“…but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.” Romans 8:23
When the Spirit of God was poured out at Pentecost, and the church, the living body of Christ was born, the Spirit came to dwell in the heart of the believer who was born again. The presence and power of the Spirit’s working brought about a fundamental difference in every believer as a new creation. Part of that change was the experience of “longing for heaven and home.” Even more so, there was the increasing desire to pray, “Come Lord Jesus.” In a stanza of one of Frances Ridley Havergal’s great hymns, she expresses this: “Thou art coming, Thou art coming, We shall meet Thee on Thy way; We shall see Thee, we shall know Thee, We shall bless Thee we shall show Thee, All our hearts could never say: What an anthem that will be, ringing out our love to Thee, Pouring out our rapture sweet at Thine own all glorious feet.” The Apostle Paul, and Isaiah so many years before him, wrote of the things that are to come for the believer: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Cor. 2:9, Is. 64:4) What will it be when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven, to call forth all who are on earth who are waiting for Him? Though we may not know the moment of His coming, or our departure if taken before, certainly the Spirit of God within the heart will increasingly create and impart the importance of readiness. God creates by the Spirit that blessed anticipation when faith will become sight, and every believer in Christ will be changed. Again, Havergal puts it like this:
“Oh, the joy to see Thee reigning, Thee, my own beloved Lord! Every tongue Thy Name confessing, Worship, honor, glory, blessing, Brought to Thee with one accord; Thee, my Master and my Friend, Vindicated and enthroned, Unto earth’s remotest end, Glorified, adored, and owned.” What a meeting this will be, one that is beyond all present comprehension. This is the great hope of the believer, which the Spirit of God enlarges, and deepens, as that day approaches. In the twinkling of the eye, faith will become sight, and every believer shall be forever changed, changed into the image of Christ in fullest measure, knowing Christ as one is known.
But what of today, and the continued life upon this earth, where the world system and the devil militate against, and deny, the knowledge of Christ, and the living “hope of His coming?” The answer to such a reality is found in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, when he wrote: “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who has SEALED us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” (1:22) Not only do we know the presence of the Spirit because of the truth of Scripture, but because God has given Him to dwell in the heart, witnessing to our spirits that “we are the children of God,” but also, that by His leading, His working of ever drawing out the heart to God, and the witness of the Spirit as we call upon God as our Father, we know and experience the fruits of His life within our own. Christ came into this world to pay for our sins, not only that we should be forgiven of them, thus removing this barrier, hindering us from coming to God, but also, and ever increasingly to know Him, walk with Him, abide in Him and He in us. This same Spirit of God by which the Father put every believer into living union with Christ, is the One who witnesses that Christ is coming, and this quickly. Every believer is called upon to live by faith in the ever-present, sufficient Savior, ever looking for His appearing.
Dear Father, Come quickly from above. In Jesus’ name, Amen.