Loved With Everlasting Love

On my very first deputation with fellow-students of the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow, I was not the leader, or the preacher. I was not charged with reading the Scriptures, or praying. My part in the team was to be the soloist. Possibly, that was considered to be the safest thing for me to do! The song that I chose for that evening, in a building close to Anniesland Cross, was "I am His, and He is mine", written by George Wade Robinson, and more often referred to by its opening words:

Loved with everlasting love, Led by grace that love to know;

Spirit, breathing from above, Thou hast taught me it is so!

O this full and perfect peace, O this transport all divine;

In a love which cannot cease, I am His and He is mine.

Of course, love is the foundation, the core, the whole edifice, of the Christian faith. That is because “God is love” (I Jn.4:8, 16). That is His essential Being. Without God, true love would not exist and, if one may say so with all reverence, without love, God Himself would not exist. And God loves you!

His love is an “everlasting love” and compels Him to act strongly and lovingly on our behalf. “In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the expiation for our sins.” (I John 4:10). Jesus prayed, “I in them and Thou in me, … that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me and hast loved them even as Thou hast loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, may be with Me where I am, …” (John 17:23-24). The Father will never allow those who are truly His to part from Him or our Saviour. These precious facts are taught to us by the “inspired” (literally “God-breathed”) Scriptures: “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”(II Tim.3:16), and by “... the Spirit of truth [Who] will guide you into all the truth;” (John 16:13).  God the Father drew us to Himself “... in love: Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself” (Eph.1:5). Writing to his fellow-believers, the apostle John assured them: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. (I Jn.3:1). In His grace, we come to Him, experiencing sweet forgiveness and everlasting love. Cradled in the security of His undying love, we have peace. “Thou dost keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusts in Thee.”(Is.26:3).  Speaking through His prophet, Jeremiah, Father God said to the Children of Israel: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued My faithfulness to you.” (Jer. 31:3). I believe, firmly, that these are words that every disciple of Jesus may take unto him/herself. Are you able to do so?!

To finish, here is a rendering of  the song “Loved with everlasting love,”, sung by Rev William McCrae, who accompanies himself on the piano. Be blessed.

Lovely skin!

For some time, I have had little lesions on one side of my nose, and on part of my forehead. A gel, regularly applied, had been dealing with them for a number of years. Then, my GP retired, and the doctor who took over the practice decided that I should be looked at by a specialist. So, a hospital appointment was made and, after a few necessary cancellations, I finally was able to meet with the dermatologist who, after an examination, prescribed a more powerful ointment. For some weeks, I displayed some very red patches on my face.

However, the ointment seemed to work and, this morning (Sat.), I went for a follow-up examination. I was seen by a different doctor and, as she examined me, she said: "You have lovely skin"!!!! Well, I do not recall anyone ever having said that to me before! However, I was happy to hear it. Well, I was happy, until I gave those words some deeper thought!

You see, that very kind and complimentary doctor was looking only at my skin! If she had been able to look right inside me - not just the physical that could be viewed through x-rays, but the real me; the me that is known only to me; the thoughts that I have; the actions that I take when no-one else is around; etc., etc. - then she might would have arrived at a different conclusion!

Some will be familiar with the record of the prophet Samuel being sent, by YHWH, to the family of Jesse, so that a successor to king Saul might be anointed. The first of Jesse's sons noticed by Samuel, was Eliab, the first-born. As the prophet looked at this, apparently, fine young man of stature, he was sure that the one whom he was to anoint was before him. However, YHWH spoke to him: « ... YHWH said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for YHWH sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but YHWH looks on the heart.” » (I Sam.16:7). Then, again, through the prophet Jeremiah, YHWH makes abundantly clear the manner in which He views us: “I, YHWH, search the mind and try the heart, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jer.17:10).

I referred, above, to « the me that is known only to me ». However, those words of YHWH to Samuel, and His words through Jeremiah, remind me that that statement is not totally true! You see, the Lord knows me, inside out, and outside in - and He knows me even better than I know myself! That, as folk often say, is scary!

However, that is also where the message of the Gospel comes into play. You see, the love that Father God has for me - and for you - is so great; so beyond our comprehension; so supernatural that, in the Persona* of the Son, the Lord Jesus, He not only "... bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." (I Peter 2:24), but even "For our sake He [the Father] made Him [the Son] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him [the Son] we might become the righteousness of God." (II Cor.5:21).

Please let that sink in. The holy, sinless, Creator, Who cannot even bear to look upon sin, became, in the Son, the very epitome of sin - for you, and for me. Indeed, I believe that it was at that brief moment in the time that He had created, that the Father turned His face from the beloved Son, causing the Son to utter what is often referred to as "the cry of dereliction":  "E′lo-i, E′lo-i, la′ma sabach-tha′ni?” which means, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Mk.15:34, et al).

However, the final word that Jesus spoke from the cross was the word (in Greek) "Tetelestai" = "Finished"! That was the word that was stamped on a bill to show that the bill had been paid in full. When Jesus proclaimed it, He was announcing to the whole of the universe, that the price for your sin, and mine, had been "paid in full" with His precious blood and, as we were being reminded this morning, the veil/curtain in the Temple - that signified our being separated from Father God - was torn in two, from top to bottom, showing that the way was now open for us to enter the presence of Almighty God knowing that, as we do so in the Name of the Lord Jesus, we are accepted in Him, and justified in the eyes of the Father. Hallelujah!

But this is true only for those who come to the Father, through the Son, in repentance and faith. I know that many to whom this devotion is sent have done so. I also know that there are those who have not. I urge you, to think seriously about these things. Your eternal destiny depends on your relationship with Almighty God, through the Lord Jesus. He said: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me." (Jn.14:6). But, in Him, all are accepted - and that includes you! 

* This is explained, further, in my book "Great Words of the Faith", available from Amazon. (Link at the top of the page). Remember, ALL royalties are sent, directly, to Release International in support of the persecuted church.