"As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
'Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.'
So the honor is for you who believe, but those who do not believe,
'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,' and 'A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.'
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" 1 Peter 2:4-10.
On the day when the young Hebrew exile Daniel entered the throne room of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the lives of many hung in the balance. The king's sleep had left him, and his spirit troubled him on account of a terrifying dream. The king had threatened to take the lives of all his counselors if they could not interpret his dream. But to Daniel -- the exile [remember we all the elect exiles of the dispersion now] -- God made everything known. So he entered the throne room, and said in effect:
"You saw, O King, a great image, and its appearance was frightening. The head of the image was of fine gold. Its chest and arms were of silver. Its middle and thighs were of bronze. Its legs were of iron and its feet partly iron and clay Then a stone was cut out of a mountain not made with hands, and the stone struck the image and broke it into pieces. The interpretation, O King, is this: the precious metals are kingdoms -- and you are the head made of fine gold. The stone, however, is the coming kingdom of God. And it shall stand forever, and of its increase there shall be no end" Daniel 2:31-45.
Daniel was not the only one in Israel's history who spoke of God's kingdom as a stone. Isaiah had seen a stone in a vision God had given him years before.
"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious" Isaiah 28:16.
The psalmist also spoke of a cornerstone that would bring salvation to all who believed as well as a stone that would be a stumbling-block for those who reject it [Psalm 118:22]. And so, deeply imbedded in the stratta of Israel's rich history was the conviction that she was God's promised kingdom -- that Jerusalem was God's saving city and that the temple stood at the center of God's activity in the world.
Centuries later a young, impoverished itinerant preacher from Galilee named Jesus would come along and take all the imagery of the stone passages in the Hebrew Scriptures and commit the unpardonable sin of applying them to Himself instead of to Judaism, the city or the temple. Luke records the day when Jesus came through the stone gates of Zion, that great city, and stood in the temple teaching with authority. When the religious leaders asked Him, "By what authority do you do this?" He responded by telling a parable of wicked tenants who rejected the authority of the vineyard owner's son. The leaders knew, of course, that the story had been directed against them, and they took issue with it [Luke 20:9-18].
In defending Himself, Jesus provoked them further by quoting from the psalmist about the rejected stone of God. And then, most amazingly of all, Jesus alluded to the prophet Daniel and took upon Himself the stone not made with hands -- the one that would come from Heaven and replace all the kingdoms of the world. On that storied day, Jesus of Nazareth stole all of Israel's strong poetic and prophetic stone imagery and called it His own. In essence He proclaimed that in Him all the promises of God are being fulfilled.
It is in the light of all this rich and contested history regarding Israel's religious identity that Peter -- the one whom Jesus called the "rock [upon whom] I will build my church" writes the passage that headlines this blog entry. These are, indeed, stunning words and elevating beyond measure. In one sentence [vv. 4, 5], Peter grasps the entire wealth of Israel's identity and applies it not to Jesus alone, but to any man, woman or child who comes to faith in Christ!
When we come to Jesus -- not the city of Jerusalem -- we come to the "living stone."
When we come to Jesus -- not to Judaism -- we come into God's kingdom.
When we come to Jesus -- not to the ornate temple -- we become God's "spiritual house" and "holy priesthood."
These phrases applied metaphorically here to Peter's early readers, represent the most exalted ideas within all of Judaism. After all, the spiritual house was the temple. If God was going to dwell anywhere in the world, certainly His presence would be there. In addition, the royal priesthood consisted of those honored ones who had the privilege of standing in the very presence of God. Yet now, following Jesus' example in usurping these ideas, Peter claims that in Christ these truths are likewise transferred over to every follower of Jesus. In essence the church has become God's people and God's place in the world. What a concept to encourage those struggling so much just to get by or even for us 2000 years later. To go from being far off the beaten path; geographically removed from Jerusalem's great stone temple, the place of culture and religious action in the world now being dispersed, many very far from home -- not merely from Heaven -- to being proclaimed by the great apostle as being at the very heart and center of God's activity in the world. It is really unimaginable.
How inspiring is it to be reminded by Peter that if we have come to Jesus as God's "living stone" then we are at the center of what God is doing in the world? We are God's spiritual house. This cuts across any idea that we need a "sacred space." God's people are now His sacred space. The Scriptures do away with any idea of being at home anywhere outside of faith in Christ. His Spirit indwells us. There is no longer any need to lean on brick and mortar [this coming from a former architecture student no less] in an effort to get close to God. We can't get any closer to God than through our faith in Christ.
And not only this but Peter bestows a second new identification tag on his reader ... priesthood. The priesthood, of course, began with Moses and Aaron. And it was Moses and Aaron who stood before a holy God on behalf of a sinful people. In some respects they functioned as intermediaries between God and the world. As such, the priests were the ones most intimately acquainted with God. Now consider the impact of Peter's text in light of Israel's priestly history. Peter calls all believers a "holy" and a "royal priesthood" meaning that we are the ultimate insiders. We are not to be merely representative of God's place in the world; we are to serve as God's priests before the world. What an encouraging word for those Peter identified in 1:1 as "exiles." The ones who struggled with the sense of being outsiders now see in a fresh way that they are very dear to God indeed. So be encouraged.
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