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Last Updated on : Saturday, October 11, 2014

 

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selah

 

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Chapter 11

"The Master Is Come And Calleth For Thee"


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When Christ sends for us , very likely the message will come by the hands of an angelic visitor. The angels have always been used in times past in the furtherance of divine arrangements. They had much to do with the first advent of Christ, with his birth, his sufferings and his resurrection. And we know that at his second appearing he will be accompanied by a multitude of them. Now this may happen any day. Supposing you are sitting quietly by the fireside at night, with labours of the day completed, and you think of going to bed; how shall you feel if all of a sudden a beautiful and dignified visitor presented himself, with the intimation that "the Master is come and calleth for thee?" it will all depend upon the disposal you have been making of your time and your money and your strength. What sort of a day have you been spending? You have been exceedingly troubled, and taken up with business or the house. You have been in a ferment of discontent. You have been very angry with somebody. You have neglected your reading. You thought something else more important than the meeting. You have not been thinking about Christ at all; have not been doing anything for him - how shall you feel? Very much abashed, very much frightened, paralysed with consternation.¾

But let us suppose the case stands the other way. You are depressed with sorrow. You have had a hard fight. You have been harassed in a variety of ways; but you have done your duty You have snatched your reading amidst the pressure of lifeês duties; you have given your countenance to the work done for Christ. You have preferred his assemblies to private or worldly pleasure. You have done what you could to promote his service in the proclamation of the Truth, the visitation and comfort of the lambs of his flock, and in the relief of his poor. You are sad with sadness the world does not understand. You are grieved at the triumph of Christ's enemies, the faithlessness and unconcern of those who profess his Name, or it may be at your own shortcomings hindering you in the race. The pressure of the individual circumstances bow you down. Your pocket may be empty, because of what you considered it your duty to do. In tears, you pour out your complaint before God, and that messenger comes to you. How shall you feel? You shall feel as no language can express; you will not be filled with ecstasy, because the judgment has to pass before you know your lot; but you will feel a calm relief from the knowledge that there is nothing in the present state worth living for; and that your inmost desires and highest aspirations are towards the things that are of God. Joy (mixed with fear) will fill your heart, to know that God has taken the work in hand Himself.

You go to the judgment-seat, and whom do you meet there? Why, the man, who, above all others, has been for a life-time the cherished ideal of your heart, an ideal implanted there by the Truth, and which has been growing sharper in outline, clearer to the affections, more real to the assurance and consciousness as years roll by. You see him after who m your soul longs in whom you have confided all your hope, and for whom you have risked all your interests. Shall you be afraid now? You will tremble, because a righteous man has a deep sense of the greatness and holiness of God. You will feel in that great presence like Daniel in the presence of the angel. But listen, "Oh man, greatly beloved, be strong, and be of good courage". Who would not labour for such a result? It is not too late for us to mend, to become devoted, to throw our soul into the things that belong to Christ. We may rest assured of this, that any man or woman who simply tinkers at Christ's work, who simply complements the Truth with a nominal adhesion, who is a mere patron of the Truth, who does not feel it a privilege of the highest kind to lay themselves on the altar of its service, aye, beneath the wheels of its chariot, if needs be, to be crushed in its onward progress, will be rejected. "if any man love father, mother, sister or brother, house or land more than me, he is not worthy of me."-- R.R.

 


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