A Firm Foundation

And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! Then I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him and said to him, “Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.’ ”
Zechariah 2:1–5
+
A Firm Foundation
It is the Lord God who lays foundations. He sets up and he tears down. It is the Lord that has you in mind as he builds. Like he built the foundations of the world, so also, he builds you. It was the Lord who formed you in your mother’s womb. In another place, the Scriptures say that he knit you together. Our God is an intimate God. He is the God that gets up out of his throne. He lays aside his outer garments, his crown, and his scepter to get down into the dirt, into your space, to form you, nourish you, rescue you, and make you new again. He works the forgiveness of sins by becoming part of this creation. He takes on the flesh of Mary so that he could get into your space, shed his blood, and buy you back. He lays the foundations of your life. He lays the foundations of the Holy City. He becomes the walls for her, walls of fire, to hold in his holy people, and to fight against her enemies. The Lord always takes you with him into the battle. The scars and the stripes are only signs of the one who defeated all things for us. He died on the cross and rose again to new life to give us that life and freedom.