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I Come with Joy ~ Hymn 515

By: Alan Harvey

Posted: July 11, 2020

Category: Daily Devotional

Devotional Thoughts Based on the Glory to God Hymnal

Matthew 8:11 

I tell you; many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

Have you ever played that game where you were invited to a dinner party and asked to imagine two guests seated at your left and at your right? Who would you want to be your dinner companions? In the scripture above we learn that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be at the dinner in the kingdom of heaven.

Imagine being able to ask Abraham what it was like becoming a father at 100 years old? Imagine being able to ask Isaac how afraid he was before he heard the sound of a ram caught in the thicket? Imagine being able to ask Jacob what he would always remember about having wrestles with God? The company at this dinner would be so impressive that most guests could not remember what was served. Was it roast lamb or fried fish? In the larger passage we learn that Jews and Gentiles will be present at the dinner in the kingdom of heaven.

The allusion to Matthew 8:11 can be seen in stanzas one and five of the hymn, “I Come with Joy”.

I come with joy, a child of God, forgiven, loved, and free, the life of Jesus to recall, in love laid down for me, in love laid down for me.

Together met, together bound, by all that God has done. We’ll go with joy, to give the world, the love that makes us one, the love that makes us one.

The commentator for Glory to God writes, “This text affirms that Christian unity is not achievement, but gift; one renewed each time we gather for the Lord’s Supper. Each of us enters as an ‘I’ and leaves as part of ‘we’.”

Prayer

Dear Lord, we can imagine people who will be guests at dinner in the kingdom of heaven. The best guest we will meet is You. Thank You for inviting us to Your heavenly banquet. Amen.