(John 7:6)
In several passages of Scripture men are exhorted to be ready in view of the coming again of the Lord Jesus, and happy indeed are those who are ready even now to go in with Him to the marriage. Happy those who are going forth to meet the Bridegroom, and who will be on the inside of that shut door. Nor are we left in doubt as to the preparation necessary to enter with Him to that wedding-feast. Reader, if still unsaved, you need the oil, the divine life which the Spirit of God imparts and maintains, and which can be procured on the same old terms of Isa. 55:1-"without money and without price."You may have salvation freely, and you may have it now. To-morrow is too late!
And when thus ready to meet the Lord when He comes, how good, too, for the believer to be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh him a reason of the hope that is in him, with meekness and fear.
But in the verse before us, this being ready always is evidently uttered in tones of rebuke by Him whose ways are ever perfect, and who knew when not to be ready, as well as when to be ready.
The Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand, the last of the seven yearly feasts celebrated by them. This feast, which followed the harvest and the vintage, is the only one which had an eighth day attached to it. The feast speaks of the happy and glorious time yet in store for poor, wandering Israel, and for this sad sin-stricken world and groaning earth. It looks on to the time when He, the Lord of the harvest, shall manifest Himself to His earthly people and the world, when the harvest is past and the vintage -the judgment -is ended, and He shall reign in mighty splendor. With its eighth day this feast tells of eternal blessing, nevermore to be forfeited.
It is doubtful whether His brethren understood anything of this, yet how striking it is that they urge Him to show Himself to the world, which is just what the present feast looks on to. But they did not believe in Him (ver. 5). They could appreciate one who would seek his own glory (chap. 8:50), and to this end their time was always ready. How intensely solemn this is! How true it is still! Men of this world are always ready to show themselves, to seek their own honor. And alas, how often God's people, too, are ready to show themselves.
How different all this in our wonderful Lord! Oh, to be more like Him, to drink in of His spirit! Glory belongs to Him! He alone has any right to show Himself. But He says:"My time is not yet come." I am content to wait. The cross must precede the crown. He will bear the ignominy and shame, the sorrow and the curse; He is willing to be ignored and unknown, to suffer wrong, and to be defrauded. The fast must come before the feast, the awful woe of Calvary before the splendor of the Millennial throne. "I go not up yet unto this feast, for My time is not yet full come." Brethren, are we not willing to be misunderstood for a little by our fellow-believers, to suffer with Him for a little season, to bear His cross, and thus seek the crown? Are those words:"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus," to be written only on the pages of our Bibles, and not also in indelible letters on the tablets of our hearts?
"Oh, teach me more of Thy blest ways,
Thou holy Lamb of God."
He does go up to the feast after a few days, not openly, but as it were in secret. And they sought Him!
Did they realize there was something lacking in their feast? Had they learned that the feast of Jehovah had degenerated into the Jews' feast of tabernacles? Certain it is that this poor world, as well as Israel of old, is seeking happiness and satisfaction apart from Him, and we know that they are on a vain errand. Dear fellow-saints, the world needs Him. Let us go up unto their feast, not to show ourselves, not to take part in their empty pleasures or sinful lusts, but to bring Christ to them. We have Him to present who alone can satisfy the longing soul. And if He is not all in all to us, if the spirit of worldliness has crept in, let us judge ourselves unsparingly in His presence.
In the last day of the feast Jesus stood and cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink." In chapter 6, where the Jews' passover, the first of the seven feasts, is before us, our blessed Lord presents Himself as the Bread of Life, as the Flesh which man must eat to live for ever. There He is the Food for a needy, hungry soul. In our chapter, at the feast of tabernacles, the last of the feasts, He offers Himself as the One who meets the need of the thirsty ones. Both these feasts left men as they were; in themselves they were mere out– ward forms, bereft of all power. Thanks be to God, in Him to whom they pointed, in our Lord, there is meat and drink, life and joy, now and forever.
While we await the glory we are to suffer here. The way of the cross leads home. And while we wait let us remember we are in a world that needs Him! Let us walk apart from its feasts and follies, though among them. When men have sought in vain for rest, at the end of their feast, we may still say with exulting hearts, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Jesus, and drink." Let us pattern after our blessed Master! He never sought His own glory. Let us leave off seeking glory, but rather be to His honor and glory by seeking to walk in His ways, while we seek the blessing of souls (Ps. 27:8).
A. Van Ryn