Behold we come unto thee. Jeremiah 3:22. (and) I will come unto you. John 14:18. A lively representation of this happy meeting, see Luke 19:4-6., Zaccheus ran; and Christ said unto him, Make haste and come down, for to-day I must abide at thy house.
O my dear Saviour, since I come to thee and thou to me, we shall certainly meet one another. Who will oppose and obstruct it? Devil and sin? no! This wall of separation is pulled down. “Christ says, (as Luther observes,) come unto me, I am not an angry judge, but a loving mediator between God and thy frightened conscience: keep to me and fear not wrath. Therefore, I sit here, that believing in me to make intercession for thee with God, no wrath or disgrace can befall thee. Should wrath and punishment come upon thee, it must first come upon me; which is quite impossible, since he is the dear Son of God, in whom dwells all the fulness of grace; and the Father looking upon him, his wrath must vanish away, and every thing in heaven and earth be changed into smiles of love and grace." Ephesians 1:6. Dangers and conflicts being hot, God hastens with his assistance. At other times he tarries, and the work of our whole renovation goes on little by little, that improving in the exercise of patience and faith, we may also bear with others, and learn not only to quicken our diligence, but also to wait for him.
In thine own ways, O God of love,
We wait the visits of thy grace;
Our soul’s desire is to thy name,
And the remembrance of thy face.