◄ What Does 1 Peter 2:7 Mean? ►

Although many years had passed since Peter walked with Jesus on the way, met Him on the shores of the Galilee, and was commissioned to feed His sheep and protect His little lambs, this aging apostle's love and devotion for His Lord did not dim with the passing of years, but was strengthened as he faithfully fulfilled his God-ordained commission. His passion for the Lord grew ever brighter as the Spirit of God opened up all the Scriptures to him, guiding him into all truth by the power of the indwelling Spirit, as Christ had promised.

He was the man who stood up on the day of Pentecost and proclaimed: "Men of Israel: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs which God performed through Him in your midst; this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a Cross by the hands of godless men, and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power."

Both in those fledgling days of the Church and in his later years when he penned his two epistles, Peter frequently quoted from the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, to endorse the truth of the glorious gospel he taught so passionately. His desire was to teach and encourage the saints in their spiritual growth and to glorify his risen, ascended, wonderful Saviour Whom he called Master, and Who loved him with an everlasting love.

Peter did not minimise the abundant mercy we have all received from God. Nor was he timid in rejoicing with unspeakable joy, the awe, wonder, and unfeigned love and affection he held for the Lord Jesus. Peter made sure that his listeners knew the truth; that in Him were all the Scriptures fulfilled. And this unschooled, old fisherman, presented many quotes from God's Word and fluently expounded the gospel of salvation, about which the very prophets who prophesied did not understand, yet longed to know what it meant.

Peter's heartfelt desire was that those who had trusted Christ for salvation knew from the depths of their soul the incredible value of the gracious gift that was theirs through faith in Christ Jesus: "This precious treasure is for you who believe," he declared. All who are born-again need to recognise the incalculable preciousness and eternal treasure that has become ours through Christ. All who are saved by grace through faith should cherish it with every fibre of their being.

"But for those who disbelieve," he continued, "THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, HAS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone." The rejected Nazarene Who was spurned by His own people, despised, hated, unjustly tried, unlawfully condemned to death, and cruelly crucified on a Roman cross between two criminals, was wonderfully raised up from the dead to the glory of the Father and is now seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Despite the inexhaustible testimony of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, and in-spite of all His signs, miracles, wonders, and glorious Resurrection from the dead, many religious leaders in that day, refused to believe in Him. And many continue to refuse to believe in Him today. But nothing can prevent God's plans and purposes from being fulfilled in and through Christ Jesus, the only Begotten Son of the Father, for He is that Stone about which Peter was writing. He is the choice Stone, that Precious Stone, the Corner-Stone chosen of God the Father, Whom He laid in Zion.

The Son of God Who became the Son of Man, was the Stone that the Father ordained from before the foundation of the world, to be the Bedrock upon which our faith is to be founded. He is to be the centre and circumference on which forgiven men and women must be securely anchored, for to Him has been given all honour and glory, might, majesty, dominion, and power, forever and ever, amen.

If the Father places such significance on Jesus Christ as the Founder and Foundation of His perfect plan of salvation and identifies Him in the Scriptures as the 'chief Cornerstone' of life, should we not consider Christ and all that He is? Should we not join the apostle Peter in rejoicing with unspeakable joy, unfeigned love, and grateful thanks for all that we are in Christ? And should not our hearts overflow with deep affection for our wonderful Saviour and Lord?

Heavenly Father, thank You for the many inspiring passages that encourage my heart and satisfy my soul when I reflect on the precious value I have in Christ. May my heart be filled with unfeigned love and deep affection for Jesus my Saviour, rejected by so many but Who is the chief Cornerstone and Bedrock on which my faith is founded. Praise His holy name forever, AMEN.