As the all-inclusive stone, Christ is the centrality of God’s move for the building up of His eternal habitation; Christ as the cornerstone is both our Savior and the Builder of God’s house.
When the Lord Jesus was speaking concerning Himself and His authority, He said that He is the stone which the builders rejected but which has become the head of the corner.
Then Peter when he preached the gospel said that Jesus Christ is the stone rejected by the Jewish leaders as the builders of God’s house, but He has been raised and exalted by God, being made the cornerstone for God’s building.
It is in the name of Jesus that there is salvation, and salvation is in no one else but Jesus, the stone! Wow!
So the Lord Jesus came not only as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world, not only as our Savior and Redeemer to become the way for us to return to God, but also as the stone, and in the name of Jesus as the stone we are saved.
This matter of Christ being the stone is great in the whole Bible. Man has rejected Him, but God chose Him, approved Him, and made Him head of the corner. And we come to Him as a living stone, and we are also made living stones for God’s building, which is a building with living stones.
What God desires to gain is a building, and for this Christ came as the all-inclusive stone, and He dispenses His stone element and nature into us to make us living stones for God’s building.
Even in the garden of Eden, after God created man and put Him in front of the tree of life, the record in Genesis mentions precious stones in the river. And at the end of the Bible we see that there’s a stone city, a precious stone city, the New Jerusalem, which has the appearance of God.
God wants to gain this stone city, His building, for His corporate expression; for this Christ came as the cornerstone, and there is salvation in no other but in His name, the name of our stone-Savior Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!
When we believe into the name of the Lord, we become living stones for God’s building. Then, we enter into the process of transformation and building, to be transformed in our nature to be living stones, and to be built up with our fellow believers as fellow living stones. Hallelujah!
How we thank and praise the Lord as the all-inclusive stone, the cornerstone, who is now saving us, transforming us, and building us up into His eternal habitation, God’s building!
Everything Christ is, has done, and is doing are Due to the fact that He is the Cornerstone
As the all-inclusive stone, Christ is the centrality of God’s economy, God’s move, for the building up of His eternal habitation (see Matt. 21:42, 44; Zech. 3:9; Eph. 2:19-22).
The One who is the centrality of God’s move in His economy is a stone, which means that Christ as the cornerstone is related to all that God does in His economy.
Everything that Christ is, everything that Christ has done, and everything that Christ is doing are due to the fact that He is the cornerstone. What an amazing fact! What an astounding statement!
We need to tell the Lord to unveil us to see this fact. God’s entire economy is implied in the short word spoken by Peter in Acts 4:10-12.
If we read the Bible with a view of God’s economy we will realise that in eternity past, what was in God’s heart, His desire and His economy, was that He wants a building, a corporate expression.
The Bible has many types of the building of God, but this story begins in eternity past. In eternity past God has already ordained Christ to be the cornerstone of His building. In time, God created man, and He made a garden for man and put man there.
God put man in the garden of Eden, and He put man in front of the tree of life, which shows that God as life wants to be propagated into man. Besides the tree of life there were also some precious stones, which indicates that God’s life is propagated in man for the purpose of Him gaining a building of precious stones.
God told man to be fruitful and multiply, propagate, so that God as the tree of life and the stones for the building can be increased. This is why human beings should propagate – for God’s life to propagate and His building to increase.
In Zech. 3:9 we see a stone set before Joshua, and there are seven eyes on this stone, which are the seven eyes of the Lamb, the seven Spirits of God for His building. This signifies the sevenfold intensified Spirit are on the Stone, which is Christ Himself, and His salvation is for God’s building.
Then, God Himself came in incarnation to be the cornerstone, and Christ told the Jewish people that He is the stone (see Matt. 21; Acts 4:10).
But the Jewish people rejected Him. Now, we as Gentiles through the preaching of the gospel realize the preciousness of the cornerstone, and we are willing to come to Him as a living stone, and we are regenerated to become His duplication – we become many living stones!
First through regeneration, then transformation, then building, we become a house of stone, a stone-house, for God’s habitation.
The foundation and cornerstone of God’s building is Christ, and this building is growing, for it is composed of living stones; God’s building grows in life (see Eph. 2:19-22).
Christ is the One who builds up the church as the stone house, the building of God, and when the building is finished, all will shout, Grace, Grace to the stone (Zech. 4:7, 9).
We are being built up as a spiritual house in this age, and in the next age we will be a mountain of stone (the kingdom of God filling the whole earth), and in eternity we will be the New Jerusalem, a stone city!
In Dan. 2:34-35 we see that, at His second coming, Christ will be a stone cut without hands, and He will strike the great human image (representing the totality of human government) and destroy it.
This stone is Christ with His overcomers, and this stone will increase and become a great mountain that will fill the whole earth! Hallelujah!
And for eternity we will be the New Jerusalem, which has the appearance of God; the God on the throne has the appearance of jasper, and the whole city has the appearance of jasper, having the glory of God (see Rev. 4:3; 21:11).
From eternity to eternity in God’s economy we see Christ as the all-inclusive stone, Christ as the cornerstone. Everything Christ did in God’s move and economy is due to the fact that He is the cornerstone.
Lord Jesus, we praise You as the cornerstone of God’s building! You are the all-inclusive stone as the centrality of God’s move for the building up of His eternal habitation! Praise the Lord for our Stone-Savior who has come into us to make us living stones for God’s organic building, the church! Thank You Lord, You are transforming us in our nature with Your stone element, and You are building us up to be Your building, the church as the house of God. Cause us to see and appreciate that everything Christ is, everything He has done, and everything He’s doing are due to the fact that He is the cornerstone for God’s building!
Praising Christ as the Cornerstone – He’s our Savior and the Builder of God’s House
Peter in Acts 4:10-12 speaks concerning Christ as the Stone-Savior, saying that there’s salvation in no other but in His name; this one is the stone rejected by man but approved by God and made by Him to be the cornerstone.
The name in which all men under heaven must be saved is Jesus Christ the Stone-Savior! If Christ had not been made the cornerstone, He could not be the Savior.
Paul in Eph. 2:19-22 speaks of Christ as the cornerstone in whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom we are also being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.
Christ as the cornerstone is all-inclusive – He is everything! He is both our Savior to impart His life into us, and the Builder of God’s house to build us together in Himself as the cornerstone.
We need to see and appreciate the fact that Christ is the cornerstone, for it is by His being the cornerstone that He could die for us, that we could be crucified with Him, made alive with Him, resurrected with Him, and seated with Him in the heavenlies.
It is as the cornerstone that Christ can save us, transform us into precious stones, and build us up together to be God’s habitation, God’s unique temple in the universe (see Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:5-6, 20-22).
We need to see Christ as the cornerstone, enjoy Him as the cornerstone, and praise Him for being the cornerstone both as the Savior and the Builder of God’s building!
Have we ever thanked or praised the Lord for His being the cornerstone? Have we seen what Peter and Paul saw, that is, that Christ as the cornerstone is all-inclusive for God’s building, thus fulfilling God’s eternal purpose?
We may agree with what the Bible says concerning Christ, and we may enjoy Him and appreciate Him, but do we see Him as the cornerstone? Do we realize that our Savior is a Stone-Savior, and the One who builds us together is a cornerstone?
We need to be saved from our old way of praying to the Lord and thanking Him for His mercy and lovingkindness, and simply praise Him and thank Him for being the cornerstone.
As the cornerstone Christ is everything; He’s all-inclusive. Christ is the all-inclusive stone, the centrality of God’s move for the building up of His eternal habitation.
If we really see Christ as the cornerstone, we will praise and thank the Lord, saying,
Thank You Lord Jesus for being the cornerstone as our Savior and our salvation! We praise You, Lord, for being the cornerstone for God’s building. Oh Lord, without You we don’t have any element or factor to be built up as God’s temple! Amen, Lord, unveil us to see that You are the cornerstone to be our salvation and to be the element and factor for us to be transformed and built up into Your habitation! Hallelujah, as the cornerstone Christ died for us, we were crucified with Him, we were made alive with Him, and we were seated with Him in the heavenlies! Hallelujah, as the cornerstone Christ saves us, transforms us into precious stones, and builds us together to be God’s habitation, His unique temple in the universe! Thank and praise the Lord Jesus Christ as the cornerstone!
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 the Psalms, msg. 39 (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)
# For God’s dispensing, we have been, / Made into vessels open to Him; / His element is wrought in us, / Making us living stones, corporately; / Being saved from self, the flesh and its will, / It’s no longer I, but Christ lives in me; / Members of the Body, built up in love, / Joined to be one, for Him corporately. (Song on, God’s heart’s desire, a house on earth)
# By the flow of life divine, / Man becomes a precious stone / Fit for building God’s abode, / That His glory might be known. / ’Tis the city God hath built, ’Tis the dwelling God requires, ’Tis the new Jerusalem / Which fulfills His heart’s desires. (Hymns #972)
About aGodMan
