THE LOVE OF CHRIST
[p. 465] THE LOVE OF CHRIST
Leviticus 8:29; Ephesians 3:19; Romans 8:35 - 38; 2 Corinthians 5:14 - 18
My intention is to speak about the love of Christ, and I hope to be able to show that it is presented in Scripture in divine order and at the same time in a variety of settings.
In turning to Leviticus I wish to show from the type, well known doubtless to most of us, the greatness and reliability of the love of Christ. It has to be apprehended in its greatness in order to see its applicability to specific circumstances, and I think the chapter in Leviticus affords us, in type, the setting of the love of Christ from the standpoint of its magnitude and reliability, for the breast of the consecration offering alludes to the love of Christ in that character. The offering itself refers to Christ as giving Himself for the saints; it is the consecration offering, and so I connect it with Ephesians because it is in that epistle that things are seen in their fulness and in their greatness, and hence the love of Christ is treated from that point of view in that epistle. He loved the assembly, we are told there, and gave Himself for it. And so in the corresponding passage in the gospels — John 13 to 17 inclusive — we have the love of Christ presented particularly, and one is encouraged to speak of it from this point of view, believing that there is sufficient appreciation of it in the brethren.
It was not that the Ephesians understood the full bearing of the love of Christ, but they were ready for it, they had had a taste of it in a peculiar way in the apostle in his ministry amongst them. The apostle was sufficiently in the possession and enjoyment of the love of Christ to convey it in some degree; and [p. 466] so on leaving the Ephesians after his great service there, through which the assembly was gathered, he embraced them. I have no doubt that the embrace spoke of and conveyed more to them than they had hitherto experienced; their action is not referred to, it was a question of the energy of affection in the great vessel through whom the light had come, for an embrace is not simply a kiss. At the end of the chapter the Ephesian elders kissed Paul ardently. An embrace involves power, and so in dealing with Eutychus the apostle enfolded him in his arms. There was not only affection, but affection in power. The Ephesians, therefore, as I said, had a taste of it in a particular way. I do not say that they had not known love, for they had the Spirit; the Holy Spirit had come in at Ephesus through the laying on of Paul’s hands, and He would shed abroad in the hearts of the Ephesians the love of God as it was in Christ, as He did elsewhere. But then there was this additional touch, so that in writing to them afterwards, they would be ready for an enlargement of the great subject of the love of Christ. Hence he said that he prayed for them, he bowed his knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The prayer is one whole, it refers to power in the saints — not light. “That ye may be fully able” (Ephesians 3:18), he says, “to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge” Ephesians 3:18 - 19.
Now I understand that the saints are viewed in Ephesians as consecrated, and that the breast of the consecration offering being Moses’ portion, is that which the Lord in an authoritative way brings before them. It had already been waved. It was Moses who waved it; it belonged to him. The setting of the type is this; Christ is viewed in His personal dignity here, not as dying. Aaron was clothed in the presence of the whole congregation with his garments of glory [p. 467] and beauty, and then the tabernacle was anointed; that is to say, the ministry of Christ, the unfolding of the mind of God as it came out in Him, indicated that in which God would display Himself, that in which He would dwell; all that came out in the ministry of Christ in what He said. The divine thoughts in regard of the heavens and the earth were disclosed in that ministry, and then the anointing. The Lord is personally owned in this type as fit to serve in that holy system apart from dying; but the altar was anointed, as you will remember, seven times, meaning that the words — the ministry of Christ — burning as they were, as coming out straight from God in the Son, could only become effective through suffering. It could become systematised and made a living order of things only through the inclusion of men, and this necessarily involved the sufferings of Christ — a theme, beloved, which the Holy Spirit would ever keep before us, as moulding us and giving us a tinge of colour that is after Christ.
Thus, the altar being anointed, the sons of Aaron are brought in and are clothed with their garments, that is to say, the disciples come forward, and here I touch on John 13. It is a chapter which involves the ram of consecration, and so the breast — the love — comes into evidence. The Lord knew that He was about to depart out of this world to the Father; and “having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end” John 13:1. The breast is in evidence, it is in evidence in its durability. Love is in evidence in its durability. Over against that, it is said that the devil had put it into the heart of Judas to betray Him; over against the love that was there, the love that had been so expressed and was now to show itself in the wonderful actions and words at that supper table (covering these chapters I have mentioned), over against that was the heart of Judas. In Luke it is the hand of him who betrayed, it is a [p. 468] question of what Judas did; but in John it is the heart of him who betrayed, for John goes to the bottom of things, and so we read, “the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas” John 13:2.
I may say in passing that it is one thing to have Satan put something into your heart and another thing to carry it out, Satan himself having entered into you. The order is that he introduces the thought into the heart, then he follows up the thought and finds a place there, and then the action — a most serious matter in regard of our hearts, for if we are believers and thus related to Christ, it is our hearts that Satan is after, to suggest something there.
The Lord knew that Satan had made the suggestion, He was perfectly aware of all that went on in Judas, for in John’s gospel the Lord calls him a devil. The word for ‘devil’ usually in the New Testament is ‘demon’, but in regard of Judas he was himself a devil; such was the enormity of the crime, such was its far-reachingness and nature that he was called no less than a devil. John would expose him fully, and so the devil put it into his heart to betray Him, and then later Satan entered into him. I say this for the enemy is after the hearts of the saints. You may not have thought of that, but he seeks to get as near to Christ as he can, and to follow up a suggestion with his own presence in the doing of the thing. So when Judas received the sop from the Lord, Satan entered into him, and he went out, and it was night, and that night has continued. We have to do with the world into which Judas has gone — it is a different world from the world that preceded it. The one who had been in the nearest companionship to Christ, he has gone out indwelt by the devil, by Satan, having carried with him, as it were, all the secrets and terms of affection that he was cognisant of inside. Such is the world with which we have to do!
Now it is in the presence of that darkness that [p. 469] there is the consecration of the priests, and what comes to light, as I said, is the love of Christ — the breast. And so John the writer, as it says, leaned on that breast, it was available to him. Now the secret of leaning on the breast is that one has been received into the bosom. There are two words; in verse 23 it is the bosom of Christ which signifies not that which is solid like the breast, but that which is receptive — a receptive suggestion. The reading is not that John leaned on the bosom, but that “there was at table one of his disciples in the bosom of Jesus” John 13:23. Judas was at table too, and so the others were, but of John it is said that he was in the bosom. The thought conveyed is that he had a place in the heart of Christ and that he had come into it; he understood something of the breast of the ram of consecration. It was the scene of consecration; the Lord, in the midst of the darkness and the corruption, would have a circle in His bosom, He would have a circle of persons whom He had received into His affections. He was Himself in the bosom of the Father and known to be there. They had contemplated Him as an only-begotten with a father, that is not only had they seen Him, but they had contemplated Him there; they took account of how He was there.
It is only thus, dear brethren, that we can rightly apprehend what contemplation means, what Jesus was as man here with the Father. The disciples were not simply passing spectators, they contemplated; the thing was brought within their range, and they took account of it with interest, and in taking account of it they give an account of it. It is one thing to apprehend what is of God — a spiritual thing — it is another thing to give an account of it. And so John says, “We have contemplated his glory” John 1:14. And then he tells us what it was like. And so they laid hold of the idea that with Christ there [p. 470] was receptiveness, that the love of Christ is a receptive love; it receives its objects and John knew it. He is specially mentioned as one in the bosom; not leaning on, as in verse 25, but in it, for the idea of the bosom, as I said, is not that you lean upon it, but that you are received into it. The idea of the breast is that you lean upon it, because it is solid. I am speaking of it now as used in the singular in the scripture, and as it is used in the chapter I read in Leviticus. The breast was Moses’ portion and it was waved before the Lord. It is as if it were that feature of Christ that is to fill everything, and certainly that is to fill the mind and heart of God — the love of Christ.
I want to show from Romans how it is apprehended in its magnitude and its receptiveness, and how it is reliable as we have to do with evil. The apostle says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” He is speaking of something he knows, that he is conscious of; he had proved the love of Christ for many years in his walk as a Christian, and in his service as an apostle, and so he triumphantly asks the question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” It will stand you in good stead against all opposition. “Tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? According as it is written, For thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we have been reckoned as sheep for slaughter. But in all these things we more than conquer through him that has loved us”. Can we have a doubt as to the ultimate end of things? No one who has been received into the bosom of Christ has the slightest doubt about it. One can speak of it in a little measure; no one who has been received into the bosom of Christ has the slightest doubt or misgiving in regard of the future. Suffering? Surely! “For thy sake we are put to death all the day long”. We do not wish to be saved from that. It is an honour. “We have been reckoned as sheep for slaughter”.
Such is the position of the Christian! There is no public defence to offer, no weapons of warfare according to man. Here are seven ewe-lambs, as Abraham said to Abimelech when he came to him, virtually saying to Abraham, I recognise your power, but I want you to understand that I have got power; I am the king of the Philistines and I have got an army and I have a captain. He came to Abraham having mustered up all that he could to convey to Abraham his power. That is what always marks the world; the world will capitalise everything to make a show; but notwithstanding Abimelech’s general by him and his royalty, Abraham reproved him. Abraham had no general by him, nor did he carry a sword, but he had moral power. And now he says to Abimelech, Here are seven ewe-lambs of the flock. They did not represent military power according to man, they represented moral power, for such power is seen in sheep awaiting the slaughter — for Christ’s sake killed all the day long; that is moral power. It is like the altar that was anointed seven times, God, as it were, pouring in the power of the Spirit sevenfold, for the thing that is to stand out in conflict is power to suffer. The greatest moral power ever displayed was in Christ in Gethsemane, before the high priest, and before Pilate, and on the cross, and the Lord would bring us to that.
And so Abraham said to Abimelech, Here are seven ewe-lambs. And Abimelech inquires, “What mean these seven ewe-lambs?” Genesis 21:29. They are for you, he said, “that they may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well” Genesis 21:30. They are to be a witness to you that the power that I have is not military as you understand it, but the power of the Spirit of God; they are to be a witness to you that I dug [p. 472] this well. He made it clear that he had a well, and it is in the power of that well that we can be killed all the day long, that we can be like sheep for the slaughter — like those seven ewe-lambs — for the sake of Christ. How is it? “I have strength for all things in him that gives me power” (Philippians 4:13), Paul says, and so here, “For thy sake we are put to death all the day long”. The divine thought is that as received into the bosom of Christ, you can lean upon His breast, and that gives power to endure; the reliability of the love of Christ stands by you under all circumstances even if you had to die. Look how it stood by Stephen! How was he dying? By the love of Christ, so that he was like Him. How much he leaned on the love of Christ! How nearly he comes to the Lord! Next to the Lord, I believe Stephen represents the greatest expression of moral power; as he received the stones of his murderers he was praying for them; “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” Acts 7:60. The intelligence of it is remarkable. The Lord had said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” Luke 23:34. He did not limit the forgiveness. Stephen does with priestly intelligence he asks the Lord not to lay this sin against him to their charge; he did not ask for a trespass-offering, nor should any Christian ask for a trespass-offering. It is right surely to rebuke a brother, but that is Matthew 18. You do not go to him and ask for a trespass-offering; you go to him to recover him, to gain him. If you cannot gain him yourself, you take another, and if you cannot gain him by taking another, you tell it to the assembly. It is no question of separation, it is a question of recovery, and that was the spirit of Stephen. Stephen did not need a trespass-offering; he had enough, he was full, he was full of Christ. I need not dwell upon it, you know the beautiful passage; it always appeals to the heart. And so Romans gives us the love of Christ standing by us in conflict with evil in this world; it never fails us. “We more than conquer through him that has loved us”.
In the last scripture that I read, 2 Corinthians 5, it is the love of Christ in its constraining power, constraining us to a right judgment of things. “The love of the Christ”, says the apostle, “constrains us, having judged this: that one died for all, then all have died”. There is no one at all in view now; it is not a question of your life towards the world, and conflict, it is the way into new creation. We know very little about new creation; I feel that for myself, and hence the importance of understanding the constraint, the constraining power of the love of Christ, for He would lead us into it. He would support us in conflict in every circumstance so that we might be like Himself in it, that we might be in accord with the altar and the sufferings involved, but the other side is that He would lead us into new creation. There is such a thing. It is not here that I am a new creature exactly, for the word is not ‘a new creature’, but “new creation”. “If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation”, and that refers to the work of God. Sometimes we speak of the new man and new creation and say it is seen in Christ, but strictly it is not seen in Christ; it is a creation, and a creation is not seen in Christ, He is the Creator. The work of God in this sense is in the saints and it is never regarded as abstract. There is always some concrete expression of the work of God, something that can be taken account of, otherwise there is no Christianity; hence the new man is a creation; what you put on is a creation, it is what is seen in the saints that you put on.
We make far too little of the work of God; the time is coming when it will be announced that ‘It is what God has wrought’ — what He has done in Israel, and in Jacob, that is to say, in the saints. When it is a question of redemption it is ‘He hath done this’, that is Christ, but the work in Israel and Jacob is what God has wrought. The time is coming when the sum total of the work of God will be seen and will be admired. At that “time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!” Numbers 23:23. So there is a new creation; now, it affects the saints only, as far as I understand it, but it will extend out to the heavens and the earth by-and-by. At the present time there is a new creation. “If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation”. There is that here of God — the work of God, by which we pass out of what is seen, of what is natural, even natural relationships, into new creation, where “all things are of God”, old things having passed away, all things having become new, and all things of God.
And so, beloved, the love of Christ constrains us with that in view. “All have died”; that is the judgment that flows from the constraining power of the love of Christ. If He died for all, then all had died. It is the reckoning of love, the reckoning of one who is under the constraining power of the love of Christ; so that all have died, all are out of the way, and those who live do not live unto themselves. They are not selfish; everything in regard of love is unselfish. And so you get in the gift of Christ, God gave His own Son, spared not His own Son. There was unselfishness! God is unselfish, Christ is unselfish; “himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” 1 Peter 2:24. Unselfishness marks love from the outset to the finish, and as it constrains us, what marks us is unselfishness; we do not live to ourselves but to Him who died for us and rose again.
Then the apostle makes bold and goes further; he says, We henceforth know no one according to flesh. He is looking at the work of God in the saints. As regards Christ, He is no longer in the flesh, He is risen, having died; as regards the saints, they are the subjects of the work of God, and if you look on them [p. 475] from that standpoint you are not regarding them after the flesh. That is how we enter upon our privilege — new creation. It is our ability in unselfishness, as living to Christ who died for us and rose again, to take account of the saints as the subjects of the work of God. If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away, all things are become new, and all things are of God.
Well, you will see, I think, the wonderful character of the love of Christ, how practical it is as known, how it stands by us in every circumstance here, and how it constrains us in the blessedness of new creation, where all things are of God.