What does it mean that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone?

One of the designations of Christ. In Isa. 28:16, the Lord God lays in Zion "for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste." This is quoted in 1 Peter 2:6. In 1 Cor. 3:11 we are told "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ;" and in Eph. 2:20 we read "Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." Thus the Lord Jesus is the chief corner stone that binds all together, and is the foundation upon which all rests. In addition to this, as the stone which the Jewish builders rejected, Christ has become the head stone of the corner. As well as being the foundation He must have the highest place. "This is Jehovah's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes." Ps. 118:22-23; Zech. 4:7; Matt. 21:42; 1 Peter 2:7.

The rejected stone had become the corner stone. The One whom they had delivered up and cast out had been given the prominent place of the corner stone upon whom, as the foundation stone, everything rests, and who unites the building.

It must, however, be remembered that the One who is everything to the assembly was rejected when presented to men. As “the Stone of Israel” He was cast away as worthless by the nation. This was foretold, as our Scriptures along with many others show. To the political and religious heads of the nation, Peter said, “This is the Stone which was set at nought by you builders, the same is become the Corner-stone, neither is there salvation in any other” (Acts 4:11-12). In writing afterwards to those of Israel who had believed on the rejected One, He says, “To Whom coming, a living Stone, cast away as worthless by men, but with God chosen, precious, yourselves also, as living stones are built up a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:4).

It is the apostle to the Gentiles who writes thus to those who believed at Ephesus, “In whom all the building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord, Jesus Christ Himself being the Corner-stone” (Eph. 2:21). The One who was rejected and crucified has been raised from among the dead by the power of God, and glorified at His right hand. Now for those called out from the Jews and those called out from the Gentiles the rejected Stone has become the Corner, where both meet and grow into one building in Him. Although rejected, He is, however, the chosen of God. Israel stumbled at the Stumbling Stone. Man refused Him, but God glorified Him: man treated Him as worthless and cast Him away, but to God He was precious and He honoured Him in heaven; and now to us the Corner-stone is precious also. Religious structures that are not fitted together in Him cannot be owned of God, for the assembly, the house of God, which is being formed today, is “a spiritual house” and Christ is the Corner-stone.

Moreover, this rejected Saviour, whom men despised and rejected, is not only the Sure Foundation of the building of God, and the Corner-stone into which believers from amongst the Jews and from amongst the Gentiles are fitted together, but He is also “the Head of the corner”—the crown and glory of the building! What an answer God has given to man’s treatment of Him by thus exalting Christ! He has made Him everything to those who believe! The preciousness of Christ is theirs! He is the Ground of all their confidence—the “Sure Foundation”; the bond of their holy unity—the “Corner-stone”; and the grace and glory of it also—the “Head of the corner.” How great is the loss of those who reject Him! How infinite is the gain of those who believe on Him! Exalted above every range of dignity in the universe, whether principalities, authorities, powers or dominions, He is Head over all things to the assembly, which He will soon call to share with Himself in the heavenly glory where He already is.

Christ is also the corner stone of the house. He gives character to all the building and binds it together. He is not only the underlying foundation on which others build, but "in Him the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord" (v.21). Every stage of the building is vitally connected with and dependent upon Him at all times as it grows. In connection with Israel we read of the headstone or capstone (Zech.4:7) of Israel's temple, which seems to be connected with the completion of the building. But as to the Church this does not appear to be mentioned, for which there is surely a divine reason. Perhaps this may be because the Church will not be displayed on earth as a completed building. The Church as the body of Christ is looked at as complete at any given time in its history on earth, but as the temple it is not yet complete, for it will continue to grow until the Rapture when the Church will be forever complete. The glory of God is not yet as fully displayed in the Church as it eventually will be in glory. Yet as it grows, God's glory should in some measure be more and more manifested.

Here in the second chapter, he mentions that the stone that the builders (an image of the leading religious class in the people of Israel, who should have known better) had rejected "has become the cornerstone" (v.7), the "head of the corner".

The previous verse also mentions a cornerstone: “Behold, I lay in Zion a corner stone, elect, precious”. This cornerstone refers to the foundation and reference point for the spiritual house consisting of living stones, i.e. of all true believers. It is the stone to which the whole building is aligned. The cornerstone in verse 7 is to be distinguished from that of verse 6. The expression used in verse 7 is a different one. It denotes the "head of the corner" (Gr. kephalē gonias). It is the last stone that is inserted in an exposed position when the building is finished (cf. Zech. 4:7). This is precisely what is emphasised here: Christ has been given the highest place. He is still rejected by the world, but God gives Him the highest place.

Peter alludes here to a passage in Psalm 118:22. The Lord Jesus had also used this verse. After He had spoken about the fact that the workers in the vineyard had refused to deliver the fruit, and had finally killed the son, the heir, He quoted this verse: "Jesus speaks to them: Have you never read in the Scriptures: "The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the corner-stone: this is of the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes? " (cf. Mt 21:42).

We continue with Acts 4. In the morning a goodly number of Israel's religious chiefs assembled together in Jerusalem, and having set Peter and John in the midst, they demanded of them by what power or by what name they had made the lame man whole. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit in accordance with the Lord's promise in Matt. 10:19-20, no longer timorous but divinely bold, forthwith indicted his interlocutors most solemnly. To the people he used the language of persuasion, but not to the leaders. It was in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, "whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead," the crippled man had been made whole. The position is here plainly stated. Men crucified Jesus; God raised Him. Men were thus in open conflict with God. Not ignorant men, mark; but the clergy of God's people, the public expositors of His holy Word. Further, Peter said: "This is the Stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner." Religious teachers, whether in Judaism or in Christendom, are builders; constructors of that which will either abide or perish, as the Lord may judge by and by (1 Cor. 3:9-17). God's foundation stone is Jesus; upon Him alone can men safely build. But Israel's leaders had treated Him with contempt. God's answer to them was the exaltation of His Son. God has now made Him the Corner-stone of a new structure; the office of Peter's antagonists was therefore gone, however fiercely they might contend for it. Our apostle made a magnificent finish of his defence: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." Every man is thus shut up to Jesus for salvation. He who rejects Him does so to his eternal ruin.

(V. 6). The Apostle quotes the prophet Isaiah to show that it was ever God's purpose that Christ should be the sure foundation for all blessing for His people. He is the chief corner Stone that carries the whole weight of the superstructure. As He is chosen of God and precious, we may be sure that none that believe in Him will be confounded.

(Vv. 7, 8). This leads the Apostle to draw a contrast between believers and rejectors of the living Stone. Unto those who believe is the preciousness; all the preciousness of Christ, all the blessing He secures, is made good to the believer. Alas! there are those who are disobedient, and, being such, they cast away as worthless the One who has been exalted by God as the Head of the corner. To such He becomes a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. Men stumbled at His word. They would not believe the truth, and therefore to this end they were appointed. They were not appointed to sin or to disobey, but being rebellious and disobedient they were destined by their unbelief to stumble at the humiliation of Christ.

Now the Jews are profoundly unbelieving, not only as all natural men but judicially blinded, because it was in the face of the fullest evidence and of long-suffering withal to the uttermost. But their self-judgment will come at length in the day of Messiah's power and their national deliverance. Then shall they see and confess it all, as other scriptures attest; and they will understand that Jehovah wrought atonement for all their sins by what was their destructive and inexcusable sin. Into this work, already in itself accomplished, the believing remnant enters now in all its value, like ourselves from among the Gentiles. But as yet the mass are insensible. "To you therefore that believe is the preciousness, but to disobedient a stone which the builders rejected, this became head of corner, and stone of stumbling, and rock of offence." How evident the solution of the riddle! and how could it be otherwise if Jesus be the Christ and Son of God? Ps. 118:22 and Isa. 8:14 are as clearly fulfilled as the fuller prediction. While we have to wait for the earthly triumph when Israel shall own it all, Jesus is made head of the corner in heaven, and those who now believe, Jews or Gentiles, enjoy the blessing by faith. This too has even now more excellence for the heart than the visible glory when it appears as it surely will, to say nothing of the heavenly glory which will also be displayed above the world in that day.

In Peter we are said to come to the Lord. When we heard the gospel we turned to the Lord. We came to Him for salvation. We did not know anything of Him as a living stone; but in that character the Spirit of God speaks of Him through Peter, for He has before Him the instruction of the Jewish believers in the truth of the spiritual house. A stone, Peter says, “disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.” He is the stone which the builders rejected, but which has become the head of the corner. On this stone believers, who are living stones, are built up a spiritual house. It is viewed here not so much as a dwelling-place as a place for offering sacrifices.

Nevertheless, the One that is rejected by Israel is exalted by God. It will at last be manifested that the One that man rejected is the One through whom all blessing will come to Israel, even as the corner stone bears all the weight of the building. If the rejection of Christ was man's act, the exaltation of Christ is the Lord's doing, and the everlasting proof of God's delight in, and acceptance of, Christ — the ground of all blessing for man, whether Israel, the Church or the nations. The time will come when it will be as marvelous in the eyes of the Jewish remnant as it is in the eyes of the Christian today. Thus the day of glory will be ushered in with joy and gladness.