Advent - Day 20

Jesus - Cornerstone

Isaiah 28:16

KJV - Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

NLT - Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem,[a]
    a firm and tested stone.
It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on.
    Whoever believes need never be shaken.[b]

1. 28:16a Hebrew in Zion.
2. 28:16b Greek version reads Look! I am placing a stone in the foundation of Jerusalem [literally Zion], / a precious cornerstone for its foundation, chosen for great honor. / Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.Compare Rom 9:33; 1 Pet 2:6.

Jameison, Fausset, & Brown Commentary on verse 16 via BlueLetterBible.org:

 Literally, "Behold Me as Him who has laid"; namely, in My divine counsel (Rev 13:8 ); none save I could lay it ( Isa 63:5 ).

  stone--Jesus Christ; Hezekiah [MAURER], or the temple [EWALD], do not realize the full significancy of the language; but only in type point to Him, in whom the prophecy receives its exhaustive accomplishment; whether Isaiah understood its fulness or not (1Pe 1:11, 12 ), the Holy Ghost plainly contemplated its fulfilment in Christ alone; so inIsa 32:1; compare Gen 49:24 Psa 118:22 Mat 21:42 Rom 10:11 Eph 2:20.

  tried--both by the devil ( Luk 4:1-13 ) and by men ( Luk 20:1-38 ), and even by God (Mat 27:46 ); a stone of tested solidity to bear the vast superstructure of man's redemption. The tested righteousness of Christ gives its peculiar merit to His vicarious sacrifice. The connection with the context is; though a "scourge" shall visit Judea ( Isa 28:15 ), yet God's gracious purpose as to the elect remnant, and His kingdom of which "Zion" shall be the center, shall not fail, because its rests on Messiah ( Mat 7:24, 25 2Ti 2:19 ).

  precious--literally "of preciousness," so in the Greek, ( 1Pe 2:7 ). He is preciousness.

  corner-stone-- ( 1Ki 5:17 7:9 Job 38:6 ); the stone laid at the corner where two walls meet and connecting them; often costly.

  make haste--flee in hasty alarm; but the Septuagint has "be ashamed"; so Rom 9:33, and 1Pe 2:6, "be confounded," substantially the same idea; he who rests on Him shall not have the shame of disappointment, nor flee in sudden panic (see Isa 30:15 32:17 ).

What does Jesus, our Cornerstone, mean to you?