Heavenly Communion

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 12, 1903

Heavenly Communion

HEAVEN and earth have been united in the gift of Jesus to be the Saviour of the world. Sin separated the children upon earth from the Father in heaven, but divine love spanned the gulf, and “now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ.” The recognition of this fact is the foundation of that experience of personal relationship with God, which is the essential thing in the Christian life. It is not enough to know Christianity as a system. There must be a personal fellowship with him whose character finds its expression in Christianity. “This is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.” Through the ministry of angels and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are brought into communion with heaven, and “our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” It is in this heavenly communion, this personal fellowship with divine Being, that the strength and the joy of our Christian experience are found. Thus it is our privilege to kneel daily in the audience chamber of the Eternal, to tell a mighty Helper of the inmost needs of the soul and the longings of a heart quickened by divine grace, and to do this with the confidence that “Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him; he also will hear their cry, and will save them.” What a wonderful privilege! What a gracious assurance! It is passing strange that we avail ourselves to such a limited degree of these blood-purchased opportunities, and that we allow ourselves to be so fully occupied with trivial matters, and our hearts to be “overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life.” It is the determined purpose of the adversary of our souls to divert our minds from this heavenly communion, that he may the more easily lead us into sin, and thus separate us eternally from the fountain of life and love. Do not regard lightly the privilege of fellowship with the unseen Father. He invites us to a confidential relationship. “I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony.” Accept the invitation, and commune with him.