Christ the Only Refuge

This passage is a word in season to God's people in every time of impending calamity. The form of expression is evidently taken from that dreadful night when God passed through the land of Egypt to smite all the firstborn of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat upon the throne to the firstborn of the captive that sat in the dungeon. “And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead” (Exodus 12:30).

But God had commanded His own Israel to kill the paschal lamb, the type of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, and to take the bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood: “And none of you [said He] shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.” It was as if He had said, “Come, My people, enter into thy chambers, and shut thy blood-sprinkled doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.”

It may be difficult to determine what time of indignation the prophet here refers to. The prophecy was given in the beginning of Hezekiah's reign, when many a destruction was yet to come upon the land of Israel. The invasion by Sennacherib the Assyrian was just at hand, and may be primarily referred to. The invasion by Nebuchadnezzar and seventy years' captivity was also coming; and this also may be referred to. And the invasion by the Romans, in which Jerusalem was destroyed, and the Jews finally dispersed over the world, may also be referred to. In all these coming indignations, God's word to His people was to hide in their chambers, in the refuge He had appointed them, till the indignation should be overpast.

But most of all does this prophecy refer to the great storm of indignation which God is yet going to bring upon the world before the end come — when the Lord Jesus shall come a second time, without sin unto salvation; when He shall come again, no more a poor man, clothed in a seamless garment, but glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength; when He shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and admired in all them that believe.

In that day of awful tribulation, in which, except it were shortened, no flesh should be saved, God will gather His own as it were into chambers and keep them hid till the storm passes over. As in the flood, He brought His little flock into the ark, and it is written, “God shut them in,” He shut the doors about them, till the deluge of His wrath was past; as in the destruction of Jericho, the family of Rahab were gathered all within doors and saved from the wrath that came on all besides; as in the destruction of the firstborn in Egypt, God kept His own Israel safely hid in their dwellings; so, in the last storm that shall fall on this poor perishing world, God will gather His elect safe under the hollow of His hand, saying, “Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.”

The doctrine to be learned from this passage is a very plain one, namely, that in every time of calamity God bids us and our families to find refuge in Christ. There is no safety anywhere else.

Christ is a complete refuge in every storm. In other parts of the Bible Christ is compared to a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the storm, and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; He is compared to a fortress, or high tower, into which we may flee and be safe; He is compared to an apple tree amid the trees of the wood, under whose shadow we may sit down, and His fruit be sweet to our taste. But the comparison here is quite different; He is here compared to our own chamber, with the door shut: “Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee.”

Now Christ is like our own chambers with the door shut in many respects:

Because there is safety in Him. There is no place in all the world to which we look more often in an hour of danger, as a refuge and place of safety, than our own home, the inner chamber, with the door made fast. Brethren, just such is Christ. There is safety in Him: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

Because there is quietness and rest in Him. In the world we look for the bustle and harassment of business; but when we enter into our chamber and shut the door behind us, we shut out the bustling, noisy world. All is tranquility and peace. Brethren, just such is Christ. In Him the weary are at rest. We are without carefulness, we have quietness and assurance for ever.

Because our home is a ready-made retreat, near and easy of access. When we seek our home, we have not to soar with the eagle to the top of the rugged rocks, nor like the dove that makes its nest in the hole's mouth. Neither have we to dig into the earth, that we may hide our head there. Our home is near unto us. Brethren, just such is Christ. He is a ready Savior, at hand and not afar off. We have not to ascend, to bring Christ down from above; neither have we to descend into the deep, to bring Christ again from the dead. But the Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. Oh, He is a near Savior; He is not far from any one of us.

Now, this is the refuge which God bids His people to flee into in every storm: “Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.” And, oh, it is an all-sufficient refuge in every storm!

Rev. T. M. McCheyne
(1813–1843)

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