Jesus promises that “everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.” As I continue my dabbling in nineteenth century devotional writers, I came across a neat passage from Charles Ebert Orr in which he imagines how Jesus may do that very thing. I share it in the hope you’ll find it encouraging.
Jesus will gather his holy angels before him and address them thus: “Do you behold Brother—? He is a pilgrim and stranger down there in the earth. He is my child. I have washed him in my blood and clothed him with the beautiful garments of salvation. His heart is pure and full of love. He is dead to sin and the world. He loves my will, and his daily meat and drink is to do it. He loves my Word and has hid it in his heart. He keeps all my commandments. He seeks my glory. He often communes with me. He is fervent in spirit and zealous in good works. His good deeds and prayers I bottle up here in heaven, See that beautiful mansion yonder with its gates of gold and walls of jasper, its floors of transparent glass, its corridors of chalcedony, and colonades of topaz and beryl. That mansion is to be his home when his pilgrimage in that under-world is done. By his holy walk and devoted life he is now confessing me before men, and I take great delight in telling you that he is my child and in confessing him before you and my Father on his throne. Just as I have said in my Word, he that will confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father and the holy angels.”
