In Acts 4:10-12 Peter proclaimed Christ as the Stone-Savior; we need to preach the gospel of Christ as the Stone-Savior for God’s building.
Our commission is not just to preach the gospel of grace for people to be saved and go to heaven…. Rather, as we see Peter doing, we need to know, enjoy, and experience Christ as the Stone-Savior and we need to preach this One as the gospel, for there is salvation in no other name.
The background of Acts 4 is Acts 3, where we see Peter and John healing a lame man, and the whole people being amazed; then Peter preached the gospel and declared Jesus as the Savior and the Healer, and many of the people believed into Him.
So the chief priests took the disciples, put them in lock-up for the night, and the next day interrogated them in what name and with what authority did they do this.
Peter therefore said, since they were questioned why did they do a good thing, that it is in the name of Jesus the Nazarene, whom the Jewish people considered as nothing, that they healed this man, for it is in this name only that there is salvation.
This One, Jesus Christ, is the stone rejected by the builders but with God chosen and precious, and He was made the head of the corner by God, and salvation is in His name.
Many have focused on the fact that salvation is in the name of Jesus only, but who has seen or realised that this Jesus in whose name salvation is – this One is a Stone-Savior? This shows us that God doesn’t want only to save men from perdition and then whisk them into heaven, but He desires to gain a building.
What was the authority that Christ had on earth when He was healing people and delivering them? He was the stone-Savior who preached not only the gospel of the kingdom but also the building of God, for He came to propagate Himself into man for man to become living stones suitable for God’s building.
We are like Peter – we have been met by the Lord, called by Him, and we have our name changed by Him into a stone for God’s building.
And now we preach Christ as the Stone-Savior as our gospel, so that many others would receive God’s life, be infused with the stone element and nature of Christ, and become materials for the building up of the church as the building of God.
Hallelujah, Christ as the builder of God’s house will make sure that this house is built, and when this building is completed, He will be both the cornerstone and the topstone, and many will shout, grace to the stone! Hallelujah for Christ as the Stone-Savior!
Preaching the Gospel of Christ as the Stone-Savior for God’s Building
The fact that Peter quoted Psa. 118 regarding Christ as the stone rejected by man but chosen by God to be the cornerstone shows that he preached Christ as the stone for God’s building.
Earlier Peter spoke of Christ we the Healer, the Author of life, the righteous and holy One, and the Servant of God, but here in Acts 4 we see Christ as the Stone-Savior. This shows that salvation is for God’s building, that is, we are saved for the building up of the church as the house of God.
Christ is the stone-Savior, the One who came as a stone from God, and He saves us to make us living stones for God’s building. Such a Christ is the unique salvation to sinners, and it is in His unique name under heaven that there is salvation.
This One was despised and rejected by the Jewish leaders but He was honored and exalted by God (Phil. 2:9-10), and in His name sinners must be saved (Acts 4:12) not only from sin (Matt. 1:21) but also to participate in God’s building (1 Pet. 2:5).
Peter’s preaching of the gospel was wonderful, for He preached not only man’s salvation but Christ as the Stone-Savior for God’s building. This is the gospel that we also need to preach.
There’s so much gospel preaching going on today, and so much of it is for man to be saved and rescued… But who sees the fact that we are saved for God’s building? Man’s salvation is for the building of God – this is God’s purpose.
We preach the gospel to increase and propagate Christ, to add people to the Lord. We want to increase this wonderful and all-inclusive person by adding people to Him, and at the same time we propagate this Person as the stone for God’s building.
This has to be entrenched into our consciousness, so that we may be saved from any religious and old view of preaching the gospel and be brought into God’s view that Christ as the Stone-Savior is the gospel for man to believe and become a living stone for God’s building!
We are propagating Christ into many living stones for God’s building so that He would get the increase. We are not here to do a common evangelistic work – many are already doing this… We are here to preach the gospel not mainly for man’s benefit but for the stone-Savior to produce many living stones for His building. Hallelujah!
It is such a Christ as the Stone-Savior that is the unique salvation to sinners, and it is in His unique name under heaven that sinners must be saved to participate in God’s building. He is not only the holy One, the righteous One, the Author of life, and the Servant; He is also the stone for God’s building – and this stone is the unique One in whom we can be saved!
In Matthew we see Christ as the King-Savior (He preached the gospel of the kingdom), in Mark we see Christ as the Slave-Savior (He came as the Servant of God), in Luke we see the Man-Savior (He was a proper man with a high standard of morality), and in John we see Christ as God-Savior (He’s the Son of God, God Himself).
Now in Acts we see Christ as the stone-Savior – as such a One, He is solid, strong, and reliable, and there’s salvation only in His name!
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming as the stone-Savior to not only save us from our sins but make us living stones for God’s building! Hallelujah, Jesus Christ as the stone-Savior has come, and there’s salvation only in His name! Amen, Lord, we want to learn to preach such a high gospel for the fulfillment of Your eternal purpose to gain a building. Hallelujah, Christ is not only the holy One, the righteous One, the Author of life, and the Servant, but also the stone for God’s building, and salvation is in His unique name!
In Incarnation Christ came to be a Stone for the Building of God’s Universal Habitation
In John 1:14 we see that in Christ God became a man and tabernacled among us – He made His tent among us, living among us; He came as the stone for God’s building. In Christ God came in incarnation to be a stone for the building of God’s universal habitation (see John 1:1, 13; Matt. 21:42). At first, Christ was a common stone, and the Jewish leaders rejected Him by killing Him.
They were jealous of Him, and they did not consider Him as the cornerstone; rather, they considered Him as nothing, as a common stone, and they killed Him. When we see a rock on the street, we don’t even pay attention to it or pick it up, for there are so many other rocks around; this is how the Jewish leaders considered the Lord Jesus – a common stone.
God chose Christ from the foundation of the world to be the cornerstone for His building, but man didn’t recognise Him as such a One. But praise the Lord, God honored Christ by raising Him from the dead and making Him a cornerstone, the prominent stone, that joins the walls of a building.
This is what a cornerstone does – it joins two walls into a building. As the cornerstone of God’s habitation, Christ joins the wall of the Jewish believers and the wall of the Gentile believers into one in God’s building (see Eph. 2:22).
He wiped out the ordinances and the commandments, and abolished in His flesh the law in commandments and ordinances, thus making peace; now in Christ we have peace and are joined together. Christ as the Stone-Savior is the only way for the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers to be joined together.
There must be a cornerstone; Christ is the cornerstone joining God’s building together. We can experience Christ as the cornerstone, and we will be joined together by Him. He joins us together with all the believers in all the countries and on all the continents, and whenever we meet together, we are one in Christ for God’s building.
He is strong, reliable, and we can stand in Him; any other stand or anything else we rely on can lead to division, but Christ brings us into oneness. The world today lacks oneness and peace, and Christ as the cornerstone brings in both of these.
We need to enjoy and experience Christ as the cornerstone, and we need to preach the gospel of Christ as the stone-Savior for God’s building, so that many sinners would be saved and become living stones for the building of God, the church.
Christ came to be a stone in incarnation for God’s building, and in resurrection He was made the cornerstone of God’s building; He is our stone-Savior, and there’s salvation only in His name!
Thank You Lord Jesus for coming in incarnation to be the stone for the building of God’s universal habitation! Thank You for becoming a stone-Savior who imparts His stone-element and stone-nature into us to make us living stones for His building. Oh Lord, remove any veils from our eyes to see Your building, the church, as the fulfillment of Your purpose in saving us! May we experience Christ as the stone for God’s building and preach the gospel of Christ as the stone-Savior for the church as the building of God!
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 Acts, msg. 15 (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:
- Cornerstone, Foundation, Topstone, / Rock, and Church, and Living Stone, / Dwelling-place, and Sanctuary, / Builder too art Thou, we own. (Hymns #834)
- Jews and Gentiles are one body- / God His myst’ry has made known- / On apostles, prophets founded, / Jesus Christ the cornerstone; / We in Him are built together / For God’s dwelling manifest, / Fitly framed by God the Spirit / For His pleasure and His rest. (Hymns #823)
- Thou art the Stone tried by many, / Precious to God, dear to us, / Thou art so sure and trustworthy, / Thy strength is so marvelous. / Thou art the Stone that is living, / Chosen of God, made our own; / So energetic and pow’rful, / With endless life to us known. (Hymns #199)
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