Divine Love
Table of Contents
Divine Love: Part 1
God not only loves, but He is love—"God is love" His nature is love. He is also light. Nothing can be hid from Him. Everything is made manifest, and detected, in His presence. " God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." He is thus revealed to us as "light" and "love."
These are truths divinely given for our faith. He is not only love, but He is also light. But while His nature is thus revealed, all His actings are according to the perfection of His nature. God is as far beyond our grasp, as infinite is higher than finite. He is " glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders." We are taught that He is " righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works," and that " the righteous Jehovah loveth righteousness." (Psalm 11:7.)
Few scriptures have been more used by the enemies of the truth to falsify the attributes of the living and true God, and to deceive souls, than these three precious words " God is love." The semi-infidel's boast is that "God so loves his creature man, that he will save everyone, and condemn no one;" a pleasant kind of dream to encourage men in the indulgence of their lusts, and to launch out in the pleasures of sin; a doctrine which undermines the truth of God's righteousness, and grants a license for rebellion against Him.
Doubtless, man has always been the object of God's special blessing and care. From the first, Wisdom's delights were with the sons of men. In Eden's brief period of innocence, every created thing seems to have been conducive to man's happiness. That mighty luminary, the sun, brightly shed his cheering rays on all the scene by day, while the silvery moon was ready to chase away the darkness of the night. Everything around was peace and blessing; the starry heavens above, the beauteous stainless earth yielding its varied and abundant fruits, with crystal rivers flowing at his feet, while all living creatures were in subjection to him, and whatever name he gave them that was the name thereof. Thus man was loved, and blessed. Everything in Eden spoke not only of the wisdom and power of God, but also of His love and beneficence toward His creature man. But man fell by disobedience: by his sin, the whole scene became stamped with death. From that time, a terrible blight has rested on it all. If God had not noticed man's sin, where would have been His righteousness? And, if He had justly banished man from His presence forever for his sin, where would have been His love? But He is, as the prophet declares, " A just God, and a Savior." Sin then must be judged, and the sinner must be cleansed, in order to be happy in God's presence, for "grace reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord."
Again, with reference to this scripture " God is love," the proud voice of infidelity is lifted high. With his puny powers, he levels his enmity against the whole truth of the word of inspiration, by flatly asserting that " if there be a God, He is not love." For, says he, " Is not the world abounding with misery, poverty, sickness, tears, anguish, heart-rendings and death? And if there be a God, and He be love, would He not alter the whole course of these things, and make people happy in the world, instead of being miserable?" But stop, Ο vain man, whose breath is in thy nostrils! You seem not to know that all these sorrows were not when God finished the work of creation, but were brought in by man through sinning against his Maker. " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Rom. 5:12.) Besides, you appear to forget that much misery has been added by past and present generations, through waste, and abuse of health and strength, so that sorrow, disease, and premature old age and decay are the result. Moreover, when man sinned and God drove out the man, it was not His wise purpose to mend what man had spoiled, but to bring in, by divine power and love, a higher and a better order of blessing. It was not God's mind merely to bless man temporally, as you vainly imagine God ought to have done; but He has chosen rather to bring in redemption, to bless man spiritually, and eternally, on new creation ground, and in everlasting relationship with Himself. This will be a never ending testimony to the fact that " God is love."
But further. These blessings, and these new relationships are known now, and enjoyed by God's children; so that the soul that is born of God, that knows forgiveness of sins, and has received the Holy Ghost, has more enjoyment of God, and more happiness on earth, than even Adam in innocence knew, or the most prosperous citizen of the world ever contemplated as possible. Nor is it to be forgotten, that, though men blaspheme God, refuse the Gospel, will not bow to Jesus His Son the only Savior, and reject the Holy Ghost's ministry on earth, yet, because " God is love," He bestows in a vast variety of ways ten thousand things to ameliorate their present misery. He makes us prove His faithfulness in the unfailing seed time and harvest, day and night, summer and winter, and His kindness in making His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sending rain on the just and the unjust.
There are others who think themselves quite competent to judge God and to dictate to Him, instead of allowing His word to judge them. They consider because they have lost their property, lost their health, lost their friends, that it cannot be true that " God is love." But such are ignorant of there being two distinct lines on which God is pleased to act—grace, and government—which are found running all through the scriptures. God's grace is manifested in redemption, and brings the soul, on believing on Jesus the Lord, into peace, and conscious relationship with God. In divine sovereignty, He is now pleased so to permit the power of evil, and so to scatter His blessings, that one person has health and strength, another sickness and weakness, one is rich and another is pinched with poverty, one may have five talents and another two; but each is accountable only for what he has received. Besides, in God's governmental dealings, He is pleased to act in righteous ways, so that "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, and he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting" (Gal. 6:8.) With many even of the Lord's most devoted servants it seems best that they should have reverses, and sometimes sorrow upon sorrow, wave after wave, in order to teach them experimentally very precious lessons which could not otherwise be learned, and for which afterward they have to praise God.
Besides, whoever had such a path of suffering and reverses as the Son of God Himself? which, at one time, led His loved and loving forerunner to begin to doubt Him; the cities in which He had preached repented not, the people entirely misunderstood Him; but in this time of sorrow and rejection, He lifted His eyes to heaven and found rest in the Father's sovereignty and love. " At that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, Ο Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." (Matt. 11:25, 26.) Happy are those who, in time of inexplicable reverse and trial, are able thus to repose on divine sovereignty, in fullest confidence that " God is love!"
One of the commonest abuses of the precious revelation that "God is love" is, that because " God is love," therefore the punishment of the wicked cannot be eternal. This form of infidelity has made considerable progress of late years, and is paving the way for throwing off the authority of divine revelation entirely, and for bringing in the time when men will be given up to what is false. But now they are willingly ignorant that God is " just" in His ways, as well as "love" as to His nature; so that, His love being rejected, He cannot forego His just judgment of sin. If God., in judging sin on the cross, spared not His own Son, but forsook Him until a just atonement had been made, how can He but forsake the sinner forever, because he never can atone for his sins? But about "eternal punishment" those have no doubt who believe the scriptures, for God has spoken, and we know that "the scripture cannot be broken." Let us quietly meditate on a few portions of divine truth on this most solemn subject, and may the Holy Spirit graciously teach us.
First, let us not fail to see that it is plainly stated of the wicked, " These shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." (Matt. 25:46.) " I know it," says the skeptic, " but everlasting does not mean everlasting." Well, let us see. Do the words of scripture, "everlasting life," "eternal Spirit," "eternal glory," "the King eternal.... the only wise God," mean eternal, or only for a certain time? If so, then you assert that God is not eternal. And if He is eternal, and glory eternal, then why question the awful realities of "everlasting punishment," " eternal fire," and " eternal damnation?" For are not "everlasting" and "eternal" the same words in the original scripture? Besides, with this all scripture agrees, so that while we are instructed on the one hand, that " he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life," we are also told that " he that believeth not the Son, [or is not subject to the Son], shall not see life' [observe, shall not see life] but the wrath of God abideth on him." (John 3:36.) Think of those two positive declarations of scripture, "shall not see life" and "the wrath of God abideth on him." Can we conceive a soul to be so hardened, and so dark, as to rush headlong into eternity in the face of such plain statements, vainly imagining that there is no eternal punishment? (See Matt. 25:46; John 3:36 John 1:2; Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 5:10; Rom. 16:26; Jude 7; Mark 3:29 Tim. 1:17.) It is perfectly clear that nothing could righteously satisfy the judgment of God for sin but that which is eternal in its character; and it is nowhere said in scripture that after so much suffering or pain there would be remission of sins, for atonement could only be by the laying down of the life of the Son of God, under the righteous judgment of God for sin. It is therefore said, " Without the shedding of blood is no remission." Blessed be God, that, in infinite love to us, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, has been shed, and that it cleanseth all who believe in His name from all sin. (Acts 10:43.) But for those who reject His precious blood as their alone ground of peace with God, how is it possible they can escape the abiding wrath of God? Can there be another shedding of blood for them when in the lake of fire? Impossible; for scripture says, " There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and of fiery indignation." (Heb. 10:26-27.)
Nor is the eternal and infinite character of the Person of the Son, who offered Himself as our sacrifice for sins of little moment in this matter;
for if we had only needed salvation from what was not eternal, we should not have needed such a Person to die for us. But we are assured that no one less than He who was God and Man in one Person could have been either a fit substitute for us, or able to meet righteously God's infinite condemnation of sin, so as to fully satisfy God, and perfectly save us. It is the infinite glory of the Person, and also the eternal efficacy of His finished work, as well as the divine authority of scripture, which are really set aside by those who deny eternal punishment. (See Rom. 8:3; Heb. 9:14; 10:12, 14.)
" The cross, its burden, Ο how great
No strength but His could bear its weight,
No love but His would undertake
To bear it for the sinners sake."
As to man, one thing is certain that death is not ceasing to exist, for we are told that " after death is judgment." (Heb. 9:27.) Nor is being in the lake of fire ceasing to exist, for not only will those be known to be there a thousand years after being put there, but those who have their part in it, are spoken of in the eternal state as contemporaneous with those who are saved and inherit all things. (See Rev. 20:10; 21:1-8.) These are solemn scriptures for creatures to consider, especially when God Himself tells us that an " eternal" state characterizes that which we see not—" the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Cor. 4:18.)
The fact is that infidelity is for the most part negative. It suits man's vanity to think himself competent to judge divine things, and it gives him importance among his fellow men when he can arrive at conclusions by reasoning powers. But rationalism is not faith, any more than ritualism. The refined skepticism of today gives you nothing, but takes its pleasure in questioning, opposing and endeavoring to undermine what God has revealed. In life and health it is pleasant enough to vain men to be honored and flattered by admiring mortals; but in death, how is it then? You will find that most free-thinkers are troubled and distressed then. When eternity is found to be stretched out immediately before them, and all their vital energies are rapidly sinking, ah! then they bitterly find out the unsoundness of their views, and sometimes to their amazement and confusion discover that they have no support, no comfort, no peace, no rest. Some have exclaimed, " it is like taking a leap in the dark" others have sorrowfully said, "I have sold my soul for a straw;" while others in bitter hopelessness have declared with their dying breath, " lost, lost!" A rich lady in the grasp of death cried, "Run for the minister" and when he came she said, " Td give all Tm worth to live until I'm prepared to die;" but it was too late—ere the preparation was made, the soul had gone. How many have had a similar death-bed; how many more with almost the last gasp have uttered the despondent cry, " Too late, too late!"
Divine Love: Part 2
" In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:9, 10.)
In the person of Jesus the Son of God, life has been manifested—" that eternal life which was with the Father, was manifested unto us." (1 John 1:2.) The Son, by whom God made the worlds, has been seen, and heard, and handled, in a scene of death on every hand. Wondrous fact, that the Son of God should be found here in fashion as a man, taking a servant's form, in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet without sin, holy, harmless, and undefiled, separate from sinners. Thus God has been revealed, He has come near, and has been made known. " God was manifested in the flesh." God came down to earth in the person of the Son, and, in word and deed, declared the Father. " No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." (John 1:18.) Thus life has been manifested in the person of Him who could truly say, I am "the life."
But more wonderful still, love has been manifested—love to us, divine love, for " God is love;" but love was manifested in the death of the cross. " In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." What love! Well has it been said -" Love that no tongue can teach, Love that no thought can reach, No love like His."
Love then has been manifested in the death of the Son of God for us upon the cross—infinite, eternal, perfect love. Though the world by wisdom knows not God, yet He has been revealed, and is now known, confided in, and loved. If He had come near in manifesting life in the person of the Son, He came nearer still in manifesting love in His death for our sins. In this way surely He loved us.
No one really knows God by the active reasonings of his own mind. Neither can he know God by what he may see in creation, in the way marked out by those who bid us " look from nature up to nature's God.'' He learns no doubt in this way that there is a God, but he does not know Him, and therefore cannot confide in Him. Nor can he know God by seeking to read His doings in the checkered histories of men's varied circumstances, or by considering His providential dealings. Kind and beneficent as He was in creation, and wondrously kind still in daily benefits to the unthankful and the unholy, yet it is in the sufferings and death of Jesus on the cross that divine love is seen, and God really known.
Two things were absolutely necessary in order that man should be happy in God's presence; he must be cleansed from all sin, and he must have life, eternal life—a nature capable of knowing and enjoying the things of God. These wondrous blessings could only come to us by the cross; and both have been provided for us in Christ, and through His death. God sent His only-begotten Son that we might live through Him, and He gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.
It is evident that no one with sin upon him could be in the presence of a holy sin-hating God. Jesus said, If ye " die in your sins, whither I go, ye cannot come." But Jesus was found here in fashion as a man, that He might die for our sins. " He was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for every man." Love sent Him, gave Him, and delivered Him up for our offenses. Thus divine love was manifested in all its freeness, suitability, and blessedness; thus God in Christ crucified has met us when in our sins, and thus He perfects the conscience, and fits us in righteousness for His own presence forever. Every question of our sin and guilt have thus been fully met in righteousness—sins judged, God not only satisfied but glorified, and all who believe justified from all things. This is love indeed—love that melts the hardest heart, attracts the sinner to the Savior, draws him away from every unholy influence, justifies the ungodly, and establishes the heart in peace before God. And more, for God is the Justifier, and He declares of such, " Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." All is of God. He is the source of all our blessings. He is indeed the God of all grace, the God of peace. It is grace through righteousness. Love fully brought out, and righteousness fully established. It is His love, not ours—" Not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." How the contemplation of it moves our hearts! What joy and peace it imparts! How conscious we are of its separating power, and how it constrains us to love and serve Him, for there seems no limit to the claims of divine love! " Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all."
God, then, who is righteous and holy, has that before Him in the blood of His Son, which enables Him to send out a world-wide message of salvation for sinners: to present in the gospel the finished work of Jesus on the cross, as an available sacrifice for everyone that believeth, to make Himself known in all the perfectness and freeness of divine grace; so that a ground of unhesitating confidence is now laid between God and every one that believeth in Jesus. Thus God has acted in divine love, and done all we needed to make us happy forever in His presence. Peace has been made, redemption accomplished, and a new and living way opened into the holiest of all through the rent veil; and we have remission of sins, are justified from all things, are brought into the new relationship of sons, all known and enjoyed now on the principle of faith; the Holy Ghost too is given to shed abroad the love of God in our hearts, and to make us know the things that are freely given to us of God. We read, therefore, " We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (Ver. 16.)
And life also is given, eternal life, for how could we be suited to eternal glory, or enter into the things of Him who is eternal, without it? As we have seen, this also flows to us from divine love -" God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." It is freely given to us of God. " The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through [or in] Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 6:23.) And again, " This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.' This is what men will not believe. They not only refuse the gift, but they will not believe that God is so good as to bestow such a present blessing as eternal life. God says He has given, and is still the Giver of, eternal life. Man does not believe, and therefore makes God a liar. Though he does not say so in words, yet his heart refuses His testimony. We are told, " He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.' (1 John 5:10-12.) Nothing can possibly be more plainly stated, yet men will not believe. Though it is evident that no one could dwell in eternal glory unless he had eternal life; yet when God declares that He is the Giver of eternal life, and that this life is in His Son, men make God a liar, for they will not believe it. How solemn are the words of scripture, " he that believeth not God hath made him a liar." Oh, say some, " I am sure I have not made God a liar, for I believe the whole Bible." But the searching and often silencing question for such is, " Have you then received this gift of God—eternal life?" The answer of many to this question is, " No, nor do I expect to till death, or after death."
Nothing can more conclusively prove that such persons have made God a liar; for God says that He gives eternal life and gives it now, that " He that hath the Son hath life/' hath it now, and yet they say it is not so. Oh, this frightful, yet common sin of making God a liar! Many we fear are going respectably and religiously on the broad road to destruction, professing to serve God, yet thus making Him a liar, because they believe not the record that God gave of His Son. It is considered very bad in all civilized society to make a man of honor, and of good report, a liar; but to make God a liar is bad indeed. And yet, we repeat, nothing can be more clearly proved, because God says He gives eternal life, and that He that hath the Son hath life, and yet, alas! many say it is not true, that no person has eternal life now, and that no one can have it till he comes to die. Such is human reason, such is man's opinion in direct opposition to God's revealed will in His word, so that scripture speaks of such as making God " a liar." Such is the solemn light in which God views the rejection of the present blessings of divine love. They say on inquiring of them, " Of course, we believe the gospel," and yet if asked, "Have you received eternal life, the gift of God?" they at once deny that there is such a present blessing. Nevertheless, the word of the Lord endureth forever.
Divine Love: Part 3
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon, us that we should be called the sons of God." (.1 John 3:1.)
Man's opinions and opposition to the grace of God do not alter the truth of scripture. What He hath said will stand forever! For " God is not a man that he should lie, neither the Son of man that he should repent; hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" What a marvelous blessing to have a revelation from God in the written word, on which to rest one's soul as to eternity: and to know that God not only teaches doctrine, but is the Giver of eternal life to everyone that believeth on His Son! Oh, the blessedness of the divine authority of the wondrous gospel which endureth forever! How assuring are the imperishable words of Him who said, " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away!"
The fact that those who have the Son of God as their Savior, have now the gift of eternal life is plainly enough taught in holy scripture. Not only did the Savior speak of those who have "passed from death unto life," and that he that believeth on Him "hath everlasting life." but He declared its absolute necessity, when He said, " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again [or anew], he cannot see the kingdom of God/é In this Epistle we also read, " We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." The absence of brotherly love is also stated as a proof that such have not eternal life, for it is added, " He that loveth not his brother abideth in death;" whatever his profession may have been, he is still dead in trespasses and in sins. How simple, and yet how very solemn! We see then that scripture speaks of some on earth who know that they have life -eternal life. Observe, it does not say who feel it, but who know it as a divine certainty. And John tells us that one object he had in writing this Epistle was that we should know it, be fully assured of it, without any question or misgiving. He says, " These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life." (1 John 5:13.) It is evident, then, that the denial of the present gift of eternal life is the virtual denial of Christianity. Thank God, He knew our deep need, our helplessness as well as our sinfulness, and He has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Thus being in Christ, alive in Him, we are a new creation; and having life, Christ in us, can think, and feel, and act, in our finite measure, according to God, as strengthened by His Spirit and truth. We love what He loves, and hate what He hates. In this way, the reality of having eternal life is demonstrated in the intelligence, affections, objects and ways of a child of God. Moreover, our Lord said, that God gave His Son that we might have everlasting life. It is also written, that " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son [or is not subject to the Son] shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." (John 3:36.)
Divine love then is the source of all our blessings. God loved us when we were yet sinners. Every believer loves Him, but His love is first. "We love him because he first loved us." The spring and power of our love to Him is that He loved us first. Thus divine love subdued our wills, melted our cold hearts, attracted and won us for Christ. We saw in Him an object of eternal worth, unfading beauty, imperishable blessedness, and unchanging attractiveness. The cords of love drew us, His eternal excellencies made everything else seem poor. His gracious words bound up our sin-stricken souls, His precious blood brought us title to glory, His triumphant resurrection gave us confidence; a glimpse by faith of the glorified Son of man banished every doubt, while His presentation of Himself as " the bright and morning star/' moved the hearty response within us of a Come." Oh, the exceeding riches of divine grace in His kindness to us-ward 1 Surely the child of God can say -" He saw me ruined in the fall, And loved me notwithstanding all; He saved me from my lost estate, His loving-kindness, Ο how great!"
We are taught in scripture that "love is of God." He is its source. He loves, for " God is love." It is His nature. He is "light" detecting everything, and convicting; and He is " love," and has manifested it in having redeemed and brought us to Himself. We were not only in the dark, but we were " darkness," yet have been brought into the light, and are now " light in the Lord.' We are not merely to walk up to our light, as some say, but to " walk in the light, as he is in the light." We are to let the light—Christ in us—shine, and thus show forth the characteristics of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Thus divine love has reached us, and blessed us. Life eternal has been given to us in the Son, and our guilt has been removed by the sin-cleansing power of His precious blood.
The "manner of love" bestowed upon us, has been to bring us into the highest order of relationship with God as His creatures- children; children by birth, for we are born of God. Nothing can be higher than Sonship. He might have been pleased to save us from coming wrath, and to have brought us into heaven in the lowest possible rank of intelligent beings there, but that would not have suited the deep eternal love of the Fathers heart, nor would it have put that honor upon the accomplished work of Christ which it merited. Christ has therefore not only suffered for sins that He might bring us to God. but He has brought us into the same relationship to God as Himself. His first service, after He rose from the dead, was to acquaint His loved ones of this new and dear relationship. He said to Mary, " Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." (John 20:17.) And so it is written in this epistle, "Beloved, now are we the sons [or children] of God." Well might the apostle have also so touchingly called our attention to it by saying, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons [or children] of God." Marvelous relationship! How it attracts us to God, and gives us access with confidence into His holy presence! We learn too, from other scriptures, that the purpose of God is that we shall be "conformed to the image of his Son," that even our bodies of humiliation shall be changed and fashioned like unto His glorious body. With this also the Father's eternal purpose sweetly harmonizes, in having "chosen us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself^ according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." (Eph. 1:4-7.) Thus divine love has called us into the endearing relationship of children, into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Divine Love: Part 4
Divine love is perfect. Not our love to Him, but His love to us. "Not that we loved God, but that he loved us." Yet we do love, because we are born of God; for " every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love." (1 John 4:7, 8.) But, as we have before observed, His love is first, not ours; for " we love him because he first loved us." Divine love embraced us in our worst and lowest state, when in our sins, rebellious, and far from Him. " For God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Horn. v. 8.) Let us never forget that His love then was first, and the alone source of love in us, for " love is of God."
Thus divine love has come out in all its perfectness, in having most blessedly met us, in the deepest depths of our sinfulness, in the Person and work of His only-begotten Son. He not only came where we were, and loved us as we were, but did, in His atoning work on the cross, all that God's righteousness demanded, and all that such sinners of the Gentiles needed, to make us forever happy in the presence of God. In unspeakable grace, He fully met the just judgment due to us as sinners, perfectly satisfied all the righteous requirements of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, purged our sins, glorified the Father, triumphed over our foes—death, Satan, and the grave—and now gives us the victory. Thus are we set free forever by divine, perfect love.
The love of God is perfect too in having given us Christ's place in the heavenlies. Not only are we called unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, but He has given us now the highest possible standing, even in Him who is in the very glory of God. We are a new creation in Christ; accepted in Him, blessed in Him, in heavenly places; even in Him, in whom dwells " the fullness of the Godhead bodily/' and who is " the Head of all principality and power."
Thus divine love has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And in Him we are " complete"—filled to the full in Him. This God has done. It is our present standing as not in the flesh, but in Christ Jesus. Wondrous blessedness! We are in Christ, and Christ is in us, our hope of glory. While consciously standing in the full and changeless favor of God, we wait for His Son from heaven; we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. His perfect love encircles us in Christ. We are always seen by Him in all the acceptability and nearness of Christ Himself—the ascended, glorified man Christ Jesus. Thus we are loved divinely, perfectly, unchangeably. Divine love has given us the same place as Christ.
" So near, so very near to God,
I cannot nearer be;
For in the person of the Son,
I am as near as He."
Is Christ alive for evermore? Then have we eternal life in Him, for He is our life. Is He near to God? then are we as near to God as He, for we are in Him. " But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ." (Eph. 2:13.) Is He righteous? then is He our righteousness, for we are " made the righteousness of God in him;" "even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.:" (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 3:22.)
We are also brought into the same relationship with the Father as Christ. We are sons of God, and loved with the same love. Was He loved by the Father perfectly and unchangeably? Then are we; and this He would have us now enjoy. He said to the Father, " I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." Again, He said, " I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me" (John 17:23, 26.) Thus we can truly say -
" The love where with He loved the Son,
Such is His love to me."
And in sweet and precious harmony with the Father's perfect love to us, we find the Son saying, "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you;" and with this all His ways to us-ward agree, both in His life and in His death. There was no selfishness in Him. We never find Him doing anything for Himself. He pleased not Himself. He so loved us that He desired that we should enjoy everything with Him, be where He is, reign with Him. Even now He would have us participate in His own peace and joy. He said not only " Peace I leave with you/' that is, peace of conscience as to sins and salvation, peace with God; but He added, " My peace I give unto you." He would have us, while passing through this scene of sorrow and trial, share His own calm, unperturbed, unruffled peace in our hearts and thoughts. And His joy also, for, when commending His own loved ones to the Father, He said, " These things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves." (John 17:13) And as to glory, He will share that with us also, for He said to the Father, " The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one." (John 17:22.)
And wonderful as all these actings of divine love are, it is perfect also as to our present endowments. Besides the full revelation of the whole counsel of God in the written word, the Holy Ghost, the other Comforter, has come, and that not as a transient visitor, but to abide with us forever. The same divine person who came down upon the spotless Son of God, and abode upon Him, because of the perfectness of His person, has, consequent upon an accomplished redemption, indwelt forever those who have remission of sins, and thus become cleansed vessels in whom He could take up His abode. Thus, the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, is in us as the seal and earnest of the inheritance, to guide us into all truth, to glorify Christ, and testify of Him, to make us know the things which are freely given to us of God; to shed abroad His love in our hearts, produce in us thoughts, affections and feelings suited to children of God, and to raise the cry within us of Abba Father, and also of Come, Lord Jesus! for " the Spirit and the bride say, Come!" It is by the Holy Ghost too that we know that the Lord Jesus is a divine person, and that we are united to Him; as He said, " At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." (John 14:20.) Having made us perfect as to the conscience, being purged by the blood of Christ, so that we might have no more conscience of sins, we are indwelt by the Holy Ghost, and by Him united to Christ who is at the right hand of God, our life, righteousness and peace.
Nor does that blessed One who loved us and gave Himself for us, love us less because He is gone to the Father, for there He sustains the most important offices, for us which perfect love could. As our High Priest He succors us in temptation, sympathizes with our infirmities, and ever lives to intercede for us according to our need; so that He may carry us through every difficulty, and save us as saints right on to the end. As the Bishop or Overseer of our souls nothing escapes His eye, and there is no emergency or difficulty for which He is not sufficient. As the great Shepherd of the sheep, each is an object of His constant interest and care. He feeds, He guards, He seeks, He finds, He keeps, He restores, He heals! The feeble and burdened He specially cares for, the young and helpless He carries in His bosom. As our Advocate with the Father, He takes up our cause if we gin, so that our communion with the Father may be restored; and that, as His servants, we might have part with Him, He cleanses the defilement we may have contracted, with the washing of water by the word.
Thus " perfect love" has met us in every respect He could not love us more, and He will not love 11s less. His love is "perfected in us," by the indwelling of God, for nothing could be greater in us than God. " Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." His love too is perfected with us, in giving us the same place, same relationship, same life, standing, and nearness as Christ Himself, " so that as he is, so are we in this world." " Herein is our love made perfect [or has love been perfected with us] that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us." (1 John 4:1719.) Thus the Father loves us as He loved His Son; and when we are consciously in the circle of His love, dwelling in love, we dwell in God and God in us—" He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." (Ver. 16.)