THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REFUSED

"The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.  This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes." (Psalms 118:22).

 

"Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?  For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not." (Isaiah 53:1-3).

 

It is incredible to think that the very children of God, the Israelites, who searched the scriptures continually and who looked for the signs of the coming of their Messiah, could miss His appearing altogether.  Even when they were told plainly that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, they not only were blind to the facts and the prophecies, but they rejected Him completely and had Him killed.  Truly He came to His own, and His own received Him not.  Israel did the same thing that they had been doing for centuries: they built their own kingdom and rejected God's.  But this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

 

When Jesus appeared, it was not as a great king coming to drive out the enemies of Israel and establish His throne on earth.  It was as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger because there was nowhere else for Him to go.  He grew up before God as a tender plant, an innocent child trying to survive the hardships of the time, and as a root in a very dry ground, a holy seed in a bed of apostasy.  But this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

 

Scripture tells us that He had no comely form, and there was no special beauty about Him that would make men desire Him.  Despite how artists portray the Lord, He was likely a very common man with unremarkable features, yet He bore in this humble frame the glory of His Father and the courage of kings.  This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

 

He was despised by men and rejected by the religious elite.  He was hated and rejected for His words and His teachings, and Israel hid their faces from His grief and suffering, not knowing that He was bearing their grief and carrying their sorrow.  "Yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:4, 5).  His own disciples ran from Him in the end and let Him face His judgment alone.  This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

 

Is it any different today?  We fill our lives with programs and agendas and miss the very One Who has come to save us.  We labor to build our fortunes and our kingdoms, and the Kingdom of God goes neglected.  We make ourselves very busy in our lives and in our churches, but are we really listening to the Messiah and allowing Him to transform us into His image?  We are very good builders.  We can build something even if we don't have much to build with, but we refuse the Stone that is meant to be the Headstone and the chief Cornerstone.

 

The headstone of the corner of a building is the block from which the builders would run their line and set the plumb for each subsequent block or brick.  It would determine if the whole building was straight and square.  Without the headstone, the building would be weak and untrue.  Jesus is our headstone.  Everything must be measured from Him.  He is our example, but He also is our source of power.  It would be convenient to leave Him out of our plans so that we could follow our own designs; but this is God's building, not ours, and we must follow His blueprint.

 

We have been called to be living, or lively, stones in the temple of our God.  He is building His Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  Jesus is the Rock, the Headstone, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Upon this truth, He will build His Church.  Who is His Church?  His people are His Church.  It is not those who merely attend services or give their money to support Christian causes.  It is those who have been born again by the Spirit of the Living God, and who choose daily to continue along the path of righteousness and follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes.  It may surprise you to know that God does not care about buildings, and temples, and edifices.  It is His people who are His Body on earth.  It is the humble and contrite soul whom God will fill with His glory.  "Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: where is the house that ye build unto Me? and where is the place of My rest?  For all those things hath Mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word." (Isaiah 66:1, 2). 

 

 I don't want to refuse the Stone which God has set to be the cornerstone of my life and labor.  I want to hear from Him every day and allow Him to direct my life.  I want to measure everything that I do against His perfect and holy pattern.  I want to walk in His footsteps.  If I refuse Him on earth, He may well refuse me in heaven.  I could end up hearing Him say, "I know you not whence ye are; depart from me." 

 

Jesus is the sum of all things.  Paul tells us, "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him." (Ephesians 1:10).  Try as man might to leave Him out of the equation, Jesus Christ is still calling us to holiness and righteousness.  His plan and His purpose have not changed since creation.  The Word was in the world giving light and life then, and it is still in the world today.  Christ, through His Holy Spirit working in the hearts and lives of those who belong to Christ, is building His Temple, His Church, His Body, His House, and His Kingdom!  This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes!

 

"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in Whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in Whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:19-22).

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