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358
Humble Hero
The hearers recognized the warning, but despite the sentence
they themselves had pronounced, the priests and rulers were ready
to complete the picture by saying, “This is the heir. Come, let us kill
him.” “But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the
multitudes,” for the public sentiment was in Christ’s favor.
In quoting the prophecy of the rejected stone, Christ referred to
an actual incident connected with the building of the first temple. It
had a special lesson at Christ’s first advent, but it also has a lesson
for us. When the temple of Solomon was constructed, the immense
stones were prepared entirely at the quarry. After they were brought
to the building site, the workmen only had to place them in position.
One stone of unusual size and peculiar shape had been brought
for the foundation, but the workmen could find no place for it. It
annoyed them as it lay unused in their way. For a long time it
remained a rejected stone.
But when the builders came to the laying of the corner, they
searched for a long time to find a stone of sufficient size and strength
and of the proper shape to bear the great weight that would rest on
it. If they were to make an unwise choice, it would endanger the
safety of the entire building. They tried several stones, but under the
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pressure of immense weights these had crumbled to pieces.
But finally someone called attention to the stone so long rejected.
It had been exposed to sun and storm without revealing the slightest
crack. It had borne every test but one—the test of severe pressure.
They put it through the trial. The stone passed the test and was
accepted. When they brought it to its assigned position, they found
it to be an exact fit. This stone was a symbol of Christ. Isaiah says,
“He will be as a sanctuary,
But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense
To both the houses of Israel. ...
And many among them shall stumble;
They shall fall and be broken,
Be snared and taken.”
Isaiah 8:14, 15
The chief cornerstone in the temple of Solomon was symbolic
of the trials and tests Christ was to bear.