Jeremiah 31:3

The thunders of the law and the terrors of judgment are all used to bring us to Christ; but the final victory is brought about by lovingkindness. The prodigal set out for his father’s house from a sense of need; but his father saw him a long way off and ran to meet him; so the last steps he took towards his father’s house were with the kiss still warm on his cheek and the welcome still musical in his ears.

“Law and terrors only harden
All the while they work alone;
But a sense of blood-bought pardon
Will dissolve a heart of stone.”

The Master came one night to the door and knocked with the iron hand of the law; the door shook and trembled on its hinges; but the man piled every piece of furniture he could find against it, for he said, “I will not admit the man.” The Master turned away, but after a while he came back, and with his own soft hand, using especially that part where the nail had penetrated, he knocked again—oh, so softly and tenderly.

This time the door did not shake, but, strange to say, it opened, and there on his knees the once unwilling host was found rejoicing to receive his guest. “Come in, come in; you have so knocked that my heart is deeply moved for you. I could not think of your pierced hand leaving its blood-mark on my door, and of your going away homeless, ‘Thy head filled with dew, and thy locks with the drops of the night.’ I yield, I yield, your love has won my heart.” So in every case, lovingkindness wins the day.

What Moses with the tablets of stone could never do, Christ does with his pierced hand. Such is the doctrine of effectual calling. Do I understand it experientially? Can I say, “He drew me, and I followed on, glad to confess the voice divine?” If so, may he continue to draw me, until at last I shall sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb.