STABILITY AND CERTAINTY
Matthew 16:13-18; 2 Chronicles 3:1-3 (to “God”);
Revelation 21:9-11,14,18,19 (to “stone”)
It is evident that we are living in a world marked by instability. Every element of the world is unstable. Look at the financial world, the markets; they are inherently unstable, capable of collapse in a moment. The governments of men, the wars – think of the instability. Even in matters in relation to the pandemic, how it has crippled the organisations of men. Even the climate, with people not knowing what to do in relation to that. Things are uncertain for man. But, beloved, things are certain for the believer. There is no instability in what I seek to speak about because it is of God. It is not of the world, it is of God, and what God does is inherently stable.
In Matthew the Lord Jesus says, “on this rock I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”. Do you know the Lord Jesus? Do you have Him as your Rock? Have you put your trust in Him? We have to begin there. This is not the preaching of the glad tidings, but every day is a day of glad tidings as long as Christ is available. He is available now to be your Saviour. Young friend, have you trusted in Him yet? He is there, available, and He would be your foundation, your sure foundation on that Rock. When you put your trust in Him and accept Him as your Saviour, believe that He died for you and His blood was shed for you, you are saved. You are saved for ever, and that is a rock-like foundation in your soul that cannot be shifted. Nothing can move it.
But the believer remains in this world of instability that I have spoken of. Is the believer to be shaken, to be unstable? No, friend, because the Lord Jesus is a builder, and He builds with perfection. He builds on the perfect foundation. He builds on the rock – it is Himself. He says to Peter, after Peter’s confession of who He was, that “my Father who is in the heavens” had revealed it to him. Think of the Lord’s delight in seeing what the Father had revealed to Peter, that He was “the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Beloved, that is the Person that the assembly is founded on. What is the assembly? It is Christ’s bride, it is His counterpart, it is the house of God. It is what you are part of, if you are a believer. You are not only in it, but you are part of it, part of that building that the Lord Jesus is building, and whatever He does, He does with perfection. The foundation is perfect; it is the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He is an immoveable foundation. Nothing can change Him, nothing can change what He has done. As you go through this world, amid all that is unstable, and if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus and you have the Holy Spirit, you are part of the assembly which is founded on Christ, and it cannot be shaken. If you are part of that, you can have that assurance in your soul.
We need assurance at the present time. What goes on in the world might cause us to be anxious and uncertain. What is going to happen next? For the believer, it is Christ coming for His own. That is what we are looking for next. But in the meantime, the Lord would assure you, for you are part of this building. It is not a physical building, it is a spiritual building made up of persons, living stones. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, you are one of them. What a wonderful reassurance! Think of the purpose of the Lord Jesus in saying that it was this rock on which He would “build my assembly”. Nothing can get in the way of the Lord’s building. Men’s building projects have to be stopped for all manner of reasons – weather, new ground conditions, things are found that mean the builders have to stop. The Lord Jesus cannot be stopped from building His assembly. He is adding those who come to Him day by day, those who believe on Him, those who receive the Holy Spirit, all built into that wonderful building.
Beloved, as a believer, you are part of it. Let your soul be assured in it, that you are part of something that cannot be shaken. The Lord said, “hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”. Hades’ gates speak of organised opposition to God of which Satan is the mastermind and which is against you. He has so many different ways of attacking all those who love the Lord Jesus. Satan would seek to shake you, but remember that you are on ground that cannot be shaken, you are on the ground of Christ, the Rock. Personally and individually, nothing can take away your eternal salvation. But remember, too, that you are part of the assembly, that spiritual building of which you are part, the house of God, the dwelling place of God, the habitation of God in the Spirit which the scripture speaks of. It is unshakeable, and hades’ gates will never prevail. No matter what Satan tries, “I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”.
I read in Chronicles, first to remind us that the establishment of this foundation has been at great cost. Solomon built the house of God, but it was David who secured the ground on which it was to be built. This is an instructive type in the Old Testament of the house of God, the assembly, at the present time. It says, “Solomon began to build … at Jerusalem on mount Moriah”. It is an interesting place. The footnote ‘a’ says, “shewn by Jehovah”. It suggests the thought of revelation, what was revealed to David, that this was the place in which God would have His house. David saw that, and he asked the person whose land it was if he could buy it from him, but the owner said that David could have it for nothing. David said “No; but I will in any case buy them for the full money”, 1 Chron.21:24. The Lord Jesus has paid in full the price that was necessary, that there might be an eternal and fixed foundation that His assembly could be built on. Think of the cost there has been to Jesus personally. He is the rock on which the assembly is founded, but we must never forget His work. Think of how He has satisfied God in relation to everything that stood out against you and me. The assembly, of course, does not have any past history, but the Lord Jesus has purchased her, and He has paid the price in full.
The second thing I was impressed with is that it says, “this was Solomon’s foundation”. I think the person whose foundation it is gives character to the whole building. Solomon was David’s son; his name means ‘peaceful’. That is the character which the Lord Jesus gives to the house of God. It is a place where there is peace and rest, and there is satisfaction there too. You will not find these things in the world. You may find the temporary pleasures of sin there, but only in what is of God will you find true and lasting peace and satisfaction. There are happy, normal relationships to be found in the assembly; you will not find them in the world. These are the things that are in the assembly. Value it and treasure it; it has been established at much cost. It says, “the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite”. It is interesting to look into the background of where this is. This is the temple mount in modern day Israel, but it was a place that God had shown to David. He said, “this is the place”. It is almost like God revealing to Peter, ‘this is the One that the assembly will be founded on’. Beloved, have you realised that, have you realised that the Lord Jesus is the “Son of the living God”? It is interesting that the word “living” is used by the Lord. This is a living building. The natural mind cannot think of that, it does not make sense physically. There is no such thing as a living building. But in God’s realm there is, and we are part of it. Through grace we have been built into it, and we are built up in it too. That is the thought, but here it is a building that has been founded on what has been established at great cost, the cost of the work of Jesus. We can apply it in that way. The Lord has given Himself; He has died, His precious blood has been shed, and He lives now, so there is a righteous basis for all that He does in building.
I read in Acts 16 because there we have an example of a local assembly being established. A brother recently suggested reading the epistle to the Philippians locally, and I was greatly confirmed by that, because we see what is normal there at Philippi. What is normal is not what is ordinary or common, but it is what is normal according to God. What is normal in man’s things changes from time to time. What was normal twenty years ago is not normal now in man’s things. What is normal, what is precious in the sight of God remains fixed, according to His standard, Christ. And those are the precious things that are treasured in the assembly, where the Lord is honoured as the Head of it – not only the foundation of it, but He is the Head of that body. He nourishes and He cherishes it, He provides everything. Not only are you built into it, but you are built up in it. Each living stone can grow in its appreciation of the Lord Jesus. Again, you cannot think of that as a natural building. Once the stone is in, it is there, and nothing can change that, but believers grow in their appreciation of Christ. How wonderful is God’s building, the Lord’s building.
Paul was shown something, in a vision, “a certain Macedonian man, standing and beseeching him, and saying, Pass over into Macedonia and help us”. What distinct direction was given to Paul. This was the first time that the glad tidings concerning the Lord Jesus had come into mainland Europe. Where would you and I have been if this had not been the case? Think of the Lord, in His wisdom, ensuring that the glad tidings spread westward. We can be thankful that He did that. I was affected by what Paul found in Philippi. He finds women who were praying. How wonderful that there is material which Paul can work with, dependent persons who pray to God. That would be normal in the assembly, in the house of God. It speaks of Lydia worshipping. What I was struck by was the opposition that is described in Acts 16. You might say, God had His purpose, to establish a local assembly in Philippi, in Europe, and immediately Satan was opposed to it. This woman in verse 16 had the spirit of Python, an evil spirit said to be able to predict the future, and she said, “These men are bondmen of the Most High God”, something that on the face of it seemed harmless. But the Lord would not have anything with its source in Satan to distract from what Paul was doing. “And this she did many days. And Paul, being distressed, turned, and said to the spirit, I enjoin thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her”. Hades’ gates cannot prevail against what is of God. In the devil’s craft, as the angel of light, Satan tried to adopt a disguise that might have looked all right, and thus be able to divert Paul. No, friend, hades’ gates will not prevail! God will see to it that His assembly is built according to His purpose, and that souls are secured for His pleasure in it.
Not only that, but the authorities and the crowd were against Paul and those that were with him and cast him and Silas into prison. Hades’ gates were again making another attempt to thwart the building of the assembly. “And at midnight Paul and Silas, in praying, were praising God with singing”. Hades’ gates will not prevail against that work. God will see to it that this building will not only be established, but it will function as it is intended to. There will be praise to God in it, there will be glory to God “in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen” (Eph.3:21), but it had already begun. Paul and Silas knew what it was to praise God. You might say the assembly in that city had not formally been established yet, but in Philippians it is interesting that Paul says, “from the first day until now”, Phil.1:5. We see here the establishment of the local assembly in Philippi from the first day. “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved”: think of the fellowship that they had with the glad tidings. They were not ashamed of it; they received it wholeheartedly. This man believed on God, believed in the Lord Jesus; there was faith there. That is normal in the assembly, persons marked by faith. “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved”. Even the foundations, of the prison shook. But the foundations of the assembly cannot be shaken. What a contrast! God is able to shake the things of this world that are opposed to His assembly, but the foundation of the assembly is firm and established for ever.
As a believer, you are part of that. God would reassure you about that today. Do not be concerned about what is going to happen. Of course we pray for men; we see the suffering that is in the world and we pray for men on that account, but do not be concerned, do not be worried. As a believer, you are founded, personally and individually, on the work of Christ, on Christ’s perfect, finished work, and you are part of this building of the assembly which is founded on Christ Himself. Well, what a transformation in the jailor, “he took them the same hour of the night and washed them from their stripes; and was baptised, he and all his straightway … he laid the table for them”. What a contrast; things are shared in the assembly. It is not a congregation of individuals, it is a precious body, it is Christ’s body, and He is its Head in heaven. That is why as a believer, I could not be a member of any other body, because I am already a member of the greatest body that there is. A physical member of one human body cannot also be a member of another one at the same time. How precious, how protective, the assembly is. The Lord Jesus nourishes and cherishes His body (Eph.5:29).
It says, “having gone out of the prison, they came to Lydia; and having seen the brethren …”. They gravitated to where they could see the evidence of the local assembly. They saw the brethren – what was normal, the household happily gathering together in simplicity and dependence, faith, prayer, praise, thanksgiving, all normal in the assembly and established on a firm foundation. Nothing that Satan can contrive can thwart it. Let us have faith that we belong to such a structure and realise by the Spirit that we can take our happy part in it.
You might say, I am in a small meeting, there are only a few, it does not appear that I am part of anything substantial. But the day of display that we read about in Revelation 21 is coming. The world will wonder at the scale of the Lord’s assembly. They will wonder, they will marvel at this city “coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God”. This heavenly city, the Lamb’s wife, is a reminder of the suffering that there has been. He was the One who suffered. The Lord Jesus suffered like none other, but His wife has known what it is to suffer. Things are against the assembly now, and there is suffering for she is the Lamb’s wife, but think of this shining, and of the glory of all that Christ has done. He is the corner stone of this building of which He is the foundation. He is the headstone giving character to the whole building and it has glory, the glory of God, and it will be wondered at. The foundations are seen. Normally you do not see the foundations of a building, they are hidden well below the earth, and even if you were to see them, they would not be the part that you would imagine would be adorned. But these foundations have on them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
There was that which was foundational in the early times of Christianity. It says that “they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers”, Acts 2:42. The authority of those twelve formed a firm and solid starting point for the building of the assembly. With the Spirit’s power, everything else has flowed from that; we benefit from that. Think too of Paul’s ministry, representing perhaps more the pearl, the suffering that he and others endured that assemblies might be established. But it says too that “the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone”. What glory and beauty this building will have. Men have buildings that are functional, and there is perhaps no beauty about them. Speaking reverently, God’s building, the house of God, is perfectly functional, but it is also beautiful. It has a beauty because it is characterised by Christ and there is glory to God there.
Let us have our living and happy part in it. Let us look to the Lord Jesus Himself, that glorious Person, the “Christ, the Son of the living God”, the One who is marked out in all His dignity, who is personally great. Think of the greatness of His work, the cost that He has paid that there might be such a building established, and realise that in this coming time of glory, the vastness of it will be seen. Do not be upset if you appear to be part now of something that, on the face of it, is small. The assembly is universal, the assembly is vast, we know only a fraction of the believers that compose it, but let us value what there is in our local assemblies, because no matter how small it is, it is part of the whole and it is precious, and it will shine in all its glory in a day to come with all who compose it.
May we be reassured, and not be anxious because of the uncertainty and instability in the world. As a believer, you are part of something stable. The assembly is founded on what is firm and immoveable and it will be for God’s glory eternally. May the Lord bless the word.
Aberdeen Scotland
26 November 2022
John S Speirs