Friday, March 18, 2016

How Firm a Foundation



Hebrews 6:1So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God.”

         
I grew up listening to the popular music of the 60’s and 70’s, but learned to have an appreciation for multiple genres (Pop, Rock, country, Classical and Christian Hymns). Many of the grand old hymns of the faith are still treasured even today proved by their incredible sales. I feel sad for the churches that have abandoned these beloved songs for a completely exclusive contemporary worship music. I read that the old hymn’s strength and enduring popularity lie in their use of music to teach scriptural truth, many times weaving in phrases from various scriptural passages to make a doctrinal point. Such is the case with the hymn normally entitled “How Firm a Foundation.” Each verse contains unusually rich scriptural insights, using the words of Scripture, primarily built around the theme of the security of the believer. 

The first verse is quite familiar, and the opening song verse for the late Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s “Thru the Bible” radio program: How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word! What more can He say than to you He hath said, To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

The point is the truth that each Christian’s pilgrimage begins at salvation. There at the cross, through the foundational instruction of the Word of God, we find everlasting life. We “have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.  This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil” (Hebrews 6:18-19).

The author concluded that once founded and anchored, we march on to maturity as stated in our text, using the “word of God” (Hebrews 6:5) as our all-sufficient guide. He has told us therein all that we need to know to guide us through the days ahead, including the various perils and persecutions illumined in subsequent verses, all the while resting in Him for security and ultimately realizing the “hope set before us”. Now, that’s something to sing about!


In Christ, Brian

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