It is the Dhamma which is ever there, the unchanging ‘Norm of Existence’.
Buddhas come and go. Any particular Buddha only discovers and proclaims It. In fact the Buddha started with the Dhamma in the first verse quoted. Once one sees the Dhamma (a dhammanusari)then one sees the Buddha. Once one sees the Buddha (sadddhanusari) then one sees the Dhamma.
In my case, the general drift of the Teaching was already there in me. Only the details were missing.Then having grown in the Dhamma and having seen how it all makes absolute sense, that is where confidence in the Buddha happened. It can be the other way around with others. But in the end one becomes the other as well, depending on the disposition, or the gati, we may say.