Christmas Day, December 25

SOMEONE IS COMING AGAIN!

Revelation 22:17-21

     COME!  What a precious call, precious whisper, precious shout, precious wooing of an Almighty God, compassionate Father, blessed Savior, loving Bridegroom, to a fallen creation!  “Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28)  He first calls us out of our evil ways, and out of our vain attempts to gain salvation by our own good works, which are as filthy rags in His sight, and to come by faith and surrender into Him alone.  No flesh shall glory in His presence—nothing we work so hard to bring Him can be accepted.  Only One is precious, clean, and acceptable in the sight of a holy God, and that is the pure and perfect LORD Jesus Christ.  Oh, blessed news!  Oh, blessed provision for our coming to the LORD—“But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption:  That as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the LORD.”(1 Cor. 1:30)  Everything we’ve lost through sin, everything we’ve ever sought for our wholeness, everything we’ve ever needed, is provided for us in the LORD Jesus Christ!  COME!  Let us submit our lives and our wills to His full control and so enter His Kingdom rest!

     What’s next?  A glorious “GO!” of course!  “When ye shall see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests and the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place and go after it.” (Joshua 3:3)  God will not leave us in “our place” of salvation to sit and admire ourselves.  No—we were saved for a purpose, and after a babyhood in His Kingdom, He calls us yet again—now to be fit for battle.  There’s a whole land to be inherited—promises to be appropriated, strongholds of the flesh to be brought down in our own soul, other souls to be saved, and in our own strength and ability, we’re no match for the enemy we face.  The LORD alone knows our every fault, our every need, our every strength, and our every self-virtue, and He comes to circumcise—cut it all off, and so, to sanctify us.  He burns up everything in His fire—good and bad alike until nothing is left of our beauty but ashes.  Then He can build from nothing a saint He can use for His purpose alone.  It’s an awesome and devastating and glorious call, and who can hear it?  Who will GO?

     If we have heard and followed Him thus far, then will we hear the precious voice of Bridegroom Jesus—“Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.”(Song of Solomon 2:10)  Come; enter the heart of the Beloved!  Be one with Him!  One in will, one in desire, one in every aspect of life.  What a blessed call to perfect Love and intimacy with the holy One!  Faith and humble submission to the finished work of the LORD Jesus Christ, for our redemption and sanctification is the key to that precious intimacy.  When we truly enter into His Life fully, then our heart’s cry will be one with His—COME!  COME, ye lost, into God’s Kingdom!  COME, ye saved, and let Christ be formed in you!  COME, quickly, LORD Jesus!  The Spirit and the Bride say COME!

~ Cindy Warren