I had the privilege to travel to Rome and visit the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, comparable to a stadium and today’s downtown. Standing in the ruins, the tour guides did their best to bring the rocks to life by describing how it would have looked to the ancient Romans. Besides being intact, the buildings’ surfaces would have been covered with a marble or stucco veneer. The statues and friezes would have been painted in bright colors. Color and movement and life would have filled the area.
It’s a tour that involves looking at a lot of rocks and using your imagination. But the thing is, it isn’t hard to imagine the magnitude and grandeur of what was once there because what’s left is impressive all on its own.
And what’s left? Not the veneer. Not the paint. Not the bright colors. Disasters, neglect, theft, and the elements washed all that away. But what remains of almost every building is the foundation. The substructure. Because it’s what’s underneath that makes you strong. It’s what lasts. What endures.
What’s underneath your fancy facade and whitewashed walls? What testimony will the fragments and leftovers from your life give about you? Is there anything that will endure the test of tempests and time?
Hundreds of years before the Roman Empire, the Assyrians threatened Israel. Through the prophet Isaiah, God called His people to come to Him as their unshakable, immovable bedrock.
“I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem. It is firm, a tested and precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never run away again.” Isaiah 28:16
But Israel built their hopes on an alliance with Egypt, which failed when it was put to the test. Their nation collapsed and was never the same. Hundreds of years later, under Roman rule, the Israelites were still longing for a return to their political greatness. This time the messenger was God-in-the-flesh.
“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.” Matthew 7:24
All of us are building something. It may be a place of refuge, a house of joy, or a den of iniquity. We might be using straw or granite. We might be master craftsmen or have a shoddy work ethic. But we are all building something. And the Bible says that “everyone’s work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value” (1 Corinthians 3:13).
We can build towering skyscrapers, and until they’re put to the test, we might be fooled about their real worth. Then upheaval enters our lives, and what once seemed secure is unstable. Trials come, and what seemed solid, cracks and reveals its emptiness. Misfortune knocks, and what was impressive turns to rubble.
When Jesus tells us that His teaching is rock solid, He’s letting us know that only in Him will we find a foundation that will last. Only in Him will we find strength that will allow us to withstand fiery trials. He Himself is our cornerstone (Acts 4:11) and the only secure place on which to establish our hopes and our lives.