the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Music For the Soul
THE WONDERFUL INVITATION
And he that is athirst, let him come: he that will, let him take the water of life freely. - Revelation 22:17
In these words there are echoes of precious older words, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come, let him buy . . . yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price (Isaiah 55:1)". And again, " If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink (John 7:37)". On both of these more ancient savings, the saying of the evangelical prophet and the saying of our Lord Himself, these great words seem to be founded.
What is it to come? Christ said, standing in the Temple courts, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink." Christ is now absent, but still His bodily presence did not make coming to Him any the easier when He was here. Many of those that touched His garments, and clasped His hands, and looked into His eyes were an infinite distance from Him.
What is it to come? Listen to His own explanation: "He that Cometh unto Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst." Then "coming" and "taking" and " drinking" are all but various forms of representing the one act of believing in Him. We come to Him when we trust Him. We are separated from Him by all the distance between earth and heaven, corporeally. He is near every one of us in spirit, and He is ready to come so much nearer that He will dwell in our hearts and break down all the barriers between us, if we will only draw near to Him. My friend, let no vague metaphor blind you to the simple requirement which is here. To "come to Christ" is nothing more than to trust Him. Lean your weight upon Him, and your soul leaps over the gulfs in which stars and systems move, and touches the Son of man at the right hand of God. Faith has a long arm; it can grasp "the High Priest that has passed through the heavens," and is exalted far above them all. To come to Christ is only as a sinful man laden with infirmities and stooping beneath many a burden of sin and sorrow and sore weakness; to lean my sinful self upon Him, and so to be joined to the Lord. To come to Christ is faith.
Who is it that are asked to come? " He that thirsteth" and "he that willeth." The one phrase expresses the universal condition, the other only the limitation necessary in the very nature of things. " He that thirsteth." Who does not? The desires of every soul are deep and ravenous and fierce. Your heart is parched for love; your mind, whether you know it or not, is restless and athirst for truth that you can cleave to in all circumstances. Your will longs for a loving authority that shall subdue and tame it. Your conscience is calling out for cleansing, for pacifying, for purity. Your whole being is one great want and emptiness. " My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God"; it is only He that can slake the thirst, that can satisfy the hunger. You have tried other things, plenty of them; and has not your experience been that all other sources of satisfaction or delight have done for you what the sea-water docs to the half-mad shipwrecked sailor that will drink it? They make men thirstier and drive them madder. Every man may come; for we are all perishing by the side of muddy and waterless springs, from which we have madly sought to slake an immortal thirst.
'Music For The Soul' daily readings for a year from the writings of the Rev. Alexander Maclaren, D.D., selected and arranged by the Rev. Geo. Coates, published by A.C. Armstrong and Son, 51 East Tenth Street, (1897). The original text is in the Public Domain and this electronic version is free for anyone without cost or obligation. This a year long daily devotional was written by the Rev. Alexander Maclaren over 100 years ago. This Scottish pastor had a heart to follow Jesus and a love for souls.
