The Cornerstone

We have already looked at the Lord Jesus Christ acting as the head of the body, the firstborn from the dead and the Living Stone but it is also appropriate to distinguish those roles from His role as the Head of the Corner, that is, the Cornerstone.

Matthew 21: 41-46, “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.”

There are two Old Testament passages that refer to the Cornerstone. The first passage is Psalm 118: 22 (“The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.”) and the second is Isaiah 28: 16 (“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.”)

There is some confusion as to whether these passages refer to a cornerstone or to a capstone. A capstone is the last stone in a structure or the crowing achievement while a cornerstone is the starting place of a monumental building or something that is indispensable or essential.

While we can see that the Lord Jesus Christ plays both roles in the church there is no doubt that these passages refer to the cornerstone rather than the capstone. The Lord Jesus Christ finished His work before the day of Pentecost when the church started so His role is indispensable to the church. Any role He might play as a Capstone would come later, although a capstone is often made first so that the rest of the structure can be constructed so that it will fit.

When the first Temple was constructed in Jerusalem all the stones were cut at the quarry so there was no sound of tools heard during the building of the Temple (1 Kings 6: 7, “And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.”) This meant that every stone used for building the Temple was cut and finished before it left the quarry. 

There is a story that one of the stones was so different to the others that it was rejected by the foreman at the quarry and thrown back down. However, when the Temple was ready to be build the head stone of the corner was found to be missing and they had to go back to the quarry and find the stone that had previously been rejected. This gives us a wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was rejected by His own people (see John 1: 10-13, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”) The Lord Jesus Christ said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. (John 2: 19-21, “Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.”) On the resurrection morning He did rise again on the third day (see Acts 10: 40, “Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;”)

Psalm 118, the original cornerstone reference, is about the king of Israel’s joy at the fact that he has overcome his enemies, who rejected him, and entered into his kingly role. This is an appropriate picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and is one of the reasons He quoted that passage about Himself. His enemies also understood the passage as well: on the first Palm Sunday, when the Lord came into Jerusalem the ordinary pilgrims quoted from Psalm 118: 25, 26, (“Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.”) When the leaders of that day heard this they asked the Lord to keep those uneducated pilgrims quiet (Matt 21: 15, 16, “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?”) The Lord however quoted psalm 8: 2 to them to signify that, even though the pilgrims were uneducated, they understood the truth of the moment. That was the precise time at which the Lord’s people finally rejected Him.

The passage from Isaiah 28 is also joined with Is 8: 14, (“And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”) in Rom 9: 33 (“As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”) to show that the Cornerstone, in His role as the indispensable foundation for the church, can also cause problems for those who refuse to believe in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ, out of His own resources, paid the full price of salvation but any who refuse to believe in Him will have to pay the full consequences (see Heb 2: 3, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;”) The apostle Peter also expressed this idea when He preached before the leaders of his day (Acts 4: 12, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”). It is imperative that any person who wants to be saved believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The fact that the rejected stone was made the head stone of the corner was the Lord’s doing. This is a reference back to the Lord’s promises to Abram when the Lord first called him. The Lord promised Abram, “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen 12: 2, 3) Later Abram had some legitimate questions and asked the Lord how he could become a great nation if he didn’t have a son of his own. The Lord promised Abram that he would have his own son and Abram believed God (Gen 15: 6) this act of faith was “counted to him for righteousness.”

Later in that episode the Lord gave Abram a dream in which the Lord committed Himself by an ancient and sacred rite to keep the promises that He had made to Abram. This rite was sacred and binding (See Gen 15: 9-12) in which the people making the agreement committed their lives to its keeping. However, the Lord alone participated in this sacred agreement and Abram just watched. This means that the Lord, at that stage, committed His own life to the promise that He would bless all the families of the earth through one of Abram’s descendants.

A cornerstone is used on a new building and the Lord Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone of a new building. However, the the elevation of the rejected stone to the cornerstone was the Lord’s doing. The Lord had already committed His life to the guarantee that His promise would be kept. The Lord Jesus Christ, Himself Almighty God, became a man so that He could die (compare John 1: 1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” with Rom 5: 8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”)

The Lord Jesus Christ walked this earth as a man, He died and rose again, this is the Lord’s doing. However, once He left the grave and walked away resurrected and glorified, He became the Cornerstone of the Church and this is marvellous to all who believe.

The people who were given the responsibility for being a source of blessing to all the families of the earth were not keeping their charge. They had reached the stage where they believed that they needed to keep all the benefits to themselves rather than looking to pass the benefits of the Lord’s goodness to all the families of the earth (See John 8: 39, “They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.”)

They were about to lose their primary role in bringing the Lord’s blessing to all the families of the Lord. That role now belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. As the Cornerstone, He defines the church and is the secure foundation of the church. This doesn’t mean that the Lord’s unconditional promises that He made to Abraham and others in earlier times are no longer valid, it means that the primary role of passing the blessing on to all the families of the earth has been taken by others who are part of the building defined by the Cornerstone.

However, there is warning as well as joy from the marvellous achievement of the Lord Jesus Christ. This Cornerstone is large and heavy as the foundation stone of the church. Heavy stones can fall and crush and any on whom this stone falls will be crushed. This takes us back to the connection between Isaiah 28: 16 with 8: 14. The Lord always offers a choice to any who come to Him. We can choose to enjoy the benefits of His love and His goodness or we can choose to reject these benefits.

This is not a circumstance where we are left without consequence. We have two options with the Cornerstone: we can reject Him like the people at the quarry in the first instance or we and give Him His rightful place in our own lives and commit everything to Him by believing in Him. If we choose to fall on the Cornerstone we will be broken in humility before the Him and bow, confessing that He is Lord to the glory of God with everlasting joy. If we wait for the Cornerstone to fall on us then we will be completely crushed and we will still bow and confess that He is Lord to the glory of God but we will do this with everlasting regret.