The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.—Psalm 118:22

To those who believe, Christ is the sure foundation. These are they who fall upon the Rock and are broken. Submission to Christ and faith in Him are here represented. To fall upon the Rock and be broken is to give up our self-righteousness and to go to Christ with the humility of a child, repenting of our transgressions, and believing in His forgiving love. And so also it is by faith and obedience that we build on Christ as our foundation.

Upon this living stone, Jews and Gentiles alike may build. This is the only foundation upon which we may securely build. It is broad enough for all, and strong enough to sustain the weight and burden of the whole world. And by connection with Christ, the living stone, all who build upon this foundation become living stones. Many persons are by their own endeavors hewn, polished, and beautified; but they cannot become “living stones,” because they are not connected with Christ. Without this connection, no person can be saved. Without the life of Christ in us, we cannot withstand the storms of temptation. Our eternal safety depends upon our building upon the sure foundation. Multitudes are today building upon foundations that have not been tested. When the rain falls, and the tempest rages, and the floods come, their house will fall, because it is not founded upon the eternal Rock, the chief cornerstone Christ Jesus.

“To them which stumble at the word, being disobedient,” Christ is a rock of offense. But “the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner.” Like the rejected stone, Christ in His earthly mission had borne neglect and abuse. He was “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief…. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (Isaiah 53:3). But the time was near when He would be glorified. By the resurrection from the dead He would be declared “the Son of God with power” (Romans 1:4). At His second coming He would be revealed as Lord of heaven and earth. Those who were now about to crucify Him would recognize His greatness. Before the universe the rejected stone would become the head of the corner.—The Desire of Ages, 599, 600.

Further Reflection: Can I point to a time in my life when Jesus proved to be my Eternal Rock, a sure foundation in a time of storm?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.—2 Corinthians 5:10

Under the inspiration of Satan, the Jews had chosen a robber and a murderer in the place of Christ, and with this company they had bound themselves for the judgment of the last day. Pilate had said, pointing to Christ, “Behold your King.” But with determined voice the chief priests and rulers cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him.” Pilate said, “Shall I crucify your King?” and the chief priests answered, “We have no King but Caesar” (John 19:14, 15). And Pilate delivered Him, in whom he declared he could find no fault at all, to be scourged—the most cruel, unmerciful punishment that can be given to a human being.

But He who submitted to the humiliation and suffering of the cross here, in the council of God was to have the fullest compensation and ascend the throne, acknowledged by all the heavenly universe to be the King of saints. He had undertaken the work of salvation, and He showed before the worlds unfallen and the heavenly family that the work He had begun He was able to complete.

The heavenly universe, and the fallen world, both saints and sinners, should recognize in Him who was crucified the Judge of all living. Every crown that is given to the saints of the Most High will be bestowed by the hands of Christ—those hands that cruel priests and rulers condemned to be nailed to the cross. The marks of those wounds will be as bright beams coming forth from His hands. It is Christ who gives men the grace of repentance. His merits were accepted by the Father in behalf of every soul that will help to compose the family of God. His bruised and wounded hands alone can give them the consolation of life, eternal life.

A solemn time will be the day of final decision…. Then is it not of tremendous importance to us individually that our works be right works?—Manuscript 39, 1898.

Further Reflection: How can Jesus be both my Advocate and Judge?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.—John 1:12

From Paul’s day to the present time, God by His Holy Spirit has been calling after the Jew as well as the Gentile. “There is no respect of persons with God,” declared Paul. The apostle regarded himself as “debtor both to the Greeks, and to the barbarians,” as well as to the Jews; but he never lost sight of the decided advantages possessed by the Jews over others, “chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.” “The gospel,” he declared, “is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” It is of this gospel of Christ, equally efficacious for Jew and Gentile, that Paul in his epistle to the Romans declared he was not ashamed.

When this gospel shall be presented in its fullness to the Jews, many will accept Christ as the Messiah. Among Christian ministers there are only a few who feel called upon to labor for the Jewish people; but to those who have been often passed by, as well as to all others, the message of mercy and hope in Christ is to come.

In the closing proclamation of the gospel, when special work is to be done for classes of people hitherto neglected, God expects His messengers to take particular interest in the Jewish people whom they find in all parts of the earth. As the Old Testament Scriptures are blended with the New in an explanation of Jehovah’s eternal purpose, this will be to many of the Jews as the dawn of a new creation, the resurrection of the soul. As they see the Christ of the gospel dispensation portrayed in the pages of the Old Testament Scriptures, and perceive how clearly the New Testament explains the Old, their slumbering faculties will be aroused, and they will recognize Christ as the Saviour of the world. Many will by faith receive Christ as their Redeemer. To them will be fulfilled the words, “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12).—The Acts of the Apostles, 380, 381.

Further Reflection: What do I have in common with Jews that might serve as a bridge for sharing biblical truths about the Messiahship of Jesus with them?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”—John 15:9

For more than a thousand years the Jewish people had awaited the Saviour’s coming. Upon this event they had rested their brightest hopes. In song and prophecy, in temple rite and household prayer, they had enshrined His name. And yet at His coming they knew Him not. The Beloved of heaven was to them “as a root out of a dry ground;” He had “no form nor comeliness;” and they saw in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (Isaiah 53:2; John 1:11).

Yet God had chosen Israel. He had called them to preserve among men and women the knowledge of His law, and of the symbols and prophecies that pointed to the Saviour. He desired them to be as wells of salvation to the world. What Abraham was in the land of his sojourn, what Joseph was in Egypt, and Daniel in the courts of Babylon, the Hebrew people were to be among the nations. They were to reveal God to humanity.

In the call of Abraham the Lord had said, “I will bless thee … and thou shalt be a blessing … and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2, 3). The same teaching was repeated through the prophets. Even after Israel had been wasted by war and captivity, the promise was theirs, “The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men” (Micah 5:7). Concerning the temple at Jerusalem, the Lord declared through Isaiah, “Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7, R. V.).

But the Israelites fixed their hopes upon worldly greatness. From the time of their entrance to the land of Canaan, they departed from the commandments of God, and followed the ways of the heathen. It was in vain that God sent them warning by His prophets. In vain they suffered the chastisement of heathen oppression. Every reformation was followed by deeper apostasy.

Had Israel been true to God, He could have accomplished His purpose through their honor and exaltation.—The Desire of Ages, 27, 28.

Further Reflection: If I am a citizen of “spiritual Israel,” how can I succeed where ancient Israel failed? How can I reveal God to those with whom I come in contact today?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names

“Is this not the carpenter’s son?”—Matthew 13:55

A large portion of those who profess to be looking for Christ would be as forward as the Pharisees were to have the disciples silenced, and they would doubtless raise the cry, “Fanaticism! Mesmerism! Mesmerism!” And the disciples, spreading their garments and branches of palm trees in the way, would be thought extravagant and wild. But God will have a people on the earth who will not be so cold and dead but that they can praise and glorify Him. He will receive glory from some people, and if those of His choice, those who keep His commandments, should hold their peace, the very stones would cry out.

Jesus is coming, but not as at His first advent, a babe in Bethlehem; not as He rode into Jerusalem, when the disciples praised God with a loud voice and cried, “Hosanna”; but in the glory of the Father and with all the retinue of holy angels to escort Him on His way to earth. All heaven will be emptied of the angels, while the waiting saints will be looking for Him and gazing into heaven, as were the people of Galilee when He ascended from the Mount of Olivet. Then only those who are holy, those who have followed fully the meek Pattern, will with rapturous joy exclaim as they behold Him, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us.” And they will be changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump”—that trump which wakes the sleeping saints, and calls them forth from their dusty beds, clothed with glorious immortality, and shouting, “Victory! Victory over death and the grave!” The changed saints are then caught up together with the angels to meet the Lord in the air, never more to be separated from the object of their love.

With such a prospect as this before us, such a glorious hope, such a redemption that Christ has purchased for us by His own blood, shall we hold our peace? Shall we not praise God even with a loud voice, as did the disciples when Jesus rode into Jerusalem? Is not our prospect far more glorious than was theirs? Who dare then forbid us glorifying God, even with a loud voice, when we have such a hope, big with immortality, and full of glory? We have tasted of the powers of the world to come, and long for more. My whole being cries out after the living God, and I shall not be satisfied until I am filled with all His fullness.—Early Writings, 109, 110.

Further Reflection: How loudly do I praise God for the blessed hope I have in Jesus?

From Jesus, Name Above All Names