LIVELY STONES

1 Peter 2:3-5 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, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Just as a newborn baby tastes milk for the first time, so the newborn Christian tastes the sincere milk of the word, noted in the preceding verse 2. Once tasted, there is a desire for more nourishment. The baby desires to grow physically, while the desire of the Christian is to grow spiritually. The growth of the Christian needs to include a better understanding of Jesus Christ, for the plan of salvation established through His death on the cross, for the bible which describes this plan, and for the church, the body of Jesus Christ, which proclaims that plan of salvation throughout the world. This lesson gives us one of the first steps needed in the spiritual growth of a newborn Christian.

In the lesson text, we find Jesus described as a living stone. The physical makeup of a stone doesn't seem to give us a good picture description of our Savior. However, the lesson is its parabolic use rather than the physical characteristics of a stone. Notice what the prophet, Isaiah, said, 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 28:16b). Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy. He is the stone, which Isaiah described as tried, precious, and sure. He is the corner stone, from which all measurements are made, in order to make a perfect and a sure foundation,on which to build His church.

From the prophecy recorded in Psalms 118:22, we find Jesus Christ described as The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. Other scriptures tell us this was fulfilled when the Jewish nation disallowed, or rejected Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. When called before the Jewish High Priest, and their elders, rulers, and scribes, Peter said this, in describing Jesus:This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders which is become the head of the corner (Acts 4:11). In the plan of salvation God established before the formation of the world, He chose His Son Jesus, to bring it to earth and offer eternal life to mankind. As the precious Son of God, Jesus was destined by God to become the chief corner stone on which the foundation of His Kingdom on earth, His church, was to be established.

The apostle Paul describes both the church of Christ, as well as its foundation, in his letter to the church at Ephesus. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are 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: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit (Eph. 2:19-22). With Jesus Christ as the chief corner stone, the foundation of His church was laid, by the teaching of the apostles and prophets,as contained in the Bible.

Paul told the Ephesian brethren that they made up the building fitly framed together. He said they were the members that made up the church of Christ, the holy temple in the Lord. Using the same analogy Peter used in describing Jesus as a living stone, Paul describes Christians as lively stones. The church built by Jesus is constructed of materials that are alive, rather than the inanimate stones used to build the temple in which the children of Israel worshiped. God, who once dwelt in the Most Holy Place of the temple, now dwells in each Christian, and in doing so, each child of God is active, alive, and capable of understanding and obeying His will. Christians have no need for Priests to speak on their behalf. Each is a member of the holy priesthood able to offer up spiritual sacrifices, worship and prayers, on their own behalf, which are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Our prayer should always be, "Dear God, as newborn Christians, having tasted the blessings found in Jesus Christ, continue to feed us by thy word that we may grow thereby, that we may become, and forever remain lively stones, in your Kingdom here on earth."