(_For Christmas Day._)
xxxii. 2. _A man shall be as an hiding place, &c._
This is a very remarkable prophecy and promise, and at first sight
most strikingly at variance with almost every other declaration of
the Word of God, _e.g.,_ Isa. ii. 22; Ps. clxvi. 3; lxii. 8, 9; Jer.
xvii. 5. "A _man_ shall be as an hiding place from the wind!" A poor,
weak, helpless mortal, unable to protect himself from the wind and
tempest, shall _he_ be our refuge? Shall God's own Word command us to
leave the living Fountain, and betake ourselves in our necessities to
the broken cisterns of earth? Strange inconsistency, astonishing
contradiction to every other portion of God's Word? But who is this
Man? He of whom it is also written (Zech. xiii. 7; Phil. ii. 6); and
who is thus spoken of by the Spirit of God Himself, when predicting
the event of this day (Isa. ix. 6). It is the Lord Jesus Christ,
then, who reveals Himself in the words before us under two striking
similitudes; the first of which regards His people's safety, and the
second their consolations.
+I. As regards their safety:+ "hiding place from the wind, covert
from the tempest." Picture to yourself one of those scenes which
Eastern travellers paint, when they describe the passage of a caravan
across some dreary desert, where, throughout the long day's journey,
there is no house, no rock, no tree to afford a moment's shade or
shelter. The wind suddenly rises, the lightning glares, and in the
distance are beheld gigantic columns of sand, raised and kept
together in such vast masses by the whirlwind that drives them
towards the poor bewildered travellers, who behold in them at once
their destruction and their grave. In vain do they attempt to fly; as
vain were all thoughts of resistance. Before the shortest prayer is
finished, that multitude that was just now full of life and
animation, is hushed in silence; every heart has ceased to beat; the
simoom of the desert has passed over them, and the place they
occupied is scarcely to be distinguished from the surrounding plain.
This is no flight of the imagination, but a simple statement of a
fact of not unfrequent occurrence. Now imagine in such a scene with
what feelings these alarmed and flying travellers would greet "a
hiding-place" and "a covert." If a rock of adamant, a barrier which
neither sand, nor wind, nor tempest could beat down or overleap,
should suddenly spring up between them and those swiftly advancing
columns of death, what would be their feelings of joy, their thoughts
of gratitude, their language of praise! Who can imagine the heartfelt
cry of thanksgiving to God which would arise from that vast multitude
at so complete, so merciful, so unhoped-for a deliverance? With such
feelings should we "behold the Man" of whom I speak to-day. We stood
in as great a danger. Our sins had raised a tempest of the wrath of
God, against which the whole created host of heaven would in vain
have attempted to erect a barrier. But our Lord has wrought a
deliverance for us as much needed, as unexpected, as complete. He has
interposed between us and the mighty "wind," the appalling "tempest,"
which justly threatened our destruction. Let us who have found
shelter in Christ rejoice in Him, and be glad this day because of the
quietness we enjoy. Let those who are still outside the great
"Hiding-Place," the wondrous "Covert" which God's mercy has provided,
remember that an unapplied Saviour is no Saviour. Their peril has
been in no sense lessened by His advent. In the gladness of this day
they can have no share.
+II. His people's consolation.+ "As rivers of water in a dry place,
as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Before we had symbols
of _safety;_ here we have symbols of _consolation._ 1. _God's people
often feel that this world is a dry and barren place and thirst for
consolation and succour._ That which they thirst for, they may find
in Christ. He is not merely a river, but (so abundant are His
consolations) "rivers of water" to them that are fainting under the
trials, anxieties, or distresses of the world. But it is not enough
that the river is running at your feet; you must know it is there,
you must drink of its waters, or they will not assuage your thirst.
In Hagar sitting down in utter hopelessness and helplessness, when
near her there was an abundant supply of water for herself and her
child (Gen. xxi. 15-19), we have an emblem of too many distressed and
sorrowful Christians. "_Rivers_ of water" are flowing past you:
arise, and drink! (Rev. xxii. 17). 2. _God's people are often faint
and weary as they pursue their earthly pilgrimage._ But during every
stage of it they may "renew their strength," and so be enabled to
persevere until at length "they stand in Zion before God," for Christ
is "as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Don't be
satisfied with just coming _within the range of the shadow_ of the
Rock; there are in the Rock recesses where you may find a complete
shelter and a sweeter rest. Enter into them. Cultivate a closer
fellowship with Christ. So in every stage of your journey you shall
have not only strength, but joy (Isaiah xxxv. 10).--_H. Blunt, A.M.:
Posthumous Sermons,_ pp. 23-42.
The "Man" here referred to is the Divine Redeemer--the one theme of
the Bible. "Hiding-place" and "covert" express substantially the same
idea--shelter, defence, safety, deliverance from both actual and
impending evil. Jesus Christ in this broad and comprehensive sense is
the Refuge of His people. Fleeing to Him, men find protection, &c.
+I. Christ is a refuge in the day of earthly disappointment.+ Human
life full of disappointments. Few of our anticipations of good
realised. Our fondest and most sacredly cherished hopes blighted. The
world deceives men: it is not what it seems to be, it does not
satisfy the desires it awakens. The god of this world is the master
spirit of lying and deception, and he so manages the shifting scenes
as to keep up the deception until the last. So with (_a_) the man of
business, (_b_) those who aspire to earthly honour, fame, power,
(_c_) the student, (_d_) the pleasure-seeker. To these children of
disappointment, Christ is a refuge; He has Himself felt the ills of
life (Heb. iv. 15, 16). There is a "hiding-place" where the fury of
life's storms never comes; the God of mercy offers eternal life in
the Gospel. Forsaken, disheartened, disappointed men may still be
accepted of Christ, and find peace and rest in Him.
+II. Christ is a Refuge in time of affliction.+ This is a world of
sorrow and suffering; men turn from it in disgust and anguish to seek
relief elsewhere, or to weep life away in sadness and darkness. Now
Christ alone is available in just such an hour. When the world turns
its back upon us, there is a Friend who sticketh closer than a
brother--one born for adversity--a shield and a deliverer in the day
of affliction. We may not be able to explain the philosophy of the
thing, but the soul that looks to Christ is so sustained as to
rejoice in the tribulation, and the heaviest burden is lightened and
made a blessing.
+III. Christ is a Refuge in the day of trial.+ It pleases the Lord to
make full proof of His people. He puts their love, fidelity, and
integrity to the test. God tries (_a_) our faith, (_b_) hope,
(_c_) patience, (_d_) principles. And in His day of fiery trial our
only safety is in the "hiding-place" of Divine mercy--we need the
"covert" of the Almighty wings. None but Christ is able to give the
soul confidence in such days and hours.
+IV. Christ is a Refuge in the day of fear.+ Sin is darkness, and
hence wherever there is sin there is gloom and fear. The wicked man
is a slave to fear, and even the Christian at times suffers greatly
because of it. The remedy for this gloomy experience is in Christ;
and there is a power in the Gospel to lift the soul into a region of
perpetual sunshine. In Christian experience, peace, joy, and hope are
the ministering angels (Hab. iii. 17, 18).
+V. Christ is a Refuge from the torments of an accusing conscience.+
The day of self-convicted guilt always a day of memorable
experiences. Conscience upbraids, justice demands satisfaction; the
soul is ready to sink into hell. Whose arm can save you in such an
hour? where shall he seek refuge? in that hour none but Christ can
save.
+VI. Christ is a Refuge in the day of final wrath.+ The wrath to
come--the just, final, and eternal wrath of God--a reality, a fixed
fact in thought and experience. Jesus Christ is a refuge from this
impending evil. The Cross lifted up on Calvary has received the
thunder; God and the believer in Jesus Christ are reconciled. What,
then, have they to fear whose life is hid in Christ? Death cannot
harm, the judgment-day need not terrify.
Glorious Refuge! it never fails--is never shut against the penitent
soul--has never been shaken--and will yet resist the fire and deluge
of the great day of wrath. This is the Ark, and they are eternally
safe who are therein.--_J. M. Sherwood: National Preacher,_ 1859, p.
217.