The Foundation of God
Isaiah 28:16
“Therefore thus saith
the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a
precious corner stone, a sure
foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.”
The
foundation stone that is mentioned in the subject verse is our Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ Jesus is the stone that the builders refused, “The stone which the builders refused is become the
head stone of the corner” (Psalms
118:22). The builders of the day of Christ were the religious leaders of that
day, Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducees, the chief Priests, and such like. These
refused to believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ of God, and so plotted
His murder for their gain; as it is said, their “place and nation” (John
11:48). These religious leaders refused to believe that Jesus is the Christ
even though our Lord Jesus had done things that no other could do (as said
Nicodemus John 3:2) as heal all manner of sicknesses, feed great multitudes
with food which came from His divine creative power, raised the dead, walked on
water, cast out devils out of men, cure leprosy; all those things were His
credentials to prove that He was the Christ; but these wicked men refused to
believe; which demonstrates the total depravity of the human heart. They would
not believe the insuperable evidence that Christ Jesus put before them.
It was thus that the religious
leaders of that day refused the foundation stone of Zion,
and in refusing the corner stone of Zion
they fulfilled the word and purpose of God. For it is written “Ye men of
Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye
yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and the
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and
slain:” (Acts 2:22-23). Again it is written “For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the
Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do
whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:
27-28). To the Jews of that day Christ was; and is to this day, to many “a
stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence” for, it is written “Wherefore it is
contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect,
precious; and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you
therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the
corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto
also they were appointed” (I Peter 2:6-8). These wicked men who rejected that
Precious Corner Stone demonstrated that they “loved darkness rather than light,
because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). Of this sort are they “who were
before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of
our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus
Christ” (Jude 4).
Christ Jesus us is the Elect
Precious Corner Stone upon which the church
of God is built, and upon
which it stands, and upon which it shall stand to all eternity. Very many are
the difficulties through which Christ’s church has passed in this world; many
temptations, afflictions, troubles and trials, “Nevertheless the foundation of
God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And
let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (II Timothy
2:19). “The Lord knoweth them that are his” and those that are His, shall
certainly know Him, for our Lord said “To him (that is Christ: writer’s
parenthesis) the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth
his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own
sheep, he goeth before them, and they follow him: for they know his voice. And
a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the
voice of strangers” (John 10:3-5). The sheep of Christ are His people “call his
name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21); these
particular individuals are His people because they were given to him of His
Father “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4; John 6:37; 17:2)
they are Christ’s sheep because He has redeemed them by His shed blood “out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation:” (Revelation 5:9).
The sheep of Christ hear His voice
because He prepares their ears to that hearing by quickening them: as He said
“I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John
10:28) Because Christ quickens the sheep, they have a spiritually living ear
and therefore hear the voice of Christ. “The preparations of the heart in man,
and the answer of the tongue, is of
the Lord” (Proverbs 16:1). The people of God (Christ’s own sheep) know their
Father because the Lord has said “And I will give them a heart to know me, that
I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they
shall return unto me with their whole heart.” (Jeremiah 24:7). And again He
said, “And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me
forever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: And I will
make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to
do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart
from me” (Jeremiah 32:39-40). And this is Christ; that Rock, for He said “And I
say unto thee, “That thou art Peter, (a little stone built in the house of God,
with many other living stones, {I Peter 2:5} upon the Rock Christ Jesus;
writer’s parenthesis) and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it, (Matthew 16:18). “Therefore whosoever
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise
man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods
came, and the wind blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was
founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and
doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon
the sand: And the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew, and
beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matthew
7:24-27). Reader who is your foundation stone, is your house built on the Rock
Christ Jesus or on the sand of free will works religion? See the writer’s blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com
A.J. Ison
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