And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone. Ephesians 2:20
Some friends were building a new house at the top edge of a steep hill. Because it was to be built into the side of the hill, it had the most complicated footing course I had ever seen. The footing course, or foundation, had half a dozen different levels and had 18 corners! As I watched the carpenters place the forms for that footing course, I asked my friend how they kept control of such a complicated course. He took me to an upper corner of the work and pointed to a large and deep form. ‘That is the cornerstone’, he said. ‘As long as we get that straight, everything else falls into place.’ And that is the picture we see in our text today as the vast building that God is constructing made up of the believers of all time is based on a true and perfect Corner Stone.
A cornerstone sets the location and orientation of a building. God always had in mind a building with such a true location and orientation, as we see from Isaiah 28:16: ‘Therefore thus saith the Lord God, 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’. The Old Testament foretold that the Lord Jesus would be rejected by His earthly people, but that He would be the cornerstone nevertheless: ‘The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner’ – Psalm 118:22. The Lord Jesus conformed this to His disciples: ‘Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?’ – Matthew 21:42. As long as Christ is given His rightful place, our foundation is secure, but if we fail to do that, disaster results. Look at how twisted the doctrine of the Catholics becomes as they make Peter their cornerstone, or how the doctrine of the cults becomes outlandish as they reject the deity and lordship of Christ.
As we acknowledge the paramount importance of the Cornerstone, we must also acknowledge the secondary but also critical role of the footing course, identified in our text as the apostles and the prophets. Recall how in the earely days of Christianity the apostles devoted themselves to teaching the saints, deferring the practical administrations such as feeding the poor to seven deacons (Acts 6:1-6). That teaching was critical, because those apostles had spent three years as the constant companions and pupils of Christ. In the absence of a New Testament, the words of those apostles were necessary until the Word of God should be completed. As we read the book of Acts, we must also notice how the Old Testament was constantly referred to, studied, and compared as the proof of the claim of Jesus to be Lord and Christ. The apostle Paul, for example, during his many visits to synagogues, used the Old Testament to direct his Jewish listeners to Christ. We do well to use those same Scriptures for that purpose today.
We have entered a new year, but we have no need for a new foundation. That which God has provided for us is everything we will ever need. -Jim MacIntosh