‘The stone the builders rejected has become the corner.” —Luke 20:17
The “corner” that Jesus is referring to here is himself! He is telling the people that God has exalted Him to be the chief stone above all, the head of the corner, on which all else depends. Jesus—according to the book of Daniel—is the rock cut out of the mountain.
Daniel described this as he told King Nebuchadnezzar about his dream:
“You were watching as a stone was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its iron and clay feet, breaking them in pieces. Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were broken in pieces without distinction and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors that the wind carries away. Not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a large mountain that filled the entire earth.” —Daniel 2:34–35
Daniels’s interpretation of this dream speaks to our verses for today:
“In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever. You saw that a stone was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands; it smashed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold into pieces. The great God has made known to the king what will occur in the future. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is reliable.” —Daniel 2:44–45
Peter uses the word “cornerstone” for Jesus in the book of Acts:
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, replied “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man—by what means this man was healed—let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.” —Acts 4:8–12
Scripture is clear—salvation is found in no one else but Jesus! We find this clearly explained by Paul and Silas in the book of Acts when they answer the jailor’s question about salvation:
“They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.’ Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him, along with all those who were in his house. At that hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized right away. The jailer brought them into his house and set food before them, and he rejoiced greatly that he had come to believe in God, together with his entire household.” —Acts 16:31–34
Become More
Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” —John 14:6
Further Reflection
“Our nature struggles fiercely against being saved without our works and tries to deceive us with a grand illusion of our own righteousness. So we may find ourselves attracted to a life that merely appears to be righteous. Or because we know we aren’t righteous, we may be frightened by death or sin. Therefore, we must learn that we should have nothing to do with any other way of becoming righteous, except through Christ alone.” —Martin Luther