“A man shall be as an hiding-place.”―Isaiah 32:2.
THE entrance of God’s Son into this world proved the crowning test as to how far man under probation was able to respond to the righteous claims of God. Other tests there had been, for the long-suffering of God waited upon His sinful and rebellious creatures (Ex. 34:6; Matt. 21:33-39; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 3:15). But each successive test only demonstrated the utter inability of man after the flesh to produce one bit of fruit for God; nay, more, it brought to light the solemn fact that man, under the most favorable conditions, and exalted to heaven with privileges, was in a state of enmity and complete alienation from God (Isa. 5:2-4; Matt. 11:20-24, 26:48-49, 28:11-50; Rom. 8:6-8). Jews and Gentiles, rulers, priests, scribes, soldiers, and common people joined hands in casting out of this world the “sent one” of God (Acts 4:23-28). But the death of Jesus was the closing up, as before God, of man’s sinful history as born of Adam; and, consequently, an end of His dealings with man under probation.
In the resurrection of Christ a NEW DAY was inaugurated, and the first Gospel message from a risen and triumphant Saviour was conveyed to the Jerusalem sinners, who deliberately preferred a murderer to the Holy Son of God (Luke 23:18).
Reader, who, think you, but a Being of infinite love and grace could have devised such a way of making His heart known to lost and bankrupt sinners? And still the glad message is being heralded forth, proclaiming to the hungry and thirsty and sin-laden children of men the wondrous fact that redemption IS ACCOMPLISHED; that God has been glorified in the death of Jesus; and the mighty Victor is enthroned in power and glory at the right hand of God (Eph. 1:20-23). And it is to you, poor, needy, helpless sinner, whatever your past history may have been, that Jesus the Saviour is presented today. It is not a creed, or a doctrine, but a Living Person who is the subject-matter of the Gospel (Rom. 1:1-3). The verse quoted at the head of this paper speaks of “the winds” and “the tempest,” two powerful adverse forces to be reckoned with, sooner or later, by every reader of these pages. The “wind” may fitly represent the active energy of Satan arrayed against all that is of God (Job 1:18-19; Jer. 4:11-13; Matt. 14:30). Jesus went into the enemy’s stronghold, and in His death destroyed him that had the power of death. The “strong man armed” has been overcome by “a stronger than he” (Heb. 11:14-15; Luke 11:21-22). This is why, dear, anxious soul, He can be a present “Hiding-place” for you. And the same blessed Person voluntarily entered into the darkness and distance and abandonment, of Calvary; sustaining and exhausting there the holy judgment of God against sin (John 19:30; Rom. 8:3); that He might be able, righteously, to present Himself to every needy, distressed sinner, as a “covert from the tempest.”
“The storm that bowed Thy blessed head,
Is hush’d forever now.”
But the verse also speaks of a “dry place,” and a “weary land”: a twofold description of this world as we find it. No true, lasting pleasure is to be found “under the sun” (Eccl. 2:11). It is a “dry place.” The name of God is blasphemed, His beloved Son despised and “disallowed of men” (Isa. 53:3; 1 Peter 2:4-7). He Who came to express the grace of God to a fallen world, could speak of it as a “dry and thirsty land where no water is” (Psa. 63:1). Reader, listen: “If any man thirst, let him come unto ME, and drink” (John 7:37). The risen and glorified Christ is the dispenser of “living water,” the Giver of the “Holy Spirit” (John 4:14, 15:26). He alone can minister joy and satisfaction to the longing heart. Thirsty one, yield yourself unreservedly to Him Who is “as rivers of water in a dry place.” It is a “weary land.” Sin and sorrow and suffering abound. “Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). He Whose mission into this world was to “seek and to save that which was lost, ‘had no place to lay His head (Matt. 8:20). He could say: “I am weary of My crying: Mine eyes fail while I wait for My God” (Ps. 63:3). He knew what it was to weep with the sorrow-stricken children of men, and felt, as none other could, the havoc and desolation which sin had wrought in a groaning creation (John 11:35).
Reader, are you a mourner? “Blessed are they that mourn,” says Jesus, “for they SHALL be comforted” (Matt. 5:4). Lay your burden down at His feet, and like the weeping suppliant in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50), you will find, for the comfort and solace of your heart, that Jesus the Saviour will be to you the “shadow of a Great Rock in a weary land.”
Careless one, hitherto indifferent to the claims of God and the voice of your own conscience, we pass on a kindly message to you. Your sins deserve judgment, and you know that you must, one day, give an account of yourself to God (Rom. 14:12). The bare thought of that dread “reckoning day” has often filled you with alarm, and you have trembled as you thought of your dark history and the unsullied holiness of God. Friend, the day of grace will soon have run its course. “The Master of the house will then rise up and shut to the door” (Luke 13:25). The everlasting doom of all, outside of that closed door, will then be sealed. God has decreed that every knee shall bow to Jesus. The light of a MILLENNIAL DAY will presently dawn upon this world, and God’s glorious King shall reign in righteousness. His dominion shall be “from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth” (Psa. 72; Isa. 32:1). That same lowly, despised Nazarene Who could meekly endure the bitter taunts, and blows, and buffetings of His faithless creatures, that God’s Name might be glorified in a Man upon earth, shall wield the scepter and be owned as “Universal Lord.” Men say, “When will He die, and His Name perish?” God has said, “His Name shall endure forever. His Name shall be continued as long as the sun; all nations shall call Him blessed” (Psa. 72:17). But remember that before Christ’s millennial reign over the earth begins, the judgment of God will over sweep this guilty world, and the scene will be cleared of ALL who refuse to bow to the Name of Jesus.
Friend, hide yourself today under the safe covert of His wings. Listen to “God’s Glad Tidings,” and appropriate to yourself its countless blessings. “And a MAN shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest: as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” G. F. E.