Under Zerubbabel and Ezra, the Jewish people had been rebuilding the temple, and under the leadership of Nehemiah, they had rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and restored the gates. During these activities, did they find among the ruins a large stone that they rejected, only to discover it was the most important stone of all? The Gentile nations had despised and rejected Israel (Neh. 2:18–20; 4:1ff.), but God had spared them to finish the work He gave them to do.
In Scripture, the stone is a familiar image of the Lord God (18:2, 31, 46; Gen. 49:24; Deut. 32:4, 15, 18, 30–31; 2 Sam. 22:2–3, 32, 47; Isa. 17:10; 26:4; 30:29; 33:6). It particularly points to the Messiah (Isa. 8:14; 28:16; Dan. 2:34–35, 45; Matt. 21:42–44; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17–18; Acts 4:11; Rom. 9:32–33; 1 Cor. 10:4; 1 Peter 2:6–8). Peter made it clear that the Jewish leaders (“builders”) had rejected their Messiah, the Stone (Acts 4:11), and He became to them a stone of stumbling (Isa. 28:16; Rom. 9:32–33). But in His death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus Christ has become the chief cornerstone of the church, God’s temple, binding Jews and Gentiles together in one sanctuary (Eph. 2:19–22). One day Jesus will return as the Stone of judgment and crush the arrogant kingdoms of this world (Dan. 2:34, 44–45). Every Christian believer can use verses 22–24 to praise the Lord for the salvation provided in Jesus Christ. “Save now” (v. 25) is the word “hosanna” which the people shouted when Jesus rode into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:9; Mark 11:9–10), and note the words, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
The blood of a sacrifice was applied to the horns of the altar (v. 27; Lev. 4:7), but there is no evidence that the sacrifices were tied to the altar before they were slain. The altar was considered so holy that it was not likely it would be used for tethering animals. The New International Version marginal reading suggests that the bound sacrifices were brought up to the altar where the priests cut the animals’ throats, caught the blood, and offered both the animals and the blood on the altar to the Lord. Of course, each sacrifice was a picture of the death of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. On each of the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, the priests led a procession once around the altar and then offered one burnt offering, but on the eighth day, the procession marched seven times around the altar and seven sacrifices were offered.
Jesus Christ is seen in this psalm—His triumphal entry (vv. 25–26), His rejection (v. 27), His death and resurrection (v. 17), and His exaltation as God’s chosen Stone (vv. 22–23). Perhaps verse 24 hints at the Lord’s Day, the day of resurrection, as “the new day” of the new creation made possible by His atoning work. It is important that we see Jesus Christ in every experience of life, for then these experiences will help us grow in grace and become more like the Savior.