Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness (2 Tim 2:19)."

When Paul was alive, there still stood, in Jerusalem, the second temple which was rebuilt at the time of Haggai the prophet. “God’s solid foundation” that he spoke of was the foundation stone of this temple. The Ark of the Covenant with the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written was carried into the first temple that Solomon built, and we assume that it was there until the destruction of the temple. And when the Jews returned from the captivity and built the second temple, they did not have the ark. According to Mishhah (Yoma 5:2), in place of the ark, a stone called, Shetiyyah (it was three fingerbreadths high), was placed in the Most Holy Place. And upon it, on the Day of Atonement, the priest put a censer with which he burnt incense by taking fire from the altar. And according to Paul, an inscription was engraved upon the stone, saying, "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

Behind all these lies the story of Korah and his followers who turned, with pride, against Moses and Aaron seeking to get the priesthood. Moses said to them:

In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him (Num 16:5).

And when they stood at the entrance to their tents, the ground directly underneath them split and swallowed them alive. Fire was also sent from the Lord, and killed the 250 men who followed Korah. The ones who belonged to God were separated from the ones who did not. Just before this happened, God warned the whole assembly saying:

Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins (v. 26).

Then, Gold told Moses to gather all the censors with which the 250 men offered incense, and hammered them out to make a covering (or screen) for the altar. And he did so. On the following day, the whole assembly came to Moses and Aaron, and said, “You have killed the Lord’s assembly.” This time, before they began to intercede, the Lord’s judgment fell upon the whole assembly, and they began to die. So, Moses told Aaron to take his censor and put incense in it, along with fire from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. And when he did it, the Lord’s judgment stopped.

He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped (v. 48).

All these point to the atonement accomplished through Jesus Christ. He stood between the heaven, which is full of God’s life and glory, and the earth, which was full of death and destruction, and offered himself upon the altar. The incense burnt by the fire taken from this altar has come up as a memorial offering before God. The redemption of humanity is now complete! It is all by God’s grace, and the salvation now depends on us who accept it or do not accept it. Surely, “the Lord knows those who are his,” and let us “turn away from wickedness.”