Evening, December 15

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"And lay thy foundations with sapphires."

  Isaiah 54:11

   Not only that which is seen of the church of God, but that which is
   unseen, is fair and precious. Foundations are out of sight, and so long
   as they are firm it is not expected that they should be valuable; but
   in Jehovah's work everything is of a piece, nothing slurred, nothing
   mean. The deep foundations of the work of grace are as sapphires for
   preciousness, no human mind is able to measure their glory. We build
   upon the covenant of grace, which is firmer than adamant, and as
   enduring as jewels upon which age spends itself in vain. Sapphire
   foundations are eternal, and the covenant abides throughout the
   lifetime of the Almighty. Another foundation is the person of the Lord
   Jesus, which is clear and spotless, everlasting and beautiful as the
   sapphire; blending in one the deep blue of earth's ever rolling ocean
   and the azure of its all embracing sky. Once might our Lord have been
   likened to the ruby as he stood covered with his own blood, but now we
   see him radiant with the soft blue of love, love abounding, deep,
   eternal. Our eternal hopes are built upon the justice and the
   faithfulness of God, which are clear and cloudless as the sapphire. We
   are not saved by a compromise, by mercy defeating justice, or law
   suspending its operations; no, we defy the eagle's eye to detect a flaw
   in the groundwork of our confidence--our foundation is of sapphire, and
   will endure the fire.

   The Lord himself has laid the foundation of his people's hopes. It is
   matter for grave enquiry whether our hopes are built upon such a basis.
   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. Foundations will all be tried ere long: woe unto him whose
   lofty tower shall come down with a crash, because based on a quicksand.
   He who is built on sapphires may await storm or fire with equanimity,
   for he shall abide the test.