I will try to tell you. God has different ways of teaching. A great
many things about which we read in the Old Testament are what is
called types. A type, in scripture language, means a pattern or a
likeness to a person who is to come, or to an event which is to take
place. It is supposed to point forward to something more valuable than
itself. Thus, for example, the blood of the lamb which was slain on
the Jewish altar was a type, or a foreshowing, of the crucifixion of
Jesus Christ for our salvation. Hence John the Baptist pointing to the
Saviour, said to his disciples, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world." John 1:29. The paschal lamb, which was
slain to commemorate the deliverance of the Jews from the bondage of
Egypt, and the lamb which was offered daily, both morning and evening,
in the service of the temple, were representations of the greater
sacrifice which Christ came from heaven to make for our salvation.
So the land of Canaan was a type of heaven. The lifting up of the
brazen serpent on a pole was a type of our Saviour's crucifixion; and
the cities of refuge were a beautiful type of Jesus Christ, who is the
sinner's refuge.
You know, my dear children, that we have all sinned, and that we all
need a place of safety. The avenger says, "Thou shalt surely die."
Escape for thy life. But that we may not die eternally, God has given
us the Bible as our guide-board; and the Bible is constantly pointing
to Jesus Christ as the sinner's refuge. He is our hiding-place. It is
to him Isaiah refers when he says, "And 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."
The way to our city of refuge is plain. "I am the way," is the
Saviour's own direction. The gate is always open, and the assurance
is, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
I want you to remember, dear children, that it is a great deal easier
to run to this city of refuge when you are young, than it will be if
you put it off until you are older. The promise of the Saviour is,
"Those that seek me early shall find me." Will you not seek him when
he may be found? How sad it will be if you neglect to do so. You will
need a refuge when the tempest of God's judgments shall burst upon the
wicked. Oh, then how glad you will be if you can say, as David said of
his trust in God, "Thou art my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me
from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance."
THE MASTER'S HAND.
"In the still air the music lies unheard;
In the rough marble beauty hides unseen;
To make the music and the beauty needs
A master's touch, the sculptor's chisel keen.
Great Master, touch us with Thy skilled hand:
Let not the music that is in us die!
Great Sculptor, hew and polish us, nor let
Hidden and lost, Thy form within us lie!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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