My Hiding Place

Words by Jehoida Brewer (And David Ward including music)

Brewer: 1752-1817, pastor in Britain.

Chorus: (Not part of original) My Jesus is my hiding place, Surrounding me with steadfast love and grace. In death He'll be my hiding place And I shall ever see His smiling face.

Against the God who rules the sky I fought with hands uplifted high; Despised the mention of His grace, Too proud to seek a hiding place! But an eternal counsel ran: 'Almighty love, arrest that man!' I felt the arrows of disgrace And found I had no hiding place. Indignant Justice stood in view; To Sinai's fiery mount I flew; But Justice cried with frowning face, 'This mountain is no hiding place.' Ere long a heav'nly voice I heard, And mercy for my soul appeared, Which led me on with smiling face To Jesus Christ, my hiding place. On Him almighty vengeance fell: Enough to sink the world to hell. He bore it for His chosen race, And thus became their hiding place. Should storms of mighty vengeance roll And shake this earth from pole to pole, No flaming bolt could daunt my face For Jesus is my hiding place.

(2 verses in original only)

First:

Hail, sovereign love that first began, The scheme to rescue fallen man; Hail matchless free eternal grace, That gave my soul a hiding place.

Last:

A few more rolling suns at most, Shall land me safe on Heaven’s coast; There I shall sing the song of grace, To Jesus Christ, my hiding place!

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Chorus: (Not part of original) My Jesus is my hiding place, Surrounding me with steadfast love and grace.

Hiding place: denotes trouble outside but safety from that trouble within a certain area

Jesus’ hiding place:

steadfast love: love that overcomes the storms of sin

Grace: Good favor despite sin

(not just this life but the next too)

In death He'll be my hiding place And I shall ever see His smiling face.

Aronic blessing

Numbers 6:24–26 “24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

Psalm 80.

This hymn is about the experience of having God’s frowning face on us when we were in sin verses the experience of having his smiling face on us in Jesus

The verses follow a certain cadence

four lines that make up the theme of the verse

Four lines that introduce the next verse’s theme in light of the current theme

The frowning face and deviance

Against the God who rules the sky I fought with hands uplifted high; Despised the mention of His grace, Too proud to seek a hiding place! But an eternal counsel ran: 'Almighty love, arrest that man!' I felt the arrows of disgrace And found I had no hiding place.

The frowning face and legalism

Indignant Justice stood in view; To Sinai's fiery mount I flew; But Justice cried with frowning face, 'This mountain is no hiding place.' Ere long a heav'nly voice I heard, And mercy for my soul appeared, Which led me on with smiling face To Jesus Christ, my hiding place.

How Jesus brings a smiling face

On Him almighty vengeance fell: Enough to sink the world to hell. He bore it for His chosen race, And thus became their hiding place. Should storms of mighty vengeance roll And shake this earth from pole to pole, No flaming bolt could daunt my face For Jesus is my hiding place.

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I.

The frowning face and deviance

Against the God who rules the sky I fought with hands uplifted high; Despised the mention of His grace, Too proud to seek a hiding place!

Against the God who rules the sky I fought with hands uplifted high;

Romans 1:18-32.

Despised the mention of His grace,

Matthew 11:20–24 “20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.””

Too proud to seek a hiding place

because there isn’t a conviction of danger...thus you make your home in the danger

Matthew 24:36–39 “36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

A tragedy that man uses the goodness of God in his creation to convince themselves not to seek a hiding place

But an eternal counsel ran: 'Almighty love, arrest that man!' I felt the arrows of disgrace And found I had no hiding place.

But an eternal counsel ran: 'Almighty love, arrest that man!'

Romans 1:18 “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

I felt the arrows of disgrace And found I had no hiding place.

Romans 7:9 “9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.”

James 4:9–10 “9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

Thomas Watson A Body of Divinity (224)

A man is convinced of sin, he sees he is a sinner and nothing but a sinner; the fallow ground of his heart is broken up (Jeremiah 4:3). As the husbandman (farmer) breaks the clods, then casts in the seed; so God, by the convincing work of the law, breaks a sinner’s heart, and makes it fit to receive the seeds of grace. Such as were never convinced are never called. ‘He shall convince the world of sin.’ (John 16:8). Conviction is the first step in conversion.

These four lines leads us to the next verse...if the law makes us aware that we need a hiding place the mistake can be that the law IS the hiding place...

II.

The frowning face and legalism

Indignant Justice stood in view; To Sinai's fiery mount I flew; But Justice cried with frowning face, 'This mountain is no hiding place.'

Romans 2:23 “23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.”

The council of what to do with the gentiles being saved by the Holy Spirit

Acts 15:10–11 “10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.””

Romans 7:7–12 “7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”

Hebrews 12:18–25 “18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him…”

Ere (before) long a heav'nly voice I heard, And mercy for my soul appeared, Which led me on with smiling face To Jesus Christ, my hiding place.

Voice?

The better word of the new covenant grace than the old testament lwaw

Hebrews 12:24–25 “24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.”

Or the voice of the next verse?

III.

How Jesus brings a smiling face

On Him almighty vengeance fell: Enough to sink the world to hell. He bore it for His chosen race, And thus became their hiding place.

On Him almighty vengeance fell: Enough to sink the world to hell.

Isaiah 53:4–6 “4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Isaiah 53:10–12 “10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

There was darkness

He bore it for His chosen race, And thus became their hiding place.

Revelation 5:9 “9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,”

John 10:14–16 “14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Should storms of mighty vengeance roll And shake this earth from pole to pole, No flaming bolt could daunt my face For Jesus is my hiding place.

Romans 8:31–39 “31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Romans 8:38–39 “38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”