“Hey! Did you know God wants us to be living dead things?” my friend announced one day several years ago. I looked at her like she was crazy. “How can you be living if you are dead?” I asked. “It’s possible! We are!” she answered. “Look up 1 Peter 2:5!”
I was intrigued, so I wrote down the verse, and later on, opened my Bible to 1 Peter 2:4-5. It read: “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering special sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Living dead things…Living stones? Yes, that must have been what she meant. But I was neither a stone nor a “dead thing”. What did she mean?
We talked about it later on, and the things I learned from her and since that time have made this picture of who I am in Christ a key one for me. Maybe it will be for you, too! J
To understand 1 Peter, we need to step back a few hundred years to the Old Testament. The center of Jewish worship was the Temple, a huge stone structure. It was the Temple that housed the Holy of Holies, which housed the Ark of the Covenant, the dwelling place of the Lord God. It was, therefore, the most holy place in the entire Temple. Only the High Priest, a man from the tribe of Levi, could come before the Lord at the Ark of the Covenant, and only one time a year at that: On the Feast of the Atonement, to sacrifice and sprinkle blood on the Mercy Seat (the top of the Ark) to atone for the sins of the people (Exodus 37:6-9). The Temple was completed by Solomon in Jerusalem in 960 BC, destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC, re-built in 516 BC, and then destroyed again by the Romans in 70 AD. When the temple was destroyed the last time, it sent the Jews into a time of mourning and sadness that continues to this day.
When Jesus came, however, he gave new meanings to the temple, the high priest, and God’s dwelling place. It is in light of this fact that Peter writes about the chosen and precious living Stone, living stones, and later on in verse 6, the chosen and precious Cornerstone. Instead of a physical building, believers are the spiritual house where God dwells (see also 1 Corinthians 6:19), and believers are also a part of the spiritual temple that God is building with all His children. God’s holy presence is among us; not in an ark or a building (Exodus 40:34-38). There are no more sacrifices needed for sin, as Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. There are no more high priests; Jesus is the high priest (Hebrews 4:14), and as believers in Jesus we are a part of the royal priesthood!
It’s in combining the old understanding of the temple structure and the new understanding of the temple meaning that we need to look at 1 Peter 2:5 and the surrounding verses (4, 6-7). Peter uses structural elements to explain Jesus’ character to us: A cornerstone, and the stones that lay on top of it, forming the structure.
Cornerstones weren’t just pieces of ancient structures. They are important in buildings today, as well! In fact, you’ve most likely seen one on campus, at a church, business, or a historical site. In many cases, you’d have no idea which stone was the cornerstone—Others are more noticeable, and although blend in with the structure, have symbolic engraving on them with the year the construction started. It’s appropriate to bring attention to this chunk of stone, for the cornerstone sets the positioning, design, structure, and is the chief foundation for the building; in every structure, it is laid down intentionally and precisely.
Like a cornerstone, Jesus came to earth in the most insignificant way possible—as a tiny baby, born in a feed trough, amongst the animals. He was rejected by the very people he came to save, dying a humiliating death on the cross. Yet there’s a ton of significance in who Jesus was and what he did! Jesus is the living stone that was chosen by and precious to God! Like a cornerstone, Jesus is the chief foundation and structure for our faith!
In keeping with the building analogy, the stones that are directed and shaped by that cornerstone are believers in Jesus—you and me. By following Jesus, we are able to be built into the design and placed in the position God intended His children to be in.
There is a key piece to this, though: The “living dead thing” part. As people, we are physically alive and free to move wherever we want to. But as believers, we are physically alive and free to remain rooted and grounded in Christ’s love (Ephesians 3:17). We offer ourselves as living sacrifices to the Lord (Romans 12:1). What happens to a sacrifice, though? It dies. (Think “dead things.”) If we are alive, both in Christ and physically, what dies? Our own sinful desires. We are fully alive as a part of Christ’s temple, but dead to our own sinful desires and to those things that would knock us off the precious Cornerstone of Jesus. (Romans 6:11).
This is great news! It’s a key piece to who we are in Christ! We can see through this analogy that we do not have to have it all figured out—Instead, we can look to the Lord for direction. We do not have to have the strength to face everything we’ll have to in life on our own—Instead, we can rest on the Lord’s strength and security. We can be happy about being a “living dead thing”—And just as excited as my friend was that one day a few years ago as she shared with me her revelation!
What does being a “living stone” look like in your life? Are you living for Jesus and dying to your will? Are you slanted too much in one direction or the other? (living fully but not submitted to Jesus—or not living fully enough in the ways God has called you to?)
What are some things that could be changed? (If you can’t think of any, take some time now and pray about it. Pray that your life would be more like the living stone, carefully placed on the precious Cornerstone of Christ.)
There’s a song that really has spoken to me about submitting to Christ, and being a “living stone”. It’s called “At Your Feet” by Casting Crowns. Check it out on YouTube or online if you get a chance. It talks about laying it all at Jesus’ feet, our dreams, wanderings, mistakes, and dwelling at His feet. When we are living stones, resting on the Cornerstone of Christ, we are doing just that.
At Your Feet by Casting Crowns
Here at Your feet, I lay my past down
My wanderings, all my mistakes down
And I am free
Here at Your feet, I lay this day down
Not in my strength, but in Yours I’ve found
All I need, You’re all I need
Jesus, Jesus, at Your feet
Oh, to dwell and never leave
Jesus, Jesus, at Your feet
There is nowhere else for me
There is nowhere else for me
Here at Your feet, I lay my future down
All of my dreams, I give to You now
And I find peace, I find peace
Here at Your feet, I lay my life down
For You my King, You’re all I want now
And my soul sings…
‘Cause I am free (here at Your feet)
All I need (is at Your feet)
I find peace
We’re at Your feet
We’re at Your feet
And I am free (here at Your feet)
All I need (is at Your feet)
I find peace
We’re at Your feet
We’re at Your feet
We’re at Your feet
We’re at Your feet
Here at Your feet
I lay my life down
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