Let Us Draw Near

The men and women who were alive while our Lord walked the shore of Galilee had the opportunity to fellowship with Him in the flesh. Many of them only saw Him afar; others came near to Him. A few even lived and traveled with Him. There were different levels of intimacy with the Man of Galilee.

First, we see the multitude, pressing and thronging around him, seeking to see signs and wonders and to be healed. Many of them were genuine followers, and these came to hear His words with the intention of becoming His disciples, while others came to hear and be healed. While some followed Him because of the bread and fish that He often miraculously provided for them to eat, some actually followed for the bread that perishes not but endures to eternity. The group that followed because of natural bread never really became intimate with Him, but it remains true that all of them were touched one way or the other by the Master and were never the same again.

The multitudes saw Him as the healer, the miracle worker, and the compassionate provider. Yes, He was all that. These saw him from far off. They were the crowd that heard of his fame and came to see and hear, but never really got closer. Others were standing along the pathway, located in the right place at the right time, and were touched by the radiant energy that emanated from His body as He walked by. These ones, too, were made every bit whole. 

Some others were forever grateful to Him for passing their way when their beloved sons were in the casket on the way to be buried and returning them to life by His resurrection power. To others still, He was the son of David, the king of Israel, whom the prophets spoke about.  Yes, He’s all that and much more. However, only a few drew close enough to Him to really know who He is.

The second level of intimacy with the Lord is seen with the seventy. In the tenth chapter of the gospel of Luke, we read of the Lord appointing seventy of His followers and sending them out two by two to preach. 

After these things, the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. 

Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.

And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 

Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:1-2, Luke 10:17-20)

He appointed these ones, equipped them with power over devils, and sent them forth to preach. As they went on their mission, they saw miraculous manifestations of His power. They even saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. However, these people were not very close to the Lord Jesus, either. They experienced the miraculous manifestations and marveled at the wonders done in His Name, but were not intimate with His ways. Like the children in the wilderness, “they saw His wonders, but Moses knew His ways.”

As we look closer, we see the twelve disciples. These ones, whom the Lord selected out of the seventy and ordained to be His closest companions, went with Him everywhere. The Scriptures tell us that He chose them that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach. These ones were nearer to Him than the seventy that He sent out earlier. While some others had excuses, these ones, when called by the Lord, left all and immediately followed Him. 

Nearer to Him still, we find the three: Peter, James, and John. These three disciples seemed to form the inner circle around the Lord Jesus. They were the most dedicated and were always at the forefront of attending to the Lord, always around Him and at His feet learning His words. They were among the first set of disciples that the Lord called. Peter, James, and John were busy with their profession as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee when the Lord found and called them, and they immediately left everything and followed Him. 

Matthew tells us that He found Peter and Andrew his brother first: And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. (Mat 4:18 -19)

After this, the Lord called James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were on a ship with their father, mending their nets. They also immediately left the ship and their father and followed Him. We can see that from the onset, these men were dedicated to the Lord and had forsaken all to follow Him. 

Dear child of God, where would you say you’re with respect to intimacy with Him? Are you following Him because of the great things He does for you? Miraculously answering your prayers and manifesting Himself in your life and ministry? Is this why you hang around Him? Or is it because you earnestly desire to be with Him, to know Him, and do His will? The desire of God for you is to draw closer to Him. He wants you to be in the inner circle and not even among the seventy but as close to Him as the three closest disciples who left all and followed Him. May your heart and mine be on fire for Him so much so that we would desire Him and “esteem the words of His mouth more than our necessary food”.

Yes, it was the Lord that chose them, but their hearts were already set to follow Him. The Lord sees the heart, knows who is ready to receive Him, knows the stage everyone is at, and will reveal Himself to each one at the level that person is ready to receive.

Part 2

Just as we recognize that not everyone we meet is ready to receive the message of salvation, and not everyone who has been converted is sufficiently prepared to receive the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, so also, even among the twelve disciples, only a smaller core group could be given these most intimate teachings of the Lord. Therefore, we see that the Lord would often pull aside Peter, James, and John and reveal more intimate things to them. We see Him take these three with Him to the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt 17,1; Mk 9,2; Lk 9,28), take them with Him to Jairus’s house when He raised his daughter from the dead (Mk 5,37; Lk 8,51), and take them with Him into the Garden of Gethsemane (Mt 26,37; Mk 14,33). We hear of a couple of other outstanding disciples, namely Andrew and Philip, but these three—Peter, James, and John—were the ones to whom the Lord revealed more intimate things. Eventually, only John the Beloved was given the most intimate revelation of Jesus Christ, as recorded in the book of Revelation. 

John was probably the closest disciple to the Lord while He was here, and, in my opinion, was probably the closest to Him even after He ascended to the right hand of the Father; for it was to him that the Son of Man gave the book of Revelation, the conclusion of the Holy Scripture, wherein is encapsulated the consummation of all things. He was also the last of the apostles, the survivor, who, though persecuted like the other apostles, “overcame” martyrdom. After the authority that was persecuting the Church attempted to kill him several times and failed, he was deported and banished to the island of Patmos. This was where the Lord met Him and said “Come up hither,” and gave to him the Revelation of Jesus Christ to deliver to the Church.  

As we draw nearer to God, our vision of Him gets clearer and clearer. This also makes our understanding of ourselves clearer, and we are better able to put all the things around us into perspective. Our vision gets better, our values and perspectives on life begin to align with His, and we become transformed into the likeness of Christ.

As we continue walking in God’s way, we begin to see things as He sees them. We begin to reason in line with His words, we begin to talk and act like Christ, and we begin to carry out our everyday transactions as Christ would. As we endeavor to seek His way and to walk in it, we draw closer and closer to Him, and He is therefore able to reveal Himself to us. This, in essence, is what it means to draw nearer unto Him.

And as we draw nearer, He draws nearer unto us. It is true that He dwells in every born-again believer, for our bodies are temples of God, but the fact still remains that He can be that close to us and yet we can be as far from Him as possible. Not everyone who’s born again is dedicated to His ways or eager about walking circumspectly in the Spirit. Many professed Christians, like His children who were brought out of Egypt into the wilderness, enjoy and desire His wonderful acts, but will have nothing to do with His ways.