LUKE 20:17-18 – But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

As believers in Jesus Christ, we rejoice that He is our Rock. This title is so rich in meaning and comfort.  Just one example is found in the opening verses of the eighteenth Psalm – I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold (Psalm 18:1-2).  Here Jesus is our rock of protection, rock of refuge, rock of deliverance, and rock of security.  We picture our Lord as our source of stability in all the shifting circumstances in life.  But in today’s scripture is another picture of Jesus as our rock.  It is painful but good.

Luke writes “Everyone who falls on that stone (Jesus, the chief cornerstone), will be broken in pieces.”  What are we to make of this breaking work of Jesus?  This is His chief work in His children; breaking us from bondages of self, sin, and Satan.  He did this once and for all on the cross, but then continues daily of breaking us from the chains of pride and selfishness.  His breaking as the Rock of all Rocks is designed to make us what we are to be for two reasons:

First, we are to submit to Christ the Rock to break us so we might fellowship with Him.  The prophet Isaiah tells us of the qualities in the child of God to whom He will draw near – Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word (Isaiah 66:1-2).  To be made contrite in spirit comes from being broken in spirit; broken by the Chief Cornerstone from chains of fellowship-deadening pride.

Next,  Christ the Chief Cornerstone breaks His people when they sin to bring them to repentance and restoration.  David reminds us of this truth in the great Psalm of repentance – Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithful love; according to Your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion. Wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart (Psalm 51:1-2, 17).  God delights in restoring His wayward children, but He must “hurt them” to “heal them” and that is what happens as Christ, our Rock, does His work in us.

Jesus, our Rock of salvation.  What a glorious truth and comfort!  But also He is Jesus, our Rock of breaking.  And this too is a glorious truth bringing ultimate comfort through the good work of Him breaking us from the bondage of our pride and selfishness.

 PRAYER: “Father, may I be quick to gladly submit to the breaking work of Christ in my life.”
QUOTE: “Jesus is the believer’s rock of protection and of breaking us from our sinful self.”

Because of Him,

Pastor Jim