"Thou art my rock and my fortress." - Psalm 31:3.

IN THIS changing world, when former standards and customs are in the melting pot, and nothing seems beyond the influence of corruption, no quality in persons or possessions is more sought after than that of stability. Ever since the expulsion from the Garden of Eden of our first parents, with its accompany­ing curse and the process of dying, the transitory nature of all earthly plans and things has been continually brought home to the race. (Genesis 3:16-19) The tragic death of Abel so soon after (his name itself meaning Vanity), was an emphatic re­minder to Adam and Eve that the security of their Paradise home was no longer theirs. And ever since, as one generation has succeeded another, the lesson has continuously been taught that "here we have no abiding city," only the few having the faith and the desire to "seek one to come." (Hebrews 13:14) Humanity at large seeks to entrench itself behind the things of this age and sense that seem to be the most enduring, and to multiply such as much as possible. As the Psalm­ist observes, they "trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches." - Psalm 49:6.


But life's experience teaches the truth of the Psalmist's further observation, that when a man dieth, "he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him." (Psalm 49:17) And the writer of Ecclesiastes, who engaged in the various activities of life and abounded in wealth more than all his contemporaries and forebears, realized even before death ­robbed him of these, that "all is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 1:2,3) He could find no satisfaction or lasting support in any of these things. Not only so, but he experienced that sense of frustration so common today, and that the fulfillment of earthly desire fre­quently brings in its train only "vexa­tion of spirit." His testimony is: "I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there is no profit under the sun." - Ecclesiastes 2:11. -- See "Under the Sun - What Does Does It Mean?"

Those who are privileged to exercise faith as a result of the revelation of God's character and purpose vouchsafed to them -- for "faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes from the preaching of Christ" (Romans 10:17, R.S.V.) -- gladly turn from the perishing things of this present evil age (Galatians 1:4) to find stability and rest of heart in the eternal Jehovah, "the LIV­ING GOD" (Jeremiah 10:10, ASV) as contrasted with the dying world around them and its dead idols. And just as a great rock is an abiding object in a land of shifting sand, and witnesses the passing of many gen­erations, so the Eternal God appears to these pilgrims and sojourners as a mighty Rock, "with whom is no vari­ableness or shadow of turning." -- James 1:17.



This figure of speech first occurs in the Song of Moses as recorded in the 32nd chapter of the Book of Deuter­onomy, where it is applied to God no less than five times. (Deuteronomy 32:4,15,18,30,31) It is taken up and expanded by the Psalmist over and over again, as he contemplated the Eternal God as meet­ing his utmost needs from a variety of angles:

As a stronghold and refuge: This thought is amplified in Psalm 18:2,3, God epitomizing to the writer all the defense sought to be provided by the numerous human devices for protection. "Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; My God, my rock, in whom I will take refuge; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower. I will call upon Jehovah, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from mine enemies." -- American Standard Version
"

It is worthy of note that in this passage the Hebrew word rendered "rock" is sela, from which the name of the capital of Edom was derived (2 Kings 14:7), known subsequently in Roman times as Petra, likewise meaning "rock" (compare Peter). The buildings of this "rose-red city half as old as Time" were literally carved out of the living red sandstone hills, and access to the fortress was so narrow and tortuous that the place was considered impreg­nable. It was indeed no mean feat of King Amaziah of Judah and his army to storm the fortress; and the fact that he succeeded in so doing serves to emphasize the contrast between all human planning for safety and the abiding refuge of the "everlasting arms" of the Eternal God. - Deuteronomy 33:27.

Welcome shade: Not only does a rock symbolize security, it also offers shade. In the hot and sandy wastes through which Israel traveled from Egypt to the Promised Land, such shade must have been more than welcome many a time; in all probability to the very young and very old, the preserva­tion of life itself. This was convincingly illustrated in the case of a married couple with six children, as related in a recent number of The Reader's Digest. While on holiday in the Utah canyon country, a wrong turn was taken, in their car, and the party was eventually stranded without food or water in a disabled car fifty miles from the nearest settlement, in a country where the day­time temperature may reach 125° and a person may be dehydrated in a matter of hours. When located some 40 hours later, all the party were still alive, due is large measure to the fact that they had been able to shelter from the heat of the sun beneath an outstanding rock, coupled also with the fact that they were a Christian family, upheld by be­lief in prayer and did not panic. How frequently the Psalmist expressed his thanksgiving for the spiritual shelter of his Rock from the rage of his foes! So also the Prophet: "Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall." - Isaiah 25:4.

To the Christian this shade is experi­enced "in Christ" and is well expressed is the words of the well-known hymn:



Shelter from storm: While in some countries, as in Egypt for instance, shade from the heat of the noonday sun is necessary, elsewhere shelter from storms is also important, as the above quota­tion from Isaiah suggests. And so in the various experiences of his stormy life, David encouraged himself in God: "From the end of the earth [land] will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy taber­nacle for ever; I will trust [margin: make my refuge] in the covert of thy wings." (Psalm 61:2-4.) How pre­cious, indeed, down through the gener­ations of the Lord's people has been the experience expressed in the 91st Psalm: "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in him will I trust." -- Psalm 91.



Since the Fall introduced the element of impermanence into all human affairs, mankind has sought to counteract its effects so far as possible by developing institutions of their own devising, cal­culated to outlast the brief span of a single human life. Not only have they endeavored to ensure the greater per­manence of their own houses extending beyond the death of the individual to his successors, but they have also sought to bring a measure of stability into their affairs by ordered governments and dynasties, which might last for centuries instead of decades. As history has sub­sequently universally proved, these have not been free from transition, one king­dom in turn giving place to another, frequently with violent changes. It was this somber fact that was the subject of King Nebuchadnezzar's meditations, as he contemplated the great Kingdom of Babylon which he had built up and sought to peer into the future. (Daniel 2) It was revealed to him through the Prophet that his kingdom would be no more permanent than others before it or which would succeed it, until at long last a Kingdom would be set up, but not by human power or planning, which would triumph not only over all human kingdoms and displace them, but over the transitory nature of all human affairs. Here at last was the prospect that in place of the "change and decay in all around," a stable, or­dered government upon earth would be established.



A necessary element of stability is peace. Nothing disrupts and ruins like strife and war. Thus this promised Kingdom of the future is depicted in Isaiah 9:6, 7, introduced by the foretold Messiah of David's line: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father [LXX: The father of the age to come], The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will per­form this." [See studies] Many other prophetic Scrip­tures emphasize this aspect of PEACE resulting from the establishment of this Kingdom, as Isaiah 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-4. The peace here visualized is mainly external, but in the New Testament a deeper concept of the causes of unrest is revealed and the true basis of peace, viz., the right relationship of the indi­vidual to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, is stressed. In human society un­happiness is the result not only of strife and war on the national plane, but also between classes, families, and indi­viduals. In Hebrews 12:28 the Apostle -refers to a "kingdom which cannot be moved" (Hebrews 12:28), but this can be enjoyed only by those who whole-heartedly embrace the moral government of God as the ruling principle of their lives. "There is no peace, saith my God, for the wicked." (Isaiah 57:19) "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteous­ness and all these things shall be added unto you." - Matthew 6:33.



This brings us to the final phase of our treatment of this subject. The Fall has undermined the stability of char­acter in a greater or less degree in all of Adam's descendants. (Ecclesiastes 1:15-13; 7:13; Romans 1:24-32; 3:10; 5:12-19; 8:20-22) Yet no attribute is of more value than this. Lack of stability has been the cause of ruin to many. A striking illustration of this is afforded in the Book of Genesis, in the familiar story of Esau who despised his birthright and sold it to his scheming brother, Jacob, for "a mess of pottage." Today we can evaluate this despised birthright in the light of history more clearly than could Esau or even Jacob, much as the latter desired it. Faith in God's promises regarding the future was needed to appreciate even slightly all that the birthright involved, and Esau lacked this. But looking down the stream of time from our vantage point we see how the whole philosophy of history is centered in God's dealings with the inheritors of this birthright, his chosen people, the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, not Esau. This is of very great importance in the outworking of the Divine Plan in the immediate future.



Bat Esau was not the only one who forfeited his birthright. In the warning conveyed in Hebrews 12:16, two indi­viduals are referred to, not one, and the record of Genesis links both of them with the birthright. "Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright." (The comma after the word "person" is here omitted as con­fusing the sense.) There is no evidence at all in the Scriptures that Esau was a fornicator; he was profane in regarding his birthright so lightly as to dispose of is to Jacob for "a mess of pottage." In due course this birthright should have descended to Reuben, his first-born by Leah, as we read in Genesis 49:3, 4: "Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excel­lency of power. Unstable as water, thou shall not excel: because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; . . . he went up to my couch." And thus Reuben the fornicator forfeited the birthright too, and it passed to Joseph the first-born son of Rachel.

But in 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 an addi­tional development is recorded. "Now the sons of Reuben the first-born of Israel [for he was the first-born; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's.]"



How exact are the fulfillments of Divinely-inspired prophecy! In the prophetic blessing of his sons by the dying Jacob, Reuben is credited origi­nally with a double or twofold excellency, viz., "the excellency of dignity" and "the excellency of power." But with his next breath Jacob declares that "unstable as water, he shall not excel." These excellencies, therefore, passed from him and in so doing became separated. Judah inherited "the excel­lency of dicey"; "of him came the chief ruler"; in the first instance King David, a prototype of his greater Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Joseph's sons inherited the birthright, which includes "the excellent of power," and in the preceding chapter (48) Jacob's blessing of Joseph's sons placed the younger one, Ephraim, before the elder, Manasseh. Hence the future prophecy of Jeremiah 1:9, referring to the regathering of Israel, wherein God declares: "For I am father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born."

It is a solemn thought that the profane nature of Esau and the unstable character of Reuben should have influ­enced the course of human history throughout the centuries down to our own time, both as regards the descend­ants of Jacob, instead of Esau, being re­gathered in the Land of Promise today, and that He in whom the Divine Plan is centered should be "of the seed of David according to the flesh" (Romans 1:3), i.e., descended from Judah and not from Reuben. How true is the saying:



And, of course, the individuals, such as Esau and Reuben, themselves suffer loss as well as influencing the destiny of their posterity. As the Apostle James says: "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord." - James 1:8,7.

The reverse is equally true, as is well illustrated in the case of Joseph. Tempted under very trying conditions in Poti­phar's house, he stood fast, and suffered disgrace and imprisonment rather than sin, where Reuben with no excuse failed. Joseph looked beyond his master and clearly realized that in the final analysis he would have been sinning not merely against Potiphar but against God. By his trying experiences for a period of thirteen years, Joseph was being pre­pared for rulership and honor. Iron entered into his character so that he became stable, fixed, "made meet for the Master's use," and correspondingly de­termined the future sphere of his descendants.



As quoted above, the Apostle James indicates one cause at least of personal instability and points out the remedy. In effect, full consecration to the will of God will safeguard us from becoming unstable. The Psalmist prayed, "Unite my heart to fear thy name" (Psalm 86:11), and Paul defined his attitude, "This one thing I do." (Philippians 3:13) There was no double­ mindedness about Paul, even as was the case with his great Exemplar, the Lord Jesus, who in pursuance of his Heavenly Father's will, "steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem" and Calvary. He "set his face like a flint" was the prophetic declaration of him. (Isaiah 50:7; Luke 9:51) It is in this complete conformity to the Father's will that our union "in Christ Jesus" becomes complete; and thus united to him we become par­takers of his rock-like stability and per­manence. This it was that enabled Paul, when faced with the certain prospect of imprisonment if he persisted in going up to Jerusalem, to say: "None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself" (Acts 20:24), and again: "I am ready not to be bound only, but to die also at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." (Acts 21:13.) Thus it was that Peter was changed from a denier of his Lord into bold champion of the Crucified One, and thus may each of us be enabled to testify with the Psalmist, "My heart is fixed,.... trusting in Jehovah." (Psalm 57:7; 112:7, ASV) "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor is not in vain in Lord." - l Corinthians 15:58, RLIV.

- Contributed -- Reproduced from Herald of Christ's Kingdom, May 1960; Edited by Ronald R. Day