“To whom coming, as unto a Living Stone…,” “…Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4,5
In the Apostle John’s first epistle, he writes the following: “…as He (Christ) is, so are we in this world.” (1 Jn. 4:17) This is the essence of Christianity, Christ in the believer, revealing Himself through the believer by the power of the Spirit. That revelation has its highest and most eloquent expression in the beauty of the love of God. That love is inexplainable, from heaven itself, having no point of reference on this earth with regard to its origin, nor its essence. It is the expression of Christ Himself, unveiled, seen, tasted, and received. It is as the vessels of the lives of believers are wholly His, that He cleanses the vessel, empties it of all that is not of Him, and then fills it with Life and Love Divine. But, just as on the earth the love of Christ was rejected and opposed by men, so is the revelation of that life in the believer. From the day that the church of Christ was born, the body of Christ coming into existence by the union of Christ’s life with the believer, the church has been opposed and resisted. And yet, because of the victorious life of Christ by the Spirit, the “gates of hell” will not prevail against it. Such was the case of a single missionary to Africa, David Livingston. A testimony to the grace and power of God, the life and works of Livington are without parallel, in the history of Christian missions. His vision of Christ’s calling, and the consequent dominating compassion that he had for the African people, that they might hear the Gospel, propelled him to the center of the continent, and from coast to coast. He not only sought to expose the godless desolations that the human slave trade was producing, but to establish Christian missions in key areas where the light of the Gospel, with its accompanying power, would transform lives from within, as the people came to know Christ. It was said of David Livingston, about thirty years after his death, when other missionaries followed in his steps, in those villages where he had lived and preached Christ, that the Africans would say that the Christ had already been there. They were speaking of this revelation of Christ’s life in Livingston, revealed in his compassion and love for the people. A philanthropist and explorer, Livingston was primarily a vessel in which was a treasure of Life. He had come to know Christ many years before he came to Africa. He had committed himself wholly to Christ, and to the work that God would have him do. It was upon the sacrifice of his life, in the daily worship, and service to Christ, that increasingly the spirit and nature of Christ was seen. Perhaps one of the greatest facets of the life of Christ in Livingston’s life was that of his courage and strength manifested in the pursuit of his goals. As with the prophets of old, when God would put His words in their mouths, and make them to be walled cities to their enemies, so He put into Livingston living steel.
The Apostle Peter wrote in his first epistle concerning the Lord Jesus, calling Him a “living stone,” to whom all who would believe would come. In the book of Daniel, we see a reference to a “stone” which was cut out of the mountain without hands.” (Dan.2:45) The mentioning of this “stone” is in the context of the God of heaven setting up a “kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.” (2:44) The eternal “stone” of Daniel, the “Rock of all ages,” and the living stone mentioned by Peter is the same. The revelation of who that stone is, and His character, will have its manifestation in all believers in Christ. Peter will call them, “…living stones,” which are built up a spiritual house.
Dear Father, by virtue of this union with Christ, strengthen our hearts to take by faith the Living Stone as our life and strength. In Jesus’ name, Amen.