II. THE ETERNAL ROCK FOR HIS PEOPLE TO TRUST IN
Every human being apart from Christ has nothing to trust in, but we have the Lord as the eternal Rock to trust in. Isaiah 17:10 says, "For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, / And the Rock of your stronghold you have not remembered. / Therefore you plant plants of delight / And set them with plant cuttings to a strange god." Christ is the God of our salvation. Actually, He Himself is our salvation. He is the Rock of stronghold for His people to remember Him as their salvation. If we forget Christ as our God, we will be like those who plant plants for another god. We have to pray, "Lord, we do not ever want to plant plants for another god. We want to always remember You." As the Rock of our stronghold, Christ is the God of our salvation in whom we should trust.
He is also the Rock of Israel for His people to contact Him as their joy. Isaiah 30:29 says, "You will have a song / As in the night when the feast is sanctified, / And gladness of heart as when one marches to the flute / To go to the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel." Although this verse describes the coming age of restoration, we enjoy a foretaste of this in the meetings of the church and the ministry. We are those feasting on the Lord and with the Lord and singing in the Lord and to the Lord. We have gladness in our heart as those who are marching to the flute to go to the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel. Today when we come to the meeting, we should come with gladness in our heart, as those who are "marching to the flute to go to the mountain of Jehovah."
III. A SAVIOR—A DEFENDER
Isaiah 19:20 reveals that Christ is also a Savior—a Defender, who is the Mighty One, especially for Egypt—the Gentiles. Today we, as the Gentiles, do enjoy Christ as our Savior and our mighty Defender. He not only saves us in many ways but also defends us at the time of need.
IV. THE TEACHER
Christ is not only the King, the Rock, and the Savior—the Defender, but also the Teacher. Isaiah 30:20 and 21 say, "And though the Lord has given you / The bread of adversity and the water of oppression, / Your Teacher will no longer hide Himself in a corner, / But your eyes will see your Teacher. / And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, / This is the way, walk in it, / When you turn to the right or turn to the left." In the Old Testament, Christ hid Himself in a mystery, but in the age of restoration He will be manifested to Israel. Today in the new testament age of grace He is already manifested to us. We all can see Him inwardly in our spirit. He is no longer hiding Himself in a corner. We can hear His word on the way telling us to turn to the left or to turn to the right. We have such a Teacher who will no longer hide Himself in a corner from His people but will always instruct His people to turn to the right or turn to the left at the crossroad.
These four items of Christ—the King reigning in the tent of David, the eternal Rock, the defending Savior, and the Teacher—are what He will be to us in the coming age. But today we are enjoying Him in these four aspects in the age of grace as a foretaste. Christ is our King, our eternal Rock, our Savior as our mighty Defender, and our Teacher. Every day He is teaching us. He is no longer hiding. Whenever we come to a crossroad, He is there at the corner, telling us whether we should turn to the right or to the left. We should treasure the book of Isaiah because in it we can see many items of the all-inclusive Christ.
(Life-Study of Isaiah, Chapter 41, by Witness Lee)
