SEE those shrubs and wild flowers, they grow among precipices and crags, but are in no danger because they cling to the rock. The little bird also seeketh safety by flying into the clefts of the rock. Sinners are perishing; but they may flee from destruction by fleeing to the Rock Christ Jesus. It is to this end that the Gospel addresses itself to sinners. You are a great sinner, then flee to the Rock; for you have need of a great salvation. You have multiplied transgressions: then flee to the Rock; for Jesus has promised to multiply pardons. You cannot repent: then flee to the Rock; for Jesus is exalted to give repentance and remission of sins. Yet have no faith: then flee to the Rock; for the Saviour is waiting to give you the faith you need.
As the shrubs are in no danger, though growing in dangerous places, because their roots cling to the rock, so believers are at all times secure because they cling to Christ by the roots of a living faith. The wild flowers are weak and fragile, but their support is strong. None are so weak as Christians, yet none are so secure, because they cling to the Rock of Ages. They we many dangers; the rushing flood passes by and over them; but they are safe, because the Rock to which they cling is everlasting, never to be moved.
The shrubs may be severed from the rock; but no believer shall ever be severed from the Rock Christ Jesus. Saints can never be separated from Jesus, to whom with a living faith they cling, because Jesus will never be separated from them. Their safety is wholly in the Rock to which they cling.
Unconverted sinner, thou canst not cling to Sinai; for its sides are hot with the wrath of God! Thou canst not stand on the precipice of a broken law, nor on the shifting sand of creature merit, nor on the quicksand of thine own resolutions, nor on the treacherous soil of thine own exertions, either present or future. Thy secret and thine open sins have made the ground slippery, and soon thou wilt slide down the precipice of damnation into the pit of hell if sovereign grace arrest thee not. May the Holy Spirit be pleased to lead thee to the rock of salvation, and enable thee to cling by faith to the finished atonement of Jesus. “Its only as thou clingest to the Rock of Ages that thou art safe from all danger. T. W. M.