IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BIBLE LESSON March 15, 2010 Issue

STANDING ON THE ROCK

CHRISTA KREUTZ

THIS WEEK'S Christian Science Bible Lesson, titled "Matter," teaches that the only power is Spirit, or God, and makes the point that the only foundation worth building on is trust in Spirit.

As the Lesson elaborates on this theme, there are many references to the spiritual significance of stone, symbolizing God's presence—an unshakable foundation. In contrast, the Lesson shows the weakness in building without stone, or without God's presence, in reference to finite, matter-based thinking. This relates interestingly to the shifting sands on which Christ Jesus warned people not to build their houses (see Matt. 7:26, citation 12).

In the Responsive Reading, Daniel's interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream sets up the spiritual meaning of stone (Dan. 2:34, 35). According to the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar had a bizarre dream he wanted to understand. Dreams were very important in ancient Near Eastern cultures. The intelligence community (astrologers, magicians, and soothsayers) unfortunately wasn't able to process the information for the king, so Daniel stepped forward and told the king that God had revealed the meaning to him.