Information Related to "Christ the Cornerstone"
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Who or What is your Cornerstone?
We are often acquainted with the cornerstone of a building as being a fairly ceremonial block in fancy structures. It often has the date that the building was erected carved on it, and may have other information there as well. However, the original idea of the cornerstone is less ceremonial and more practical: in masonry, the cornerstone or foundation stone is the first stone laid; all the rest of the construction is built in relation to that first stone.
In Isaiah 28:16, the Lord says, “… Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation…” Commentaries agree that this is a reference to the coming of Jesus Christ. In Psalm 118:22, we read that, “The stone [ which ] the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.” In Acts 4:11, Peter makes clear that this stone is Jesus Christ, who was rejected by the Jewish leaders of His day and crucified. If the stone is true enough and sound enough to be laid as a cornerstone, why would it be rejected by the builders? Why did the Jewish leaders not accept Him and what can we learn from this?
During His ministry on earth, Jesus Christ voiced His harshest criticism towards the Jewish leaders of the day: the scribes and Pharisees. In Matthew 23, Christ proclaims woe to the scribes and Pharisees and criticizes their hypocrisy: seeming so holy on the outside, but not really practicing what they said they believed. In addition, He said that they made heavy burdens for men, but would not lift a finger to help them. The Jewish practice of the time had become a burden--not because of God's law, but because of the traditions that had been added to the law--ironically, in an attempt to help Jews keep God's law. In Matthew 15, the scribes and Pharisees ask Christ why His disciples do not keep the traditions of the elders; Christ responds by asking why the scribes and Pharisees transgress God's law in order to uphold the traditions of the elders (Matthew 15:1-9). He quotes Isaiah 29:13 saying, “…in vain they worship me, teaching [ as ] doctrines the commandments of men.”
Perhaps now we can begin to see why the scribes and Pharisees could not accept Christ: He taught against their traditions, not God's law. He preached that the law was about more than physical regulations and that it was instead a matter of heart and mind. The Jewish leaders, though, had a structure in which they put their trust: the traditions of the elders. The chief cornerstone, Christ, did not fit into this structure. What He said did not fit with what they had already built; so they did indeed reject Him.
We must be careful not to make the same mistake. In Ephesians 2:19-22, Paul writes, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner [ stone ], in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Paul says that we are to have Christ as our cornerstone, the fundamental element on which all else is laid. In this way, we will be built into a holy temple if we start with the right foundation.
Paul uses this analogy in many places, always pointing back to Christ as the cornerstone, the first thing that is established. He has good reason to do so. In Luke 6:46-49 Christ says, “ But why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And he ruin of that house was great.” God does not want a temple that is built on shaky ground, one that will fall under any kind of stress. Instead, He wants us to build carefully, laying everything upon the right foundation.
We must build with care, as Paul points out: “According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation [ with ] gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is” (1 Corinthians 3:10-13). Simply having that cornerstone available will not help us if we do not then build carefully and always in reference back to that cornerstone. The cornerstone will not automatically make what we build perfect: we must always be looking back to it, referencing it, holding up our deeds against it so that we will build a sturdy structure that will not be shaken.
A cornerstone cannot be picked up and jammed into a structure that is already partially built: it is designed to be the first piece of the structure, used to set all the other walls in alignment. We must be careful to heed the lesson of the mistake of the scribes and the Pharisees in rejecting this cornerstone. As we build on the foundation that has been laid for us, we must constantly keep our eyes on Christ the cornerstone of our faith.
For more information on Jesus Christ the Cornerstone, read the Bible study aid booklet Jesus Christ The Real Story .
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Origin of article "Christ the Cornerstone"
Keywords: cornerstone building
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