To Cheer and To Teach-Jesus is Precious!

 1 Peter 2: 7-8a

⁷To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner’, and ‘A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.’

Peter began in verse 4, calling on his readers to come to Jesus, ‘precious in God’s sight’.  That feeling, that emotion, that reaction to Jesus is now passed along to the believer as Peter changes direction once again.  God did what God did with Jesus.  The first call was for those who believe to commit themselves afresh to the process, to understand more fully how it is that God has worked Jesus into the history of salvation.

It seems that this discussion has two purposes, instruction and exhortation.  On the one hand, Peter is teaching them how to understand Jesus, and themselves, in the metaphor of the priesthood of all believers.  These are Jews he is writing to, they will understand the priestly caste of the House of Levi, of their devoted service to God.  The comparison to themselves will not be lost.

That is the instructive portion.  The exhortation, the praising, the uplifting, is the shorter, choppier style, piece by piece, building the picture for them.  But ultimately, the believers finding Jesus to be precious is not the climax of the piece.  That comes in the next turn, toward the unbeliever.