1 Kings 5:17

Sure Foundations.

No city in the world has experienced so many vicissitudes as "the city of the Great King." The place of the "vision of peace" (or , "foundation of peace") has known no peace. It has been sixteen times taken by siege since our blessed Lord's day, and conqueror after conqueror has cried, "Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof" ( Psalms 137:7 ). It has been the carcase round which the Roman "eagles" have repeatedly gathered; it has been the battlefield of Saracen and Crusader; now the Christian has wrested it from the Moslem, and now the Moslem has torn it back from the Christian. The consequence is that it is a mound of ruins, a heap of debris. When the Anglican church was built, it was necessary to dig down some forty feet, through the accumulated rubbish of ages, to get a foundation. The Jerusalem of the past can only be reached by deep shafts. It is literally true that not one stone of the ancient city is "left upon another" ( Matthew 24:2 ). With ONE exception. Amid the wreck and havoc of wax, amid the changes and chances of the world, the colossal foundations of Solomon remain undisturbed. His "great stones" are to be seen at the present day at the southeast angle and underneath the temple area (see on 1 Kings 5:17 ). Everything built upon them has perished. Not a trace of tower or temple remains; nay, their very sites are doubtful. But "through all these great and various demolitions and restorations on the surface, its foundations, with their gigantic walls, have been indestructibly preserved" (Ewald). After the lapse of nearly three thousand years, "The foundation standeth sure."

Let us learn a lesson hence as to—

I. Christ .

II. The Church of Christ .

III. The doctrine of Christ and His Church .

We may see, then, in the Solomonic foundations of the Temple—

I. A PICTURE OF CHRIST . He compared Himself to the Temple ( John 2:19 ), and to the foundations of the Temple ( Matthew 21:42 ). Yes, to these very corner stones which are still visible. It is remarkable that Psalms 118:22 —"The stone which the builders refused is become the head of the corner"—is cited by our Lord of Himself ( Matthew 21:42 ), and is applied to Him by St. Peter ( Acts 4:11 ), while Isaiah 28:16 , "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone," etc.—words which were no doubt suggested by the great and precious stones of Solomon's building—are interpreted of Him both by St. Peter ( 1 Peter 2:6 ) and St. Paul ( Romans 9:1-33 :38). We have consequently "most certain warrants of Holy Scripture" for seeing in these venerable relics an image of the Eternal Son. He is the one foundation ( 1 Corinthians 3:11 ); the chief corner stone ( ἀκρογιονιαίος , Ephesians 2:20 ); He "abideth ever;" "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for ever" ( Hebrews 13:8 , Gr.) That "sure foundation" can never fail. How many systems of philosophy, how many "oppositions of science" have "had their day and ceased to be"? How many proud empires have tottered to their fall; how many dynasties are extinct and forgotten? But the carpenter's Son still rules in the hearts of men, and the cross of Christ "towers above the wreck of time."

II. A PICTURE OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST . As surely as the great cornerstone images our Lord, so surely do the huge and strong foundations pourtray the Church of which He is the Founder. It is to the Church ( ἐκκλησία ὑπο θεοῦ τεθεμελιωμένη ) those words refer, "The firm foundation of God standeth" ( 2 Timothy 2:19 , Gk.) The Church is "the pillar and ground of the truth;" it is" built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets" ( Ephesians 2:20 ; cf. Revelation 21:14 ). And, like the foundations of the Temple, its base shall be stable and permanent. "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it" ( Matthew 16:18 ). It is founded on a rock ( ibid .)

"Crowns and thrones may perish,

Kingdoms rise and wane,

But the Church of Jesus

Constant will remain."

It was the boast of Voltaire that what it took twelve men to build one man should suffice to break down. But the Church is stronger in the hearts of men now than it was in the eighteenth century. And Voltaire's cry of impotent rage, Ecrasez l'infame , seems farther than ever from its realization. Its enemies assert that Christianity has "destroyed two civilizations"—a striking admission of its strength and vitality. True, the Church has a legion of foes. But let us take courage. There is at Jerusalem a pledge and picture of her stability. Her fashions, her excrescences, her sects and schisms, like the buildings of the Holy City, shall pass away. But her foundation is sure.

III. A PICTURE OF THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST AND THE CHURCH . As there are twelve foundations of the Church, so are there six foundation truths, six "principles of the doctrine of Christ" ( Hebrews 6:2 ). And of these it may justly be said, "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid." Some of these doctrines may have been, or may hereafter be, more or less obscured—the "doctrines of baptism and of the laying on of hands" are often ignored or repudiated even now—but for long centuries the foundations of the Temple area have been hidden. Obscured or not, they shall never be shaken or removed. This "firm foundation standeth." The monoliths beneath the Mosque El Aksa , standing where Solomon and Hiram's builders placed them, are silent but eloquent pictures of the eternal and unchangeable truth of God. And if men build on the foundations of Christian doctrine, or on the one foundation of "the personal historical Christ" (Alford on 1 Corinthians 3:11 ), "wood, hay, stubble," i.e; systems, more or less worthless, of their own, like the Temple of Jerusalem, these shall be destroyed by fire in the "day of visitation;" but the foundation shall remain unscathed, strong and sure and eternal as the God who laid it.

HOMILIES BY J. WAITE