Psalm 118: 22, 23
“The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”
Jesus referred to this prophecy toward the end of His life on earth (see Matthew 21:42). By a series of illustrations He revealed to the leaders of Israel what they were about to do in rejecting and putting Him to death. He finished His discourse by quoting Psalm 118:22, 23, and concluded that the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to a nation that should bear the fruits of the kingdom.
Christ tried by every means within the range of His influence to make plain to His rejecters the nature of the foul deed they were about to do. He, the Cornerstone of the plan of salvation, was rejected by those who should have built their own characters, by faith, upon that solid Rock. Christ attempted to show them their danger by calling their attention to this prophecy of Psalm 118.
The prophecy of the rejected stone was an actual occurrence in Israel’s history when they built the temple in Jerusalem. The workers took foundation stones from a quarry and moved them to the temple site. At the quarry the stones were measured and cut to exact size. Each stone was exactly fitted for the foundation before placement. When the workers brought the stones to the temple site they placed them in their proper positions without hammer or chisel (see 1 Kings 5:17, 18; 6:7).
One stone transported to the building site did not fit because of its size and unusual shape. Because of this, it was not accepted by the workers. It became an annoyance to them, always in their way. That rejected stone lay there in their way for a length of time.
Finally, when the workers came to lay the cornerstone, they could not find the right one to use. Ignoring the rejected stone, they searched for one that could bear the immense weight and pressure of the temple to be built upon the foundation. The proper stone must be used, for the wrong one would endanger the entire building. None of the chosen stones withstood the rigorous tests brought to bear upon them. Some crumbled from massive weights placed on them. Sudden atmospheric changes destroyed the stability of others.
Eventually attention was called to the stone the workers previously rejected and currently stumbled over. They saw it, but not really. The stone was a nuisance, and it never dawned on the workers that that stone was of any use whatever. However, while examining it, builders could find not one crack in it from exposure to the elements of weather. Next, in applying the pressure of great weights to the stone, those builders learned that it did not crumble. So the long rejected stone was now brought to the crucial location where the head or cornerstone was to be placed in the foundation. It was found to be an exact fit.
Isaiah wrote of Christ and applied the experience of the rejected stone to Him. The Spirit of prophecy spoke through him and he wrote: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily” (Isaiah 28:16). Earlier he wrote, “He will be … a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken” (Isaiah 8:14, 15). God, the Master builder of His spiritual temple of believers, laid the Cornerstone even though the builders rejected and stumbled over Him.
Paul used the experience of the rejected stone to illustrate the differences between the messages of righteousness by faith and righteousness by the works of the law. He wrote that
“the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame” (Romans 9:30-33).
Christ and His righteousness have endured every test of pressure brought to bear. He carried the entire world’s burden of grief and guilt. He never failed and never shall. Because He passed every test, we can build on the sure Foundation and never be disappointed. To those who believe, He is a precious and a sure foundation; but to those who disbelieve, He is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
In His earthly life and even to this day, Christ has borne neglect and abuse. He was, and is, “despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: … He was despised and we esteemed Him not” (Isaiah 53:3). Men still slight His mercy, spurn His righteousness and despise His goodness. But He is the true Cornerstone, notwithstanding stumbling, bumbling, unbelief. Those who build on any foundation other than Christ will be swept away when the tempests of human passion in the last days of earth explode and rage through every land. But those who know and appreciate Him, build on the only solid foundation. Peter stated it this way, concerning Christ the Cornerstone: there is no “salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). All who live forever must and will build upon Christ the true and sure foundation.
“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4, 5).
“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows intro a holy temple of the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).
In His humiliation, Christ is the Stone of righteousness cut out of the mountain without hands. He is the Cornerstone of strength and firmness and duration and life eternal in the spiritual temple of the living God. He is a Cornerstone most precious. “This is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:23).