THE INVITATIONS OF REVELATION 22: 17.
And
the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that, heareth say, Come. And let
him that is athirst, come: and whosoever will, let him take of the water of
life freely.”
We have beard it said by Arminians that the above is one text
which Old Baptists cannot use, that it clashes with the doctrine of salvation
as we see it, inasmuch as we believe salvation to be a work which God himself
plans and carries on to execution and fulfillment. The Arminians teach that the
sinner must, himself make the first move, take the first step, if lie wishes to
be saved; that the Lord invites man to come to him, but it is man's own work to
do the coming; that the Lord calls; but his call need not be heeded except the
sinner chooses to heed it. The text quoted above from Revelation is called by
the nominally religious an invitation, a gospel invitation, but Paul says the
gospel is the power of God unto the believer's salvation; how then can there be
invitations in the gospel? The power of God does not invite, it commands. It
does not degrade itself to beg and beseech at the court of man's free-will; it
speaks the instant doing and commands immediate establishment of all it
purposes to do or wishes done. There is no text, in all the Bible that more
firmly settles Old Baptist, experience and doctrine than this in Revelation
xxii. 17. If there is in all the Bible a single Scripture of which we, as a
people, fear the interpretation lest it unseat our faith, then we had better
give over hoping we are the church of God on earth. If we are of those who
wrest the Scriptures to suit, selfish ends, and to further personal advantage,
we stamp ourselves as hypocrite grossly deluded. There are religious
denominations who accept certain portions of the Bible and reject others: a
preacher recently advised his hearers not to read Paul, as it would confuse
them if they did. If the Old Baptists are compelled to exercise a censorship of
the Scripture to prune, garble, amend and destroy them in order to secure their
continuous as a religious body among men, the sooner we cease to be, the
better. The entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation is one united harmonious
and consistent body of truth, with no contradiction or confusion existing
between any of its parts; and, so far as we know, the Old School Baptists are
the only people on earth who hold fast the Scriptures in their entirety,
resting them with the Holy Ghost
to interpret when and where and how he pleases.
"The Spirit and the bride say,
Come." It is usually supposed that this
"Come" is addressed by the Spirit and the bride to the world,
inviting sinners everywhere to come to Christ. Arminians delight in picturing
the church as a woman with arms outstretched welcoming the whole world to her
embraces. This seems to us to present the church as a lewd woman willing, for a
price, to let anybody love her. It is not presenting the church as the chaste
virgin of Christ, separate from the world, a holy vessel sanctified to the use
of her adored Lord and heavenly Husband. A virtuous woman loyal to her husband
is not seen making overtures to other men ; the church of Jesus, secure in his
love, is not seeking the embrace of the world, but the church of antichrist
lures its mongrel thousands into her incestuous lap by means of social clubs,
penny lunches, gymnasium classes men's clubs, kindergartens,- penny savings
banks, children's story' hours, sewing schools, manual training classes,
&a., housed under her roof, managed by her “clergy”
and laity, and financed by her people. The “come”
of the Spirit and the bride, however, is not addressed to
the unregenerate world, as will be evident from a reading of the context.
"Behold, I come quickly," says Jesus, who sends his angel to his
church to bear testimony of his appearing. The response of her heart to him is:
"Come." Suppose a husband should be a long time absent from his
loving and faithful wife, and suppose he should by his messenger send her word
of is imminent coming what would be her reply to him? Would it not be, "Come?" Would not every fiber of
her being pulsate with joy at the announced coming of her absent lord ?
Thus, it
is in the expression: " The Spirit and the bride say, Come;"
it, is not to the world she says "come," but the Spirit and the bride
say, "Come" to him for whose coming she longs and hungrily waits, and
who has just announced by his messenger that he is coming, and that quickly. All
through the law and prophecies the Spirit said, "Come." It did not
tell the world to come, but cried to heaven " Lord Jesus, come
quickly" Every commandment and every sacrifice of the law, every utterance
of prophecy, and every type and
figure of the old covenant, said, "Come." They all testified by mid
through the Spirit, of his coming-the coming Of Jesus. But we need not go so
far back to find this Spirit that says to Jesus, "Come," for the
doctrine of the gospel church of this dispensation, every principle of it,
says, "Come," all looks unto his coming “without sin, unto
salvation." The ordinance as well as the doctrine of the church say,
“Come." Baptism, the Lord's supper, the laying on of hands, all look to
and receive their meaning front the coming of Jesus. There could be no
substance in any of these things without the appearing of' Jesus all by and
through the Spirit, say, “Come." Not only the Spirit, but the bride, which
is the church, says, “Come." The prayer and desire of every member of the
church, of every one of the redeemed, is for Jesus to come to, and in them, for
"Thy kingdom come. They will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
The church is not interested in seeing the world flock to her, but is vitally
concnerned in having Jesus come and take up his abode in her. This is her
earnest prayer.
“Let him that heareth
say, Come." None hear the glad tidings of Jesus,
sent angel but the spiritually alive: those who have been quickened of' the
Holy Spirit and made alive unto God. These have the ears of the new man and
hear the glad word that Jesus is coming: “The kingdom of heaven is at
band." Every one that so hears this news from a far country with his
spiritual ears, cannot help but respond, Lord Jesus, come and make me to appear
as them that love thee, and whom thou lovest with an everlasting love.
"Let him that is athirst, come." It is not to be overlooked that this little word,
"let " is conspicuous in the first. of' Genesis and the last of
Revelation. It is not in inviting
word, but a word of command from the King of all kings and the Lord of all
lords. When God said, “Let there be light," it was not an invitation to
light to make itself manifest, but it was the command of omnipotence, and
"there was light," without any question about, it. All the power of
God is housed up in that word "let," and light bad to be. It could
not, be otherwise. God is not grown any weaker in the last of Revelation than
he was in the first of Genesis, and the word "let" is as much fraught
with omnipotence when he says, "Let him that is athirst, come,"as
when he said, " Let there be light," and the thirsty sinner has no
more to do with the coming than bad light to do with bringing itself into
manifestation. The command is accompanied with ability to obey. The word of God
is not a matter of printers' ink committed to paper, but is spirit and life, is
quick (living) and powerful (full of power). Thus, when the Word is made flesh,
and is addressed to the soul thirsting for righteousness, saying, Let hint
come, the soul can no more resist that Coming than it could withstand the power
of God in creation. When God says, “let," every opposition, every stumblingblock, every excuse, is
taken out, of the path of the thirsty, and they throng forward to the Fountain
of life.
"Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." We have heard it, said that the Bible says that Whosoever will,
may come. This is not so. No such language is in the Bible that we have ever
been able to find. “Whosoever will." It is not every one that has this
"will“ to take of the water
of life. The natural man, or he that is in a state of nature, dead in sin, has
not, this will, no appetite for God's free gift. These things of God are
foolishness to the natural man, beyond his discernment. How,then, can he have a
will to possess them? The will to partake of the water of life belongs only to
him that is athirst for it; and only he is thirsty who is quickened by the Spirit, thus a partaker of
divine life. Natural life desire natural things to satisfy its longing
spiritual life craves eternal life to quench its thirst. Natural life and the
carnal will do not, cannot, reach out for spiritual things; neither do
spiritual life and the divine will reach down for carnal things. It is plain
that in order to have this will to drink of the water of life, one must be born
from above, of in incorruptible seed, by the Word of God. Being so born, one
finds this new life accompanied with a strong will to drink of the water of
life. Having such a will, there is do reason why such an one should not eat of
living bread md drink of living water. God's "let" takes every
obstacle to the water of life out of the path of him in whom God has wrought
that will to do of his own good pleasure As the magnet draws unto itself the
steel, so the living water powerfully attracts the heaven-born will of the
quickened sinner to partake of it, free by the blood of Jesus to all his
people, not at all conditioned on their works, fitness of obedience.
Please direct your comments to Mike
Krall.