TWENTY-FIFTH DAY. Come Near. 'Come ye near unto Me.'-ISA. xlviii. 16. 'SH HE obeyed not the voice; . . . she trusted not in the Lord, she drew not near to her God.' What was her portion? Woe to her ! " 'But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, though we thus speak. For Jesus says that if He is lifted up, He will draw all men unto Him. And it is the Lord Jesus Himself (see context) who says, 'Come ye near unto Me, hear ye this!" No matter how far off you may be, this call of peace is to you who are far off. And if you hearken, then shall your peace be as a river. And if you have already come to Jesus, still He says to them that are nigh, Now ye have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come 1 Zeph. iii. 2. 2 Zeph. iii. 1. • Heb. vi. 9. near, -nearer still, closer and closer to the Lord who loves you. There is only one way of coming near or being made near, but that way is open for you. Not into the outer court of religious profession, but into the Holiest,' into the reality of most sacred nearness to your Lord, you may enter by the blood of Jesus." The moment you claim by faith the power of that precious blood,the moment you let your Great High Priest put it upon you,' that moment 'ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Then, having this High Priest, and having this one blessed and unfailing means of access, 'let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith." 6 Do not be discouraged from coming near because you feel far off. Take that rather as your very claim to be included in the call, for He says, ' Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done! and take it as your very reason for coming; come just because you are a great way off,' for He says, 'They that are far off shall 98 If you feel very powerless about it, plead 1 2 Chron. xxix. 31. 2 Heb. x. 19. ix. 13, 14. Heb. xiii. 12. * Eph. ii. 13. Rom. v. 9; Eph. iii. 12; Heb. x. 21, 22. Zech. vi. 15. 91 and claim the promise of His enabling grace, I will cause him to draw near. And then you will find that blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee; " and your experience will be, It is good for me to draw near unto God." 24 He who causes you to come near will keep you near. Joseph did not only say to his brethren, Come near to me, in that moment of tenderest love when he made himself known to them, but his promise was, ' And thou shalt be near unto me. This is your calling. Never to be far off any more! Never any more distance and separation! Never any more wandering in the far country' without God,' but henceforth to be a people near unto Him!" No more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God," having found the very home of the weary heart, from which you shall no more go out." 1 Jer. xxx. 21. 4 Gen. xlv. 4. 7 Luke xv. 13. 10 Eph. ii. 19. 2 Ps. lxv. 4. Ps. lxxiii. 28. TWENTY-SIXTH DAY. To the Uttermost. 'But this man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.'-HEB. vii. 24, 25. 'A ND suppose I do come, what then? Suppose I do receive all this blessedness to-day, what about to-morrow?' Something like this thought is very often in the minds of those who see the lions not only outside but inside the doors of the House Beautiful. But it is all met by that wonderful word, 'to the uttermost. This does not only mean that the Lord Jesus is able to save out of the uttermost depth of need and misery and sin, and that He is able to save from the uttermost regions of distance and despair. It means all that, but more besides. It is not only bringing you up out of the horrible pit and miry clay, but setting your feet upon a rock, and establishing your goings.' 1 Ps. xl. 2. The word is one of those remarkable compound ones for which we have no equivalent. It means that He is able to save unto all completeness, unto the total perfection of saving.' Suppose I were drowning, and you drew me out of the deepest water, just in time to save my life, but then left me wet and shivering and exhausted on the bank, to run the more than risk of wretched aftereffects of cold and rheumatism, from which I might never entirely recover! That would not be saving to the uttermost in this sense of the word. But if you did the thing completely, -carrying me home, and doing everything necessary to restore me, and avert ill effects, and that effectually; never relaxing in care and effort, nor letting me go, till you had me safe and well, however long and difficult it might be, then you would have saved me to the uttermost,' in the true meaning of it. This is what Jesus is able to do for you. Your first coming to Him is only like letting Him grasp you in your terrible danger, and draw you out of the fatal depths. But because He continueth ever," always the same loving and faithful Saviour, He 1 Eccl. iii. 14; Isa. xlv. 17; Jer. xvii. 14. 2 Heb. vii. 24. |