Lord, we do desire to commit our hearts to You afresh. It is Your presence that we long for. We pray that You would give us that yearning, just to be with You.
Thank You for this privilege we have found in Your presence. We thank You for such privilege, such joy, to be together. When we have the assurance that You are with us, we know all is well, all is good, always pleasant. To You we give all the praise and all the glory. In the Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.
First, I have to tell you how good it is to be with you, probably especially in Richmond. My wife and I would like to thank you personally for your prayers while we were away for about eleven weeks—almost three months.
Before I share what is on my heart, I feel that I should share a little incident that took place in the Philippines just before we left the country. You received emails from us on a few occasions while we were in the Philippines, and also reports concerning the youth meeting in Hong Kong. What I am about to share happened toward the end of our journey, so we were not able to email you about it. But I think it will be very encouraging to you.
Those few days were memorable days for us, particularly one evening. It was a very memorable event, not only for my wife and me but also for most of the saints in the Philippines.
As you know, the saints in the Philippines annually have their Holy Week retreat. People are very busy, and the only time they can take off from work or school is during the Christmas holidays and Holy Week. The Philippines is a very religious country, and they take Holy Week very seriously.
Since the schools are out and the workplaces are closed, the saints always take advantage of those few days. They go out of the city to a small place and have a few days of retreat or a mini-conference. They have had this conference for quite a few years and had wanted us to join them on many occasions, but we were not able to do so.
Last year was the first time we were with them. This year, when we went to the Philippines, they were not sure whether they would have the retreat because they had been considering whether the Philippines might host an international conference. If so, they would forgo their local conference.
But they were not certain that the Philippines was a suitable place for an international conference. So, even to the last minute, they were not sure whether they should have their retreat. Since the Philippines was not certain to be the site for the next conference, they planned to go ahead with the Holy Week retreat and included us.
As you may recall, we emailed you concerning Brother Bodokong’s burden in the Philippines. He shared three messages on consecration: the call to consecration, the vision of consecration, and the life of consecration.
Those three messages touched the hearts of the saints very deeply because Brother Bodokong strongly emphasized that without consecration, we have not even begun our Christian life. We have not even begun. Our real Christian life and living begin with consecration.
This particularly touched the young people, because traditionally we think consecration means merely consecrating our talents to do God’s work. But what our brother shared was revolutionary: consecration is for God to do a work in us, not for us to do a work for Him.
Particularly in the second message, he said that without consecration we have no vision of the church. We have no way of living that corporate life together. This spoke very deeply to the saints.
When I joined the retreat, I felt to continue with this burden of consecration and to help them enter more experimentally into this corporate life. In many places, we discover that we are still living very much as individuals. There is a law in us; we still do not know how to relate to one another.
Because of that, in many places there is weakness. Individually, we cannot walk alone. Individually, we are limited. No matter how much we search and pursue, we only get a little because we are like a small vessel. But the church is the vessel through which God wants to express His fullness.
Because of what was shared, the young people in particular, and the responsible brothers, had a yearning—not merely to know about church life, but to have some experience of it.
At this retreat in an outlying place in the Philippines, saints came from Iloilo and Cebu. There were saints from two islands joining the retreat.
One thing they had never done was to break bread together at the end of their retreat. They would simply conclude the time and go home. Before the retreat, a brother came to me and asked whether it would be appropriate to break bread at the end of the conference.
I told him that this is what we often practice in the United States and in the Far East. When we have special conferences, we break bread together, and we feel that it is the high point of the conference. It brings the Lord into focus. Everything centers around the Lord Himself.
Some of the brothers were eager to give it a try, although they had never done it before and did not know how it would work. By faith, they decided to do it on Friday evening during the last meeting.
Knowing that we would have the Lord’s table on Friday, I shared a little beforehand concerning its corporate aspect. We do not come as individuals; we come as God’s people. We come as the Body of Christ to exalt the Head. I think this registered something in the hearts of the brothers and sisters.
When the evening came and we began to break bread, we sang some songs. I was really surprised, because many of the young Chinese brothers and sisters are very shy. They are not as ready to open up as Westerners. Yet there was such liberty. One right after another opened up and worshiped. I was really surprised.
Although wonderful praises were being offered, I still felt that much of it was on the individual line. It did not seem that they had entered into the fullness of it; it was still very individual.
Then something happened. There was a sister who was thirteen years old. We were told that she had never openly worshiped verbally at the breaking of bread. But that evening she was moved by the Holy Spirit, and she opened up.
Immediately after she finished her praise, she was struck with a very severe epileptic seizure. The aunt who took care of her said that she had never experienced such a severe attack. She almost completely passed out.
When I went over to look at her, her earlobes were turning blue and her eyes were frozen. There was a nurse among the saints, and they had to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Finally, they got her heart going again, but she was completely frozen.
Of course, many of the younger brothers and sisters had never witnessed anything like that. They were greatly afraid. The nurse told us that her blood pressure was dropping quite rapidly.
The brothers asked, “What can we do in a situation like this? Satan is attacking us. What can we do?” I said, “We have to declare the Lordship of Christ. We have to declare the finished work of the Lord on the cross. This is not a time merely for prayer; it is a time for declaring His victory.”
That changed the whole atmosphere. They began to declare the victory that is ours in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters who had never learned how to pray corporately began to have an experience of what it means to pray corporately.
I said, “Now we have to let go of everything and pray for this sister, believing that the Lord will raise her up by His mighty power.” All the sisters and younger brothers began to pray corporately because they had this one sister in mind. They prayed, and immediately you could hear two or three praying together. It was very beautiful.
Those who had never held hands together were holding hands and praying for the sister. They prayed through. It took about twenty-five minutes for the sister to revive and for her heart to begin going again.
When we were sure she was all right, they carried her out. Then we turned that time of intercession into a time of praise. It was all focused upon the Lord.
For the first time, the brothers and sisters experienced spiritual warfare. In the face of death, they experienced the mighty power of life. Life swallowed up death. They experienced spiritual victory, and they also experienced the power of corporate prayer.
Sometimes we speak about corporate prayer and spiritual power, but we do not know how to enter into what we are talking about. That evening, the Lord enabled the young brothers and sisters in the Philippines to enter into something of the reality of spiritual power and the victory that is ours in Christ Jesus—what it means to pray corporately and to worship corporately.
That was the most memorable time on this trip. When we went to Hong Kong, the brothers and sisters were still reflecting on that event. One brother said, “It is just like Satan in the story of Job. Satan was very wise; he wanted to ruin Job. But God gave him permission, and in the end Job triumphed and Satan was defeated.”
We are very thankful for that. And I want to thank you for your prayers. This past few months, as we were away from home, we felt very keenly the prayers of the saints.
We are thankful for modern technology, because when we emailed you what was taking place, we had the assurance that you were standing with us. We are very thankful for you in Richmond, for standing with us on that trip. We were together in spirit. We also thank the saints in South Jersey, Toronto, and many other places for praying for us.
I want to share one other thing that may come to mind. Brother Bodokong shared with you that when he left, he was not well physically because of a skin infection. When he returned, he said he had a touch of flu. You remember that.
While he was in the Philippines, he was perfectly well. Some brothers said, “That means we have to stay longer in the Philippines!”
When Brother Bodokong came to the West Coast, I think it was January 21, the day before we were to leave for the Philippines. Before he arrived, we had already received word that his skin infection was quite serious. He had spoken of it very lightly, but when he came and we looked at it, I was horrified. It looked very serious.
We spoke with a sister who is a doctor. I described his condition in English, very poorly. Another brother tried to describe it in Cantonese, and someone else tried Mandarin. We tried every language we knew, and the more we described it, the more concerned the doctor became. She said, “Send him to the emergency room.”
But it was Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, and we could not find a doctor in California. They had all gone off to the mountains and seashores to have a good time. Finally, through a brother who had some influence with a medical foundation, we were able to arrange for him to see a doctor.
I had never experienced such high blood pressure in my life. My blood pressure is usually on the low side, but when I went to the doctor’s office with Brother Bodokong, my blood pressure was so high that I could not believe it. It was one hundred sixty-something overnight.
I have to confess why I was so worried. We were scheduled to arrive in the Philippines on Wednesday, with only one day of rest before the meetings began Friday evening. He was scheduled to share Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday. My fear was that if anything happened to our brother, what would happen to those scheduled meetings?
But the Lord came through, and our brother regained his health very quickly as we arrived in the Philippines. We are very thankful. I tell you, when the Lord is after something for Himself, there is always a battle.
How we need to learn to rest in Him. If we know we are in His will, we should learn to rest in Him.
This morning, I want to share something that will encourage your hearts: the persistent love of God—how God has determined in His heart to gain us for Himself.
You were singing about grace. Grace speaks of what God has done—His grace. Law speaks of our work, what we need to do, and the work we can never do. Law condemns us, but grace saves us and delivers us. Grace ultimately brings us to God Himself and to His purpose.
Let us look at a few verses of Scripture. Turn with me to Titus, chapter 1.
Genesis 1 begins with God: “In the beginning God.” God begins everything. He is the beginning of everything, and He begins according to what He purposed even before there was time.
Paul calls this the good pleasure of His will—the mystery of His purpose in His heart, even before there was time, before you and I ever existed. God already had a purpose in Himself, and He works everything according to that purpose which He purposed in Himself: the good pleasure of His will.
When He begins, He will see to it that it is fulfilled in the end. How wonderful that we are reminded again this morning: we begin with grace, we continue in grace, and we end in grace.
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,
in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before times eternal;
but in His own seasons manifested His word in the message, wherewith I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior.—Titus 1:1-3
Pay attention to verse 2: eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before times eternal. Before there was time, God determined to give life to man.
Listen also to 2 Timothy, chapter 1. Here we find that this life which God promised is in Christ Jesus.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus.
—2 Timothy 1:1
God determined to give His life to us, and this life is in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider also verse 9:
Who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal.
—2 Timothy 1:9
Turn with me to John, chapter 17. In Titus, Paul had a glimpse of what was in God’s heart before there was time. God desired and determined to give life. Even before we were created, God already had this in mind. Therefore, when we were created, the object of God’s work was to impart His life to us. Once we possess His life, He can bring us into His purpose.
John 17 is the Lord’s high priestly prayer before He went to the cross. If there is anyone who knows how to pray according to God’s will, it is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we pray, we can miss God’s will. But the Lord Jesus and the Father are always one. That is why the key word in the life of the Son of God is, “My time has not yet come.” His life was governed not by what was outward, not by what He felt, but by His Father who is in heaven.
The Lord’s prayer is always in agreement with the Father’s heart, because He came to do the will of Him who sent Him. He said, “I have no will of My own.” Therefore, if the Lord says, “I desire,” “I want,” or “I will,” you can be sure that His desire is also the Father’s desire.
At the end of His prayer, the Lord says:
Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.
—John 17:24
In this passage, we see a difference between those given to Him and those who are truly with Him. There is a fine distinction. Why would He pray this prayer? He knew that the disciples were given by the Father to Him. Yet He prayed that those given to Him would be with Him and behold His glory.
Friends, when I was meditating on this verse, the Lord touched me. On a human level, parents sometimes go through this agony for many years. We know that our children are our children. They are our blood and flesh; they belong to us.
But sometimes, in their hearts, they are miles and miles away from us. They can live in the same house, yet there is no oneness of heart and purpose in the home. How parents long for their children to grow up and sense something of the love of their father’s heart, and to know that what the parents desire for them is for their good.
How parents agonize when their children are not one with them in heart and purpose. Think of the Lord Jesus, who knows the Father’s heart and, at the same time, knows our condition.
We are given to Him. We know that we are His. But how many of us can say that we are with Him—where He is, not for ourselves, not for anything else, but that we are for Him?
The Lord’s prayer is that those given to Him will be with Him where He is. Friends, this is very challenging.
In spite of all our conditions, in spite of how wayward and inconsistent we are in our walk with the Lord, I want to encourage you. Many of us live only on an occasional basis.
Last year, when we were here for the young people’s retreat, we said that we do not want to live from conference to conference. That shows our spiritual inconsistency. When there is a conference, when there is fellowship, when there is rich ministry, somehow we are revived. Then, when we go home and there is no conference, we go down.
We wait for the next conference to be revived again—to be with the Lord, to be with the Lord’s people, and to fellowship. Then we drift away again. This is the inconsistency of our walk.
Even locally, some of the Lord’s people live from the Lord’s Day to the Lord’s Day. That is why the local meeting becomes a drain: everybody comes to get something, but no one is prepared to give something.
We are His, but we are not all for Him. We are not with Him. The Lord said, “He that is not with Me is against Me.” The issue is simply to be with Him—to be with Him.
This desire to be with Him did not begin with us. It began with God. I want to share briefly this morning concerning the matter of walking, as we find it in Genesis.
The first mention of walking was not our walk with God; it was God walking toward us. Without His walking toward us, there would be no walking with Him. God initiated this walk. We have to see that.
You remember that our first parents had already sinned. They had partaken of the forbidden fruit. God, who knows all things, knew what had happened. Yet He came into the garden, seeking fellowship with them.
Sin had already brought separation, yet God walked in the garden seeking man. The Lord Jesus said that the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. This is the persistency of God—to pursue man until He gains that man for Himself.
God has a divine determination. He will not give up. Even though Adam and Eve hid themselves, they received the message that God, in their fallen condition, was still seeking them and would bring them back to Himself. This is grace. What assurance!
Thank God that this desire for us to be with Him is of God. Even if we desire it, our desire is nothing compared with His desire. Our desire is unreliable. When we feel like it, we do it; when we do not feel like it, we do not go on. But God initiated His walk toward us.
In John 1, we find something very touching. He came to His own creation, and they did not recognize Him. Before He came, He knew they would not recognize Him, but He came anyway. He knew that grace would triumph in the end.
He came unto His own people, and His own received Him not. He knew all about it, but He came anyway. Just as our first parents sinned in the garden, yet God came and let them know, “I am still seeking fellowship with you. In spite of your condition, you have no way to come to Me, but I have a way to come to you.”
Without His walking toward us, we have no way of walking with Him. We would never find the way. We would never know that Jesus Christ is the only way. We know the way only by revelation—by His walking toward us.
Of course, we know that the way He came to us was by the work of the cross. We see this in type in Abel’s sacrifice. When the lamb was offered and blood was shed, our way back to God was restored. Then man could be united with God once more.
That sacrifice was precious to God. Abel’s offering was accepted and God was pleased. Why? Because God’s purpose was to bring man back to Himself. We have to look at everything from God’s point of view, not merely from our point of view. Then we will see how great His love is to bring us back to Himself.
The next one is Enoch. Often, when we speak about Enoch’s walk with God, we focus too much on Enoch and too little on God’s part. We think about what Enoch had to adjust to, what ridicule he suffered, how lonely he may have been.
But think of how God walked with Enoch for three hundred years. To me, this speaks of the mighty determination of God not to give up—His persistency.
If you walk with somebody for a month and that person refuses to change, what would you do? You would say, “I wash my hands. I give up. I will get somebody else.” That is who we are. How impatient we are.
We do not have that divine determination to see things through to the end. But God looks at everything from the end. He sees the end. That is why He is the God of hope.
God knew that, in the end, He would prepare Enoch to be fit to be with Him. It is beautiful. God determined to gain that man for Himself. God endures, and love is patient. Divine love perseveres.
We do not have that kind of love. How easily we give up on one another. But God never gave up on Enoch. Surely there may have been occasions when God could have said, “Maybe I should give him up.” But being who God is, there was that persistence and determination.
God knows that we are but flesh. Therefore, He is very patient—very patient. This speaks of His determination to gain us for Himself. When we see that, it gives us great encouragement.
He will do it. Grace will do it. His love will do it. His patience will do it. He is the God of hope. What is impossible with man is possible with God. He has faith in Himself to do the work.
He did what He did because He has absolute confidence in Himself. He is all-sufficient in Himself. Therefore, He walked with Enoch because He knew that, in the end, Enoch would be changed.
This is true of us as well. God has not given us up, and He puts up with us because He has something glorious in view. In the end, He will gain us as He wants us to be.
God is the God of hope. When He was dealing with Enoch and walking with him, God saw the end. The end was already secured because God has the power to fulfill His purpose. God was able to endure patiently, and in the end Enoch was translated.
God initiated the taking of Enoch for Himself, because he had become like God. After three hundred years of walking together, Enoch had been adjusted. It was worth it. In the end, God triumphed. Enoch was so like God that God took him.
We often say that we need to prepare for the Lord’s return. That is good. But Enoch did not know that he was prepared. God knew. When Enoch was ready, God took him. Enoch did not say, “I am ready; take me.” No, God knew that he was ready, and God took him.
Scripture says that he was not found. They searched for him, but he was taken. What glory in that encounter! He was so precious to God.
Walking with God is a way of life. It is a way to find more abundant life. Death did not touch Enoch. That was past history. For those in Christ Jesus, death is past. We do not wait to die; we wait to be translated. We have this walk and this hope.
Then we come to the next person who walked with God: Noah. Scripture says that he found grace and walked with God. The generation in which he lived was terrible. Everything was evil; there was nothing good about it. But Noah found grace because he walked with God.
God’s purpose is not merely to gain us for Himself, but if He can gain us for Himself and see that we are with Him, that gives the Lord Jesus ground to gain others for Himself.
Paul used himself as an example. He said that he was the chief of sinners. He persecuted the church. Yet if the Lord could do something in him, He could gain others. The same principle applies to us.
If you want to be a blessing to your brothers and sisters, to your husband, or to your wife, stay with God. Blessing will come. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. When you are blessed, you will bless others.
There are two things mentioned about Noah. God told him to build an ark and to make rooms in the ark. There had to be room for his whole family—his three sons, their wives, and the animals. God was saying, “Prepare sufficient room and provision for yourself and for those who will be with you.”
Friends, when we walk with the Lord, the glory of the Lord Jesus increases in us. There is no way to grow spiritually in life unless we walk with Him, because as we walk, we have to make adjustments. We have to decrease and give Him more room.
He demands all the room in us. Therefore, there must be more room for Christ. When we walk with Him, there is an increase of Christ. If there is no walk with Him, there is no increase. It is for His increase.
As Christ increases, there will be room for others. There will be provision, and the provision is Christ. We will all be kept alive spiritually in the day of darkness, in the day of judgment, in the day when death threatens. Life will overcome.
Walking with God and building with God is the way we are blessed. This is God’s way of blessing us.
If I asked you to share a testimony of what the Lord has been doing in your life, all of us—including myself—would have to say that we are where we are because there are brothers and sisters who walked with God. Because they walked with God, we received the overflow of the blessing God gave them.
As we look back through church history, there are those who walked with God and found the way for us. We are in the pathway of their blessing. Thank God.
If we ourselves are to be a blessing to others, likewise we need to walk with Him and be with Him.
In this country, we hear a great deal about family problems, and we seek quick solutions. But this problem is not merely American; it is worldwide. We resort to many human devices.
But God’s way is the spiritual way. Parents, if they really walk with the Lord, if the Lord can gain the parents for Himself, the Lord will gain the household for Himself. This is the principle: if God can gain me, He can gain others.
That is what we should be as parents: spiritual, not merely psychological. When you pray for parents, before you pray about a particular issue, pray that there will be an abiding life in the Lord.
Children look at us. They know whether we are real or not real. Young people are always looking for reality. Therefore, we need to be with Him.
When we are with Him, He can be all that He wants to be for us. That is why it is so important to be with Him. Then He can be all that He wants to be to all around us. That is a wonderful experience.
Let us come to another walk in Genesis. In Genesis 13, Lot had separated from Abraham. Then God said to Abraham:
Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for unto thee will I give it.
—Genesis 13:17
What a promise! The first walk was God walking toward man; then Enoch could walk with God, and Noah could walk with God. Later, Abraham was called the friend of God. He was called to be blessed and to be a blessing to others.
After Lot separated from him, God gave Abraham this tremendous promise. God said, “Look in every direction. As far as you can see, it is yours.”
I told the young people in Hong Kong that if I were Abraham and had a helicopter, I would fly up and have a good look at all the land. It would all be mine! But there is an interesting thing: God told Abraham to walk, yet there is no indication that he walked through the land.
Instead, Abraham moved his tent and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there. He did not walk through the land, but he moved to Hebron.
Why? Because he wanted God above all else. We can have everything, but if He is not with us and we are not with Him, all is vanity. But if we have nothing and are with Him, we have everything.
What a vision of God Himself. What a vision of God as the portion. God was the One telling Abraham that all the land was his, yet Abraham moved to Hebron. He wanted to be with God.
In the New Testament, there are many challenging and true stories. Consider John 1, beginning with verse 35.
Again on the morrow John was standing, and two of his disciples;
and he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God!
And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? And they said unto Him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), where abidest Thou?
He saith unto them, Come, and ye shall see. They came therefore and saw where He abode; and they abode with Him that day.—John 1:35-39
Here we have the Lord walking. John said, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” and the disciples followed Jesus. Jesus turned and asked, “What do you seek?” They asked, “Where are You staying? Where is Your dwelling place? Where are You?”
The Lord said, “Come and see.” You never really know a person until you live with that person for a time. Then you come to know the person. The interesting thing is that they went and remained with Him that day.
There is no record in the Gospel of what the Lord Jesus taught them that day. There is no record of what He said, what they saw, or even where He lived. There is not even an address. Nothing is recorded. But it says that they remained with Him that day.
What transformation! Just being with the Lord. There is no account of what He said to them, no account of what they saw, and no detailed description. But those few hours with the Lord Jesus revolutionized their whole outlook.
Andrew discovered that Jesus was the Messiah, the One promised to Israel. He said, “We have found Him.” Simon’s name was changed to Peter because of that encounter.
Be with Him. It changes everything. Sometimes being with a person is better than hearing what that person says. Sometimes silence speaks louder than words.
Some of the deepest and most lasting impressions are not about what a person said, but about how that person was. That day the Lord left such a deep impression upon them that they would never be the same again.
You remember John and Peter in Acts 4. They went to the temple and saw the lame man. He was healed, and they were brought before the Sanhedrin and questioned by the religious leaders: “By what power did you do this?”
When the religious leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John, they realized that these men had been with Jesus. The power and testimony came not merely from hearing about Him, but from being with Him in person.
As we grow in the Lord, at least in my own experience, sometimes remaining quietly before the Lord in communion with the Spirit is so sweet. We need to cultivate that kind of life.
Our lives are so easily unsettled. We cannot be quiet and simply enjoy His presence. No wonder we are weak spiritually. No wonder we do not share more of His life. No wonder we do not really go on, because we fail to cultivate an abiding life in His presence.
To know the Lord is to spend time with Him. Of course, we need to pray, and we need to read the Word. But in the Holy Spirit, we need to learn to commune with Him.
This communion—this being with Him—is not merely what we long for. It is what He longs for. The Lord prayed, “Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me.” This is the Lord’s longing.
His longing for us to be with Him is far more intense than our longing to be with Him. Therefore, He is always seeking us, waiting for us to come to Him. Such time is very precious to Him, and indeed it is very precious to us.
As we allow the Lord to work, is this not the purpose of ministry, conferences, prayer, fellowship, and the work of the Holy Spirit? He is preparing us so that we will be fit to be with Him in the ages to come.
Is that not what the Lord is doing? He is preparing us so that we will be able to be with Him in intimate union of life and purpose. It is all preparation for that.
At the end of the book of Revelation, I am thankful that we find these words of grace. Let us turn to Revelation 22, verses 20-21.
He who testifieth these things saith, Yea: I come quickly. Amen: come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. Amen.—Revelation 22:20-21
This is the last promise: “Surely I come quickly.” In my Bible, those words are printed in red letters, as the Lord Jesus Himself speaks them to us. “Behold, I come quickly.” This expresses the longing of His heart.
He wants us all for Himself. He will have us. Yet He is waiting. Waiting is agonizing, but love waits. Love is patient. Though the intensity of His longing is there, He is willing to wait because of His sure hope.
The Lord can afford to wait because He knows what He will gain. We are often impatient because we are not sure what we will receive. But He knows. Therefore, He says, “Surely I come quickly.” There is urgency in His heart, yet there is also patience.
Then comes the response: “Amen: come, Lord Jesus.” That should be our natural response. In light of what is in His heart, we should learn to respond, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
The reason He has not yet come is that He knows we are not ready. I thank God for His pursuing love and His patience. His hope is faith. In the end, He will gain what He is after, and He will finish His work.
But we need to cooperate with Him. If we will let Him do His work more quickly, it will be so much better. So often, the delays are unnecessary. We need to pray, “Even so, come.” Even in our condition, even knowing what we are, we can ask Him to do His work quickly, to make us complete, and to bring us to Himself.
John 17 is the Lord’s prayer. The Lord said, “I will that those whom Thou hast given Me be with Me.” This will is the determination of His heart. It is as though He says, “Father, You want a people for Yourself, and My determination is to see to it that We gain them.”
Thank God, He is doing it. Praise God. It is all by grace. He walked toward us first. He knew that we could not find the way, and He is patiently walking with us.
Thank God that, in the end, He will gain us as He wants us to be—with Him eternally in glory.
Father, we thank You for Your love, Your purpose, and Your determination to give life to us so that we may be one with You in life and one with You in purpose.
We thank You for the faithful work of the Holy Spirit. We thank You for the ever-intercessory prayer of the Lord Jesus. We thank You because of who You are.
We know that the end is approaching. We thank You that in these last days You are accelerating Your work. We thank You for grace and for mercy.
We thank You for the joy of witnessing throughout this whole world that You are gaining a people for Yourself. You are preparing a people to be with You in the ages to come. We thank You for the work of grace.
We pray that we will be those who are found walking with You, that we will live a life with You, and that we can hasten Your return.
Thank You. Praise You for revealing something of Your heart to us—how You long to come quickly and take us to Your own.
Lord, we pray that, as a church, we will all echo together: “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Thank You, in Your precious name. Amen.