This week we are enjoying and prayerfully considering the matter of, Christ as the Stone-Savior Producing Living Stones for God’s Building; Christ is the cornerstone for God’s building.
When Peter spoke in Acts 4 his second gospel message, he said that the man they just healed was healed by Jesus Christ, who is the stone rejected by the Jewish leaders but chosen and precious to God, and this stone has become the cornerstone in God’s building. Wow.
So the Person who is propagating Himself in the book of Acts through the disciples is a stone, a stone-Savior, and He wants to propagate Himself to the extent that He fills the whole earth, even the whole universe.
We may say that Christ is already universally vast, so He doesn’t need to increase, but what about in us, is Christ universally vast? Is Christ as the stone reproduced in us until we are living stones for God’s building?
When we speak of stones, we don’t usually say that stones reproduce themselves, because physical stones don’t have life and they cannot produce other stones.
But Christ is a living stone, and He produces other living stones, which are His believers, for the building up of His church. In Him, Christ as the stone-Savior, is salvation. Hallelujah!
Peter was the right person to speak of the Lord as the stone-Savior, since he has a particular history and experience with the Lord in this respect.
The first time the Lord met Peter in John 1:42 he changed his name into Cephas, a stone, which in Greek is Peter. Peter might have wondered what has happened to him and who this Person is – He just met him and already changed his name into a stone.
Then, in Matt. 16 when Peter has the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, again the Lord told him that he is Peter, and upon this rock He will build His church. Peter heard his name again, then he heard that there’s a rock, and on this rock God’s house is built. This rock is not Peter – Peter is at most one of the living stones in God’s house. The rock is Christ Himself.
Later in Matt. 21:42, 44 when the Lord was being tested by the chief priests and elders concerning His authority, He quoted Psa. 118:22-23, speaking of the stone which the builders rejected and has become the head of the corner.
Also, the Lord quoted Isa. 8:14-16, which is a prophecy concerning Christ as the stone. To the unbelieving, Christ is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. To the believing ones, He’s the living stone and the cornerstone.
Peter heard these words and they left a deep impression on him, so he spoke in Acts 4 concerning Christ as the stone, quoting Psa. 118.
Then in 1 Pet. 2:4-8 Peter speaks again of Christ as the stone, this time He’s a living stone, and we can come to Him and enjoy Him as preciousness, and we also become living stones.
Peter picked up these three verses from the Old Testament which prophesy concerning Christ as the stone – Psa. 118:22, Isa. 28:16, and Isa. 8:14 – and he applied these verses to us, saying that when we come to Christ as the living stone, He also makes us living stones, and we are being built up with the other living stones into a house of stone, a spiritual house, to be God’s habitation. Hallelujah!
Peter doesn’t use the word, church, in his epistle, but he sees something concerning the church which is wonderful – the church is a spiritual house composed of living stones. Hallelujah!
Christ as the Stone Rejected by the Builders has become the Cornerstone for God’s Building
The matter of Christ as the cornerstone is one of the hardest points in the Bible. In Psa. 118:22 we are told that the stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.
Christ was despised and crucified by the Jewish leaders, who were supposed to be the builders, but He was raised from the dead by God, becoming the cornerstone of God’s building with God’s salvation being uniquely in Him (see Acts 4:10-12).
In his second address to the people of Israel, Peter spoke these verses in Acts 4, and he told them that Christ has become the cornerstone.
When did Christ become the cornerstone? It was on the day of His resurrection – this is the day that the Lord has made, the day of Christ’s resurrection.
The striking thought in this portion in Acts 4 is that salvation is in this One, the stone-Savior, showing us that salvation is for God’s building, and God saves us to make us stones for His building, the church, His corporate expression.
God puts in us a life and a nature that is suitable to be built up into His habitation.
Psa. 118 is the first time Christ as the cornerstone is mentioned; here we see that the stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner (see v. 22). The Lord Jesus quoted this verse in Matt. 21:42, where He was indicating that He is the stone for God’s building.
The Lord clearly understood that, when He came in incarnation as a man, He was actually coming as a stone that would become the base and the cornerstone for God’s building! Wow!
Christ came not just as a Man to fulfill God’s plan and accomplish redemption, but He came as both the foundation stone and the cornerstone for God’s building!
Christ is the cornerstone for the building up of the church in the New Testament age (Matt. 16:18).
In Matt. 16:18 we see that upon this rock Christ will build His church; what is this rock? Some say that this rock is Peter…but that’s not the right interpretation – Peter is not the rock upon which the church is built, he is only one of the many stones!
The rock is Christ; Christ is the cornerstone for the building up of the church! Actually, Christ is the foundation stone, the cornerstone, and every stone in God’s building – He has regenerated Peter, the apostles, and all His believers, and He is all the stones in the building, including the top-stone!
The church is a stone building, and every part of it is Christ. From the Lord’s word in Matt. 21:42, Peter came to know the Lord as the precious stone held in honor by God (see 1 Pet. 2:4, 6).
Praise You Lord Jesus, our stone-Savior! We praise You for being made the cornerstone for God’s building! Hallelujah, the stone which was rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone for God’s building, and God’s salvation is in Him! Lord, we look to You, we believe into You, and we allow You to infuse Your stone-element into us to make us living stones for Your building, the church. Wow, Lord, the church is a house of living stones, a stone-house, where Christ is every stone – He is the foundation stone, the living stones, the cornerstone, and the topstone! Hallelujah!
Christ was Chosen by God, Rejected by man, and Made Cornerstone by God in Resurrection
In Acts 4 Peter delivers a very unique gospel message; he tells the Jewish people that it is in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene (the One they despised and killed yet whom God has raised from the dead) the man before them was healed.
This One, Jesus Christ, is the stone which was considered by the Jewish builders as nothing, but He has become the head of the corner, and there’s salvation in no other one – only in Jesus Christ!
Hallelujah, only in the name of Jesus there’s salvation!
Christ was chosen by God in eternity past to be the cornerstone for God’s building (see 1 Pet. 1:20; 2:4), but when He came to the earth, He was rejected and despised by the Jewish people with their leaders, who were supposed to be builders of God’s house.
Christ was considered as nothing, rejected, and despised by the Jewish builders, and they crucified Him. But God raised Him from the dead, approving His work and choosing Him to be the cornerstone for God’s building!
Man has despised and rejected Him, but God has approved and honored Him; God has made this Christ the head of the corner for the building of God!
In God’s New Testament economy Christ is the cornerstone; He first saves us to make us living stones for His the building up of God’s spiritual house (Matt. 16:16-18; John 1:42; 1 Pet. 2:2-6), and then, in the process of His transforming us (Rom. 12:2a; 2 Cor. 3:18), builds us up into a dwelling place of God (Eph. 2:19-22), that He may carry out God’s eternal economy for God’s good pleasure (Eph. 1:9; 3:9-11).
On the day of His resurrection the Lord Jesus was made the cornerstone by God. In His resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit, He regenerated us for His Body, and He became the Firstborn Son of God; also, in His resurrection Christ was made the cornerstone for God’s building!
For the propagation of His life, Christ was made the firstborn Son of God. For God’s building, Christ was made the cornerstone on the day of His resurrection. Actually, Christ as the cornerstone is the firstborn Son of God, and the firstborn Son of God is the cornerstone.
From eternity past God chose Christ to be the cornerstone for God’s spiritual building; He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but He was manifested in the last times for our sake.
Already from eternity past what was on God’s heart, view, will, and intention is that He would eventually have a building, and the cornerstone of this building is Christ!
In time, however, the Jewish leaders as the builders rejected Him to the uttermost, to such an extent that they put Him on the cross (Matt. 21:38-42). But God chose Christ as the cornerstone a second time in Christ’s resurrection, thereby confirming His initial choosing of Christ in eternity past (Acts 4:10-11).
Peter was emphatic in his gospel preaching – even though the Jewish leaders rejected Him, God chose Christ, resurrected Him, and ascended Him to the heavens, approving Him to be the cornerstone for God’s building!
Both Christ’s resurrection and His ascension prove and confirm that He is the One whom God has chosen to be the head of the corner for God’s building (Psa. 118:22; Acts 4:11). Hallelujah!
Lord, unveil us to see You as the cornerstone for God’s building! May we realize the importance and preciousness of Christ as the cornerstone for the building of God! Hallelujah, Christ was chosen by God in eternity past to be the cornerstone for God’s spiritual building, He was rejected and despised and killed by the Jewish leaders, but He was chosen as the cornerstone again by God in His resurrection! Hallelujah for Christ as the cornerstone for God’s building!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 291 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Propagating the Resurrected, Ascended, and All-inclusive Christ as the Development of the Kingdom of God (2018 fall ITERO), week 5, Christ as the Stone-Savior Producing Living Stones for God’s Building.
- Hymns on this topic:
# The chief Cornerstone Thou art, Lord, / Jewish builders did despise; / God by resurrection placed Thee, / Thou art precious in His eyes. / Through Thee we receive salvation, / And, together built by Thee, / Jews and Gentiles are Thy dwelling, / One new man, in harmony. (Hymns #834)
# Lord, for God’s spiritual building, / Thou art the Chief Cornerstone; / Both of the Jews and the Gentiles / By Thee are built into one. (Hymns #199)
# Christ is made the sure foundation, / Christ the head and cornerstone, / Chosen of the Lord and precious, / Binding all the Church in one; / Holy Zion’s help forever, / And her confidence alone. (Hymns #836)
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