Come!

From Spurgeon Morning and Evening:

"Come to me."  Matthew 11:28

The call of the Christian faith is the gentle word, "Come." The Jewish law spoke harshly: "Go, pay attention to your steps as to the path in which you will walk. Break the commandments, and you will perish; keep them, and you will live." The law was a dispensation of terror that drove men before it as with a scourge; the Gospel draws with cords of love. Jesus is the Good Shepherd going before His sheep, bidding them follow Him, and leading them forward with the sweet word, "Come." The law repels; the Gospel attracts. The law shows the distance that exists between God and man; the Gospel bridges that awful chasm and brings the sinner across it.

That really is the heart of Chirstmas - Jesus came to bridge that chasm between sinners and God. 

Comments

[JustChatting]

I agree with Melinda here in that Jesus extends a hand and calls to us "Come". He fully bridges the chasm of sinfulness for us in a way that the law failed to do. Yet, I am confused by Spurgeon's remark. If God and Christ were responsible for the Mosaic Law can it actually be characterized as a terror and a scourge? Or was it a gap measure waiting for the arrival of Christ?

While the Israelites constantly failed to adhere to, or measure up to, the Law, God, through the Law gave them many opportunities to "make the grade" and innumerable chances to retake the test... Coupled with the sacrificial system there was at least a process by which sinfulness was addressed.

I guess I find the idea of the Law being a whip to be maybe a bit of an overreach... instead I think the failure of the Law had to do with the people and nothing to do with God. I don't find it suprizing though that recidivistic law breakers might find the law terrifying...perhaps this is as it should be.