Words of Grace – Dec. 18, 2014

The prophet Isaiah was inspired by God to write many prophecies about the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. One of these prophecies, found in Isaiah 28:16, quotes the Lord God as saying:

“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.”

Jesus our Savior was to come into the world to give us a solid foundation. He would be as a stone foundation. He would be as a stone foundation and a corner stone to make us safe, and it is said that the coming one would be “precious.”

When the apostle Peter quotes this prophecy in his first epistle, he uses the word “precious” when he writes, “unto you therefore which believe he is precious” (2:7). In verse four Jesus is said to be “chosen of God, and precious.”

Jesus is precious to us as our Redeemer. We were not redeemed by silver and gold but by “the precious blood of Christ.” (First Peter 1:18, 19).

“If Jesus is precious to you,” writes Charles Spurgeon, “you will not be able to keep your good news to yourself. You will be whispering it into your child’s ear. You will be telling it to your husband. You will be more than eloquent.”