Living a Life That Honors GodSample

Jesus Is the Foundation of the Church

In Psalm 118:22-23, the Psalmist marvels how God has done something that nobody would have expected. He was in a dangerous situation, surrounded by his enemies, but God saved him and made everything right.

Centuries later, Jesus quotes this psalm and applies it to himself:  

“Have you never read in the Scriptures:

‘The stone that the builders rejected

    has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord's doing,

    and it is marvelous in our eyes'?” (Matthew 21:42).

Jesus said this in the context of the chief priests and the elders of the people challenging his authority. Jesus did not meet their hopes and expectations, and so they rejected him. But this would not hinder God’s salvation plan.

The apostle Peter refers to this quotation when he says that Jesus is the precious cornerstone of a spiritual house. Despite being rejected by the religious officials of his days, He really has become the foundation of the church. Believers are like living stones who together form one church, one holy temple. God dwells in their midst. Seeing God’s salvation plan unfold, we echo the psalmist: “This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes!"