The Precious Corner-stone

by R. T. H. Horne | Category: General | Feb 1944

At the introduction to the subject of" The House of God " in the Scriptures a prominent place is given to "the stone."

It is recorded of Jacob in Genesis 28. that on the night when he alighted upon a certain place "he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep"; and that in the morning, he "took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar," saying, "This stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house," and so forth.

In later scriptures the stone is the figure which is used to set forth the Lord Jesus in connection with both the Kingdom and the House of God.

Nebuchadnezzar in his dream, as recorded in Daniel 2.84, saw, "till that a Stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces and the Stone that smote the

image became a great Mountain," and. filled the whole earth."

The description of this same blessed One as given through John in Revelation i9. 11-16 is thus recorded,-" I saw the heaven opened; and behold a white horse, and He that sat thereon, called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He doth judge and make war ... His name is called The Word of God ... and out of His mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron ... and He hath on His garment and on His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords."

"The Stone" here is the imagery used to set forth God's King in all His power and majesty as He shall be revealed in a future day.

He is the Stone - who shall smite the image of Daniel 2. which depicts the combined power and strength of the great Gentile confederacy of nations developed to the full height of attainment to which the ingenuity of man with all his scientific knowledge, and the united wealth of the nations, backed by the power and wisdom of the god of this age, is capable of bringing it.

As the Stone shall fall upon the image, it shall be "broken in pieces together," and become like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind shall carry them away, that no place shall be found for them; and the Stone that smote the image shall become a great Mountain, and fill the whole earth.

The glory and might of the nations, He will thus lay low. "All the nations are as nothing before Him; they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity" (Isaiah 40.17).

This same glorious Person is the One of whom the LORD says in Isaiah 28.16, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a Foundation, a Stone, a tried Stone, a precious Corner-Stone of sure Foundation, he that believeth shall not make haste," or "shall not be put-to shame " (1 Peter 2.6).

Concerning this One the word of the Lord through Peter comes to those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious,-" Unto whom coming, a living Stone ... ye also as living - stones are built up a spiritual house."

Those who Jacob-like have pillowed their head upon the Stone and found peace and rest in Him, having responded to His gracious entreaty,-" Come unto Me ... and I will give you rest," are now rejoicing in the truth of the words,

"Thou Holy One of God,

The Father rests in Thee;

And in the virtue of that blood

Which speaks to Him for me,

The curse is gone; through Thee I'm blest;

God rests in Thee ; in Thee I rest."

The foundation Stone is described by the LORD in Isaiah 28.16 as a "tried Stone," suggestive of the testing time through which the Lord Jesus passed when He trod this scene,-the wilderness temptations through which He came unscathed, the sufferings of His lifetime wherein "He learned obedience" and thus was "made perfect," - His obedience " even unto death, yea, the death of the cross."

Having endured every test, and triumphed over them all, He "sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Thus He is set forth as the One who is worthy of absolute confidence. The One who having been subjected to every test and having endured, is now presented as the "Stone of SURE foundation."

Those who as living stones come to Him to be built into God's house "shall not be put to shame."

The "tried Stone" or " Stone of proof" also brings Him before us as the" Stone of testing "for those who are built into this spiritual house. They must be of such material and -shaped in such a manner as to fit " into the structure in which He is the chief Corner-Stone.

Something of the virtue's and character of the Lord Jesus must be generated in those who as living stones are built up -a spiritual house. Hence the injunction of 1 Peter 2.1, to put away the un-Christ-like traits of character there mentioned. The Spirit of God enjoins upon God's gathered together people the necessity to "put off the old man with his doings " and to "put on the new man."

Character and behaviour must be brought into line with the privileged position which is occupied by those who form a house for God to dwell in. How blessedly true are the words of the hymn-writer,-

O God, what perfect rest is Thine

Thy rest is in Thy Son."

In Him God found a place of perfect rest. His absolute conformity

to God's will, the ever present desire of His heart to do those things that were pleasing in God's sight; His meditation in God's law day and night; the laying up of God's word in His heart; the unbroken communion which existed between Him and His God, all combined to provide God with a place of perfect rest in Him who is His Son.

He is further described as a "precious" Corner-Stone, precious surely because of His own intrinsic value. He is the One "in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden"; "the Effulgence of God's glory, and the very Image of His substance"; the One in whom God's delight is; the holy, guileless, undefiled One; the Chiefest among the ten thousand; the altogether lovely One.

What a wondrous privilege to come unto Him and be built into the spiritual house of which He is the Foundation, the chief CornerStone !

How sad that it is recorded of some that they rejected the Stone, and He became to them, "A Stone of stumbling." This was the result of disobedience to the word" (1 Peter 2.8).

If we are to know and enjoy the privileges of those who are in God's

house, it can only be as we are obedient to God's word. The "if" of Hebrews 3.6 further emphasizes the conditional character of the house of God.

The desire of the Lord in bringing His people thus together is expressed in the words,-" Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them." If this blessed experience is to be enjoyed by God's people, it will be necessary for them to give ear to His further word,-" What manner of house will ye build unto Me"? and" What place shall be My rest" ? -

As it was with God's ancient people, so it is with His people to-day. If God is to have a house to dwell in among them, they must build that house "according to the pattern." -

When born-again, baptised and added together companies of God's people are seen acting for God as in Acts 2.41 and onwards; each such company is called God's building (1 Corinthians 3.9) or- the church of God in the town or city; and to such a company God says,-" Ye are temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (1 Corinthians 4.16.). These buildings are again mentioned in Ephesians 2.2022-" Each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord"; the grand purpose of being builded together is that they may be "a habitation of God in the Spirit." Thus the pattern of God's house for this our day is revealed to us, and well it is if we are found, by God's grace, building according to it.

How necessary it is that God's people should be right doctrinally, and how equally important that we should also be right as to our character and behaviour!

How solemn were the words of the Lord Jesus to those who had occupied the position of God's testimony in a past day " The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof"! God had looked for fruit and had been disappointed. Then when the Lord came, the result was as the scripture had predicted, they cast Him out of the vineyard and He became,-" The Stone which the builders rejected" (Matthew 21.42).

The question was one of fruit. From Israel the fruit - was not forth-coming. The honoured place which God had given them was held in high esteem by them, but God was not given that which should have been His from His people. -

May it be borne home to us who are graced of God to find a place in the nation to which the kingdom of God has been given, that it is expected of us that there shall be the "bringing forth the fruits thereof."

May we, God's people in this day, be exercised before Him to see that He shall receive from us the fruit for which He looks. This can only be as we' as individuals know the blessed experience of Christ being formed in us, as we, "with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3.18).

R. T. H. Horne | Feb 1944
General