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Scripture Reading: Psa. 118:22-26; Isa. 28:16; Matt. 21:42; Acts 4:10-12; Eph. 2:20-22; 1 Pet. 2:4-7
I. Christ is not only the Lamb for redemption; He is also the stone for God’s building — Psa. 118:22-26; Isa. 28:16; John 1:29; Acts 4:10-12.
II. In the Bible Christ is revealed as at least nine kinds of stones:
А. He is the eternal rock (Isa. 26:4; Matt. 16:18), the foundation stone (Isa. 28:16; 1 Cor. 3:11), the living stone (1 Pet. 2:4), the cornerstone (Psa. 118:22; Isa. 28:16; 1 Pet. 2:6; Acts 4:11; Eph. 2:20), the precious stone (Isa. 28:16; 1 Pet. 2:4, 6-7), the topstone (Zech. 4:7), the cleft rock (Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4), the crushing stone (Dan. 2:34-35; Matt. 21:44b), and the stone of stumbling (Isa. 8:14; Rom. 9:33).
B. We need to experience Christ as a stone in all positive aspects; if we experience Him in these aspects, we will have a complete building — a building that is actually Christ Himself — 1 Pet. 2:4-5, 7.
III. In Psalm 118:22-26 Christ is revealed as the cornerstone:
А. “The stone which the builders rejected / Has become the head of the corner,” the chief cornerstone — v. 22; Matt. 21:42:
1. This stone is Christ, who is for God’s building — Isa. 28:16; Zech. 3:9.
2. The builders are the Jewish leaders, who should have been working on God’s building — Matt. 21:42.
3. When the Jewish builders rejected Christ, they rejected Him as the cornerstone, the One who would join the Gentiles to them into a holy temple in the Lord — Eph. 2:20-22.
4. In Ephesians 2:20 we see Christ as the cornerstone that joins together the two walls, one wall being the Jewish believers, and the other, the Gentile believers.
5. Christ as the cornerstone is for the building up of the church in the New Testament age — Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:20-22; 1 Pet. 2:5:
a. For the building up of the church as the temple of God, we need to experience Christ as the cornerstone — vv. 6-7.
b. To God, Christ as the cornerstone is precious, and to us He is the preciousness — Matt. 21:42; Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:4, 6-7.
c. In Christ, the cornerstone, all the building, including both the Jewish and the Gentile believers, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord — Eph. 2:20-22.
B. “This is the day that Jehovah has made; / Let us exult and rejoice in it” — Psa. 118:24:
1. This day is the day of Christ’s resurrection; on the day of His resurrection the Lord Jesus was made the cornerstone by God — Acts 4:10-12.
2. Christ was chosen by God in eternity past to be the cornerstone for God’s spiritual building — 1 Pet. 1:20; 2:4.
3. However, the Jewish leaders as the builders rejected Christ to the uttermost, to such an extent that they put Him on the cross — Matt. 21:38-42a.
4. God chose Christ as the cornerstone a second time in Christ’s resurrection, thereby confirming His initial choosing of Christ in eternity past — Acts 4:10-12.
5. After God resurrected Christ, God uplifted Him to the heavens in His ascension — Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9:
a. Christ’s ascension to Zion in the heavens was a further confirmation that God had chosen Him to be the cornerstone — Rev. 14:1; Isa. 28:16; 1 Pet. 2:6.
b. Both Christ’s resurrection and ascension prove and confirm that He is the head of the corner for God’s building — Acts 2:24, 32, 36.
C. As the all-inclusive stone, Christ is the centrality of God’s move for the building up of His eternal habitation — Matt. 21:42, 44; Zech. 3:9; 4:7; cf. Rev. 5:6; Acts 4:10-12; Isa. 28:16; Eph. 2:20-22; 1 Pet. 2:4-8; Dan. 2:34-35; Rev. 21:11 cf. 4:3:
1. Everything Christ is, everything He has done, and everything He is doing are due to the fact that He is the cornerstone — Eph. 2:20; 4:15-16.
2. 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, and that He could save us, transform us into precious stones, and build us together to be God’s habitation, God’s unique temple in the universe — Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:5-6, 20-22.
D. In God’s New Testament economy Christ as the cornerstone, in His saving us (Acts 4:10-12), first makes us living stones for the building up of God’s spiritual house (Matt. 16:18; John 1:42; 1 Pet. 2:4-7) and then, in the process of His transforming us (Rom. 12:2a; 2 Cor. 3:18), builds us up into a dwelling place of God (Eph. 2:19-22) so that He may carry out God’s eternal economy for God’s good pleasure (1:9; 3:9-11).
E. Prosperity in Psalm 118:25 typifies not material prosperity but the heavenly, spiritual, and divine blessings given to us by the Triune God, as described in Ephesians 1:3-14, which come to us by Christ’s being the cornerstone.
IV. The whole book of Matthew is for the purpose that Christ would be the cornerstone for the building up of God’s house — 21:42; 1:21, 23; 2:2, 23; 3:17; 4:16; 12:6, 41-42; 16:16, 18, 27-28; 17:1-2, 5; 25:6:
А. The Lord Jesus came not merely to be the Redeemer but to be the cornerstone for God’s building — 1:21; 21:42.
B. The Lord said that He would build His church, but the religious ones rejected Him as the cornerstone for God’s building, and thus they could not be a part of the building of God — 16:18; 21:42.
C. As revealed in the Gospel of Matthew, the Father’s will is to build up the church with Christ as the rock and the cornerstone — 6:10; 7:21; 12:50:
1. The desire of God’s heart is to have a dwelling place on earth constituted with Christ and according to Christ — Eph. 1:5, 9; 2:20-22.
2. The Lord’s word about “a city situated upon a mountain” indicates that God’s intention is the building — Matt. 5:14:
a. This shining light is not an individual believer; the light is a corporate city built up as one entity to shine over the people surrounding it — Rev. 21:23-24a.
b. In order to be a shining city, we must keep the oneness and be built up as the church, the Body of Christ, in Christ as the cornerstone — Matt. 16:18; 21:42; Eph. 4:1-6; 5:8-9.
V. “Blessed is He who comes in the name of Jehovah; / We bless you from the house of Jehovah” — Psa. 118:26:
А. The first time that Christ came in the name of Jehovah is mentioned in Matthew; however, He was rejected by the Jewish builders — 21:5-11, 42.
B. When the Lord Jesus comes the second time, the Jews will again welcome Him warmly with these words; this is the time when all the remnant of Israel will turn and believe in Him and be saved — 23:39; Rom. 11:23, 26; Zech. 12:10.
