Christ the Stumbling Stone


"And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken."  Isaiah 8:14-15   

"They stumbled at the stumbling stone..."  
Romans 9:32

"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, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed".
1 Peter 2:7-8 

Donald Grey Barnhouse wrote:
"Christ is the stumbling stone. This is an astonishing figure of speech until we look at it closely. They we realize how God presents Christ to us, and how that presentation offends everything that is in the natural heart. Men are willing to accept a Jesus of their own description, but they refuse the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible. The Christ of the Bible is the Christ of the cross. The Christ of the Bible is not a man giving men an example but He is God coming to die as the Savior. The Christ of the Bible is not the Christ of ethics that men are to have as their goal but the Christ of death and risen life, the Christ who furnishes an absolutely new life which is the only life that is acceptable to God. It is not necessary to give un anything in the world in order to accept another Jesus of human imagination; it is necessary to become spiritually bankrupt before we can come to the Christ of the Bible. Our old Adam can think positively about a human Jesus and still retain some self respect; when we come to the Christ of the cross, we must think negatively and begin by losing every vestige of confidence or respect for man's original nature. This is why the Lord Jesus Christ is characterized as a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence".

Romans, Vol. IV, pp. 57-58 

"The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."
Luke 20:17-18

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