1 Peter 2:5

To you belongs the honour of being built. spiritual house upon Christ, the chief corner-stone, which renders him deservedly precious to you, and of. very high estimation with you; whatever mean, low, and undervaluing thoughts, the wicked world have of Jesus Christ, yet he is highly esteemed by, and deservedly precious to, every believing soul: he is precious in the several relations he stands in to them, precious in regard of the great things he has done for them, precious in the rich supplies of grace he bestows upon them, and will be eternally precious to them, upon the account of those glorious mansions he has purchased and prepared for them.

These words discover the great sin and danger of those who slight and neglect our Lord Jesus Christ, who stumble and take offence at him, either at the meanness of his person, or at the ignominy of his cross, or at the holiness and strictness of his doctrine, or at the freeness of his grace: whatever the occasion of their contempt may be, Christ will prove to them. burdensome stone,. rock against which they will split, to their utter confusion; they will in the close bring ruin upon themselves, as. madman does that dashes himself against. stone.

Observe next, How this contempt of Christ has prevailed in the world, ever since his first coming into the world: how did the Jewish rulers, called here the builders, set him at nought, the stone which the builders disallowed and stumbled at: that is, the high rulers, whose office and duty it was to build up the church, having power in their hand to do it, but instead of building upon this corner-stone, they stumbled, and took offence at him, and accordingly Christ is called a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; yet this does not imply that Christ was the cause of their stumbling, but only the occasion of it, the object at which they stumbled, without any cause but their own wickedness: for though it be said in the next words, that they were appointed thereunto, the meaning is not, that God ordained them to disobedience, for then their obedience had been impossible, and their disobedience had been no sin: but God in his just decree appointed that destruction and eternal perdition should be the punishment of such obstinate and disobedient persons.

Learn hence, That Christians have no reason to be offended at the great number of unbelievers that are in the world, and at the sight of Christ's being rejected by multitudes in the world, it having been long ago foretold in scripture that thus it would be, and consequently it ought to be no occasion of offence that thus it is; Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, is become the head of the corner. Matthew 21:42