CHAP. V. The Glory of Christ in his Love.

In the taking up and discharge of the mediatory office by the Son of God, the Scripture most prominently presents his love as the sole impelling and leading cause of it (Galatians 2:20; 1 John 3:16; Revelation 1:5).

In this he is glorious, in a way and manner incomprehensible, for in the glory of divine love the chief brightness of glory consists. There is nothing of dread or terror accompanying it, nothing but what is gracious and infinitely refreshing. Now, that we may take a view of the glory of Christ in this by faith, the nature of it must be inquired into.

1. The eternal disposing cause of the whole work in which the Lord Christ was engaged by the taking up of this office, for the redemption and salvation of the church, is the love of the Father. To this it is constantly ascribed in the Scripture. And this love of the Father acted itself in his eternal decrees before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), and afterwards in the sending of his Son to render it effectual (John 3:16). Originally, it is his eternal election of a portion of mankind to be brought to the enjoyment of himself, through the mystery of the blood of Christ and the sanctification of the Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2:13, 16; Ephesians 1:4–9; 1 Peter 1:2).

This eternal act of the will of God the Father does not contain in it an actual approbation of and delight in the state and condition of those who are elected, but only designates that on whose account they shall be accepted and approved. And it is called his love on several accounts.

1. Because it is an act suited to that glorious excellence of his nature wherein he is love, for God is love (1 John 4:8–9). And the first expression of the divine attributes must therefore be in an act of communicative love. And since this election, being an eternal act of the will of God, can have no moving cause but what is in himself, if we could look into all the treasures of the divine excellencies, we should find none to which it could be so properly ascribed as to love. Therefore,

2. It is called love because it was free and undeserved, as to anything on our part. For whatever good is done to any altogether undeservedly, if it is with a design for their profit and advantage, it is an act of love and can have no other cause. So it is with us in respect of eternal election. There was nothing in us, nothing foreseen as that which from ourselves would be in us, that should in any way move the will of God to this election, for whatever is good in the best of men is an effect of it (Ephesians 1:4). Since therefore it tends to our eternal good, the spring of it must be love. And,

3. The fruits or effects of it are inconceivable acts of love. It is by multiplied acts of love that it is made effectual (John 3:16; Jeremiah 31:5; Ephesians 1:3–6; 1 John 4:8–9, 16).

This is the eternal spring which is derived to the church through the mediation of Christ. Therefore what put all the design of this eternal love of the Father into execution, and worked out its accomplishment, was the love of the Son, which we now inquire after; and light may be given to it in the following observations.

1. The whole number or company of the elect were creatures made in the image of God, and thereby in a state of love with him. All that they were, had, or hoped for were effects of divine goodness and love. And the life of their souls was love toward God. And it was a blessed state, preparatory for the eternal life of love in heaven.

2. From this state they fell by sin into a state of enmity with God, which is comprehensive of all miseries, temporal and eternal.

3. Notwithstanding this woeful catastrophe of our first state, yet our nature on many accounts was recoverable to the enjoyment of God, as I have at length declared elsewhere.

4. In this condition, the first act of love in Christ toward us was in pity and compassion. A creature made in the image of God and fallen into misery, yet capable of recovery, is the proper object of divine compassion. That which is so celebrated in the Scripture as the tender mercies, the pity, the compassion of God is the acting of divine love toward us upon the consideration of our distress and misery. But all compassion ceases toward those whose condition is irrecoverable. Therefore the Lord Christ did not pity the angels who fell, because their nature was not to be relieved (Hebrews 2:14–16; Isaiah 63:9).

5. As we lay then under the eye of Christ in our misery, we were the objects of his pity and compassion; but as he looked upon us as recoverable out of that state, his love worked in and by delight. It was an inconceivable delight to him to take a prospect of the deliverance of mankind to the glory of God — which is also an act of love — as this is divinely expressed in Proverbs 8:30–31, as that passage has been explained elsewhere.

6. If it be inquired from what source this compassion and delight in him should arise — what should be the cause that he who was eternally blessed in his own all-sufficiency should so deeply concern himself in our lost and forlorn condition — I say it arose merely from the infinite love and goodness of his own nature, without the least procuring inducement from us or anything in us (1 Peter 1:18–19).

7. In this his readiness, willingness, and delight — springing from love and compassion — the counsel of God concerning the way of our recovery is, as it were, proposed to him. Now this was a way of great difficulties and perplexities to himself; that is, to his person as it was to be constituted. To the divine nature nothing is grievous, nothing is difficult; but he was to have another nature in which he was to undergo the difficulties of this way and work. It was required of him that he should pity us until he had none left to pity himself when he stood in need of it; that he should pursue his delight to save us until his own soul was heavy and sorrowful to the point of death; that he should relieve us in our sufferings by suffering the same things we should have suffered. But he was not in the least deterred from undertaking this work of love and mercy for us. Indeed his love rose at this proposal, like the waters of a mighty stream against opposition. For then he said, "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God; I delight to do it" (Hebrews 10:5–7; Isaiah 50:4–7).

8. Being thus inclined, disposed, and ready in the eternal love of his divine person to undertake the office of mediation and the work of our redemption, a body was prepared for him. In this body, or human nature made his own, he was to make this love effectual in all its inclinations and actings. It was provided for him to this end and filled with all grace in an unmeasurable way, especially with fervent love toward mankind. And by this it became a fitting instrument to actuate his eternal love in all the fruits of it.

9. It is evident from this that the glorious love of Christ does not consist solely in the eternal actings of his divine person, or the divine nature in his person — such indeed is the love of the Father, namely, his eternal purpose for the communication of grace and glory, with his acquiescence therein. But there is more in the love of Christ. For when he exercised this love, he was man also, and not God only. And in none of those eternal acts of love could the human nature of Christ have any interest or concern; yet the love of the man Christ Jesus is celebrated in the Scripture.

10. Therefore this love of Christ which we inquire after is the love of his person — that is, which he in his own person acts in and by his distinct natures according to their distinct essential properties. And the acts of love in these distinct natures are infinitely distinct and different, yet they are all acts of one and the same person. So then, whether that act of love in Christ which we would at any time consider be an eternal act of the divine nature in the person of the Son of God, or whether it be an act of the human performed in time by the gracious faculties and powers of that nature, it is still the love of one and the same person, Christ Jesus.

It was an act of inexpressible love in him that he assumed our nature (Hebrews 2:14, 17). But it was an act in and of his divine nature only, for it was prior to the existence of his human nature, which could not therefore participate in it. His laying down his life for us was an act of inconceivable love (1 John 3:16), yet it was only an act of the human nature in which he offered himself and died. But both the one and the other were acts of his divine person, from which it is said that God laid down his life for us, and purchased the church with his own blood.

This is that love of Christ in which he is glorious, and in which we are by faith to behold his glory. A great part of the blessedness of the saints in heaven and their triumph consists in their beholding of this glory of Christ, in their thankful contemplation of the fruits of it (Revelation 5:9–10).

The illustrious brightness with which this glory shines in heaven, the all-satisfying sweetness which the view of it gives to the souls of the saints there possessed of glory, are not by us conceivable nor to be expressed. Here this love passes knowledge; there we shall comprehend its dimensions. Yet even here, if we are not slothful and carnal, we may have a refreshing prospect of it; and where comprehension fails, let admiration take its place.

My present business is to exhort others to the contemplation of it, though it is but a little — a very little, a small portion of it — that I can conceive; and less than that very little that I can express. Yet it may be my duty to stir up not only myself but others also to due inquiries after it, to which end I offer the following things.

1. Labor that your minds may be continually fitted and prepared for such heavenly contemplations. If they are carnal and sensual, or filled with earthly things, a due sense of this love of Christ and its glory will not abide in them. Virtue and vice in their highest degrees are not more diametrically opposed and inconsistent in the same mind than an habitual course of sensual worldly thoughts and a due contemplation of the glory of the love of Christ. Indeed, an eagerness of spirit filled with a multitude of thoughts about the lawful concerns of life is an obstacle to all due communion with the Lord Jesus Christ in this.

Few there are whose minds are prepared in a due manner for this duty. The actions and communications of most give evidence of what the inward frame of their souls is. They wander in their thoughts, which are continually led by their affections into the far corners of the earth. It is in vain to call such persons to contemplations of the glory of Christ in his love. A holy composure of mind by virtue of spiritual principles, an inclination to seek refreshment in heavenly things and to bathe the soul in the fountain of them, with constant apprehensions of the excellence of this divine glory, are required for this.

2. Be not satisfied with general notions concerning the love of Christ, which present no glory to the mind, with which many deceive themselves. All who believe his divine person profess a valuation of his love, and think those who are otherwise minded are not Christians. But they have only general notions and not any distinct conceptions of it, and really do not know what it is. To deliver us from this snare, careful meditations on its principal concerns are required of us. Such as,

1. Whose love it is — namely, of the divine person of the Son of God. He is expressly called God with respect to the exercise of this love, that we may always consider whose it is (1 John 3:16). "By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us."

2. By what ways and means this wonderful love of the Son of God acts itself — namely, in the divine nature by eternal acts of wisdom, goodness, and grace proper to it; and in the human by temporal acts of pity and compassion, with all the fruits of them in doing and suffering for us (Ephesians 3:19; Hebrews 2:14–15; Revelation 1:5).

3. What is the freedom of it as to any desert on our part (1 John 4:10). It was hatred, not love, that we in ourselves deserved, which is a consideration suited to fill the soul with self-abasement — the best of frames in the contemplation of the glory of Christ.

4. What is the efficacy of it in its fruits and effects, with many other considerations of the like nature. By a distinct view and admiration of these things, the soul may walk in this paradise of God, and gather here and there a heavenly flower conveying to it a sweet savor of this love of Christ (Song of Solomon 2:2–4).

Moreover, be not contented to have right notions of the love of Christ in your minds unless you can attain a gracious taste of it in your hearts, any more than you would be content to see a feast or banquet richly prepared and partake of nothing of it for your refreshment. It is of such a nature that we may have a spiritual sense of it in our minds, from which it is compared by the spouse to apples and flagons of wine. We may taste that the Lord is gracious. And if we find not a relish of it in our hearts, we shall not long retain the notion of it in our minds. Christ is the meat, the bread, the food of our souls. Nothing in him is of higher spiritual nourishment than his love, which we should always desire.

In this love he is glorious, for it is such as no creatures — angels or men — could have had the least conception of before its manifestation by its effects. And after its manifestation, it is in this world absolutely incomprehensible.

In the Son of God's taking up and carrying out the mediatorial office, Scripture most prominently presents His love as the sole driving and guiding cause of it (Galatians 2:20; 1 John 3:16; Revelation 1:5).

In this He is glorious in a way that is beyond comprehension, for in the glory of divine love the chief brilliance of glory consists. There is nothing of dread or terror in it — only grace and infinite refreshment. To take a view of the glory of Christ in this love by faith, we must first inquire into its nature.

First, the eternal and decisive cause of the whole work in which the Lord Christ engaged by taking up this office — for the redemption and salvation of the church — is the love of the Father. To this it is consistently attributed in Scripture. This love of the Father expressed itself in His eternal decrees before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), and afterward in the sending of His Son to make it effectual (John 3:16). At its origin, it is His eternal election of a portion of humanity to be brought into the enjoyment of Himself — through the mystery of the blood of Christ and the sanctifying work of the Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2:13, 16; Ephesians 1:4-9; 1 Peter 1:2).

This eternal act of God the Father's will does not involve an approval or delight in the actual state and condition of those who are elected, but only designates the One on whose account they will be accepted and approved. And it is called His love for several reasons.

First, because it is an act suited to that glorious excellence of His nature in which He is love — for God is love (1 John 4:8-9). The first expression of the divine attributes must therefore be in an act of self-communicating love. And since election, being an eternal act of God's will, can have no motivating cause but what is in God Himself, if we could look into all the treasures of the divine excellencies, we would find none to which it could more fittingly be attributed than to love. Therefore:

Second, it is called love because it was free and entirely undeserved on our part. Whatever good is done to someone entirely without deserving — if done with the design of their benefit and advantage — is an act of love and can have no other cause. So it is with us in regard to eternal election. There was nothing in us, nothing foreseen in us that would come from us, that could in any way move God's will to this election — for whatever is good in the best of people is itself an effect of it (Ephesians 1:4). Since therefore election tends to our eternal good, its source must be love. And:

Third, the fruits and effects of it are inconceivable acts of love. It is made effectual through repeated and multiplied acts of love (John 3:16; Jeremiah 31:5; Ephesians 1:3-6; 1 John 4:8-9, 16).

This is the eternal spring that flows to the church through the mediation of Christ. What put this entire design of the Father's eternal love into execution and worked it out to completion was the love of the Son, which we now inquire into. Some light may be given to it through the following observations.

First, the whole company of the elect were creatures made in the image of God and thereby in a state of love and friendship with Him. All that they were, had, or hoped for were effects of divine goodness and love. And the life of their souls was love toward God. It was a blessed state, prepared as a foretaste of the eternal life of love in heaven.

Second, from that state they fell through sin into a state of enmity with God — which encompasses all misery, both temporal and eternal.

Third, despite this tragic fall from their first state, our nature was — on many grounds — capable of being restored to the enjoyment of God, as I have explained at length elsewhere.

Fourth, in this condition the first act of Christ's love toward us was pity and compassion. A creature made in the image of God, fallen into misery, yet capable of recovery, is the proper object of divine compassion. What Scripture so frequently celebrates as the tender mercies, the pity, and the compassion of God is the expression of divine love toward us as He considers our distress and misery. But all compassion ceases toward those whose condition is beyond recovery. Therefore the Lord Christ did not have pity on the angels who fell, because their nature was not capable of being restored (Hebrews 2:14-16; Isaiah 63:9).

Fifth, as He looked upon us in our misery, we were the objects of His pity and compassion; but as He saw us as capable of deliverance from that state, His love also worked through delight. It was an inconceivable delight to Him to contemplate the deliverance of humanity to the glory of God — which is itself an act of love — as this is beautifully expressed in Proverbs 8:30-31, as that passage has been explained elsewhere.

Sixth, if we ask from what source this compassion and delight in Him arose — what could cause the One who was eternally blessed in His own all-sufficiency to so deeply concern Himself with our lost and hopeless condition — I say it arose entirely from the infinite love and goodness of His own nature, with no inducement or prompting from us or anything in us (1 Peter 1:18-19).

Seventh, in this state of readiness, willingness, and delight — flowing from love and compassion — God's plan for the way of our recovery was, as it were, set before Him. Now this was a way filled with great difficulties and hardships for Himself — that is, for His person as it was to be constituted. For the divine nature nothing is grievous, nothing is difficult. But He was to take on another nature in which He would bear the full weight of the difficulties of this work. He was required to show us pity until He had none left for Himself when He was in need of it — until His own soul was heavy and sorrowful to the point of death. He was required to pursue His delight in saving us until He had borne the very sufferings we deserved. Yet He was not in the least deterred from undertaking this work of love and mercy. Indeed, His love rose at this proposal like the waters of a mighty river against opposition. For then He said, 'Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God; I delight to do it' (Hebrews 10:5-7; Isaiah 50:4-7).

Eighth, being thus inclined, disposed, and ready — in the eternal love of His divine person — to undertake the office of mediation and the work of our redemption, a body was prepared for Him. In this body, or human nature made His own, He was to make this love effectual in all its inclinations and expressions. It was provided for Him for this very purpose, filled immeasurably with all grace — especially with fervent love toward humanity. By this it became a fitting instrument through which to actuate His eternal love in all its fruits.

Ninth, from this it is clear that the glorious love of Christ does not consist only in the eternal acts of His divine person, or of the divine nature in His person. Such indeed is the love of the Father — His eternal purpose to communicate grace and glory, together with His delight in that purpose. But there is more in the love of Christ. For when He exercised this love, He was also man and not God only. And none of those eternal acts of love could involve or concern the human nature of Christ. Yet the love of the man Christ Jesus is celebrated in Scripture.

Tenth, therefore this love of Christ that we are inquiring into is the love of His person — that is, the love He in His own person expresses through and by His distinct natures, according to their distinct essential attributes. The acts of love in these distinct natures are infinitely distinct and different from one another, yet they are all acts of one and the same person. So whether the act of love in Christ we are considering is an eternal act of the divine nature in the person of the Son of God, or whether it is an act of the human nature performed in time through the gracious faculties and capacities of that nature, it is still the love of one and the same person, Christ Jesus.

That He assumed our nature was an act of inexpressible love in Him (Hebrews 2:14, 17). But it was an act of His divine nature alone, for it was prior to the existence of His human nature, which therefore could have no part in it. His laying down His life for us was an act of incomprehensible love (1 John 3:16), yet it was only an act of the human nature in which He offered Himself and died. But both acts were acts of His one divine person — so that it is said God laid down His life for us and purchased the church with His own blood.

This is the love of Christ in which He is glorious, and in which we are by faith to behold His glory. A great part of the blessedness of the saints in heaven and their rejoicing consists in beholding this glory of Christ in thankful contemplation of its fruits (Revelation 5:9-10).

The radiant brightness with which this glory shines in heaven, and the fully satisfying sweetness that the sight of it gives to the souls of the glorified saints — these are beyond our power to conceive or express. Here this love surpasses knowledge; there we will grasp its full dimensions. Yet even here, if we are not lazy and unspiritual, we may have a refreshing glimpse of it. And where comprehension falls short, let wonder take its place.

My present task is to urge others to the contemplation of this love — though I can conceive only a little of it, a very little, a small portion; and even less than that very little can I express. Yet it may be my duty to stir up not only myself but others as well to seek it diligently, and toward that end I offer the following.

First, labor to have your minds continually prepared and ready for such heavenly contemplations. If they are unspiritual and sensual, or filled with earthly concerns, a proper sense of this love of Christ and its glory will not take root in them. Virtue and vice in their highest degrees are not more sharply opposed in the same person than a habitual pattern of worldly, sensual thinking and a true contemplation of the glory of Christ's love. Indeed, even an anxious spirit filled with constant thoughts about the lawful concerns of life is an obstacle to genuine communion with the Lord Jesus Christ in this.

Few people have minds adequately prepared for this duty. The words and conduct of most give evidence of what their souls are like inwardly. Their thoughts wander, constantly led by their affections to the far corners of the earth. It is pointless to call such people to contemplate the glory of Christ in His love. What is required is a holy composure of mind through spiritual principles, an inclination to seek refreshment in heavenly things and to bathe the soul in their fountain, together with a sustained sense of the excellence of this divine glory.

Second, do not be satisfied with vague and general ideas about the love of Christ that present no real glory to the mind — and with which many deceive themselves. All who believe in His divine person profess to value His love, and consider those who do not to be no Christians. But they have only general notions and no clear understanding of what that love actually is. To free us from this trap, careful meditation on its principal dimensions is required of us. Such as:

First, whose love it is — namely, the love of the divine person of the Son of God. He is expressly called God in connection with the exercise of this love, so that we might always consider whose it is (1 John 3:16): 'By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.'

Second, the ways and means by which this remarkable love of the Son of God expresses itself — in the divine nature through eternal acts of wisdom, goodness, and grace proper to it; and in the human nature through acts of pity and compassion in time, with all their fruits in doing and suffering for us (Ephesians 3:19; Hebrews 2:14-15; Revelation 1:5).

Third, the complete freedom of it as to any merit on our part (1 John 4:10). What we deserved in ourselves was hatred, not love — a consideration designed to fill the soul with self-abasement, which is the best frame of heart for contemplating the glory of Christ.

Fourth, the power of this love in its fruits and effects — along with many other considerations of the same kind. By distinctly viewing and marveling at these things, the soul may walk in this garden of God and gather here and there a heavenly flower, breathing to it a sweet fragrance of the love of Christ (Song of Solomon 2:2-4).

Furthermore, do not be satisfied with having right ideas about the love of Christ in your mind unless you also attain a gracious taste of it in your heart — any more than you would be satisfied to see a richly prepared feast and receive nothing from it for your refreshment. This love is of such a nature that we may have a spiritual sense of it in our minds, which is why the bride compares it to apples and flagons of wine. We may taste that the Lord is gracious. And if we find no savoring of it in our hearts, we will not long hold onto the idea of it in our minds. Christ is the food and nourishment of our souls. Nothing in Him provides higher spiritual nourishment than His love, which we should always desire.

In this love He is glorious — for it is a love that no creatures, angels or human beings, could have had the faintest conception of before it was made known through its effects. And even after its manifestation, it remains in this life absolutely beyond full comprehension.