“And lay your foundations with sapphires” (Isaiah 54:11)

God describes His Church as not only beautiful to behold, but beautiful in its hidden foundation. Before Christ came to Earth, the foundation and cornerstone of the Church was obscure, seen from afar off.

Christ said, “I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matthew 13:17). “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13). The apostle Peter said the hidden foundation can now be preached and understood “by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven - things which angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:10-12).

The church is now clearly seen as “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:20-22).

Knowing about the foundation of the Church will not benefit you if you don’t obey Christ’s Word. “No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11), but Christ warned us we must built our lives on the foundation of His Word.

“Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock …But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall” (Matthew 7:24-27).