Isaiah 28:14-29

Foundations and Covenants

Isa 28:14-29

This is not the only "stone" referred to in this chapter; in the thirteenth verse we read words that refer to another quality of stone: "That they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken." The meaning is that the men to whom a great offer of rest and refreshing had been made had declined to fall in with the holy overture, and therefore, as they had rejected the stone, elect of God and precious, they must of necessity not by arbitrary decree, but because of that system of alternatives on which the universe is based encounter in a backward movement a stone of stumbling, striking which they fell back, and were broken. Thus it will ever be. Men cannot refuse the Gospel, and be right; reject God, and be at peace; take their own course, and rule an obedient creation. Alternatives are put before us, reason is invoked, statements upon both sides are made with critical care, and men are called upon to answer the solemn appeal. If we fall upon Christ we shall be broken; but if that stone fall upon us we shall be ground 1:0 powder. The Gospel message is found in the fact that it is for ourselves to decide which course we shall take. Blessed be God, no man is forced to hell.

What use did the apostles make of this rich and noble passage? The Apostle Paul used it ( Eph 2:19-22 ): "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." The Apostle Peter ( 1Pe 2:6-8 ) availed himself of the opportunity of commenting upon this great foundation: "Wherefore also 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." Here again we face the solemn alternative of life. "A tried stone," literally, a stone of proof; and that may be regarded in either of two senses, or in both. First, it is a stone of proof, because it stands every test that can be applied to it. Praise no stone until you have tested it. Laud no doctrine until you have tried it in the market-place, in the sick chamber, in the valley of the shadow of the deepest distress; then come forward and say what the stone was worth, how it bore the strain, what it was in the sense of security, and comfort, and dignity and satisfaction. When you hear the last patented religion praised, pay no heed to the trivial eulogium; it is a patent that has not been put to the proof; it has done nothing for the world; it has no long, noble, dignified history behind it; it glitters, but it has not been proved in life's long night of pain and restlessness and sorrow. Be jealous of new inventions which relate to the kingdom of heaven. Have faith in nothing that does not come up from eternity. Believe not in any sacrifice that was not offered before the world began. Herein it is true that antiquity signifies experience, uses that can be employed for purposes of inference and solid deduction. In this sense Jesus Christ was a stone of proof: he was tried morning, noon, and night: in the cold and in the heat, in all the variation of life's changeful scene; and this is the record which is made of him by those who have followed him throughout "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and for ever," most precious when most needed, strongest when the enemy is most importunate, completest in all attribute, faculty, and grace when hell gathers itself up for final tremendous onslaught upon his dignity and worth. Is it too much to ask that those who have tested Christ and known him to be a stone of proof should say so publicly, privately, quietly, emphatically, and gratefully? and should so preach the Gospel to every creature with whom they come in contact? The preaching of the Gospel is not only a trumpet proclamation; it is a quiet speech, a sacred, private, personal assurance as well; it is man talking to man, and saying, I have tried Christ, and found him to be infinitely sufficient for all the need and pain of life.

The second sense in which the text would hold good would be that Jesus Christ tries every character. Not only is Jesus Christ himself tried, but he tries every man. Therefore many have left him. He tries whether the heart is giving itself in full consecration to his service, or whether it is trifling with the occasion, yielding to the spirit of compromise and concession, a kind of giving and taking in which God and Mammon hold equal places. "If any man will follow me, let him take up his cross." In the church there is but one badge, one symbol, one password; it is not genius, learning, intellectual capacity, profound acquisition in difficult subjects, it is the Cross. Therefore so few men understand Christianity. The one thing they omit from the statement of its range and claim is the Cross. Christianity is a disposition, not a tenet; a temper, not a dogma; a condition of heart, not a stored memory, not a grate of iron filled with unlighted fuel. He is a Christian who has no self: he has denied himself; he has said No to himself. This is a conquest which is only won in solitude; this is a victory of which a man need not speak, because his whole life tells the tale in simplest eloquence. If our will has not been taken and broken, shattered, we know nothing about Jesus Christ, though we be living catechisms, and animated encyclopaedias, and breathing theological dictionaries: we know Christ only as we have denied ourselves, not pinched ourselves here and there, and treated ourselves to a little partial discipline of starvation, but obliterated ourselves, then we are Christians. How different from this our daily attitude and feeling! We now go to preachers to hear whether they are right or wrong. He is right who has no self: he is wrong who consults his own will or feeling in anything. He prays who says, "Not my will, but thine, be done," and he never prays who does not say these words from his heart's core, the innermost plasm of his soul; though he speak to the condescending heavens in elaborate eloquence, he prays not till shedding, as it were, great drops of blood, he says "Nevertheless!" Then he comes from the altar, and there can be no Cross to him in any sense that tries his fortitude: he has died; he now knows the mystery of grace. Thus Jesus Christ tries the quality of men. Have we been so tried? No preacher may elaborate that inquiry; he must whisper it, rather than loudly announce it, and he must even in whispering it feel that he has hardly the right to ask that question until he himself is the living reply.

What is the consequence of building upon such a foundation namely, "a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation"? The result is "He that believeth shall not make haste." In other words, faith means peace. How we fret and fume because we have no faith! We want to live in tomorrow, simply because we have no trust Did we really build ourselves upon the living foundation, we should have neither today nor tomorrow we should be with God. Find a Christian who is in anxiety about anything, and you find a man who is only nominally Christian: he is excited about the state of the Church, about the condition of public feeling in relation to the Cross and to Christian doctrine; he heats himself, poor little soul, imagining that so much depends upon his puny arm. Be calm. Trust in the living God. He will take care of his own ark, his own truth, his own kingdom. Faith will give steadfastness. Faith is the inspiration of dignity and the security of hope. He who has once been with Christ in the sanctuary of vital communion comes away from the interview saying, All is well: why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? and why does the Church excite itself with little solicitudes and small inquiries and frivolous doubts? The kingdom cometh, and as the sun shineth from the east even unto the west, so shall Christ's lustre shine above all glory, filling the firmament of infinite space with morning everlasting. Church of the living God, thou shouldst be calm, strong, because deeply in sympathy with Christ, and acquainted in the very heart with all the sacred purpose of God. Confidence in the Eternal gives perfect calmness.

What shall become of other buildings? Many other edifices are proceeding at the same time: what shall become of them?

"Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place" ( Isa 28:17 ).

The test, therefore, you observe, is a fair one. Our building is to be tested by judgment and righteousness, not by man's judgment, not by man's partial righteousness, but by judgment and righteousness as God understands and applies these terms. Or there may be another meaning. The Gospel may be even here. Does it mean that God will punish according to measure? In administering the great system of retribution, will he lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet, and say, These poor creatures have had no chance in life: the circumstances under which this nation has lived have been circumstances of infinite discouragement: no man cared for this man's soul, therefore I must measure the man himself accordingly; he never heard of Christ, Cross, sacrifice, cleansing blood, pardon through propitiation; he must not be damned? Were any to suggest that such meaning is hidden under these symbols, why should we reject a meaning so evangelical, so charged with the very wine of the Gospel, so like the Saviour, who said, "From him to whom much has been given shall much be expected; but from them to whom little has been given little shall be looked for"? O Son of Mary, Son of man, Son of God, thou wilt not beat him with many stripes who had few chances in life. We rest in thy grace.

What becomes of false securities, false treaties?

"Your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it" ( Isa 28:18 ).

What if we have paid attention to everything but the foundation? That is possible. What if we have built a beautiful house, large, well-appointed, and have brought artists from afar to make the walls almost live with symbolic beauty. But suppose we have built the fairy palace upon a bog, and we knew it. Would that be approved in common life? Would the inspector or surveyor pass even for an insurance award a house that was so built? and shall we be wise on all these matters, and fools in life-building? Shall we be solid men, men of solemn mind, of real true judgment, with regard to all transitory matters, and fools with regard to affairs eternal? "According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." Oh, look at that tongue of flame, that critic of fire! It will be your turn next! That man's house has just passed barely passed; this man's house is burned down, but because he was on the right foundation, he himself was saved "yet so as by fire." It required an angel to pluck him from that extremity. Now it is coming to your house. See the flame long, blue, red, all colours leaping, testing the work, seizing it: how fares it with the house? Doth it stand? It looks as if it were going to stand. It is built of gold and silver and precious stones. See the fire makes no impression upon it! Thank God! Now it is going up to the roof, and even there it can make no impression; and the flame falls back, and says in effect, This house is well built. The next is the fool's house. Ah me! Who can look at the trial? Oh that it might take place in the darkness! Oh that our ears might be deafened with sleep when the crash comes! for great shall be the fall of it.

Prayer

Almighty God we have put our trust in the Rock of Ages, in the Eternal God, in the pavilion of the Most High, where we are hidden from the strife of tongues, and though the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing, yet is our confidence assured and our hope is without a cloud. All this high estate of faith and rest is given unto us through Jesus Christ our Lord. His are unsearchable riches; his blessedness is profound and never can be disturbed. In his peace we have tranquillity, in his sovereignty we reign as kings. We bless thee for the condescension of thy Son; for his life upon earth; for all his gracious and tender ministry; for his sacrificial death, for his resurrection from the dead, and his intercession on high; great mysteries of light, great mysteries of love: we have no answer to them; yet is there an answer in our own hearts from the heavens, which is one of peace and confidence and hope. Regard us in all the various relations we sustain; and may we, in the house, and in the church, and in the city, and in the market-place, and in the sanctuary of affliction, show that our faith sustains us, burns us like an unconsuming fire, lifts us up to the third heaven where we commune with God, and makes us pure, gentle, true, and noble towards one another. If thou wilt work this miracle in us, we will praise thee with a loud voice for thy marvellous works.