Isaiah 32:2 — “Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm.”

Blessings from God by men

God's best blessings to men have usually come by men. When our Lord ascended on high, he received gifts for men, and these gifts were men (Psalm 68:18; Ephesians 4:8, 11).

Immense blessings have come to nations by kings like David, prophets like Samuel, deliverers like Gideon, lawgivers like Moses.

But what are all good men put together compared with The Man Christ Jesus?

We are now to view him as our shield against ten thousand evils: the hiding place and cover of his people.

Let us consider:

This life is liable to storms 

1. Mysterious hurricanes within, which cause the most dreadful confusion of mind. Winds, whose direction is uncertain, shaking everything, creating unrest and distraction. Frequently no definite cause can be assigned for them; the cause may be constitutional, or physical, or circumstantial.
2. Overwhelming tempests of spiritual distress on account of sin, wrong desire, conscious declension, unbelief, etc.
3. Fierce blasts of temptation, insinuation, suggestion, denunciation, etc., from Satan.
4. Wild attacks from human enemies, who taunt, slander, threaten, etc. David often used this refuge. He says, "I have fled to you for refuge!" (Psalm 143:9).
5. Trying gales of temporal losses, bereavements, and other afflictions.
6. Above all, the storm of divine anger when we have grieved the Holy Spirit, and lost communion with God.

None of these winds and tempests are we able to bear: our only safety lies in getting out of them by finding a shelter where God has provided it (Isaiah 25:4; 26:20; Psalm 32:7).

From these storms, the man Christ Jesus is our hiding place

1.  As truly man.
   • Sympathizing with us, and
   • Bringing God near to us.
2. As more than man, ruling every tempest, covering every feeble traveler, as within the cleft of a rock.
3. As Substitutionary Man, interposing, breasting the storm for us, hiding us by being weather-beaten himself.
4. As Representative Man, more than conqueror, and glorified.
   • In him we are delivered from divine wrath.
   • In him we are covered from Satan's blasts.
   • In him we dwell above trial by happy fellowship with him.
   • In him we are victors over death.
5. As Ever-living Man: we live because he lives, and thus we defy the tempest of death (John 14:19).
6. As Interceding Man. He says, "I have prayed for you," when Satan is seeking to destroy any one of us (Luke 22:32).
7. As the Coming Man. We dread no political catastrophes, or social disruptions, for "he must reign." The end is secured, "Behold, he is coming with the clouds" (Rev. 1:7).

Let us see to it we take shelter in The Man

1. Let him stand before us, interposing between us and the punishment of sin. Hide behind him by faith.
2. Let him daily cover us from all evil, as our Shield and Protector (Psalm 119:114).
3. Let us enter into him more and more fully, that we may be more hidden, that he may be more known to us, and that we may have a fuller sense of security.

He is an open refuge, available now, for you.

• O you that are out of Christ, the tempest is lowering! Come to this refuge; hasten to this hiding place!
• He is an trustworthy shelter, tried and proved.
• He is an open refuge, available now, for you.
• He is a spacious hiding place: "Yet there is room." As in Adullam all David's army could hide, so is Jesus able to receive hosts of sinners.
• He is an eternal refuge: our dwelling place throughout all generations.
• He is an inviting shelter, because he is Man, and therefore has compassion towards men, and a joy in their salvation.

Instances and instructions

Well do I remember being caught in a tempest in France, when it blew with unusual fury; it not only drove clouds of dust with terrible force, but limbs of trees, and all sorts of light material were propelled with tremendous force. One wondered that a tree remained upright, or a fence in its place.

What a joy it was to hide behind a solid wall, and under its shelter to run along till we were safe within doors! Then we knew in some measure the value of a hiding place from the wind. But what is that to a cyclone, which tears down houses, and lifts ships upon the dry land? Friends who have lived abroad have startled us with their descriptions of what wind can be, and they have made us cease to wonder that a hiding place should be greatly prized by dwellers in eastern lands.

The tempest's awful voice was heard;

O Christ, it broke on thee! 
Thy open bosom was my ward, 

It braved the storm for me. 
Thy form was scarred, thy visage marred;

Now cloudless peace for me.

— Sacred Songs and Solos

Our safety lies in getting behind Christ, and letting him stand in the wind's eye.

I creep under my Lord's wings in the great shower, and the waters cannot reach me. Let fools laugh the fools' laughter, and scorn Christ, and bid the weeping captives in Babylon to sing them one of the songs of Zion. We may sing, even in our winter's storm, in the expectation of a summer's sun at the turn of the year. No created powers in hell, or out of hell, can mar our Lord's work, or spoil our song of joy. Let us then, be glad and rejoice in the salvation of our Lord, for faith had never yet cause to have tearful eyes, or a saddened brow, or to droop or die.

—Samuel Rutherford

You must stay hidden to be sheltered by Christ

A shelter is nothing if we stand in front of it. The main thought with many a would-be Christian is his own works, feelings, and attainments: this is to stand on the windy side of the wall by putting yourself before Jesus. Our safety lies in getting behind Christ, and letting him stand in the wind's eye. We must be altogether hidden, or Christ cannot be our hiding place.

Foolish religious people hear about the hiding place, but never get into it. How great is the folly of such conduct! It makes Jesus to be of no value or effect. What is a roof to a man who lies in the open, or a boat to one who sinks in the sea? Even the Man Christ Jesus, though ordained by God to be a shelter from the tempest, can cover none but those who are in him. Come then, poor sinner, enter where you may; hide in him who was evidently meant to hide you, for he was ordained to be a hiding place, and must be used as such, or the very aim of his life and death would be missed.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.