UNSPEAKABLE  AND SACRIFICIAL LOVE

“The Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

We know that God's love is immeasurable because it is ETERNAL, as He is Himself: He who is God "even from everlasting to everlasting" (Psalm 90:2) can say to each one of His people: "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3); and so we have the assurance that nothing in all of creation "shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39). But you know what makes God's love beyond meaure to me? It is not only that He loved me from eternity, but that He loved me so much, that He would be willing to come down from heaven and become Man in order to give Himself as a Sacrifice for my sins! The wonder of it all that He would even consider doing it for me! Oh, all praise and glory be to Him for loving me, even though I am so unlovable; and abundant thanksgivings for giving Himself to die on the Cross for my sins when He had every reason not do it, other than His great love for me. Wouldn't you also say this is true of you, my beloved brother and sister in Christ? What greater proof can one give to the one loved, if not to be willing to give all for the sake of the one loved! Here we see, in our text, the greatness of the Lord Jesus’ love for one of His own. But oh, the wonder of it is that it is not just an abstract love, i.e. a love that one simply reads about. No, it is concrete, it is experiential, and it is practical.

As I was praying one afternoon, it was impressed on my heart and mind the awfulness of my sinful life. In confessing my sins, I was reminded that when the Lord Jesus went to die on Calvary's Cross, He "his own self bare (my) sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). Then as I remembered my sins, tears flowed from my eyes, because I saw all of my filthiness and depravation laid upon my precious Savior's body so that I would be forgiven of all my sins. But also I remember, that the Father, who is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity" (Habakkuk 1:13), when He saw my sins on His beloved Son on the Cross, instead of dealing "with (me) after (my) sins", and rewarding "(me) according to (my) iniquities" (Psalm 103:10), He turned His back on His Son, causing Him to cry out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). And why? Because "he loved me, and gave himself for me". Oh, my Lord, may this reminder make my heart tender to the things of God; and to be filled with love so that I will love you, because you first loved me. Amen.