When selecting from the pallet of stone there were many important examples as they were selected and as they were installed.
The wall is about 40 feet long. It is not on level ground. The area is not straight. It had to be formed to be straight. The most important stone was the first one. Where it was placed. It was the beginning of the whole project. The whole wall keyed off that stone. Once it was set the rest could be placed in line with that one.
The most important part of the project was getting the foundation course set. Each stone had to have an underlayment in that first course that brought it into perfect alignment with the initial stone. Level, Not tilting in or out left or right. The integrity of the whole wall depended on this alignment and the proper leveling. IF the first course had a flaw, the whole wall was in jeopardy.
Even though the wall was hundreds of stones, the first 40 took the longest to place. There had to be excavation of wrong placed material, replacement of that with other until the first foundation stone was perfect.
It took 4 hours to place the first 40, the last several hundred took an couple hours to complete. It was much easier with the foundation perfectly in place.
The parallel to ministry and how God calls is clear:
The chief stone, the one that all others must be held together is Jesus. If you don't line up with Him, the wall cannot stand.
The proper placement of the foundation stones that hold the rest of the wall up in place properly aligned as the Apostles and Prophets do must be level, straight, not out of skew. The rest of the wall of Pastors, Teachers, Evangelists and all the other ministry gifts are dependent on the foundation being proper and straight.
If a stone higher up in the wall is out of alignment above the base foundation stones, it can weaken the wall above it, but that is repairable as long as the foundation stones are intact.
The wall is the Church, both the church universal and the local church in expression. It's a wall against the attack of the enemy. It holds back evil. It is a place from which attack can be made. It is a place of refuge.
If the foundation stones are not aligned, not properly placed, if they are crooked, not on the level the local church will fall. This is why as God calls out proper solid Apostles and Prophets to build upon He is so careful as I was. It is also why when a church is built on another calling alone it fails. There are many more parallels, but the truth is in building a wall or building a church find stones aligned perfectly with Jesus and build on them. In fact after the wall is complete, I can take anyone to the chief cornerstone and point to it and say with confidence that this whole wall is keyed from that single stone.
One last truth came as I built the wall. I don't know which of the stones were the apostle stones or the prophet stones. I know that as I built they had to be lined up with each other. There wasn't just one most important Apostle stone. There wasn't one most important Prophet stone. They were all linked back to one stone. Jesus. The key stone. The chief cornerstone. If one foundation stone thought itself more critical or important it had to be removed and placed inline. Many foundation stones hold the wall up.
Paul wrote of this and it's still true:
Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.So find that house that you are part of built on firm foundation, built on apostles and prophets to keep alignment sure. Built so that your gift can find it's place in the wall and that you can provide the part you are called to be.
Ephesians 2:20-22 New Living Translation
Everything is prophetic to the Prophet.
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