Thoughts for the Day

Thursday, 5th December 2024: Advent, Day 5 (The Foundation stone)

Foundations Jesus Christ Faith Messiah Isaiah 28

Reading : Verses from Isaiah

barnstone-antique-foundation-stone-maryland-pennsylvania-virginia-washington-dc-north-carolina-905142510

Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death,
and with Sheol we have an agreement;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through
it will not come to us;
for we have made lies our refuge,
and in falsehood we have taken shelter’;
therefore thus says the Lord God,
See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation:
‘One who trusts will not panic.’
And I will make justice the line,
and righteousness the plummet;
hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
and waters will overwhelm the shelter.
Then your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand...

Now therefore do not scoff,
or your bonds will be made stronger;
for I have heard a decree of destruction
from the Lord God of hosts upon the whole land.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)


Thoughts

During Advent we shall look at the people, places and symbols that invite us to prepare for the coming of the Christ-child at Christmas. They will not necessarily occur in the right order! Today we look at the symbol of 'The Foundation stone'

I have a vivid memory of joining my two young boys and their Dad after they had made a huge sandcastle on Lindisfarne north beach one summer afternoon, and watching the sea come in, waiting for it to be destroyed. The water crept in, then swirled round the base of the castle, and still it stood. It was amazing, how had this happened? The reason was that they had built their castle on the only large stone on that vast windswept beach.

At the beginning of Chapter 28 Isaiah has been slating the leaders of the Northern Kingdom before the fall of Samaria to the Assyrians, when the rich and powerful leaders of the kingdom imagined their defences were strong, and spent their time in drunken feasting. Now Isaiah turns his attention towards Judah and the Southern Kingdom. It's leaders have made a pact with Egypt and think they are safe, but this was not to be. Isaiah points out that just as a cornerstone or a foundation stone was needed to keep a building safe, the only secure foundation for Judah was to have total faith in God. It's leaders and people needed to trust in God's plans and His power to carry them out. At present they had made an agreement with death ("Sheol").

For Christians this foundation stone is a metaphor for Jesus. In the letter of Peter (1 Peter 2.4-8) he urges his fellow Christians to let themselves be built into a living building based on Jesus, for ‘the stone that the builders rejected' has become the 'very head of the corner’. Our foundation stone today is strong and true, and we need to base our life on Him.


Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ,
You are our foundation stone
on which we depend.
May we learn from Your example
how to be living stones,
producing a wall that is true and straight.
So may Your Kingdom continue to grow
in this world,
until it comes to fruition.
Amen.


Follow Up Thoughts

You might like to listen or sing this hymn:

Return to index