Grudem likewise:
In these passages we have the idea of coming to Christ and asking for acceptance, for living water to drink, and for rest and instruction. All of these give an intensely personal picture of what is involved in saving faith. The author of Hebrews also asks us to think of Jesus as now alive in Heaven, ready to receive us: “He is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). Jesus is pictured here (as many times in the New Testament) as one who is now alive in Heaven, always able to help those who come to him.[18]
See also John 6:37, 44, 65.
Receiving Christ
Another metaphor is that of receiving Christ expecting to find our salvation, rest, and all that we need in Him. In John 1:12, the Holy Spirit says that while His countrymen did not receive Jesus that “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”. Receiving and believing are explicitly connected in the text. But what this metaphor in this passage teaches us is that through faith we become brothers of Christ and in the same family of Christ. We become children of His Father! We come to Christ and we receive Christ’s identity as we are in Him. This is all dependent upon us receiving Christ. If we do not receive Christ we cannot claim these blessings or privileges. Notice also that in this passage, Christ is presented as a rejected person. We do not receive Christ because He is popular or loved by most people; we receive Him because we have confidence and trust that He is trustworthy when He says that He is the One to cleanse us from all sin and adopt us into His family. In Colossians 2:6, Paul says, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him”. We receive Christ as Lord, which indicates that we are prepared to submit unto His Lordship. But not only this, the beauty of this passage is in the fact that it says that we should walk in Him. To walk in Him means that believers “should live and act wholly under the influence of the conceptions which they had of the Saviour when they first embraced him.”[19] John Gill’s comments on this passage are also beneficial for our consideration:
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord,.... Receiving Christ is believing in him: faith is the eye of the soul, that sees the beauty, glory, fulness, and suitableness of Christ; the foot that goes to him, and the hand that takes hold on him, and the arm that receives and embraces him; so that this is not a receiving him into the head by notion, but into the heart by faith; and not in part only, but in whole: faith receives a whole Christ, his person as God and man; him in all his offices, as prophet, priest, and King; particularly as a Saviour and Redeemer, he being under that character so exceeding suitable to the case of a sensible sinner; and it receives all blessings of grace along with him, from him, and through him; as a justifying righteousness, remission of sins, adoption of children, grace for grace, and an inheritance among all them that are sanctified; and both Christ and them, as the free grace gifts of God; which men are altogether undeserving of, and cann...