Isaiah

[0:00] As the Lord may help me, I would seek to direct your attention to the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 32 and verse 2.

[0:18] The prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 32 and the second verse of the chapter.

[0:28] 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.

[0:51] Of course, those words are found in Isaiah, the 32nd chapter and the second verse. And we do not need to ask who the Holy Spirit by the prophet refers to.

[1:12] Because the Holy Spirit refers to none other than the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[1:25] He is the man who is spoken of in all his gracious offices, in all his love and mercy. He is the one who is spoken of in the text.

[1:40] One has often thought, you know, what a wonderful insight was given to those holy men of old. We must ever realize that they were men of like passions with us.

[1:57] But the Holy Spirit gave them a wonderful insight and a sacred and a divine revelation of things that were past and of things that were to come.

[2:12] And Isaiah, as you know, was led very deeply into the sacred person, the offices, the work, and the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[2:31] He speaks so tenderly and with all authority concerning his wondrous birth. He speaks of his life and he speaks of his death in that wonderful 53rd of Isaiah.

[2:51] And my dear hearers, if in your heart and mine there is grace, these things touch us.

[3:02] We feel sometimes to be in the footsteps of the Spirit. And so one do humbly desire this night that the Spirit of God might graciously lead us into the truth that is contained in the text and also the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is so vital, so important, so sacred, and so sweet.

[3:39] And a man. Well, we must just express a few thoughts upon that opening of that declaration, revelation.

[3:56] And a man. And that man is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that great mystery of Godliness, a deity, a divinity, in sacred union with his spotless holy humanity, that is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[4:24] And so often, as you all know, he was pleased to speak of himself as the Son of Man in the days of his flesh while here on earth.

[4:43] There is something very touching, very tender in that opening up. There is something very tender in that opening up.

[5:21] There is something very tender in that opening up.

[5:51] And so the dear Lord Jesus, he has spoken of in that tender, touching way. We want to look at what the Holy Spirit says he shall be.

[6:06] There is no peradventure. There is no might be. There is no perhaps as in the Word of God. It is with all authority. It is. It is.

[6:16] And some of you, I know. I hope all. I do not know your pathway or your experience. But I know there are those who have proved, who have known, who have felt, who have experienced, who have realized the truth of this, that this glorious Christ of God, this glorious man, have been to them, who have been to them, who have been to them, amidst the storms, amidst the stresses, a hiding place.

[6:54] Oh, how we have to plead in the language of the poor. Hide me, oh, my Saviour, hide. Till the storm of life is past.

[7:07] Safe into thy haven guide. Oh, receive my soul at last. Well, may the Lord help us to open it up a little together and to see what is meant by a hiding place from the wind.

[7:33] Well, you all know that the wind is used figuratively often in the Word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ himself spoke of the wind and uses the figure of the wind concerning that profound, sacred, yet blessed mystery of being born again.

[8:03] The wind blowing where it listed, though hearest the sound thereof and canst not tell. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.

[8:16] We know not where the wind is raised or lulled to rest. It is a mystery, but it is also used figuratively in various other ways.

[8:31] And we read in our reading together quite a bit about the wind in a very different way and a very different manner.

[8:48] And we read, and he raiseth up the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.

[8:59] That is a different wind in that sense until the likeness that the Lord uses of the Holy Spirit's quickening power and divine operation.

[9:14] Well, a hiding place from the wind. And now there are various winds that blow upon a child of God.

[9:31] As dear Mr. Rutherford says, I've wrestled on toward heaven, against storm and wind and tide, now like a weary traveller that leaneth on his guide.

[9:48] He didn't mean the wind, excuse me just a moment. He didn't mean the wind that blows, and he didn't mean the tide that ebbs and flows.

[10:06] He meant the trials and troubles, afflictions, sins and sorrows that the child of God meets with in their journey heavenward and homeward.

[10:22] And there is the wind, you know. I wonder if we really know anything about the wind of God's law being applied to our experience and our pathway.

[10:43] Paul did, didn't he? He says, and when the commandment came, it slew me. You see, God's holy law, if the Spirit of God convict us and convince us of the spirituality of the law and enables us to know by divine teaching that we can neither keep the law but that we have broken it all our days and that will blow upon our spirit.

[11:23] Oh, it will, my friend. It will blow an icy blast upon our spirits and we shall be very concerned until we, by faith, are led into the glorious truth that a man shall be in hiding place from the wind and there are other winds that blow upon the spirit and the soul.

[11:56] There are the sins which come so unexpectedly with their stinging power, with their bitterness and, in consequence, their sorrow.

[12:17] Ah, my dear friend, sin is a wind that blows and sometimes and sometimes it seems to blow continually and we do feel to want a hiding place.

[12:36] Oh, we do. And there are many other experiences, the trials of this life and the afflictions and the afflictions and the difficulties and the perplexities and the trials and temptations.

[12:59] He raiseth up the stormy wind, the psalmist, the psalmist says. And my dear friend, the Lord brings his people into spots and places that the unbeliever and the world knows nothing of.

[13:19] He brings them. He raiseth up the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves and many of his dear ones.

[13:33] There is laid upon them his afflicting hand and there is laid upon some trials in the family and troubles for much of the pilgrimage and the child of God.

[13:54] you have found them as in intimate conversation that they are battling against it. Battling against these things.

[14:08] Oh, but oh, I would in love and by the Spirit's power are set before you the glorious hiding place from all these things yes, the Lord says, you know, behold, there is a place by me and thou shall stand upon a rock and I will put thee in a cliff of the rock and cover thee with my hand rock of ages cleft for me oh, a hiding place a hiding place we need it so continually we shall need it all our journey through and that I want as the Lord helps us to enlarge a little upon that is Christ there is no other hiding place

[15:12] Lord Jesus shine and then I can feel and also see a sweetness in salvation's plan and run to Christ my hiding place ah, I believe you know the Lord as he deals with his people bringing various trials and troubles and maybe sins and sorrows the Lord is not the author of sin but we are we are sinful creatures we are pruned to wander and we are pruned to go our own way well the glorious hiding place I ask you dear hearers in love to your soul do you know anything about it do you know anything about

[16:14] Christ as your hiding place as sheltering in his sacred wounds and there and there alone you are safe you will never be safe anywhere else that is a place of safety a place of security to shelter in his wounded side and to feel that all these things that one had mentioned and many more that one have not brought before you there is in Christ a glorious hiding place place new one and nothing can hurt you in that glorious hiding place which is Christ a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind and my dear hearers if you feel at this time in your path and experience the wind is contrary just as those did upon the sea and the Lord you know he saw them in toiling and rowing he didn't come in the first second third but in the fourth watch of the night and his voice has still its ancient power and what did he say peace be still and there was a great calm

[18:03] I know that it is a natural description in its first instance but it has a profound and blessed and glorious spiritual meaning and application and there was a great calm as the psalmist in the psalm that we read together he raised at the stormy wind and he commanded it well if the winds are blowing spiritually upon you if you seem to have so much laid upon you may you be helped may I be helped to flee to Christ that glorious hiding place who hath in his bleeding wounds and in his work for his people on

[19:13] Calvary he has provided a hiding place and in him alone is the shelter that we need so much and furthermore he describes the spirit of God does describes Christ as a covet from the tempest you see the holy spirit often enlarges in his various declarations and in the experience of the lord's people the condition now is a tempest well you all know that a tempest is that which is more powerful than the wind the tempest and the thunder and the commotion that it causes

[20:29] I believe this poor man have known something of the tempest and I believe known a little of the commanding voice and the power put forth with it to bring a calm I believe you have and I pray that you might more so know of these things in your experience and in your pathway because we must realise that the child of God is beset with contrary winds and at times with tempests you know how Paul fared when he was sent to Rome don't you and we read that the south wind blew softly and the mariners decided that that was the time to set sail well you all know that very shortly and very soon the

[21:49] Lord caused there to be a great storm of wind and a tempest was their experience and sometimes dear hearer in your path and in your experience you think that all is well when the south wind blows softly gently warmly and all is well but the child of God often lives to prove that much more the treacherous calm I dread than storm clouds bursting all my head yes the treacherous calm it was so with them in that boat wasn't it and that is for our instruction for our edification and for our learning and so there's a tempest spoken of a great commotion and some of us know a little of that by those things that the

[23:14] Lord in his permissive will brings to pass in our path and in our experience and sometimes it is by way of bereavement and sometimes it is our own sin and folly sometimes it is Satan's malice spite enmity and hatred various things cause the tempest but all to flee to Jesus Christ my hiding place may you if no small tempest lay upon you at this very time may you be helped by divine grace and nothing of the creature may you be helped to flee to

[24:17] Jesus Christ the sinner's friend and that tempest will abate there will be in due time a season of peace as he said literally peace be still and there was a great calm these experiences the child of God knows of walks in and when they are sanctified by the spirit and grace of God then it does them does us good they lead us to Christ the only way the only name the only person a man shall be and I hope dear friends you can see something that is exceedingly tender in that something that is exceedingly descriptive a man shall be and that man is our blessed saviour lord and redeemer and he took to heaven a human heart yes he did he knows what every member of his mystical body feels knows experience for he the word tells us clearly and definitely for he has felt the same so you can in the in the sweet confidence of faith commit your way unto him when you can go to none other when all other doors are closed and no small tempest lay upon you the door of his mercy the door of his grace the door of the atonement it lies open thither may you and I for safety flee and so the figure changes completely and as rivers of water in a dry place

[26:41] I want to dwell on that a little more shall we say at length as rivers of water in a dry place and often you know we find this wilderness a dry place do we not but as rivers of water the beloved apostle John he saw from the sacred throne of God a river rise and one of our hymn writers have versified it beneath the sacred throne of God I saw a river rise the streams were peace and pardoning blood descending from the skies we are often in a dry place well this poor man is I'm sorry but in a dry place one wouldn't be there but nevertheless for one reason or another there seem as to be in the path and in the experience those dry places and we long for a little springing up spring up spring up oh

[28:10] Christ and nothing else really as far as a child of God is concerned will assuage the spiritual thirst that sometimes is felt I do not say always but there are times when we can say very humbly and with deep concern I hunger and I thirst Jesus my manner be all living water burst out of the rock for me and how tenderly and how lovingly the Lord Jesus expounds in the fourth of John what he was as the living water and as the one who had come to bring that living water and it's still the same dear hearer it's the same tonight if the

[29:23] Lord has given you a thirst and if he's given me a thirst there's nothing only the water of life that will assuage that thirst ah how beautiful and indeed manifold are the figures concerning this David says as the heart panteth after the water brook you all know the figure the illustration so panteth my soul after thee heal God when shall I come and appear before God there was that thirst in his soul oh there was well do you know do I know anything really spiritually and experimentally of that thirst which nothing but the well of

[30:28] Bethlehem can assuage a spring up a well sometimes perhaps that is our prayer spring up a well sweet well of Bethlehem when nature sinks beneath its load amidst the din of Jordan's flood be this my theme our spring up oh well of Bethlehem we need it do we not and may the Lord give to you that spiritual thirst for him because the word is very clear as rivers of water in a dry place in a dry place that's a beautiful illustration that we read of in

[31:30] Ezekiel and no doubt you may know what one is just going to leave with you where we read of the water that was up to the ankles and then the prophet saw it up to the knees and then to the loins and then a river that none could pass over often referred to and likened to the love of God in Jesus Christ often I do not say but what there are other interpretations but that is often the interpretation are put upon it by God's people and his servants and so dear friends as waters as waters in a dry place in a dry place and you'll find this world to be a dry place spiritually and you will long for that water the water of life of which

[32:43] Christ is and which he gives so freely so lovingly and so satisfying you you see and a man shall be and a man shall be this glorious man this lovely man the Christ of God as we said at the beginning how those prophets of old were given by the Holy Spirit a wonderful insight into that glorious truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and a man shall be and so these waters rivers rivers to swimming rivers we may not know that to the extent but

[33:50] I want to speak just a little of the unfailing waters of his love his mercy his grace and his truth unfailing have you ever found the river of his mercy to fail don't you have to confess with love the words that his mercy is new every morning great is his faithfulness and has not his mercy been so to you has it watered your soul many times has it refreshed you as you journeyed on hasn't it revived you haven't it enabled you to press on as

[34:51] David says surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever about mercy there is something you know dear heroes that is so softening so tender so touching in the mercy of God as one of our hymns writes I can't quote it but it speaks of the mercy of softening and breaking the hard heart and we wonder to feel our own hardness depart all you if you have a sip if you have a little from the streams of his mercy that will refresh and revive your soul that will humble you

[35:56] I believe the mercy of God humbles a man and woman more than anything else in that sphere to know that God for Christ's sake has mercy that you are hiding in his mercy in his love that is to your soul a hiding place and my dear friend the law cannot overtake you there or destroy you neither can your sins neither can anything that is part and parcel of our sinful self his mercy is over all his works that lovely quotation in Micah how good it has been sometimes who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity that passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage who delighteth in mercy ah delighteth in mercy how refreshing to the soul how restoring to the soul when as a river or a stream or a drop of that mercy comes into the soul ah we want real things don't we not just to talk about them but we want the reality of them we want the spirituality of them we want to know ah ah ah what ah a few things were said when we were here a year ago turn us again oh lord god of whose cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved oh to be turned again to be turned from the beggarly elements to be turned unto

[38:11] Christ the only way and in his love may we be blessed I want to speak a little of his love because that's what the whole text is really setting forth his love to his people his love to poor sinners his love to you and I ah dear friend there to feel like the hymn writer says oh that my soul could love and praise him more his boot his trace his majesty adore live near his throne upon his bosom lean obey his voice and all his will esteem I know our love is weak and poor often but there are times when there is a little budding and a little blossoming but his love is always the same to us his love no variation no and what a sweet drop even a trickle from the wells of salvation is that to a soul in distress in anxiety in affliction have you not felt it sometimes that as the

[39:54] Lord in his mercies watered your soul and you have felt that well after all he still loves me he will never let me go having loved his own that were in the world he loved them unto the end he loved them so much that he shed his precious blood to redeem them and to become the sinner's hiding place ah my dear hearer and a man shall be this glorious man thy peace shall be and just one or two thoughts concerning the Lord Jesus Christ in this matter as rivers of water in a dry place we read of the

[40:54] Lord you know from God's word has such a bearing upon this text that he turneth the rivers into a dry place and the reverse he also turneth rivers into a wilderness and water springs into dry ground you see the reverse he turneth rivers into a wilderness we know not as we did once of these things in our soul we know not the same in our soul and on our part that love and affection the

[42:18] Lord has turned the water springs into dry ground yes into dry ground I feel often that my poor soul knows more of the dry ground and the water springs about the Lord Jesus Christ who declares and has spoken of rivers of water in a dry place there are a number of reasons you know why the place of water is turned into a dry ground but we have not time to go into that but if he waters your soul if he revives and refreshes his word you know shall drop as the rain his speech shall distill as the dew as the small rain upon the tender herb and as the showers upon the grass of four different yet beautiful expressions just to have a little dew upon our branch yes how dew reprecious comes in the stilly night unseen imperceptible but nonetheless refreshing and real and perhaps we cannot speak of showers or rain but perhaps we are not utter strangers to a little heavenly spiritual and divine dew too they're lovely figures aren't they well i hope you may know by his grace and mercy what it is to have a shower there shall be he says showers are blessing but if there's a little dew upon your branch all that will enable you as the word says of Jesus Christ he shall grow as the lily and as the dew and so will his people and coming to the last one would have loved to have dwelt a little more extensively but nevertheless if the spirit of God leads you and lead me and confirm in you and in me that this man this dear man is these things unto us as we journey along and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land now of course the figure is the natural figure is when the sun is getting low and it goes down behind the rock the weary traveller with the day's journey behind him a weary and he feels the cooling shadow that the rock affords him our dear friend and how beautiful is this spiritually as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land the Holy Spirit of course is speaking in a land where the burning sun shines all day but when it goes behind the rock there is the evening refreshing breeze and that is what the poor pilgrims sometimes look for the shadow of a great rock and that is Christ and have you felt a little of that shade in your soul that he alone affords that none can afford but him have you and perhaps as we journey along to the even tide of life we feel these things in perhaps a more real and any special way and manner well a man shall be he shall be

[47:06] Christ shall be all in all it hath pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell and he is his people's shelter he is his people's rock he is his people's spiritual water and he is his people's spiritual rock in a weary land we often get weary don't we not weary of the way perhaps weary in it I don't know but it's sweet to feel in times that we're journeying home that the Lord is carrying on that work which in mercy he began it's good sometimes to feel it he that has begun a good work will perform it of course he will he is sovereign he is all powerful but may he be to you dear hearer a covet from the tempest a covet you know is that which keeps the tempest at bay a covet there used to be covets in our part of the country to shield from the wind and the rain on the cold east coast but he is all these and much more and a man yes a man there is a real man oh there is this

[48:55] Christ of God oh that we could set him before you as one said yon lovely man oh may he endear your soul to him and may he be unto you those things that in a little meditation we have tried to set before you and then you'll know and you'll love him you'll be drawn to him there'll be affection in your heart for him there will be well we shall have to leave the few thoughts and may he bless his own word to his own honour and glory amen