Psalm 142:5 I cried to you, O LORD: I said, You are my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. : — I. CONCERNING THE REFUGE. 1. God in Christ is the refuge itself (Isaiah 4:6; Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12; John 1:14; Isaiah 32:2; Deuteronomy 33:27). 2. This refuge is by a legal destination a refuge for lost mankind (2 Corinthians 5:19; John 3:14-16; Titus 3:4). (1) For the oppressed (Psalm 9:9; Psalm 72:4; Romans 16:20). (2) For outcasts (Psalm 142:4, 5). (3) For debtors (Isaiah 25:4). (4) For criminals liable to death by the law (Hebrews 6:18). 3. The gate of this refuge through which sinners enter is the vail of the flesh of Christ, rent, torn, and opened to let in the guilty creature unto Jehovah as a refuge (Hebrews 10:19, 20). 4. The covert in this refuge is the righteousness of Christ (Jeremiah 23:6; Philippians 3:9). (1) The satisfaction of Christ's death and sufferings (1 John 2:2). (2) The righteousness of Christ's life and conversation, who obeyed the commands of the law as a public person, as well as He suffered the penalty of it in that capacity (Romans 5:19). (3) The holiness of His birth and nature (Hebrews 7:26). 5. The several apartments in this refuge for the various cases of the refugees are all the attributes and perfections of God the Lord Jehovah (Proverbs 18:10). 6. The boundaries of this refuge are the everlasting covenant (Psalm 46:7). 7. The sinner's entering into the refuge is by faith. II. CONCERNING THE PORTION. 1. The same God in Christ, who is the refuge for poor sinners, is also the portion for them to live by. 2. God in Christ is what one may live on (Psalm 16:5, 6). In Him man has a dwelling-place (Psalm 90:1); raiment (Revelation 3:18); meat and drink (John 6:55); and all in a word (Philippians 4:18; 2 Corinthians 6:10). And hereto belongs the sanctification of the soul in the beginning, progress, and consummation of it, as that which is for the perfecting of the soul (1 Corinthians 1:30). (T. Boston, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.WEB: I cried to you, Yahweh. I said, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living." |
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