Volume 44   Number 3                                                                                    November 2001

In the world around us, truth is not always found just around the corner. Scandals of every sort in the human imagination run amuck. With each party accusing the other of dishonesty, it is rarely a clear cut issue to decipher between the truth and treason. An offer that seems “too good to be true,” very often is because the advertiser neglects to point out or list key elements of the agreement. The statement “there’s a sucker born every minute” would not hold true if the truth were not clouded. In general, the Christian today is forced to open a watchful eye and take everything with a grain of salt when dealing with the world. In all of this chaos, is there even a shred of truth to be found, much less a pillar? And if one is to be found, where is this oasis of truth amidst a desert of deceit?

In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he said in the third chapter and verse fifteen, “but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” The Apostle Paul knew full well that a day would come when men would no longer hold fast to the solid doctrine of Christ and would fall to diverse doctrines of man. He issued this warning both to the Ephesian elders and to Timothy, also. Man’s desires are not always to hold on to tradition. A few year’s ago, and even today, a big buzz word of the time was “change.” This concept of change crept into the religious world and tainted the view of God’s consecrated institution. No longer was the church considered to be a divine institution governed by one form of doctrine, rather, it was to function like a river of water: constantly moving, never staying in one place, rerouting its course to fit the changing environment, and the like. This raises one serious question: can man change what God has set in place?

Paul portrays Christ’s church as a pillar. I often envision the great arches erected by the various Caesar’s of the Roman Empire commemorating their triumphants in battle. Such monuments still stand today as a constant reminder of not only the feats, but also of the Empire itself. These structures molded by the hand’s of mortal men have managed to withstand the passage of nearly 2000 years. Some works of men, such as the Great Pyramids of Giza have last much longer. None have moved, none have changed, and they have been affected only slightly by their environment. If these pillar’s exhibit such qualities, how much more should God’s creation exhibit them?

The church is a pillar, an institution of God which will stand until the end of this age to shine the light of hope to lost souls in the sea of sin. It is a pillar that will withstand the effects of time although many replicas of it, regarding denominations, will degrade as time wears on them. Indeed, as the song reads, “It shall stand, forever, and ever, and ever.”

As every pillar has a base, so must the church, the pillar of truth, have a base. In Eph. 2:20, we read that the church is built upon the foundation composed of Jesus, the Apostles, and the Prophets. A foundation is laid only once and can never be changed. Such is the reason that the right to bind and loose doctrines of the church was given solely to the apostles. Once these men laid the foundation down, the church grew from this foundation never to change it. The Church, this pillar of truth, is constructed upon an unmovable foundation crafted by God through the Holy Ghost. Like the wiseman in Matt. 7, our house, the church of the living God, is built upon a rock. Man can neither lay nor build upon any other foundation and be pleasing to God.

While viewing the religious labyrinth entrapping countless souls around us, one need only look in the direction of God, instead of man, to see a wonder far too great to describe. Before us stands a great and glorious pillar erected upon the teachings of inspired men and built to withstand time. A pillar composed, not of stones or bricks, but of living stones of which you and I are a part. And what is the purpose of this wonder? “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).