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A Prayer for Pentecost

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A Prayer for Pentecost

10 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come” (Revelation 22:17a).

Rev. J. den Hoed, Franklin Lakes, NJ

Pentecost is at the end of the Christian church year and is, at the same time, the beginning and the end. With the coming of Pentecost we have approached that time period known in God’s Word as the latter days. Peter in his Pentecostal sermon points to this when he quotes the prophet Joel, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.” The angels spoke of this unto the disciples at the ascension of Christ. “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.”

Almost twenty centuries have gone by since that time, and the mockers are ever there who say, “Where is the promise of His coming?” We must not forget that with the Lord Jesus a thousand years is as one day. Since those twenty centuries have already passed, we may say that we are no longer at the beginning but at the end.

No, we do not prophesy when we say that the time is at hand that He will return and that every eye will see Him coming upon the clouds. The last book of the Bible is full of this second coming. On the last page of our Bible the message is brought to us three times, “I come quickly” (Revelation 22:7,12&20). And as an answer upon this, the Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” It is only a short prayer; it contains only one word, but that word has a depth of meaning.

Here you see a burning desire, a fervent longing, and a prayerful looking upward. This lives with the Spirit and the bride. Does the Holy Spirit, then, also long for His coming? Is that Spirit not true and eternal God with the Father and the Son? There are some who say that is not possible and that here the bride speaks through the Spirit. However true this may be, that is not the way it is written in God’s Word.

There we read, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.” Truly, it need not be a surprise to us that the Holy Spirit longs for the coming of Christ. He not only came upon earth to bring lost sinners to salvation but above all to glorify the Lord Jesus. His work is always Christ-centered. What a wonderful harmony is seen in this work, all to the glory of the Triune God and the salvation of lost souls.

Perhaps you ask, “How does the Holy Spirit glorify Christ?” He does this when room is made for Christ and His benefits in the heart of those lost sinners. This is when there is nothing else that can help them anymore. Then, there is only one need in the life of such a one, and that is for Jesus Christ, the crucified Mediator between God and the soul.

Let it be stressed once more. It is always the Holy Spirit who makes room in the heart for Christ, who gives a living desire for Christ, and who takes His people by the hand and leads them to Christ. He has no rest until all those for whom Christ came, chosen by the Father, may be gathered into one flock and placed before the Father, covered with the robe of righteousness which Christ has obtained for them. Then, the reign of Satan will have come to an end, and the earth will be full of the glory of God; every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

When shall that be? It shall be when Christ comes again upon the clouds. That will be a day of joy for Christ when it will be heard from the mouth of all of His children, “Through Thee, through Thee alone, because of Thine eternal good pleasure.”

There is yet another reason why the Holy Spirit longs for that day. The place where He works now is not the heaven of glory but this sin-cursed earth. Here upon this earth there is always so much opposition against His work. How often the work of the Spirit is quenched. How grievously we sin against His work, always denying and setting ourselves against that work.

Is it any wonder, then, that the Holy Spirit longs for the day when all will be ended, when there will be a new heaven and a new earth where the holiness and glory of God will be all in all? Add to this that His work is to prepare Himself a place in the heart of a corrupt sinner. Even after grace, how much sin and world conformity live in this heart. How often the heart reveals itself in its uncleanness. Truly, the flesh lusteth against the Spirit.

It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit longs for the second coming of Christ. Then, the temple will be cleansed; sin, world, and self will be locked away forever. There, a holy Triune God will forever rejoice in His children. There, the Holy Spirit will see the fruits of His labor when He may see the children of God satisfied with their Lord.

Yet, here on earth He is not the only One who longs for that day. Our text says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come.” By the bride we mean the Church of Christ. What a wonderful way in which the Word of God depicts the church here. What is a bride? It is one who is spoken for, one who is betrothed. The Bridegroom has asked her to become His forever, and she has answered, yes. She desires Him and to be with Him henceforth.

So it is also in a spiritual sense. Christ calls for His bride, but she would never of herself call for Him. He says, “I have betrothed thee, and I will take thee unto Myself.” What an eternal wonder that becomes when the bride may learn this. It is an incomprehensible wonder that there were thoughts of peace from heaven for such a one as she is and that there came a time when the Lord stopped her upon her way. She remembers crying out of the depths with the psalmist, “O Lord, that Thou would have mercy upon me.” When, at the first, the Lord from heaven opened a way, it was such a wonder. When the love of God shone in her heart, then she said, “Now I will never sin again. Now it will go from step to step, ever onward, ever upward,” but it became so different—not that she wanted it different; she wanted to make it to heaven on her own.

However, the blessed Spirit that had come to live in her heart never again left her alone but slowly began to uncover her to herself. More and more, she came to stand before a mountain of guilt. More and more, she came to experience how poor she was. Even more clearly she came to see that from her side there was nothing and there would never be anything by which she could merit God’s favor. Oh, there was a time when she stood there with empty hands, worthy of hell. She cried out, “Lord, is it now lost forever? It would be righteous if Thou wouldest cast me away,” but there is that Deliverer from heaven. For her He became poor; for her guilt He shed His blood. Never will she forget the moment when He revealed Himself, when she heard words that the blessed Deliverer spoke from heaven, “I have bought thee with the price of My blood.”


This short prayer, “Come”—can there be a purpose in ids not the hour of His coining set from all eternity? Would she be a bride if she did not long for that day? Would we not question the love of this bride if she did not desire the coming of that day?


Oh, then, she came to know Him as “my” Deliverer. She will recognize that voice from among thousands of other voices. Of Him she says, “That is the voice of my Beloved; unto Him is all my desire.” She says, “Come.” That is, of course, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. He worked the knowledge in her that outside of the blessed Mediator she is lost. He worked that longing in her so that as a bride longs for her wedding day this spiritual bride longs for the day when she may know Him and when she may say, “He is mine, and I am His.” She desires that His name may be glorified in completeness.

That is why she prays, “Thy name receive all of the honor and the glory.” She has an inward sorrow that there is still so much sin within and so little trust. She goes over the earth so loveless. How she longs to be delivered from that condition. She longs for the day when she may serve Him with her whole heart. This short prayer, “Come”—can there be a purpose in it? Is not the hour of His coming set from all eternity? Would she be a bride if she did not long for that day? Would we not question the love of this bride if she did not desire the coming of that day?

What a serious and solemn thought it is, therefore, that that prayer is heard so seldom in our days; the Church is so at home here below. Is there not a dark veil over the Church when there is so little need or desire for His coming? Oh, there is much using of the name of the Bridegroom, but where is the sinner’s need to know that He has set her/him free?

Dear reader, are you concerned with His coming? That will be the day when eternal joy will begin for God’s children. What will that day be for you? It is a worthy question, for it pertains to an everlasting eternity. Today the message still comes to you, “Prepare thy house, for thou shalt die.” May it bring you upon your knees with the prayer of the publican, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”


Reflections by John Bunyan

I find to this day seven abominations in my heart:

1. Inclining to unbelief;

2. Suddenly to forget the love and mercy that Christ manifesteth;

3. A leaning to the works of the law;

4. Wanderings and coldness in prayer;

5. Forgetting to watch for that for which I pray;

6. Apt to murmur because I have no more, yet ready to abuse what I have;

7. I can do none of those things which God commands me, but my corruptions will thrust in themselves. When I would do good, evil is present with me.

These things I continually see and feel and am afflicted and oppressed with, yet the wisdom of God doth order them for my good:

1. They make me abhor myself;

2. They keep me from trusting my heart;

3. They convince me of the insufficiency of all inherent righteousness;

4. They show me the necessity of flying to Jesus;

5. They press me to pray unto God;

6. They show me the need I have to watch and be sober;

7. They provoke me to pray unto God, through Christ, to help me and carry me through this world.

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