If we read John 1:42 and Matt. 16:18 we will realise that both Christ and the believers are living stones for God’s building, and that God’s goal is to have a spiritual house built up with living stones.
Yes, Christ is the living stone, and we are born as men of clay, but through regeneration, growing, feeding, and transformation, we are being made into living stones to be built up in the church as the building of God.
Christ as the Stone-Savior, the One preached by Peter in Acts 4, the One we have believed into, is producing living stones for God’s building, God’s spiritual house.
He is not only life to propagate Himself into many sinners to make them the many sons of God. He is also a stone-Savior to impart His stone element and propagate Himself as the living stone into many believers to make them living stones for God’s building.
For us as believers, Christ in resurrection is the propagating stone and the building stone. On the one hand He propagated His life and nature into us to make us children of God and living stones for God’s building, and on the other, He is building us up together into God’s building, His spiritual house, for us to be God’s corporate expression.
On the day of Christ’s resurrection He was propagated as the one grain of wheat to produce many grains of wheat for the producing of an unleavened bread for God’s satisfaction; this is the church in the aspect of life.
At the same time, in His resurrection Christ as the living stone was propagated into many living stones, and we as the many believers in Christ were produced as living stones for God’s building.
We are the continuation of Christ, the enlargement of Christ, and the reproduction of Christ both in the aspect of His life (we are the many sons of God and the many members of His Body) but also in the aspect of the building (we are the many living stones for God’s building).
Now as living stones we are growing, we are being transformed, and we are being built up together into God’s spiritual house, the church as the Body of Christ in this age, the one new man, the bride, the kingdom of God and the stone filling the whole earth, and the New Jerusalem.
God’s purpose in saving us is to gain us as materials for His building, His corporate expression on earth.
He dispenses His stone element into us, He transforms us by our drinking the guileless milk of the word that by it we may grow unto salvation, and He builds us up into His spiritual house, the church, for Him to gain a corporate expression. Hallelujah!
Christ is the Foundation Stone, the Cornerstone, the Living Stone, and all the Stones in God’s Building
It is easy to see and realise that we need a Savior, and it is so wonderful to believe into the Lord Jesus as our Savior and receive His divine life.
But what about Christ as our stone-Savior – do we see Him as the Stone-Savior, do we contact Him as such a One, do we experience Him as such a One, and do we preach Him as the Stone-Savior?
It is easy to be influenced by the traditional teachings in Christianity and reject things that are in the word of God which contradict our natural concept and religious belief.
Christ is the Stone-Savior, He is the foundation stone for God’s building, He is the cornerstone, the top-stone, the living stone, and all the stones in God’s building.
At the same time, to those who do not believe, Christ is a stumbling stone and a smiting stone. To the unbelievers Christ is a stumbling stone, and they stumble in Him – especially the unbelieving Jews (see Isa. 8:14-15; Rom. 9:22-23).
To us as believers, Christ is the foundation stone in whom we trust (Isa. 28:16), and on Him the church is built up as the building of God in this universe (Matt. 16:18).
But He’s also a stumbling stone to the unbelieving ones and a smiting stone when He returns. When Christ returns He will be a stone cut without hands, and He with His overcomers will smite the great human image (see Dan. 2:34-35) and destroy it, and this stone will increase and grow over the whole earth to fill the earth with the kingdom of God.
But praise the Lord, to us the believers Christ is neither the stumbling stone nor the smiting stone – He’s the building stone, even a propagating stone. He propagated Himself into us, and He is building us up as living stones.
We come to Him as a living stone, and He makes us living stones for God’s building. He is also the cornerstone that joins together the believers in Himself, and He is also the top-stone of grace for God’s building.
First we are His propagation, and then He builds us up together into His eternal habitation. He makes us living stones for God’s building, and He as the builder of God’s house builds us and knits us together in the church for God’s corporate expression.
If we prayerfully read the Lord’s speaking in John 1:42 and Matt. 16:18 we will realise that both Christ and the believers are living stones for God’s building, and God’s goal is to gain a spiritual house built up with living stones.
In this building Christ is the foundation stone, the cornerstone, the living stone, the top-stone, and all the stones, and we as believers in Christ are being made the same as Christ to be living stones for God’s building.
Thank You Lord Jesus for coming as the Stone-Savior to impart Your stone element into us and make us living stones for God’s building. Hallelujah, in God’s building Christ is the foundation stone, the building stone, the cornerstone, the top-stone, the living stone, and even all the stones! Praise the Lord Jesus, our stone-Savior, who makes us living stones suitable for God’s building by making us the same as He is, a living stone! Lord, we love You and we want to enjoy and experience You as the stone for God’s building!
Being Transformed by Drinking the Word to Grow and be Living Stones for God’s Building
After we receive the Lord Jesus as the seed of life into us, we need to grow so that we may experience Him as the stone living in us (see 1 Pet. 1:23; 2:2, 4).
We were regenerated not by a corruptible seed but of an incorruptible seed, through the living and abiding word of God; by believing into the Lord, we receive His divine life in us.
After our regeneration, Christ feeds us with His word, and we need to drink the guileless milk of the word, that by it we may grow unto salvation. As we long for the guileless milk of the word and drink the Lord in His word, we grow unto salvation, and we come to Him as a living stone.
The sequence in 1 Pet. 1-2 is being regenerated through the living word of God, drinking the milk of the word, growing unto salvation, coming to the Lord as a living stone, and being built up as a spiritual house.
How are we transformed into living stones for God’s spiritual house? It is by drinking the milk of the word so that the minerals in this milk would be deposited into us and constitute us as living stones.
When we take in the word of God, we are reconstituted with the element of the stone, the element of Christ; we are transformed from clay-men into stone-men. This happens by the clay being transformed into stone through our taking in the word of God.
The more we are transformed, the more we are built into a spiritual house.
Coming to the Lord as a living stone equals drinking Him in His word; as we drink Him, His element gets into us to make us the same as He is in life and nature, a stone for God’s building.
In this way Christ makes us living stones for God’s building, those who are transformed with His divine nature, so that we may be built up together with others as a spiritual house upon Him as both the foundation and the cornerstone (see 1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 2:20).
In Christ and through Christ we, as believers, become living stones to be built up as a spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:5). We are living stones through regeneration and transformation (John 3:6; 2 Cor. 3:18).
We were born as men of clay – God created us from the dust of the ground (see Rom. 9:21), but at regeneration we have received the seed of life, which by its growth in us transforms us into living stones (1 Pet. 2:2, 5).
This is so wonderful yet so mysterious: Christ as the seed of life comes into us, He regenerates us and makes us a son of God, and by the growth of this seed we are being transformed into a living stone like the Lord Jesus for God’s building.
We become living stones by growing, and we grow by taking in the nourishment in the word of God. First we get regenerated, we are newborn babies, and we grow by taking in the Word of God; we are then transformed and become His duplication, a living stone for God’s building!
Lord Jesus, we long for the guileless milk of the word that by it we may grow unto salvation and be transformed into living stones for God’s building! We come to You as a living stone by drinking You in Your word, so that Your stone element and nature may be deposited and constituted into us. Oh Lord, grow in us and transform us into living stones for Your building. May the seed of life grow in us and transform us into stones suitable for the building up of the church. Amen, Lord, make us the same as You are, a living stone being built up in God’s spiritual house!
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, Life-study of 1 Peter, msgs. 16-17 (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:
# Living Stone of life art Thou, Lord, / Precious, chosen thus to be; / Living stones Thou too hast made us, / One in character with Thee. / Built together as a temple / That our God may dwell therein, / Thus we are a holy priesthood, / Offering sacrifice to Him. (Hymns #834)
# Though of clay Thou madest us, / Thou wouldst have us be transformed; / With Thy life as purest gold, / Unto precious stones conformed. / We shall, through Thy building work, / Then become Thy loving Bride, / In one Body joined to Thee, / That Thy heart be satisfied. (Hymns #839)
# Living stones, we’re built together / And a house for God must be, / As the holy priesthood serving, / In a blessed harmony. (Hymns #913)
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