(SUGGESTED BY A GOSPEL ADDRESS, BY J. W.)
MAY we say, speaking reverently, that the great God desires companionship? Within the courts of heaven are angels and archangels, are living creatures, are cherubim and seraphim; and for God’s pleasure “they are and were created.” The sons of God shouted for joy at the thought of a world peopled with the human race; “Wisdom” was ever with God, rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth, and His delights were with the sons of men.
It is the purpose of this God to surround Himself, for His own pleasure, with men who are brought into close relationship to Himself as children.
And He will carry out His purpose. Time may seem to run swiftly, the ages pass along; but “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Satan has seemed to thwart, but has only succeeded in an appearance of delay in the carrying out of Divine purposes.
Ever since the fall, God has constantly used to man one word which reveals His attitude towards him, and that is the word of invitation―
“Come.”
We read that God “came down” to see the condition of matters upon earth. The expression is, of course, a verbal accommodation to man’s understanding, or want of understanding. There is no need for God to “come down.” All things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do. He knows you, my friend, exactly as you are, and that because you are an object of interest to the heart of God.
What did God find when, in the language of Scripture, He “came down”? He found that man, left to himself, had filled the earth with corruption and violence. Upon such a scene judgment must fall. But mark the goodness of God. Before judgment descends and the flood comes He gives full and long warning through Noah, a “preacher of righteousness.” Not only so. With the warning God offers a way of escape.
With the mercy which distinguishes Him at all times God, for a hundred and twenty years, preached through Noah― “COME.”
That preaching won no converts. Men scoffed even as they scoff now; they ridiculed Noah and his ark. Imagine the scene of the ark-building transferred to modern times! Think of cheap excursions to see the piece of stupendous folly―a ship built on dry land! Could we not picture a laughing, shouting crowd assembled, while wits are sharpened and jokes are cracked upon the patient old man who so strangely wastes time and material upon a monstrous erection? We might possibly see a leader of the fun draw from his pocket a bit of chalk and scrawl in big letters upon the side of the ark the words “Noah’s Folly.”
Transfer that picture to Noah’s days. Next morning that young man has another theme for his wit. He wakes to hear an unfamiliar, pattering sound upon the roof of his house. Putting his head out of the window he is astounded to find water falling from the clouds. Before the Flood, the “Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth... but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground” (Gen. 2:5, 65And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. 6But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. (Genesis 2:5‑6)). The terror of the young man would be heightened by the advent of one of his gay companions of the day before, and the alarm would be again increased by another friend coming in, declaring that he had to walk through water as he made his way along. See that young man on the housetops later on. As the water follows him, he climbs a tree. As the tide rises higher, he gains the topmost branch. What must he have felt at the point of destruction had he seen ride by, in majestic security, the ark, on which he could still read his own writing― “Noah’s Folly.”
Who was the fool, the man who believed God, and who acted in faith, as he was told to act, and thus escaped the general destruction, or the man who laughed at God’s invitation, “Come”?
Peter, in his second epistle, argues from three instances of God’s warning, and then of His executed judgment, that the future has also judgment in store. He “spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Peter 2:44For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; (2 Peter 2:4)). He “spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:55And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; (2 Peter 2:5)). He “turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes” (2 Peter 2:66And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; (2 Peter 2:6)). If God thus acted in three well-known instances, argues the writer of the epistle, He assuredly knows “how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” Think of all the wickedness which meets God’s holy eye as He looks down on any large city, or, for that matter, on any village.
In the Book of Job there is reference to the story of the Flood, and we are shown that the word with which man has always answered God’s “Come,” is “Depart.” “Hast thou,” says Eliphaz the Temanite (Job 22:15-1715Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? 16Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: 17Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them? (Job 22:15‑17)), “marked the old way, which wicked men have trodden? which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflowed with a flood: which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?”
What can He do, indeed, when warnings are neglected, when mercy is refused, when an offered remedy is scorned? You had better consider.
Now, let us go on, through the long centuries, and note again the Lord’s word “Come.”
In this connection we will turn to Isaiah 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18): “Come now, and let us reason together, saith, the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
God is not now speaking of the manner of accomplishing a fact, but of the fact itself. We know that all the Jewish sacrifices pointed on to the precious blood of Christ, which alone can “cleanse from all sin.” But here God is asking men to have confidence in Him, and to reason with Him. Perhaps, my reader, you have never thought about your sins at all. If so, it is quite time that you seriously considered them. Even if you have only committed ten a day, they will run up to a large number in a year, and a proportionally larger one when it is multiplied by the number of years in which you have lived in sin. Now, God’s ledgers are posted up to date; your long-past sins, which you have forgotten, and your recent sins of today, are entered against you. And yet God says: “Come, let us reason.” And He would point out that you can never pay the debt which you owe Him. His “Come” is uttered in kindness; it is the invitation of a Friend desirous to give good advice. He is prepared to clear the pages. And in this same Book of Isaiah we find Him saying (43:25): “I, even I, am. He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”
But you must come to God in order that He may do all this for you. It is not enough for us to hear His invitation; we must accept it. We must have faith in the means provided by God for our cleansing. “Whosoever believeth in Him (the Lord Jesus Christ) shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:4343To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. (Acts 10:43)).
The request to “Come” is, then, a wonderful one, for it implies the bestowal of cleansing and forgiveness. On your acceptance or refusal depend tremendous issues.
In the two invitations to which attention has been called we find God saying:
“Come,” to be sheltered from judgment.
“Come,” to be washed from your sins.
In each case man’s answer is “Depart.”
The patience of God is not exhausted. The Saviour of mankind, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who came to reveal and manifest the heart of the Father, repeats the invitation; and in words of pathetic sweetness says to the weary and the heavy-laden:
“Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.”
Poor, weary worldling, with a heart unsatisfied, with a sense of the emptiness and the hollowness of the world’s formalities and of the shams of society, God’s love says to thee “Come.” He speaks with no voice made uncertain by misgivings; He has no doubts or fears concerning results. Clear and forcible rings His grand “I will.” My friend, if you have not the rest which Christ pledges Himself to give, the reason is not that He has failed to fulfill His promise, but that you have not come to claim it. This world is not large enough to fill Thy heart:
Thou hast made us for Thyself;
And the heart never resteth
Till it findeth rest in Thee.
How was Christ received when He “went about doing good”? The loving word from the long-suffering God drew forth, as aforetime, the word of rejection from the heart of man. We read of Him, Who so tenderly invited the weary and the heavy-laden: “And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw Him they besought Him to depart out of their coasts.”
Not only rest of heart is offered us. God invites us to enjoy a feast, provided in celebration of the establishment of righteousness, in connection with the work of His Son. And His word is: “All things are ready. Come.”
Everything that can effect good for man, and render him fit for God’s company, is ready. Come.
Some of the guests whom God invites to His feast have no desire to accept the gracious invitation. Their lips are too studiously polite to form the word “Depart.” They “frame excuses,” and each one less satisfactory than the other; worse, because less honest, than downright refusal. Far better be real, even if your answer lie a blunt “No,” than be hypocritical, and invent pretexts, when your heart is saying, “I will not come.” Remember that God may accept your excuse and never repeat His invitation.
Shall we turn to the last Book of the Bible, the last chapter, and almost the last verse? As we read the seventeenth verse of the last chapter of the Book of the Revelation, we realize that there are some who have accepted God’s invitation. There is a Bride spoken of who has responded to the call, and who, with eager, throbbing heart, echoes the “Come” of God. “Come,” she cries, “Lord Jesus.” Others who “hear” of the blessing in store reiterate the “Come.” And the last invitation, in the day of grace, seems to transcend, in its inclusiveness, all that have gone before! In spite of cold receptions, in spite of scanty response, in spite of long and tedious waiting, the word from God sounds, for the last time (for you, my reader, this may be the very last time), through the habitable earth: “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
Was ever such solicitude for the blessing of others? Was ever such a display of long-suffering patience and love?
Oh, may a warm response go up to the presence of God from someone who may read these lines.
We have now added to our list of invitations. And we find that the “Come” of God, so far as we have seen, furnishes five motives for coming. Let us enumerate them:
Come, to be sheltered from judgment.
Come, to be washed from your sins.
Come, to have your heart satisfied.
Come, to partake of My righteousness.
Come, to share in My glory.
The invitations will not go on forever. The day of grace will come to an end. Then conditions will be reversed. Then many will seek to come, and will be refused. The One Who now says “Come” will then say “Depart.”
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:21-3) our Lord speaks these solemn words: “Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.”
Oh, the sorrow with which these words will be uttered! Oh, the tender pleading of the voice now—the voice which broke in tears over old Jerusalem. “Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings! And ye would not.”
Give not the loving heart of Christ the pain of speaking that final word to you, “Depart.” Accept God’s invitation now. Come, now, and that soul-petrifying word of dismissal will never be sounded in your ears. E. C―P.