Taking Away the Stone: God's Partnership with Human Agency

Jesus said, "Take ye away the stone" (John 11:39). This command reveals three principles about Yahweh's covenant with humanity.

First, God never performs unnecessary acts. We know God most fully in Christ, and Christ never spoke an idle word nor performed a superfluous deed, though omnipotence was at His command. Had He wielded power merely to satisfy curiosity or bind enemies, He would have done so. He did not; therefore God does not. It is fanaticism to petition Adonai for signs that would "set the universe agape."

Second, God never does directly what He can accomplish through others. He created children capable of knowing, feeling, and acting—endowed with freedom. He provided the field and time; humanity must do the rest. In Genesis, Elohim made the garden because man could not, then commanded man to dress it because God would not. This principle extends spiritually: man's agency precedes God's working. In regeneration, the Church preaches, books circulate—man labors—then the power of God performs what man cannot.

Third, we render essential help in accomplishing His designs by removing stones that hinder spiritual resurrections: indifference bred by life's engrossing work, ignorance of religion's treasures, and the frigidity of irreligious atmosphere. A fellow-traveler who indulges a freezing man with slumber offers not mercy but death's sleep. So too with scepticism—doubters must open their minds to friends who sympathize and witness.