In verse 5 Peter indicates that the believers are living stones. We, the believers in Christ, are living stones, like Christ, through regeneration and transformation. We were created of clay (Rom. 9:21). But at regeneration we received the seed of the divine life, which by its growth in us transforms us into living stones. At Peter’s conversion the Lord gave him a new name, Peter—a stone (John 1:42). When Peter received the revelation concerning Christ, the Lord revealed further that He also was the rock—a stone (Matt. 16:16-18). Peter was impressed by these two incidents that both Christ and His believers are stones for God’s building.
By our natural birth we are clay, not stones. Do you realize that you were made of clay? Genesis 2:7 says that man was made from the dust of the ground. Romans 9 reveals that we are vessels of clay. How, then, can we become stones? We become stones through the process of transformation.
When Peter first met the Lord Jesus, the Lord changed his name from Simon to Peter. Referring to the Lord Jesus and Peter, John 1:42 says, “Looking at him, Jesus said, You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which translated means a stone).” According to biblical principle, whatever the Lord speaks will be. Therefore, when the Lord called Peter a stone, that meant that he would certainly become a stone. Whatever the Lord says to us will be fulfilled. If He says, “You are gold,” then you will be golden. The Lord knew that when He changed Simon’s name to Peter, a stone, he would become a stone.
In John 1:42 Peter was told that he was a stone. Then sometime later, in Caesarea Philippi, in answer to the Lord’s question, “Who do you say that I am,” Peter, receiving the revelation from the Father, said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” To this the Lord Jesus replied, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church...” (Matt. 16:18). Here the Lord indicates that He is the rock upon which the church is built and that Peter is a stone.
No doubt, these two incidents, the one recorded in John 1 and the other in Matthew 16, were deeply impressed into Peter’s being. He could never forget those events. It must have been from these experiences that Peter obtained the concept of living stones for the building of the spiritual house, which is the church. When Peter wrote this portion of 1 Peter, he wrote it according to the impression these events made upon him.
First Peter 2:5 says that we, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house. However, we all are clay. How can we be built up? In order to be built up a spiritual house, we need to become stones. But how can we actually become living stones? We become living stones by coming to Christ as the living stone (v. 4).
We may use petrified wood as an illustration of transformation. In Arizona there is a place called the petrified forest, an area that contains much petrified wood. Petrified wood is wood that has been changed into stone. Over a long period of time, water has been flowing over wood and through it. By means of this flow of water, the substance of the wood is changed into stone. On the one hand, the element of wood is carried away; on the other hand, the element of stone is brought in to replace the element of wood. In this way the wood becomes stone.
The principle is the same with our experience of transformation. If we long for the milk of the word, this milk will be like a current of living water flowing within us. As we stay in this flow, the current will carry away our natural substance and replace it with heavenly, divine minerals. These minerals are actually Christ. Gradually, over a period of time, we shall be transformed or “petrified”; that is, we shall become precious stones.
If we would be transformed, every day we need to come to the Lord as milk. We have pointed out that the way to come to Christ as the living stone is to drink the guileless milk of the word. This means that we come to Christ by drinking Him. As we daily drink in the milk of the word, we shall be transformed.
Transformation cannot take place overnight. The petrified wood in Arizona required a very long time to be changed from wood into stone. If the petrified wood could speak, it might say, “It has taken me a long time of being in the current of water to be transformed from mere wood into petrified wood.” As one who has been in the Lord for more than fifty years, I can testify that transformation takes time. I assure you that you cannot be transformed in a few months or even in a few years.
When some hear a word concerning how long transformation takes, they may say, “I can’t wait so long. I quit.” Actually, this is not up to you, for it is your destiny to be transformed. Wood that is in the process of being petrified cannot stop the process. It is the destiny of this wood to be changed into petrified wood. We need to remember that, according to chapter one of 1 Peter, we were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God before the foundation of the world. God has chosen us. Also, in our experience, we have been “caught” by Him, and we cannot escape, no matter how hard we may try. Therefore, instead of trying to escape, we should simply rest in the flow of living water and allow this water to pass through us so that we may be transformed.
If others ask us what is happening in the Lord’s recovery, we should say, “We are simply allowing the water of life to flow through us. Daily we are drinking the milk of the word so that we may be transformed.” Let us allow this process of petrification, of transformation, to take place for forty or fifty years and then see what the outcome will be. It is by this process of transformation that clay becomes living stones.
According to 2:5, as living stones we are being built up a spiritual house. Although the nourishing milk of the word is for the soul through the mind, it eventually nourishes our spirit. Instead of making us soulish, it makes us spiritual, suitable for building up a spiritual house for God.
God’s goal in the believers is to have a house built up with living stones. He does not want separated and scattered stones, nor even a pile of stones merely gathered together. He wants stones built up with one another.
The spiritual house into which we are being built is God’s building. Eventually, this building will consummate in the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem there will not be any clay, for all the clay will have been transformed into precious stone. This means that the New Jerusalem is built with precious stones. We are becoming the precious stones that will be built up into the New Jerusalem. Hallelujah, the building work is now going on! How is this work going on? It is being carried out by the process of petrification, transformation. This happens as we daily, even hourly, come to Christ as milk and drink Him in. Then we shall have the flow, the current, that transforms us from clay into stone for God’s building.