WONDERFUL THING IN THIS PASSAGE – God was not neutral about whether or not you would choose to spend eternity with Him. He was passionate that your choice be “Yes.”
He designed all of creation to point you and me to our Creator: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge” (Ps 19:1-2).
But God wasn’t satisfied with just the stars and planets drawing us to Him. He created a chorus of angelic and human voices to unite with His in a repeated refrain: “Come!” It’s not surprising, then, that God concludes the Bible with a re-affirmation of this dominant message of the ages:
“Both the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ Let anyone who hears, say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life as a gift” (Rev 22:17).
He showed us more specifically what He’s calling us to come to at the beginning of today’s chapter: “Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river” (Rev 22:1-2).
At Adam’s rebellion, all of mankind had been cast out of God’s Garden and into death. But the Spirit of God (since the day of the fall) and the church (since the day of her birth) have spoken with a single voice to all who would listen: “Come!” – Come back. Come back to God. Come back to life.
Beginning with Jesus’ invitation, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28), millions have come. Those millions include you and me. And it is to us that Jesus addresses the first imperative of this passage: “Let anyone who hears, say, ‘Come!’”
WONDERFUL THING IN OUR LIVES – You and I have heard. We’ve heard Jesus calling us, and we’ve come. But many around us have not. They remain unaware of His marvelous invitation or unresponsive to it. Our Master instructs us to join our voices to His, to the Spirit’s, to the angels’, and to the church’s and say, “Come!”
Jesus once told the woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of God, and Who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask Him, and He would give you living water” (John 4:10). Jesus knew that the woman’s spirit was desperately thirsty, but she didn’t know what could quench that thirst or Who could give it to her.
You and I know both those things, and Jesus concludes the Bible by telling us to share them: “Let anyone who hears, say, ‘Come!’”
Let me close this series of devotions with this encouragement, friends: The river of life is not only for salvation. It flows forever from the throne of God. If you haven’t drunk from it for a while, don’t berate yourself for being dry and parched, and don’t resign yourself to staying that way. Hear your Savior say to you, “Let the one who is thirsty come.” Hear yourself respond: “I will come and dive in and drink my way to the surface and never thirst this way again.”
