Then one day, years later, King David, who had a heart after God, asked if there were no descendents of Saul left anywhere. Probably the informers thought that David was wanting to stamp them out if there were any left. Someone told him about Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth. And David sent for him to come. When the king’s men knocked on Mephibosheth’s door, surely he thought that his day had finally come. He had been in hiding all these years, but finally he had been discovered and would be condemned and killed for his grandfather’s crimes. Instead, David shows him love and takes this crippled fugitive bringing him and his family to the palace, giving them a place to feast at the king’s table with all the richness of his blessings for the rest of their lives!
Then Missionary Nathan compared this act of David to the kindness of Jesus. We were fugitives, trying to hide from God, guilty of treason, deserving of death, when Jesus found us. God knocked on the door of our heart and called us out of our hiding place. It was judgment and death that we deserved, but Jesus intervened for us and paid the price for our sins with His blood. Now He invites us to His table. He does not just say, “Come and find a seat somewhere.” He has a special place for each one of us. Our name is on it! My name is on it! And this is not a “one meal” visit… this is to become our permanent dwelling place, close to the King of kings!
Then Pastor Nathan compared all this to the communion table and invited us to draw near to God without fear. If we have trusted in the work of Christ upon the cross, our sins which demanded eternal damnation were paid in full by the death of the perfect Son of God. Surely Mephibosheth was taken into the presence of King David fearing for his life and were it not for the washing of our hearts by the blood of Our Savior, we should certainly fear in God’s presence. But Jesus has opened the way to the Father. So…“Let us come boldly into His divine presence.”
After the communion service there followed a time of spontaneous worship. The team of worship leaders sang on the platform as the people continued standing to worship. Several times Pastor Nathan took the microphone and it appeared that he began to close the service and dismiss the people, but then suddenly the glory of the Lord seemed to overwhelm us all canceling all possibility of dismissal. Nobody was leaving! God was there! And He was doing a work in our souls. Nobody was going around laying on hands. Nobody was falling down, although I fell to my knees in worship. Nothing weird was happening, except powerful spontaneous worship. It was an extended time of heavenly glory as crystal clear waves of God’s presence seemed to rise high and then break over upon us. I don’t know how long it lasted. Time loses all importance in the presence of the King of kings. I cannot speak for others, but I was bathing in the richness of God’s glory… and today, Monday, I can still feel it bubbling up from somewhere deep in my soul!
Ralph
