The Bible frequently uses an architectural metaphor of a cornerstone as a symbol of Jesus Christ.
Psalm 118:22 declares, “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner”, prophetically pointing to Christ’s central role in God’s plan of salvation. Jesus Himself affirms this in Matthew 21:42, and the apostle Paul echoes it in Ephesians 2:19-22, “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”
There are different thoughts on the location of a cornerstone in ancient architecture. The cornerstone or foundation stone was seen as the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones were set in reference to this stone. Another view suggests that the cornerstone was a keystone that occupied the center of an arch, thereby providing stability to both the arch and the entire building. Both stones were essential in construction. The imagery of rejecting one or the other would greatly weaken a building and ultimately cause its collapse.
Because the Jews in the Old Testament rejected the Law of Moses, (who was a type of Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone), the collapse of the kingdom bequeathed by God occurred in 586 BC, when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple. It happened again in the New Testament! After the Jews rejected Christ, the Cornerstone, Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. (As an interesting side note, both the First Temple and Second Temple were destroyed in the same month of the Jewish year: the month of Av, on the 9th day. This calamity is known as Tisha B’Av, a day of solemn mourning for Jews).
Paul’s reference in Ephesians 2 confirms Jesus Christ as our cornerstone, the foundation of our faith and of the Body of Christ, the living temple of God. When Christians in name only reject Jesus by rejecting the Word of God and the plan of God, He in turn rejects them.
Many denominations and churches have fallen, rejected by God because they have rejected their cornerstone. The same thing happens to a nation.
God used pagan nations to judge Israel, and it’s happening in our present day to former great nations like England, once the epicenter of Christian thought and missionary outreach, where today it’s a hate crime to preach the Word of God on a street corner, particularly if that street is close to a neighborhood dominated by a culture that is foreign to England. The same phenomenon is developing here.
Our only answer is to remain true to the Cornerstone, the Word of God and the Truth of God, and to stand firm on the foundation set by the true Christians who founded our great nation.