GOD'S LOVE IN CHRIST
William Mealand

THE EXPRESSION "God is love" so easily falls from human lips, but is the majesty of its meaning understood as it should be? And is the manner of it truly appreciated? The understanding of it is sought for too much in the realm of human rhetoric and soulish sentiment, rather than in Scripture. Its scope, too, is limited.

Let us think first, that it is God-communicated, since it could not have been known, had God not given it tangible expression in the Son of His love. But how gloriously He has done this, the Word of His grace truly shows. It is a love at once God-like and filial in quality. Love of a living God, displayed in a living Son, and in eons yet to come, to be even more fully and triumphantly revealed, that all creation may know its power. But there is a present sense of its divine quality, as a poet well expresses it:

O Thou, in all Thy might so far,
In all Thy love so near,
Beyond the range of sun and star,
And yet, beside us here.

Beside, us, in the ever-living, ineffable Christ, Who has so wonderfully shown us "what manner of love the Father has given us, that we may be called children of God" (1 John 3:1). And such love, as displayed in Him through Him, will not be denied complete expression, since it is not love for the few alone, but for all. Known, it may be, and experienced, only by the few in the past and present, yet in the fullness of its ocean flow, to be realized by all. And so great a triumph of love does but wait on God.

In the meanwhile, however, God graciously ordains that some here and some there shall enter into a blessed experience of His vast love. And all such, if they live up to the height of their privilege as believers to God, will daily prove His love in Christ. For that love can only be truly known and grasped as in Him, God's dearly beloved Son.

God's love is more than the passing ebb and flow of emotion. There is no variableness in it, no touches of that partiality and caprice which so often marks human liking. When we think of Christ and the character of His love, we may well marvel. It was shown to all, but how He seemed to single out the poor and outcast, those whom the world so passes by! But then, He loved as God loved. And how He will yet display the Father's love is something to contemplate with wonder.

Love delights to give. This is true, not only of the Father of glory, but of the Son, the Effulgence of that glory. From first to last, it is God's love in Christ, and the language, not only of the four accounts, but of all the epistles, is explicit on the relationship between Father and Son. Especially is it so in Paul's letters. They excel in conveying the magnitude of God's love. Not only its ever present action and bearing upon our lives, but also its satisfying conclusion. For it is a love that will not let us go. It will let no one go!

Back of all life's strange happenings there is God's love, and His love entails wisdom, and perfect understanding of that which He desires to be accomplished. Are not all souls precious in the sight of God, while yet sinners? And, if God has brought us to a knowledge of Himself while here below, it was of His will and purpose. When Christ died at Golgotha, He died for all. And all will know it, and blessedly, but in God's time and way. This is God's purpose, and will yet be seen as the grand outcome of His love.

It has been said by many, "what difference is there between believers and unbelievers, if all are saved at last, and no one is lost?" Indeed, there is a world of difference. The multitudes who do not now believe, miss so much of joy and peace in believing. They miss all that it means to be living in the will of God and the faith of Christ. And, greater still, all that it will mean in the eons to come.

Should we not, then, value more highly this rare embracive love of God? With what impassioned utterance Paul sets it forth! What peace and assurance thousands must have inbreathed, as they dwelt upon the apostle's arrestive statements in his letter to the Romans! "What shall be separating us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?" Then follows the forceful answer, still in question form. And it is of interest to note, that in the whole series of statements, there are nine question marks. The way, too, in which question answers question, invites and holds attention. Telling use is also made of the terms neither and nor. In such language Paul brings out the power of God's love in Christ. He conveys to our minds the strength of such words, so that we may well take them to heart.

"What shall be separating us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?...Nay! in all these we are more than conquering through Him Who loves us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor messengers, nor sovereignties, nor the present, nor what is impending, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our lord" (Rom.9:35-39).

What an exhaustive list! How guarded are we from the operations, and also the nature of things which would make for separation. Truly, "the God of love and of peace" is with us. How completed are we by such love "for the entire complement of God!"

How wondrous, too, and how perfect, the ending of such love! For, permeating it, and giving it value and purpose, is God's design for the well-being of all His vast creation. All stations of life, all degrees of appointment will share in the glorious scene which will crown Christ's effectual and unforgettable reign. "For thus God loves the world." Loves it because He made it, not creating it in vain, that any part should be waste, not giving to Him a glad and thankful response. Christ did not give Himself for less than the salvation of all. This is God's great background for His evangel of grace and glory. And it will shine out on no other. It is God's power now, as proclaimed concerning the Son of His love, and will be in the sight of the regal majesty of Christ, in eons to come.

Now, the truth "God is love" finds expression in His wisdom, His longsuffering, and many compassions that fail not. And this, as His children, we prove. But God is no indulgent Father, to give us all we want, even when those wants may appear to be in the way of service to Him. It is our need God thinks of. Thus, He withholds and may still withhold, even as the God of love. What lessons lie in this thought!

This great love must ever be associated with both Father and Son. Christ gave of that which was given Him, given to Him by the Father. And how richly, how inexhaustibly, Paul tells it out in that momentous letter of His to the Ephesians. There, in what we may term the finest introduction of a letter inscribed to God's people, we see that it is in love, God is "designating us beforehand for the place of a son for Him through Christ Jesus."

Could words be more moving to thrill the heart with certainty and assurance, than these of the opening chapter, and indeed, of the letter in completeness? If then, we are to be "growing in the growth of God," it must be in love (Eph.4:15,16). Well may it be that "God is commending this love of His to us, seeing that while we are still sinners, Christ died for our sakes" (Rom.5:8,9).

The love of God in Christ. How worthwhile to know it! Maybe now it seems to flow in rillets, and in obscure places, though always known to God and His own. But in God's radiant day, when the crystal stream of His salvation shall become, as it were, a great river, it will mean life and blessing for all. For then, it will in very truth be seen, and in the sight of all creation, that God is love. Then, too, will such desire as a poet so well expresses, be perfectly met.

Lord, Thou dost look, and love is in Thine eyes,
Thy heart is set upon me day and night,
Thou stoopest low to set me far above:
O Lord, that I may love Thee, make me wise:
That I may see and love Thee, grant me sight;
And give me love, that I may give Thee love.