Isaiah 28:14-22: a reflection

14Therefore hear the LORD’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem: 15“Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and we are in agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.’” 16Therefore the Lord GOD says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily. 17I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. 18Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. 19As often as it passes through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be nothing but terror to understand the message.” 20For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in. 21For the LORD will rise up as on Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his unusual work, and bring to pass his act, his extraordinary act. 22Now therefore don’t be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, GOD of Armies, on the whole earth.

Isaiah confronts the scoffing leaders of Jerusalem, who boast of their false securities: We have made a covenant with death, they say; when disaster sweeps through, it will not touch us, for we have made lies our refuge and hidden ourselves in falsehood. They had built their security on lies and empty arrangements. And against that, God announces something solid: Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not be dismayed.

Notice the two things set against each other: the refuge of lies and the sure foundation. The leaders had sheltered in falsehoods, false securities, empty deals, comforting illusions, and God warns that these will be swept away; the storm will overflow their hiding place. But he offers something that will stand: a tested, precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, which the New Testament identifies as Christ. Whoever builds their security on that stone, believing, will not be dismayed when the storm comes.

That sets a choice before us. We all build our security on something, and much of what we build on is, in the end, a refuge of lies, false securities that cannot hold: wealth, status, our own arrangements, comforting illusions about ourselves and the future. When the storm comes, these are swept away. But God has laid a sure foundation, Christ, the tested and precious cornerstone, and those who build on him, who believe, will stand. Examine what you are building your security on. Are you sheltering in refuges of lies that will not hold, or on the sure foundation that will? Build on the cornerstone, and you will not be dismayed.

Lord, the scoffers sheltered in refuges of lies, false securities that could not hold, but you laid in Zion a sure foundation stone, and whoever believes on it will not be dismayed. Examine what I am building my security on. Show me the refuges of lies I shelter in, wealth, status, my own arrangements, comforting illusions, that will be swept away when the storm comes. Help me build instead on Christ, the tested and precious cornerstone, the sure foundation that will stand. Let me trust him, and not be dismayed.