johnson saying, “God Speed, my friends.” □

1) Wikipedia contributors. "Great Pyramid of Giza." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 15 Jul. 2025. Web. 23 Jul. 2025.

2) Tyson, N., The Mysterious Force of Gravity Explained by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Science Time, 29 May 2021.