Christ is also revealed in Isaiah 8:14 as a trap and a snare. He is a trap for the negative ones as the running animals and a snare for the negative ones as the flying fowls. A lion cannot be snared; it must be trapped. A bird, on the other hand, must be snared. The Pharisees and the Jewish leaders can be likened to the running animals who were trapped by the Lord Jesus. They attempted to trap the Lord Jesus, but instead He became a trap to them. Matthew 22 records how the Pharisees, the Herodians, and the Sadducees worked together to confront Him with questions, doing their best to trap Him. They were like hunters, hunting together to trap Jesus. After answering all of their questions and avoiding their traps, Jesus asked them one question. Through that one question, He trapped all of them (vv. 41-46). Christ was a trap to these ones.
The book of Acts records that the Jews were following Paul in their opposition of him. We can say that these Jewish opposers and persecutors of Paul set snares for him. Because Paul was so capable, he could use his wisdom to escape their snares. He had a Savior who was always delivering him out of the hands of these opposers. Instead of them snaring Paul, Christ became a snare to them.
Anyone who thinks that he is more clever or wiser than Jesus will eventually suffer. To the negative ones, the unbelievers, Christ is a stone to strike against and to fall upon. He is a rock of stumbling to those who do not regard Him. He is also a trap and a snare to catch those who are negative. No one can escape from Christ. Everyone has something to do with Christ and is related to Christ. We can either be a positive one toward Him or a negative one toward Him. We may say that we do not care for Him, but He cares for us. He is the Lord and the Creator of all men. Even among today's Christians, some are positive and others are negative. Many may acknowledge that Jesus is their Lord, their Savior, and their Redeemer, yet they may be indifferent toward Him, not caring for Him. However, He cares for us and will deal with us.
To the positive ones He is a sanctuary. We can live in Him as our sanctuary, and in Him we can receive Him as our bountiful provision and all-inclusive supply. To the negative ones, however, the unbelieving ones, He is a stone to strike against, a rock of stumbling, a trap, and a snare. One day everyone will have to stand before Him to pass through His judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). Even we Christians will have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ after our rapture to the air (2 Cor. 5:10). At that time we will have to give an account to Him concerning our life and service.
We hope that we are the positive ones in our relationship with Christ. We want to dwell in Him and enjoy Him as our dwelling place, even our Holy of Holies. He is our sanctuary in whom we can enjoy all the divine riches. In Him we can enjoy Him as our divine sunshine, our divine air, our divine water, and our divine food. All of the rich provision in Him as our sanctuary is divine. This means that God is here as everything to us for us to enjoy. The only way that we can enjoy God in every way is to live in Him, taking Him as our sanctuary and living with Him as our roommate.