as the cornerstone, Christ is the Savior and the building factor for God’s building

As we study the matter of Christ being the cornerstone more in depth we realize that everything that Christ has done on earth is so that He would become the cornerstone chosen and precious to God. God became a man, lived a perfect human life, died an all-inclusive death on the cross, resurrected from the death, and was ascended to the third heavens so that He would become the cornerstone as the Savior and the Factor for God’s building! He is now the Stone-Savior and He is the Cornerstone joining and blending the Jews and the Gentiles for the building of God! Hallelujah for Christ as the Stone Savior!

Lifeless clay men becoming living stones

How can we as lifeless clay – men of clay, earthly and earthy – become living stones part of God’s building? It is by Christ being the cornerstone as the Savior, saving us daily and adding His stone element into us to transform us and produce us as the living stones for His building!

Christ was rejected by the Jewish builders but He was chosen and precious with God – coming to Him as the living stone, we also are made living stones (1 Pet. 2:4-7). We have been saved by Christ as the cornerstone, and we are being transformed and built up because Christ is the cornerstone!

The Jews are joined to the Gentiles for God’s building

We may think that this is a small thing, but no matter how hard people try to make peace and to join these two peoples – the Jews and the Gentiles – there is no way. The Jewish culture and religion is strong and they exclude any other people – it is only them that were chosen by God as His people, and the Gentiles are too wild and free.

But through Christ becoming the cornerstone, He now joins the Jews and the Gentiles together into one building – the church! As long as someone believes into the Lord Jesus, he believes into the cornerstone and he receives Christ as the joining one in his spirit – he is part of the people of God!

In Christ as the cornerstone all the building – including both the Jewish and the Gentile believers – is fitted together and is growing together into a holy temple, a habitation for God in spirit (see Eph. 2:21).

The only way we can be one and the only way we can be joined as believing Gentiles to the believing Jews is in Christ, the joining factor and the building up factor.

We believe in the Stone Savior and we are daily being transformed into living stones to be built together with people from other races, colors, backgrounds, ages, dispositions, etc – into God’s building! Hallelujah for Christ as the cornerstone!

Christ was chosen to be the cornerstone

In eternity past Christ was chosen by God to be the cornerstone for God’s spiritual building (see 1 Pet. 1:20; 2:4). When Christ became a man, He as the stone was rejected by the Jewish builders to the uttermost – even to the extent that they crucified Him (Matt. 21:38-42).

But in His resurrection, God chose Christ as the cornerstone again (Acts 4:10-11), a second time, confirming His initial choosing in eternity past!

After He was resurrected, Christ was uplifted by God to the heavens and He was ascended to Zion, further confirming that God chose Him to be the cornerstone (Isa. 28:16; 1 Pet. 2:6). Hallelujah, Christ is the head of the corner for God’s building!

Christ as the cornerstone implies all His accomplishments (He is the One who is preeminent in everything and heads all things up in Himself); it implies our identification with Him in His death, resurrection, and ascension; and it also implies His organic salvation, the blending between Jews and Gentiles / cultures and peoples / economies and dispensations, and His centrality in God’s economy!

If we are for God’s building, Christ as the cornerstone is preciousness itself – to God it is precious, to us it is preciousness itself! Praised be the Lord Jesus our Stone Savior!

Thank You Lord for all that You have accomplished in Your processes! We praise You as the Stone Savior, the Cornerstone for God’s building! Thank You for Your daily saving and Your daily transforming us! Lord, how mysterious this is – men of clay are becoming precious stones, living stones for God’s building! You as the Cornerstone are transforming us and are also joining us together for God’s building! Hallelujah for our Stone Savior!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from, the Life-study of Ephesians (msg. 2) and the Life-study of the Psalms, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of Psalms (2), week 19.
• Recommended reading: Psalm 118:24 with footnote 1;
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Living Stone of life art Thou, Lord, / Precious, chosen thus to be; / Living stones Thou too hast made us, / One in character with Thee.
  # Lord, for God’s spiritual building, / Thou art the Chief Cornerstone; / Both of the Jews and the Gentiles / By Thee are built into one.
  # The Church is Christ’s own Body, / The Father’s dwelling-place, / The gathering of the called ones, / God blended with man’s race;