The Love of Christ in Giving Himself for the Church

Next Part The Love of Christ in Giving Himself for the Church 2

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Ephesians 5:25-27

In opening up the words before us, I shall, as the Lord may enable,

First, show a little—for who can describe anything of it beyond a little?—of the love of Christ to the church.

Secondly, the fruit of that love—"He gave himself for it."

Thirdly, what is the effect of that love in our time-state—"That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word."

Fourthly, what will be the glorious display of this love in the realms of eternal bliss—"That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."

I. When we attempt to speak of the love of Christ to his church, we can at best but lisp and stammer in setting forth a subject of such vast depth and infinite magnitude; for who can adequately conceive and who can sufficiently express the lengths and depths and heights and breadths of a love which the Holy Spirit himself declares to surpass all knowledge? Yet would we gladly endeavor to speak a little of this love of Christ to his church—for the apostle prays that we may "comprehend" it, or rather as the word means, "apprehend" it, for we may apprehend, that is, lay hold of and embrace what we cannot comprehend. It is also worthy of observation that the word "comprehend" (Eph. 3:18) is translated "apprehend" in the passage—"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect—but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:12.) As Deer says, "To comprehend the great Three-One, is more than highest angels can." And if we cannot comprehend the great Three-One, how can we comprehend the love of the great Three-One?

Yet will we attempt, with God's help and blessing, to set before you a little of the love of Christ to his church; and perhaps we shall be able to see a little more clearly what that love is if we view it from different points, and thus gather up a fuller and more connected idea of the purity, fullness, and depth of that love as it gushed forth from his eternal bosom.

1. First, then, that love was FREE. This feature is indeed stamped upon every blessing which God has given, both in nature and in grace. God does nothing by compulsion. What he does, he does freely; what he gives, he gives liberally. The air we breathe, how free it is. How widely diffused, how spread through the whole earth and sky. When you have been shut up all day in the house, cabined, as it were, and confined to some little close room, and have got so jaded and wearied with indoor work that your very brain seems to reel and your head to ache to bursting, how refreshing to go forth and breathe the pure air of heaven. How free it comes, how it plays around your brow, blowing upon you with such charming fullness; not shut up and confined, but spreading itself all around and over you. Does not this very freeness, fullness, and freshness constitute its main charm, as it fans your pale cheek, and puts new life into your body?

So with the sun—how freely his rays fall upon the earth. What a fullness in his beams! How he fills every spot of space with the glorious rays which are continually gushing out of his bosom—unexhausted, inexhaustible. In him, as the fountain of light, there is nothing niggardly; nothing kept back; but he is ever flowing forth in millions and millions of beams to lighten, or warm, or exhilarate the earth—glorious type and figures of "the Sun of righteousness!"

The rain, too, how freely it falls! How the whole heavens at times seem to discharge their watery contents, and how shower after shower falls and falls, until earth seems almost to cry out, "Stay, stay, you bottles of heaven; I want no more—I have all that I need; I am filled to the full."

These are but faint emblems of the love of Christ. It is so free; and its being so free, is that which makes it so beautiful and so blessed. We hear sometimes of what is called love at first sight; and this is said to be the strongest of all earthly love. John Newton tells us that this was his case, and adds that his love for the young girl whom he afterwards married never abated or lost its influence a single moment in his heart from the time that he first knew her; and that she was never absent a single hour together from his waking thoughts for the seven following years.

Now Christ's love to his bride was a love at first sight; for when she was presented to him by the Father that she might be his spouse—I do not wish to degrade divine things by carnal comparisons, and yet I cannot forbear, though I wish to use the words with all solemnity, saying, that immediately Christ beheld his chosen bride he fell in love with her; for he saw her not sunk and fallen, but in all her beauty as clothed in the fullness of that glory in which she will one day shine forth, when she sits down with him to the marriage supper of the Lamb. How free, then, was this love!

2. But this love was an EVERLASTING love. There can be no new thought in the mind of God. New thoughts, new feelings, new plans, now resolutions continually occur to our minds—for our nature is but poor, fallen, fickle, changeable. But God has no new thoughts, feelings, plans, or resolutions—for if he had he would be a changeable Being—not one great eternal, unchangeable I AM. All his thoughts, therefore, all his plans, all his ways are like himself—eternal, infinite, unchanging, and unchangeable. So it is with the love of Christ to the church. It is eternal, unchanging, unchangeable. And why? Because he loved as God. Never let us lose sight of the glorious Deity of Jesus. He loved her in eternity as the Son of God, prior to his incarnation. That was but the fruit of his love. "Who loved me," says Paul, "and gave himself for me." And so our text, "Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it." Do we not read, "I have loved you with an everlasting love?" And what is the effect? "Therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you." (Jer. 31:3.)

We can therefore assign no beginning to the love of Christ, for it existed when he existed, which was from eternity. Neither can we put any end to that love, for it can only end with himself; and as he had no beginning, so he has no ending. His love then is as himself, which as it knew no beginning shall know no end. O what a mercy it is for those who have any gracious, experimental knowledge of the love of Christ, to believe it is from everlasting to everlasting; that no incidents of time, no storms of sin or Satan, can ever change or alter that eternal love, but that it remains now and will remain the same to all eternity.

Is not this Paul's triumphant challenge, where he cries out, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" adding his persuasion that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38, 39.) This eternal, unchanging character of the love of Christ gives us something to stand upon apart from our fluctuating feelings, our wavering frames, and the changes that ever take place in our apprehensions of divine realities. The love of Christ to us is not changing and changeable like ours to him, but like himself abides forever.

3. But again, it is not merely a free and everlasting love, but it is a love which does not depend upon anything that is in the CREATURE for its origin, continuance, or completion. God does not look outside of himself for any acts of his mind or works of his hand. He is sufficient to himself and for himself, for all his counsels, and all their execution; and therefore he cannot and does not consult his creatures what he is to plan for their benefit, or how to carry out his eternal purposes toward them. The apostle, therefore, speaks of "the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself." And again, "Who works all things after the counsel of his own will." (Eph. 1:11.) The love of Christ to his church is in the fullest harmony with these purposes. What then we are in ourselves, or whatever in this time-state may take place in us through temptation, suffering, or affliction, does not affect the love of Christ. It is wholly and purely in himself, independent of and distinct from our love to him, which is but a reflex of his love to us. As the apostle speaks, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us;" and again, "We loved him because he first loved us." (1 John 4:10, 19.) This love therefore stands distinct from any change in our mind, any fluctuation of feeling we may experience, because it depends wholly and solely on what the blessed Lord is in himself, as loving us before we loved him—yes loving us when we were alienated from the life of God, and enemies in our mind by wicked works.

4. This love again is a very STRONG love. The Scripture has used three or four very striking figures to designate its strength. You will find them in the Song of Solomon, I think all in the same chapter (8:6, 7), and in one or two verses. First, it is said to be "as strong as DEATH." What an image! How strong is death! O the millions that death has destroyed! The millions that remain for death to destroy! The strongest must yield when he approaches. No man yet has ever been able to stand against death when he drew near to seize his victim. But the love of Christ is as strong as death; and though this is the greatest figure that the Holy Spirit can well employ, yet in one sense it is stronger than death; for the love of Christ bore him through death, rose with him at the resurrection from death, and has gone with him up to the right hand of God when he had destroyed death.

But the Holy Spirit has used another figure of an almost similar kind, to express the nature generally of spiritual love, and therefore applicable in the highest degree to the love of Christ which passes knowledge. Speaking of jealousy, which is love's ever constant attendant, he says it is "as cruel"—that is, as insatiable—"as the GRAVE." How the grave is ever opening its mouth! How grave after grave has opened its jaws in the churchyards of this town, until there is no space left in them to bury our dead. And if you walk any day round our new cemetery, you will almost always see a grave with its mouth open; yes, as long as there is an inhabitant in this town, there will be a grave to open its mouth for him. So that however numerous be the inhabitants, there is a grave for each, and a grave for all.

Fruitless are the widow's tears, the father's sobs, and the mother's bitter cries. The cruel grave still goes on to bury out of their sight the tenderest and dearest relations in life; and will in the appointed time draw all of us in and cover us up, as it has the countless generations that have lived before us on earth. Now the love of Christ or jealousy, which is the accompaniment of it, is said to be as cruel as the grave; that is, as the grave keeps devouring and is never satisfied, so the love of Christ in its jealousy against all rivals, in its indignation against all our idols, is ever opening itself to receive us into its bosom as our safe hiding place. If the grave has swallowed up a beloved husband or dear child, and you can believe that their remains are safely housed there until the resurrection morn, its 'seeming cruelty' was 'real kindness', its cold bosom a warm shelter, its closed bed a sure safeguard.

But love is also compared to FIRE—"The coals thereof are coals of fire, which has a most vehement flame." Fire we know devours everything. What can stand against it? Houses, buildings—the earth itself will one day be consumed by this destructive element. Such is Christ's love, which has a most vehement flame, for it burned in his bosom with a holy fervor, as he said, "I have come to bring fire to the earth, and I wish that my task were already completed! There is a terrible baptism ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished." (Luke 12:49, 50.) The fire of his love which he was to send on the earth, was already kindled in his own bosom; and when this fire is kindled in ours it will make our hearts burn within us in love to him, and hatred of sin and self.

The last figure of this nature which is used by the Holy Spirit in the Song of Solomon is almost of a similar nature to express the strength of love. It is compared to a flood ofWATER—"Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it." How great is the power of water when it rushes down as a destructive flood, sweeping all before it. But the flood can fertilize as well as destroy. So the love of Christ poured itself forth in the days of his flesh in the garden and upon the cross, to sweep away, as it were, all sin before it, and yet to bless and fertilize the church, making her fruitful in every good word and work.

How suitably and expressively do these figures, death, the grave, fire, and water, set forth as emblems the strength of that love of Christ which nothing can quench, nothing destroy, but which will prevail over sin, death, and hell, yes, over every impediment and obstacle, until it gain the day, achieve the victory, and in all the blaze of full perfection and fruition fill heaven with its eternal glory!

II. But I pass on to show what is the FRUIT of this love; which is, that Christ gave himself for the church.

A. God exacted, so to speak, a sacrifice from his dear Son. I wish to speak cautiously upon this point; for in these deep and solemn mysteries we must be careful how we tread, and not penetrate into divine counsels any more than they are revealed, or put thoughts and words of our own, into the mouth of God. Yet may we reverently and devoutly search the Scriptures to ascertain from them what the Holy Spirit has revealed for our instruction, though not for our speculation.

I have already shown that the Son of God freely, fully, and unchangeably loved the church which was given to him by the Father in the councils of ETERNITY, and presented to him as his future spouse and bride. By sovereignty, by purpose, by foreseen, fore-determined creation she belonged to God. Does not our Lord say to his heavenly Father of his disciples—"I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours." (John 17:6, 9.) Thus the church, as belonging to the Father, was originally and actually God's gift to his dear Son. But though thus given to him to be his pure and spotless bride, she was foreseen in the infinite wisdom of God as 'able to fall'; no, as known that she would fall. But the fall was not only foreseen, but fore-provided for. We therefore read of "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8); and that our Lord, though "by wicked hands crucified and slain," yet was "delivered," that is unto death, "by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God." (Acts 2:23).

When, therefore, our Lord accepted the church from his Father's hand, he perfectly knew that she would fall; but that as nothing sinful could enter unto the presence of God, and as his own precious blood alone could save and sanctify her from her sins when fallen, he knew that there was a sacrifice to be offered, a penalty to be exacted, the law to be fulfilled, justice to be satisfied, and every debt contracted by her, to be paid to the uttermost farthing. The gracious Lord therefore thoroughly knew what would be the consequence of his espousing the church unto himself—that she would fall; that he must redeem her from the fall; that in order to do so he must come unto this lower world; must take of her flesh; must suffer, living the most sorrowful of lives, and dying the most agonizing, disgraceful, and terrible of deaths.

None of these sufferings and sorrows were hidden from his eyes. He knew that he must suffer all that she must otherwise have suffered, go through all that she must otherwise have gone through; in a word, endure her hell that she might enjoy his heaven. "He thus gave himself for us;" that is, in the councils of eternity, he gave himself up to God that he might do his will, which will was the redemption of the church. Hear how he himself spoke ages before his first coming—"Lo, I come [in the volume of the book it is written of me] to do your will, O God." (Heb. 10:7.)

B. But we must come down from these divine transactions, these heavenly and eternal councils, though they form the basis of all our salvation, and of our very hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began (Titus 1:2), to what actually took place in TIME. We must come down from heaven to earth—to what the eyes of man actually saw, what the ears of man actually heard, and what was actually fulfilled and accomplished in the days of the flesh of Jesus.

1. The BIRTH of Jesus. In this sense, then, Jesus "gave himself" first when he took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. But the question may perhaps arise, "Why did not Jesus Christ come as a fully grown, adult, and perfect man—as Adam was created? What need was there for him to be conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, to be born as we are, a little babe, and then grow into a child, a boy, a youth, a man? Why could he not come at once in his divine and human nature from heaven? Would not that have been a more astonishing miracle? one more likely to give us faith?" Such thoughts may cross our minds; but they are idle at best, not to say irreverent and profane. But how could he have taken of the actual flesh and blood of the children except by taking part of the flesh of the Virgin? How could he be descended, according to the promise, from the seed of David, except he sprang from one who was of the lineage of David? Or how could he be altogether one like us as man, unless he had come into the world in the same way that we came?

The nature that was to be redeemed must be partaken of by the Redeemer. This the apostle seems clearly to intimate when he says, "For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham" (Heb. 2:16); plainly implying that if angels had to be redeemed, angelic nature must be taken, but if men, the nature of man. And yet, his was not a sinful, a fallen nature—for that could not have been offered as a sacrifice. God, therefore, in his infinite wisdom, provided that sin should not intermingle with Christ's conception, as with ours—that though conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the human nature of our blessed Lord should not be by natural generation, lest there should be the taint of sin attached thereto. The angel, therefore, in revealing this mystery to the Virgin Mary, said unto her—"The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you—therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35.) Thus that "holy thing" which was born of the Virgin, though flesh, blood, and bone of her substance, and therefore flesh, blood, and bone of the children, yet by the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit was conceived without sin, and thus became not a person, but a nature. This "holy thing," therefore, was the pure humanity of our blessed Lord; not mortal, yet capable of death; not fallen, though made of a woman who was fallen; not able to sin, but able to suffer, both in body and soul; and taken at the moment of its conception into indissoluble union with the Person of the Son of God.

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