Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–
December 15– Evening
by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff
“I [God] will lay your foundations with sapphires.'”
—Isaiah 54:11
The Church is a beautiful building— not only the parts that are seen but those that are unseen. Foundations are out of sight, and so long as they are firm we don’t expect them to be made of expensive materials. But in Jehovah’s work, nothing is done halfway; no expense is spared.
The deep foundations of the work of grace are like precious sapphires. No human mind is able to measure their glory. We build upon the covenant of grace, because it stands resolute, like an immovable jewel. Its sapphire foundations are eternal; the covenant remains intact throughout all of time.
The Lord Jesus himself is a precious foundation, clear and spotless, everlasting and beautiful like the sapphire. He is vast like the deep blue of earth’s ever rolling ocean and the azure of its all-embracing sky. Our Lord might be likened to the ruby, since he was covered with his own precious blood, but now we see him radiant with the soft blue of abounding love, deep and eternal.
Our eternal hopes are built upon the foundation of God’s justice and faithfulness, which are as clear and cloudless as the sapphire. Mercy does not do away with justice; law does not suspend its operations. But we are confident in God’s gracious covenant which meets the demands of his justice and is able to endure the fire of his judgment.
The Lord himself has laid the foundation of his people’s hopes, and we should be careful to build on it. Good works and ceremonies are not a foundation of sapphires but of wood, hay, and stubble; neither are they laid by God but by our own conceit. In time, all foundations will be tested. What great misery will come to those whose high buildings will come down with a crash because they were built on quicksand. He who is built on sapphires can anticipate storms or fires with equal calmness because he knows his foundation will survive the test. [M&E]
