“Till I come.”
THE beloved children of God have no future but the glory. What a blessed prospect! As I know that there are very many such who regularly read this little magazine, I desire to draw their attention to the four scriptures in the New Testament where the words which head this paper are to be found.
Beloved fellow-laborers, the time for both proclaiming and writing the salvation of God is nearly at an end, so be not weary in well-doing, but the rather be “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
Beloved fellow-child of God, are you praying for the salvation of sinners, and are you seeking to bring such to the Saviour of sinners? It is the blessed privilege of each child of God to seek to bring one fellow-voyager to eternity to the feet of Jesus; and if we each desired and sought to be used by God to the salvation of one precious soul, what a work would be done for God and His Christ by us in this world.
As I think upon the thousands upon thousands of children that this sad and wicked world contains, how intensely I long for their salvation now in their early days, as I believe that the coming of the Lord is so near that I feel there is not time left for them to grow up to manhood and womanhood before the Lord’s second coming will take place. Who of us will go and tell them that Jesus died and shed His precious blood, to wash them from all their sins, to make them whiter than snow, to make them lambs of His flock, and to fit them to be forever with Himself in glory? Oh, the time is short for working for the best of Masters: If we would do anything for Him in this world, it must be now or never for His word is, “SURELY I COME quickly;” and He is saying to us individually, “Occupy”— not till death, or till the world is converted, but— “till I come.”
“A little while for winning souls to Jesus,
Ere we behold His beauty face to face;
A little while for healing soul-diseases
By telling others of a Saviour’s grace.”
Now this second scripture is the picture of the child of God in this dispensation, waiting—not for death, nor for the world’s improvement, but—for the Lord’s return.
The dear young converts at Thessalonica were converted “to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9,109For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 10And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:9‑10).) And the Lord Himself told His disciples that they were to be “like unto men that wait for their lord.” (Luke 12:3636And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. (Luke 12:36).)
There is the greatest difference possible between waiting for an event to take place and waiting for a Person to come and take us away to His Father’s house. The first has little or no effect upon us; the last touches every point of the compass. Which are you looking for, my beloved saved reader? Do you get up in the morning and expect Him to come ere night wraps this world again in darkness? Do you retire at night and expect Him, “the bright and morning star,” to come ere the light of another day shall flood your chamber with its rays? As you rise in the morning, or retire at night, listen to your Saviour and Lord saying, as it were, “Wait for He till I come.”
In the third scripture (1 Corinthians 11:23-2623For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. (1 Corinthians 11:23‑26)) He asks all His own blood-bought and blood-washed ones to remember Himself “till He come.”
Do we not seize every opportunity of showing our dearly-loved ones that though we may be absent thousands of miles from them that still they are remembered by us? Oh, think of His love to us! Was there ever love like it? His enemies said, “Never man spice like this man.” But we who are by grace His friends can say, “Never man loved like this man.”
He has left His name as a rallying center for all His loyal-hearted ones to surround (Matt. 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)); and by His Spirit, who is down here, He would fain gather all the members of His body to His earth-rejected name to respond to His loving request, “Remember Me till I come.”
But as the word of God and every divine principle are being called in question today, once more the words sound loud and clear upon the ear that desires to hear, “But that which ye have already HOLD FAST TILL I COME.” (Revelation 2:2525But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. (Revelation 2:25).) Refuse persistently all the modern notions of the day that are called “developments,” and stick to the good old word of God, remembering that it is written in its sacred pages, “He that is of God heareth God’s words.” (John 8:4747He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. (John 8:47).)
“Eternal glories gleam afar
To nerve my faint endeavor
So now to work, to watch to wait,
And then to REST FOR EVER.”
But if the sure and certain prospect of the child of God is glory with Christ forever, what is your prospect, poor unsaved reader of these pages? If still unsaved, it is because you have not known and trusted the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently you cannot, in your unsaved state, work and wait for Him. You cannot remember Him; for you neither know nor love Him. Neither can you hold fast His word; for it has no place in your heart.
Let go your sins, yourself, the world, and all that is keeping you from the Saviour, and just fall into His arms, and then your prospect, instead of being the lake of fire forever, will be glory with Jesus forever.
Now, which is it to be? It must be one or the other. There is no time to lose. Make haste, and come to Jesus; make haste, and have faith in His blood; make haste, and believe in Him who shed it, and He Himself will be everything to your heart for time and eternity.
If you do not wish to be left when Jesus comes to claim His own; if you do not wish to spend an eternity in the lake of fire, and to be forgotten forever, then delay not another moment, but come to Jesus. He will gladly welcome you into His outstretched arms of love and mercy, and then will give you the holy and blessed privilege of working for, waiting for, and remembering Him, and holding fast for Him till He come. God grant that all who read these pages may have glory with Christ, and not the lake of fire forever, for their eternal prospect.
H. M. H.