GOD IS LOVE Devotion 8 of 34 – Tomorrow:
"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love . . . God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." (1 John 4:8,16)
"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
A SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE
When it comes to Scriptural definitions, we must always begin with Deity, proceeding from there to things more obvious to men. This is involved in the poignant declaration, "For with Thee is the fountain of life: in Thy light shall we see light" (Psa 36:9). God and Christ are defining Points, as our text will powerfully affirm. In this arrangement, you do not define God or the things of God by reasoning from temporal things or relationships to God, Christ, or eternal verities. The reasoning process must always be the other way – from God to temporal matters.
For example, when the relationship of husband and wife is associated with Christ and the church (Eph 5:22-32), the purpose is not to clarify the relationship of Christ to the church. That is, we are not to reason from the husband-wife relationship to Christ and the church. Rather, the reasoning must be from the revealed relationship of Christ and the church to the involvements of husband and wife. Thus we read "EVEN AS Christ is the head of the church . . . AS the church is subject to Christ . . . EVEN AS Christ also loved the church . . . EVEN AS the Lord [nourishes are cherishes] the church." Jesus and the church are NEVER said to be "even as" husband and wife."
When we start with earthly comparisons, we cannot reason to eternal realities without Divine explanations. Without heavenly exposition, what is temporal is never large enough to contain an accurate portrayal of what is eternal. This is why the various types and shadows of the Old covenant were not clear until the Lord Jesus fulfilled them. The glorious complexities of redemption were not seen in those figures until the realities to which they pointed were fulfilled in Christ. Even then, they were expounded more fully in the Gospel. The "shadows" were precisely that until the "substance," which is of Christ, appeared.
The same is true of parables. These were earthly things that contained some likenesses to eternal verities. But you could not begin with them and reason up to the realities to which they pointed. Those to whom Jesus provided no explanation remained ignorant of the meaning of those parables. Only when eternal truth was shined upon those parables did they make any sense. It was "in" God's light that they were illuminated.
Because this is not as clearly known as it should be, some further words concerning this principle are in order.
Heaven is never secondary never! Earthly relationships reflect heavenly ones, but do NOT define them. As I have already said, the relationship of Christ and the church is reflected in the interrelation of husband and wife. However, marital involvements do not define or clarify heavenly ones, and are not intended to do so. Rather, heavenly relationships shed light on the earthly ones. This is because earthly relationships are not consistent, and do not mean the same thing to all people. If you speak to a husband from the Eastern world about husband and wife, he may think of one man and ten wives. An abusive husband will think of his wife as a slave or mere chattel. Your reasoning must start with God.
The types and shadows introduced under the Old Covenant do not define the great realities of salvation, but were designed to introduce them to men, preparing the way for the coming Savior. A shadow is never precise, and always more general than the substance. The marked similarities between the shadows of the Old Covenant and the substance of the New Covenant are best understood this side of Christ. The real profitability of those ancient ceremonies was never seen by those engaging in them. Now that the Light has come, we gain great insight, however, from them.
This very principle is declared in our text. Love – real love – is not defined by human response, but by Divine initiative. Real love is not perceived in human expression, whether it is that of a husband and wife for one another, a martyr for a noble cause, a person laying down his life for his friend, or an individual who has forsaken all to follow Christ. However noble any of those expressions may be, they fall so far short of Divine love that they simply cannot be used to explain the marvelous love of God.
This truth is declared by the prophet Isaiah. Hear God speak through him. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? YEA, THEY MAY FORGET, yet will I not forget thee" (Isa 49:15). The tender love of a mother for her infant child is surely a marvelous thing – but NOT marvelous enough to accurately convey the love God has for His people! Can that mother forget the child she is nursing? Good reasoning may answer "NO!" However, experience will spread some myriad instances before our eyes where mothers did forget the children they nursed. But what of the loving God? Can He forget? He fairly shouts to His people, "Yet will I not forget thee!" He even goes further – further than a mother can go. "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me" (Isa 49:16).
When, therefore, we speak of love – real love – we are not speaking about what WE do. Rather, the defining reference is to what God does. You may shout at the top of your voice that it is our obligation to "love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength." And, indeed, you could not possibly be more correct. But until the tender heart perceives the love that God has manifested toward us, that commandment will not and cannot be fulfilled. That is why we read, "Herein is love, NOT that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10).
PRAYER POINT: Father, I know the inferiority of my love when it is compared with yours. In the name of Jesus, help me to see Your great love with greater clarity, that I may love You with more fervency and consistency.