JESUS IS A STUMBLING BLOCK
Several scriptures report that the living stone (presumed to be Jesus) will make men stumble. These are difficult scriptures for Christians to understand because they think of Jesus as their savior and not as someone who could hurt them. It is not an issue for Jews, of course, because they do not think of Jesus as their savior. Jews do see Jesus as a problem for Christians, however, because Jews believe the Messiah has not yet come. Thus, Jesus, in the eyes of Jews is a false Messiah.

In a small sense, this difference of opinion between Jews and Christians regarding Jesus is evidence that Jesus is a stumbling block. Christians can easily accept this notion with respect to Jews, but not with respect to themselves. Nevertheless, because the scripture basically says that Jesus is a stumbling block, a snare and a trap for everyone, it is critical for everyone (i.e. Jews and Gentiles) to understand what this means.

It is not possible to understand how Jesus will make anyone stumble if he is only understood as a human being. Even if he is understood to be a person who was created in God’s image and was the Son of God, it is still hard to accept that he is a stumbling block. Therefore, we must interpret Jesus as the symbolic representation of the New Covenant to make any sense of these difficult scriptures.

STUDY TIP: See Messiahs for a discussion about interpreting Jesus as a true prophet of the New Covenant.

Having read Messiahs, readers can now begin to grasp how Jesus is a stumbling block. He a perfect model of all true prophets — but he is not the only messiah.

As the word made flesh, Jesus is a stumbling block to the Jews because, as it says in Romans 9:30-33, they pursued righteousness based on works and not on faith. The works are the precepts and rules (i.e. measuring lines) mentioned in Isaiah 28:1-18 where God warns Israel that all of the ceremonial rules by which it measures righteousness will cause it to stumble.

The New Covenant, on the other hand, is not a religion of rules and regulations. In fact, it is not a religion at all according to the definition of RELIGION. The New Covenant, however, is people who are created in God’s image because his spiritual laws are written on their hearts. The is what happens when God places his name (i.e. character) in New Covenant disciples.

STUDY TIP: Also see High Priests,  Messianic Prophecy, and Model Warriors .