Dear reader, has this blessed report reached you? All power in heaven and earth is committed to God’s beloved Son. All that God has, or ever will have for man in the way of blessing, is dispensed by Jesus, the true “Zaphnath Paaneah” (Gen. 41:44-57). Have you learned that God expects nothing from you; but that He comes out towards you today in the character of a Saviour—God, a Giver? “There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:3-6). The gospel addresses itself to all, without exception. Friend, whatever your condition may be, there is only blessing in the heart of God towards you. Take Him at His word, and claim the blessed Saviour as your own, and you will know, in the deep experience of your soul, what it is to have peace with God, the forgiveness of your sins, and an inheritance among all “the sanctified” (Acts 13:38; Rom. 5:1; Eph. 1:11; 1 Peter 1:3, 4).
But the day of God’s long-suffering is drawing to a close. Soon the last gospel message will be told out, and the last sinner brought under the peaceful sway of Christ. The Saviour will come into the air to meet His saints. The sleeping ones will be raised, and the living changed, and all taken up to be “forever with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16-18). What a blessed consummation! What a glorious prospect to look forward to! What a stimulus for happy service in the great harvest field of human souls! But if the coming of the Lord crowns the blessedness of the believer’s portion, what of those who are so absorbed with the things of this life that they are utterly unconcerned about eternity and the interests of their souls? Like Belshazzar in Daniel 5, and the wealthy farmer in Luke 12:16, they are set upon making everything of “the present,” and leaving God and the great hereafter out of their reckoning. Their language is, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years: take thine ease; eat, drink, and be merry” (Luke 12:19).
Friend, if this is the road you are traveling upon, may God awaken you from your sleep of death. Remember the handwriting on the wall of Belshazzar’s palace, and that mighty monarch’s sudden doom (Dan. 5:27-30). Think of God’s solemn announcement to that prosperous worldling, in the midst of his brilliant daydreams: “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee” (Luke 12:20). It is the dark death-knell of a lost eternity. Listen to the voice of wisdom: “Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. Riches and honor are with me, yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold: and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance: and I will fill their treasures” (Prov. 8:4, 18-21). The speaker in these verses is the same blessed Person who came into this world to do, a Saviour’s part for you, poor sinner, in spite of your folly, and waywardness, and sin. You, have been “weighed” in God’s balances, and are “found wanting” (Dan. 5:27). But Jesus went into the storm of judgment that you might know the rest, and peace, and enjoyment of the love of God.
Life’s little day for you here will soon be ended, and a long eternity begun. The One whom man has slighted, and refused, and cast out, is coming to reign over this earth, where once He had “nowhere to lay His head.” “Every eye shall see Him” (Rev. 1:7). Every knee shall bow to Him. Universal homage shall be His. “The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” All who have found a refuge in Christ in this day of grace, will then be associated with Him in glory.
(Continued from page 231.)