You say, “But I feel so unfit, so unable to enjoy communion with Him.” He that healed all manner of bodily diseases can heal with a word your spiritual infirmities. Remember the man whose ankle-bones received strength, so that he ran and leaped! And remember her who was sick with a fever, and was healed at once, and arose, and ministered unto her Lord! “My grace is sufficient for you; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Still you say, “But I have such afflictions, such troubles, such sorrows, that I am weighted down, and cannot rise into joyful fellowship with Christ.” Yes, but Jesus can make every burden light, and cause each yoke to be easy. Your trials can be made to AID your heavenward course instead of hindering it. I know all about those heavy weights, and I perceive that you cannot lift them- but skillful engineers can adapt ropes and pulleys in such a way that heavy weights lift other weights. The Lord Jesus is great at ‘gracious’ machinery, and He has the are of causing a weight of tribulation to lift from us a load of spiritual deadness, so that we ascend by that which, like a millstone, threatened to sink us down.
What else hinders Him from coming to us? I am sure that, if it were a sheer impossibility, the Lord Jesus could remove it, for things impossible with men are possible with God. But someone objects, “I am so unworthy of Christ. I can understand eminent saints and beloved disciples being greatly loved by Him- but I am a worm, and no man; utterly below such condescension by Him.” So you say? Don’t you know that the worthiness of Christ covers your unworthiness, and He has become for us wisdom from God– that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption? In Christ, the Father does not think so worthless of you, as you think of yourself– you are not worthy to be called His child, but He does call you His child, and reckons you to be among His jewels. Listen, and you shall hear Him say, “Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honorable, and I have loved you…” Thus, then, there remains nothing which Jesus cannot overleap if He resolves to come to you, and re-establish your broken fellowship.
To CONCLUDE, our Lord can do all of this INSTANTANEOUSLY. As in the twinkling of an eye, the dead shall be raised incorruptible; so in a moment can our dead affections rise to fullness of delight. He can say to this mountain, “Be removed from here, and be cast into the midst of the sea,” and it shall be done.
In the sacred emblems now upon this supper table, Jesus is already among us. FAITH cries, “He has come!” Like John the Baptist, she gazes intently on Him, and cries, “Behold the Lamb of God!” At this table Jesus feeds us with His body and His blood. His physical presence we do not have, but His real spiritual presence we can perceive. He has come here. He looks forth at these windows, I mean this bread and wine; showing Himself through the lattices of this instructive and endearing ordinance. He speaks. He says, “The winter is past, the rain is over and gone.” And so it is; we feel it to be so- a heavenly springtime warms our frozen hearts. Like the spouse, we wonderingly cry, “Before ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.” Now in happy fellowship we see the Beloved, and hear His voice– our heart burns; our affections glow; we are happy, restful, brimming over with delight. The King has brought us into his banqueting-house, and His banner over us is love. It is good to be here!
Friends, we must now go our ways. A voice says, “Arise, let us go from here.” O Lord of our hearts, go with us! Home will not be home without You. Life will not be life without You. Heaven itself would not be heaven if You were absent. Abide with us. The world grows dark, the twilight of time draws on. Abide with us, for it is toward evening. Our years increase, and we near the night when dews fall cold and chill. A great future is all about us, the splendors of the last age are coming down; and while we wait in solemn, awe-struck expectation, our heart continually cries within herself, “Until the day breaks, and the shadows flee away, turn, my Beloved, and be like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of division.”
“Hasten, Lord! the promised hour;
Come in glory and in power;
While Your foes are unsubdued;
Nature sighs to be renewed.
Time has nearly reached its sum,
All things with Your bride say ‘Come;’
Jesus, whom all worlds adore,
Come and reign for evermore!
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
