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Sheet for OT “stone” passages and NT uses

Worship prep for May18, 2003

I want to do one more week on the “Stone” study. For preparation:

1. Read through the passages and Notes/Questions printed below. These are very similar to what I had you use a few weeks back, through with a few additions.

2. Consider these questions, that I plan to ask and use as the structure for Sunday’s sermon, in view of this material:

· Who is Jesus? (Who do these passages and the use of this theme tell us about who Jesus is)

· Who are we (those who put their faith in Christ)?

· How do we bear fruit? You might further consider:

o What fruit are we to bear (consider fruit that is pointed to in broader context of Romans, Ephesians, I Peter)? What is the connection of this fruit and God’s reign and kingdom?

o Why did ethnic Israel not bear fruit as they were called to?

o What are the resources for this fruit-bearing?

Make some notes on these questions as I will probably have some point in the sermon where I ask for input in regards to these questions. Alert your children to this discussion to help build their interest and participation.

Passage

Notes/Questions

Psalm 118:19-23

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, and I will praise the LORD.

20 This is the gate of the LORD, through which the righteous shall enter.

21 I will praise You, for You have answered me, and have become my salvation.

22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

23 This was the LORD'S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

Note that this is first of all about Israel – their vindication against those who would oppose them and them and their God. But the chief spokesman in the Psalm is the king, as he speaks for the nation. In His oppression is their oppression; in his vindication in their vindication. In his confirmation as “righteous” (God’s covenant partner worthy of dwelling with God), is their confirmation as righteous.

Isa 8:13-15

13 The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.

14 He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15 And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken."

The context is King Ahaz’s and Israel’s lack of faith in God as they faced threats from Assyria. They were instructed to hallow and trust God and look at Him as their “sanctuary.” Otherwise, He would be a means of their fall and of their being ensnared. They must trust in God for salvation, not man!

Isa 28:14-16

14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

15 Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves."

16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.

Here, again, Israel was trusting in Egypt (see 30:1, 31:1f) rather than God. This false trust in man was a “covenant with death” – a sure path to destruction and judgment. At some point God would establish a “stone” in Zion. This stone might be Himself, His law, His restoration. This passage would come to be seen as Messianic – that the Stone was ultimately God’s Messiah through which His covenant faithfulness and vindication of Israel would come about. The great contrast is between God’s true and sure solutions and man’s solutions and the judgment is directed toward the foolish leaders in Jerusalem.

Daniel 2:34-36, 44-45

34 "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.

35 "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

36 "This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king.

. . . 44 "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

45 "Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold-- the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure."

Daniel interprets King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream for him. The dream is about a statue which, as Daniel explains, represents four kingdoms. These kingdoms are finally crushed by the “stone,” which then grows into a mighty kingdom. In context, we see that the stone represents God’s promises through Israel and His commitment to vindicate them as the people through whom He will rule the nations and establish His glory on earth. (Of course, those promises look weak and questionable during Daniel’s day as Babylon had destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.) Also, the context of the Daniel suggests that the stone should also be seen as Messiah. The outworking of this prophecy in history suggests that the last kingdom is Rome, and that it is in the time of that kingdom that the decisive events establishing God’s kingdom and His covenant faithfulness to Israel will take place.

Matt 21:41-45

41 They said to Him, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons."

42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes' [Psalm 118:22-23]?

43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.

44 "And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; [Isa 8:15] but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. [Dan 2:44]”

45 Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them.

We saw last week that this passage follows a parable in which Jesus condemns the foolish Jewish leadership for rejecting God’s prophets and now rejecting the “son.” He then quotes Psalm 118 which would point to Jesus’ resurrection and consequent vindication as the true Israel, the true King, and would reveal the present Jewish leaders as being on the side of the pagan “builders” who reject God’s covenant people and purposes.

He then quotes Isa 8:15. What do you think this implies? About Jesus? About the present leadership in Jerusalem? About the nature of their sin and foolishness?

He then combines that with Daniel 2:44 which we considered last week. This reveals that in Jesus the promised Kingdom of God that shatters the kingdoms of the world and vindicates Israel has now come. And the Jewish leadership is not those vindicated, but rather is those aligned with the kingdoms of this world who are shattered and crushed (see Daniel 2:34-44 for fuller context.).

Acts 4:10-12

10 "let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.

11 "This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' [Ps 118:22]

12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

We considered this on Easter Sunday. Peter, who of course knows the full meaning and context of Psalm 118 – that Israel and their king will be vindicated – now uses this to speak of Jesus’ resurrection. He knows that it is the evidence thatJesus has accomplished for Israel “what Israel could not do for itself” (an NT Wright phrase). He was faithful as representative of the people, He is resurrected into new life (as God has promised in the prophets He would do for Israel), and He now reigns over the enemies of God. Peter also implies by this what Jesus had in Matt 21 – that the present Jewish leadership who opposed Jesus and the disciples are now aligned with the enemies of God. This would be shocking and revolting to them as they claimed Psalm 118 for themselves (as well as other Scriptures that spoke of the hope of Israel’s vindication and the glory of their king).

Rom 9:29-10:4

29 And as Isaiah said before: "Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah."

30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;

31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.

32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.

33 As it is written: "Behold, I lay in Zion [Isa 28:16] a stumbling stone and rock of offense [Isa 8:14], and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." [28:16]

CHAPTER 10

1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.

2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Paul, in speaking of the fact that the Gentiles have found covenant membership, fulfillment, and vindication, and that many ethnic Jews have rejected the very thing they yearned for, uses a collage from the two Isaiah passages. What is he saying with these? Why are these two passages appropriate? How does the Isaiah contexts shed light on the lessons he is making about the Jews and Gentiles in his day? How do they help us understand the blindness of Paul’s Jewish brethren that has kept them from fruit-bearing and from seeing and responding in faith to Jesus as the Christ?

Eph 2:18-22

18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, [Ps 118? Isa 28:16?]

21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,

22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Paul here, in showing how the Gentiles have combined with believing Jews to make a new commonwealth and to fulfill God’s covenant, now describes this new body as a temple, a household of God. He quotes from either Psalm 118 or Isa 28 to describe (probably doesn’t matter since in the teaching of the early church these themes all come together) Jesus’ relationship to this temple. Note that Paul is not here saying that this new Jew-plus-Gentile body is like the temple, or is just patterned after the OT temple. Rather it is the fulfillment of the temple; it is the glorious rebuilding that the OT prophets described and that Israel yearned for. What other lessons might we learn from Paul’s use of this in this context?

1 Pet 2:4-10

4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious,

5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame." [Isa 28:16]

7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone," [Ps 118:22]

8 and "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." [Isa 8:14 here] They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

The “stone” passages from Isaiah and Psalm 118 dominate all of 2:4-8. How is Peter using these passages? What does all this say about God’s fulfillment of the great OT themes of temple, His presence, a holy people? What do they tell us about Jesus in relation to those themes? How do the Isaiah passages give us light on the transition and transformation that has taken place through Christ? What might we learn about fruit-bearing (especially note context of 2:1-3 and 2:11 – 3:12)?