9. Why could first-century believers be sure that their faith would not come to disappointment?

⁹ Those to whom the apostle Peter wrote shared God’s view of his Son. As the apostle stated: “It is to you, therefore, that he is precious, because you are believers.” (1 Peter 2:7a) They recognized that Jesus Christ was the extremely valuable foundation cornerstone that the Father had laid in heavenly Zion, fulfilling the words of Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 8:14; 28:16. Because of being in harmony with Jehovah’s evaluation of his Son and putting their faith in him as the foundation cornerstone, first-century believers could rest assured that they would not experience disappointment, a shattering of their hopes. No one can damage the costly, precious foundation that is firmly established in the heavens and thus cause loss to those whose hopes are intimately bound up with it. As long as believers remained in union with Christ, the congregation’s unshakable foundation, they were certain of receiving the object of their faith, namely, life without end. The unbelievers, however, would experience great loss. The apostle Peter continued:

“But to those not believing, ‘the identical stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner,’

1 Peter 2:7b,

10. How did Jesus Christ become “a stone of stumbling and a rock-mass of offense”?

¹⁰ Because the prominent Jewish religious leaders refused to accept the Son of God as their ideal and to build their hopes for everlasting life on him, they lost out on the grand privilege of being Kingdom heirs. Jesus Christ had warned them: “The [repentant] tax collectors and the [repentant] harlots are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 21:31) The course taken by those religious leaders did not prevent Jesus from becoming “the head of the corner,” the crowning stone of “a spiritual house.”