June 27, 2012
-
Jacob, come, eat!
Revelation 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither...
"A door opened"Heaven's stairway
Celestial kissMercy and truth
Sanctified trystFellowship divine
How oft we missTriune delight
Everlasting rest"Come up hither!"
The trumpet sounds
But do we hear?Vain thoughts press in
O! worldly caresNoxious choking
Mephitic airA sip of death
The conscience searedLoving the world
Lust of the fleshThe pride of life
Fickle richesEmpty pleasures
Foolish counselsClutch the earthly
Discard true blissSup devil's lies
Spurn happinessAppears as light
Robbing of restJohn 10:10a
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy...
Luke 8:14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
I John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
"Ho, all who thirst!"
The trumpet sounds
Incline your earLife abundantly
Come up hither!The Door opened
To Jacob's seedThe Fount gushes
My child, take heedCast off darkness
Wake out of sleep!Ask, seek, and knock
Wrestle and pleadYet there is room
Jacob, come, eat!Arms of mercy
Hark! The Scepter!Make supplication
Find favor thereWiden thy mouth
While He is nearOil of gladness
A table preparedRapt with holy desire
Intoxicating pleasure!
Hosea 12 (ESV)
4 He [Jacob] strove with the angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought his favor.
He met God at Bethel,
and there God spoke with us—
...
6 “So you, by the help of your God, return...Luke 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Romans 14:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
"What is God's promise. I will fill thy mouth with good things, Ps. ciii. 5. There is enough in God to fill our treasures (Prov. viii. 21), to replenish every hungry soul (Jer. xxxi. 25), to supply all our wants, to answer all our desires, and to make us completely happy. The pleasures of sense will surfeit and never satisfy (Isa. lv. 2); divine pleasures will satisfy and never surfeit. And we may have enough from God if we pray for it in faith. Ask, and it shall be given you. He gives liberally, and upbraids not. God assured his people Israel that it would be their own fault if he did not do as great and kind things for them as he had done for their fathers. Nothing should be thought too good, too much, to give them, if they would but keep close to God. He would moreover have given them such and such things, 2 Sam. xii. 8."
"God had borne their manners in the wilderness: "I proved thee at the waters of Meribah; thou didst there show thy temper, what an unbelieving murmuring people thou wast, and yet I continued my favour to thee." Selah--Mark that; compare God's goodness and man's badness, and they will serve as foils to each other. Now if they, on their solemn feast-days, were thus to call to mind their redemption out of Egypt, much more ought we, on the Christian sabbath, to call to mind a more glorious redemption wrought out for us by Jesus Christ from worse than Egyptian bondage, and the many gracious answers he has given to us, notwithstanding our manifold provocations."– from Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Psalm 81John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
So you, by the help of your God, return...I John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
Matthew 5:6
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Related:- Finding pleasure in Him
- "...it is a pleasing thing to walk with God." (George Whitefield)
- Moderation in pursuing God? An answer from Jonathan Edwards
- Moderation in pursuing God? An answer from George Whitefield
- How's your spiritual appetite? (Jonathan Edwards)
- Who's the real thriller?
- Advent # 7 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might be satisfied with Him
- "And Jacob was left alone" ~ Don't waste your loneliness
- Let us therefore strive to enter that rest (Hebrews 3:7-4:13) ~ Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion
- to My seeking unmarried child (letter 40 on assurance & fighting for joy)
- my dear single sister in Christ: Christ & Christ alone for your joy (Letter 62 on joy)
- wives, your husband is not your Husband | letter 77 on assurance & joy
- Doubting one, do you know Me as a rewarder? | letter 78 on assurance & fighting for joy
- the lover's inquiry | letter 114 on fighting for joy
- "Who wants candles when he has the sun?" ~ Edward Payson | letter 124 on assurance & joy
- God, Love & Cookies ~ Have you abandoned your first Love? (Revelation 2:4)
- Is your ambition holy? / What are you living for? (Louis Paul Lehman) / The Christian's Aim
- don't waste your new year ~ teach us, satisfy us, make us glad (Psalm 90:12-15)
- occupy ~ do you seek your own – or the things of Christ? does His Spirit occupy?
- tangled
- Dearest idol, how can I find rest
- Flame of Jehovah! Jealousy's Love
- Psalm 131 ~ Lord, calm my soul; Lord, wean my soul in this mephitic air | W.H. Hewitson
- Phebe Bartlet – a child put in our midst ~ "Do you love Me?"
- Linger, linger, linger – so you might know God's love
- Things To Look for in a Church, 9: "Pearl Freaks" (a.k.a. a Kingdom-Obsessed People)
- Half a heart, half a heart (How long? If the LORD is God, follow Him)
- Haggai 1 ~ May the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse us from our sins of selfish solicitude
Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Emphasis mine.
Photo credits:Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thorns.jpg / CC BY-SA 3.0
Work found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lutte_de_Jacob_avec_l%27Ange.jpg / CC BY-SA 3.0 / illustration by Gloumouth1, http://gloumouth1.free.fr
RSS feed
Comments (6)
I love the idea that one day we will be called up to heaven. I know churches haggle over the sequence of end events, but the great thought is we leave all our junk behind, and fall at the feet of Jesus to worship and praise Him.
It is interesting how everyone has a different experience in their Christian experience. Some seemingly have it very hard, and others like me have had it relatively easy. Beats me.
You are right--the world has a lot of goodies, but they don't bring peace to a broken heart, or hope to parents with wayward children.
One day, the trumpet will sound. Then, at last, we see Him.
Trumpet sounding--even the thought of that--though my mind can't comprehend the joyfulness of it--makes my heart beat with anticipation.
@ANVRSADDAY - @stephensmustang - The joyfulness of seeing Christ face to face is hard for us to imagine! However, as I was writing this, I primarily had in mind the spiritual experience that is available to us today in this life. Though we see through a glass darkly, we still have opportunity to behold the glory of the Lord as He chooses to show Himself to us ( ~ end of II Cor. 3). Last weekend I'd been considering Jacob's encounters at Bethel and Peniel, and ended up looking at those verses in Hosea 12, and that portion: "there God spoke with us" really grabbed me. But then, on top of that, on Sunday in a prayer time at church, a friend of mine was reading from Revelation 4, and the words at the beginning of the chapter sprung to life: that glorious invitation issued to John from the throne of grace to "Come up here!" or "Come up hither!" There are times when God in His grace might deem to give His children such an invitation – quite suddenly and unexpectantly – the wind blows where it wills, so too with the Spirit! As I was walking and contemplating all this more yesterday, that phrase: "Jacob, come eat!" fired in my heart, and I was humbled at the thought that God invites sinners like us, sinners like me, to fellowship with Him ... "Heaven came down & glory filled my soul!"
Referencing Martyn Lloyd-Jones, I blogged about such experiences in my post "The Christian should not just believe the truth, and know it – the Father's assurance." ML-J described such times of experiential assurance in this way:
"suddenly the father, moved by some impulse, takes hold of that child and picks him up, fondles him in his arms, kisses him, embraces him, showers his love upon him, and then he puts him down again and they go on walking
together."
@naphtali_deer - Oh, my--it speaks so much more to me now. Thanks for sharing that.
I LOVE that last quote, I think I'll put in on my fb status. It's times like that, where Abba speaks so clearly to us--where His love is so evident that makes is humanly possible to continue on the journey w/Him despite (and in spite of) the dificult times.
nice
@dmcx2010 - Thank you!