Do you realize that Jesus appeared to over 500 brethren after His resurrection (1 Cor 15:6), of course telling them all to "wait for the promise of the Father... for ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 1:4-5). However, isn't it sad that there were only 120 found present in the upper room on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:15)? How absurd! If the resurrected Lord of Glory visibly reappeared to you and told you to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, wouldn't you have made sure to be there? Of course! What divine truth does this sad instance tell us? It simply shows us that we can have as much of the Lord Jesus as we desire!
David had this great desire. He counted his earthly life as nothing compared to the hope of being just a bit closer to the King: "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple" (Ps 27:4). It's hard to intellectually fathom such an intense love and passion for God; it's difficult to put it into mere human words... But you know when it's yours.. You simply want nothing else but Jesus!
Similarly, Paul's desire was to "win Christ" (Phil 3:8), and to "attain" (Phil 3:11), and to "know Him" (Phil 3:10)! But I thought Paul already had Christ, already attained to something precious, and already knew God? Of course he did. But Paul, and others, weren't satisfied with simply being numbered among the 500.. they wanted to be obedient, even unto death! Paul wanted a special kind of knowledge, even as a bride knows her own husband; even as Adam "knew" Eve: "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death". In fact this word for "know" in the Greek means, "to know absolutely" (Phil 3:10). Wow!
We too can either be a part of the 500, or we can be a part of the 120! We can casually know God and casually obey, or we can radically know God and radically obey! Which would you rather be? The latter will always be blessed with His presence, and with the fiery hope of an uncompromising life!
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