JESUS CHRIST THE CHIEF CORNER STONE
Friday – November 18, 2016
Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ from The Three Minute Word publication and Eastern Gate Ministries International. God is so good. It is Friday, the day that I remind us all to pray for the Church. We are in a world of hurt and repentance is the only route out. Repentance is a change of mind and therein lies the problem for most of the Church. The Church building pictured is the Mission San Juan Capistrano. Now let’s get back to our Bible study in Ephesians.
Ephesians 2:18-20 (KJV)
18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
One might ask; who are ‘the saints and the household of God’? It is difficult to tell in the King James Version but it would appear that these are not two separate groups but one group. That group is those who believed God under the Old Covenant. These are the folks who had died under the Old Covenant and were protected from Hell in the Bosom of Abraham. Jesus preached the gospel to them there and led captivity captive (Ephesians 4:8). They are in Heaven, part of the first resurrection, and already have that incorruptible (uncorrupted) body. Look at the next amazing passage. The resurrection of the Old Testament saints occurred simultaneously with the resurrection of Jesus on the third day before day break. These are one with us, the Church, because they attained unto salvation by the Blood of Jesus, and the Words of His testimony.
Hebrews 11:16 (KJV)
16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
That city is the Heavenly Jerusalem, the same in whom is our citizenship. In salvation we have come to the very same city.
Hebrews 12:22-23 (KJV)
22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
You and I brother and sister are citizens of Heaven, the Heavenly Jerusalem, we are a part of the general assembly the church of the firstborn who is Jesus Christ. The spirits of the just men, persons, of the Old Covenant have been made perfect or complete. What would make them complete, the incorruptible body.
Matthew 27:50-53 (KJV)
50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
Now let’s look at our primary text in Ephesians as we bring this Bible lesson to an end.
Ephesians 2:18-20 (KJV)
18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
The foundation of the household of God, the Church, is the Apostles of the New Testament, the prophets of the Old Testament who prophesied the plan of God and the coming Messiah who is Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone. The rejection of Jesus, the chief cornerstone by the Jewish peoples is in part the reason the door is wide open to us, the Gentiles. Salvation came first to the Jew then to the Gentile (Romans 1:16).
Romans 11:25-26 (KJV)
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Jesus the Messiah commented on this quoting Psalm 118:22-23 in the following passage. The thing which is marvelous is not that the builders rejected Jesus but that Jesus, the Messiah, is made the cornerstone, the head of the Church.
Matthew 21:42 (KJV)
42 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?
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
