It is most blessed to trace the salvation of God, and His presentation of it, as conveyed in this one little word, all through the pages of scripture.
It seems as if He never wearied of repeating the call, while ever there is an ear to hear. Hinted first, as we might say, in the promise of the seed of the woman, and the acceptance of Abel’s sacrifice, it was plainly uttered in the ears of Noah, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark” (Gen. 7:11And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. (Genesis 7:1)), while the voices of the prophets re-echoed it in many and varied strains.
“Come now, and let us reason together,” are His words to Israel; “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:88And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. (Isaiah 1:8)).
“Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price” (Isa. 4:11And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach. (Isaiah 4:1)).
Again, “Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear and your soul shall live.” Thus the current of His love and grace may be traced all through the pages of the Old Testament; and, if we turn to the New, it is but to find the gracious words breathed forth in richer, fuller, wider strains from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. “God hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son;” but the message is the same “Come!” ringing out, now, over a world whose horizon is dark with the clouds of coming judgment, just as it did “in the days of Noah.”
Did space permit, we might meditate with profit upon the different truths connected with this sweet and blessed invitation―the call to salvation (Luke 14:1717And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. (Luke 14:17)), the call to service (Mark 1:1717And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. (Mark 1:17)), to discipleship (Matt. 19:2121Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. (Matthew 19:21)), to glory (Matt. 25:3434Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: (Matthew 25:34)); but as none of these latter can be responded to, until the first has been accepted, we must linger upon it, breathing out, as it does, the tender, gracious, divine solicitations of His heart who uttered it. “COME unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)). Again, “If any man thirst, let him COME unto me, and drink” (John 7:3737In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (John 7:37)); and yet again, in the last page of divine communication from God to man, “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come! and let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that is athirst COME; and whosoever mill let him take the mater of life freely” (Rev. 22:1717And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)).
One feels almost inclined to let these glorious messages of this “great salvation” ―God’s “glad tidings” ―speak for themselves to the heart and consciences of ruined sinners; but if God by His Spirit gives us some thoughts of its freeness and fullness, we may bless Him for them.
And first as to its freeness. How vast, how wide the invitation: “Come―ALL ye that labor and are heavy laden” How unconditional the promise “I will give you rest.” Reader, are you one of the weary ones of this wide groaning earth? Are you heavy laden with the burden of sin and suffering, and, having tried the world and its varied resources, have you turned, unrelieved unsatisfied from it all? Here is an offer of rest and peace, from the lips of One who alone can say, “Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”
Or, it may be, having spent the past, the best years of your life, your time, your talents, your self, in the service of sin and of Satan, you now think some preparation is needed e’er you can accept this “great salvation;” that when you have turned over a new leaf, begun to read your Bible more, or to pray, or to give alms, that then you may think of coming to God, and hope to be accepted! But not so: God makes no bargains with guilty sinners, He asks no preparation from them, for He knows how utterly unable they are, of themselves, to make themselves fit for His presence. His grace is like His sunlight; we cannot buy it, we do not merit it, but we may receive it, and bask our souls in the conscious enjoyment of it. But until we have accepted salvation from Him, and know the Lord. Jesus Christ as our Saviour, He counts our best works but as “splendid sins;” all our “righteousnesses” but as “filthy rags.”
Thus He offers salvation freely now to guilty sinners, on the ground of the atoning work of His Son. He gives a worldwide invitation; it is “unto all,” but it is only “upon all them that believe,” that simply take God at His word when He says, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 1:1515John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. (John 1:15)). “The gift of God is eternal life,” without money and without price, requiring no fitness, no preparation, but an empty heart to trust His love, and an empty hand to take His gift!
He makes no hard conditions,
‘Tis only “take and live,”
What wondrous grace! How vast, how full, how free! The heart bows down in the contemplation of it, and yet ever fails to prove its full “breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge!”
But if we have barely touched on its freeness to “all,” and to “whomsoever,” what can we say of its fullness, of what those receive who accept this loving call “Come!” It is life! Eternal life! Life in the risen Son of God. The one who “Himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree,” and “once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.”
It is life for the soul! Oh! do you know how to value this? You know how to prize the return of health to yourself or some loved one, after an illness in which life was despaired of; and precious doubtless it is. Yet that is but life temporal of the body, and what compared to that of the soul? Eternal, never-ending existence which must be spent either in endless joy or endless woe; endless delight, or endless despair; endless light and love in the presence of God, or in “blackness of darkness forever!”
Which will it be? The choice now rests with you. The decision now lies in your own hands.
The worldwide invitation now is “Come!” Come, lost and ruined sinner, and on the ground or Christ’s finished work of atonement, receive from the hand of God eternal salvation―everlasting life!
“Come!” ‘Tis Jesus gently calling,
Ye with care and toil opprest,
With your guilt, howe’er appalling,
“Come! and I will give you rest.”
For your sins He “once has suffered,”
On the cross the work was done;
And the word by God now uttered
To each weary soul is “Come!”
But, though this is the invitation of His grace now, a day is fast approaching of which I must warn you, when, if this offer of salvation through Christ has not been accepted, the same lips which uttered the gracious invitation will pronounce the solemn dismissal, “Because when I called ye refused, I stretched forth my hand and no man regarded, I will also laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh” (Prov. 1:2626I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; (Proverbs 1:26)). “Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.” “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:4141Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (Matthew 25:41)).
But not yet, not now, not while this day of God’s grace is running on, and His “glad tidings” are sounding forth, are these terrible words uttered in any, even the vilest sinner’s ears. “Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” And now God’s word is “Come!” and “Take the water of life freely.”
“Tell them,” said a young man who was dying in the workhouse infirmary, as his thin bony finger rested for a few moments on the 6th verse of Revelation 21, “tell them when you speak to sinners that it is freely―FREELY―FREELY. It is the message of God from the deathbed of one who, though a great sinner himself, had proved the truth of it.” Yes, reader, on the authority of the word of the living God, “who is not a man that he should lie,” we say you can “take the water of ye freely,” “without money and without price.” Just as you are, in all your sin, your wretchedness, your misery, your destitution, “Come!” Fear no repulse, for the same One, who bids you come, also promises “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” Oh, how full, how free, is this “great salvation,” and how wondrously blessed is it to find God. Himself pressing it upon sinners; for “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;” and now “we are ambassadors for Christ, as though GOD DID BESEECH BY US; we pray you in Christ’s stead be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:20-2120Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:20‑21)).
Once more then we utter it, “Let him that is athirst come, and, whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” O’er the distant hills of your guilt and separation from Him―reaching even to the “far country” of sin, and ruin, and want, to which you have wandered―the unlimited offer goes forth. “Come!” guilty tone, just as you are; “Come!” weary one, with your heavy burden; “Come!” ruined one, with nothing to pay; “Come!” backslider, with your trembling heart; “Come!” helpless; “Come!” hopeless; yea, “Come!” dying one, unto this gracious Saviour, who offers the water of life freely. God grant that before you lay down this paper you may know the joy of this coming to Christ If you have known anything of the bitterness and misery, the wretchedness and want, of the prodigal’s career (as which of us have not?), God grant you may know now the deep, unspeakable, ineffable joy of the return to the Father (Luke 15:2020And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. (Luke 15:20)); of feeling his “kiss” of reconciliation upon your cheek, receiving his “ring” of eternal union on your hand, and being clothed with his “robe” of perfect and spotless righteousness. Ever within His heart, now to be forever within His home, to “Go no more out.”
God grant that e’er you lay aside this paper the utterance of your heart may be:
“Just as I am―without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come!
“Just as I am―and waiting not,
To rid my soul of one dark blot,
To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come!
“Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind,
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need, in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come!
“Just as I am—Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come!
“Just as I am—Thy love, I own,
Has broken every barrier down,
Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come!
“O.”