THE LORD SPOKE (November 14)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Ezekiel 21-22

Ezekiel 22:30 - I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not destroy it, but I found none.

They were dark days in Israel. God’s man was Ezekiel alone - no other was found to “stand in the gap”. The faithful remnant was pitifully small. The spiritual wall around Jerusalem was full of holes.

Some things don’t change much - God is still looking for faithful men. Our situation today calls for the same challenge. Charles U. Wagner penned these words over 30 years ago:

Our God is looking for a man;
His eyes run to and fro
In patient searching for that one
Through whom His strength to show.

“A man,” He said, “give me a man
Of faith, perfect in heart;
A man through whom I’ll show My hand
And serving - strength impart.”

Council and league were offered God
With power of place and plan;
Machinery large and iron strong,
God said, “Give me a man!”

But Hell’s aggressive power prevails,
Relentlessly its hand
Strikes heavy, hard, against us all;
God’s answer is: “A man!”

His flashing eyes go to and fro
Searching earth’s breadth and length;
Our God still seeks a yielded man
Through whom to show His strength.

Will you be the one? Will you stand arm-in-arm with others to stem the tide of our day?


Psalms 117-118

Jesus applied it to Himself. “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone” (Ps. 118:22) is quoted in all three synoptic gospels and thrice more in the rest of the New Testament:

Matthew 21:42 - The “Parable of the Tenants” came close on the heels of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem where the very next section of Psalm 118 is also quoted: “O Lord, save us [= Hosana].... Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Ps. 118-25-26); c.f. Mat. 21:9).

Mark 12:10-11 - The chief priests and teachers of the law understood that this application was spoken against them. Since Isaiah’s time (see Is. 19:13), they’d been used to “cornerstones” being used as a metaphor for the leaders.

Luke 20:17 - Luke picks up on the same phrase in Matthew which came just following the cornerstone quote. “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” (See Daniel 2:34-35, 44.)

Acts 4:11-12 - When Peter addresses the Sanhedrin he explains the miraculous healing of the lame man at the Temple. He quotes Psalm 118:22 but says, “which you builders rejected”, condemning the religious leaders in no uncertain terms, because “salvation is found in no one else”.

Ephesians 2:20 - Paul’s application of the cornerstone image is in relation to Jews and Gentiles being built together into one “holy temple” with “Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone”.

I Peter 2:7 - Peter, whose name means “stone”, has a great interest in stones in this chapter. He pulls together two quotes from Isaiah and reinforces the “spiritual house” idea. “A chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” is being brought together under the headship of the Lord Jesus.

So, this magnificent structure, that is still being brought together, has as its capstone the Lord Jesus Christ. He is what holds it together and gives it its ultimate form. We commonly speak and sing of Jesus being the foundation, and there’s ample truth in that. But the Hebrew term behind “cornerstone” is rosh, meaning “head” or “top”. It’s really the capstone or keystone that is involved here. “God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church” (Eph. 1:22). “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy” (Col. 1:18).

We are God's people, the chosen of the Lord,
Born of His Spirit, established by His Word;
Our cornerstone is Christ alone, and strong in Him we stand:
O let us live transparently and walk heart to heart and hand in hand.

We are the Body of which the Lord is Head,
Called to obey Him, now risen from the dead;
He wills us be a family, diverse yet truly one:
O let us give our gifts to God, and so shall His work on earth be done.

Bryan Jeffery Leech