LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Tasters from the King's Table
The Wounded Stone
The Lord Jesus is the stone that the builders discarded, which God transformed into the main cornerstone of His building (Mt. 21:42). A cornerstone is the stone that sustains a building, the one that gives it consistency and stability.
When Israel walked in the desert, and they were thirsty, God gave them drink from a Rock. Against all logic, the provision of the vital liquid didn't come from the source of an oasis, but from a rock, from a rock that followed them (1 Cor. 10:4). This rock was struck by Moses with the stick, to signify the manner in which the Son of God would also be struck. (Ex. 17:6). God was announcing the way in which He would give drink to the world by means of His Son wounded on the cross.
But not only that. The Lord Jesus was wounded from the first day that He inhabited the world, because the world didn't receive him. Early on Herod wanted to destroy Him; and He was harassed in this way His whole life, until finally, on the cross of Calvary, His body was wounded in many places, so that from it the blessed water of life would flow. The act of Moses when striking the Rock was in this way a prophecy perfectly fulfilled in Christ.
However, the cornerstone of the building of God is not the only wounded stone; so are the men and women that are put on top of it. "He who falls on it will be broken to pieces…", said the Lord (Mt. 21:44). As it is with Christ, so it is also with those that belong to Christ. The building of God is made up of a wounded stone at its base, and many wounded stones in its superstructure.
These are the living stones that the apostle Peter speaks of. If we are alive for God, if we are to be counted for God's building, we have to receive the same treatment that our Lord received - although in an infinitely smaller degree than He did. Broken men and women, like the "man of sorrows, experienced in affliction…" (Is. 53:3). Men and women similar to that beautiful Man in whom God finds His perfect contentment.
A wounded Stone. What a wonderful contrast! What a beautiful paradox! The solidity of a rock and the fragility of the wound. The solidity of a cornerstone transformed into source of water of life. That marvellous mixture has astonished the world, and not only them - but also those that are broken to be like Him in these days.