No sure refuge but Zion.
When danger threatens men commonly invoke human aid—"trust in Egypt, fly to Assyria"—think to be safe if some great king, or powerful statesman, or important country, will take them under protection. But every such refuge is untrustworthy. States prove themselves" braised reeds" in the time of trouble, "piercing the hand which leans on them" (2 Kings 18:21). Princes disappoint expectation, and show that "there is no help in them" (Psalms 146:3). Statesmen find it inconvenient to redeem the pledges which they have given, and turn a deaf car to the appeals for aid addressed to them. But the ear of God is always open to men's cries. They may appeal with confidence to him either in—
I. THE EARTHLY ZION, his holy mountain, the "city set upon an hill" (Matthew 5:14), in which he has promised that there shall dwell his presence forever. The Church of God, founded upon the sure rock of faith in Christ, is a refuge from the assaults of doubt and unbelief, from the wiles of Satan, from the seductions of evil men. When the great army of unbelief advances, like a smoke from the north (Isaiah 14:31), and threatens to obscure the whole world with the dark mantle of agnosticism, marshalling its hosts with military precision, so that "there is not one straggler at the rendezvous," let men remember one thing, "The Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people may trust in it" (Isaiah 14:32). The poor of his people, such as feel themselves "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (Revelation 3:17), may find in the Church of Christ—the Church with which he continues always, "even unto the end of the world"—a refuge, a defense, a rallying-point, from which they may defy the dark host of their enemies. Against the Church the gates of hell shall not prevail. Her Lord is her Defender, and will give her victory over all her foes. The Lord's people may safely trust in her. Or, if this does not suffice, if (as happens to men in some moods) every earthly stay seems vain, they may go "boldly to the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16), and address themselves directly to God in—
II. THE HEAVENLY ZION—the "heaven of heavens"—the sphere where he sits enthroned above angels and archangels, yet from which he is ever lending an attentive ear to the cry of all his creatures. The earthly Zion is but a temporary abiding-place for individuals; the heavenly Zion is alone their true home. In the heavenly Zion alone are they wholly safe—saved, garnered, gathered in, secure forever. There is the throne of God and of the Lamb (Revelation 22:1); there is "the river of the water of life, clear as crystal" (Revelation 22:1); there is the "tree of life," with its "twelve manner of fruits," and its leaves which are "for the healing of the nations" (Revelation 22:2). The earthly Zion is but a type of the heavenly; it is on the heavenly that our thoughts should rest, our minds dwell, our spirits stay themselves (Colossians 3:1-3).
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON