HE IS PRECIOUS

"Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the Stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the Head of the corner, and a Stone of stumbling, and a Rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word." (1 Peter 1:7-8)

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE in people is not found in their works, but in their faith. To be sure, believers are different from the world in their manner of life. That is why their "light" can shine among men. They express themselves differently from the world. Yet, the root of all of their distinctiveness is their faith. Believing is the cause of an acceptable life! Apart from faith, it is not possible to please God, or to live for Him.

THE SPIRIT NOW ARTICULATES the first and foremost effect of believing: it makes Jesus "precious" to us. He is "the pearl of great price" (Matt 13:46), and the "bright and Morning Star" (Rev 22:16). When it comes to nourishment, He is the "Bread" that came down from heaven, giving life to the world (John 6:35,41). The insatiable thirst of the human spirit is satisfied alone in Him (John 4:14; 6:35). He is the "Door" of entrance into the sheepfold (John 10:7), and the "Light" that brightens our day (John 8:12). To us, Jesus is most highly esteemed and honored. We are willing to give up anything but Him, and declare war on anything that threatens our possession of Him. "He is precious!" As Isaiah said, He is "a beautiful crown and a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people" (Isa 28:5).

BUT WHY HAS THIS PRECIOUSNESS OCCURRED? What has caused the people of God to regard Jesus so highly? It is their faith: it is because they have believed the record God has given of His Son (1 John 5:10-11). When they believed, the Father turned His face toward them, and opened the greatness of His Son to them. It is in this manner – by beholding, or believing in, the Son – that the Father draws us to Him (John 6:44). Note, the Spirit does not say Jesus OUGHT to be precious to those who believe, but that He IS precious to them. Their faith has made Him precious – indispensable, and worthy of aggressive pursuit.

BELIEVING IN JESUS has brought God's view of the Son to us. It has brought us into harmony with heaven, so that we regard Jesus in the same manner, though not as fully, as our Father. God will do nothing toward us without the Son. The believer, obtaining the same mind, will also offer nothing to God apart from the Son.

HUMANITY IS ULTIMATELY DIVIDED into two classes: believers and unbelievers, those who accept the Chief Corner Stone, and those who do not. Here those who fail to believe are referred to as "them which be disobedient." This is so because the consummate disobedience is failing to believe in, and rely totally upon, the Son of God (John 16:9). Those who fail to believe on Christ have done precisely the same thing as "the builders" – the Jewish leaders. They have emphatically rejected Jesus as God has presented Him. God has said His Son is indispensable, and unbelievers have said that He is not. God has said men cannot be received from Him apart from His Son, and unbelievers have dogmatically rejected that fact.

ALTHOUGH JESUS HAS BEEN PLACED as a Chief Corner Stone and sure Foundation, He is also a "Stone of stumbling, and a Rock of offence." The NIV reads, "A Stone that causes men to stumble and a Rock that makes them fall." Men will be led to glory because they have received Jesus as their "all in all," or they will fall into hell because they have rejected Him in that capacity. Jesus will NOT take second place, for God has already exalted Him "above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come" (Eph 1:21). Flesh is willing to make some place for Jesus, but not the preeminent place. Thus it constrains unbelievers to stumble over Jesus to their own destruction, rather than rely completely upon Him unto their full salvation.

ONLY THE PREACHING OF JESUS will reveal the hearts of men. As long as men preach a social gospel, or a message that centers in humanly perceived needs, the truth will not be known, either about God or men. But when the Son of God is preached in power, those who are approved of God, and those who are not, will be revealed. Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the Sure Foundation and the Stone of stumbling – the means through which the destiny of all men is determined. He is the appointed basis of all God's dealing with men. Those who believe on Him see this, and thus Jesus becomes exceedingly precious to them.

– Given O. Blakely