Isaiah 8:9-14 (NIV) 13 The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread. 14 He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.
Isaiah 28:16 (NIV) So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.
Luke 2:25 (NIV) 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV) 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Jesus fulfills all the predictions in the Old Testament; one that emerges to the surface is Jesus as both a stumbling stone and a building block. Mary Magdalene falls at His feet and is raised a new person. Nicodemus comes down from his lofty position and is raised a true leader. Peter stumbles over his pride and is raised a humble and pliable person. On the road to Damascus, Paul stumbles over his self-righteousness and is raised a forgiven and whole person.
All of us fall at some time or another. But by God’s grace we fall into discovery and delight. When we are brought down as low as a vulnerable baby born in a barn we are in the right place and the right position to discover that the stone we trip on is solid and secure and a sure foundation on which to re-build our life.
Jesus said we are to rebuild our life on the new foundation of hearing and obeying God’s word. We rebuild on what He says about what our true needs are. We rebuild according to His standards and specifications. We rebuild our beliefs about God according to what He reveals to us to be the truth.
God has not abandoned us to our self-determined, heedless, pushy ways. He places in our path a rock of stumbling. Sometimes it is also a stone of offense that makes us angry and frustrated. But a closer look soon reveals it is a precious stone, a tested stone, and secure foundation on which we can build our life.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope December 9 , 1984
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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