Stoning or lapidation is a capital punishment carried out by throwing stones on a criminal to put him to death. This is one of the most ancient ways of the capital punishment and also we can see some laws and examples related to this type of execution in the bible.
Stoning in the Old Testament
The Law of Moses specifies about the crimes and the proportionate punishment for those crimes. In this law, the most common way of a capital punishment was stoning to death. In the Book of Deuteronomy, we can see various cases for the stoning such as adultery, blasphemy, disrespect for parents, selling a brother as slave, etc.
Deuteronomy 13:6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, 7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), 8 do not yield to them or listen to them. Show them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them. 9 You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10 Stone them to death, because they tried to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Or the laws says of a disrespectful and rebellious son:
Deuteronomy 21:18 If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21 Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
The reason God commanded the Israelites to stone a person to death is because they could purge or get rid of evil in this way. For this reason, stoning was one of the most common ways of execution for the Jews and we can see examples in the story of Achan and his family being stoned and buried underneath in the Old Testament, and also of Stephen in the New Testament.
The Meaning behind the Parable of Stone
Even though there are so many different ways of execution, why does the bible regulate the stoning as way of “purging evil and evil-doers” from among the people? Nothing can be written without any reason, and thus we can see there must be some providence of God behind this teaching too. Then what is the true meaning of this law? According to the bible, the Law of Moses was given to us to lead us to Christ.
Hebrews 10:1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves.
The law of Moses was just a copy and shadow and the reality could be found in Christ who fulfilled all the Law of Moses.
Colossians 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Then what does God want to teach us through this law of stoning to death? He did not give us this law just to make us repulsive about the law. Nor did he give us this law to intimidate us. Everything in the past contains some teaching God wants to give us. To understand God’s teaching in this law we must first understand what the stone presents? According to the bible Jesus is the reality of stone.
Acts 4:11 Jesus is
“‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Or In the Book of Peter, the same apostle testifies:
1 Peter 2:4 As you come to him (or Jesus), the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 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.”
Jesus, a Stone of Judgment
Then why is Jesus called a stone parabolically? Let us first look the Law of Moses to find out why people used stone. In the law people used stones to purge evil from the people so that they could maintain social order, or more precisely keep the community pure and clean so that the blessing of God could be with them. In this sense, stone was a tool for judgment for the evil-doer, or people who practiced lawlessness.
Through this laws of Moses we can see that Jesus as stone fulfills the same purpose for God’s people. He was the figuratively and in a sense literally LIVING STONE with the laws of God written in it. With the law given to him he was making judgment for people to purge the evil and lawlessness from people.
According to the bible, God is the WORD (John 1:1), and in the time of Moses the word of God was materialized in the form of two STONE tablets to judge people. The stone tablets were not just the words of God, but the representation of God to signify God’s power and authority. In this sense, Jesus was the spiritual stone tablets because he was the WORD of God corporealized in the form of man.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. ….14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Just as the two stone tablets were kept in the physical temple, the spiritual tablets of words of God was kept inside the body of Christ, which is spiritually a temple. (John 2:21) With the immanent words of God inside him, Jesus could make a judgment for the lawlessness and destroy them with his words of God.
John 12:47 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.
He appeared to us as Living Stone Tablets of words of God and through the words he taught he was making judgment to purge the evil and destroy the lawlessness 2000 years ago.
Ahnsahnghong, the White Stone
Then what about in the last days? What does the bible say about the judgment in the last day? How will God purge the evil among his people so that they can be kept pure and clean to receive the blessing of salvation? The prophecies of the bible says that in the last days the Second Coming Christ would appear as stone again by coming as man in the flesh and make judgment for the people who do not listen to his words.
Revelation 2:17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.
The one who speaks in the Book of Revelation is Christ and he teaches about the things that will happen in the last days. In the last days, he says he would give a white stone with a new name on it. What would be the meaning of it? This is a prophecy about his second coming and when he come comes he would appear again as stone or a living Stone in Peter’s word with the words of God written in him. Just like his first coming, he would appear as man again for the second time, but now he would appear with a new name or a different name, which cannot be Jesus this time.
This prophecy can be confirmed by another prophecy in the Book of Daniel. In a prophecy of a statue of different metals, God foretold the human history which would be laid out for the next thousands of years even to the ends of age.
Daniel 2:31 “Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32 The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34 While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
As you may know, this is a prophecy about the kingdoms which would rise from the world after Babylon–Media/Persia, Greece, Rome, Ten Germanic Kingdoms and later even to the end of age. But according to this prophecy, at the end of age a rock, which was not established or originated from man, will destroy all the man’s kingdoms and establishments. Then what is this rock which would destroy the man-made institutions or systems? This is a prophecy about the Second Coming Christ who would appear at the end of age as stone or as a man in the flesh for the second time to make a judgment for people who do not listen to the words of God.
Ahnsahnghong, The Words of God
Through this prophecies we can see that Christ Ahnsahnghong is the WORD of God which became flesh and came down to us to teach us the true words of God. About the Christ’s appearance as man in the flesh, the Book of Revelation says:
Revelation 19:11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.
The rider of a white horse, the Word of God, will make war against the beast (or the Anti-Christ) and kings allied with him (Revelation 19:20) and he would destroy them. Through this war all the evils would be purged and the judgment would be given to each of the evildoers. And they would be put into the fiery furnace of burning sulfur, being tormented forever and ever. This is the end of Satan and Sin.
In this revelation, the Word of God must be God himself as we have seen in Jesus, who was the Word which appeared as man in the flesh. Then what does it mean the Word coming riding on a white horse? Parabolically, the horse means flesh, and the Word riding on a horse actually means the Word of God would appear as man in the flesh for the second time.
Isaiah 31:3 But the Egyptians are mere mortals and not God;
their horses are flesh and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
those who help will stumble,
those who are helped will fall;
all will perish together.
According to the bible, a horse parabolically represents flesh, contrary to the spirit. Therefore, the WORD (God) coming on a horse means God’s coming as man in the flesh. All these prophecies have one thing in common: that is, God must appear as man and he must bring the words of God to make a judgment for the people.
Conclusion
In this dark world where there is not a single ray of light, God Ahnsahnghong brought the resplendent light to us to show the truth so brilliantly. Through this we can see that the Christ Ahnsahnghong is the Second Coming Christ who appeared as man in the flesh to judge the world with his words.
Now let us obey his words so that we may be saved out of the Last Judgment and receive the salvation.