Focus: Our Safe Place

Text: Isa.32:18

"And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places."

God is absolutely concerned about the safety and peace of His people. He ensures our eternal security and assures us of an abiding place in Christ. At all times and in all places God means for us. He says to us, "Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime" (2Sam.7:10). 

Interestingly, our place of absolute safety is not really in a place, but in a person - the person of Jesus Christ. Paul says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings IN heavenly places IN Christ" (Eph.1:3). All our spiritual blessings in the heavenly places are IN Jesus Christ. We are abundantly blessed and absolutely secure in Christ. In Christ Jesus we have found our "peaceable habitation," "sure dwellings," and "quiet resting places." In Jesus Christ we have found our safe place. Paul says, "For ye are dead, and your life is HID with Christ in God" (Col.3:3). He says again, "For IN him we live, and move, and have our being…" (Act.17:28). Think of the ark of Noah for a moment. It was an ark of salvation and safety. For those in it, the flood had no power. 

In Christ we are secure. Outside Him we are unsafe. Outside of Him we have no guaranteed future.

Solomon declares, "The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD" (Prov.21:31). In this world only God can absolutely guarantee one's safety. The psalmist says, "An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength," but he boldly and confidently declares, "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety" (Ps.33:17; 4:8).

God brought total darkness upon Egypt for Pharaoh's failure to let Israel go, but in Goshen where Israel lived, there was light. Moses wrote that the Egyptians "saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings" (Ex.10:23). Our place in Christ is not only safe but also lighted. In Christ we have found our own Goshen. 

We are the people of light, for our God is light. There is no iota of darkness in Christ.

Moses tells Israel, "But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety" (Dt.12:10). Yes, in Christ we have found sure safety! He gives us perfect rest from all our enemies.

Moses declares as he blesses Benjamin, "The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him; and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders" (Dt.33:12). What a blessing! We are both saved by Christ and safe in Him. Moses continues, "Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew" (Dt.33:28).

When Israel arrived in Egypt, they were given a part of the land where they felt at peace and comfortable, and where they lived and enjoyed the abundance of Egypt, because of Joseph. Joseph said to them, "And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty" (Gen.45:11). On their arrival, Pharaoh said to Joseph, "The land of Egypt is before thee; in the BEST of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell… And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the BEST of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded" (Gen.47:6,11). They found in Goshen a place of peace and plenty, protection and provision, blessedness and bounty.

To enjoy divine peace, protection and provision, we have a part to play. Moses writes, "Wherefore ye shall DO my statutes, and KEEP my judgments, and DO them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety… And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety" (Lev.25:18,19). Our part is that of doing what God says, obeying His instructions, and abiding by His decisions. God's word works when we apply it to our lives and live as God requires. Christ is our safe place in this world.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter