Our Cornerstone — a firm foundation!

 

I’m not a construction expert but I know about a CORNERSTONE. The dictionary says it is the “a stone that forms the base of a corner of a building, joining two walls” but also: “an important quality or feature on which a particular thing depends or is based.”

The OT psalmist knew the importance of a cornerstone to a building. He used it to describe the saving power of God, rejected by some yet having great power. He says, “I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” (Psalm 118:21–23)

The prophets used the same imagery concerning His saving power over sin and lies. He spoke to those who falsely thought they were okay:

Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter”; therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter.” (Isaiah 28:15–17)

The NT Greek word for cornerstone means “the first stone laid in the construction of a building at the outer corner of two intersecting masonry walls.” This image is used to describe Jesus, the very One in whom our faith rests. He is this cornerstone. Peter healed a man and was asked in whose name he did it . . .

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:8–12)

Sometimes the people of God are called His “building” and from this, Jesus is the foundation of their existence. Perhaps Scripture means Jew and Gentile are the intersecting wall held together by this solid Rock of our salvation. In any case, without Jesus, the structure cannot stand and there is no other that can offer the salvation that He offers.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:13–22)

This is summed up by Peter who connected the OT with the good news in the NT:

For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” (1 Peter 2:6–7)

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. A song has this line, “Lord, when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Because Jesus is the cornerstone, every rock, every building with a cornerstone, even every overwhelming situation can pull my heart closer to the One who is my Cornerstone and closer to the others who are also part of His dwelling place!