THE CORNERSTONE/FOUNDATION STONE
“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.” Isa28:16 KJV
“This is what the Almighty LORD
says: I am going to lay a rock in Zion, a rock that has been tested, a precious
cornerstone, a solid foundation. Whoever believes [in him] will not worry.”
Isa28:16 GW
“Therefore thus says the Lord
God, Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a Stone, a tested Stone, a
precious Cornerstone of sure foundation; he who believes (trusts in, relies on,
and adheres to that Stone) will not {be ashamed} {or} give way {or} hasten away
[in sudden panic].” Isa28:16 AMP
God
wants us to be established and well balanced upon this foundational stone. To
be well rooted and stable. He promised to lay a foundation stone that would
establish us. He promised to give us a sure foundation. Through the Cross of
Jesus Christ God laid this cornerstone. What is this foundational stone?
“Therefore you are no longer
outsiders (exiles, migrants, and aliens, excluded from the rights of citizens),
but you now share citizenship with the saints (God's own people, consecrated
and set apart for Himself); and you belong to God's [own] household. You are
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus
Himself the chief Cornerstone. In Him the whole structure is joined (bound,
welded) together harmoniously, and it continues to rise (grow, increase) into a
holy temple in the Lord [a sanctuary dedicated, consecrated, and sacred to the
presence of the Lord]. In Him [and in fellowship with one another] you
yourselves also are being built up [into this structure] with the rest, to form
a fixed abode (dwelling place) of God in (by, through) the Spirit.” Eph2:19-22
AMP
A
cornerstone/foundation stone is the first stone set in the construction of a
masonry foundation. It is important because all the other stones will be set in
reference to that stone and consequently the position of the entire structure
depends on that first stone.
The
cornerstone serves as an alignment stone for the foundation. The angle of the
stone has to be perfect and precise because it determines all the subsequent
lines and other angles of the building.
The
cornerstone is usually the largest, the most solid and the most carefully
constructed part of the structure.
Jesus
Christ is this cornerstone/ foundation stone. He is the center upon which we
build the foundation of our lives.
God seeks to establish us upon the reality
of Jesus Christ so that no matter what happens if He is immovable then we too
are immovable and grounded as He is.
The
cornerstone is not the foundation, it is what establishes and secures the
foundation. A foundation without a solid cornerstone is useless. Faith
righteousness is not the foundation. Faith righteousness is what establishes
and secures the foundation of our lives. It is what gives us a strong
foundation.
“As newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted
that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious:
and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. 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, And a stone of
stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.” 1Pet2:2-8
Jesus
Christ is the foundation stone of this building of God, the temple that we are.
God seeks to reveal Him to our hearts as the cornerstone upon which our foundation
should be laid.
We are not established
in our hearts until the reality of Jesus Christ and what He achieved on the
Cross has been revealed and established in our hearts, until then we are
operating on a shaky foundation.
In other words until we have been
established in the righteousness of Jesus we have not laid a good foundation.
“Of whom we have many things to
say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the
time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be
the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of
milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in
the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them
that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil.” Heb5:11-14
If we
are not skilled (acquainted) with the word (doctrine) of righteousness, we are
still babies and not yet mature. We are not even fit to talk yet as the amplified bible says.
And yet
today we have so many preachers, pastors and ministers preaching to thousands
of people when they shouldn’t be talking. They are still baby Christians. They are
not acquainted with the word (doctrine) of righteousness. They don't know how to talk yet.
The gifts
of the spirit don’t make you a mature Christian, the anointing doesn’t make you
a mature Christian, a devoted prayer life will not do it, a position doesn’t make
you mature, not even the call of God on your life makes you mature. Only a good
understanding of the word (doctrine) of righteousness raises you from being a
baby into a useful Christian. I know this doesn’t fly in the face of religion
but it’s the truth.
Until
someone is established in the word of righteousness, such a person cannot have
a solid foundation. Faith righteousness
is so important because it is what determines whether we are to grow or not.
Faith righteousness is what gives strength to our foundation. Everything
else in our Christianity rotates around this. Everything else is judged by
this. Are we established in the righteousness of God?
Righteousness
(especially the one that God wants) is not anything we have thought it is. It
is not us behaving well, it is not us ‘not sinning’ (such a thing is
impossible, you will always sin!). The righteousness that God is interested in
actually has nothing to do with behavior but has everything to do with
believing.
The righteousness that God is
interested in is not about actions, it is about a person and a nature. You
don’t do something to be righteous and holy; you have somebody and become
somebody who is righteous. It is not what you do or don’t do that makes you
righteous, it is who you have in your spirit and who you are in your spirit
that makes you righteous!
GOD’S NUMBER ONE PRIORITY FOR US
“But seek ye first the kingdom of
God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Mat6:33
This is a very familiar scripture. Almost every Christian
can quote this verse word for word. However how many of us have grasped the
truth that Jesus was communicating in this verse?
This is
one of the most revealing scriptures of the purpose and will of God for us. You
could say it outlines quite plainly what God regards as priority.
A major
problem many of us face today is we major on the minor things and minor on the
major things. This shouldn’t be. We should
learn to major on the major things and minor on the minor things. Like we
said before, the most important thing is
to find out the most important thing.
Here are
a few important points to note from this scripture;
‘but seek ye first’
Notice that
He tells us to seek this first. What does this mean? It means that we should
regard this most important than anything else. That we should consider this our
number one priority. That we should get established in and understand this first
before anything else. That this is first thing.
‘the kingdom of God’
We shall
be dealing with this soon so I am not going to deal with it here. However we
should understand that we do not seek the kingdom of God as something that hasn’t
come yet or something we are begging God to bring. Instead we seek a revelation
of the kingdom we are already in and which has already come. The kingdom of God
is already here and we are in it. What we need is revelation. That is what we
seek.
‘and his righteousness’
The righteousness
to be sought is ‘His righteousness’ not ours. We don’t seek to be righteous
before God through doing works or some sort of performance. Instead we seek an
understanding and revelation of the righteousness that we have already been
made. We seek a full understanding of what God has done for us in Christ. This as
far as God is concerned is number one priority. We should do it first before
anything else. It is the cornerstone upon which a good foundation will be laid.
‘and all these things shall be added unto you’
We see
that when we have established a good foundation in faith righteousness and the
kingdom of God then everything else will be added unto us. Faith righteousness
is what enables our faith to work as it should. Everything else rotates around
this truth. It is why God tells us to seek to understand it first. It is why it
should be number one priority in our lives. Sadly most of us seek first the
anointing, miracles, prosperity, deliverance and so many other things. And yet
if we seek to be established upon the righteousness of God all these other
things will be added unto us.
We become magnets for blessing, for miracles, for
prosperity, for the anointing of God when we understand His righteousness.
It is when we have been established upon
Christ as our righteousness that we are able to be rooted and to grow. Let this
be our number one priority.
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