Limestone Corner: The Rock that Rome couldn't Break

The Romans must have seemed unstoppable in their day. From the deserts of Arabia to the mists of Scotland, on and on they marched. Even the Biblical prophet Daniel, foreseeing their rise, wrote:

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns (7:7).

There is an anecdotal example of their limitations and vincibility up in Northumberland. When building Hadrian’s Wall, they preferred to dig a deep ditch immediately in front of it. This magnified the height of the wall, doubling its defensive capabilities. At a place called Limestone Corner (where the rock is in fact dolerite, not limestone) a number of large stones remain in the ditch, uncleared by the legionaries. On closer inspection, one can see the chisel marks where they attempted to break these stubborn boulders. The rocks were too hard to smash and too heavy to lift. They were therefore left in situ, doubtless accompanied by some Latin swearing.

These are the rocks that defeated the mighty Romans. Returning to Daniel, he too saw a Rock that would defeat Rome, and all other pagan empires:

And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

And that Rock was Christ.