The Gathering to Christ.
By S. P. Bollman
"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." John 12: 32. IN that beautiful prophetic blessing recorded in Gen. 49: 10, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and to him shall the gathering of the people be," we have a direct reference to the same gathering which shall result from the lifting up of the Saviour, referred to in John 12: 32. That the crucifixion of Christ was the most amazing occurrence ever witnessed, there can be no doubt. That it ever did occur, must be the wonder of wonders, whilst intelligent beings study the mysteries of "redeeming grace and dying love." The design of the Saviour's death was to "put away sin, by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb. 9: 26); and thus to open up "a new and living way," into the holiest of all, "by the blood of Jesus." Heb. 10: 19, 20. Such was the great and gracious object of his death; and this being the case, a wondrous power flows through these channels, to draw to the Saviour those who are to be the subjects of "the grace of God which bringeth salvation," which salvation "hath appeared to all men." Titus 2: 11. But the cross has also its incidental attractions. Many eyes have looked to Calvary as a remarkable spot in the world's history—have in spirit stood awed at the unusual occurrences which transpired when the Son of God was suffering on the cross, and especially when he "bowed his head and gave up the ghost." John 19: 30. The strange darkness, the earthquake, the rending of the veil between the holy and most holy place in the temple,—all these connected with the crucifixion, are events toward which thousands who will never be drawn to Christ in any saving sense, have looked with a strange veneration, and which they have, in imagination, viewed with a kind of reverential wonder. This class (a very large one) is made up of those enjoying the ordinary means of grace, possessing the Bible, enjoying what is termed evangelical preaching, having Jesus exhibited or held up to view in almost every possible way (the sensational not excepted), yet never become truly interested in the "great salvation," nor obedient subjects of him who is truly "King of saints." All these may be classed with those alluded to in Prov. 1: 24-31, or those of whom Jesus speaks, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." John 5: 40. There are, however, those who love to linger near the cross, who, like Paul, glory only "in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom [or whereby, margin] the world is crucified unto me [them], and I [they] unto the world." Gal. 6: 14. This class is composed of those who, like the Israelites of old, bitten by the fiery flying serpents, feel that they need a remedy, a physician; they feel that they must look, and, looking to Jesus, they live. The "all" then spoken of in John 12: 32 must correspond with the "all" referred to by the Saviour in John 6: 37, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me;" and again, "Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of Heaven." Matt. 8: 11. There is then a great enlisting process going on, which, when completed, will be followed by a grand review, when all God's children are gathered home. Every sacrificial rite under the former dispensation pointed to Christ "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1: 29. All these constituted the gospel, which was preached to those who looked for redemption in Israel, and pointed as rays of living light to Christ crucified, and to the grand results of that strange lifting up, the gathering of an innumerable company to the Saviour, from amongst all peoples, without distinction—not without exception. But when shall this great consummation take place? The prophet Isaiah speaks of the grand result (chap. 53: 10, 11): "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities." It is the time of the general gathering of those who have made a covenant with the Lord by sacrifice (Ps. 50: 5); a time when "the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Isaiah 35: 10); predicted by Isaiah when he exclaimed, "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." Chap. 26: 19. This is the final gathering of those who have "come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Rev. 7: 14. Thus are gathered home the innumerable company of the redeemed, to be ever with the Lord. What a glorious result! No wonder the prophet, beholding in vision the glorious company, the numerous trophies of "redeeming love," in the great triumphal procession preceded by the Captain of their salvation, should exclaim in rapturous admiration, "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Isa. 63: 1.