The Wednesday Word - 8 June, 2022 A.D.

Jesus Our Hiding Place

by D.G. Miles McKee

How do we, with confidence, come before the all-holy God, and stand in His presence? This is a great question for both the unsaved and believers alike.  The unsaved person, under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, knows that his sin has separated him from God (Isaiah 59:2).  Likewise, the believer, through the ministry of the Word and the Spirit, is conscious that his best efforts are flawed and that his very righteousness is like a filthy rag (Isaiah 64:6).  How then can either of them come before God and receive a welcome?
 
No doubt this was Adam's question when he put his fig leaves together for a makeshift covering.  Somehow, he knew that, because of sin, what he really needed was a covering that left him unexposed.  He tried his best, but even then, his fig leaves were inadequate … and he knew it.  Sensing the inadequacy of his covering see how he rushed into the bushes to hide when God came near.  But even then, concealed in the bushes, he knew there was no hiding place.

It’s interesting, by the way, to note that man’s impulse, because of sin, is to hide from God … even as believers, we often make Adam’s ancient mistake. 
 
But sin is no barrier to grace. Although man is the hider, God is the seeker and, in grace, He came seeking to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).  In grace, the Lord called Adam and began to tell of the coming deliverer, the Seed of the Woman.  In Him, men would find a better covering than fig leaves and a much better hiding place. In that day, God revealed Himself as the God who hates and punishes sin, yet who, by grace, takes the sinner's side against the sinner's enemy, the old serpent (Genesis 3:15). Because of the promise of the seed of the woman, the true "hiding place", Adam could now discard his makeshift concealment and know that with God’s new covering he could stand before the Almighty without fear or shame.
 
We too should hear the good news as Adam did … from the lips of God Himself. When God declares a matter, the declaration is true and filled with all authority.  We believe, not because the truth feels right, but because God has spoken (Psalm 32:4; Psalm 138:2)! This is the foundation of our faith.
 
Adam's fall gave God the opportunity to demonstrate His character of abounding grace towards His people.  We deserve nothing, yet there is nothing God will not do for us. Calvary proves that. God will go to any length to heap favors on His people. Through Christ alone, He gives us the highest place in heaven and the nearest position to the throne (Ephesians 2:6). It is high time to abandon all other hiding places and be clothed in Christ alone.
 
“Hail, sovereign love that first began
The scheme to rescue fallen man!
Hail, matchless, free, eternal grace,
That gave my soul a hiding-place!
 
Against the God who rules the sky
I fought, with hand uplifted high;
Despised the mention of His grace,
Too proud to seek a hiding-place!
 
Enwrapped in thick Egyptian night,
And fond of darkness more than light,
Madly I ran the sinful race,
Secure, without a hiding-place!
 
But thus th’Eternal counsel ran:
“Almighty Love, arrest that man!”
I felt the arrows of distress,
And found I had no hiding place!
 
Indignant Justice stood in view,
To Sinai’s fiery mount I flew;
But Justice cried, with frowning face,
“This mountain is no hiding-place!”
 
Ere long, a heav’nly voice I heard,
And Mercy’s angel form appeared,
Who led me on, with gentle pace
To Jesus as my hiding-place.
 
On Him almighty vengeance fell,
That must have sunk a world to hell;
He bore it for the chosen race,
And thus became their Hiding-place.
 
Should storms of sev’n-fold vengeance roll,
And shake this earth from pole to pole,
No flaming bolt could daunt my face,
For Jesus is my hiding place.

 A few more rolling suns, at most,
Will land me safe on Canaan’s coast.
Where I shall sing the song of grace,
To Jesus Christ, my hiding-place!
 
And that’s the Gospel Truth!