Christ the Cornerstone

Jesus asked the chief priests and elders, “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?” (Matthew 21:42). He was quoting Psalm 118:22, “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner,” and Mark 12:10 and Luke 20:17 record the same words. Israel’s leaders were the builders, and the rejected stone stood before them. Their rejection did not change God’s purpose, for the Lord Himself made that stone the head. Peter, “filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 4:8), told those same rulers, “This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner” (Acts 4:11).

The cornerstone bore the weight and set the building's line. Job 38:6 asks of the earth, “who laid the corner stone thereof,” and the answer is God. He promised, “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” (Isaiah 28:16). Peter applies it to Christ: “Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded” (1 Peter 2:6).

The other Old Testament usages point in the same direction. Zechariah 10:4 says of Judah, “Out of him came forth the corner,” and Christ came of Judah. Psalm 144:12 speaks of “corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace,” a picture of strength and beauty. Jeremiah 51:26 judges Babylon: “they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations.” Only the stone God lays will stand.

Paul shows the cornerstone’s work in the church, “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” (Ephesians 2:20-21). To the believer He is precious, “but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner” (1 Peter 2:7), and also “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence” (1 Peter 2:8). Christ Himself warned, “whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Matthew 21:44). Every man either rests on Christ or is broken by him.