June 24th, 2014. The embodiment of love And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Matthew 3:17 The word beloved in the New Testament always refers to the object of anothers love. Thus, in this verse from Matthew, beloved refers to Christ as the object of the Fathers love. Likewise, when we are called beloved, it is actually an identification of us as individual objects of the love of God. We are the loved ones. We are the beloved. Our affectionate relationship as the bride to the Bridegroom is embodied in Christ! So do not bother looking at your love. Look at the embodiment of love-- look at Jesus! We need a kind of blessed detachment. Forget completely about yourself and your condition. Do not look at yourself or think about whether you have any potential in yourself to love the Lord affectionately as your first love. Forget about yourself altogether. What you have to see is that the unique embodiment of this love- life is in the Son. The foremost thing we need to see is that the love- life of the bride is entirely concentrated and embodied in the Son. And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased [Matt. 3:17]. Here we have a manifestation of the Trinity. As the Lord Jesus is coming out of the water, the Spirit of God descends upon Him like a dove, and the Father speaks from heaven. The Father says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The Lord Jesus is now identified with His people. What a King! Oh, what a King He is! From that opening of the heavens, which has been already mentioned, a loud voice was heard, that its majesty might be more impressive. The public appearance of Christ, to undertake the office of Mediator, was accompanied by this announcement, in which he was offered to us by the Father, that we may rely on this pledge of our adoption, and boldly call God himself our Father. The designation of Son belongs truly and naturally to Christ alone: but yet he was declared to be the Son of God in our flesh, that the favour of Him, whom he alone has a right to call Father, may be also obtained for us. And thus when God presents Christ to us as Mediator, accompanied by the title of Son, he declares that he is the Father of us all, (Ephesians 4:6.) Such, too, is the import of the epithet beloved: for in ourselves we are hateful to God, and his fatherly love must flow to us by Christ. The best expounder of this passage is the Apostle Paul, when he says who hath predestinated us into adoption by Jesus Christ in himself, according to the good pleasure of his will; to the praise of the glory of his grace, in which he hath accepted us in the Beloved, (Ephesians 1:5,6). that is, in his beloved Son. It is still more fully expressed by these words, in whom I am well pleased. They imply, that the love of God rests on Christ in such a manner, as to diffuse itself from him to us all; and not to us only, but even to the angels themselves. Not that they need reconciliation, for they never were at enmity with God: but even they become perfectly united to God, only by means of their Head, (Ephesians 1:22.) For the same reason, he is also called the first- born of every creature, (Colossians 1:5;) and Paul likewise states that Christ came to reconcile all things to himself, both those which are on earth, and those which are in heavens, (Colossians 1:20.) June 24 MORNING The ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them... to search out a resting place for them. My times [are] in thy hand.-- He shall choose our inheritance for us.-- Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness;... make thy way straight before my face. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring [it] to pass.-- In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.-- Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This [is] the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. The LORD [is] my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.-- Like as a father pitieth [his] children, [so] the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we [are] dust.-- Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.-- Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. NUM 10:33. Ps 31:15.-- Ps 47:4.-- Ps 5:8-- Ps 37:5-- Pr 3:6.-- Is 30:21. Ps 23:1, 2.-- Ps 103:13, 14.-- Mt 6:32-- 1 Pe 5:7. June 24 EVENING Master, where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. In my Fathers house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also.-- To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne. Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name [is] Holy; I dwell in the high and holy [place], with him also [that is] of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world-- How excellent [is] thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. JOHN 1:38, 39. Jn 14:2, 3.-- Re 3:21. Is 57:15. Re 3:20. Mt 28:20.-- Ps 36:7.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 01:38:08 +0000
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