The Pillars Remain

Thank you, Mr. Janisich. Once again, good afternoon, everyone. Appreciate the opportunity to speak today. Appreciate the opportunity to talk with all of you, and it's good to be home. It's nice to have the chance to be back after the time away. You know, I've had this sermon on my list. For those of you that aren't aware, those of us that speak frequently have lists on our phones of sermon concepts and ideas and topics. Just kind of throw them on there as we think of them and kind of make a list. And eventually, you know, you find the right timing in the right place and, you know, whatnot to be able to do this. This particular sermon, at least the idea for it, has been on my list for about three years. I just haven't really found the right timing, haven't found the right, you know, concept necessarily to be able to go through and do it.

One of the things that I hope and pray is that it makes sense. You know, for all of us that speak, it makes sense in our head, you know, whether or not we're able to convey that to you is a whole other story sometimes, but it makes sense in our heads as we put this together. When I was in undergrad, when I went out to Western Oregon University, I was toying with major and minor combinations. I loved biological sciences. It was kind of my forte. And without a doubt, I knew that was going to be my area of study for my major. But when it came to choosing a minor, that was a little bit more complicated. I was all over the place. I was all over the place with my minor. There were so many options for minors within the natural sciences. You had chemistry, you had physics, you had a number of other specializations and sub specializations of each of those categories. There were options for languages. I could have minored in Spanish or French or, you know, I don't know, something else. There were business options. You know, I could have minored in business. I could have minored in mathematics, all options that would have, you know, honestly, paired nicely with a major to make it work, but I didn't necessarily enjoy any of those options.

I love history. I absolutely love history. And originally, when I transferred into Western Oregon, that was my planned minor. I was going to major in biology and minor in history.

You're probably going, that doesn't make much sense, Ben. That's what my advisor told me. That really doesn't make much sense, Ben. He said, look, teaching at that time wasn't on my radar. I was actually considering a possible career in medicine at that point. And the advisor sat me down and he said, this doesn't make any sense. Doesn't make sense at all. He said, it's not something that's going to be added for your career. It's not something that he said, actually, it's something that might make you even less marketable in the long run, since they're completely unrelated. He said, you may want to think about something else scientific, maybe something more related to your major. And he was right. You know, ultimately, he was right when he came to career opportunities. So I dropped my history minor. And looking at my transcript, I had enough chemistry credits to take a few more chemistry classes and get a chemistry minor. And so I ended up going in that direction. And ultimately, that was something that made me more marketable for teaching. And if I were to go into something else more marketable in that way. So history, while not a major or not a minor rather, really became more of a hobby than an area of study. Ancient world history in particular is something for me that has always been fascinating, the history that is adjacent to the scripture. So looking at the history of ancient Israel, looking into the histories of Babylon and Greece and Rome, all these nations and cultures and things that took place in and around again, adjacent to scripture are some of my absolute favorite periods to study into. Archaeology has always been a closely related secondary interest. I absolutely enjoy archaeology as well. I love learning about ancient cultures or cities or customs, their economics, and their military histories. If I could have Mr. Kinsella bring up the slides here for a minute. These are just going to cycle in the background as I kind of begin to go through this here. Various images of certain ruins around the ancient world at this point. Most of these are in the Middle East, in Asia Minor, in and around Greece, etc. But if you've ever done any travel to any of these areas or you've done any kind of online exploration in some of these areas and these ruins, you've likely seen a great deal of former cities that are in the process of being excavated. They dig down into the soil and as they do that, they uncover whole structures. Sometimes there isn't much of a structure left because they build newer buildings and cities over the top of the old ones. In fact, as you dig down, sometimes you find these older structures in these cities. Sometimes historically, they would scavenge parts and pieces from some ruins and build new ruins. In fact, the Agia Sophia is made up of a bunch of ruins from the Temple of Artemis, for example. They carted them off and ultimately rebuilt this other piece. So that happened frequently. But in areas with former Greek culture, frequently, older buildings that are on the outskirts of town dot the landscape and as the years went on and the things were filled in by dirt and detritus, as they've excavated them down, they've been largely intact.

One of the things that stands out immediately as you begin to see these pictures, I hope it's standing out to you immediately, is that when you explore these ancient ruins, as the years have taken their toll, the walls and the ceilings have collapsed, but the pillars of these ancient buildings remain. These pillars remain standing, despite the building itself around it crashing down. You know, a pillar is really any isolated vertical structure that's used to provide structural support to a building. They're load-bearing. They're designed to help distribute the weight of the lintel and the superstructure that's above it. They distribute it down into the bottom of the ground there and provide the distribution of those loads. Frequently in ancient modern construction, many successive pillars are often used to hold up the weight of bridges and buildings and aqueducts and other structures. The pillars of the building remain because of the material that they're made from. And due to being built on such a solid base to support the weight of the building, they frequently withstand the kinds of typical forces that bring the rest of the building down. Unless they've been specifically ransacked or they've fallen victim to earthquakes or other forces, the pillars remain. That's the title of the sermon today, The Pillars Remain. You know, and as this slideshow cycles through, Mr. Consello, when it go ahead and ends, go ahead and just close it out once it's done. I just wanted to provide a little bit of a visual here as you look around these ruins and you see these pillars that are in place. If you would begin today, we'll turn over to the book of Revelation. Revelation 3 and the apostle John records a promise that God made as he went through the process as Christ here revealed to the church in Philadelphia. This promise that was provided to them if they continued to overcome. So if they went through this process of continuing to overcome, then this promise was provided to them in verse 11 and it was given to them that this would be what God gave them as a result.

Revelation 3 and verse 11 says, Behold, I am coming quickly. It says, Hold fast to what you have.

That no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, it says, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God. And it says, I will write on him my new name. God promises those who overcome that he will make him pillar in the temple of my God. It's Christ's promise to those in Philadelphia and ultimately contextually down through history, those of us who would come out forever. And brethren, that promise is eternal. It's forever. It says, and they will go out no more. That is an eternal promise from God. The word that's used here in this passage for pillar or column, sometimes they're interchangeable, at least in the way the Greek is used is the word stylos. It's S-T-Y-L-O-S and it's a word that describes a literal and a figurative pillar in varying contexts that the word is used. In this circumstance in particular, referring to individuals in the Church of God, it is figurative. You know, it's using a figurative thing that these individuals will be likened unto pillars. They will be likened unto columns in the temple of God. And we see this word used in the book of Galatians at times to describe leaders within the Church of God. People who, through their example, through their manner of living, through the office potentially, led in some way in the Church. Let's turn over to Galatians 2. As we kind of establish the background of this word and the way that it's used in Scripture, Galatians 2, you know, we'll start to begin there here with this with this examination of this particular word. You know, the Apostle Paul began working with the Church in Galatia. He experienced some challenges melding a Gentile population and a Jewish population. You know, there were culture, there was tradition, there was animosity, there were difficulties unifying this group of individuals that God was calling at this time. And so Paul writes, beginning in Galatians 2 and verse 6, Galatians 2 and verse 6, he says, but from those who seem to be something, whatever it were, it makes no difference to me, God shows personal favoritism to no man. For those who seem to be something added nothing to me, Paul writes. Verse 7, but on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter, for he who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles. And let me see in verse 9, and when James, Cephas, and John, so Cephas being Peter and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. So were James and Cephas and John literal pillars? No, no, they were figurative pillars in that sense. They were leaders in the church of God. They were leaders who provided support. They provided a foundation to the church at that time. And at the time that this is written, it's likely that the James that he's referring to, the brother of Christ, who was the pastor in Jerusalem, this is likely written in the late 40s AD. So either it's referencing a time prior when James, the son of Zebedee, had come prior to Herod's killing of James, or he's referencing the half-brother of Christ who was the pastor in Jerusalem, and of course Peter and John who were part of the 12. But these individuals, these pillars in the congregation, these pillars in the church were individuals who bore the load.

They bore the load. They supported the structure. They bore witness to God, which is part of why Paul was so upset in the book of Galatians. And we see him describe his frustration, because these leaders were upholding tradition. They were upholding the tradition of their elders and not recognizing what it was God was doing, not recognizing that they were leaders. And ultimately the congregations took their cues from them, that their example impacted the congregations both positively and negatively. Frequently in ancient times, columns had inscriptions or freezes, art on them. They carried a message in some way through that art or through that written word. And so when we see that reference to an inscription in the passage in Revelation 3, that God will write on these pillars his new name, we know that they will bear that name going forward. If you turn over briefly to 1 Kings 7, we'll see an example here of the first temple that Solomon built. Again, building the background as to these pillars before we get into this idea that we're going to go forward with today. 1 Kings 7 and verse 1. The temple that Solomon built, the first temple, contained a great deal of pillars. There were a lot of pillars in the first temple. In fact, there was an entire hall of pillars, a whole hall of them of pillars that we see contained in that building that is very specifically referenced in addition to two great huge pillars that stood outside of the temple, covered in inscriptions and art and decorative elements that told a story. And so when Christ reveals these words to the church in Philadelphia, this would be an analogy that made perfect sense to them at that time. They would have understood the pillars. They would have seen at that time or at least read of since it was later and after the temple had been destroyed, but at least had seen or perhaps knew of all the colonnades and all the pillars that were involved even at Herod's temple ultimately when it had been rebuilt, the second temple. So 1 Kings 7, we'll pick it up in verse 1. 1 Kings 7 and verse 1. But Solomon took 13 years. Solomon took 13 years to build his own house and so he finished all of his house. This is 1 Kings 7 and verse 1.

He also built the house of the forest of Lebanon. Its length was 100 cubits, its width 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits with four rows of cedar pillars and cedar beams on the pillars. It was paneled with cedar above the beams that were on 45 pillars, 15 to a row.

There were windows with beveled frames in three rows and window was opposite window in three tiers and all the doorways and doorposts had rectangular frames and window was opposite window in three tiers. So we see that there's a hall of the forest of Lebanon here and it's made of the cedar of Lebanon, right? This wood, this beautiful wood in that area that they used for a number of construction purposes.

That there were many pillars, four rows of cedar pillars and then cedar beams on those pillars. He goes on and he says he also made the hall of pillars. So that wasn't the hall of pillars. Oh no, this is the hall of pillars. It says he made the hall of pillars. Its length was 50 cubits, its width was 30 cubits, and in front of them was a portico with pillars and a canopy was in front of them. Then he made a hall for the throne, the hall of judgment where he might judge and it was paneled from cedar from floor to ceiling and the house where he dwelled had another court inside the hall of like worksmanship.

Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter whom he had taken, his wife, and so he set up this establishment. He also sets up the temple with all these pillars and all these things and so you see these pillars throughout construction methods at that point in time.

All of these were of costly stones cut to size, trimmed with saws inside and out from the foundation to the eaves and also on the outside to the great court. The foundation was of costly stones, large stones, some 10 cubits and some eight cubits, and above were costly stones hewn to size and of cedar wood. The great court was enclosed with three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams.

So were the inner court of the house of the lord and the vestibule of the temple. So we see this system, we see what was here. We had all these pillars in place. This hall of pillars was 50 cubits long, so using an 18 inch cubit that's about 75 feet long. It was about 30 cubits wide, which is about 45 feet in width, and in the front of that hall was a pillar with the portico full of pillars or in front of the hall of pillars rather, was a portico, kind of a porch, a little rounded area there with pillars and a canopy that ultimately came out in front of those.

Verse 15 goes on, verse 15 continues, says he cast two pillars of bronze, each one 18 cubits high and a line of 12 cubits measured the circumference of each. Then he made two capitals of cast bronze to set on tops of the pillars. The height of one capital was five cubits, the height of the other capital was five cubits. He made a lattice network with reeds of chain work for the capitals that were on top of the pillars, seven chains for one capital, seven for the other capital.

He made the pillars in two rows of pomegranates above the network all around to cover the capitals that were on top, and thus he did for the other capital. The capitals which were on top of the pillars in the hall were in the shape of lilies, four cubits. The capitals on the two pillars also had pomegranates above by the convex surface which was next to the network, and there were 200 such pomegranates in rows on each of the capitals all around. Then he set up the pillars by the vestibule of the temple. He set up the pillar on the right and he called its name Yaqim.

He set up the pillar on the left and he called its name Boaz. The tops of the pillars were in the shape of lilies, and so the work of the pillars was finished. Here we see this construction method that is utilized here. We see that inside the temple where all of these pillars used to support the process, they were these halls, these various things, rows upon rows upon rows of these pillars that were holding up this structure.

And then out front we see these two huge pillars, these two great pillars that were set up. Boaz and Yaqim by name. Boaz means in its in it is strength. Yaqim means he shall establish. Both of these pillars were nearly 30 feet tall, nearly six feet across. Can you imagine this the grandiose nature of these pillars as you think about this? The upper portion of the pillar, the capital, was in the shape of lilies.

It had a lattice network and chain work, all this art and beauty. The pillars had two rows of pomegranates to cover the capitals. He said 200 pomegranates, you know, that surround these capitals. You know, pomegranate was a symbol that was used on the robes of the priesthood as well in the temple and it's likely a metaphor of the richness of the promised land of Israel.

These two pillars, Boaz and Yaqim, standing before the temple would have been imposing.

If you think about walking up to or near these things, you see the sunlight glinting off of the bronze. These things tower three stories above you, 30 feet above you. You know, they're nearly six feet across, edge to edge. It would have been beautiful. They would have sent a message. They would have bore testament to God. They would have provided support. They would have provided a load bearing capacity. You know, these things were incredible to be able to look at and to see.

Now ultimately, these two pillars were taken down. Boaz and Yaqim, we see the story in Jeremiah 52. The Chaldeans destroyed it. They broke up the bronze. They carted them off and the two pillars, Boaz and Yaqim, were never replaced. The second temple did not have them and the third temple did not have them, at least in the capacity that they were at that time. And so there's no record of them being restored or rebuilt during Zerubbabel's time. You know, this symbology of these pillars, this symbology of these pillars, this idea of the message contained on them with their names, is that the temple of God would be established through a result of the strength of God. That is what would establish the temple. And that's not just looking physically. That's looking on into the distance to a permanent spiritual temple. So during the time when the Chaldeans destroyed these particular columns, that's the end of their story physically. That's the end of the story of these two pillars physically. But scripture records their existence for us, provides us with an understanding of what they stood for, what they represented. And in that sense, even though they are physically gone, the pillars remain. Even though they're physically gone, the pillars remain in that sense. Hebrews 11 records a number of these pillars throughout the history of the faith. We won't turn and read through Hebrews 11. We'll reference it. You're welcome to. You can skim through as we talk about this. These are individuals that we see in scripture who are no longer physically with us. These are individuals who are gone. But the record of their existence is recorded for us in scripture. Their lessons, their examples, they speak to us through the pages of scripture, down through history, through the thousands of years, and they teach us even today.

These are individuals like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah Moses, Samson, Gideon, Barak, and the like. And you know what's incredible about Hebrews 11, there are so many other pillars of faith in that chapter who are unnamed. We don't know their names. We see what they went through. We see the challenges that they faced. We see their great faith in the face of impossible circumstances. I'm convinced, this is maybe a little bit of my own personal speculation here, but I'm convinced that as time goes on there will be many more names added to this list of the faithful throughout the years. What made these individuals pillars are where I'd like to spend the rest of our time today. What made these individuals pillars is what I'd like to spend the rest of our time on today. What constitutes a pillar in the temple of God or in the church of God. We saw in Revelation 3, overcoming is something that's necessary, at least in that promise to the church of Philadelphia. That ongoing change from our carnal human nature to godly character is absolutely necessary. But what else? What can we learn from the pillars that remain? First point I'd like to address today and to look at today is this idea that a pillar is built on a solid foundation. The pillar is built on a solid foundation. Pillars in the ancient world were traditionally built on a solid stone base. Big thick heavy solid stone base. Structurally you will not see columns that have been placed directly on the ground. Directly straight into the ground. You will not see that in ancient construction. And if you do see that it would be shocking because most of those pillars have fallen over. You know they just don't have the ability to stay standing when you have moving soil like that taking place underneath. Because of settling, because of shifting of the ground, the earth ends up causing that pillar to shift and that pillar to tip as time goes on because it undermines the structure that it was supporting. If the stone base were on top of compacted ground, solidly compacted ground, that stone base was set and it was leveled and it was plumbed and it was in good shape with regards to those things. You could lay a stone column on top of that and that stone column would sit. And in some cases the pictures we saw earlier would remain for thousands of years. Despite rumblings of the ground, despite you know other things that took place, those pillars remained. Now that pillar could ultimately hold up a whole lot more and be a whole lot more capable as well if there were other pillars surrounding it. Right? I mean you don't rarely see one pillar in and of itself. There's usually more and more and more pillows, pillars available that remain also. The bottom of the pillar had a structure called a plinth. That's the term used for it. It's a plinth and it set that plinth at the very bottom or the very top of that large solid block of stone. That plinth and base together make what we would call the base of the column or the pillar and it provided all the necessary structural stability for that pillar to be supported. For those pillars that are still standing in ancient ruins today, in those that we saw on the pictures that we saw at the beginning, those pillars were built on an incredibly strong, immovable, not moving foundation. That foundation did not shift markedly over the years. It continued to provide the necessary stabilization for that pillar to remain standing for in some cases several thousand years.

Turn with me please to the book of 1 Corinthians. Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians. We're going to pick it up in 1 Corinthians 3, 9 with an analogy that the Apostle Paul builds to kind of determine the importance of the strength of this foundation, the strength of this solid stone block, so to speak, upon which our lives must be built and upon which the lives of pillars are built. 1 Corinthians 3, and we'll pick it up in verse 9. This particular analogy is one that Paul shares with those in Corinth. Corinth had his challenges, you know, it ultimately had difficulties as a church in a variety of ways, but Paul builds this analogy beginning in 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 9. 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 9. He says, for we are God's fellow workers, we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field. He says to the Corinthians, you are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise master builder, Paul says, I have laid the foundation and another builds on it, but let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold or silver or precious stones, he says, with wood, hay or straw, each one's work will become clear, for the day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. He goes on in verse 14, if anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Now Paul speaks to this foundation upon which our lives are built. He speaks that it is not his foundation, it's Christ's, is the foundation. Paul is laying the foundation for Corinth. He's coming in and providing Christ to those in Corinth. He's providing his teachings, he's providing his way of life, he's laying that foundation in Corinth, but the foundation is not Paul. Paul is not the foundation. Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which they are building their lives. He points out that our lives and everything contained therein for us to be stable, for us to be strong, for us to be able to last thousands of years and remain standing. They have to be built in this way upon a proper foundation.

And it brings out the idea Paul does here with Corinth that when we build on that immovable and unshakable foundation of Jesus Christ, that we cannot be moved. He asks the question of those in Corinth through his writing almost rhetorically, are we building that column, so to speak, or that pillar? Are we building with materials that last? Or are we building with materials that are temporary and will not last? Going back to Solomon's example, you know one of the realities of the ancient world is often these ancient buildings were torched. And so you look back and you hear you've got this hall of pillars that were built, a bunch of stone pillars, and then you have the hall of forests, you have the hall of cedars with all these beautiful cedar beams and cedar things. When the Chaldeans came in and destroyed things, the hall of cedars would have burned because that material is not going to last long term with fire, whereas the stone will. The stone will, unless it's again ransacked, knocked down, torn apart. But often wars took place, fire was used to destroy cities and buildings were often burned. One of the reasons that in those pictures we saw at the beginning, you don't see roofs, you don't see anything on top of these pillars, is frequently there were wooden structures up there. The roofs were wooden, you know they had a wooden latticework, so to speak, that they then put away and those would be burned away leaving only the stone work or even if they weren't burned wooden structures rot with time. And they collapse and they fall down. And so the wooden structures that make the roofs of those ancient buildings are no longer there. What Paul gets at is this idea that the materials that last, the materials that are imperishable, the work that endures so to speak, is the precious materials that he mentions earlier. Gold, silver, precious stones, and we might even by implication there add marble, you know something that doesn't burn in that sense, something that doesn't, isn't destroyed through corruption, through fire. But he brings this idea to bear that if that remains after all of those years, if that pillar remains standing, if that work endures, that they'll receive the reward. They'll receive the promise that God has provided.

And then Paul in verse 16 brings that reward to bear. He brings the idea of what is that reward and what does that look like. He talks about the temple of God that is being built, our part in it as a house for his spirit. In verse 16 it says, do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple is holy, which temple you are. God has built a spiritual temple with his people, a spiritual building with his people as living stones. They're being brought together, they're being fitted, they're being you know into this spiritual temple. Ultimately we have an individual temple to the Spirit of God. We have collectively a spiritual house that Peter references in 1st Peter 2 that we're being built together as. In fact let's turn over there. Let's go to 1st Peter 2. We'll look at that particular section here and see what Peter describes and how Peter describes it. 1st Peter 2, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 4 of 1st Peter 2.

Again pillars, pillars are built on a foundation. They're built on something that is strong, something that's not moving, something that doesn't shift and change. Oops, Peter back in the book Ben. 1st Peter 2, we'll pick it up in verse 4. It says, coming to him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men but chosen by God and precious. You also as living stones are being built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame.

He's quoting there Isaiah 28 and verse 16. He goes on, he says, therefore to you who believe, he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. That's Psalm 118 and verse 22, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, which is Isaiah 8 and verse 14. It says, they stumble being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. He goes on and he says, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but now are the people of God who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

So Peter here is writing to his audience, you know, his general audience, those that are dispersed in the diaspora up into Asia Minor, but these words are also meant for us down through time as to what it is that God is doing in our lives, the calling he's giving us opportunity to. Jesus Christ is both the foundation and the cornerstone. He's both. He is what we are building upon.

He is what we are aligning ourselves to. For those that maybe are not familiar with Mason reconstruction, I think we've mentioned this before in other messages, the first stone that gets laid in the process is the cornerstone. Once you've got your ground prepared, once the foundation is set in that place, the cornerstone is laid, it is leveled, it is plumbed, it is oriented in such a way that every other line is then drawn off of that stone. You draw the line off of the corner out to the other corner, you draw this line out to that corner, you make certain that everything is in line and you begin your wall, you set your other corners, and then you have a square building that is level and is plumb, all which are important if you want your building to remain standing, right?

I'm not a Mason, it would not be level, it would not be plumb, it would not be square. Thankfully, there are people who know how to do that work, that person is not me. I can tell you intellectually the process, but doing it is a whole other story. So for us to be able to have that foundation, for us to be able to have that cornerstone on which is what that which is built and ultimately aligned, the only way that that remains immovable, unshakable, is for us to build on a foundation that doesn't move, that doesn't shake, that doesn't shift, that doesn't change, and that is Jesus Christ.

A pillar is built upon a solid foundation. If that pillar is going to remain, if thousands of years later we're going to see that pillar still standing in the in spite of those ruins, so to speak, the pillars that remain are built on the unshakable foundation of Jesus Christ. Pillars also bear loads, they provide support. Because of that solid foundation, a pillar can bear an incredible load.

Carl Kester got a phone call from me this morning to try to determine mathematically how I figure out the kind of load that can be on a pillar, and thankfully, as an engineer, he had a very quick and easy answer for me. Turns out, just to give you a perspective, marble, which is what most of those pillars and columns were made of, has a compressive strength of upwards to 20,000 psi. So you can put a pressure on it pressing down of upwards to 20,000 pounds per square inch, and it holds essentially.

Now that's the high end, it's between 10 and 20,000, but let's take the high end, we'll take a look at the high end there. When you have all other things accounted for, when you have all of the other aspects accounted for, a 12 inch square column, so 12 by 12 column, has 144 square inches in it. Every square inch of that column has a compressive strength of 20,000 pounds, which means that section of column, if you multiply it out, could hold just shy of 3 million pounds of pressure. Now, would you put 3 million pounds on top of a single column?

Of course not. No, of course not. You would put it on top of multiple columns and probably not 3 million pounds, but they're able to hold so much, they're able to bear so much, they're able to support so much, because that column, that pillar, is set on an unshakable foundation, which gives it strength.

No one in their right mind would load a single column with that kind of weight. It's why you see so many columns and pillars that are used in ancient construction and modern construction. They can hold a significant load. They take the load that's placed on them, they distribute those forces and that load to the ground, to be able to provide the necessary support for the structure above it, add more columns, you get more support, which is why you see so many columns throughout ancient ruins. Pillars bear loads and they provide support. Spiritually, pillars are able to bear the load that they bear and provide the support that they provide, because they know where their strength comes from.

They know where their strength comes from. That strength comes from the foundation upon which they are built, and the weight that they are holding and the load that they are bearing is distributed through them right down to that base. And that base is what is providing unwavering support and holding them up. Psalm 55 and verse 22, I'll just reference a couple of passages here. Psalm 55 and verse 22 says, cast your burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain you. He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. Matthew 11, verse 28 through 30, Christ tells his disciples, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. He says, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Why is his yoke easy? Why is his burden light? Because we rely upon him. We rely upon him. We put those burdens distributed down through the ground to that foundation. Isaiah 46, 3 through 4, it says, listen to me, O house of Jacob. It's again Isaiah 46, 3 through 4, all the remnant of the house of Israel who have been upheld by me from birth, who have been carried from the womb, even to your old age, I am he and even to gray hairs, I will carry you. I have made and I will bear even, I will carry and will deliver you.

God provides that bearing those burdens for us throughout our lives consistently.

It's through him that we're able to bear the load and provide support as we turn to him. And ultimately we're able to serve one another and carry and support one another as a result of that. Let's go over to Galatians 5. Galatians 5, we talked a little bit earlier about the challenges that Paul was having in Galatian or in Galatia rather, and the difficulties he was having in that congregation between individuals that were intersecting themselves into the new converts in Galatia's walk with God. Those individuals were coming from a different foundation, they're coming from a different place, they were coming from a foundation of tradition, they were coming from a foundation of the law, they were coming from a foundation that was not necessarily of Christ. And so what ultimately happened as they came in and they preached the need for circumcision, as they preached the traditions of the elders, Paul had individuals that were biting and devouring one another because of these challenges. And so within his admonishment of this behavior, we see an exhortation that speaks to the principle of support, that speaks to the principle of what gives us this strength and what enables us to be able to do these things. It's in Galatians 5 and verse 13. Galatians 5 and verse 13, it says in the midst again of this kind of admonishment against those that are doing this in Galatia, he says, For you, brethren, have been called to liberty. It says, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh. And here's the principle, but through love serve one another, for all the laws fulfilled in one word, even in this, that you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The very character of our God is love. The fundamental character of our God is love. His love is a huge aspect of that foundation upon which pillars are built. It's that love which gives them strength. It's that love which gives them the ability to serve and serve and serve and to support and to bear the load. It's that deep love that God has for his people for his people that gives us the ability to support in that way. Paul writes here, he says the law is fulfilled in one word, love your neighbor as yourself. And in doing so, you fulfill the love of God and the love of your neighbor by doing these things, right? This is love in action, serving one another, caring for one another. It's a deep love that God has for his people that carries our burdens. It's why he does that for us. It's why when we experience challenging times, and what a week, you know, what a week, when we experience challenging times, it is the love of God that strengthens us in those things. It's the love of God out poured from brethren, from others who come and hold us up and bear that load and strengthen us in the face of these challenges. It's through serving one another in love that we see the love of God in action.

Pillars bear the load and they provide support. Pillars bear the load and they provide support.

Lastly, pillars bear witness to what God is doing. Pillars bear witness to what God is doing. You think back to the photos that we began with today, those pillars still standing in those ancient ruins. One thing you can do with a little bit of imagination is imagine what that building looked like before it collapsed, because the placement of those pillars tell you a lot. Just like today, you know, there's frames, you know, there's members in walls, there's, you know, certain things, there's headers, there's jack studs, is that the right term, Mr. Miller? There's things that are there that are holding up headers, there's things that are holding up top plates, there's things that are in certain places. And so you see where these things are, even without the whole building put together, you can begin to envision what it looks like as a result of where these things are located. These pillars in the ancient ruins and even today in the buildings and the construction that takes place, they're a prominent feature in each of those buildings. They don't stand out purposefully. They don't stand out purposefully. It's not the pillars not doing it for the pillars sake, the pillars not standing out purposefully, but their location in these prominent places is what enables the building to stand. It's what enables the building to stand. You think about the need for covered porches. You think about the need for covered walkways. If you're going to have a covered walkway, you're going to have to have a column on one side and a column on the other and a whole row of them, right? So you see long narrow rows of columns. There was a covered walkway there at one point in time that enabled them to go from one place to the other out of the rain.

You see a column, two columns here and a few columns back. You can imagine the shape of that building just based on the placement of those columns. Just one placement of those pillars.

The columns and the pillars bore testament to the architecture. They bore witness to the design of the building. They weren't there because they were boasting of themselves, so to speak. They weren't there because they were superfluous. They weren't something just unnecessary and, well, I don't know what else to do. Put a column there. That's not what the design was. They were there for very purposeful reasons. Without them, the space couldn't have been utilized in the way that it was. When you saw a pillar, whether it was in the glory days of that building or even after, after the building itself had collapsed, you had a glimpse of the vision. You had a glimpse of what that architect and that designer was doing. You see those four pillars right there. There was an extended porch out over the top of that building from the other building behind it. There was an aspect of these things that were present in those places. You saw what the building was intended to be because you saw where the pillars were. Those columns bore testament to that design. Honestly, in some ways, archaeologically, when we go back and we look at these things, we only have some ideas as to what these buildings look like because of where the pillars are. We're working in reverse. We're looking at it's almost like fossil evidence. You're trying to work in reverse. We get that wrong a lot, but we're trying to work in reverse in that sense and re-engineer in our minds what this building looked like during that time. In the spiritual temple that we're being formed into, and this being brought into being by God, the presence of these pillars, their lives, their testimonies, help to give us a picture of what God is doing, helps to give us a picture and ultimately bear witness to the work that God has done in their own lives. Throughout Scripture, we're able to see the example of those whom God has worked with over the years. We go back and we can see a number of stories. In some cases, we're only privy to certain parts of their story. We're only privy to certain aspects, maybe one event from their life, but at other times, we have the opportunity to see the arc from beginning to middle to end. And we can see exactly what God did in that person's life during that time. In the case of Solomon, we have the Song of Solomon preserved. We see him as a younger man, so to speak. We have the wisdom of the Proverbs, and then we have the aged wisdom of Ecclesiastes. We see the way that his thought process changed as time went on. We see the events in his life. We see the things that he chose to do and the lessons that he learned from it. In the life of Abraham, we see his faith. We see his doubts.

We see his sins. And then we see him recorded as the father of the faithful. In the case of Peter, we see a brash, impetuous fisherman who denies his Lord and struggles with his place and his role, only to become one of the strongest advocates for Christ and ultimately for his way that we see in the New Testament. Paul goes from persecuting the people of God to converting Gentiles to come to Christ. We see the story. We see the arc. Each of their lives is a testament to what God is doing. Each of their lives is a testament to the vision of what God has in mind, what the building, so to speak, spiritually is intended to look like. And as we examine their lives, we see a picture of that building that God has created and is creating. In their example, we find meaning.

We find purpose. That ultimately God, through the process of election, through redemption, through sanctification, is preparing each of us to serve him and his people more fully.

That we have been called at this time with all of our bumps and warts and bruises, to be bought back from sin and death through the blood of Jesus Christ. And for God to work with us through his spirit, sanctifying us in accordance with his will. In the lives of those who have come before, the pillars of ancient times, and the lives of those who are with us now, the pillars of this modern era, bear testament to what God is doing in our lives as a part of this plan. Let's turn over to Ephesians 1, just a page over here from where we left off in Galatians 5. Ephesians 1. Paul writes to the church in Ephesus the essence of what redemption in Christ means to us. What this redemption means. What it means for all of mankind, ultimately, as his plan progresses. Ephesians 1 will begin in verse 3. Ephesians 1 and verse 3 will read through verse 14. It says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he the Father chose us in him Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption, having selected us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. In him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things, according to the counsel of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of glory. In him you also trusted, after you heard the words of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. Brethren, we have been selected. We have been called to become holy, to become without blame, before God in love. We have been adopted to become a part of his family. We have that redemption available to us through the blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Through him we have obtained this inheritance. We were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. That spirit is the earnest payment, so to speak, the guarantee of our redemption of what God intends to fully purchase. And as such, we need to keep in mind and never forget that God is working in our lives to operate a similar arc. We look at these stories of the greats of scripture. We look at these stories of the pillars of the Old Testament, the pillars of faith that we see in the New Testament and in scripture. God is working in our lives to the same arc as he was working in theirs. That we will come from where we have been called, the place in which we found ourselves, to the point of becoming pillars in his temple as we overcome. And in doing so, our lives will also be an example to future generations as they see us yield ourselves to God. As God grinds off that pointy outer exterior that we sometimes have and brings us to become more like him.

Pillars bear witness to what God is doing. I'm sure many of you can reflect back over the years, both back to your first few years as part of the faith, maybe to even today.

And I'm sure you can identify a number of pillars in your life, people who have been examples of this way of life. Now, I've been incredibly blessed over the years to know so many pillars of the faith, both in the Spokane congregation where I grew up and then here in Salem, Eugene and Roseburg, quite frankly, as God's given me opportunity to serve and meet people from all over the world more and more and more. I'm not even going to try to name them all because I'll forget someone.

There's just so many people that ultimately have given us examples of this way of life. And these pillars, they inevitably leave us.

Their earthly bodies give out as God has designed our bodies to do. They grow old and they die.

But they remain as a part of this spiritual building that God is building.

Their memory continues on for those of us that remain. They've received the promise that God has provided in Revelation 3 and verse 12 of becoming pillars in the spiritual temple that God is building. They have finished their race and they remain for us in the lessons that they taught us. They remain for us in the service and the love that they've shown us.

They remain in the care that they've put forth, the sacrifice and the support that they've provided to bear the load, to support the structure, to bear witness and to commemorate what God is done and is doing in the lives of his people. And as such, their example never leaves us.

Revelation 3 and verse 12, where we began today, encourages us to become pillars, to overcome, to put to death the sin in our lives, to draw nearer to him in order to become pillars in the temple of our God as well. That we might become the leaders he is making us into for service in the coming kingdom. That we might sacrifice to give our lives in service and support. That we might hold to that immovable foundation of God's truth through the teachings of Jesus Christ and the law of God, basing our life and our work upon it as God calls us to serve him. And that we might learn from one another's example as God bears witness to his plan through our lives and ultimately through its arc. You know, as we've learned in such a challenging way these past few weeks, pillars in our lives won't be around forever. They won't. Hug a pillar today. Tell them what they mean to you. Tell them what they've done for you. Tell them how they've impacted your life. Thank them for being such a great example and for the lessons that they've taught you.

Brother, none of us, none of us are promised tomorrow. None of us are promised tomorrow.

But thankfully, whatever comes, however God chooses to move our lives and the lives of our brethren forward, one thing we can remember and be guaranteed, the pillars remain.