THE CROWN OF LOVE
[p. 300] THE CROWN OF LOVE
Ephesians 3: 14 - 21; Revelation 2: 4; Revelation 3: 7 - 11
I desire to bring before our hearts the exceeding greatness and blessedness of what the Father would bring us into, not only for our joy but for His own joy and satisfaction. What we get in Ephesians 3 is really the crown of everything, you could not conceive anything beyond it. The apostle prays that the Father would grant them according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. Think of that! The riches of the Father’s glory! And it is according to that that we are to be strengthened with might by the Father’s Spirit. Now do not let us think that these things are mere sentiment. It is a great moment for every one of our hearts when we come to the sense that divine things are real; they are great realities.
In addressing Philadelphia the Lord says, “Thou hast a little strength”. It is not a reproach. It means that in the midst of a profession where there is absolutely no strength at all, there is a little company who know what it is in some measure to be strengthened according to the riches of the Father’s glory and by the Father’s Spirit. That is the source of the “little strength” of Philadelphia. I think if our hearts were awakened to the great thoughts of divine love, we should find there was illimitable power, measureless power, to bring our hearts into the crown of the blessings. It is a great thing morally for even one heart to enter into the secret delight and pleasure of the Father’s heart. Now it is open for every one of us to go in for it. It is greater than any gift; the Father’s glory, the Father’s love, the love of Christ, lie behind all gift. The most wonderful privilege lies within the reach of each heart. Are we really awakened by the grace of our God to go in for it? The apostle prays that He would grant them “to be strengthened” by the Father’s Spirit; that is, the very Spirit of Him who is the Source of [p. 301] all the counsels of love, and it is according to the riches of His glory. The Father’s Spirit is to be in us, and we are to be strengthened with power in the inner man. And what is it for? It is “that the Christ might dwell, through faith, in your hearts, being rooted and founded in love, in order that ye may be fully able 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; that ye may be filled even to all the fulness of God”. O what immense things these are! They are the very crown of the blessing. The divine nature, the love of Christ, that is the very crown of the blessing. Cast your little sounding line in and see if you can gather that!
In Revelation 2 we find that this church (Ephesus) has lost the crown. What the apostle set before the Ephesians might have attracted but did not command their hearts, and so the Lord has to say, “I have against thee, that thou hast left thy first love”. They had lost the very crown. You find how faithful, how diligent they were, but they did not know these great things — what it was “to be strengthened with power by his Spirit”. Now, beloved brethren, that is just the history of the church; she has lost her crown, she has lost the crown of love.
What is so very interesting in Philadelphia is to see that there is a little company at the end to whom the Lord gives back the crown; they have got the love of Christ. What marks them is that they have a little strength, they are strengthened by the Spirit of the Father, and the result of it is, “Thou ... hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name”. We find these Philadelphians displayed these things; they kept His word, which is the expression of all that He is in Himself, and His name includes His glory. Now, beloved brethren, think of what a thing it is to have enshrined in our hearts His word and His name! The true distinction of such a company as that is the knowledge of the love of Christ. So He says, “I will cause that they shall [p. 302] come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee”. That is the true distinction of the church, to be loved by Christ. And I say, the knowledge of that love is the very crown of the blessing. The love of Christ is a secret now, a perfect secret between the heart and Christ; but there is a day coming when it will be made public. What a solemn word we have in verse 11, “Hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown”. If we know what it is to have that crown given back to us, He says, ‘Hold it fast, do not let any one take it from you’.
Beloved brethren, if our hearts are crowned with divine love, you may depend upon it that all the power of Satan and all the influences of the world will be against us. The great effort of the enemy is to take away the crown. The Lord keep us true to Himself till He come!