Our Stronghold

"The name of the Lord is a strong tower:
the righteous runs into it, and is safe."
Proverbs 18:10 (kjv)

"The name of the Lord is a strong fortress;
the godly run to him and are safe."
Proverbs 18:10 (nlt)

Strong towers were a greater security in a bygone age than they are now. Then when troops of marauders invaded the land, strong castles were set upon the various hill-tops, and the inhabitants gathered up their little wealth and fled there at once. Castles were looked upon as being very difficult places for attack; and ancient troops would rather fight a hundred battles than endure a single siege. Towns which would be taken by modern artillery in twelve hours, held out for twelve years against the most potent forces of the ancient times. He that possessed a castle was lord of all the region round about, and made their inhabitants either his clients who sought his protection, or his dependents whom he ruled at will. He who owned a strong tower, felt however potent might be his adversary, his walls and bulwarks would be his sure salvation. Generous rulers provided strongholds for their people; mountain fortresses where the peasantry might be sheltered from marauders.

Transfer your thoughts to a thousand years ago, and picture a people, who after ploughing and sowing, have gathered in their harvest, but when they are about to make merry with the harvest festival, a startling signal banishes their joy. A trumpet is blown from yonder mountain, the warning answers it from the village tower, hordes of ferocious robbers are approaching, their corn will be devoured by strangers; burying their corn and furniture, and gathering up the little portable wealth they have, they hasten with all their might to their tower of defense which stands on yonder ridge. The gates are shut; the drawbridge is pulled up; the portcullis is let down; the warders are on the battlements, and the inhabitants within feel that they are safe. The enemy will empty their deserted farms, and search for hidden treasure, and finding that the inhabitants are quite beyond their reach, they will betake themselves to some other place. Such is the figure which is in the text. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runs into it, and is safe."

I. Of course we all know that by the name of God is meant the character of the Most High, so that our first lesson is that THE CHARACTER OF GOD FURNISHES THE RIGHTEOUS WITH AN ABUNDANT SECURITY. The Character of God Is the Refuge of the Christian, in opposition to other refuges which godless men have chosen. Solomon suggestively puts the following words in the next verse — "The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit." The rich man feels that his wealth may afford him comfort. Should he be attacked in law, his wealth can procure him an advocate; should he be insulted in the streets, the dignity of a full purse will avenge him; should he be sick, he can hire the best physicians; should he need assistants for his pleasures, or helpers for his infirmities, they will be at his call; should famine stalk through the land, it will avoid his door; should war itself break forth he can purchase an escape from the sword, for his wealth is his strong tower. In contra-distinction to this, the Righteous Man Finds in His God All That the Wealthy Man Finds in His Substance, and a Vast Deal More. "The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I trust in him." God is our treasure; he is to us better than the fullest purse, or the most magnificent income; broad acres yield not such peace as a well attested interest in the love and faithfulness of our heavenly Father. Provinces under our sway could not bring to us greater revenues than we possess in him who makes us heirs of all things by Christ Jesus.

Other men who trust not in their wealth, nevertheless make their own names a strong tower. To say the truth, a man’s good name is no small defense against the attacks of his fellow-men. To wrap one’s self about in the garment of integrity is to defy the chill blast of calumny, and to be mailed against the arrows of slander. If we can appeal to God, and say, "Lord, they know that in this thing I am not wicked," then let the mouth of the liar pour forth his slanders, let him scatter his venom where he may, we bear an antidote within before which his poison yields its power. But this is only true in a very limited sense; death soon proves to men that their own good name can afford them no consolation, and under conviction of sin a good reputation is no shelter. When conscience is awake, when the judgment is unbiased, when we come to know something of the law of God and of the justice of his character, we soon discover That Self-Righteousness Is No Hiding-place for us, a crumbling battlement which will fall on the neck of him that hides behind it — a pasteboard fortification yielding to the first shock of the law — a refuge of lies to be beaten down with the great hailstones of eternal vengeance — such is the righteousness of man. The righteous trusts not in this; not his own name, but the name of his God, not his own character, but the character of the Most High is his strong tower.

Nevertheless are those castles in the air to which men hasten in the hour of peril: ceremonies lift their towers into the clouds; professions pile their walls high as mountains, and works of the flesh paint their delusions until they seem substantial bulwarks; but all, all shall melt like snow, and vanish like a mist. Happy is he who leaves the sand for the rock, the phantom for the substance.

The name of the Lord is a strong tower to the Christian, not only in opposition to other men’s refuges but as a Matter of Fact and Reality. Even when he is not able to perceive it by experience, yet God’s character is the refuge the saint. If we come to the bottom of things, we shall find that the basis of the security of the believer lies in the character of God. I know you will tell me it is the covenant; but what is the covenant worth, if God were changeable, unjust, untrue? I know you will tell me that the confidence of the believer is in the blood of Christ; but what were the blood of Christ, if God were false; if after Christ had paid the ransom the Lord should deny him the ransomed, if after Christ had stood the substitute, the Judge of Men should yet visit upon our heads, for whom he suffered, our own guilt; if Jehovah could be unrighteous; if he could violate his promise and become faithless as we are, then I say that even the blood of Christ would afford us no security. You tell me that there is his promise, but again I remind you that the value of a man’s promise must depend on his character. If God were not such that he cannot lie, if he were not so faithful that he cannot repent, if he were not so mighty that he cannot be frustrated when he intends to perform, then his promise were but waste paper; his words like our words, would be but wind, and afford no satisfactory shelter for a soul distressed and anxious. But you will tell me he has sworn with an oath. Brethren, I know he has. He has given us two immutable things in which it is impossible for him to lie, that we may have strong consolation.

But still what is a man’s oath worth irrespective of his character? Is it not after all What A Man Is, that makes his asseveration to be eminently mistrusted or profoundly believed. And it is because our God cannot by any means foreswear himself, but must be true, that his oath becomes of value to you and to me. Brethren, after all, let us remember that the purpose of God in our salvation is the glorifying of his own character, and this it is that makes our salvation positively sure, if everyone that trusts in Christ be not saved then is God dishonored, the Lord of Hosts has hung up his escutcheon, and if in the face of the whole earth he accomplishes not that which he declares he will perform in this book, then is his escutcheon stained. I say it, he has flung down the gauntlet to sin, and death, and hell, and if he be not the conqueror over all these in the heart of every soul that trusts in him, then he is no more the God of Victories, nor can we shout his everlasting praise as the Lord mighty in battle.

His character then, you see, when we come to the basis of all, is the great granite formation upon which must rest all the pillars of the covenant of grace and the sure mercies Thereof. His Wisdom, Truth, Mercy, Justice, Power, Eternity, and Immutability, are the Seven Pillars of the House of Sure Salvation. If we would have comfort, we can surely find it in the character of God. This is our strong tower, we run into it and we are safe.

Mark it, beloved, not only is this true as a matter of fact, but it is true as a matter of experience. I hope I shall now speak the feelings of your hearts, while I say, we have found the character of God to be an abundant safeguard to us. We have known full well the trials of life! Thank God we have, for what would any of us be worth, if we had no troubles? Troubles, Like Files, Take Away Our Rust; like Furnaces, They Consume Our Dross; like Winnowing-fans They Drive Away the Chaff, and we should have had but little value, we should have had but little usefulness, if we had not been made to pass through the Furnace. But in All Our Troubles We Have Found The Character of God a Comfort.

You have been poor — very poor: I know some of you here have been out of work a long time, and you have wondered where your bread would come from, even for the next meal. Now what has been your comfort? Have you not said, "God is too good to let me starve; he is too bountiful to let me be destitute. And so, you see, you have found his character to be your strong tower. Or else you have had personal sickness; you have long lain on the bed of weariness, tossing to and fro, and then the temptation has come into your heart to be impatient: "God has dealt harshly with you," so the Evil One whispers; but how do you escape? Why you say, "No, he is no tyrant, I know him to be a sympathizing God." "In all their afflictions he was afflicted, the angel of his presence saved them." Or else you have had losses— many losses, and you have been apt to ask, "How can these things be? How is it I have to work so long and plod so hard, and have to look about me with all my wits to earn but little, and yet when I have made money it melts? I see my wealth, like a flock of birds upon the fields, here one moment and gone the next, for a passer by claps his hand, and everything takes to itself wings and flies away." Then we are apt to think that God is unwise to let us toil for naught; but, lo, we run into our strong tower, and we feel it cannot be. No; the God who sent this affliction could not have acted in a thoughtless, reckless, wisdomless manner; there must be something here that shall work for my good.

You know, brethren, it is useless for me to attempt to describe the various ways in which your trials come; but I am sure they that know Jehovah’s name will put their trust in him. Perhaps your trial has beenneed, and then you have said, "His name is Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide;" or else you have been banished from friends, perhaps from country, but you have said, "Ah! his name is Jehovah-Shammah, the Lord is there;" or else you have had a disturbance in your family; there has been war within, and war without, but you have run into your strong tower, for you have said, "His name is Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord send peace;" or else the world has slandered you; or else you yourself have been conscious of your sin, but you have said, "His name is Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness," and so you have gone there, and been safe; or else many have been your enemies, then his name has been "Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord my banner;" and so he has been a strong tower to you. Defy, then, brethren, defy, in God’s strength, tribulations of every sort and size. Say, with the poet,

"There is a safe and secret place
Beneath the wings divine,
Reserved for all the heirs of grace;
That refuge now is mine.
The least and feeblest here may hide
Uninjured and unawed;
While thousands fall on every side,
I rest secure in God."

But, beloved, besides the trials of this life, we have the sins of the flesh, and what a tribulation these are; but the name of our God is our strong tower then. At certain seasons we are more than ordinarilyconscious of our guilt; and I would give little for your piety, if you do not sometimes creep into a corner with the poor publican and say. "God be merciful to me a sinner."

Broken hearts and humble walkers, these are dear in Jesus' eyes.

There will be times with all of us when our saintship is not very clear, but our sinnership is very apparent; well, then, the name of our God must be our defense: "He is very merciful " — " For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Yes, in the person of Christ we even dare to look at his justice with confidence, since "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Possibly it is not so much the guilt of sin that troubles you, as the power of sin. You feel as if you must one day fall by the hand of this enemy within. You have been striving and struggling, but the old Adam is too much for you. It is a stern conflict, and you fear that the sons of Anak will never be driven out. You feel you carry a bombshell within your heart; your passions are like a keg of gunpowder; you are walking where the flashes of fire are flying, and you are afraid a spark may fall and then there will be a terrible destruction of everything.

Ah! then there is the power of God, there is the truth of God, there is the faithfulness of God, and, despite all the desperate power of sin, we find a shelter here in the character of the Most High. Sin sometimes comes with all the terrors of the law; then, if you know not how to hide yourself behind your God, you will be in an evil plight. It will come at times with all the fury of the flesh, and if you can not perceive that your flesh was crucified in Christ, and that your life is a life in him, and not in yourself, then will you soon be put to the rout. But he who lives in his God, and not in himself, and he who wraps Christ’s righteousness about him, and is righteous in Christ, such a man may defy all the attacks of the flesh and all the temptations of the world; he shall overcome through the blood of the Lamb. "This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith."

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