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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
September, 1940
has rejected revelation reaching beyond the “ Shema” (“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord”—Deut. 6:4), and continues to disallow the precious Son of God, the “chief comer stone” ! “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first born’ (Zech. 12:10). These words of the prophet Zecha- riah are prophetic of the day when Is rael no longer will stumble over her Messiah; when the “spirit of grace” is poured out upon her, her eyes will be opened and she will see that Messiah came as prophesied, “a lamb to the slaughter,” before He comes as a King to reign. The heart of a nation will be sorrowful because of its long rejection of the One who came but was not re ceived. III. Christ the Destroying Stone. 1. The dream image of Nebuchadnez zar. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image of Daniel 2 outlines history from his day to the end of the times of the Gen tiles. Five empires or kingdoms come into view, one after another, as fol lows: (1) The Neo-Babylonian Kingdom— 606-538 B.C. “Thou art this head of gold” (Dan..2:38). (2) The Medo-Persian Kingdom—538- 330 B.C. “Another kingdom inferior to thee” (Dan. 2:39). (3) The Grecian Kingdom—330-63 B.C. “Another third kingdom . . . which shall bear rule over all the earth” (Dan. 2:39). (4) The Roman Kingdom—63 B.C.- A.D. 565. “The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron” -(Dan. 2:40). (5) The Millennial Kingdom—Date is future. The centuries have witnessed the rise and fall of the first four of these em pires. Today we are living in a paren thetical period not seen by Daniel, which will be discussed later in this article. We have been led to the conclusion that Scripture teaches the revival of the old Roman Empire, at least to some ex tent, and we base conclusions largely on parallelism. The prophecies of Dan- T Cnntinued on Page 330] “And in the days of these kings shail the God of heaven set up a kingdom” (Dan. 2:44).
words of Jehovah, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure founda tion: he that believeth shall not make haste” (v. 16). The stone is certainly not Zion, be cause it is laid in Zion. It is not Jeho vah, because He lays the stone. It is not yet the person of the Messiah be cause He would be no present aid to the people. The stone is the typical Mes sianic deliverance based on the promises of God. The word of Jehovah, that the Assyr ians would be no threat to Judah, is likened to a stone with two particular qualities: It is a tried stone, one that has been tested many times in the past and has proved dependable. It is a pre cious stone, precious to Him, and it should be so counted by men. Chapter 31:1-3 indicates that the peo ple preferred the soldiers, horses, and chariots of Egypt, which later proved of no avail. 2. The rejerted corner stone. When Peter stood before the Sanhe drin, as recorded in Acts 4, he could look back on the changing Messianic concept of the stone which now had been per sonalized in one Jesus of Nazareth who, indeed, was God’s “precious comer stone,” the “corner stone” of the theo cratic kingdom on earth, in trtrth, “the King of the Jews” (John 19:19). He pre sented Himself to the rulers and elders of Israel as such a stone, and Peter now refers to Him as the One “whom ye crucified” (Acts 4:10) and adds, “This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is beoome the ■head of the corner” (Acts 4:11). 3. The stone of stumbling. Peter must have had in mind the Isaian passage and this address, when, twenty-five years later, he penned in his first epistle these words of sorrowful import for two millennia: “Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief comer stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you there fore which. believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disal lowed, the same is made the head of the comer, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed” (1 Pet. 2:6-8). For some months, it has been my joy to stand each week before a group of Jewish believers, and, at times of tes timony, they have witnessed to their own past inability, in some instances extending over a period of many years, to accept Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah. To them, not God the Father but God the Son had been the stumbling stone Oh. how Ion«: Israel
Jesus Christ the chief corner stone?” Or, “Is the chief corner stone a man or woman, living or dead?” 2. The God-laid foundation. “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). 'How clear the Word is! The foundation of a God- planned life has already been laid.- Woe to the man who builds his house on the sand rather than on the provided Rock. 3. The superstructure. Man is exceedingly foolish to build a sb-ick upon a million-dollar foundation, even as he is foolish to build a palace on shifting sands. Having as a founda tion the Rock of Ages, one is similarly foolish to build a life that is worthless. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul points out that every^ believer has the true foundation of liie but may build foolishly or wisely thereon. Under the caption of “wood, hay, stubble” (1 Cor. 3:12), reference is made to those parts of a believer’s life which will not stand the test of the “bema” seat judgment (2 Cor. 5:10). The passage also considers “gold, silver, precious stones” to represent the ac ceptable works which will receive the approbation of God at the believer’s judgment. It is very clear that salva tion is based upon the foundation, and it is also very clear that reward is based upon the quality and quantity of the superstructure. “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” (1 Cor. 3:15). II. Christ the Stumbling Stone. 1. The tried and precious corner stone. Isaiah 28 contains a frequently used evangelistic text, “For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it’jr (v. 20). One who expends the time and energy to apply the grammatico-historical prin ciple of interpretation will be richly re- •paid. Grammatically, the verse is used in a metaphorical sense. Historically, we are in the eighth century before Christ, in the days of the Assyrian ex pansion threat against Israel. Hezekiah, king of Judah, is understandably anx- iofls and has been making overtures to Egypt for military •support in case of invasion. The pro-Egyptian party is ac tive in Jerusalem politics; so is the pro- Assyrian, for the "fifth column” has been active in propaganda. Isaiah, that man of God of the Jeru salem court, is the leader of the' pro- Jehovah party and is clarion of two messages: First, any alliance with Egypt would prove to be a bed which would be “shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in itr’ (v. 20). Second, Jerusalem must listen to the
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