The Foundation is Sure

 "Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal; The Lord knows those that are his'' (2 Tim. 2.19). It is the refined gold of the martyr's faith that carries him through his Gethsemane and Calvary experiences. Though he may fall, he will not admit defeat. The ruthless oppressor may ride roughshod over his prostrate body, and blend his life-blood with the dust, yet as he falls he never doubts the triumph of his testimony. He knew that it was the tyrant's hour, and the tyrant's juggernaut could lay him low at any time, yet he had held aloft his torch, and lifted up his voice to testify his conviction against all odds. The Stephens and James, Ridleys and Latimers of this noble band never feared to die. Never did they think the witnessing would he extinguished by their death. The cause of Jesus was greater than themselves, and, as each faithful witness fell, it sprouted forth new life, more vigorous because watered with martyr blood. It could not die while Jesus lives and He can never die. Come what may before our witnessing is done, the Lord of all the martyrs lives, and while He lives, His fellowship can never be destroyed. With that conviction we may look the tyrant in the face, then look aloft, like Stephen, with faith's undaunted eye, and see the Lord stand waiting to receive us to Himself.

One of the noble band whose hour was nearly come was our beloved brother Paul. The hour of his departure was at hand. He had long kept the faith. He had maintained the goodly fight for many years, but now the end was near. In earlier days he had a host of friends. In every city and every land where he had held aloft the torch of truth these friends had rallied to his side. The good tidings which he told had drawn them by its magnetic power. Like children in a father's care they had clustered to his knee, and from his words and tears they learned the story of God's great love. But darker days had come ‑ Paul's foes had won the day. The Roman's last decree had fallen on his head, and there could now be no reprieve. He had no host of friends to comfort and console him now. "All they which are in Asia be turned away from me" (2 Tim.1.15). The binding spell of earlier days was gone; men who had shared his love had now forsaken him. Now he was left alone ‑ yet not alone, for "the Lord stood with me and strengthened me". Shallow-minded friends had disappeared, timid-hearted time-servers were gone ‑ but what mattered that, so long as God's foundation remained?

Again, some of the precious truths had been debased. Doctrines for whose defence, when free, he had so faithfully stood, were now subverted. The holy things of God entrusted to his care were now distorted by hostile tongues. Naturally it hit deep into his soul. What soldier could see his defences pierced and overthrown, and not show some concern? What custodian could see his treasures violated and not resent the sacrilege? Oh, if he were free, and could meet Hymenaeus face to face, or take Philetus on the spot! But, then, what mattered their puny battering upon the walls, if only God's foundations remained sure? They might swear black was white, and say future events were past, but they were only creatures of a day. They might misguide befuddled brains, and turn the doctrine upside down. That mattered not so long as the bedrock itself remained unchanged. They might prate and chatter like a flock of rooks ‑ what matter that, if God, the God of truth, remained immovable!

Let Demas forsake. Let those of Asia turn away. Let Hymenaeus canker and corrode. Let Philetus destroy shoddy faith. What mattered these, and more beside, if only God and His foundation stood fast? Nay, more, let the whole world conspire in common cause to bind and slay the servants of the Lord. So long as God's word was free, all still was well. So then, we hear him say; "I suffer trouble, as an evildoer unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound". How often men have tried to bind God's words in chains and how often they have failed. Petrified creeds, dead tongues, pontifical decrees, the furnace flames, have been men's cords to hold God's word in thrall and stultify its voice, but still it lives and speaks and imparts life to those who long for God. And when the hammers of its enemies are outworn and cast away, the anvil will stand unhurt and undefaced.

"Nevertheless." This shows the heart at rest. It shows reliance doubly-based on God. In every sense, all still was well within himself; yes, and without. A soul at rest in God could look out upon the wreckage wrought by men, without a single fear or quiver of a lip. A lifetime's work may seem to lie shattered into dust and yet know neither remorse nor regret. Whence came this confidence and trust?

Paul's unwavering assurance, in good days and bad, came from the holy root (Rom. 11.16), the basic promise laid as foundation for all God's works on Mount Moriah's slopes. The deep-laid purposes of God, to bless the nations of the earth, through Abraham and his seed, were laid upon the basic rock of almighty Promise and Immutable Oath - to be more deeply and immovably laid than the foundations of the earth itself. The sworn foundation of the eternal God stood fast though men deserted or defamed. No shock or impact of mere human dust, of thought or word or act, could move one fragment from that rock, harder than granite. This was the rock whereon Paul's confidence was built. Men might come near as friends, and then depart as foes, but they could not strike a tiny splinter from that rock. Men might prate against the truth, but they could not remove one syllable from the Promise and the Oath.

Broad-based upon the foundation-rock, another Oath was laid. "Kings 3 shall be of her" said the Most High to Abraham (Gen. 17.16). And in due time a king appeared, taken from the sheepfold to tend a nation for His flock, God again gave His promise and His Oath. "1 have made a Covenant with my chosen. I have sworn unto David my servant. Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations" (Psa.89.23). Thus the "sure mercies of David" were laid upon the basic rock of unchanging promise and an immutable oath. "Remember" says the aged warrior, ready to die, as a father to his son and lieutenant in the field ‑ Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead..." (2 Tim. 2.8). Jesus Christ is David's Seed and Israel's future King. Then based on the oath of God "that cannot lie", and on the life of Jesus Christ, who cannot die again, that broad foundation cannot be shaken, no matter what mere man may do. "Jesus Christ was raised from the dead" and is alive for evermore. Demas is dead; all they in Asia are dead; Hymenaeus is dead and Philetus is dead; but Jesus Christ is raised up from the dead. They had their little day, and muddled through their little work, but Jesus has His day to come. He has long waited beyond the reach of His puny foes, until His Day shall have come.

Thus the unfettered heart of the deserted, fettered servant of the Lord could sweep the wide horizons of time, past and to come, and bring the microscopic trivial things of man's little day into perspective with the foundations and structures of the Most High God. Thus he could find comfort for his last weariness and final strife. Through all the ebb and flow of darker and better days, one mighty thought had gripped the heart of the Apostle. Election-selection-preferment-choice, had for long centuries been vested in Abraham's Seed. "Them that are his" had hitherto been found only there. Of such the Son of God had said: "Thine they were, thou gayest them to me" (John 17.6). In earlier days, one of God's messengers had said: "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knoweth them that trust in him" (Nahum 1.7) Also in a dark day, when rebellion against the ordinance of God was abroad in the camp Moses had said "The Lord will show me who are his" (Num.16.5). With thoughts like these culled from the storehouse of God's promises, the aged prisoner of Jesus Christ could take to himself heart of grace, and know that, though his enemies could overthrow the faith of unstable men, the end of things would be with God. Amid the ant-like activity of this fallen world, the kindly eye of God rested with extreme delight upon "them that are his".

But God has His price for this; "them that are his" must seek to be like Him. They may not league themselves with evil men or evil things. They may not choose alliance with God's enemy. They may not permit this world's evil ways, nor fallen flesh, nor subtlety of demon powers to permeate their lives. They must depart from iniquity. They must be responsive to God's highest law. They must be imbued through and through with the Spirit of His covenant, and desire, like God, when the due time comes, to bless their fallen kin. Participation with God is an exacting privilege. It will demand our all. Like Him, we must hate sin and iniquity, and love holiness, justice and truth.

Paul's day was a dark and cheerless day. A long life's ardent work was ending in seeming disaster. The thrill of the 'nine-days' wonder of the faith had petered out for so many of his faithful friends. For the nation too, the handwriting was on the wall. A fearful doom lay just ahead; both people and city were fated to be laid in the dust. The work of God for centuries past was near collapse and the children of Abraham, God's friend, were to be ousted from the land. From the bleak depths of that forbidding environment the eye of Paul could look onward down the years, and see the better things which Abraham saw. Like that worthy sire, who, aged and childless, looked onwards with faith's unfailing eyes to see a seed grown numerous as the seaside sands, so Paul, with enlightened vision, took the long view against all life's odds, and saw the Kingdom of the Lord begun. "We shall reign with him, if …" Yes, he could see the King in power, the Son of David, and withal the Son of God, upon the throne, and if now the martyr kept his vows, then he would ascend to his Master's side. Out of the dense darkness, the light of faith shone out more clear, because it knew that God's well and truly laid foundation stood fast and sure. God's word of promise could not fail, because Jesus Christ, the Son of David, God's living Foundation, had been raised from the dead. Other foundation there is none.

TH