View source for THE MEASURE OF LOVE

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<p>&quot;Remember&nbsp;<em>the  words of the Lord Jesus</em>, how He said,&quot;<br><br>
  <em>&quot;As  the Father has loved Me — so have I loved you.&quot;</em>&nbsp;—  John 15:9<br><br>
  This is the most amazing verse in the  Bible! Who can fathom the&nbsp;<em>unimagined depths</em><em>&nbsp;</em>of that love which dwelt in the bosom of the Father  from all eternity towards His Son? — and yet, here is the Saviour's own measure  of His love towards His people!<br><br>
  There is no subject more profoundly  mysterious than those mystic inter-communing between the first<strong>&nbsp;</strong>and second persons in the adorable Trinity before  the world was. Scripture gives us only some dim and shadowy revelations  regarding them — distant gleams of light, and no more. Let one suffice. &quot;<em>Then</em>&nbsp;I  was by Him, as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing  always before Him.&quot;<br><br>
  We know that earthly affection is  deepened and intensified by increased familiarity with its object. The  friendship that began only yesterday is not the sacred, hallowed thing which  years of growing communion have matured. If we may with reverence apply this  test to the highest type of holy affection, what must have been that&nbsp;<em>interchange  of love</em><em>&nbsp;</em>which the measureless span of Eternity had fostered  — a love, moreover, not fitful, transient, vacillating, subject to altered  tones and estranged looks — but pure, constant, untainted, without one shadow  of turning! And yet, listen to the words of Jesus,&nbsp;<em>&quot;As</em>&nbsp;the  Father has loved&nbsp;<em>Me — so</em>&nbsp;have  I loved&nbsp;<em>you!&quot;</em> <br><br>
  It would have been infinitely more than  we had reason to expect, if He had said, &quot;As My Father has loved&nbsp;<em>angels</em>&nbsp;—  so have I loved you.&quot; But the love borne to no finite beings is an  appropriate symbol. Long before the birth of time or of worlds — that love  existed. It was together with Eternity itself. Hear how the two themes of the Saviour's  eternal rejoicing — the&nbsp;<em>love of His Father</em>, and His&nbsp;<em>love  for sinners</em>&nbsp;— are grouped together, &quot;Rejoicing always  before&nbsp;<em>Him</em>,  and in the habitable part of His<em> earth!</em>&quot;<br><br>
  To complete the picture, we must take  in a counterpart description of the Father's love to us, &quot;Therefore does  My Father love Me,&quot; says Jesus in  another place, &quot;because I lay down My life!&quot; God had an  all-sufficiency in His love — He needed not the wearisome love of creatures to  add to His glory or happiness; but He seems to say, that so intense is His love  for us — that He loves even His beloved Son more (if infinite love be capable  of increase), because He laid down His life for the guilty! It is regarding the  Redeemed it is said, &quot;He shall&nbsp;<em>rest</em>&nbsp;in  His love — He shall rejoice over them with singing.&quot;<br><br>
  In the assertion, &quot;God is  love,&quot; we are left truly with no mere unproved affirmation regarding the  existence of some abstract quality in the divine nature. &quot;Herein,&quot;  says the apostle, &quot;perceive we THE LOVE of God,&quot; but, as it has been  remarked, (&quot;Our translators need not have added&nbsp;<em>whose</em>&nbsp;love,  for there is but one such specimen&quot;), &quot;<em>because</em><em>&nbsp;</em>He laid down His life for us.&quot; No expression  of love can be wondered at, after&nbsp;<em>this</em>. Ah, how miserable are our best expressions,  compared with His! &quot;<em>Our</em>&nbsp;love  is but the reflection — as cold as the&nbsp;<em>moon</em>;&nbsp;<em>His</em>&nbsp;is  as the&nbsp;<em>sun</em>.&quot;  Shall we refuse to love HIM more in return, who has&nbsp;<em>first</em> loved, and SO<em>&nbsp;</em><em>loved  us?</em></p>