Basic HTML Version
354
From Heaven With Love
the Jews had put to death the prophets whom God sent to call them
to repentance.
Thus far the application of the parable could not be questioned,
and in what followed it was no less evident. In the beloved son whom
the lord of the vineyard finally sent to his disobedient servants, and
whom they seized and slew, the priests and rulers saw a distinct
[398]
picture of Jesus and His impending fate. In the retribution inflicted
on the ungrateful husbandmen was portrayed the doom of those who
should put Christ to death.
The Strange Stone That Prefigured Christ
Looking with pity on them, the Saviour continued, “Did ye never
read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the
same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and
it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom
of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth
the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be
broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”
This prophecy the Jews had often repeated in the synagogues,
applying it to the coming Messiah. Christ was the Cornerstone of the
Jewish economy, and of the whole plan of salvation. This foundation
stone the Jewish builders were now rejecting. By every means in His
power the Saviour sought to make plain the nature of the deed they
were about to do. His warnings, failing to arouse them to repentance,
would seal their doom, and He designed to show them the justice of
God in the withdrawal of their national privileges, which would end
not only in the destruction of their temple and their city, but in the
dispersion of the nation.
The hearers recognized the warning, but notwithstanding the
sentence they themselves had pronounced, the priests and rulers
were ready to fill out 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 erected, the immense stones
[399]