Scripture Reading: Psa. 118:22-26; Matt. 21:42; Acts 4:10-12; 1 Pet. 2:4-5
Ⅰ
Christ is the living stone for God's building:
A
"The stone which the builders rejected / Has become the head of the corner"—Psa. 118:22:
１
The day in verse 24 is the day of Christ's resurrection; on this day, the Lord's Day (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10), the Lord Jesus was made the cornerstone by God for God's building—Matt. 21:42; Eph. 2:20.
２
As the cornerstone Christ is all-inclusive; everything He is, everything He has done, and everything He is doing is due to the fact that He is the cornerstone—Psa. 118:25.
３
To the believers, Christ is the building stone; to the rejecting Jews, He is the stumbling stone; and to the nations, He is the smiting stone—Matt. 21:44.
B
"Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified and whom God has raised from the dead….This is the stone…which has become the head of the corner….There is salvation in no other"—Acts 4:10-12:
１
Peter preached Christ not only as the Savior for our salvation but also as the stone for God's building.
２
Our Savior is a stone; this reveals that salvation is for God's building.
３
This stone is the One in whom we can be saved; He is the Stone-Savior.
C
"Indeed I lay a stone in Zion as a foundation, / A tested stone, / A precious cornerstone as a foundation firmly established"—Isa. 28:16:
１
As a stone Christ is solid, strong, and stable.
２
To the believers Christ is the foundation stone in whom they trust.
D
"Upon one stone are seven eyes. I will engrave its engraving, declares Jehovah of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day"—Zech. 3:9:
１
The Lord Jesus, as the building stone, was engraved, dealt with, by God on the cross for the iniquity of God's people—cf. John 1:29.
２
Christ, the redeeming Lamb and the overcoming Lion, is the stone on which are seven eyes; thus, He is the Lion-Lamb-stone—Rev. 5:5-6.
E
"He will bring forth the topstone with shouts of Grace, grace to it"—Zech. 4:7:
１
To bring forth the topstone is to complete the building.
２
The topstone is Christ, who is grace from God to us to be the covering of God's building.
F
"A stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the image at its feet of iron and clay and crushed them….And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth"—Dan. 2:34-35:
１
Human government will be terminated by Christ at His appearing as the God-cut stone.
２
Through His crucifixion Christ was cut by being put to death, and in His resurrection He was cut out to be, first, the cornerstone for God's building and also the crushing stone to destroy the totality of human government.
３
As the stone Christ is the centrality of God's move.
Ⅱ
The believers in Christ are living stones for God's building:
A
"Looking at him, Jesus said, You are Simon, the son of John; you shall be called Cephas"—John 1:42:
１
The issue of the Word, the tabernacle, the Lamb, and the dove is the stone—vv. 1, 14, 29, 32.
２
The Lamb plus the dove—redemption plus regeneration and transformation—produces stones for the building of God's house—v. 51.
B
"Coming to Him, a living stone, rejected by men but with God chosen and precious, you yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house"—1 Pet. 2:4-5:
１
We are undergoing the process of transformation so that Christ, the living stone, may be constituted into us to make us living stones—the same as He is in life and nature.
２
Christ will make us living stones so that we may be built together with others into a spiritual house upon Him as both the foundation and cornerstone.
C
"Upon one stone are seven eyes"; "I saw…a Lamb standing…having…seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God"—Zech. 3:9a; Rev. 5:6:
１
With these seven eyes, Christ transfuses what He is into our being, infusing us with His essence, to make us the same as He is and thereby make us transformed material for the building up of the New Jerusalem.
２
The way for us to become living, transformed, precious stones is to come to Him and to be seen by Him and be infused with all that He is.
D
"To him who overcomes,…to him I will give a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written"—2:17:
１
A white stone signifies that the believers have become precious stones.
２
The "new name" is the interpretation of the experience of the one who has been transformed for God's building.
E
"Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal….And the building work of its wall was jasper"—21:11b, 18a:
１
Our God is the jasper God, and we are being made jasper, "a piece of God," to look the same as God—4:2-3.
２
The ultimate purpose of God's salvation is to make us wholly like Him in the divine glory to express the glorious image of God as jasper for His eternal, corporate expression.
３
The Bible begins with a clay-man, continues with a stone-man, and consummates in a stone-city; this is God's economy.