sermon: The Bethel Stone

Kim Myers
Given 31-Oct-20; Sermon #1568B; 40 minutes

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Now God said there would always be a descendant of King David sitting on David's throne until the return of Christ, when Christ Himself will then sit on and rule the world from that throne. I am going to go through three verses here that you do not have to turn to. I will just read them.

I Kings 9:5 "Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, 'You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.'"

I Kings 2:45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever.

Next we are going to Genesis 48, verse 19. We are breaking into Jacob's blessing of his children before his death. This is Jacob's blessing of his grandkids, Ephraim and Manasseh, and we know them to be Britain and the United States.

Genesis 48:19 But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations."

We know the British throne in Westminster Abbey is the throne that is mentioned in the Bible. After all, not many nations in this world have a king or a queen anymore or what nations in this world has ever been a multitude of nations like the British Commonwealth of nations?

I want to look at Jacob's pillow, the Stone of Destiny, the Stone of Scone. Let us turn to Genesis 28. This is the story about the stone Jacob used as a pillow and the dream he had, and how Jacob anointed that stone.

Genesis 28:18 Then Jacob arose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up for as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it [where the stone was set up]. And he called the name of that place Bethel [which means God's house].

Nowhere in Scripture has an inanimate object, a rock or a stone been given a divinely declared purpose as was bestowed on Jacob's pillow stone. Jacob anointed the stone with oil and he named that place Bethel or God's house.

Genesis 28:16-17 [this is the morning after his dream] Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." And he was afraid and he said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!"

Then, 22 years later Jacob returned to Bethel. Jacob had another vision and God spoke to him again.

Genesis 31:13 "I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this land, and return to the land of your family."

God, in this verse, is associating Himself not only with the place, Bethel, but also with the Bethel Stone, implying that He, God, inspired both the choice of this stone and its name.

Later on, God told Jacob that He was changing his name to Israel, which means "sons ruling with God." There is some biblical evidence that shows that the Bethel Stone was the inheritance of Joseph and committed to the care of the house of Joseph. This comes out when Jacob is blessing his children just before his death. We will break into Jacob's blessing of his children.

Genesis 49:24 "But his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob [and then here it comes] (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel)."

This verse is telling us that not only Bethel the city, but also Bethel the pillar rock was given to the birthright family or tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Then 215 years later, after Jacob blessed his children, the anointed stone left Egypt with Moses and the Israelites. It is recorded that God, through a miracle, provided the Israelites with water from a rock. The first time was when the Israelites were encamped at Rephidim. At Rephidim God said to Moses, "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock [That is very important. The rock, not any old rock laying out in the desert or in the wilderness, this was the rock] in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink. (Exodus 17:6)"

Now, the phrase "the rock" means God was speaking of a rock that the Israelites were already familiar with. The rock was the Bethel Stone, the Shepherd Stone, the Stone of Israel. This rock was a type of Jesus Christ who would bring forth living waters welling up into eternal life. Christ called Himself the Good Shepherd. The Shepherd/Rock was smitten and so was Christ. He was smitten for the sins of the world.

When the Israelites started to build the Temple under Solomon, they wanted to use the pillar, Jacob's pillar, the stone, as the very cornerstone for the Temple. This stone was rejected by the builders. This stone had a crack in it which could have split and made the stone into two pieces. This is recorded in the Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, 1921, Volume Two, page 37, if you would like to check that out.

Psalm 118:22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

At Kadesh Moses was directed to speak to the rock again but Moses sinned by striking the rock. Moses did not only sin, he struck or hit the rock, the Shepherd Rock, the very type of Christ. Now, that is why Moses was not allowed to enter into the Promised Land.

Now, in the crowning or coronation of the kings of Israel, the king stood on a pillar. This is recorded in II Kings 11:14. In Adam Clarke's Commentary it reads,

Upon the pillar, meaning they stood on this stone. This stone that was rejected by the builders of the Temple did become the head of the corner, as the pillar or coronation stone on which the kings of Israel were crowned. When Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army took Jerusalem, they killed all of the king's sons, all of King Zedekiah's sons thinking then that they would be done with Judah; there would be no more kings. But the king's daughters were spared, along with Jeremiah and Baruch.

Jeremiah 43:6 Men, women, children, the king's daughters, and every person who Nebuzaradan the captain the guard have left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah.

Since King Zedekiah's sons were all killed, there was no male heirs to the throne. However, under Hebrew law, a daughter would inherit as though she were a son, and the right of descent would pass to her male seed.

Numbers 27:8 "And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'If a man dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter.'"

That is, providing that she married within her own house or her own tribe. This is found in Numbers the 36th chapter.

The king's daughters, with Jeremiah and Baruch and others from the country of Judah, were taken to Egypt. Jeremiah and the king's daughters were forced to go with rebellious Israelites to Egypt. These Israelites killed Gedaliah, King Nebuchadnezzar's governor, who is over the remnant of Israel left by the Babylonians. When Jeremiah left Egypt, he had in his possession the Bethel Stone. The stone was a witness of promises to come, some of which even today are waiting for fulfillment.

Many ancient Irish records make reference to an eastern king's daughter and an old man; a patriarch, a saint, a prophet called Olam Law and his scribe called Simon Brock. Reportedly they carried with them many ancient relics: a harp and a [unclear] chest, and a stone called in Gaelic Lia Fail meaning stone of faith. Olam was Jeremiah, Simon Barach was his scribe, Simon Baruch. The harp was David's, the chest was the Ark of the Covenant, and the law was the stone that Jacob anointed with oil at Bethel.

King Zedekiah had two daughters. One was named Scota and the other one was named Tea Tephi. Scota, the younger sister, was married in Spain. Under both Solomon and King David there were a lot of colonies set up all over the Mediterranean and there was one there in Spain.

Now Jeremiah and his company spent some time in Spain before going on to Ireland. Tea Tephi then married Heremon who is king of Ireland and Tea Tephi then became queen. In Irish history the Stone of Destiny came from Spain and before that from Egypt. It came in the company of an aged man called Olam Filaw. In Hebrew Olam Filaw means revealer or prophet. Tea Tephi and her king husband were crowned on that coronation stone and all the kings of Ireland for the next 1,040 years were also crowned on the Bethel Stone.

The Bethel Stone went to Scotland from Ireland. Aidan, an Irish man, the son of an Irish king, was crowned king of Scotland in a coronation that has been used ever since by the succeeding monarchs of Scotland and England. The ritual included a consecration declaring the future of Aidan's children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Exactly as what was done by Jacob when he blessed his son before he died.

The stone, when it was in Scotland, was kept in the Abbey of Scone. That is why it is called the Stone of Scone. The Abbey of Scone was destroyed in 1559 AD at the time of the Reformation. Edward I of England removed the stone to Westminster Abbey in 1296 AD. From the time of King Edward I onward, all the monarchs of England have been crowned on the Stone of Destiny and the coronation chair, with the exception of Mary I, known as Bloody Mary. The present queen, Elizabeth II, was crowned upon the stone in 1953 in fulfillment of God's covenant with David.

Psalm 89:34-37 "My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness, I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me; it shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky." Selah.

I just want to go over a few scriptures that have to do with the Bethel Stone and David's throne and some of the things that have been said or written about the Bethel Stone. Let us turn to I Corinthians 10.

I Corinthians 10:4 [it is also said of Israel] For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.

Jacob also called the stone the Shepherd of Israel; Christ also said, "I am the good shepherd." And what does the shepherd do, brethren? A shepherd always goes with his flock. This was the Bethel Stone. This stone was the house of God to Jacob and it was the guardian stone of Israel. The kings of Israel were crowned on it. This was the pillar or coronation stone on which the kings of the house of David were crowned.

Now, Young's Concordance gives us, among other definitions of the original Hebrew word, the definition is memorial stone and pillar; the same stone. They call it stone in some instances and they call it pillar in others.

Here is something I bet you did not know. Did you know that the monarchs of Britain, as well as most of the other monarchs of Europe, are descendants from the tribe of Judah, including the kings of Israel and Scotland? These people do not even know that they are from the tribe of Judah because the ten tribes are lost. Americans do not realize that most of them are Israelite. I thought that was interesting.

Genesis 49:10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah [you see from the tribe of Judah] nor a lawgiver from between his feet.

Ezekiel 21:27 "Overthrown, overthrown, I will make it overthrown! It shall be no longer, until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him."

Overthrown is mentioned three times in this verse and then Christ will sit on David's throne as King of kings and Lord of lords.

The throne was overthrown three times. From Jerusalem to Ireland; that was one. From Ireland to Scotland; that was two. And then from Scotland to England; for number three. Brethren, we are now waiting for Christ to return to the earth and to sit on that throne and usher in the Millennium. And we are living at the very end of the age.

Now think about this stone which represents Christ; the Bethel Stone and where it has been. It was in Bethel and then it went with Jacob to Egypt. It stayed in Egypt for a long time. Then it went with Moses and kicked around the wilderness for over 40 years. Then it went into the Promised Land and was in Jerusalem for a very long time. Then it went back to Egypt, then it had a boat ride to Spain. Then it crossed over to Ireland, then to Scotland, and finally to Westminster Abbey in England, where it is today. It is now under the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. There is like a shelf under the chair and it slid under there.

Think about this. Nowhere in Scripture does God command the Israelites to take this stone with them in their wandering. Nowhere! It is not commanded, yet the stone was always with them. It was God's will that the stone, which represents Christ, was with them. It was with them for hundreds of years with many, many generations of Israelites. It is still with one of the tribes of Israel—Ephraim— waiting for Christ's return.

So what does all of this have to do with you and me? Everything, brethren, everything. It was God's will that the Bethel Stone, which represents Christ, would always be with Israel. And it did. It is also God's will to you and I, firstfruits in the Kingdom of God, and God is always with us. The same thing, brethren.

I Samuel 12:22 "For the Lord God will not forsake His people, for His great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people."

Let us go to Ephesians 1, verse 5. You and I have been predestined to be firstfruits in the Kingdom of God.

Ephesians 1:5 Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

It is God's will that you and I enter through the door into the Kingdom of God and take part in the wedding supper with Christ. You think that we—you and I—can still fail to enter into the Millennium and the Kingdom of God? What do you think, brethren? Can we still fail? That is the question.

I want to finish the sermon with the generation of Israelites that were freed from the bondage of the Egyptians, those pathetic slaves, and what they saw and what they experienced. God took them out of the bondage of the Egyptians just like He took us out of the bondage of sin in this world. As God started to destroy the land of Egypt and to free the Israelites, the Israelites got to experience the first three plagues. They went right through them. Then they were spared the next seven. But they saw the plagues and the miracles that God did to the Egyptians as He spared the land of Goshen where the Israelites lived. Then the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn.

Exodus 12:22-23 "And you should take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning, for the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood upon the lintels and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you."

He is right. We are spared by the blood of the Lamb which represents Christ. You and I are given grace by the blood of Christ shed for us in our sin. The blood of Christ is what saves us. Christ was with the Israelites in the pillar of the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. The Israelites experienced all this and saw this.

Exodus 13:21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.

God was with Israel every minute of every day. He is also with us every minute of every day. The Israelites were baptized in the Red Sea and the great Egyptian army was drowned to the last man, including Pharaoh. All of us have been baptized and given the gift of the Holy Spirit. The parallels are unmistakable between us and the Israelites, brethren, unmistakable. God led the Israelites with manna which gave them physical life. The bread God gave us gives us spiritual life.

John 6:33 "For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

You see the parallels? Then they came to Rephidim and God gave them water.

Exodus 17:6 "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock [again, on the rock] in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

God gave Israel water to drink and water to sustain their lives. God gave us the Holy Spirit so we could obtain the Kingdom of God as firstfruits and have eternal life.

Then Israel camped at Kadesh and there was no water there for them to drink.

Numbers 20:10-11 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels! [Moses was upset.] Must we [remember those words brethren] bring water for you out of this rock?" Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.

Moses was very angry here. He was very angry with the people and all of their rebellion and and he let his anger get the best of him. First, he put himself equal with God when he said, "Must we bring water for you out of this rock?" Moses cannot bring water out of a rock. None of us can, brethren, only God can do that.

Second, Moses struck the rock, which represented Christ, in anger, and he hit it twice! This cost both Moses and Aaron the Promised Land, and they died on this side of the Jordan River—the wrong side of the river. Then it was time to enter the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy 1:22 And every one of you came near to me and said, "Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way we must go up, and the cities into which we shall come."

And the plan pleased Moses well. When the twelve spies came back from checking out the land, they had a good report. They said the land was everything and more that God had promised them and and what God was giving them.

Then what happened, brethren? Fear set in, and justification. Fear is our enemy. It is a big enemy, brethren. Ten of the twelve men said that the city walls were too high and on top of the wall they had trained archers that would kill them. They said all the kings on the other side of the Jordan River had trained armies that were well equipped. They said there were big guys in the land, mighty men, all trained in war. The ten spies said, we have no siege equipment to break down the city wall. They said that we only have the armaments we took off the dead Egyptians at the Red Sea, and on and on they went to justify why they could not live by and do what God says.

The Israelites said, "We ain't going to cross the Jordan River, there is no way, and be killed by the people of the land. We're not doing it, we are not going in there." Now, think of this, brethren. It was God's will that the Israelites go in to and possess the Promised Land. But all Israel failed except Joshua and Caleb and their families. They failed miserably.

And we also fail. Is that possible? It is also God's will that all of us enter into the Millennium and the Kingdom of God.

Let us turn to Matthew 25. Now we know these scriptures well and they indicate that one half of God's people are very foolish and they, like the Israelites, will not inherit the Promised Land—the Kingdom of God.

Matthew 25:10-12 "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.'"

Why did not Christ know half of His church, brethren? He says, "I do not know you" because these people did not work on becoming Christ-like. They did not pray every day. How about us? They did not study every day. How about us? They did not live by every Word of God. They were not good examples. And you know what, brethren? I saw some very poor examples at the feast this year., That is all I am going to say about that.

We all need to make changes in our lives and do our best to be good examples and to become like Christ. We need to be like the Bethel Stone and let God do His will with us. The Bethel Stone, which represents Christ, is right where God wants it; and God did not command the Israelites to carry that stone all over creation. Yet it is right where the will of God wants it in Westminster Abbey today.

The stone which represents Christ never did its will. Christ always did the will of God the Father when He was a physical human being on this earth. He never did His own will. We must become like Christ and be good examples and do the will of God, not our own.

I hope these next three verses will put a little good fear in us and a whole lot of encouragement in us. Let us turn to Matthew 13.

Matthew 13:41-43 "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous [that should be us] will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

Feel the sides of your heads, brethren. Do you have ears? We should be able to hear this and understand this. We can still fail. We can all fail. We must put God first and live by every Word of God. That is our job.

Matthew 25:10 "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut."

The scripture says "those who were ready." It was God's will that the Israelites were to inherit the Promised Land. God did everything for them. He led them right to the door of the Promised Land and only two men were ready, Joshua and Caleb. They were ready because they tried to live by every word of God.

Matthew 25:11-12 "Afterward the other virgins came also saying, 'Lord, Lord, open the door to us!' But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.'"

The door was shut to the Israelites. The Promised Land, even though it was God's will that they possess the Promised Land, the land was given to others. The door was also shut to some of the virgins, even though it is God's will for His people, His church, His called-out ones, to be in the Kingdom. Why is the door shut to some, brethren? Why?

Luke 6:46 "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say?"

Do we do what God says? Do we try to do what God says in every instance, brethren?

John 10:27 (AMP) The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me.

That is what we need to do. We need to follow Christ, we need to hear and listen to what He says and live by every word.

Joshua and Caleb went into the Promised Land because they tried to live by every word of God. Some of God's people enter into the Kingdom of God because they tried to live by every word of God. It is God's will.

But the Bethel Stone is with the tribe of Ephraim in Westminster Abbey. It was God's will that the Israelites go in and take the Promised Land, but they failed. They would not listen to the voice or word of God. It is God's will that you and I become firstfruits in the Kingdom of God. But we also can fail by not listening and trying to live by every word of God, brethren. And life is going to get harder. But we are still going to have to listen to every word of God.

This next verse that we are going to read kind of says it all. I am going to read this out of the Living New Testament; and think about what God is telling us in this first verse.

I John 2:17 (LNT) This world is fading away, . . .

Yet we kind of love this world. You know, we kind of dress the way of the world. We cut our hair in these crazy ways, like the world. Some of our women dye their hair pink, green, yellow, and all these crazy colors because we want to be as close to the world as we can. But God said,

I John 2:17 (LNT The world is fading away, and these evil, forbidden things will go with it, but whoever keeps doing the will of God will live forever.

What do you want to tie yourselves to? A fading evil world or do you want to live forever? What is the will of God? His will is for you and me to be in the Kingdom and for us to live by every word of His. The generation of Israelites who left Egypt and were led to the Promised Land did not get to enter the Promised Land because they did not live by every word of God. The door was closed to them.

Let us turn to I Corinthians 10.

I Corinthians 10:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ [the Bethel Stone].

They all drank water from the Bethel Stone. The stone which represents Christ was always with them. You and I are all in the same church. We all hear the same sermons and sermonette.

This next verse is really the kicker, brethren.

I Corinthians 10:5 But with most of them God was not well pleased [Is God well pleased with us? Do we live by every word of God?], for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

It is God's will that you and I be in His Kingdom. There is only one person that can keep you or me out of the Kingdom—and that person is you.