Living Stones

There’s a lovely old hymn that I used to sing as a child, that isn't found in very many of the modern song-books – if in any at all! It refers to the Rapture – that glorious event when the Lord Jesus will come in the air, and take those who are truly His to be with Him throughout eternity, and it goes like this:
“When He cometh, when He cometh, to make up His jewels; all His jewels, precious jewels, His loved and His own.
“He will gather, He will gather the gems for His Kingdom; all the pure ones, all the bright ones, His loved and His own.
“Little children, little children who love their Redeemer, are the jewels precious jewels, His loved and His own.
“Like the stars of the morning, His bright crown adorning; they shall shine in their beauty, bright gems for His crown.”
I’m actually unaware of any place in the written Word of God in which believers are referred to as jewels or gems. However, there are many other descriptions given in the Word.
“You are coming to Christ, Who is the living cornerstone of God’s Temple. He was rejected by people, but He was chosen by God for great honour. And you are living stones that God is building into His spiritual temple.” (I Peter 2:4-5)
Living stones, being built into a Temple for Father God! That’s quite a thought! In I Kings 6:7, we read of the stones that were used in the construction of the first Temple, built during the reign of king Solomon:
“The stones with which the Temple was built had been prepared at the quarry, so that there was no noise made by hammers, axes, or any other iron tools, as the temple was being built.” (GNB)
All of the preparation was done elsewhere. The temple was not to be defiled, even by unnecessary noise!
I’ve had a particularly bad week – three times, on Mon-Wed, I felt that I was under a satanic attack. I’m in my final year at LHS, and it was almost as if the devil was saying, “Whatever testimony you may have in this place, I’m going to ruin it during your last year. Think you’re going to cruise gently to the end? No way. I’m going to see to that.” And so, in three different classes, I experienced a level of disruption, insolence, antagonism, and mocking of the very Name of Jesus, that I cannot recall ever having experienced before.
But Jesus has already assured me, through those words that He spoke to the first disciples, shortly before He went to the cross: “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (Jn.16:33)
And, of course, this is true. There was, for a time at least, some idea that becoming a Christian meant that life suddenly became a bed of roses; all trouble disappeared; everything in the garden became lovely. It was, and is, a lie; a cruel hoax, perpetrated by the devil himself. When I became a Christian, a follower, and disciple, of Jesus, life suddenly became tough. Instead of just flowing with the stream, I was now travelling in the opposite direction! While I was doing things my way, living my life to suit myself, the devil wasn’t bothered about me. He had me in his grip, even if I didn’t realise it. But the moment that I made that decision to follow Jesus, the devil started to attack, and to do so in all manner of ways, and at the times, and in the situations, when he knew that I was weakest.
But those words of Jesus, that I just quoted, were preceded by these: “...the time is coming – indeed, it’s here now – when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving Me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.”
Alone, yet not alone. The living presence of the Lord Jesus with me, always. That’s what makes it all possible. That’s what those who persecute – even to death – our brothers and sisters in so many parts of the world, don’t understand. They are not fighting against flesh and blood – bodies that they can injure, and maim, and kill. They are fighting against God Himself.
So when you are going through a hard patch; when you are under attack from the devil, whatever from that attack may take, remember that we are still living in the quarry. And the quarry is where the stones are hewn, and cut, and shaped, and trimmed. If those stones had been able to feel, and talk, I’m quite sure that they would have been overheard, complaining about the rough treatment they were receiving. But perhaps one of them would have had some discernment, and would have pointed out to its fellows: “Hey, I know it’s rough just now. I know that it’s much nicer just lying in the quarry, doing nothing, achieving nothing, being nothing. But don’t you realise what’s happening. This is so that we may become fit to be part of the wonderful, beautiful, Temple that king Solomon is building for YHWH, El Israel – the LORD, God of Israel. If the stonemasons don’t work on us like this, we won’t be of any use to Him.”
“You are living stones that God is building into His spiritual temple.” The writer of the Letter to Hebrew Christians explains that the earthly Tabernacle – what we might think of as the portable Temple – was only a copy of that which is in heaven. If you are in Christ, and if He is in you, then you are being formed, experience by experience, into a stone that is fit for that Temple; fit for the eternal praise and worship of Almighty God.
One last thing. That Saul of Tarsus who so persecuted the early disciples of Jesus, became the great apostle Paul. And, writing to the believers in the city of Corinth, he had this to say: “Don’t you realise that all of you, together, are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (I Cor.3:16-17)
So there is a very real sense in which, in time, we already are what we are going to be, in eternity! And I believe that this places a great responsibility upon us, to look after this temple of God to the very best of our ability. And that, I would suggest, involves being very careful what we do with our bodies; what we put into our bodies; and how we take care of our bodies.
Perhaps the very personal discipline that that will involve, will be a part of the cutting and shaping process that will make each one of us the stones that Father God wants us to be, to fit perfectly into that Temple, not made by human hands, eternal in the heavens. (cf.II Cor.5:1)