Safety, Fulness, and Sweet
Refreshment in Christ
Isaiah
32:2
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.
In these words we may observe,
1. The person who is here prophesied of and
commended, viz. the Lord Jesus Christ, the King spoken of in the preceding
verse, who shall reign in righteousness. This King is abundantly prophesied of
in the Old Testament, and especially in this prophecy of Isaiah. Glorious
predictions were from time to time uttered by the prophets concerning that
great King who was to come: there is no subject which is spoken of in so
magnificent and exalted a style by the prophets of the Old Testament, as the
Messiah. They saw his day and rejoiced, and searched diligently, together with
the angels, into those things. I Peter 1:11, 12. "Searching what, or what
manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it
testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should
follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us, they
did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have
preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which
things the angels desire to look into."
We are told here that "a man shall be a
hiding-place from the wind," &c. There is an emphasis in the words,
that "a man" should be this. If these things had been said of God, it
would not be strange under the Old Testament; for God is frequently called a
hiding-place for his people, a refuge in time of trouble, a strong rock, and a
high tower. But what is so remarkable is, that they are said of "a
man." But this is a prophecy of the Son of God incarnate.
2. The things here foretold of him, and the
commendations given him. "He shall be a hiding-place from the wind, and a
covert from the tempest:" that is, he shall be the safety and defence of
his people, to which they shall flee for protection in the time of their danger
and trouble. To him they shall flee, as one who is abroad, and sees a terrible
storm arising, makes haste to some shelter to secure himself; so that however
furious is the tempest, yet he is safe within, and the wind and rain, though
they beat never so impetuously upon the roof and walls, are no annoyance unto
him.
He shall be as "rivers of water in a
dry place." This is an allusion to the deserts of Arabia, which was an
exceedingly hot and dry country. One may travel there many days, and see no
sign of a river, brook, or spring, nothing but a dry and parched wilderness; so
that travelers are ready to be consumed with thirst, as the children of Israel
were when they were in this wilderness, when they were faint because there was
no water. Now when a man finds Jesus Christ, he is like one that has been
traveling in those deserts till he is almost consumed with thirst, and who as
last finds a river of cool and clear water. And Christ was typified by the
river of water that issued out of the rock for the children of Israel in this
desert: he is compared to a river, because there is such a plenty and fulness
in him.
He is the "shadow of a great rock in a
weary land." Allusion is still made to the desert of Arabia. It is not
said, as the shadow of a tree, because in some places of that country, there is
nothing but dry sand and rocks for a vast space together, not a tree to be
seen; and the sun beats exceedingly hot upon the sands, and all the shade to be
found there, where travellers can rest and shelter themselves from the
scorching sun, is under some great rock. They who come to Christ find such rest
and refreshment as the weary traveller in that hot and desolate country finds
under the shadow of a great rock.
We propose to speak to three propositions
that are explicatory of the several parts of the text.
I. There is in Christ Jesus abundant
foundation of peace and safety for those who are in fear and danger. "A
man shall be a hiding-place from the wind, a covert from the tempest."
II. There is in Christ provision for the
satisfaction, and full contentment, of the needy and thirsty soul. He shall be
"as rivers of water in a dry place."
III. There are quiet rest and sweet
refreshment in Christ Jesus for him who is weary. He shall be "as the
shadow of a great rock in a weary land."
I. There is in Christ Jesus abundant
foundation of peace and safety for those who are in fear and danger.
The fears and dangers to which men are
subject, are of two kinds; temporal and eternal. Men are frequently in distress
from fear of temporal evils. We live in an evil world, where we are liable to
an abundance of sorrows and calamities. A great part of our lives is spent in
sorrowing for present or past evils, and in fearing those which are future.
What poor, distressed creatures are we, when God is pleased to send his
judgements among us! If he visits a place with mortal and prevailing sickness,
what terror seizes our hearts! If any person is taken sick, and trembles for
his life, or if our near friends are at the point of death, or in many other
dangers, how fearful is our condition! Now there is sufficient foundation for
peace and safety to those exercised with such fears, and brought into such
dangers. But Christ is a refuge in all trouble; there is a foundation for
rational support and peace in him, whatever threatens us. He, whose heart is
fixed, trusting in Christ, need not be afraid of any evil tidings. "As the
mountains are round about Jerusalem, so Christ is round about them that fear
him."
But it is the other kind of fear and danger
to which we have a principal respect; the fear and danger of God's wrath. The
fears of a terrified conscience, the fearful expectation of the dire fruits of
sin, and the resentment of an angry God, these are infinitely the most
dreadful. If men are in danger of those things, and are not asleep, they will
be more terrified than with the fears of any outward evil. Men are in a most
deplorable condition, as they are by nature exposed to God's wrath; and if they
are sensible how dismal their case is, will be in dreadful fears and dismal
expectations.
God is pleased to make some sensible of
their true condition. He lets them see the storm that threatens them, how black
the clouds are, and how impregnated with thunder, that it is a burning tempest,
that they are in danger of being speedily overtaken by it, that they have
nothing to shelter themselves from it, and that they are in danger of being
taken away by the fierceness of his anger.
It is a fearful condition when one is
smitten with a sense of the dreadfulness of God's wrath, when he has his heart
impressed with the conviction that the great God is not reconciled to him, that
he holds him guilty of these and those sins, and that he is angry enough with
him to condemn him for ever. It is dreadful to lie down and rise up, it is
dreadful to eat and drink, and to walk about, in God's anger from day to day.
One, in such a case, is ready to be afraid of every thing; he is afraid of
meeting God's wrath wherever he goes. He has no peace in his mind, but there is
a dreadful sound in his ears; his mind is afflicted and tossed with tempest,
and not comforted, and courage is ready to fail, and the spirit ready to sink
with fear; for how can a poor worm bear the wrath of the great God, and what
would not he give for peace of conscience, what would not he give if he could
find safety! When such fears exist to a great degree, or are continued a long
time, they greatly enfeeble the heart, and bring it to a trembling posture and
disposition.
Now for such as these there is abundant
foundation for peace and safety in Jesus Christ, and this will appear from the
following things:
1. Christ has undertaken to save all such
from what they fear, if they come to him. It is his professional business; the
work in which he engaged before the foundation of the world. It is what he
always had in his thoughts and intentions; he undertook from everlasting to be the
refuge of those that are afraid of God's wrath. His wisdom is such, that he
would never undertake a work for which he is not sufficient. If there were some
in so dreadful a case that he was not able to defend them, or so guilty that it
was not fit that he should save them, then he never would have undertaken for
them. Those who are in trouble and distressing fear, if they come to Jesus
Christ, have this to ease them of their fears, that Christ has promised them
that he will protect them; that they come upon his invitation; that Christ has
plighted his faith for their security if they will close with him; and that he
is engaged by covenant to God the Father that he will save those afflicted and
distressed souls that come to him.
Christ, by his own free act, has made
himself the surety of such, he has voluntarily put himself in their stead; and
if justice has any thing against them, he has undertaken to answer for them. By
his own act, he has engaged to be responsible for them; so that if they have
exposed themselves to God's wrath, and to the stroke of justice, it is not
their concern, but his, how to answer or satisfy for what they have done. Let
there be never so much wrath that they have deserved, they are as safe as if
they never had deserved any; because he has undertaken to stand for them, let
it be more or less. If they are in Christ Jesus, the storm does of course light
on him, and not on them; as when we are under a good shelter, the storm, that
would otherwise come upon our heads, lights upon the shelter.
2. He is chosen and appointed of the Father
to this work. There needs to be no fear nor jealousy, whether the Father will
approve of this undertaking of Christ Jesus, whether he will accept of him as a
surety, or whether he will be willing that his wrath should be poured upon his
own dear Son, instead of us miserable sinners. For there was an agreement with
him concerning it before the world was; it was a thing much upon God's heart,
that his Son Jesus Christ should undertake this work, and it was the Father
that sent him into the world. It is as much the act of God the Father as it is
of the Son. Therefore, when Christ was near the time of his death, he tells the
Father that he had finished the work which he gave him to do. Christ is often
called God's elect, or his chosen, because he was chosen by the Father for his
work; and God's anointed, for the words Messiah and Christ signify anointed,
because he is by God appointed and fitted for this work.
3. If we are in Christ Jesus, justice and
the law have its course with respect to our sins, without our hurt. The
foundation of the sinner's fear and distress is the justice and the law of God;
they are against him, and they are unalterable, they must have their course.
Every jot and tittle of the law must be fulfilled, heaven and earth shall be
destroyed, rather than justice should not take place; there is no possibility
of sin's escaping justice.
But yet if the distressed trembling soul who
is afraid of justice, would fly to Christ, he would be a safe hiding-place.
Justice and the threatening of the law will have their course as fully, while
he is safe and untouched, as if he were to be eternally destroyed. Christ bears
the stroke of justice, and the curse of the law falls fully upon him; Christ
bears all that vengeance that belongs to the sin that has been committed by
him, and there is no need of its being borne twice over. His temporal
sufferings, by reason of the infinite dignity of his person, are fully
equivalent to the eternal sufferings of a mere creature. And then his
sufferings answer for him who flees to him as well as if they were his own, for
indeed they are his own by virtue of the union between Christ and him. Christ
has made himself one with them; he is the head, and they are the members. Therefore,
if Christ suffers for the believer, there is no need of his suffering; and what
needs he to be afraid? His safety is not only consistent with absolute justice,
but it is consistent with the tenor of the law. The law leaves fair room for
such a thing as the answering of a surety. If the end of punishment in
maintaining the authority of the law and the majesty of the government is fully
secured by the sufferings of Christ as his surety, then the law of God,
according to the true and fair interpretation of it, has its course as much in
the sufferings of Christ, as it would have in his own sufferings. The
threatening, "thou shalt surely die," is properly fulfilled in the
death of Christ, as it is fairly to be understood. Therefore if those who are
afraid will go to Jesus Christ, they need to fear nothing from the threatening
of the law. The threatening of the law has nothing to do with them.
4. Those who come to Christ, need not be
afraid of God's wrath for their sins; for God's honour will not suffer by their
escaping punishment and being made happy. The wounded soul is sensible that he
has affronted the majesty of God, and looks upon God as a vindicator of his
honour; as a jealous God that will not be mocked, an infinitely great God that
will not bear to be affronted, that will not suffer his authority and majesty
to be trampled on, that will not bear that his kindness should be abused. A
view of God in this light terrifies awakened souls. They think how exceedingly
they have sinned, how they have sinned against light, against frequent and
long-continued calls and warnings; and how they have slighted mercy, and been
guilty of turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, taking encouragement
from God's mercy to go on in sin against him; and they fear that God is so
affronted at the contempt and slight which they have cast upon him, that he,
being careful of his honour, will never forgive them, but will punish them. But
if they go to Christ, the honour of God's majesty and authority will not be in
the least hurt by their being freed and made happy. For what Christ has done
has repaired God's honour to the full. It is a greater honour to God's
authority and majesty, that, rather than it should be wronged, so glorious a
person would suffer what the law required. It is surely a wonderful display of
the honour of God's majesty, to see an infinite and eternal person dying for
its being wronged. And then Christ by his obedience, by that obedience which he
undertook for our sakes, has honoured God abundantly more than the sins of any
of us have dishonoured him, how many soever, and how great soever. How great an
honour is it to God's law that so great a person is willing to submit to it,
and to obey it! God hates our sins, but not more than he delights in Christ's
obedience which he performed on account. This is a sweet savour to him, a
savour of rest. God is abundantly compensated, he desires no more; Christ's
righteousness is of infinite worthiness and merit.
5. Christ is a person so dear to the Father,
that those who are in Christ need not be at all jealous of being accepted upon
his account. If Christ is accepted they must of consequence be accepted, for
they are in Christ, as members, as parts, as the same. They are the body of
Christ, his flesh and his bones. They that are in Christ Jesus, are one spirit;
and therefore, if God loves Christ Jesus, he must of necessity accept of those
that are in him, and that are of him. But Christ is a person exceedingly dear
to the Father, the Father's love to the Son is really infinite. God necessarily
loves the Son; God could as soon cease to be, as cease to love the Son. He is
God's elect, in whom his soul delighteth; he is his beloved Son, in whom he is
well pleased; he loved him before the foundation of the world, and had infinite
delight in him from all eternity.
A terrified conscience, therefore, may have
rest here, and abundant satisfaction that he is safe in Christ, and that there
is not the least danger but that he shall be accepted, and that God will be at
peace with him in Christ.
6. God has given an open testimony that
Christ has done and suffered enough, and that he is satisfied with it, by his
raising him from the dead. Christ, when he was in his passion, was in the hands
of justice, he was God's prisoner for believers, and it pleased God to bruise
him, and put him to grief, and to bring him into a low state; and when he
raised him from the dead, he set him at liberty, whereby he declared that it
was enough. If God was not satisfied, why did he set Christ at liberty so soon?
he was in the hands of justice, why did not God pour out more wrath upon him,
and hold him in the chains of darkness longer? God raised him up and opened the
prison doors to him, because he desired no more. And now surely there is free
admittance for all sinners into God's favour through this risen Saviour, there
is enough done, and God is satisfied; as he has declared and sealed to it by
the resurrection of Christ, who is alive, and lives for evermore, and is making
intercession for poor, distressed souls that come unto him.
7. Christ has the dispensation of safety and
deliverance in his own hands, so that we need not fear but that, if we are
united to him, we may be safe. God has given him all power in heaven and in
earth, to give eternal life to whomsoever comes to him. He is made head over
all things to the church, and the work of salvation is left with himself, he
may save whom he pleases, and defend those that are in him by his own power.
What greater ground of confidence could God have given us than that the
Mediator, who died for us, and intercedes for us, should have committed to him
the dispensation of the very thing which he died to purchase and for which he
intercedes?
8. Christ's love, and compassion, and
gracious disposition, are such that we may be sure he is inclined to receive
all who come to him. If he should not do it, he would fail of his own
undertaking, and also of his promise to the Father, and to us; and his wisdom
and faithfulness will not allow of that. But he is so full of love and kindness
that he is disposed to nothing but to receive and defend us, if we come to him.
Christ is exceedingly ready to pity us, his arms are open to receive us, he
delights to receive distressed souls that come to him, and to protect them; he
would gather them as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings; it is a work
that he exceedingly rejoices in, because he delights in acts of love, and pity,
and mercy.
I shall take occasion from what now has been
said, to invite those who are afraid of God's wrath, to come to Christ Jesus.
You are indeed in a dreadful condition. It is dismal to have God's wrath
impending over our heads, and not to know how soon it will fall upon us. And
you are in some measure sensible that it is a dreadful condition, you are full of
fear and trouble, and you know not where to flee for help; your mind is, as it
were, tossed with a tempest. But how lamentable is it, that you should spend
your life in such a condition, when Christ would shelter you, as a hen shelters
her chickens under her wings, if you were but willing; and that you should live
such a fearful, distressed life, when there is so much provision made for your
safety in Christ Jesus!
How happy would you be if your hearts were
but persuaded to close with Jesus Christ! Then you would be out of all danger:
whatever storms and tempests were without, you might rest securely within; you
might hear the rushing of the wind, and the thunder roar abroad, while you are
safe in this hiding-place. O be persuaded to hide yourself in Christ Jesus!
What greater assurance of safety can you desire? He has undertaken to defend
and save you, if you will come to him: he looks upon it as his work; he engaged
in it before the world was, and he has given his faithful promise which he will
not break; and if you will but make your flight there, his life shall be for
yours; he will answer for you, you shall have nothing to do but rest quietly in
him; you may stand still and see what the Lord will do for you. If there be any
thing to suffer, the suffering is Christ's, you will have nothing to suffer; if
there be any thing to be done, the doing of it is Christ's, you will have
nothing to do but to stand still and behold it.
You will certainly be accepted of the Father
if your soul lays hold of Jesus Christ. Christ is chosen and anointed of the
Father, and sent forth for this very end, to save those that are in danger and
fear; and he is greatly beloved of God, even infinitely, and he will accept of
those that are in him. Justice and the law will not be against you, if you are
in Christ; that threatening, "in the day that thou eatest thou shalt
die," in the proper sense of it, will not touch you. The majesty and
honour of God are not against you. You need not be afraid but that you shall be
justified, if you come to him; there is an act of justification already past
and declared for all who come to Christ by the resurrection of Christ, and as
soon as ever you come, you are by that declared free. If you come to Christ it
will be a sure sign that Christ loved you from all eternity, and that he died
for you; and you may be sure if he died for you, he will not lose the end of
his death, for the dispensation of life is committed unto him.
You need not, therefore, continue in so
dangerous a condition; there is help for you. You need not stand out in the
storm so long, as there is so good a shelter near you, whose doors are open to
receive you. O make haste, therefore, unto that man who is a hiding-place from
the wind, and a covert from the tempest!
Let this truth also cause believers more to
prize the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider that it is he, and he only, who defends
you from wrath, and that he is a safe defence; your defence is a high tower;
your city of refuge is impregnable. There is no rock like your rock. There is
none like Christ, "the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy
help, and in his excellency on the sky; the eternal God is thy refuge, and
underneath are everlasting arms." He in whom you trust is a buckler to all
that trust in him. O prize that Saviour, who keeps your soul in safety, while
thousands of others are carried away by the fury of God's anger, and are tossed
with raging and burning tempests in hell! O, how much better is your case than
theirs! and to whom is it owing but to the Lord Jesus Christ? Remember what was
once your case, and what it is now, and prize Jesus Christ.
And let those christians who are in doubts
and fears concerning their condition, renewedly fly to Jesus Christ, who is a
hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest. Most Christians are
at times afraid whether they shall not miscarry at last. Such doubtings are
always through some want of the exercise of faith, and the best remedy for them
is a renewed resort of the soul to this hiding-place; the same act which at
first gave comfort and peace, will give peace again. They that clearly see the
sufficiency of Christ, and the safety of committing themselves to him to save
them from what they fear, will rest in it that Christ will defend them; be
directed therefore at such times to do as the psalmist. Psalm 56:3, 4.
"What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his
word; in God I have put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do unto
me."
II. There is provision in Christ for the
satisfaction and full contentment of the needy and thirsty soul.
This is the sense of those words in the
text, "as rivers of water in a dry place," in a dry and parched
wilderness, where there is a great want of water, and where travellers are
ready to be destroyed with thirst, such as was that wilderness in which the
children of Israel wandered. This comparison is used elsewhere in the
Scriptures. Psalm 63:1. "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee:
my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty
land, where no water is." Psalm 143:6. "I stretch forth my hands unto
thee; my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land." Those who travel
in such a land, who wander in such a wilderness, are in extreme need of water;
they are ready to perish for the want of it; and thus they have a great thirst
and longing for it.
It is said that Christ is a river of water,
because there is such a fulness in him, so plentiful a provision for the
satisfaction of the needy and longing soul. When one is extremely thirsty,
though it is not a small draught of water will satisfy him, yet when he comes
to a river, he finds a fulness, there he may drink full draughts. Christ is
like a river, in that he has a sufficiency not only for one thirsty soul, but
by supplying him the fountain is not lessened; there is not the less afforded
to those who come afterwards. A thirsty man does not sensibly lessen a river by
quenching his thirst.
Christ is like a river in another respect. A river is continually flowing,
there are fresh supplies of water coming from the fountain-head continually, so
that a man may live by it, and be supplied with water all his life. So Christ
is an ever-flowing fountain; he is continually supplying his people, and the fountain
is not spent. They who live upon Christ, may have fresh supplies from him to
all eternity; they may have an increase of blessedness that is new, and new
still, and which never will come to an end.
In illustrating this second proposition, I
shall inquire,
1. What it is that the soul of every man
naturally and necessarily craves.
First. The soul of every man necessarily
craves happiness. This is an universal appetite of human nature, that is alike
in the good and the bad; it is as universal as the very essence of the soul,
because it necessarily and immediately flows from that essence. It is not only
natural to all mankind, but to the angels; it is universal among all
reasonable, intelligent beings, in heaven, earth, or hell, because it flows
necessarily from an intelligent nature. There is no rational being, nor can
there be any, without a love and desire of happiness. It is impossible that
there should be any creature made that should love misery, or not love
happiness, since it implies a manifest contradiction; for the very notion of
misery is to be in a state that nature abhors, and the notion of happiness, is
to be in such a state as is most agreeable to nature.
Therefore, this craving of happiness must be
insuperable, and what never can be changed; it never can be overcome, or in any
way abated. Young and old love happiness alike, and good and bad, wise and
unwise; though there is a great variety as to men's ideas of happiness. Some
think it is to be found in one thing, and some in another; yet, as to the
desire of happiness in general, there is no variety. There are particular
appetites that may be restrained, and kept under, and conquered, but this
general appetite for happiness nev-er can be.
Secondly. The soul of every man craves a
happiness that is equal to the capacity of his nature. The soul of man is like
a vessel; the capacity of the soul is as the largeness or contents of the
vessel. And therefore, if man has much pleasure and happiness, yet if the
vessel is not full, the craving will not cease. Every creature is restless till
it enjoys what is equal to the capacity of its nature. Thus we may observe in
the brutes; when they have that which is suitable to their nature, and
proportional to their capacity, they are contented. Man is of such a nature,
that he is capable of an exceedingly great degree of happiness; he is made of a
vastly higher nature than the brutes, and therefore he must have vastly higher
happiness to satisfy. The pleasures of the outward senses which content the
beasts, will not content man. He has other faculties of a higher nature that
stand in need of something to fill them; if the sense be satiated, yet if the
faculties of the soul are not filled, man will be in a craving restless state.
It is more especially by reason of the
faculty of understanding that the soul is capable of so great a happiness, and
desires so much. The understanding is an exceedingly extensive faculty; it
extends itself beyond the limits of earth, beyond the limits of the creation.
As we are capable of understanding immensely more than we do understand, who
can tell how far the understanding of men is capable of stretching itself? and
as the understanding enlarges, the desire will enlarge with it. It must
therefore be an incomprehensible object that must satisfy the soul; it will
never be contented with that, and that only, to which it can see an end, it
will never be satisfied with that happiness to which it can find a bottom. A
man may seem to take contentment for a little while in a finite object, but after
he has had a little experience, he finds that he wants something besides. This
is very apparent from the experience of this restless craving world. Every one
is inquiring, Who will show us any good?
2. Men in their fallen state, are in very
great want of this happiness. They were once in the enjoyment of it, but
mankind are sunk to a very low estate; we are naturally poor, destitute
creatures. We came naked into the world, and our souls as well as our bodies
are in a wretched, miserable condition; we are so far from having food to eat
suitable to our nature, that we are greedy after the husks which the swine do
eat.
The poverty of man in a natural condition,
appears in his discontented, craving spirit; it shows that the soul is very
empty, when, like the horse-leech, it cries, "Give, give, and saith not,
It is enough." We are naturally like the prodigal, for we once were rich,
but we departed from our father's house, and have squandered away our wealth,
and are become poor, hungry, famishing wretches. Men in a natural condition may
find something to gratify their senses, but there is nothing to feed the soul;
that more noble and more essential part perishes for lack of food. They may
fare sumptuously every day, they may pamper their bodies, but the soul cannot
be fed from a sumptuous table; they may drink wine in bowls, yet the spiritual
part is not refreshed. The superior faculties want to be supplied as well as
the inferior. True poverty and true misery consist in the want of those things
of which our spiritual part stands in need.
3. Those sinners who are thoroughly
awakened, are sensible of their great want. Multitudes of men are not sensible
of their miserable, needy condition. There are many who are thus poor, and
think themselves rich, and increased in goods. Indeed there are no natural men
that have true contentment: they are all restless, and crying, "Who will
show us any good?" but multitudes are not sensible how exceedingly
necessitous is their condition. But the thoroughly awakened soul sees that he
is very far from true happiness, that those things which he possesses will
never make him happy; that for all his outward possessions he is wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. He becomes sensible of the short
continuance and uncertainty of those things, and their insufficiency to satisfy
a troubled conscience. He wants something else to give him peace and ease. If
you would tell him that he might have a kingdom, it would not quiet him; he
desires to have his sins pardoned, and to be at peace with his Judge. He is
poor, and he becomes as a beggar; he comes and cries for help. He does not
thirst, because he as yet sees where true happiness is to be found, but because
he sees that he has it not, and cannot find it. He is without comfort, and does
not know where to find it, but he longs for it. O, what would he not give, if
he could find some satisfying peace and comfort!
Such are those hungry, thirsty souls that
Christ so often invites to come to him. Isaiah 55:1, 2. "Ho, every one
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy
and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for
that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is
good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." "If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink; and he that is athirst, let him come
and take of the water of life freely."
4. There is in Christ Jesus provision for
the full satisfaction and contentment of such as these.
First. The excellency of Christ is such,
that the discovery of it is exceedingly contenting and satisfying to the soul.
The inquiry of the soul is after that which is most excellent. The carnal soul
imagines that earthly things are excellent; one thinks riches most excellent,
another has the highest esteem of honour, and to another carnal pleasure
appears the most excellent; but the soul cannot find contentment in any of
these things, because it soon finds an end to their excellency. Worldly men
imagine, that there is true excellency and true happiness in those things which
they are pursuing. They think that if they could but obtain them, they should
be happy; and when they obtain them, and cannot find happiness, they look for
happiness in something else, and are still upon the pursuit.
But Christ Jesus has true excellency, and so
great excellency, that when they come to see it they look no further, but the
mind rests there. It sees a transcendent glory and an ineffable sweetness in
him; it sees that till now it has been pursuing shadows, but that now it has
found the substance; that before it had been seeking happiness in the stream,
but that now it has found the ocean. The excellency of Christ is an object
adequate to the natural cravings of the soul, and is sufficient to fill the
capacity. It is an infinite excellency, such an one as the mind desires, in
which it can find no bounds; and the more the mind is used to it, the more
excellent it appears. Every new discovery makes this beauty appear more
ravishing, and the mind sees no end; here is room enough for the mind to go
deeper and deeper, and never come to the bottom. The soul is exceedingly
ravished when it first looks on this beauty, and it is never weary of it. The
mind never has any satiety, but Christ's excellency is always fresh and new,
and tends as much to delight, after it has been seen a thousand or ten thousand
years, as when it was seen the first moment. The excellency of Christ is an
object suited to the superior faculties of man, it is suited to entertain the
faculty of reason and understanding, and there is nothing so worthy about which
the understanding can be employed as this excellency; no other object is so
great, noble, and exalted.
This excellency of Jesus Christ is the
suitable food of the rational soul. The soul that comes to Christ, feeds upon
this, and lives upon it; it is that bread which came down from heaven, of which
he that eats shall not die; it is angels' food, it is that wine and milk that
is given without money, and without price. This is that fatness in which the
believing soul delights itself; here the longing soul may be satisfied, and the
hungry soul may be filled with goodness. The delight and contentment that is to
be found here, passeth understanding, and is unspeakable and full of glory. It
is impossible for those who have tasted of this fountain, and know the
sweetness of it, ever to forsake it. The soul has found the river of water of
life, and it desires no other drink; it has found the tree of life, and it
desires no other fruit.
Secondly. The manifestation of the love of
Christ gives the soul abundant contentment. This love of Christ is exceedingly
sweet and satisfying, it is better than life, because it is the love of a
person of such dignity and excellency. The sweetness of his love depends very
much upon the greatness of his excellency; so much the more lovely the person,
so much the more desirable is his love. How sweet must the love of that person
be, who is the eternal Son of God, who is of equal dignity with the Father! How
great a happiness must it be to be the object of the love of him who is the
Creator of the world, and by whom all things consist, and who is exalted at
God's right hand, and made head over principalities and powers in heavenly
places, who has all things put under his feet, and is King of kings and Lord of
lords, and is the brightness of the Father's glory! Surely to be beloved by
him, is enough to satisfy the soul of a worm of the dust.
This love of Christ is also exceedingly
sweet and satisfying from the greatness of it; it is a dying love; such love as
never was before seen, and such as no other can parallel. There have been
instances of very great love between one earthly friend and another; there was
a surpassing love between David and Jonathan. But there never was any such love
as Christ has towards believers. The satisfying nature of this love arises also
from the sweet fruits of it. Those precious benefits that Christ bestows upon
his people, and those precious promises which he has given them, are the fruit
of this love; joy and hope are the constant streams that flow from this
fountain, from the love of Christ.
Thirdly. There is provision for the
satisfaction and contentment of the thirsty longing soul in Christ, as he is
the way to the Father; not only from the fulness of excellency and grace which
he has in his own person, but as by him we may come to God, may be reconciled
to him, and may be made happy in his favour and love. The poverty and want of
the soul in its natural state consist in its being separated from God, for God
is the riches and the happiness of the creature. But we naturally are alienated
from God; and God is alienated from us, our Maker is not at peace with us. But
in Christ there is a way for a free communication between God and us; for us to
come to God, and for God to communicate himself to us by his Spirit. John 14:6.
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh
unto the Father but by me." Ephesians 2:13, 18, 19. "But now in
Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of
Christ. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now,
therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with
the saints, and of the household of God." Christ by being thus the way to
the Father, is the way to true happiness and contentment. John 10:9. "I am
the door: by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and
out, and find pasture." Hence I would take occasion to invite needy,
thirsty souls to come to Jesus. "In the last day, that great day of the
feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me
and drink." You that have not yet come to Christ, are in a poor,
necessitous condition; you are in a parched wilderness, in a dry and thirsty
land. And if you are thoroughly awakened, you are sensible that you are in
distress and ready to faint for want of something to satisfy your souls. Come
to him who is "as rivers of water in a dry place." There are plenty
and fulness in him; he is like a river that is always flowing, you may live by
it for ever, and never be in want. Come to him who has such excellency as is
sufficient to give full contentment to your soul, who is a person of
transcendent glory, and ineffable beauty, where you may entertain the view of
your soul for ever without weariness, and without being cloyed. Accept of the
offered love of him who is the only-begotten Son of God, and his elect, in whom
his soul delighteth. Through Christ, come to God the Father, from whom you have
departed by sin. He is the way, the truth, and the life; he is the door, by
which if any man enters he shall be saved.
III. There are quiet rest and sweet
refreshment in Christ Jesus, for those that are weary. He is "as the
shadow of a great rock in a weary land."
The comparison that is used in the text is
very beautiful and very significative. The dry, barren, and scorched wilderness
of Arabia is a very lively representation of the misery that men have brought
upon themselves by sin. It is destitute of any inhabitants but lions and tigers
and fiery serpents; it is barren and parched, and without any river or spring;
it is a land of drought, wherein there is seldom any rain, a land exceedingly
hot and uncomfortable. The scorching sunbeams that are ready to consume the
spirits of travellers, are a fit representation of terror of conscience, and
the inward sense of God's displeasure. And there being no other shade in which
travellers may rest, but only here and there that of a great rock, it is a fit
representation of Jesus Christ, who came to redeem us from our misery. Christ
is often compared to a rock, because he is a sure foundation to builders, and
because he is a sure bulwark and defence. They who dwell upon the top of a
rock, dwell in a most defensible place; we read of those whose habitation is
the munitions of rocks. He may also be compared to a rock, as he is everlasting
and unchangeable. A great rock remains stedfast, unmoved, and unbroken by winds
and storms from age to age; and therefore God chose a rock to be an emblem of
Christ in the wilderness, when he caused water to issue forth for the children
of Israel; and the shadow of a great rock is a most fit representation of the
refreshment given to weary souls by Jesus Christ.
1. There is quiet rest and full refreshment
in Christ for sinners that are weary and heavy laden with sin. Sin is the most
evil and odious thing, as well as the most mischievous and fatal; it is the
most mortal poison; it, above all things, hazards life, and endangers the soul,
exposes to the loss of all happiness, and to the suffering of all misery, and
brings the wrath of God. All men have this dreadful evil hanging about them,
and cleaving fast to the soul, and ruling over it, and keeping it in
possession, and under absolute command: it hangs like a viper to the heart, or
rather holds it as a lion does his prey.
But yet there are multitudes, who are not
sensible of their misery. They are in such a sleep that they are not very
unquiet in this condition, it is not very burthensome to them, they are so
sottish that they do not know what is their state, and what is like to become
of them. But there are others who have their sense so far restored to them that
they feel the pain, and see the approaching destruction, and sin lies like a
heavy load upon their hearts; it is a load that lies upon them day and night,
they cannot lay it down to rest themselves, but it continually oppresses them.
It is bound fast unto them, and is ready to sink them down; it is a continual
labour of heart, to support itself under this burden. Thus we read of them
"that labour, and are heavy laden." Or rather, it is like the
scorching heat in a dry wilderness, where the sun beats and burns all the day
long; where they have nothing to defend them; where they can find no shade to
refresh themselves. If they lay themselves down to rest, it is like lying down
in the hot sands, where there is nothing to keep off the heat.
Here it may be proper to inquire who are
weary and heavy laden with sin; and in what sense a sinner may be weary and
burdened with sin. Sinners are not wearied with sin from any dislike to it, or
dislike of it. There is no sinner that is burdened with sin in the sense in
which a godly man carries his indwelling sin, as his daily and greatest burden,
because he loathes it, and longs to get rid of it; he would fain be at a great
distance from it, and have nothing more to do with it; he is ready to cry out
as Paul did, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body
of this death?" The unregenerate man has nothing of this nature, for sin
is yet his delight, he dearly loves it. If he be under convictions, his love to
sin in general is not mortified, he loves it as well as ever, he hides it still
as a sweet morsel under his tongue.
But there is a difference between being weary and burdened with sin, and being
weary of sin. Awakened sinners are weary with sin, but not properly weary of it.
Therefore, they are only weary of the guilt
of sin, the guilt that cleaves to their consciences is that great burden. God
has put the sense of feeling into their consciences, that were before as seared
flesh, and it is guilt that pains them. The filthiness of sin and its evil
nature, as it is an offence to a holy, gracious, and glorious God, is not a
burden to them. But it is the connexion between sin and punishment, between sin
and God's wrath, that makes it a burden. Their consciences are heavy laden with
guilt, which is an obligation to punishment; they see the threatening and curse
of the law joined to their sins, and see that the justice of God and his
vengeance are against them. They are burdened with their sins, not because
there is any odiousness in them, but because there is hell in them. This is the
sting of sin, whereby it stings the conscience, and distresses and wearies the
soul.
The guilt of such and such great sins is
upon the soul, and the man sees no way to get rid of it, but he has wearisome
days and wearisome nights; it makes him ready sometimes to say as the psalmist
did, "O that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be at
rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. I would
hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest." But when sinners come
to Christ, he takes away that which was their burden, or their sin and guilt,
that which was so heavy upon their hearts, that so distressed their minds.