This is followed by a section of notes on the Greek and Hebrew behind the English translation of the New Living Translation. Then readers are taken through the Bible text, passage-by-passage, starting with the text of the New Living Translation.
#CORNERSTONE BIBLE PROPHECY CONFERENCE SERIES#
The commentary series has been structured to help readers understand the meaning of Scripture, passage-by-passage, through the entire Bible.Įach book of the Bible is prefaced by a substantial introduction that offers historical background. Each volume is designed to equip pastors and Christian leaders with exegetical and theological knowledge to better understand and apply God’s Word by presenting the message of each passage as well as an overview of other issues surrounding the text. Judgment is promised to all those who reject Christ: “Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces anyone on whom it falls will be crushed” (Matthew 21:44).The Cornerstone Biblical Commentary series provides up-to-date, evangelical scholarship on the Old and New Testaments. Just as the people building the tower of Babel rebelled against God and pursued their own project, those who reject Christ disregard God’s plan in favor of their own. How can people reject God’s chosen, precious cornerstone? Simply put, they want to build something different from what God is building. From the very beginning, Jesus was “a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall” (1 Peter 2:8). But when that same news came to King Herod in Jerusalem, his response was to attempt to kill Him. When news of the Messiah’s arrival came to the magi in the East, they determined to bring Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Jesus is the “stone the builders rejected” (Mark 12:10 cf. Unfortunately, not everyone aligns with the cornerstone. The Cornerstone is also reliable, and “the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame” (verse 6). Peter says that Jesus, as our cornerstone, is “chosen by God and precious to him” (1 Peter 2:4). Furthermore, in 1 Peter 2:6, what Isaiah said centuries before is affirmed in exactly the same words. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:19– 21). The apostle Paul desires for the Ephesian Christians to know Christ better: “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In the New Testament, the cornerstone metaphor is continued. In context, God speaks to the scoffers and boasters of Judah, and He promises to send the cornerstone-His precious Son-who will provide the firm foundation for their lives, if they would but trust in Him. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line’” (Isaiah 28:16–17). In several places the Messiah is referred to as “the cornerstone,” such as in this prophecy: “So this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation the one who trusts will never be dismayed. The book of Isaiah has many references to the Messiah to come. As the cornerstone of the building of the church, Jesus is our standard of measure and alignment.
Once the cornerstone was set, it became the basis for determining every measurement in the remaining construction everything was aligned to it. The Bible describes Jesus as the cornerstone that His church would be built upon. The cornerstone was usually one of the largest, the most solid, and the most carefully constructed of any in the edifice. A cornerstone was the principal stone, usually placed at the corner of an edifice, to guide the workers in their course. Since ancient times, builders have used cornerstones in their construction projects.