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OR thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139:13-16)
Our God is a Great Builder and an Architect of unparalleled expertise. He makes all things perfect from the beginning, yet the atrophy of sin begins to demean the beauty of God’s Creation owing to Adam’s Fall. In view of our lead text above, how do you believe God feels at the abortionist’s practice of tearing His crowning achievement of Creation (the human being at conception) from limb to limb and crushing its tiny cranial cavity? All life, animal or human, begins at conception. God grants that conception and spark of life. In fact, embryonic research reveals that there is actually a spark of light detectable by infrared microscope at the very moment of conception.
God is the Builder and Maker of all things – from the tiniest electron orbiting the nucleus of the Atom much as the planets orbit the Sun – to the most remote heavenly galaxies millions of light years distant. It is by the pervasive power of His might that holds these tiny and gigantic systems together in perfect gravitational balance at all times. Should He release His grip, even for an instant, all would collapse into an ethereal nothingness just as it existed in eternal ages before Creation – no Time, no Space, no Matter.
God is not a Builder that contracts out his work or builds for selling out His structures. He builds all things to manifest His Glory, Power, and Love. His mode of building is two-dimensional – both physical and spiritual. His love is infinite, and He has made man, and all living, for the purpose of echoing His great Love. God is love, but He also has the capacity to hate sin. He will not abide sin in His presence. He is Holy, and He expects His favored Elect to be Holy. God the Builder takes an intimate interest in His Creation and interacts with it which differentiates this Architect from all others who build and forget once the premises are past on.
He takes an even greater interest in those He calls His own. He has instituted the Church, which He built from the Promise made to Abraham until its final purchase by our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Book of Revelations, it is referred to as the Bride of Christ. In the Old Testament Church, God claimed it as being her Husband. He builds the visible things of the world as well as the invisible things of the Spirit. “For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORDof hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.” (Isaiah 54:5)
God is the One Builder who requires no building supplies to be ordered. There is a humorous little fable about a day when the devil approached the Lord claiming he could do anything the Lord could do. The lord responded, “Can you make a man?” The devil responded, “Certainly.” The Lord said, “Ok, Mr. Devil, you make your man and I will make mine.” The Devil stooped down to get a handful of dust and the Lord rebuked him saying. “No, no, Mr. Devil! You must use your OWN dirt!” God created all that we know or can conceive out of nothing. The evolutionists will freely admit that all things must have a beginning, and they claim must rest on the assumption that nothing can evolve without substance to begin with. That theory is an endless argument back in time to how the world could come into being by an accident or nature, orbiting at such a precise distance from the sun that life could be possible. And the evolutionists theory of the Big Bang falls on the lack of that tiny particle they claim to have been so dense and exploded to form all heavenly bodies. The question is still there – where did that tiny particle come from, and the space to allow its expansion?
God created Adam from the dust of the earth. He fell from grace before the seducing serpent of the tree. God has caused His Son to be incarnated in human flesh as the first begotten of the spiritual man. Adam was earthy, but our Lord Jesus Christ was divine and spiritual. “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” (1 Corinthians 15:41-50)
Just as that first institution of marriage was established by God in Eden as a type and figure of His Church Triumphant. Just as a woman or man may prove unfaithful to their marital partner in this world, so has the Church often proved unfaithful to her Bridegroom – Jesus Christ. Look at the false idols that have arisen in apostate churches across our land and across churches in the world. See the diabolical doctrines of Satan that are being propagated to a sleeping Church. We are now witnessing the opposite effect that the Gospel preaching had on the world in olden days, and the disgraceful damage being wrought upon the Name of our Lord by the churches today! It may be worthwhile to read the words of that great expositor of the Word, Matthew Henry:
Observe the low state of religion in the world, for a long time before Christianity was brought in. But by preaching the gospel, multitudes were converted from idols to the living God. This is matter of great rejoicing to the church. The bounds of the church were extended. Though its state on earth is but mean and movable, like a tent or tabernacle, it is sometimes a growing state, and must be enlarged as the family increases. But the more numerous the church grows, the more she must fortify herself against errors and corruptions. Thy Maker is thy Husband. Christ is the Holy One of Israel, the Mediator of the covenant made with the Old Testament church. Long he had been called the God of Israel; but now he shall be called the God of the whole earth. And he will cleanse from sin, and cause every true believer to rejoice in this sacred union. We never can enough admire this mercy, or duly value this privilege.” Matthew Henry (Concise Commentary) See what has been lost in the past several decades. The will of man has taken the place of dominance in today’s churches over the Holy will of God.
Of what has God wrought the stones for the spiritual building of His Church? He has chosen choice spiritual jewels of His Elect for the building – a void in the walls of that Heavenly City of New Jerusalem that can only be filled by that choice stone which you and I are when we are part of His Kingdom. “And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Then they that feared the LORDspake often one to another: and the LORDhearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORDof hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” (Malachi 3:15-17)
Every builder must lay a foundation stone from which all other lines of the building are measured and supported. What is the Chief Rock and Cornerstone of the Church which God has built? Is it not the same who was present at the beginning (and before) with the Father at Creation – the Lord Jesus Christ? “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” Isaiah 28:16 (KJV) What fulfillment do we find of that Cornerstone? Did Christ not come unto His own, and His own reject Him? “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” (Matthew 21:42-44)
The Corner Stone has been made sure, and the building is being finished. The work shall continue until the last trump of the Lord, then shall the building be finished as descend as a Bride adorned for her husband. This is the Word of the Lord. Christ is the Rock upon which the Foundation is laid by God the Father. It is Christ who is the Foundation and not Peter, or any other. “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:11)
Are you a stone in God’s Temple, or a forlorn branch of driftwood floating aimlessly at sea?
