How Does God Get the Living Stones in 1 Peter 2:5?

    Can you believe that wood can become stone?  If you've ever been to a petrified forest, you know it's true.  Now can you believe that God is actually doing the same thing spiritually in you?  He is transforming your fallen, wooden nature into a precious stone. We know this is true because Peter boldly proclaims this in 1 Peter 2:5:

You yourselves also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.

      In chapter 18 of the Life-Study of 1 Peter Witness Lee shares how God made us all of clay--the name Adam even means red clay. Then when we were regenerated, the Bible tells us in Romans 8:16 God's divine life entered into our spirit.  Now as God's life gradually grows within us, it changes us bit by bit from clay to living stone.

      But it doesn't stop there because in this verse Peter connects our transformation into stone to God's spiritual house.  Brother Lee mentions here that Peter was probably recalling how the Lord changed his name from Simon to Peter, which means stone. And then he must have thought a lot about the Lord's word to Him recorded in Matthew 16:18.

  God is working on us because His goal is to have a spiritual house, which is the church. Often when brother Lee would speak about transformation, he would use the illustration of petrified wood to help his audience understand this process better. I have been to two petrified forests (the one in Arizona and the one in Eastern Washington), and if I hadn't seen entire logs turned to stone, it would be hard for me to believe that this could really happen.

On pages 152-154 he shares about how our transformation is similar to wood being petrified:

 This is a petrified log my brother saw in Northern Arizona.

 In Arizona there is a place called the petrified forest, an area that contains much petrified wood.  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 way; 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.... Gradually, over a period of time, we shall be transformed or "petrified"; that is, we shall become precious stone.... Transformation cannot take place overnight. The petrified wood in Arizona required a very long time to be changed from wood into stone....God's goal in the believers is to have a house built up with living stones (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of 1 Peter. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry. 1982, Print).

I'm thankful for seeing how drinking the milk of the word  causes transformation for God's building!  

I like to listen to the Life-Study of the Bible with Witness Lee while I'm cooking or typing. You can listen to live excerpts of these messages that were given in 1982 along with some outstanding commentary. 

What is the Sanctification of the Spirit in 1 Peter 1:2?
What is Obedience to the Truth in 1 Peter 1:22?
How Do Believers Grow According to 1 Peter 2:2?
How Does God Get the Living Stones in 1 Peter 2:5?
What Does 1 Peter 4:1-2 Say About Sufferings?
Why Does 1 Peter 4:17 Talk About God's Judgment?
What Does Partaking of the Divine Nature Mean in 2 Peter 1:4?
How Does the Prophetic Word in 2 Peter 1:19 Prepare Us For the Lord's Coming?