Christ as the Stone-Savior is producing many living stones for God’s building, God’s spiritual house, and for us as believers the resurrected Christ is the propagating stone and the building stone.
We may have never thought of Christ being the Stone-Savior, but this is what Peter is speaking of in his second gospel message in the book of Acts. In each of the gospels there’s a major aspect of Christ as our Savior.
In Matthew we see that Christ came as a King of the heavenly kingdom, He preached the gospel of the kingdom, He issued the decree of the kingdom, He Himself was the kingdom of God, and He is our King-Savior.
In Mark we see Christ as the Slave of God coming to serve God and man, and He immediately took care of people, situations, and things, being willing to go to the cross for us – He is our Slave-Savior.
In Luke we see Christ as a man, a wonderful and proper man, a man like no other, with the highest standard of morality, a man in whom God delights and who expresses the bountiful God in His human virtues – He is the Man-Savior.
In John we see that Christ is God who became flesh and tabernacled among us, and He came to impart and propagate the life of God into His people – He’s the bread of life, the way and the life, the living water, the Shepherd, and He came that we may have life and have it abundantly – He is our God-Savior.
Now in the book of Acts we see many aspects of Christ, who in ascension is propagating Himself through His disciples on earth for the producing and building up of the church as the kingdom of God.
One of the aspects of Christ in Acts 4 is that He is the stone and the Savior – He’s the stone rejected by man but with God chosen and precious, and He is the Savior in whose name alone there’s salvation – He’s our Stone-Savior.
He is a living stone that propagates Himself to make us, His believers and disciples, living stones for His building. He’s also the building stone – the Builder of the house of God, the church, for He said in Matt. 16:18 that He will build His church.
On one hand the Lord saves us with His divine life to bring us into His kingdom and make us children of God, and on the other, He propagates Himself as the stone into us to make us living stones, stone men, who are suitable for the building up of the church, which He Himself builds as the building stone.
Hallelujah for such a Christ! Christ is the propagating stone and the building stone to us, His believers, for He propagates Himself into us to make us living stones and He also builds us up by Himself as the building stone. Wow. Lord, remove our veils to see You as such a One!
Seeing that the Goal of God’s Salvation is the Building up of the Church as Stone-House of God
When Andrew brought his brother Simon to the Lord, Jesus told him in John 1:42, You are Simon, the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which is interpreted, Peter).
This must have been surprising and even shocking for Peter, for he just met the Lord. He realized that he is a little stone for the building of God.
Then later in Matt. 16:15 the Lord asked His disciples, Who do men say that I am? And Peter, having revelation from God, took the lead to say, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
To which the Lord replied, And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18).
Peter realised that he’s a stone for God’s building, and Christ Himself is the rock on which the church is built up. Peter was not the rock, rather, Christ Himself with the revelation concerning Christ is the rock, and Christ Himself is also the Builder of God’s house.
Our salvation and being called by the Lord to follow Him is for the building of God, for God to gain a corporate expression of which He Himself is the essence, element, and Builder.
We are living stones, and Christ as the building stone builds up the church, which is His church, with many living stones upon the rock, which is Christ.
Peter most likely did not fully understand what the Lord was talking about at that time, but after He received the Spirit within and was clothed with the Spirit without, he was fully clear.
He realised that the Lord Jesus is the stone-Savior, and all the believers in Christ are living stones produced by Him for the building up of the church as the stone-house of God.
We need to realise that our Christ is all-inclusive, and as such a One He is everything to God in His economy, He is everything to us in our daily living and work, and He is everything in God’s building.
In the building of God Christ is everything – He’s the foundation, He’s the cornerstone, He’s every living stone, He’s the Savior and the builder of the church, He’s the topstone, and He is the life, element, and Builder of God’s house.
As such an all-inclusive One, Christ comes to us as the Stone-Savior to regenerate us, impart His stone element into us (He’s the propagating stone) and build us up into the church as the house of God (He’s the building stone).
He’s strong, He’s reliable, He’s our foundation, He’s the living stone, He’s the cornerstone, and He’s even the topstone (Zech. 4:7).
Christ is God, man, the Father, the Son, the Spirit, the rock, the foundation, the cornerstone, the topstone, the door, our food, our drink, our clothing, our life, our strength, our ability, our function, our walk, our living, our words, our breath, our sight, our hearing. He’s everything to us for His building!
Lord, grant us to see that the goal of Your salvation is the building up of the church as the stone-house of God! May we realize that we are saved not only to be rescued from perdition and spared from God’s judgment, but to be made living stones for the building of God’s house. Thank You Lord for changing our name into “stones”. Thank You for imparting Your stone element and stone nature into us to make us living stones, and You’re now transforming us to be precious stones suitable for Your building! Lord, we praise You as the propagating stone and as the building stone!
For us as Believers, the Resurrected Christ is the Propagating Stone and the Building Stone
According to 1 Pet. 1:3, all believers in Christ were regenerated in the resurrection of Christ from the dead; when Christ rose up from the dead, not only was He transformed into a life-giving Spirit, but He was also made the Firstborn Son of God and many believers as sons of God were produced.
The resurrection of Christ was a universally great delivery, a great birth, in which we all as the many sons of God were regenerated. This means that in His resurrection Christ propagated Himself.
Christ as the cornerstone is a propagating stone; He propagates Himself to reproduce Himself into many living stones, which is us, the many believers in Christ.
For us as believers, the resurrected Christ is the propagating stone and the building stone (1 Pet. 2:4-5).
First, we became His propagation, and now He is building us up together into God’s dwelling place. When we were regenerated, we not only received the divine life in our spirit to be born of God, but we also received His stone element to be made living stones for God’s building.
Christ is the propagating stone, and in His resurrection He propagated Himself into all His believers to make them living stones for God’s building. in John 12:24 we see that Christ as the one grain fell into the ground and died, and in resurrection He produced many identical grains for His propagation of life.
This is related to the propagation of Christ as life for the increase of the kingdom of God on earth. At the same time, Christ is the propagating stone, and He propagated Himself into His many believers to produce many identical living stones for His building!
Christ’s propagating of Himself is with His building in view; He is our life for the building, and we are His enlargement for His building.
We are saved for God’s building, we grow in life for God’s building, and we are being transformed by going through so many things outwardly and by having the Spirit work on us inwardly for His building.
As the Stone-Savior in God’s economy, Christ is both the Builder and the material for God’s building (Matt. 16:18; 1 Pet. 2:4-5). On one hand He Himself builds up the church as the house of God, and we are the living stones as His propagation and duplication.
On the other hand, Christ Himself is the material for God’s building – He is in us, He is propagated in us, and we are becoming the same as He is, being conformed to His image, for Him to build us up as the church.
Christ is in every living stone and He Himself is every living stone; when we are made the same as Christ, we become Christ for His building, and we realize that Christ is both the propagating stone, the building stone, and the Builder of God’s house.
Christ Himself is the entirety of the building of God, which is the church as the Body of Christ.
Thank You Lord for coming as the propagating stone and the building stone to make us living stones for the building of God’s house, the church! Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are living stones as the propagation of Christ, the Stone-Savior, and we are being built up together by Christ in spirit to be the spiritual house of God, the church. Thank You Lord for making us part of Your propagation and for building us up together into God’s dwelling place. Hallelujah, Christ as the Stone-Savior in God’s economy is both the Builder and the material 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, Life-study of Acts, msg. 16 (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:
# On Christ, salvation rests secure; / The Rock of Ages must endure; / Nor can that faith be overthrown / Which rests upon the “Living Stone.” (Hymns #835)
# Lord, Thou art a potter skilled / And a glorious builder too, / Molding for Thy vessel great, / Building with Thy house in view. / I am both a man of clay / And a new-made living stone, / That Thy vessel I may be / And the temple Thou wouldst own. (Hymns #839)
# Cornerstone, Foundation, Topstone, / Rock, and Church, and Living Stone, / Dwelling-place, and Sanctuary, / Builder too art Thou, we own. / Praise we give for what Thou art, Lord, / As Thy wondrousness we see! / Grant that we may be built up, Lord, / As the living stones in Thee. (Hymns #834)
