the cornerstone... win by loosing

Jesus the corner stone 6-26
Isaiah 28:16 Matt 21:42-44
Isaiah 28:16
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 believe shall not make haste.

Matt 21:42-44
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 marvelous in our eyes?
43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.


Mr 12:10 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:
:
Lu 20:17 And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?
Ac 4:11 This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

1Pe 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believes on him shall not be confounded.

1Pe 2:7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

1Pe 2:20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

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We see in this lesson that as with many lessons in the "Spirit Walk" the paradox exists. What seems to be one way when walked out actually turns out the opposite result as would be intuitively expected.

The corner stone in that day was used to extrapolate the whole of the building.
1) First the outside corner would become the point at which the right angle triangles would be projected. A 3,4,5 triangle will always have a diagonal side twice in length of the small side, as will a 5,12,13 triangle since the sum of the sides squared is equal to the long side squared (9+16=25 and 25+144=169) These builders did not need long levels to erect a one story clay tile building. They needed only to be sure that the sides were square. the 3,4,5 triangle did not need to be any given length as any rope divided into half twice would produce four sections, add one longer section the piece and you have the five side, and subtract a section for the three side. The result would always be a right angle on the corner. So we have a cornerstone. On this stone the whole building would be erected.There you have a picture of Christ being the "rightness" of the whole building. A person needs only to look at Jesus and ask WWJD? to get direction and plumpness with truth. The walls and sides of the building have no relation with the property sides or the ground level, only the cornerstone. It seems that today people want to be their own plumb line as to correct action. But any block in the building that is out of plumb line with the corner actually detracts from the whole and is "out of order." When the question of sin is raised, the many want to ask what feels right, what is every one else doing? It seems that if this illustration is carried out to the clarity, the teaching of the cornerstone would prevail. And by implication if one is to be right with God he must see sin the same way that God sees it!

2) Second the cornerstone also must be placed of the foundation. The foundation is a series of very strong and deep rocks that are placed below the ground line to support the weight of the walls and the roof. In houses today they are required to be placed 24"-36" below the ground line. The they were simply large flat limestones laid in a straight line and at right angles to the planned building sides. they would form underground an outline of what the building would look like after it was finished. With out this foundation when the rains of the spring or Fall (times of change) would come the walls would begin to sink in the soft ground near the surface. Several feet below the surface the ground is much more hard packed and not subject to surface movement with he addition of water. The image we get is to see the cornerstone becoming the author of the building. Where it is written, all other stones hang. That is true authority. Ouch! A hard word. In out society where no authority is recognized but the self, many do not defer to the authority of God. But since he wrote the book (the Bible,) he would be the author.

Matthew 21 records Jesus as preparing his disciples to the crucifixion and the eventual resurrection by assuring them that the way to acceptance before God was to endure rejection patiently.(humbly bear up under. This only works when a person is violated by a superior in Gods chain of command.)

This acceptable in I Pet 2:20 is a kind of acceptability where recognition is placed upon a person as result of their dexterity similar to the "Nobel Peace Prize" is placed upon a person who has demonstrated remarkable accomplishment by discovering a breakthrough element or process. This would be like a Promotion given to a person in a company sense. So Peter is saying that one way to promotion is to accept patiently mistreatment for doing right by some one under whose authority they are placed.

An example in the Scriptures would be found in the way that Joseph was mistreated treated over and over again. Each time that he was "Pushed Under" he "patiently" accepted his position , without bitterness, and God promoted him. In the end he was in charge of the whole of Egypt.
Another example is found in the life of David who wrote the Psalms. when he was mistreated probably for ten or fifteen years, God promoted him to King. Psalms records the life attitude that David walked through as he ran from the ones that tried to kill him.

The last lesson that this passage teaches is that we may fall upon this corner stone in time of need. We may indeed break in the process, but a breaking is a collection of large pieces. If one fails to fall upon the rock in humility, eventually the rock will "roll" upon him with crushing results. The pieces would be very small and difficult to repair. So the question is not to get away or not, but whether to be broken or to be crushed. I know from experience the "breaking process" is much easier than the "crushing process." Your only control is when the process (judgment) takes place. Do you get right with God now and become broken before him, or do you await his judgment when the process will crush and reduce to power all that you hold dear?