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. 1 Peter 2:6 (ESV)
When I was in college I worked part time with a brick mason. We often laid concrete block when building the foundation for a new house. To ensure the foundation was square we began the foundation by laying the corners first. Two corners were built and a cord was strung between the two corners. The mason would lay the block to the cord which served to help keep the wall straight and the right height. So, the corners served as a reference point for the rest of the foundation.
In 1 Peter 2:6 the apostle Peter quotes God who says by the prophet Isaiah, 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. (Isaiah 28:16 ESV)
In the book of Acts we are given the identity of the cornerstone. When Peter and John were questioned before the rulers, elders and scribes in Jerusalem after healing a crippled man, Peter replied that the man was healed by the name of Jesus of Nazareth. He continued, This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. (Acts 4:11 ESV)
Paul concurred with Peter on the identity of the cornerstone by writing, 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 2:19-22 ESV)
According to Paul Jesus Christ is the cornerstone by which the foundation of God’s house is built. God himself laid the cornerstone and everything else that God did and does is in reference to the cornerstone.
It is the cornerstone who upholds the universe by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:3). It is the cornerstone of whom Paul wrote, For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:16-17 ESV) And it is the cornerstone of whom Peter preached, 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 4:12 ESV)
Many years before the coming of Jesus, the psalmist prophesied that God would lay a cornerstone and that he would be rejected. He wrote, The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. (Psalm 118:22-23 ESV)
Have you rejected the cornerstone? Is the cornerstone marvelous in your eyes?
Scriptures for meditation:
Matthew 21:42
1 Peter 2:7