We have a phrase 'It's not written in stone' meaning that it's not permanent, or still open to discussion or changeable. When it gets 'written in stone', it becomes permanent, and unchangeable, and will last forever. Thus we engrave our lives on our gravestones, so that that much of us will remain forever. However a trip to an old Cemetery will quickly prove that not to be true! The old Gothic cathedrals that I've been visiting also show this to be true. The builders of these houses of God chose the most permanent material around so that they would last forever. And they built with their greatest skill to give the greatest glory to God. They probably knew that time and weather would take their toll even on stone, they didn't count on the destructiveness of man; on such beauty being intentionality destroyed by man. Men, during the Protestant revolt, intentionally knocking heads off statues and defacing them, others, during the French Revolution, turning churches into stables and workshops, and others, during war, dropping bombs; just to name a few low points of human history. No, not even stone is permanent. And maybe that is as it should be. Yes I rejoice in seeing what has endured of these ancient wonders, and dream of their lost splendors, but God hasn't designed this world, or the things in it, even stone, to last forever! He has made us for His Kingdom, for the New Jerusalem, which will last forever, and where we will live forever in His glory.
