August 15, 2018

CHRIST’S DRAWING POWER: “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (Jn 12:32). It was prophesied by Isaiah concerning Christ: “There shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an Ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek” (Isa 11:10). What a picture! Christ lifted up at Calvary becomes the blood-red banner, the rallying point, of redeemed humanity. And what of this drawing power? First, from strangers to servants: We who were “aliens” and “strangers” “have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:13). Then, from servants to friends: “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends” (Jn 15:15). Then from friends to brothers: “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: ‘I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You’” (Heb 2:11-12)!