The Double Come

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Revelation 22:17

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is thirsty come. And whoever will…

We have open before us the last page of the Word of God. How shall the book finish? Shall it close with a promise? It is well that it should, and there is the cheering word for the righteous, "Blessed are they that do His commandments," etc. Shall it close with a threatening to the wicked? Here it is: "without are dogs," etc. Shall the last sentence be full of tender invitation and earnest entreaty to the sinner, bidding him come to Christ and live? Yes, let it be so; and yet shall we forget the Lord Himself while we are thinking of the sinner? He has told us that He will come — should not the very last word of Scripture have a reference to Him and to His glorious advent? Should not the Spirit at the last, as well as at the first, bear witness to Jesus? Shall not the last word that shall linger in the reader's ear speak of the approaching glory of the Lord? Yes, let it be so: but it would be best of all if we could have a word that would combine the four: a promise to the righteous, a threatening to the wicked, an invitation to the poor and needy, and a welcome to the coming one. Who could devise such a verse? The Holy Ghost is equal to the emergency. He can dictate such a verse: He has dictated it. Here it is in the words of our text.

I. First, then, let us consider, THE TWOFOLD MINISTRY.

1. There is in the text a cry for the coming of the Lord. Let every one that hears the prophecy of our Lord's assured coming join in the prayer, "Thy kingdom come."

2. But there is a second ministry of the Church, which is the cry for the coming of sinners to Christ. In this respect "the Spirit and the Bride say, Come." The world should ring with "Come to Jesus!"

3. This, then, is the double ministry, and I want you to notice that the first call is not opposed to the second. The fact that Christ is coming ought never to make us any the less diligent in pressing sinners to come to Christ.

4. Again, take heed that the second call never obscures the first. Be taken up with evangelical work; let it fill your heart; but, at the same time, watch for that sudden appearing which, to many, will be as unwelcome as a thief in the night.

5. Let the two "comes" leap at the same moment from your heart, for they are linked together. Christ will not come until He hath gathered unto Himself an elect company; therefore, when you and I go forth and say to sinners, "Come," and God blesses us to the bringing of them in, we are doing the best we can to hasten the advent of the Son of man.

II. THIS TWOFOLD MINISTRY IS SECURED. According to our text, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come." They always do say it, and always will say it till Jesus comes.

1. The Spirit says it. What a cry must this be which comes up from the Spirit of God Himself! Given at Pentecost, He has never returned or left the Church, but He dwells in chosen hearts, as in a temple, even to this day. He is always moving men to pray that Christ may come, and moving men to come to Christ.

2. This also is certainly fulfilled by the Church wherever she is a true Church.

III. THE WAY IN WHICH THIS TWOFOLD MINISTRY IS INCREASED. "Let him that heareth say, Come." The hearing man is to say, "Come," but the unconverted man is not bidden so to do. No, he cannot say "Come" till he has first come for himself. You that are not saved cannot invite others. How can you? Yet all of you who have really heard the gospel with opened ear, and received the truth of God by faith into your souls, are called upon to cry, "Come."

1. See how this perpetuates the cry. As in the old Greek games the athletes ran with torches, and one handed the light to another, and thus it passed along the line, so is it with us. Each man runneth his race, but he passeth the torch on to another that the light may never go out from generation to generation. Let the fathers teach the children, and the children their children, and so while the sun and the moon endure let the voice that crieth, "Come" to Christ, go up to heaven, and let the voice that crieth, "Come" to sinners, be heard in the chief places of concourse.

2. This precept secures the swelling of the volume of the cry; for if every man that hears the gospel is to cry, "Come," then there will be more voices, and yet more.

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