Good Morning.
Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. (Genesis 11:3)
Babylon was made entirely of brick. Why is that important? Because Jerusalem was made of stone. These two cities epitomize the two opposing forces in the world — good and evil, light and darkness and, yes, stone and brick. Stone is what God forms and shapes through heat, pressure and friction. Each stone is unique because the Creator caused it to come into being. Some stones are common and some are considered precious but they are all created by the Almighty.
Bricks, on the other hand, are a mixture of clay, straw and water which is then poured into a form fashioned by the hands of man. Consequently, the clay, straw and water all lose their unique qualities in order to comprise the brick. Also, once the mixture is dried and the bricks are removed from the form, all will look alike in complete uniformity. Babylon was made from brick because Babylon is about mixing, mingling and uniformity. In today’s terminology this is called coexistence and tolerance.
Notice that the followers of the Messiah are never called “living bricks” but “living stones.” As such we understand that we are shaped and formed by the Creator. Like our natural counterparts, we are shaped and formed through heat and pressure so that we might be exactly what He has called us to be. Moreover, as His people, we are regarded as precious stones, meaning that we are submitted to more pressure than most. In the end, however, it is because we are being fitted together to form a dwelling for the Most High. Peter said:
“As living stones, (we) are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Yeshua the Messiah.(1 Peter 2:5)
The point today is, we are to be living stones and not living bricks. We are to be the unique person God made us to be and, collectively, we are to live set apart lives in spite of the fact that the world wants us to conform to the image they have envisioned. Babylon will be destroyed but Jerusalem is the city of the Great King. Where do you want to be?
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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