The invitation is offered to us again, today: “Come.”
Read the following passages and notice His invitation for you to come to Him: Matt. 11:28–30, Isa. 55:1–3, John 6:44.
The Holy Spirit wants to draw you to Jesus today. Jesus invites you to come to Him, to abide in Him today, and every day, until He comes. When you respond and come to Him, when your heart is soft and your mind surrendered, you will feel peace because you know that He will raise you up, no matter how unworthy you may feel, on the last day of this earth. Jesus said, “Who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37, NKJV).
We should sense the urgency to work with the Holy Spirit to call others to come into a saving relationship with Jesus. “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17, NKJV).
The invitation is free, offered as a gift of grace. When we accept Him into our life and love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength (Deut. 6:5), our life here and in the future will be changed forever.
Even as Jesus invites us to come to Him, the last words in the Bible promise this: “ ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20, NKJV, emphasis added).
How quickly? From our perspective, as soon as we close our eyes in death, the next thing we know will be the return of Christ. Considering how quickly our lives pass, that’s how quickly Jesus is coming back for us. Perhaps our first thought at the resurrection will be Wow, Lord, Your coming was soon after all!
Truly, now we see but faintly, as in a mirror. But then we’ll see Him face-to-face. Don’t grow weary in waiting. Keep this desire alive, ever before you, in faith and in trust in the love and goodness of God. Lord Jesus, please come soon!
Pray right now for the faith to endure, for the faith to allow you to surrender wholly and completely to the One who died for you and is coming back quickly for you, too.
Supplemental EGW Notes
There is the New Jerusalem, the metropolis of the glorified new earth, “a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.” “Her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” “The nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.” Saith the Lord: “I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people.” “The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Isaiah 62:3; Revelation 21:11, 24; Isaiah 65:19; Revelation 21:3).
In the City of God “there shall be no night.” None will need or desire repose. There will be no weariness in doing the will of God and offering praise to His name. We shall ever feel the freshness of the morning and shall ever be far from its close. “And they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light” (Revelation 22:5). The light of the sun will be superseded by a radiance which is not painfully dazzling, yet which immeasurably surpasses the brightness of our noontide. The glory of God and the Lamb floods the Holy City with unfading light. The redeemed walk in the sunless glory of perpetual day.
In the visions of the prophet, those who have triumphed over sin and the grave are now seen happy in the presence of their Maker, talking freely with Him as man talked with God in the beginning. “Be ye glad,” the Lord bids them, “and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying” (Isaiah 65:18, 19). . . .
As the prophet beholds the redeemed dwelling in the City of God, free from sin and from all marks of the curse, in rapture he exclaims, “Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her” (Isaiah 66:10).—God’s Amazing Grace, p. 369.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.