The Living Stone

In order to include Divine concepts in our earthy minds we make divisions that help us understand things. We look at the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in three convenient divisions: past present and future. However, these divisions are not exclusive for “Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, and to day and, forever.” (Heb 13: 8) Some of the actions and statements the Lord Jesus Christ made during His life on earth are the foundation of His present actions, just as His life before the Incarnation affected what happened during His time on earth. We really need to look at the work of the Lord Jesus Christ as a continuous spectrum. When the Lord Jesus Christ was alive on the earth, He spoke about the Temple, “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2: 19). The religion of that time was centred around the Temple but the Lord spoke about the Temple of His body. They tried to destroy the Living Temple but He rose from the grave on the third day to rebuild the living Temple rather than the Temple made of stones and other things that had outlived its usefulness.

1 Peter 2: 1-5, “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”

This passage begins with “Wherefore”, this means that the statements rest on information that has been given before and we need to look at the earlier parts of this letter to find out why these things are so. After an introduction, the letter begins with “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Pet 1: 3-5)

We have been born again into a lively hope. This is a hope that gives us impetus and encouragement as we seek to live our lives in the Lord Jesus Christ. This hope is based on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is alive and approachable, anyone can come to Him at any time and be guaranteed of access. (Compare John 6: 37, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”). While this primarily dealt with people coming to find the Bread of Life it also applies to those who love the Lord Jesus Christ and believe on Him.

We have also been called to an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled, that will not fade away. Not only this we are kept by the power of God and we don’t have to rely on ourselves.

For this reason we are called upon to lay aside all malice and guile, hypocrisies, envies and evil speaking. Malicious people enjoy hurting others, people with guile are deceitful and duplicitous. Hypocrites is similar to guile when a person hides their real character or motives. Envy occurs when someone sees what another person has and they hate that person as a result. Each one of these things leads to evil speaking, that is we say bad things about the person who has done good things. The Lord Jesus Christ experienced these things during His life on earth. He was a man who went about doing good (Acts 10: 38, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”), in spite of this, His enemies spoke badly of Him, they tried to destroy His reputation by telling lies about Him and they eventually killed Him.

If we have been given this lively hope then we are to seek to follow His example and not the example of His enemies (compare Matt 12: 30, “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”)

When a baby is first born he or she just drinks milk because that is all their system can cope with. The Word of God is good for every person who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and offers us a secure anchor (compare Eph 4: 14, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” and James 1: 6, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”). This is why it is so important to desire the pure milk of the Word. Anything that doesn’t come from the Word comes from Satan (see John 8: 44, 45, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.”). Satan’s greatest skill is to use some truth and combine with doubt to manufacture a lie. The sincere milk of the Word is completely consistent and there is no room for doubt and there is no way of manufacturing a lie.

If we follow the way of the father of lies we will wither and never grow but if we follow the sincere milk of the Word then we will grow and we will know more and more about the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour, this knowledge is gained through experience.

As we experience the richness that life with the Lord Jesus Christ can bring us we will appreciate His grace and His love more and more each day (compare John 4: 42, “And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”) Nothing in creation can actually compare to experiencing and knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.

When the people on the earth tried to build the tower of Babel they baked clay to make bricks and used those bricks for stones in their building (Gen 11: 3). Stones are lifeless and they don’t move or produce any more stones, all the can do is break and decay. However, stones represent security and permanence. However, Peter talked about living stones in this letter. Surely a living stone is a contradiction in terms. This reminds us of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ on the first Palm Sunday, “And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” (Luke 19: 40) Stones are not meant to cry out but the Lord can use anything to further His purposes.

We know from the Lord’s account of creation that living things move, are fruitful and multiply, the bring forth abundantly (Gen 1: 21, 22).

We can say that the Living Stone is secure and permanent but that the Living Stone is also fruitful and multiplies, He brings forth abundantly. This reference goes back to the Lord’s words concerning the Temple of that time. The people thought that the Temple would last forever because it was such an imposing structure and made out of large stones. However, that Temple was destroyed because the system it represented was superseded by a new kind of priesthood, the priesthood of the order of Melchizedek. The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect and permanent representative of the new priesthood (see Heb 7: 11, “If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?”)

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Living Stone, He is both permanent and secure but He also is fruitful and multiplies, for this reason He is chosen of God and precious. He is precious to God and to those who have believed in Him and have everlasting life.

Because the Lord Jesus Christ represents this new kind of priesthood and is the Living Stone, we have been giving life and we have become living stones built up into the new Temple. We have all have the privilege of being able to worship each day and come into His presence with confidence and joy.