John 1:39 He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.
Invitations from Jesus
Our text is the first invitation of Jesus to “come” to Him. On this occasion, right after His baptism by John the Baptist, He invited two potential disciples to come with Him to His dwelling place. It is very likely that Jesus stayed as a “street Person” because on one occasion He said, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” (Matt 8:20) One night abiding with Jesus made a deep impression upon these two and they became His disciples.
Later Jesus issued another invitation to them (Mk 1:17); first Jesus invited them to come to see Him and begin to get to know Him, then come along with Him as He goes out to win the lost. The promise to them in this invitation was that they would become fishers of men.
Another wonderful invitation is to those who are burdened and weighed down with cares (Matt 11:28). The benefits of this invitation are to those who actually come to Him – He will give them rest and as they join Him and allow Him to change them they will also find rest and they will experience that the burdens are light and the yoke is easy. An added promise to all who accept His invitation is that He will not reject them (Jn 6:37).
Jesus’ invitation to Zacchaeus was, “come down; for today I must abide at thy house” (Lu 19:5). This was a personal invitation to one who desired to see Jesus and he ended up with a personal visit from Jesus. In the book of Revelation we have the picture of Christ standing outside a closed door and knocking. This is an invitation to open our hearts to Him and permit him to come in to our life.
Another personal invitation came in the form of a command (Jn 11:43) where Jesus commanded /invited Lazarus to come forth from the grave and the dead. Since it was more a command than simply an invitation, Lazarus could not disregard it and the grave could not prevent it.
It is the same thought of Christ’s command/invitation for all the saved to come forth from the grave and mortal life to join him in the sky at the rapture of the church (Jn 5:28-29; 1 Cor 15:52; Rev 4:1).
There are other invitations from Christ, but the final one in the Bible is an invitation to come to Christ (Rev 22:17).
Invitations from God
God invited Noah to come into the ark that Noah had built at the command of God (Gen 7:1) for his safety as well as that of his family. God’s invitation for safety from judgment on sin would have been extended to many others, but they loved sin more than God.
God invited Israel and also us to reason with Him about our sin (Isa 1:18), so that we can acknowledge that we are sinners and accept His forgiveness and cleansing.
God calls to the backslider to come to Him, although He does not specifically use the word come, yet He means the same thing (Hos 14:1-4).
God calls all to salvation in His invitation to drink and buy without money (Isa 55:1-3). In the invitation God provides the need at His own cost, all pointing to the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Have you responded to His invitation?
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