THE STONE THE BUILDERS REJECTED
"The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone..." 1 Peter 2:7One of our weakest points is that we want people to like us. Humanly, we all want love--not rejection. The cruelest thing you can do to someone is to reject and shun them. A true Christian will indeed suffer rejection, but a blessing comes with it.
A BLESSING FOR REJECTION
*Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
*Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
*Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
"But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. Luke 6:20-26
This is speaking of spiritual hunger, spiritual poverty. We know this because in another place, Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." We should have a deep hunger to obey God...a hunger for righteousness. Because we don't have any of our own. In another place Christ said, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit." To be spiritually poor is to have a spirit of meekness and an absence of pride in self.The meek, who are the spiritually poor, will inherit the earth, and the rejected people of this evil world will have a great reward coming to them. In the Kingdom of God, Christ will be at the top, the capstone is at the pinnacle. And those that have suffered rejection because they follow Him are His chosen people and He will save them.
"See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone," and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:6-10
In the coming Kingdom of God, the well connected of this age, of this world, will be on the outside looking in. Those with power now, will be on the bottom then.
THE STONE THAT THE BUILDERS REJECTED
Has there not always been a natural caste system, the rich and connected clan together at the Country Clubs, don't they? This explains why they got so mad when Christ ate with the poor people, it explains how angry it made the scribes and Pharisees. All the powerful men had "resisted Christ at every turn, and conspired together to have Him killed." So when these people saw Christ eating and hanging out with the undesirables of society, they rejected Him as prophecy said they would. They didn't know that Christ is the "stone that the builders rejected" and that they were rejecting the one who would be at the top in the coming Kingdom of God.
The end time is actually the beginning of the restoration of the Kingdom of God on this earth! The "End of the Age" or "end time" is simply the end of Satan's rules the earth. It is not the end of all things, it is actually the beginning!
Christ told His rejecters that the tax collectors and the prostitutes would be going in the Kingdom of God ahead of them! The so called undesirables of society, the Lazarus's... would go into the Kingdom of God ahead of them!
"Jesus said to them, "Truly, I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did, and even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
So if you find that you are rejected for obeying God, then know that your reward will be great!
Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.