The Foundation of God
Zion's Advocate, Vol. 38, No. 10, October 1899
"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." II. Tim. ii. 19.The only sure foundation is the foundation of God. All others will be destroyed or removed, and will finally decay, but this one stands sure amid the wrecks of time. No convulsions of nature, no changes of the elements, can ever affect it. In infinite wisdom it has been chosen and laid, and it will stand forever as a support to those who are built upon it, and as a monument of praise to the great Architect.
In the purpose of the great Jehovah it was laid in eternity. Before time began to mark its incessant flight the supreme Father chose his own Son to be the foundation of his spiritual temple. The eternal Word was "in the beginning" laid as the embodiment of the whole plan of God for the glorification of his name in the salvation of his foreknown people. This wonderful Counsellor, mighty God, everlasting Father, and Prince of peace has thus forever stood as a foundation of stability and excellency. It is in this that the immutability of God's counsel is to be seen, which he confirmed by the solemn ratification of an oath. Just as he promised Isaac to Abraham, and promised to bless him and cause his seed to be as the sands of the seashore, or as the stars of heaven, so are all the spiritual family of God the children of promise. This promise was made to Christ as Paul shows in Gal. iii. 19, where he speaks of the law being "added till the seed should come to whom the promise was made." Those who are Christ's are "heirs according to that promise," Gal. iii. 29. In that promise they were given to Christ, and he says, "This is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day." Speaking of the gift in that promise he again says, "As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." It is not more certain that Christ came according to promise and did all the will of his Father, than it is that every one given to him by promise will come to him, receive eternal life from him, and be raised up by him at the last day. This is the "everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure." It was from everlasting in the purpose of God, and shall be to everlasting in the blessed effects of it.
According to his eternal counsels, and in fulfillment of his immutable promise, Jehovah sent forth his Son "when the fullness of time was come," and thus laid "in Zion for a Foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious Corner stone, a sure Foundation."
By his miraculous conception he assumed human nature receiving his flesh of his mother's substance. He was made under the law and Surety for his church, in every way answering its full demands in her behalf. He was in himself a fulfillment of the ceremonial law, the whole being magnified and made honorable by him. In this union of divinity and humanity there was laid the Chief Corner-stone, tried and precious, in which all the spiritual building of God was framed and made to grow an holy temple. The visible church, composed of baptized believers, was founded upon this Rock. This is the only foundation of the church, "for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ". When a foundation is laid and a building is raised upon it, no other can be built upon it without a removal or destruction of the first building. But the church built upon the foundation of God cannot be removed, for it is said in Heb. xii.28, "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved," etc. This church cannot be destroyed, for it is said in Dan. ii. 44, "And in the days of these Kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed." All the churches which men have built since the establishment of this church are built upon some other foundation. Since the church of God cannot be removed or destroyed, it stood upon the foundation of God when Luther, and Calvin, and Wesley, and Campbell founded their respective churches. Through all the dark ages of persecution this grand church has stood, and thus the prophecies concerning it are being fulfilled.
Not only is the foundation laid in Zion as a support of the visible church, but it is likewise laid in the very experience of God's people. When every support is removed, and the struggling child is sinking in weakness, what joy springs up as Christ is felt and believed in as an unfailing, everlasting foundation! It is thus that the tried and precious chief Corner-stone is laid in Zion, in God's ELECT PEOPLE. What a relief is felt by one who knows he is sinking in the miry clay, when he is taken up and his feet set upon this Rock and his goings established. He can then sing:
"On Christ, the solid rock, I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand."
Then the enraptured soul is prepared to exclaim,
"You may have all this world,
Give me Jesus."
The tempests of time, how fiercely they rage! How scorching are the sore trials of life! What disappointments befall us here, sinking us low in the dark, doleful vale of despondency! Afflictions' hand, how heavily it is sometimes laid upon us! The threatening waves of trouble, how high they sometimes roll, filling our affrighted souls with terror! The scorching flames of persecution, how fierce they sometimes are! Our sinful lusts, our wicked thoughts and actions, what distress they bring upon us! How we groan under our burden of imperfections, so that we sometimes exclaim, "Oh, wretched man that I am!" Added to all this is the distressing thought that our profession of religion is, perhaps, only a profession, that we are not really what we profess to be! Thus distressed by dangers without and fears within, our only sure foundation is that which God has laid. This is the sure and steadfast hope of the child of God. Its anchorage is safe, forever safe.
While the faith of some may be overthrown by false teachers, yet this blessed foundation stands sure. The divine stamp is indelibly given to it, "The Lord knoweth them that are his." The very ones he knows in this sense in time, he will know in the same sense in eternity. To those on the left hand he will say, "I never knew you." This proves that there will be none on the left that he ever did know. None that are his, then, will ever apostatize, fall away, and be lost with those on the left hand. "How firm a foundation," sure enough! God's knowledge of his children embraces all that pertains to them. Their poverty, infirmities, afflictions, and needs are known, and his grace is abundantly sufficient. They are not merely built on the foundation, but in it. The very life of the foundation is theirs, and thus they are spoken of as an "everlasting foundation." Before it can be proved that one of them will be finally lost, it must be proved that our text is false, that the foundation of God does not stand sure. Children, be encouraged. Look back and see how faithful the good Shepherd has been. Look up and see him today, seated at the right hand of God as your Advocate. Look forward to the prospect his promises afford you. Salvation being by grace, the promise is sure to all the seed. Death itself, that dreadful, powerful enemy, cannot overthrow this foundation, for death shall be destroyed. The weakest saint will triumphantly sing, "O death, where is thy sting?" In that blessed city, that city which hath foundations, that city whose maker and builder is God, all who have been built in this foundation will chant the everlasting praise of their Maker. The Foundation and all the building will be there, a complete structure of God's own rearing, far more radiant than the sun and more durable than gold.
J. R. D.
Copyright c. 2003. All rights reserved. The Primitive Baptist Library.
