1 Peter 2:4-5
Coming to Him as a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
The Call of Salvation (come)
“Come to him, as a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house.”
Living stones — a stone like these lying by the Lake is an image of life. They don’t look alive, do they? Or if they could even cry out?
“the stones will cry out” in Luke 19:40.
The mention of stones crying out is found in the Triumphal Entry Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem a week before He was crucified. Jesus rode on the back of a borrowed donkey’s colt, and multitudes of people praised Him as the “king who comes in the name of the Lord” (Luke 19:38). When the Pharisees in the crowd heard the people’s worship directed at Jesus, they said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” Jesus replied, “I tell you. . . if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.
A stone is also solid, weighty, not easily moved, and can withstand a heavy load. We are not easily moved and carry others in their time of need. Yes, living stones: strong, firm, not easily moved — and quite alive!
There’s a reason for your stone foundation.
Stone- Hebrew
Eben
אבן
The Aleph, א, is the first Letter in the Hebrew Aleph Bet and represents God or Heavenly Father.
The Bet, ב, combined with the Nun, ן, means Son in Hebrew or Jesus the Father’s Son.
Eben (stone) in Hebrew means the Father and the Son.
Throughout scripture, stones are commonly referred to as a symbol of God’s reliability and strength. The Bible advises that we build our houses and lives upon the stable rock that is God’s love. His Word is the first foundational stone, which is salvation. Rocks are the refuge, a place to escape the tumultuous hardships of our Lives.
Others need to see that we are built on this powerful, immovable foundation, “stone” and solid by being built on the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit dwells in you.
1 Peter 2:1 “Coming to Him as to a living stone…”
Coming to Him as to a living stone: Peter’s picture here is that God is building a spiritual temple (a spiritual house) using living stones(Christians), those who have come to the ultimate living stone (Jesus).
This spiritual house shows that as much as Israel had a temple, Christians also have one. Yet the Christian’s temple is spiritual, and they are the temple.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
1 Corinthians 16-17 (MSG)
You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred—and you, remember, are the temple.
(Mat 7:24) Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
(Mat 7:25) And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
(Mat 7:26) And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
(Mat 7:27) And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Jesus is the Stone. He is the Rock upon which we build our house. Our house is our temple, which the Holy Spirit inhabits, and it’s our only foundation because it must be strong, or else this house will quickly collapse under the pressure of satan’s flood of lies and deception. If we build our house on sand, you can easily see what will happen in your mind, as you know how the sand at the water’s edge can quickly erode when the tide comes in.
Build your house on the rock – a strong foundation – so that your house will be a home for the Word to dwell in, able to resist every storm.
Hurricane Ike
Brad and I went to see my oldest son and his wife right after they got married and moved to Texas on the gulf and it was just a few days before Hurricane Ike. Hurricane Ike made landfall at Galveston Island on September 13, 2008, with 110 mph sustained winds, a strong Category 2. Ike’s 4.6 m (15-ft) storm surge caused a massive swath of damage, stretching from Galveston, Texas, east across all coastal Louisiana. The landfall of Ike resulted in extensive storm surge flooding, wind damage, and rainfall flooding.
We had driven over to Galveston Ferry, and it’s two-lane highway 87 mostly sand next to the ocean. We stopped to look at all the oceanfront homes built on stilts. We crossed the ferry to Galveston, ate lunch, and enjoyed walking through that historical town near the water’s edge there is a large plaque that records the “Great” Galveston remains the deadliest hurricane ever to hit the US.
Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimate that up to 12,000 people were killed but the exact figure remains unknown.
The Category 4 storm hit Galveston, an island city located off the Texas coast, on September 8, 1900.
We went back to see the kids just a few weeks later after Hurricane Ike hit and as we tried to drive back down the two-lane coastal highway it was mostly washed out and the smell of dead fish and cattle mixed with mildew was overwhelming and all those houses on stilts were gone, just a beach full of sand. Highway 87 is no longer a route you can take to Galveston ferry.
A Stone
The Lord is a stone that stands in each person’s path. You either use Him as a refuge or throw Him out. (Acts 4:8-12). There comes a time when each person must decide what they will do with Jesus. What will you do with the Stone in your path?
Acts 4:8-12 (MSG)
8-12 With that, Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, let loose: “Rulers and leaders of the people, if we have been brought to trial today for helping a sick man, put under investigation regarding this healing, I’ll be completely frank with you—we have nothing to hide. By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the One you killed on a cross, the One God raised from the dead, by means of using his name, this man stands before you healthy and whole. Jesus is ‘the stone you masons threw out, which is now the cornerstone.’ Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one.”
Peter didn’t merely proclaim Jesus as a way of salvation but as the only way of salvation. The idea is that there is no salvation in any other and that there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. The Truth is hard to accept for many, but it is plainly stated.
Peter’s name “Peter,” Petros, means “a stone” (John 1:42). Jesus used words here with petra (“on this rock”), which means a right foundation.