Expositions of Holy Scripture: PsalmsMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: Psalms
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. Psalms -- Commentaries
Nor need I remind you how, in another aspect of the phrase, the 'light
of His face,' is the expression for His favour and loving regard, and
how true it is that in that favour and loving regard is the impregnable
fortress into which, entering, any man is safe. I said that the
expression the 'face of the Lord' roughly corresponded to the other one,
'the name of the Lord,' inasmuch as both meant the revealed aspect of
the divine nature. You may remember how we read, 'The name of the Lord
is a strong tower into which the righteous runneth and is safe.' The
'light' of the face of the Lord is His favour and loving regard falling
upon men. And who can be harmed with that lambent light--like sunshine
upon water, or upon a glittering shield--playing around Him?
Only let us remember that for us 'the face of God' is Jesus Christ. He
is the 'arm' of the Lord; He is the 'name' of the Lord; He is the
'face.' All that we know of God we know through and in Him; all that we
see of God we see by the shining upon us of Him who is 'the eradiation
of His glory and the express image of His person.' So the open secret of
the 'face' of God is Jesus, the hiding-place of our souls.
II. Secondly, notice God's hidden ones.
My text carries us back, by that word 'them,' to the previous verse,
where we have a double description of those who are thus hidden in the
inaccessible light of His countenance. They are 'such as fear Thee,' and
'such as trust in Thee.' Now, that latter expression is congruous with
the metaphor of my text, in so far as the words on which we are now
engaged speak about a 'hiding-place,' and the word which is translated
'trust' literally means 'to flee to a refuge.' So they that flee to God
for refuge are those whom God hides in the 'secret of His face.' Let us
think of that for a moment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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