Citing Psalm 118:22, Peter said [in Acts 4], “He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone.” So in quoting this prophecy about Jesus, Peter is declaring that the most important piece of God’s revelation to man was rejected by the very people who should have seen Him most clearly and esteemed Him most profoundly! But it was God the Father who saw God the Son rejected by His own people. He saw the Son crucified on a cross, thrown away like a rejected stone on a killing hill called Calvary. And it was God the Father who refused to leave His Son in an old dusty tomb and picked Him up, raised Him from the dead and put Him in the most important place as the corner stone. That is why we read in Philippians 2, “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11).
Randy Smith