Apr 13
20
NONE CAST OUT
“This is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is the place of repose”—
“I delight to sit in His shade, and His fruit is sweet to my taste.” Song 2:3
“Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” John 6:37
An invitation to every burdened Israelite—every way-worn pilgrim of the wilderness, to come for shelter under the branches of the Heavenly Palm!
How these and such like gracious words which proceeded out of the mouth of Jesus, must have told on the wondering multitudes He addressed, those who never heard kind sayings before—who were led to imagine that it was learned scribes, or devout Pharisees, or austere Sadducees, or elaborate-robed priests, who alone had any hope of salvation! Can we marvel that “the common people heard Him gladly,” when He lifted them up from the dust of degradation; when He proclaimed boldly—”I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” I came not to call you rich—you learned—you who pride yourselves on your religious formalism and self-righteous austerities—but you broken-hearted penitents, weeping prodigals, despairing Magdalenes—you the most erring wanderers from the fold, who are really and earnestly seeking to return. “If ANY man thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink.” “If ANY man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.”
Reader! say not, ‘This invitation cannot be for me. I cannot take my place under the gracious palm-shade, just as I am, with the memory of countless transgressions.’ Yes! it is just because you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, that He invites you to come. Come, just as you are. Christ does not require any previous qualifications. It is because you are weary He asks you to partake of the shelter. It is because of your poverty that He so importunately exclaims—”Behold, I have set before you an open door.”
When, in a season of scarcity and poverty, thousands thrown out of employment are forced to avail themselves of bread doled out to stop the rage of hunger, they are not heard to say, ‘We must have proper clothing first. We must first cover these children’s bleeding, frost-bitten feet, before we can venture to appear before the distributors of a city’s or a nation’s bounty.’ No; if they did so, it would invalidate their plea—it would send them home again to a cupboard, and hearth, and wardrobe, as empty as they left it. It is because they appear in tattered rags, and because hunger has written its appeal on their emaciated faces and in the hollow eyes of the hapless children at their side, that the door opens for relief.
There is no desert wanderer, haggard and footsore, who may not come to that grove of “exceeding great and precious promises.” God has made provision not for the strong only, but for the weak, the tempted, the sorrowful, the suffering. The feeblest bird may make a perch of these branches. The anointing oil of blessing poured on the head of the true Aaron, flows down to the very skirts of His garments, so that the least and lowliest are made partakers of His covenant grace.
It is well for us, however, to remember that there is but one Redeemer; and “neither is there salvation in any other.” A few days previous to the Elim encampment, there was but one way for the Hebrew host through the Red Sea from the pursuing hosts of Pharaoh. There was but one way for evading the destroying angel—by the sprinkling of blood on the doorposts of their dwellings. There was but one way, in a subsequent age, for Rahab escaping the general destruction of Jericho—by hanging out from her window the scarlet thread. There was but one way—by washing in the river of Jordan—that the proud Syrian captain of a yet later day, could have his leprosy healed.
The Hebrews, on that memorable night of the death of the firstborn, might have built up Egyptian pyramid on pyramid to keep out the messenger of wrath. It would have been of no avail. Or the army of a million, passing through the sea, might have piled its coral rocks to make an avenue through the waters. The wild waves would have laughed them to scorn and made them the plaything of its tide! Naaman might have made a toilsome pilgrimage to every river of Asia—from Abana and Pharpar, to the Euphrates and the Indus—but all would have been to no purpose. Nothing but ‘the waters of Israel’ would prove efficacious in curing his malady.
Let us make sure of a personal interest in the one great Salvation. That Almighty Redeemer remains, to this hour, immutable—all-sufficient—faithful among the faithless—changeless among the changeable. Bernard beautifully sang in the words of his familiar hymn—
“Jesus, Thou joy of loving hearts!
Thou Fount of life, Thou Light of men!
From the best bliss that earth imparts,
We turn unfilled to Thee again.”
Yes! you who are weary, sick at heart it may be of the world which has deceived you—bubble after bubble bursting in your hands; that gracious Savior, with outstretched arms, is waiting to welcome you back. With the hoarded love of eternity in His heart, He is ever repeating the “faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance” which heads this meditation—“whoever comes to me I will never drive away!”
“With a heart full of anxious request,
Which my Father in heaven bestowed,
I wandered, alone and distressed,
In search of a quiet abode.
Astray and distracted, I cried
Lord, where would You have me to be?
And the voice of the Lamb that had died
Said, ‘Come, My beloved, to ME!’
“I went—for He mightily wins
Weary souls to His peaceful retreat,
And He gave me forgiveness of sins,
And songs that I love to repeat;
Made pure by the blood that He shed,
My heart in His presence was free,
I was hungry and thirsty—He fed;
I was sick, and He comforted me.
“He gave me the blessing complete,
The hope that is with me today;
And a quiet abode at His feet,
That shall not be taken away.”
John MacDuff, 1879.
The Rock affords refreshing shade. Isaiah, with enraptured eye fixed on the coming Savior, cries, “A man shall be as a 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.” (Isa. 32:2) Lively images here show the excellency of our Lord. In every need He is a solace and a sure refuge. But the subject confines our thought to the Rock diffusing shade around. Imagine, when a noontide of sultry heat oppresses, and fields are parched and dry, and unmitigated rays assail the earth with fiery power, that a great Rock invites to cool retreat. With eager step the traveler, the shepherd and the flock move towards it, and stretched beneath its shadowy arms obtain relief.
Such is the shelter of the blessed Jesus in the heat of the scorching day. The Church found this defense, and rejoiced beneath the partial covering of the branches of a tree. “I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste.” (Song 2:3) A gourd was great delight to the fainting Jonah. The pillar of cloud by day warded off oppressive rays from the wayfaring camp. Much more welcome is the covering shade of our beloved Lord. In our journey through earth’s wilderness, we are exposed to burning trials. Satan’s darts are barbed with fire; persecution is inflamed with fury; temptations are as a heated furnace. The menaces of the law are as the forked lightning. But Jesus calls us to repose by His side. He gives the tender assurance, “The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.” (Psa. 121:6)
This shade gives not only comfort, but fertility. Thus guarded, the fruits of grace thrive vigorously. It is written, “Those who dwell under His shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.” (Hos: 14:7) Extract from The Rock by Henry Law.
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Covenant Broken, Covenant Fulfilled
Ezekiel 17: 1-24
The everlasting covenant of God is the covenant God the Father and God the Son made with each other before the world began. It was the terms of his covenant oath to which Christ referred on the cross when he said, “It is finished!” When God writes his word of grace on the hearts of his people, the Spirit of God declares that all that is required of his people to make us eternally accepted with God has been accomplished by Christ Jesus. This is the promise whereby God makes his children to rest in Christ with the assurance that God is our God and we his children.
Man Broke Covenant with God in Adam (Ezekiel 17: 1-21) In this chapter, the Lord shows a broken covenant between the king of Babylon and the king of Judah, declaring the offense of the covenant man broke against God in the garden in Adam.
God set Adam in a well-watered garden to serve God, as a humble willow. God made a covenant with Adam. Yet, Adam turned from God as did Zedekiah, and died even as God promised, and so death passed upon all men. Again with the nation of Israel, God set them in a well-watered garden, made a covenant with Israel which Israel vowed to obey. But just like Zedekiah, Israel looked away from God back to Egypt. Now, one last time in our text, having turned Israel over to Babylon, the LORD God illustrates the offense of breaking his covenant. God said, Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered? (Ezekiel 17: 18-21). God shows us over and over the offense of that broken covenant in the garden. He teaches his true spiritual children that we need Christ to fulfill all the promises of God to justify us from the covenant which we have broken. God’s promise of salvation is accomplished by the faithfulness of Christ himself, given to us through the faithful operation of God, through God-given faith whereby we receive this finished word of promise (Galatians 3: 21-22). If any looks away from him to our will or our works, we are yet turning from God’s well-watered provision to the king of Egypt and all who do so shall perish.
Christ is the Goodly Cedar (Ezekiel 17: 22-24)
God the Father took Christ Jesus his Son from the high cedar, from God’s own presence before the world began, to build his temple and reign as his King Priest (Zechariah 6: 12-13). Christ came as promised from the highest branch, the house of David, the tribe of Judah, the royal family, the “tender one” (Isaiah 53:2). But unlike Adam, unlike the nation Israel, and unlike Zedekiah, Christ did not turn his roots to another, but kept the covenant of grace, serving God the Father with all his holy heart and soul. The description of these trees is what God did in Christ. Christ is the righteous high tree who came low, the low tree exalted by God, the green tree dried up in place of his people (“I thirst” on the cross) and the tree that is now risen and made to flourish! Christ fulfilled the law and the prophets, laid down his life to justice, all because Christ promised God to save his people from their sins. So Christ fulfilled the covenant and the testimony as promised and God will keep mercy for Christ forevermore (Psalm 89: 28).
Those he has made righteous by his covenant-keeping are born of him and are his branches (Isaiah 60: 21; 61: 3; Jeremiah 17: 7-8; Psalm 92: 12-15). All his elect from every nation come as the fowls seeking shade in the branches (Ezekiel 17: 23-24), resting by faith in his everlasting covenant of grace (Jeremiah 31: 31-34; 2 Corinthians 1:20).
Protection under the Canopy of Grace
I began looking at this passage because recently it rained heavily while I was mowing my front yard but under the large cedars, not one drop of rain fell on me.
Dear believer, if you can rest in Christ under his grace it is because God has made you a high tree brought low, a low tree exalted, a green tree dried up so that you flourish in Christ alone. Every believer rests with David under this canopy of grace, saying, “he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure:” (2 Samuel 23: 5.) Therefore, as God promises, not one drop of wrath shall ever fall upon us.
Clay Curtis.