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CHRISTIAN LIVING TODAY
God with us — three words.
Imagine, the eternal, self-existent God chose to be with us. We did not ask for this — mankind never does.
He chose to be with us. All of us. Not just some of us, not merely His favorites, but with us. And it’s so awesome that His plan began even before time itself.
There are many prophecies about the coming Messiah, and Psalm 118:22-23 is perhaps a strange one to consider. Immanuel had many purposes and provisions for us. In this Psalm passage, Jesus/Yeshua is the stone that the builders rejected. When David wrote, builders inspected building stones, and if they came across a stone that they deemed insignificant or unusable in their estimation, they tossed it aside. It was one “the builders rejected.”
The misguided religious leaders could not accept Jesus as Messiah, those builders rejected God’s cornerstone.
Isaiah 28:16: God says, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.” This prophecy was fulfilled in Matt. 21:42, when Jesus declared that He is the “head of the corner,” the chief corner stone.
In other passages, Mark 12:10 and Luke 20:1718, notice that the Stone changes everyone it touches. As Jesus quoted verses of Psalm 118, he declared to his disciples that He was the most important thing, yet He was treated by religious leaders of His day as an inferior stone being cast away.
He continued, however, to point out that He would ultimately be supreme. He was the cornerstone, but also the rock of judgment.
Everything rests upon the cornerstone.
Here’s another significant reason to celebrate. Read 1 Peter 2:4-10. These verses call Jesus a living stone, chosen and precious. In verses 4-5, He is:
• Living: real life, not dead, true life
• Chosen: God’s choice, appointed by God to the most exalted office conceivable • Precious: held in a prized place of honor, the value by which price is determined This cornerstone is the foundation for Christmas.
The precious baby came as the cornerstone for life. The cornerstone for our faith. The cornerstone upon which all other things rest.
It behooves us to examine our faith this Christmas season, and praise God that He established the foundation for our faith.
Celebrate with me today. Until next week, Anita
Onarecker, an Elgin resident, author of “Divine Appointment: Our Journey to the Bridge” and minister to women and adults, earned a Master of Christian Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2007.
