Friday, May 10, 2013

The Father's Love For the Son

"And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:17)


In this remarkable verse, God the Father, speaking from heaven itself, introduces His beloved Son to the world. This is the first New Testament reference to "love," just as the Father's love for the Son was the first love that ever existed. As Christ prayed in the upper room, "For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24)...

The extent of the Father's love for His blessed Son was all-encompassing. "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand" (John 3:35). Furthermore, "the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth" (John 5:20)....

~Henry Morris, PhD

For the whole devotional go here.


That same love is the love with which Christ loves the elect, whom are utterly unworthy and ill-deserving:

Joh 15:9  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

Joh 17:23  I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

And just as amazing, this is the same love that the Spirit gives those whom the Father justifies so we can obey the most important commandment God has ever given: to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength:

Rom 5:1  Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Rom 5:2  Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 
Rom 5:3  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 
Rom 5:4  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 
Rom 5:5  and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 
Rom 5:6  For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 

As the hymn rightly states:

"Amazing love! How can it be? That Christ my God didst die for me?"


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