It's time to Come

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Scripture:

Rev. 22:17     The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”
    And let everyone who hears say, “Come.”
    And let everyone who is thirsty come.
    Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

Observation:

We come to the close of the Revelation of Jesus Christ and here we find a great invitation.  Each and every one is invited to come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  The days in which John was living were extremely difficult and yet, for those who may have been in doubt, it was time to come!  The Holy Spirit was moving in and among those who would listen to the Word through the ministry of the new and fledgling church -- the bride.  The church was proclaiming the Word and through these the Spirit was drawing all men to the Lord.  For all of those who heard the Word, the invitation was to come.  For all of those who were in need of the water of eternal life -- the invitation was to come.  For those hungry and thirsty spiritually, it was time to respond to the gracious invitation of our victorious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ -- now is the time to come!

Application:

This invitation to come found in the very closing words of the New Testament are the open embrace of a loving heavenly Father.  God, through his Word, is constantly reaching out to humanity, not wanting any to miss out on heaven.  From the beginning to the end we find God doing everything that he can to draw us into a personal relationship with him.  God's desire is for us to be his holy people for he knows that this is the path to eternal life for us -- it is out of his deep love for us that he wants us to be united with him. 

What would happen if you received an invitation to meet with the leader of your country?  I don't think it matters whether you are aligned to that personal politically or not, you would probably be quite excited about the invite!  You would tell your friends about it and you would begin to plan for that day when you would have the opportunity to meet.  I know I'd probably be thinking about what I was going to wear :) -- but probably also what to say!  But at the end of the day, I doubt very many of us would decline the invitation.  This is exciting stuff!

Now, just imagine that the God of all creation has invited us into a personal relationship with him.  What in the world are we doing dragging our feet and thinking about whether to respond or not.  It's time to come! 

Even if we have been followers of Jesus Christ for a long period of time we may be struggling in our walk today.  There may be things that we are hanging onto that are keeping us thirsty.  The invitation is for us today to let go of the things that are keeping us from being fully satisfied with all that God has to offer us.  The invitation is to come!  It's time to stop making excuses and thinking that you're going to have a better time hanging out with the world.  There may be people within the church who have been a disappointment but that's a shameful excuse not to respond to the King's invitation!  The invitation is still open for all of those who are willing to respond.  For those who are hungry and thirsty -- let everyone come and partake of the gift.  Come.

Prayer:

Lord, thank you that for your invitation.  Amen.

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