Places To Meet Christ

“PLACES TO MEET CHRIST”

(Philippians 3:7-11)

“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

     It is only in extraordinary seasons that Christ . . . manifests himself to His people. When Abraham interceded for Sodom, Jesus was with him, for one of the highest and noblest         employments of a Christian is that of intercession, and it is when he is so engaged that he will be likely to obtain a sight of Christ. Jacob was engaged in wrestling, and that is a part of a Christian’s duty to which some of you never did attain; consequently, you do not have many visits from Jesus. It was when Joshua was exercising bravery that the Lord met him. So with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: they were in the high places of persecution, on account of their adherence to duty, when he came to them and said, “I will be with you, passing through the fire.” There are certain peculiar places we must enter, to meet with the Lord.

     We must be in great trouble, like Jacob; we must be in great labor, like Joshua; we must have great intercessory faith, like Abraham; we must be firm in the performance of duty, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego or else we shall not know him “whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting;” or, if we know him, we shall not be able to “comprehend with all the saints what is the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.”    

[Spurgeon, MTP, Vol. 2, 60]