Caves Beach

I recently called at Caves Beach in new South Wales. One has to check the times of the tide to ensure one doesn’t get cut off. The caves are large, and some were occupied by folk engaged in photography and other, perhaps less reputable goings-on. Although it was a pleasant place to visit, I fear I would make a poor caveman, for they make not the most convivial of dwellings. Scripture talks about caves a number of times. In Hebrews 11:38 we are told of the persecuted saints throughout history “of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.” And

1 Samuel 13:6: When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger (for the people were distressed), then the people hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits.

Yet caves are more often described as the haunts of the unbeliever, fleeing from or awaiting God’s dreadful justice:

Ezekiel 33:27: “Say thus to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “As I live, surely those who are in the ruins shall fall by the sword, and the one who is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and caves shall die of the pestilence.

Isaiah 2:19: They shall go into the holes of the rocks, And into the caves of the earth, From the terror of the Lord And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily.

Revelation 6:15: And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. (All NKJV)

Thank God, we Christ-followers are not destined for caves and caverns, holes and pits, but to go and be with Christ, which is better by far:

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:1-3, NKJV