The stone that the builders rejected – Christ – has become the head of the corner (Psa. 118:22): Christ as the stone rejected and despised by the Jewish builders/people has become the cornerstone to join together the Jews and the Gentiles into one Body, the Body of Christ!
Actually, the “head of the corner” can also be translated as “the chief cornerstone”.
On the one hand, Christ is the foundation stone for God’s building – tested, tried, and trustworthy; on the other hand, He is the cornerstone for the building up of the church in God’s economy!
In God’s New Testament economy, Christ in His salvation, firstly makes us living stones for the building up of God’s spiritual house, and then, in the process of His transformation, builds us up into a dwelling place of God in spirit!
We are being built up upon Christ as the solid foundation and the unique foundation and we are being joined by Christ as the cornerstone to be the Unique Body of Christ expressing Him in the universe!
Christ as the foundation stone upholds us and holds the entire building, while Christ as the cornerstone joins us with all the other saints who are so different than us yet have the divine life in them! Here’s what Ephesians 2:20-22 says,
Being built together upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone; in whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.
Even today, we are being joined to one another in the church life not by a set of rules or by our “liking one another” or “having a good time together”, but we are being joined and knit together by Christ as the cornerstone.
We are joined together by Christ. The issue of us being on the solid foundation of Christ and our experiencing Christ as the cornerstone joining us together is the building of God, the Body of Christ!
Whoever believes in Christ as the stone shall never be put to shame! As we enjoy Him day by day, we also experience Him!
Since He is so all-inclusive, Christ is not only the food and drink that come into us by our opening to Him, but He is also the Stone – the all-inclusive stone – that makes us living stones, builds us up upon Himself as the foundation stone, and joins us together to be one for His testimony as the cornerstone!
Our Savior Jesus saves us into God’s building and joins us together in God’s building! What a Savior we have!
And this is only a foretaste – today in the age of grace we can have a foretaste of Christ as the Stone saving us, building us together, and joining together in God’s spiritual house.
The full taste will be in the coming kingdom, in the age of restoration, at the Lord’s second coming, when the people of Israel will return to Him and there will be a restoration of all things to God! Hallelujah, we can enjoy a foretaste of the full taste – Christ as the Stone-Savior saving us and building us up to be His expression!
[enjoyment from the Life-Study of Isaiah, as quoted in the morning revival on the Crystallization-study of Isaiah(1)] [read this portion in Spanish also via, Cristo como el Salvador-Piedra también es la piedra del ángulo que nos une y nos edifica para ser el edificio de Dios]
Amen
We can have a foretaste of Christ