Thursday, May 13, 2010

It's Time to Buy Gold!

"I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments that you may clothe yourself" (Revelation 3:18a)

We have all by now seen those television commercials which urge us to "buy gold" as a deterrent against the shrinking dollar, beloved. Company after company seems to be stepping up and inviting us to invest in gold as that commodity you can trust. After all, it has been said of gold that "it has never been worth nothing"!

Jesus Himself, as Head of His body the church, spoke to the Laodicean church members through the pen of the Apostle John on Patmos and urged that lukewarm and self-centered congregation to "buy gold" from Him so that they could become wealthy in what really matters - in a genuine relationship with Him by grace through His shed blood. It should be obvious to even the most casual reader that it is the gift of salvation by grace that is the "gold" about which Jesus speaks.

Jesus' words to the Laodiceans are strangely reminiscent of something that Jehovah spoke to His people Israel through their prophet Isaiah.

"Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost" (Isaiah 55:1)

Instead of gold, however, the Lord offers to them "wine and milk" - the basic necessities of the people of Judah in that day. "Milk" for the infants and the joy of "wine" for the adults beautifully parallel the "gold" which Jesus offered in such abundance to the Laodiceans. But what means the invitation to "buy without money and without cost"? Is not God's salvation still a gift of His grace given freely to all who will receive it in true repentance? Indeed! I believe that the call to "buy" emphasizes here, beloved, a valuing on the part of the receiver, something that becomes so important that he or she must have it whatever it takes. Nothing must stand in the way of procuring this greatest of all treasures.

The pages of God's Word seem to echo with this same call to "buy" what is real, to gain for ourselves what is most important in life.

"Buy truth, and do not sell it, get wisdom and instruction and understanding" (Proverbs 23:23)

My son and I were briefly discussing this same verse from the Proverbs just this week as he was preparing a video message to be broadcast to the students on the satellite campuses of their church. The "truth" here is clearly and only God's truth - specifically and primarily the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. People of Solomon's day desperately needed divine truth by which to live, as did the people of Judah during Isaiah's ministry to them as their prophet. And in end times, those times in which we are living right now, that smug and self-deceived visible church will have as its only hope the "gold" found in Jesus Christ. So it has been and so it will be, beloved. We must have the "wine and milk" of the gospel, the "gold" of Calvary, the "truth" of God's redemption in love and of His plan for this world and for our lives. And once we do have it, really have it, we would not trade it for anything for we come to understand that when a man has Christ, he truly does have it all!

Ron