"Come unto
me." - Matthew 11:28 |
The cry of the Christian religion is
the gentle word, "Come." The Jewish law harshly said, "Go,
take heed unto thy steps as to the path in which thou shalt
walk. Break the commandments, and thou shalt perish; keep
them, and thou shalt live."
The law was a dispensation
of terror, which drove men before it as with a scourge; the
gospel draws with bands of love. Jesus is the good Shepherd
going before his sheep, bidding them follow him, and ever
leading them onwards with the sweet word, "Come. " The law
repels, the gospel attracts. The law shows the distance which
there is between God and man; the gospel bridges that awful
chasm, and brings the sinner across it.
From the first
moment of your spiritual life until you are ushered into
glory, the language of Christ to you will be, "Come, come unto
me." As a mother puts out her finger to her little child and
woos it to walk by saying, "Come," even so does Jesus. He will
always be ahead of you, biddin g you follow him as the soldier
follows his captain. He will always go before you to pave your
way, and clear your path, and you shall hear his animating
voice calling you after him all through life; while in the
solemn hour of death, his sweet words with which he shall
usher you into the heavenly world shall be-"Come, ye blessed
of my Father. "
Nay, further, this is not only
Christ's cry to you, but, if you be a believer, this is your
cry to Christ-"Come! come!" You will be longing for his second
advent; you will be saying, "Come quickly, even so come Lord
Jesus." You will be panting for nearer and closer communion
with him. As his voice to you is "Come," your response to him
will be, "Come, Lord, and abide with me. Come, and occupy
alone the throne of my heart; reign there without a rival, and
consecrate me entirely to thy service. "
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"Yea, thou
heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that
thine ear was not opened." - Isaiah 48:8 |
It is painful to remember that, in a
certain degree, this accusation may be laid at the door of
believers, who too often are in a measure spiritually
insensible. We may well bewail ourselves that we do not hear
the voice of God as we ought, "Yea, thou heardest not." There
are gentle motions of the Holy Spirit in the soul which are
unheeded by us: there are whisperings of divine command and of
heavenly love which are alike unobserved by our leaden
intellects.
Alas! we have been carelessly
ignorant-"Yea, thou knewest not." There are matters within
which we ought to have seen, corruptions which have made
headway unnoticed; sweet affections which are being blighted
like flowers in the frost, untended by us; glimpses of the
divine face which might be perceived if we did not wall up the
windows of our soul. But we "have not known."
As we
think of it we are humbled in the deepest self-abasement. How
must we adore the grace of God as we learn from the context
that all this folly and ignorance, on our part, was foreknown
by God, and, notwithstanding that foreknowledge, he yet has
been pleased to deal with us in a way of mercy! Admire the
marvellous sovereign grace which could have chosen us in the
sight of all this! Wonder at the price that was paid for us
when Christ knew what we should be! He who hung upon the cross
foresaw us as unbelieving, backsliding, cold of heart,
indifferent, careless, lax in prayer, and yet he said, "I am
the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour . . .
Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been
honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men
for thee, and people for thy life!" O redemption, how
wondrously resplendent dost thou shine when we think how black
we are! O Holy Spirit, give us henceforth the hearing ear, the
understanding heart!
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